Asked by: Baroness Barran (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 17 June (HL Deb col 1926), whether they have published the interim evaluation led by Ecorys UK of the Regional Care Co-operative pathfinders; and, if so, what the evaluation shows in terms of the impact on the commissioning and placements of children and their outcomes.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The independent Phase 1 report from the evaluation of the Regional Care Co-operative (RCC) pathfinders to understand early implementation, led by Ecorys UK, has been completed and is currently undergoing final departmental clearance. The department expects to publish it imminently.
Asked by: Baroness Barran (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 17 June (HL Deb col 1963), and following the publication on 17 November of updated guidance for placing children in secure accommodation, whether they still intend to extend the powers that the Secretary of State already has to make regulations in relation to secure accommodation to children deprived of their liberty.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As part of changes introduced by Clause 11 of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which will amend Section 25 of the Children Act 1989 (CA 1989) to allow for authorisation of a deprivation of liberty in ’Relevant Accommodation’ under the CA 1989, the department can confirm that the same regulation making powers that exist currently for the Secretary of State in relation to Secure Accommodation will also be available for ’Relevant Accommodation’.
It will be made clear in regulations that Secretary of State approval will be required to deprive children under the age of 13 of their liberty via Section 25 of the CA1989 in Relevant Accommodation. As per updated guidance published on 17 November, there is no such regulatory requirement regarding Secretary of State approval for applications to the High Court under its inherent jurisdiction for a deprivation of liberty order – this does not amend the requirements or guidance on the use of Section 25.
Asked by: Baroness Barran (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 16 September (HL Deb col 2115), when they will announce the outcome of the review of 44 new free schools whose approval have been paused for over a year.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The review of mainstream free schools is necessary to ensure we provide sufficient high quality school places, whilst offering value for money and ensuring projects will not have a detrimental impact on local schools. An update will be provided as soon as possible.
Asked by: Baroness Barran (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks of Baroness Smith of Malvern on 22 May (HL Deb col 393) and the publication in July of Families first for children pathfinder: implementation and process evaluation report, when the evaluation of the impact of multi-agency child protection teams will be published.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department is running an evaluation of the families first for children pathfinder programme until 2028, with the next publication scheduled for 2027. This report will assess the aggregate impact of the full reform package, which includes multi-agency child protection teams, and will highlight progress on indicators such as multi-agency collaboration, information sharing, and decision making.
Alongside formal evaluation, the department continues to monitor progress and extract learning more broadly, including through data returns, local monitoring and working closely with the ten pathfinder areas.
Asked by: Baroness Barran (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 22 May (HL Deb col 427), whether the planned user testing to identify key safeguarding practitioner information happened; and, if so, what the main themes were that emerged.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Between May and September 2025, the department consulted nearly 500 practitioners from children’s social care, education, health, police, and probation. Key findings included:
We are using these insights to inform future work, ensuring that design and development align with practitioner needs. User research will continue to maintain a user-centred approach throughout.
Asked by: Baroness Barran (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 10 November (HL Deb cols 35-7), what modelling they have done of the impact of the absence of the English Baccalaureate on the uptake of (1) modern foreign languages, (2) history, and (3) geography.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Curriculum and Assessment Review found that English Baccalaureate (EBacc) measures have unnecessarily constrained subject choice, affecting student engagement and achievement, and that uptake of EBacc subjects has not translated into increased study of them at 16 to 19. Although the EBacc was intended to support GCSE entries of modern foreign languages, history and geography, full EBacc entry was just 41% in 2024/25.
The new model protects the important place of humanities and modern foreign languages. Under our proposed model, students will have to take at least one humanity or language whilst currently schools can satisfy expectations of Progress 8 without pupils taking any of these subjects.
The department will consult on the improved Progress 8 and Attainment 8 measures.
Asked by: Baroness Barran (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 29 October (HL Deb cols 1378-79), how long they estimate it will take to address concerns raised following a referral of a university to the Office for Students under the new E6 condition.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This is a matter for the Office for Students (OfS), which has dedicated resources to investigate potential breaches of its conditions.
Asked by: Baroness Barran (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 17 November (HL Deb col 537), on what evidence their decision not to implement the Curriculum and Assessment Review's recommended Year 8 diagnostic maths test is based.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government has considered the Curriculum and Assessment Review panel’s recommendations carefully and supports their recommendations for a renewed focus on assessment in key stage 3. We will expect schools to undertake formative assessments in maths and writing during the key stage, supporting them to identify high quality materials.
While strong foundations in both literacy and numeracy are important for children to achieve and thrive, reading unlocks the wider curriculum. If a child cannot read, they cannot succeed in other subjects including, for example, maths, science and history. It is critical we focus on ensuring children and young people have strong foundations in reading in the first instance and this is why we will develop and deliver a new statutory assessment in reading in year 8.
Asked by: Baroness Barran (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 10 November (HL Deb col 40), whether they plan to pilot media literacy within the curriculum, and if so, how its efficacy will be assessed.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
On 5 November, the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review published its final report which includes recommendations for a refreshed curriculum and assessment system in England.
As part of the response to the Review the government has committed to ensuring our young people have the skills they need to identify and challenge misinformation, by strengthening media literacy in citizenship and English.
To ensure primary-aged children are introduced to key content on media literacy we have made a commitment to make citizenship compulsory in key stages 1 and 2.
We will also reform the computing curriculum and create a broader computing GCSE so that pupils have the vital digital skills needed for the future such as AI literacy and we will explore a new level 3 qualification in data science and AI.
The department will engage with sector experts and young people in working out how best to reflect this content in the updated curriculum. There will be public consultation on the updated curriculum programmes of study, to seek views on the content before they are finalised.
Asked by: Baroness Barran (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the statement by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 10 November (HL Deb cols 30–38), whether they plan to pilot changes to media literacy in the curriculum, and how its efficacy will be assessed.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the noble Lady to the answer of 27 November to Question HL11890.