Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 28 February 2023 to Question 148681 on Children in Care: Equality, how many organisations supported the independent review of children's care's recommendation that care experience should be a protected characteristic during her Department's two roundtable discussions with the care sector.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
In developing the Care Experience chapter of Stable Homes: Built on Love, the department held two roundtable discussions with organisations representing the care sector. The organisations were:
To enable the most robust and constructive exchange of views possible, these conversations were held in confidence.
Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 28 February 2023 to Question 148681 on Children in Care: Equality, which organisations attended the roundtable discussions held by her Department.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
In developing the Care Experience chapter of Stable Homes: Built on Love, the department held two roundtable discussions with organisations representing the care sector. The organisations were:
To enable the most robust and constructive exchange of views possible, these conversations were held in confidence.
Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 196 of her Department’s consultation entitled Stable Homes, Built on Love: Implementation Strategy and Consultation published in February 2023, what recent discussions she has had with representatives from the care sector on the potential merits of listing care experience as a protected characteristic.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The department has sought the views and advice from a range of stakeholders, including the National Implementation Board, local authorities, sector organisations and sector charities in developing ‘Stable Homes: Built on Love’, the government’s implementation strategy and consultation for reforming children’s social care. The department has also sought the views of care-experienced young people in developing our response. We will continue to engage during and after the consultation.
On the Care Experience chapter, as well as regular informal engagement with key stakeholders, the department held two roundtable discussions with around 20 organisations representing the care sector. The department participated in over 10 discussion sessions facilitated by charities with care-experienced children and young people. Some of these conversations included discussion of the review’s recommendation to make care experience a protected characteristic. The department’s engagement has not shown a consensus for making care experience a protected characteristic, as some fear it would add to the stigma and discrimination faced by care-experienced people.
To tackle stigma and discrimination, the department is prioritising extending strengthened corporate parenting responsibilities to all government departments and relevant public bodies. By amending the corporate parenting principles, we will ensure that policies and services that affect care-experienced young people take account of the challenges they face, remove barriers, and provide opportunities for them to thrive.
The department will hold a public consultation on the detail of these proposals in late 2023.
Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of care sector representatives with which her Department consulted before publishing the response to the independent review of children's social care said that care experience should become a protected characteristic.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The department has sought the views and advice from a range of stakeholders, including the National Implementation Board, local authorities, sector organisations and sector charities in developing ‘Stable Homes: Built on Love’, the government’s implementation strategy and consultation for reforming children’s social care. The department has also sought the views of care-experienced young people in developing our response. We will continue to engage during and after the consultation.
On the Care Experience chapter, as well as regular informal engagement with key stakeholders, the department held two roundtable discussions with around 20 organisations representing the care sector. The department participated in over 10 discussion sessions facilitated by charities with care-experienced children and young people. Some of these conversations included discussion of the review’s recommendation to make care experience a protected characteristic. The department’s engagement has not shown a consensus for making care experience a protected characteristic, as some fear it would add to the stigma and discrimination faced by care-experienced people.
To tackle stigma and discrimination, the department is prioritising extending strengthened corporate parenting responsibilities to all government departments and relevant public bodies. By amending the corporate parenting principles, we will ensure that policies and services that affect care-experienced young people take account of the challenges they face, remove barriers, and provide opportunities for them to thrive.
The department will hold a public consultation on the detail of these proposals in late 2023.
Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many representatives from the care sector her Department engaged with ahead of the publication of the UK Government's response to the independent review of children's care.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The department has sought the views and advice from a range of stakeholders, including the National Implementation Board, local authorities, sector organisations and sector charities in developing ‘Stable Homes: Built on Love’, the government’s implementation strategy and consultation for reforming children’s social care. The department has also sought the views of care-experienced young people in developing our response. We will continue to engage during and after the consultation.
On the Care Experience chapter, as well as regular informal engagement with key stakeholders, the department held two roundtable discussions with around 20 organisations representing the care sector. The department participated in over 10 discussion sessions facilitated by charities with care-experienced children and young people. Some of these conversations included discussion of the review’s recommendation to make care experience a protected characteristic. The department’s engagement has not shown a consensus for making care experience a protected characteristic, as some fear it would add to the stigma and discrimination faced by care-experienced people.
To tackle stigma and discrimination, the department is prioritising extending strengthened corporate parenting responsibilities to all government departments and relevant public bodies. By amending the corporate parenting principles, we will ensure that policies and services that affect care-experienced young people take account of the challenges they face, remove barriers, and provide opportunities for them to thrive.
The department will hold a public consultation on the detail of these proposals in late 2023.
Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many times she has visited Scotland in an official capacity since the 2015 General Election; and what meetings were held on each such visit.
Answered by Nick Gibb
My Rt Hon Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, visited Scotland in December 2015 for a number of engagements.
Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 10 July 2015 to Question 2952, if she will make it her policy to secure accredited Living Wage Employer status for her Department from the Living Wage Foundation.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department of Education and its executive agencies have no directly employed staff paid below the Living Wage and all agency staff should receive at least the Living Wage by the end of August 2015.
The department’s Head of Property has been commissioned to review how the Living Wage can be paid to sub-contracted support staff by the end of the calendar year, at which point we will consider whether or not to pursue accreditation.
This government is the first government to introduce a compulsory Living Wage. All employers will be required to comply with the new National Living Wage of £7.20 per hour for those 25 and above, as set out in the Budget.