Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce the perceived stigma of special educational needs and disabilities.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan, published on 2 March 2023, sets out a plan to establish a new national SEND and AP system with the mission to fulfil children’s potential, build parents’ trust, and provide financial sustainability.
The department’s vision is to create a more inclusive society that celebrates and enables success in all forms, with the cultures, attitudes, and environments to offer every child and young person the support that they need to participate fully, thrive, and fulfil their potential.
The Improvement Plan sets out the department’s reforms to ensure the process for identifying needs and accessing support is early, dignified, affirmative, and focuses on a child or young person’s achievements, talents, and strengths.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the cost to families of appealing a local council decision not to grant an education, health and care plan to a young person.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
It is free for families to appeal to the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Tribunal when seeking a special school place or a local council decision not to grant an education, health and care (EHC) plan.
Throughout the SEND and Alternative Provision (AP) Green Paper consultation, families told the department how stressful and lengthy the Tribunal process can be. The SEND and AP Improvement Plan, published on 2 March 2023, sets out the response to the consultation feedback the department received and the next steps we will take in delivering vital reform for children and young people.
This includes our intention for a new national SEND and AP system, underpinned by national standards, to improve early identification of needs and set clear expectations for the types of evidence-based support that should be available in mainstream settings. Our objective is to ensure that all children's additional needs are met effectively and quickly within affordable provision, reducing the need for an EHC plan and, where an EHC plan is needed, to ensure that parents do not endure lengthy and adversarial processes to secure one.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the cost to families of seeking a special school place through the court system.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
It is free for families to appeal to the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Tribunal when seeking a special school place or a local council decision not to grant an education, health and care (EHC) plan.
Throughout the SEND and Alternative Provision (AP) Green Paper consultation, families told the department how stressful and lengthy the Tribunal process can be. The SEND and AP Improvement Plan, published on 2 March 2023, sets out the response to the consultation feedback the department received and the next steps we will take in delivering vital reform for children and young people.
This includes our intention for a new national SEND and AP system, underpinned by national standards, to improve early identification of needs and set clear expectations for the types of evidence-based support that should be available in mainstream settings. Our objective is to ensure that all children's additional needs are met effectively and quickly within affordable provision, reducing the need for an EHC plan and, where an EHC plan is needed, to ensure that parents do not endure lengthy and adversarial processes to secure one.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many unaccompanied asylum-seeking children arrived in England in each month in 2022.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The latest published Immigration Statistics detail the number of unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC). These statistics can be found at Asylum and resettlement datasets:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/asylum-and-resettlement-datasets
UASC application data is located within table ASY_D0.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many children and young people received inpatient mental health care from (1) private mental health providers, and how (2) NHS children, adolescent and mental health services (CAMHS), in each of the 10 years preceding October 2022.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The table below details the number of children and young people aged 17 and under receiving inpatient care from National Health Service providers and non-NHS providers. Information for NHS providers is for all mental health inpatient services as there is not a defined or agreed reporting methodology solely for children and adolescent mental health inpatient services.
Year | NHS providers | Non-NHS providers |
2016/17 | 2,429 | 1,075 |
2017/18 | 2,498 | 1,160 |
2018/19 | 2,720 | 1,233 |
2019/20 | 2,731 | 1,028 |
2020/21 | 2,397 | 818 |
2021/22 | 2,161 | 1,012 |
Source: NHS Mental Health Services Data Set
1. This information includes all the children and young people under the age of 18 who have been admitted (i.e. were an inpatient at any point in the year) to Non-NHS and NHS providers.
2. We are not able to provide data prior to 2016 as the children services were not in scope in the previous datasets.
3. The number of providers submitting data has changed over time (i.e. 92 in April 2017 to 350 in April 2022).
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many unaccompanied asylum-seeking children have been identified in adult asylum hotels run by the Home Office in the last year, following an initial incorrect assessment.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The latest published Immigration Statistics detail the number of unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC). These statistics can be found at Asylum and resettlement datasets:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/asylum-and-resettlement-datasets
UASC application data is located within table ASY_D0.
The Home Office does not hold data for the number of UASC identified in adult hotel accommodation in a reportable format and it would require a manual search of records which would incur a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what analysis they have done to ascertain whether the rate paid to councils to support care leavers who were formerly unaccompanied-asylum seeking children is sufficient to cover the costs of this support.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
All local authorities receive funding via the Local Government Finance Settlement or finance arrangements which apply to the Devolved Administrations. The final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2023/24 makes available up to £59.7 billion for local government in England, an increase in Core Spending Power of up to £5.1 billion or 9.4% in cash terms on 2022/23. The majority of the funding is un-ringfenced in recognition of local authorities being best placed to understand local priorities and the services they provide.
Additionally, the Home Office provides a financial contribution to the costs incurred by local government supporting unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) and former UASC care leavers.
Any local authority receiving a child transferred under the scheme receives a funding contribution of £114 or £143 per child per night, dependent on the number of children they accommodate.
In addition, the government increased the contribution for all former UASC care leavers from £240 per person per week to £270 per person per week. These changes follow a significant uplift in funding in June 2020.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many young people were on waiting lists to access (1) mental health support, and (2) an inpatient mental health bed, on 1 October 2022.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not collected as a national access and waiting times standard for children and young people’s mental health services has not yet been defined or set.
NHS England has consulted on the potential to introduce five new waiting time standards as part of its Clinically-led Review of NHS Access Standards, including that children, young people and their families presenting to community-based mental health services should start to receive care within four weeks from referral. As a first step, NHS England has recently shared and promoted guidance with its local system partners to consistently report waiting times to support the development of a baseline position.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of children currently have access to a mental health support team in school.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Mental health support teams offer support to children experiencing anxiety, depression, and other common mental health issues. As of spring 2022, there were 287 in place in around 4,700 schools and colleges across the country covering 26% of pupils. This will increase to 399 teams, covering around 35% of pupils, by April 2023 with over 500 planned to be up and running by 2024.
The rollout of mental health support teams beyond 2023/24 will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have for the further roll-out of mental support teams in schools.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Mental health support teams offer support to children experiencing anxiety, depression, and other common mental health issues. As of spring 2022, there were 287 in place in around 4,700 schools and colleges across the country covering 26% of pupils. This will increase to 399 teams, covering around 35% of pupils, by April 2023 with over 500 planned to be up and running by 2024.
The rollout of mental health support teams beyond 2023/24 will be set out in due course.