Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the change in the level of food insecurity among children during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Vicky Ford
As both my right hon. Friends the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer have made clear, the government will do whatever it takes to support people affected by COVID-19.
Our latest guidance for schools is set out below:
These are rapidly developing circumstances. We will continue to keep the situation under review and will keep Parliament updated accordingly.
The government has taken a series of significant actions, including actions regarding families’ access to food, to support families affected by COVID-19.
During this period, the Department for Education is asking schools to support children who are eligible for and claiming benefits-related free school meals by providing meals or food parcels through their existing food providers wherever possible. However, we recognise that providing meals and food parcels is not a practicable option for all schools. That is why, on 31 March, we launched a national voucher scheme as an alternative option, with costs covered by the Department for Education.
Schools are best placed to make decisions about the most appropriate arrangements for eligible pupils. This can include food parcel arrangements, alternative voucher arrangements or provision through the national voucher scheme. Our national voucher scheme supplier, Edenred, has reported that over £101.5 million worth of voucher codes has been redeemed into supermarket eGift cards by schools and families through the scheme as of Friday 22 May.
On 8 May, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport announced up to £16 million to provide food for those who are struggling as a result of COVID-19. The programme will provide millions of meals over a 12-week period, as delivered through charities including FareShare and WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme). At least 5,000 frontline charities and community groups in England will benefit, including families, refuges, homeless shelters and rehabilitation services. It will cover rural areas as well as cities, targeting those who are struggling to get food.
In addition, the government continues to invest significantly each year on welfare benefits for people of working age, supporting people when they need it, including those who are out of work or on a low income. During the COVID-19 outbreak, the UK government’s package of support in response to COVID-19 is one of the largest in the world. We have increased Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit by over £1,000 a year for this financial year, benefiting over 4 million households. We have also increased Local Housing Allowance rates, putting an average of £600 into people’s pockets. Taken together, these measures provide over £6.5 billion of additional support through the welfare system for people affected by COVID-19.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the national voucher scheme offered to children eligible for free school meals during school closures will include support to cover the costs of breakfast.
Answered by Vicky Ford
While schools are closed to the majority of pupils, they are able to provide meals or vouchers to children who are eligible for benefits-related free school meals. More information can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-free-school-meals-guidance.
In addition to this, we are working to consider options to support children who currently receive a free breakfast through the department’s contract with Family Action and Magic Breakfast. Family Action with Magic Breakfast will liaise directly with the schools involved in the programme.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to increase the provision of cooking classes in schools to ensure that all pupils are taught cookery until the end of key stage 3.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Cooking and nutrition are compulsory in state-maintained schools for Key Stages 1 to 3, from ages 5 to 14. It is a discrete strand of the design and technology programme of study within the national curriculum, which can be used as an exemplar for free schools and academies.
The programme of study for cooking and nutrition aims to teach children how to cook and apply the principles of healthy eating and good nutrition. It recognises that cooking is an important life skill that will help children to feed themselves and others healthy and affordable food, now and in the future. By the end of Key Stage 3, pupils should be able to cook a repertoire of predominantly savoury dishes and be competent in a range of cooking techniques.
A food preparation and nutrition GCSE is also available for pupils who are interested in continuing to study cookery. It requires pupils to understand and apply the principles of food science, nutrition and healthy eating when preparing and cooking food. This was introduced in 2016, with the first exams in this qualification taken in summer 2018.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department has to (a) increase the take-up of school meals and (b) improve compliance with school food standards.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The government encourages all schools to promote healthy eating and provide healthy, tasty and nutritious food and drink. Compliance with the School Food Standards is mandatory for all maintained schools. We also expect all academies and free schools to comply with the standards, and since 2014 we have made this an explicit requirement in their funding agreements.
School governors have a responsibility to ensure compliance and should appropriately challenge the headteacher and the senior leadership team to ensure that the school is meeting its obligations. Should parents feel that school food standards are not being met at their child’s school, they may choose to make a complaint using the school’s own complaints procedure.
In particular, we want to ensure that as many eligible pupils as possible are claiming their free school meals (FSM) and we also want to make it as simple as possible for schools and local authorities to determine eligibility. To support this, we provide an Eligibility Checking System to make the checking process as quick and straightforward as possible for schools and local authorities. We have also developed a model registration form to help schools encourage parents to sign up for FSM. Additionally, we provide guidance to Jobcentre Plus advisers so that they can make Universal Credit recipients aware that they may also be entitled to wider benefits, including FSM.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress his Department has made on achieving the ambition in the Child Obesity Plan to update the Schools Food Standards to reduce children's sugar consumption.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The department is working with Public Health England (PHE) to update the School Food Standards in relation to sugar and fibre. On 7 May and 6 November 2019, we brought together an advisory group comprising of key stakeholders in the food, nutrition and health sectors who hold a wide breadth of knowledge and expertise in relation to school food to discuss the proposed updates to the standards.
PHE has launched an invitation to tender for organisations interested in testing the detail of the proposed updates to ensure these are practical and can be easily implemented by schools and caterers. Further information will be announced as this develops.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the financial sustainability of local government children’s services.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Funding for children’s services is made available through the Local Government Finance Settlement. We are in the final year of a multi-year settlement deal and have made £46.4 billion available this year for local services including those for children’s services. The government has also made £410 million available to local authorities this year specifically for adult and children social care.
My department is working with the sector, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and with HM Treasury, as part of our preparation for the next Spending Review, to understand the level of funding local government needs to meet demand and deliver statutory duties.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will take steps to ensure that children that attend Early Years settings, from newborn to five years old, have access to a graduate workforce led by specialist Early Years teachers that (a) understand children's development and (b) can offer (i) advice, (ii) encouragement and (iii) support to (A) parents and (B) carers.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The early years foundation stage (EYFS) framework is mandatory for all early years providers in England. It sets out the staffing requirements for early years settings, including ratios and qualifications. There are no plans to change the staffing requirements under the EYFS framework.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he take steps to ensure his Department works with the Department for Health and Social Care to develop a children’s mental health workforce.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department for Education has a joint programme of work with the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England, and Health Education England to deliver the proposals set out in the green paper ‘Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision’. It covers action to incentivise all schools and colleges to identify and train senior mental health leads, to introduce and fund new Mental Health Support Teams linked to schools and colleges, and to pilot a four week waiting time for access to specialist NHS children and young people’s mental health services.
Mental Health Support Teams will be established in 20-25% of England by 2023. The teams will be made up of additional trained mental health workers, supervised by suitable NHS staff and will work closely with other professionals such as educational psychologists, school nurses, counsellors and social workers. The impact of the new teams will be evaluated, including the effect they have on wider provision. The new teams will make up part of the wider increase in NHS children and young people’s mental health services and workforce set out in the NHS Ten-Year Plan. The joint delivery programme is linked to the management of the Ten-Year plan to ensure that the increase in workforce is delivered in a coherent way.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what changes he will make to the National Curriculum to ensure that an understanding of emotional wellbeing and the principles of good mental health are embedded within it at every developmental stage.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department recognises the importance of supporting children and young people’s mental health and emotional wellbeing. That is why from September 2020, teaching about mental health will be part of compulsory health education in all state-funded schools in England. The draft guidance sets out that pupils will be taught about the importance of good physical and mental health including the steps pupils can take to protect and support their own health and mental wellbeing. The content will also cover understanding emotions; identifying where someone is experiencing signs of poor mental health; simple self-care; and how and when to seek support. The guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/relationships-and-sex-education-and-health-education.
Health education is being introduced as part of the basic curriculum alongside Relationships Education in all primary schools, and Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) in all secondary schools. To support schools to enable them to deliver high quality teaching in these subjects, the Department recently announced an additional £6m funding in 2019/20 to support schools to design and develop the training and resources that schools need. The Department has also invited schools to become ‘early adopters’ of the new curriculum and begin teaching the new subjects from September 2019 and to assist the department to shape the support package.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the effect of testing upon children of primary age; and what steps he is taking to research different methods of measuring achievement that benefits children.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Statutory tests have been an important part of the education system under different governments since the 1990s. They help teachers to identify the areas where children need additional support in order to master the fundamentals of English and mathematics, and in doing so ensure that every child is given the best chance to go on to succeed at secondary school. The core purpose of these tests is not to measure pupils, but rather to enable the Government to hold schools to account for the education they provide, and as such they should not be stressful for the children that take them.
Assessments in primary school also enable the Department to measure education standards over time, for example improvements in children’s reading and a declining attainment gap between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils. Removing tests would risk jeopardising these gains.
As well as being an established feature of the education system in England, testing is also common practice across European and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, with 28 out of 35 countries assessing primary school pupils through national, standardised assessments.
All assessments produced by the Standards and Testing Agency (STA) are developed to a high standard. The test development process is rigorous, and includes trialling with pupils in a classroom setting to ensure they are suitable. The STA’s test handbook sets out this approach in more detail, and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/2018-national-curriculum-test-handbook.