Asked by: Lord Laming (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce the number of times children in care must change school.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The needs of the child are paramount when deciding the right care placement. The Children’s Act 1989 places a duty on local authorities to make sure that there is sufficient provision in their area to meet the needs of children in their care and ensure placements safeguard and promote the child’s welfare. Further, the guidance is clear that the child’s allocated social worker, supported by local authority management and resources, should do everything possible to minimise disruption to the child’s education and, where a child is in key stage 4, a move should only be made in exceptional circumstances. Responsibility for looked-after children sits with the local authority. The guidance and regulations of the Children Act 1989 can be found attached.
Every local authority must appoint a Virtual School Head (VSH), who has a statutory duty to promote the educational attainment of all children in their care. All maintained schools and academies must appoint a designated teacher to act as a source of advice and expertise about the needs of the looked-after children on the school’s roll. Looked-after children also have top priority in school admissions and attract Pupil Premium Plus funding of £2,570 per child, up to age 16. This is managed by the VSH, who works with the child’s education setting to deliver objectives in the child’s personal education plan.
Whilst the number of placements experienced by looked after children in a one year period has remained broadly stable over the past 5 years, the government recognises there are issues with finding stable placements. That is why the government has announced over £400 million in capital funding to help local authorities create more beds in their local areas which will aim to further reduce the number of children experiencing multiple placements.
Asked by: Lord Laming (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking to reduce the number of children in care experiencing multiple placements.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The needs of the child are paramount when deciding the right care placement. The Children’s Act 1989 places a duty on local authorities to make sure that there is sufficient provision in their area to meet the needs of children in their care and ensure placements safeguard and promote the child’s welfare. Further, the guidance is clear that the child’s allocated social worker, supported by local authority management and resources, should do everything possible to minimise disruption to the child’s education and, where a child is in key stage 4, a move should only be made in exceptional circumstances. Responsibility for looked-after children sits with the local authority. The guidance and regulations of the Children Act 1989 can be found attached.
Every local authority must appoint a Virtual School Head (VSH), who has a statutory duty to promote the educational attainment of all children in their care. All maintained schools and academies must appoint a designated teacher to act as a source of advice and expertise about the needs of the looked-after children on the school’s roll. Looked-after children also have top priority in school admissions and attract Pupil Premium Plus funding of £2,570 per child, up to age 16. This is managed by the VSH, who works with the child’s education setting to deliver objectives in the child’s personal education plan.
Whilst the number of placements experienced by looked after children in a one year period has remained broadly stable over the past 5 years, the government recognises there are issues with finding stable placements. That is why the government has announced over £400 million in capital funding to help local authorities create more beds in their local areas which will aim to further reduce the number of children experiencing multiple placements.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of ending the cap on faith school admissions.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
My Rt. Hon. friend, the Secretary of State for Education, announced on 1 May 2024 that the department are consulting on faith designation reforms for new and existing free schools and special academies. This is available on Hansard at: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2024-05-01/hcws437.
The consultation will run for seven weeks, closing on 20 June 2024. The department will then carefully consider all responses to the consultation and use them to inform the department’s recommendations for better meeting the policy objectives of faith schools.
The government’s response will be published on the GOV.UK website within twelve weeks following closure of the consultation.
Asked by: Lord Laming (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking to improve the education of children in care.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is committed to ensuring that looked-after children are supported to succeed in education and achieve positive outcomes. Every local authority must appoint a virtual school head (VSH), who has a statutory duty to promote the educational attainment of all children in their care. All maintained schools and academies must appoint a designated teacher to act as a source of advice and expertise about the needs of the looked-after children on the school’s roll. Looked-after children also have top priority in school admissions and attract pupil premium plus funding of £2,570 per child, up to age 16. This is managed by the VSH, who works with the child’s education setting to deliver objectives in the child’s Personal Education Plan.
In February 2023, the department announced the national rollout of £24 million of pupil premium plus style funding to looked-after children and care leavers at post-16 for the next two years, from 2023/24. This funding, which builds on an initial £8 million pilot that launched in October 2021, gives VHSs the financial levers to positively impact the educational outcomes of looked-after children and care leavers in post-16 education.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the number of (a) primary and (b) secondary school places.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places sits with local authorities. The department collects pupil forecasts and school capacity data from local authorities annually through the School Capacity (SCAP) survey. The most recent SCAP data shows a need for 30,000 additional primary places and 40,000 additional secondary places between May 2023 and September 2027.
The department provides capital funding through the Basic Need grant to support local authorities to provide school places, based on the data they provide. The department has announced nearly £1.5 billion to support local authorities to create school places needed over the next three academic years, up to and including the academic year starting September 2026. This funding is on top of the department’s investment in the free schools programme and means the department has now committed Basic Need capital funding of over £14 billion to support the creation of new school places between 2011 and 2026.
The department also engages with local authorities on a regular basis to review their plans for creating additional places and to consider alternatives where necessary. When local authorities are experiencing difficulties, the department supports them to find solutions as quickly as possible.
Between 2010 and 2023, the department supported the creation of 722,000 primary and 466,000 secondary places in response to a substantial increase in pupil numbers. This is the largest increase in school capacity in at least two generations, following a fall of 100,000 places between 2004 and 2010. Many more places are in the pipeline.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool, West Derby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to remove the 50% cap on faith-based admissions at (a) academies and (b) free schools.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The diversity of schools in this country is one of our education system’s most valuable assets and faith schools play a pivotal role in that by providing high-quality school places and choice for parents. This government remains committed in its support for faith schools.
Faith school providers, including churches, are among the largest providers of academy trusts. As the department moves to an education system that is increasingly based on schools being part of strong academy trusts, the department needs to ensure that it is making the best and full use of the talents of all trusts. This includes having mechanism in place for all providers to open new schools.
As the department continues to uphold diversity and quality education for all, it is keeping all policies, including the 50% faith admissions cap for free schools with a faith designation, under review to ensure that this country’s education system is world leading.
Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Spring Budget 2024, whether he has made an estimate of the potential return on investment of (a) violence reduction units, (b) hot spot policing, (c) increasing the capacity of children's homes and (d) the building of 15 new special free schools.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
These measures are part of the Public Sector Productivity Review, which will deliver up to £1.8 billion worth of benefits by 2029.
We have committed £75 million to expand the Violence Reduction Unit model across England and Wales, supporting a prevention-first approach to serious violence. Violence Reduction Units enable local public services such as health boards, schools and police leaders to coordinate their joint strategy to tackle serious violence among young people, preventing violent crime and reducing burdens on healthcare, schools and criminal justice.
As part of the Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan, we committed £66.3 million to scale up hotspot enforcement. From April 2024, hotspot response will be rolled out across every police force area in England and Wales, which will see thousands of additional high visibility patrols in the places most affected by Serious Violence and Anti-Social Behaviour.
An independent evaluation found that in 2022/23, VRUs and hotspot policing prevented 3,220 hospital admissions from violent injury – a statistically significant drop. Please find a link to the evaluation here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/violence-reduction-units-year-ending-march-2023-evaluation-report/violence-reduction-units-2022-to-2023#:~:text=In%202022%2C%20a%20further%202,data%20sharing%20and%20analysis.
On increasing the capacity of children’s homes, the Government announced £165 million of funding over the next 4 years to reduce the reliance of local authorities on costly emergency provision.
Finally, the building of 15 new special free schools through £105 million of investment over the next 4 years will deliver over 2,000 additional special places for children with special education needs and disabilities.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will review the School Admissions Code.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The School Admissions Code (the Code) exists to ensure that places in all state-funded schools are allocated in a fair and transparent manner. Admission authorities for all state-funded schools are required to comply with the requirements of the Code and related admissions law.
The latest version of the Code came into force on 1 September 2021. The department keeps the provisions of the Code under review to ensure they continue to remain fit for purpose, however there are currently no plans to change the Code.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many service sector apprenticeships were available in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department is increasing investment in the apprenticeships system in England to £2.7 billion by the 2024/25 financial year to support employers of all sizes and in all sectors, including the service sector, to benefit from the high-quality training that apprenticeships offer.
The department has removed the limit to the number of apprentices that small and medium sized enterprises can take on and have cut by a third the number of steps needed to register to take on an apprentice.
The department continues to promote apprenticeships in schools and colleges through the Apprenticeships Support and Knowledge Programme, supported by £3.2 million of investment each year. The Career Starter Apprenticeships campaign is also promoting apprenticeships at Levels 2 and 3, including Level 2 Hospitality Team Member, which offer great opportunities for those leaving full-time education. In addition, students can now see apprenticeship vacancies on their University and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) hub and later this year they will be able to apply for apprenticeships on UCAS.
Apprenticeship starts by sector are published as part of the department’s apprenticeship statistics releases. The statistics released also show the number of apprenticeship vacancies published on the department’s Find an Apprenticeship service. These statistics are accessible at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships#explore-data-and-files.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support service sector apprenticeships.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department is increasing investment in the apprenticeships system in England to £2.7 billion by the 2024/25 financial year to support employers of all sizes and in all sectors, including the service sector, to benefit from the high-quality training that apprenticeships offer.
The department has removed the limit to the number of apprentices that small and medium sized enterprises can take on and have cut by a third the number of steps needed to register to take on an apprentice.
The department continues to promote apprenticeships in schools and colleges through the Apprenticeships Support and Knowledge Programme, supported by £3.2 million of investment each year. The Career Starter Apprenticeships campaign is also promoting apprenticeships at Levels 2 and 3, including Level 2 Hospitality Team Member, which offer great opportunities for those leaving full-time education. In addition, students can now see apprenticeship vacancies on their University and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) hub and later this year they will be able to apply for apprenticeships on UCAS.
Apprenticeship starts by sector are published as part of the department’s apprenticeship statistics releases. The statistics released also show the number of apprenticeship vacancies published on the department’s Find an Apprenticeship service. These statistics are accessible at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships#explore-data-and-files.