Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with UK universities about the provision of university courses in countries where they have concerns about (1) governance, or (2) human rights, in those countries.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Shadow Minister (Culture, Media and Sport)
The UK is one of the world’s major providers of trans-national education. As autonomous institutions, universities make their own decisions about education provision overseas and are responsible for ensuring their partnerships are managed appropriately with the right due diligence in place.
Relevant government departments, including the Department for International Trade, the Department for Education, and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, regularly engage with the university sector to support higher education institutions when establishing trans-national education programmes, including working with the British Council to provide advice in particular contexts. If any provider has concerns, we encourage them to contact the government.
We are pleased to see that Universities UK is working on behalf of the sector, and with government support, further to inform the sector about the importance of appropriate risk management in its international endeavours. Its recent publication, ‘Managing Risks in Internationalisation: Security-related issues’, includes specific guidance on delivering educational programmes overseas and can be accessed here: https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-analysis/reports/Pages/managing-risks-in-internationalisation.aspx.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to providing temporary additional funding to schools to help fund the increase in cleaning costs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The department is providing additional funding to schools, on top of existing budgets, to cover unavoidable costs incurred between March to July, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, that cannot be met from their existing resources.
Schools have been eligible to claim for: increased premises related costs associated with keeping schools open over the Easter and summer half term holidays; support for free school meals for eligible children who are not in school, where schools are not using the national voucher scheme; and additional cleaning costs required, due to confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases, over and above the cost of existing cleaning arrangements. We have published detailed guidance on the fund at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-financial-support-for-schools.
The first claims window for the fund closed on 21 July. All claims for funding within the specified cost categories and maximum limit have already been paid. We are assessing all other claims, which will be paid later in the autumn if approved.
There will also be a further opportunity in autumn for schools to claim for exceptional costs they faced between March to July. This second claims window will be available for schools who were unable to claim in the summer and will be for the same eligible cost categories.
As set out in our reopening guidance, schools should use their existing resources when planning to welcome all children back for the autumn. The guidance can be viewed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-early-years-and-childcare-closures/coronavirus-covid-19-early-years-and-childcare-closures#funding.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have analysed the value and effectiveness of early intervention approaches in children’s social care; and if so, what actions they have taken as a result.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The government has funded the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF) since 2013, including giving the EIF almost £2 million in 2018-20, to assess, evaluate and disseminate evidence of what works. The evidence on effectiveness in early intervention, including in children’s social care, is the core focus of the EIF.
The EIF has assessed the benefits of a wide range of specific early intervention programmes and suggested that, whilst producing robust estimates is challenging, there is a compelling argument that the costs of intervening early are likely to pay off to society in economic terms.
In particular, the EIF highlights that the long-term economic benefits are considerable where early intervention leads to labour market gains, such as improvements in employment and earnings. Published research on the value of early intervention can be found in the ‘Realising the potential of early intervention’ report, attached, which can also be found at the following link: https://www.eif.org.uk/report/realising-the-potential-of-early-intervention.
The value of early intervention is reflected in the statutory guidance ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children (2018)’, also attached. The guidance is clear on the fact that providing early help is more effective in promoting children’s welfare than reacting later and that early intervention plays an important part in supporting children and young people to achieve better outcomes. This is why the government has recently confirmed funding for the Troubled Families Programme for 2020-21 as part of the one-year Spending Round, securing continued support for an early intervention programme which aims to achieve significant and sustained improvement for families with multiple and high-cost problems.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have considered the causes of the increase in demand for children’s social care services; and if so, what actions they have taken as a result.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
In preparation for the 2019 spending round, the department worked with the sector, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and HM Treasury, to understand the level of funding local government needs to meet demand and deliver statutory duties. My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has now announced that local government social care services are getting an additional £1 billion grant for adults and children in 2020-21. This is on top of the continuation of existing social care grants.
The department will continue to develop our understanding of demand in children’s social care as part of preparation for the next Spending Review. We are also working closely with MHCLG on the Review of Relative Needs and Resources to develop a robust, up-to-date approach to funding distribution for children's services at local government finance settlements.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether children’s social care services delivered and commissioned by local authorities will benefit from additional funding as a result of the Spending Review announcement.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Children’s social care services delivered and commissioned by local authorities will benefit from additional funding as a result of the Spending Review announcement. Local Government is getting an additional £1 billion grant for adult and children’s social care in 2020-21. This is on top of the continuation of existing social care grants.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the accuracy of the analysis provided by the Institute for Fiscal Studies on the teachers' pay award announced in July which states that “about 60 per cent of teachers will receive below-inflation awards of 2 per cent, or in the case of school leaders 1.5 per cent".
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
For all pay awards, the government considered the wider pressures on public spending and the need to ensure they were fair for both public sector workers and the taxpayer. The government provided for a significant uplift in starting salaries to focus on raising pay for the lowest paid teachers at the start of their careers.
43.5% of the teacher workforce, or the 199,000 teachers currently on the Unqualified Teacher and Main Pay Range ranges will see an uplift of 3.5% to their pay range. The remaining 56.5% will see an increase to their pay ranges of between 1.5% and 2%.
Arrangements for teachers’ pay have been fundamentally reformed over the last four years following recommendations from the School Teachers’ Review Body. The freedoms the government have given headteachers over pay mean that there are no restrictions on increases within the minima and maxima of the national pay ranges. Schools are able to choose to give teachers a higher pay rise where this is appropriate to their particular local context and budget, subject to performance.