Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the cost to families of seeking a special school place through the court system.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
It is free for families to appeal to the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Tribunal when seeking a special school place or a local council decision not to grant an education, health and care (EHC) plan.
Throughout the SEND and Alternative Provision (AP) Green Paper consultation, families told the department how stressful and lengthy the Tribunal process can be. The SEND and AP Improvement Plan, published on 2 March 2023, sets out the response to the consultation feedback the department received and the next steps we will take in delivering vital reform for children and young people.
This includes our intention for a new national SEND and AP system, underpinned by national standards, to improve early identification of needs and set clear expectations for the types of evidence-based support that should be available in mainstream settings. Our objective is to ensure that all children's additional needs are met effectively and quickly within affordable provision, reducing the need for an EHC plan and, where an EHC plan is needed, to ensure that parents do not endure lengthy and adversarial processes to secure one.
Asked by: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many places in higher education are guaranteed for disadvantaged students in Nottingham South constituency.
Answered by Robert Halfon
We want to provide a ladder of opportunity so that everyone can get the education and skills they need for job security and prosperity, and to support levelling up across the country, including in Nottingham South constituency
Our access and participation reforms are playing a key role in ensuring that the young people of Nottingham South can get the support they need to make decisions that are right for them, regardless of their socio-economic background, whether that is progressing into higher education (HE), further education, or apprenticeships.
The department wants universities to:
Examples of this can already be found in Nottingham, where both local universities offer degree apprenticeships with Nottingham Trent University providing access to alternative routes to higher education at its Mansfield campus.
The majority of providers who submitted requests for variations to their access and participation plans to the Office for Students are carrying out work in line with these priorities.
HE providers are autonomous bodies, independent from government. They are responsible for their own admissions decisions. It is a matter for individual providers to consider whether to use contextual information about applicants, such as their socio-economic background.
Students in Nottingham South, regardless of their background, should feel confident that getting into HE is a fair process. In 2022, a record numbers of students progressed into HE, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Asked by: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help improve social mobility in higher education for students in Nottingham South constituency.
Answered by Robert Halfon
We want to provide a ladder of opportunity so that everyone can get the education and skills they need for job security and prosperity, and to support levelling up across the country, including in Nottingham South constituency
Our access and participation reforms are playing a key role in ensuring that the young people of Nottingham South can get the support they need to make decisions that are right for them, regardless of their socio-economic background, whether that is progressing into higher education (HE), further education, or apprenticeships.
The department wants universities to:
Examples of this can already be found in Nottingham, where both local universities offer degree apprenticeships with Nottingham Trent University providing access to alternative routes to higher education at its Mansfield campus.
The majority of providers who submitted requests for variations to their access and participation plans to the Office for Students are carrying out work in line with these priorities.
HE providers are autonomous bodies, independent from government. They are responsible for their own admissions decisions. It is a matter for individual providers to consider whether to use contextual information about applicants, such as their socio-economic background.
Students in Nottingham South, regardless of their background, should feel confident that getting into HE is a fair process. In 2022, a record numbers of students progressed into HE, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential role of catholic schools in levelling up.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department supports schools with a religious character. They add to the diversity of the school system, they are popular with parents both with and without a faith, and they typically deliver high standards of education for their pupils. They also have an important role to play in supporting levelling up, by providing high quality school places throughout the country.
The Department recognises that some groups, including the Catholic Church, feel unable to participate in the free schools programme because of the 50% cap on faith admissions.
The Department is committed to ensuring that all providers of schools with a religious character remain able to open new schools once all schools are in academy trusts and, as such, will continue to keep the 50% cap under review. The Department regularly discusses the matter with groups who provide schools with a religious character, including the Catholic Church.
There are two mainstream Catholic schools in the Rother Valley Constituency, 296 in London and 1,955 in England.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions she has had with (a) faith schools, (b) faith leaders and (c) Cabinet colleagues on the potential merits of removing the 50 per cent rule.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department supports schools with a religious character. They add to the diversity of the school system, they are popular with parents both with and without a faith, and they typically deliver high standards of education for their pupils. They also have an important role to play in supporting levelling up, by providing high quality school places throughout the country.
The Department recognises that some groups, including the Catholic Church, feel unable to participate in the free schools programme because of the 50% cap on faith admissions.
The Department is committed to ensuring that all providers of schools with a religious character remain able to open new schools once all schools are in academy trusts and, as such, will continue to keep the 50% cap under review. The Department regularly discusses the matter with groups who provide schools with a religious character, including the Catholic Church.
There are two mainstream Catholic schools in the Rother Valley Constituency, 296 in London and 1,955 in England.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many catholic schools there are in (a) Rother Valley constituency, (b) London and (c) England.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department supports schools with a religious character. They add to the diversity of the school system, they are popular with parents both with and without a faith, and they typically deliver high standards of education for their pupils. They also have an important role to play in supporting levelling up, by providing high quality school places throughout the country.
The Department recognises that some groups, including the Catholic Church, feel unable to participate in the free schools programme because of the 50% cap on faith admissions.
The Department is committed to ensuring that all providers of schools with a religious character remain able to open new schools once all schools are in academy trusts and, as such, will continue to keep the 50% cap under review. The Department regularly discusses the matter with groups who provide schools with a religious character, including the Catholic Church.
There are two mainstream Catholic schools in the Rother Valley Constituency, 296 in London and 1,955 in England.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of faith-based education.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department supports schools with a religious character. They add to the diversity of the school system, they are popular with parents both with and without a faith, and they typically deliver high standards of education for their pupils. They also have an important role to play in supporting levelling up, by providing high quality school places throughout the country.
The Department recognises that some groups, including the Catholic Church, feel unable to participate in the free schools programme because of the 50% cap on faith admissions.
The Department is committed to ensuring that all providers of schools with a religious character remain able to open new schools once all schools are in academy trusts and, as such, will continue to keep the 50% cap under review. The Department regularly discusses the matter with groups who provide schools with a religious character, including the Catholic Church.
There are two mainstream Catholic schools in the Rother Valley Constituency, 296 in London and 1,955 in England.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential role of faith schools in levelling up.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department supports schools with a religious character. They add to the diversity of the school system, they are popular with parents both with and without a faith, and they typically deliver high standards of education for their pupils. They also have an important role to play in supporting levelling up, by providing high quality school places throughout the country.
The Department recognises that some groups, including the Catholic Church, feel unable to participate in the free schools programme because of the 50% cap on faith admissions.
The Department is committed to ensuring that all providers of schools with a religious character remain able to open new schools once all schools are in academy trusts and, as such, will continue to keep the 50% cap under review. The Department regularly discusses the matter with groups who provide schools with a religious character, including the Catholic Church.
There are two mainstream Catholic schools in the Rother Valley Constituency, 296 in London and 1,955 in England.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help secure school places for children without guardians.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
Children without guardians are among the most vulnerable in our society. The department knows that the vast majority of children taken into local authority care have experienced abuse or neglect and therefore require additional support. Wherever possible, they should be admitted to the school which is best able to meet their needs.
For this reason, school admission authorities have been required to give looked after children highest priority in their admission arrangements since 2007, and these children should be placed in good or outstanding schools.
The School Admissions Code also requires each local authority to have a Fair Access Protocol in place to ensure that any unplaced and vulnerable children are allocated a school place as quickly as possible. It also gives local authorities the power to direct the admission authority for any maintained school in England (other than a school for which they are the admissions authority) to admit a child who is looked after by the local authority, even when the school is full.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the impact of academy trusts admissions policies and oversubscription criteria on the ability of local authorities to ensure school places for all children following periods of population growth.
Answered by Nick Gibb
In 2022, the Government published research by Isos Partnership looking at how Local Authorities are ensuring sufficient places and supporting vulnerable children. This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authority-provision-for-school-places-and-support-for-vulnerable-children.
Local Authorities have a statutory duty, under Section 14 of the Education Act 1996, to ensure that there are sufficient primary and secondary school places for all children living in their area. The Department provides capital funding through the Basic Need grant to support Local Authorities to meet their statutory duty to provide sufficient school places, based on their own forecast data. They can use this funding to provide places in new schools or through expansions of existing schools, and can work with any school in their local area, including academies and free schools.
Trusts are expected to work collaboratively with Local Authorities, dioceses and other schools in the area, to ensure that there is a co-ordinated approach to place planning and delivery and support Local authorities to meet their legal duty by providing additional places where they are needed. The Department 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 will provide support and advice.