Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance the Government has issued to the police and local authorities to improve how they share information with each other for the purposes of (a) safeguarding of children and (b) other matters relating to public protection; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Proportionate and timely information is key to keeping children safe. In 2015, the Government published two key documents to support local practitioners providing safeguarding services to children, young people, parents and carers. These are: ‘Information Sharing: advice for practitioners providing safeguarding services’, which sets out how information should be shared between the local authority, police and indeed other agencies, and ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’.
These documents were published as part of a package alongside other key documents, including ‘What to do if you're worried a child is being abused’ and ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’. Both documents make clear that if a child is at risk of harm or abuse, practitioners should share information.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of disparities in funding for early-years education across England; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
This Government recognises that the current funding system for three- and four-year-olds creates unfair and unjustifiable differences between local areas, and between types of providers.
This is why we have recently consulted on our proposals for a national funding formula for the early years. Our proposals will ensure that funding for the early years is based on the costs of meeting the needs of local children, not on historic spending patterns.
It is vital that funding is fairly distributed between different parts of the country and different types of providers, so that providers can deliver both the existing 15-hour entitlement and the extended 30-hour entitlement for working parents, on a sustainable basis.
We are currently considering all responses to the consultation, and are planning to publish the Government’s response in the autumn.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will ensure that the review of fair funding for early years education includes steps to close the gender attainment gap at age five.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government published a consultation on an Early Years National Funding Formula and changes to funding for the three- and four-year old free entitlements to childcare on Thursday 11 August. The consultation focuses on a creating a fair and transparent way of distributing Government funding to childcare providers. Our proposals set out the means by which every child in receipt of the free entitlement attracts funding to meet their individual needs, regardless of their gender. We rely on the early years profession to spend the money appropriately to meet those needs.
We are making a significant investment in early years education – the expenditure on the free entitlements alone will rise by 38% over this Parliament. Our investment supports the continued increase in the number of qualified staff and the number of providers rated good or outstanding by Ofsted. More than 80% of children are reaching the expected communication and language skills by age five, but we will continue working with the sector until every child gets the high quality education they deserve.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will provide emergency funding to academies in Gloucestershire while the review of education funding is pending to cover additional costs associated with changes in the level of (a) teachers' pay, (b) national insurance contributions and (c) pension costs; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
We remain committed to introducing a national funding formula from 2017, so that schools can start benefitting from fairer funding as soon as possible. This reform will mean the money the Government is investing in education is better matched to need, and that school leaders have more certainty about their funding over the longer term. As well as making funding fairer we are supporting schools with tools and guidance to improve their financial health, so they can manage their budgets effectively and keep driving up standards.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effect of super centres on smaller, privately-funded child care businesses located close to them.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
There is a duty on local authorities to judge what provision is appropriate to meet local needs in their areas. An overarching statutory framework places a legal duty on local authorities to have arrangements in place to secure sufficient children’s centres to meet local need and to consult where changes are planned to local children’s centre provision.
In deciding what arrangements to make, local authorities must have particular regard to the quality and quantity of early childhood services in the area. Local authorities are best placed to understand local needs and the different ways children and families can be supported locally.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what additional funding her Department plans to make available to small childcare facilities to help them meet the costs of the proposed free 30 hours of childcare per week.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
As part of the Spending Review in November 2015, we announced that we will be investing over £1billion more per year by 2019-20 to fund the government’s commitments on the early education entitlements. The funding includes £300 million per year for a significant increase to the rate paid for the two, three and four year old entitlements. From April 2017, the national average funding rates will increase to £4.88 for three and four year olds and £5.39 for two year olds. Local authorities are responsible for deciding how to distribute this funding across their area and for setting the rate paid to early years providers.
We will introduce a national funding formula for early years so that funding is transparently and fairly matched to need and fairly distributed between different types of providers and different parts of the country. We will be consulting on detailed proposals later this year.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the need for special education facilities to educate young people coming to the UK as a result of the conflict in Syria; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Government is wholly committed to ensuring that Syrian refugees who are resettled in the UK receive appropriate support and have a positive experience while they remain in the UK. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is conducting detailed assessments of the needs of all Syrian refugees who are to be re-settled in the UK, including any special educational facilities required by children. These are forwarded to host local authorities prior to the families’ arrival in the UK and will help to ensure that their needs are matched to the availability of local facilities. Based on the experience of the first 1000 arrivals, the government is in the process of assessing the longer term and wider requirements for specialist provision arising from the Prime Minister’s pledge to re-settle 20,000 refugees during the life-time of this Parliament.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to encourage the teaching of emergency first aid skills in schools.
Answered by Edward Timpson
There is nothing more important than keeping children and staff safe. Schools can teach emergency first aid and life-saving skills through personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education, and the best ones already do. The non-statutory PSHE Programme of Study produced by the PSHE Association, teaches young people how to recognise and follow health and safety procedures, ways of reducing risk and minimising harm in risky situations, and how to use emergency and basic first aid. We have put in place a new duty requiring schools to support all children’s medical needs and have set-up a scheme so they can buy defibrillators at a reduced price.
The Department for Education also works closely with expert organisations such as the Red Cross and St John Ambulance who provide learning materials to schools, including life-saving training kits produced by the British Heart Foundation. These kits provide young people with first-hand experience of life-saving skills and we have promoted the use of these via the termly school email and social media channels. The Department is also providing £254,911 in funding for St John Ambulance via the Character Grant, which will select 31,500 pupils for first aid training.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the cost of privately-provided child care; what comparison she has made with the amounts which parents can claim for childcare from the Government; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Department for Education uses a range of cost information from a number of difference sources. These sources include our Parents’ Survey, which can be found at www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-and-early-years-survey-of-parents-2012-to-2013, and independent surveys, such as the Family and Childcare Trust Annual Childcare Cost Survey 2015 which can be found at: www.familyandchildcaretrust.org/childcare-cost-survey-2015
We increased funding for childcare by £1 billion last Parliament, meaning that we spent £5 billion on childcare in 2014-15. We were the first government to fund 15 hours a week of free childcare for all three- and four-year-olds and for disadvantaged two-year-olds. The funding for all three- and four-year-olds is worth around £2,500 a year per child; and the funding for around 40% of two-year-olds is also worth around £2,500 a year per child. We are introducing an additional 15 hours of free childcare a week for three- and four-year-olds of working families, worth a further £2,500 a year per child, from September 2017.
We will be introducing Tax-Free Childcare from early 2017, under which up to 1.8 million working families could benefit by up to £2,000 a year per child. For working parents on low and middle incomes, working tax credit pays up to 70% of their childcare costs which could be worth up to £6,370 for their first child. Under Universal Credit, the subsidy rate will increase to 85% of childcare costs and support will be available, for the first time, to those working fewer than 16 hours per week.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will introduce changes to national schools admissions to ensure that multiple birth children are able to attend the same school.
Answered by Nick Gibb
In order to avoid children of multiple births attending separate schools, the statutory School Admissions Code enables them to be admitted as exceptions to the infant class size limit of 30 pupils per teacher.
Some school admission authorities will exceed their published admission number to avoid separating multiple birth siblings.
We are currently reviewing the Admissions Code, with a view to ensuring siblings can attend the same school. We will consider this issue as part of that review.