Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of pupils are in independent special schools; and of that total how many pupils are in independent schools whose fees are not paid by a local authority.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
A total of 23,570 pupils attended independent special schools in England in 2022/23. This is 0.26% of the 9,073,832 pupils in England that year. There are a high proportion of pupils with Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans attending independent schools. There were 21,943 pupils at independent special schools in England in 2022/23 who had a EHC plan. The Department does not hold data on how many of the pupils attending independent schools have fees that are not paid by a local authority.
Asked by: Matt Hancock (Independent - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to work with (a) health professionals, (b) local authorities, (c) charities and (d) private sector businesses to ensure that children with neurodivergent conditions are (i) identified and (ii) supported as early as possible in their educational journey.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department wants all children and young people, no matter what their Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), to be able to reach their full potential and receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life. Under the Children and Families Act 2014, mainstream schools and colleges must use their best endeavours to make sure a child or young person who has Special Educational Needs (SEN) gets the special educational provision they need. The SEND Code of Practice is clear that meeting the needs of a child with SEN does not require a diagnostic label or test. Instead, we expect teachers to monitor the progress of all children and young people and put support in place where needed, including arranging diagnostic tests where appropriate.
To support all teachers in meeting these expectations, we are implementing high-quality teacher training reforms, which begin with initial teacher training and continues throughout their career progression. These reforms are designed to ensure teachers have the skills to support all pupils to succeed, including those with SEND. Since 2020, the Initial Teacher Training Core Content Framework (CCF) has included content on adapting teaching to the strengths and needs of all pupils. The department is conducting a review of the CCF and Early Career Framework, which will consider further opportunities to improve how the frameworks support new teachers to meet the needs of pupils with SEND.
The department’s Universal Services (US) contract brings together SEND-specific continuous professional development and support for the school and further education workforce to improve outcomes for children and young people. This includes autism awareness training and resources. Over 100,000 professionals have undertaken autism awareness training since the US programme launched.
The 2023 SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan set out our vision to improve mainstream education through setting standards for early and accurate identification of need, and timely access to support to meet those needs. The standards will clarify the types of support that should be ordinarily available in mainstream settings and practice guides will be developed to support frontline professionals. The first three practice guides will be published by the end of 2025 and will include one on autism.
To inform this, analysts and policy officials keep under review all evidence-based good practice, including international evidence.
The 2021 Autism Strategy sets out the government’s ambition to make significant progress on improving early identification, reducing diagnosis waiting times and improving diagnostic pathways for all people, including children and young people. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is taking steps to improve access to assessments for autism. In 2023/24 DHSC allocated £4.2 million to improve services for autistic children and young people including assessments, pre-and post-diagnostic support and the continuation of the Autism in Schools programme. Additionally, in April 2023, NHS England published a national framework to support the local NHS to commission and deliver autism assessment services for children, young people, and adults.
The department has not undertaken an assessment of the effectiveness of universal screening for neurodivergent conditions. From 2019 the department’s Opportunity Area programme invested £600,000 in a pilot to deliver earlier identification and faster assessment of autism, by connecting teachers and health professionals in schools. The pilot began in Bradford and was subsequently adopted by four other Opportunity Areas. The University of Manchester has been commissioned to evaluate the Early Identification of Autism Projects, and their report is due by the end of November. Bradford’s Centre for Applied Education Research is drawing on the learning from the pilot to build and test a new digital tool to help Key Stage 1 teachers to identify and respond to learning and support needs of neurodivergent children in the classroom.
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of providing funding for education, health and care plan support for children with SEND at independent schools.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Local authorities have the flexibility to place children and young people with Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans in independent schools. Where they choose to do so, the local authority must fund the cost of the placement. In January 2023, local authorities placed 21,324 children and young people in independent special schools and 6,337 in other independent schools.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
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 earmarking funding to local authorities for funding SEND school places at independent institutions.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Local authorities have considerable flexibility to use the high needs funding within their Dedicated Schools Grant allocations to fulfil their statutory duties. This includes using their high needs budgets to discharge their special educational needs duties under the Children and Families Act.
Local authorities are able to fund educational placements for children and young people with Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans in independent schools. Where they choose to name an independent special school on an EHC plan, the local authority must fund the cost of the placement.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of current regulations for private special educational needs providers in ensuring that the level of education provided is adequate.
Answered by Will Quince
Independent schools must have meet the requirements of the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014 which set out the standards for the education, welfare and safety for pupils attending an independent school, including pupils with special educational needs and disabilities. Ofsted and the Independent Schools Inspectorate inspect all independent schools against these standards.
Local authorities are responsible for securing the provision specified in the education, health and care plans (ECHPs) they maintain, including for those placements in private providers. They are required to conduct reviews of all EHCPs that they maintain at least annually. If a review finds that elements of the provision specified in the plan are no longer appropriate, then the local authority should review the EHCP and consider whether the provision should be amended and/or a different institution named.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to recruit more private applied behaviour analysis tutors nationally.
Answered by Will Quince
Autism is a spectrum condition where children have a range of strengths and difficulties. There is no well-founded research to show that any one intervention for children with autism (such as Applied Behaviour Analysis) is more effective than all the other interventions or which interventions are best for which children on the spectrum. The government believes that intervention decisions should be taken by professionals locally, in consultation with parents and young people, after a thorough assessment of the child or young person’s needs.
All schools are required to identify and address the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) of the pupils they support and to use their best endeavours to make sure that a child or young person gets the support they need.
High needs funding, which is specifically for supporting children with SEND, will be increasing by £1 billion in financial year 2022-23 and will bring the overall total of funding for high needs to £9.1 billion. This unprecedented increase of 13% comes on top of the £1.5 billion increase over the last two years. Decisions about how funding is used, including for the employment of specialist tutors or the use of specific interventions, are made by local authorities and schools.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the date by which every classroom in Plymouth will have upgraded ventilation to tackle covid-19 concerns.
Answered by Robin Walker
During the autumn term, the department provided over 353,000 CO2 monitors to all state-funded education providers, including early years, schools and further education colleges, backed by £25 million in government funding. Feedback suggests that schools are finding the monitors helpful to manage ventilation and, in the majority of schools, colleges and nurseries, existing ventilation measures are sufficient.
Maintaining adequate ventilation remains the responsibility of individual providers. Where an area of poor ventilation has been identified that cannot be resolved through simple measures such as opening doors and windows, schools are advised to explore what remedial works may be required to improve ventilation. Where it is not possible to maintain adequate ventilation, it may be appropriate to consider the use of an air cleaning unit while the underlying ventilation issue is addressed.
When used properly, air cleaning units can help reduce airborne contaminants in a poorly ventilated space, including viruses like COVID-19. Air cleaning units are not a substitute for ventilation and should never be used as a reason to reduce ventilation. They are not necessary in spaces that are adequately ventilated.
The department will also make up to 8,000 air cleaning units available for poorly ventilated teaching spaces in state-funded education providers, where quick fixes to improve ventilation are not possible. These department-funded units are only available to state-funded schools, colleges and nurseries. The private sector is autonomous and it is up to independent schools to decide on whether they want to purchase air cleaning units.
Deliveries of air cleaning units will start from this week to special educational needs and disabilities and alternative provision providers. These were allocated in the first application round announced in November 2021. The second round of applications is open until 9am on 17 January. All state funded schools, colleges and nurseries can apply. Special and alternative provision providers that were not successful or did not apply in the first round are also eligible to apply in this round. Once applications have closed, all applications will be assessed against strict criteria and allocated to providers based on need. Providers with successful applications will be contacted individually to arrange delivery, with deliveries expected from February 2022.
For those providers that are not eligible for funded units, the online marketplace provides a route to purchasing air cleaning units directly from suppliers at a suitable specification and competitive price. The marketplace can be accessed here: https://s107t01-webapp-v2-01.azurewebsites.net/list/air-cleaning.
Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, we have emphasised the importance of ventilation and provided guidance to providers on ventilation requirements. In addition to our existing guidance on ventilation we have provided schools, colleges and nurseries with guidance on how to use the air cleaning units as well as how to order a unit via the marketplace. The application process has been communicated to providers via our Daily Bulletin and we continue to support settings with their queries via the Coronavirus Helpline.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the provision of an additional 7,000 air purifiers for increased classroom ventilation announced by his Department on 2 January 2022, whether independent and private schools will receive any of those units.
Answered by Robin Walker
During the autumn term, the department provided over 353,000 CO2 monitors to all state-funded education providers, including early years, schools and further education colleges, backed by £25 million in government funding. Feedback suggests that schools are finding the monitors helpful to manage ventilation and, in the majority of schools, colleges and nurseries, existing ventilation measures are sufficient.
Maintaining adequate ventilation remains the responsibility of individual providers. Where an area of poor ventilation has been identified that cannot be resolved through simple measures such as opening doors and windows, schools are advised to explore what remedial works may be required to improve ventilation. Where it is not possible to maintain adequate ventilation, it may be appropriate to consider the use of an air cleaning unit while the underlying ventilation issue is addressed.
When used properly, air cleaning units can help reduce airborne contaminants in a poorly ventilated space, including viruses like COVID-19. Air cleaning units are not a substitute for ventilation and should never be used as a reason to reduce ventilation. They are not necessary in spaces that are adequately ventilated.
The department will also make up to 8,000 air cleaning units available for poorly ventilated teaching spaces in state-funded education providers, where quick fixes to improve ventilation are not possible. These department-funded units are only available to state-funded schools, colleges and nurseries. The private sector is autonomous and it is up to independent schools to decide on whether they want to purchase air cleaning units.
Deliveries of air cleaning units will start from this week to special educational needs and disabilities and alternative provision providers. These were allocated in the first application round announced in November 2021. The second round of applications is open until 9am on 17 January. All state funded schools, colleges and nurseries can apply. Special and alternative provision providers that were not successful or did not apply in the first round are also eligible to apply in this round. Once applications have closed, all applications will be assessed against strict criteria and allocated to providers based on need. Providers with successful applications will be contacted individually to arrange delivery, with deliveries expected from February 2022.
For those providers that are not eligible for funded units, the online marketplace provides a route to purchasing air cleaning units directly from suppliers at a suitable specification and competitive price. The marketplace can be accessed here: https://s107t01-webapp-v2-01.azurewebsites.net/list/air-cleaning.
Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, we have emphasised the importance of ventilation and provided guidance to providers on ventilation requirements. In addition to our existing guidance on ventilation we have provided schools, colleges and nurseries with guidance on how to use the air cleaning units as well as how to order a unit via the marketplace. The application process has been communicated to providers via our Daily Bulletin and we continue to support settings with their queries via the Coronavirus Helpline.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to his announcement of the provision of an additional 7,000 air purifiers for increase classroom ventilation on 2 January 2022, how many of those units will be allocated to schools in (a) Plymouth, (b) Devon and Cornwall and (c) the south west region.
Answered by Robin Walker
During the autumn term, the department provided over 353,000 CO2 monitors to all state-funded education providers, including early years, schools and further education colleges, backed by £25 million in government funding. Feedback suggests that schools are finding the monitors helpful to manage ventilation and, in the majority of schools, colleges and nurseries, existing ventilation measures are sufficient.
Maintaining adequate ventilation remains the responsibility of individual providers. Where an area of poor ventilation has been identified that cannot be resolved through simple measures such as opening doors and windows, schools are advised to explore what remedial works may be required to improve ventilation. Where it is not possible to maintain adequate ventilation, it may be appropriate to consider the use of an air cleaning unit while the underlying ventilation issue is addressed.
When used properly, air cleaning units can help reduce airborne contaminants in a poorly ventilated space, including viruses like COVID-19. Air cleaning units are not a substitute for ventilation and should never be used as a reason to reduce ventilation. They are not necessary in spaces that are adequately ventilated.
The department will also make up to 8,000 air cleaning units available for poorly ventilated teaching spaces in state-funded education providers, where quick fixes to improve ventilation are not possible. These department-funded units are only available to state-funded schools, colleges and nurseries. The private sector is autonomous and it is up to independent schools to decide on whether they want to purchase air cleaning units.
Deliveries of air cleaning units will start from this week to special educational needs and disabilities and alternative provision providers. These were allocated in the first application round announced in November 2021. The second round of applications is open until 9am on 17 January. All state funded schools, colleges and nurseries can apply. Special and alternative provision providers that were not successful or did not apply in the first round are also eligible to apply in this round. Once applications have closed, all applications will be assessed against strict criteria and allocated to providers based on need. Providers with successful applications will be contacted individually to arrange delivery, with deliveries expected from February 2022.
For those providers that are not eligible for funded units, the online marketplace provides a route to purchasing air cleaning units directly from suppliers at a suitable specification and competitive price. The marketplace can be accessed here: https://s107t01-webapp-v2-01.azurewebsites.net/list/air-cleaning.
Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, we have emphasised the importance of ventilation and provided guidance to providers on ventilation requirements. In addition to our existing guidance on ventilation we have provided schools, colleges and nurseries with guidance on how to use the air cleaning units as well as how to order a unit via the marketplace. The application process has been communicated to providers via our Daily Bulletin and we continue to support settings with their queries via the Coronavirus Helpline.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support is in place for young people who require physiotherapy sessions additional to those commissioned by Clinical Commissioning Groups.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Physiotherapy services are primarily commissioned by clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). Physiotherapy services are commissioned across primary, secondary and tertiary care, taking place in the community, general practitioner practices, patients’ homes, acute hospitals, schools, nurseries in addition to other high street settings.
Outside of the CCG arrangements, NHS England is responsible for specialised commissioning – which can include specialist rehabilitation for young people with complex rehabilitation needs. Local authorities can fund physiotherapy services, both in education and also via personal care budgets. Schools can directly employ physiotherapy services, and this is indeed the case in some Special Educational Needs schools. Physiotherapists could be employed directly out of personal healthcare budgets. Local authorities can also offer physiotherapy as part of wider health and wellbeing schemes, targeted at both their young and adult populations.
Physiotherapy provision can also be accessed via private practitioners, or via the third sector, including charity and voluntary organisations.