Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of a diagnosis of cancer automatically requiring an education, health and care plan.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
No such assessment has been made as we think the current set up is flexible enough to respond to situations like this. The Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice: 0-25 years is clear that the decision to carry out a needs assessment for an Education, Health and Care plan must be based on the individual needs of the child and whether it may be necessary for special educational provision to be made for them. The Code of Practice states that local authorities must not apply a ‘blanket’ policy to particular groups of children or certain types of need, as this would prevent the consideration of a child’s or young person’s needs individually and on their merits.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the timetable is for opening the next round of bidding for the Strategic Schools Improvement Fund.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is currently assessing applications from round 3 of the Strategic School Improvement Fund, which closed on 20 April. It is expected that applicants will be informed of the outcome in July. An announcement will be made later in the year on our future plans.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he plans to collect data on the number of pupils in England who are eligible for free school meals on the ground of household income but are not registered for such meals; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Our latest research on the take-up of free school meals (FSM) was published in December 2013. We are currently considering whether to commission further analysis.
We are also exploring what opportunities exist in the longer term to make FSM registration processes more efficient. 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.
To increase registration for FSM, guidance is provided to Jobcentre Plus advisers so that Universal Credit recipients can be made aware that they may also be entitled to wider benefits, including FSM.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the real terms net change in funding per pupil will be for schools in Birkenhead under the new national funding formula.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The introduction of the national funding formula means that our funding will, for the first time, be distributed on the basis of the individual needs and characteristics of every school in the country. The former system is completely out-of-date, based on data and decisions from over a decade ago.
As the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies has confirmed, overall schools funding is being protected at a national level in real terms per pupil over the next two years. At the same time, our historic improvement of the school funding system – backed by an additional £1.3 billion of extra funding – will replace the postcode lottery which saw huge differences in funding between similar schools in different parts of the country.
The new formula will allocate a cash increase of at least 1% per pupil to every school by 2019-20, with much higher gains for underfunded schools. Schools across Birkenhead will see, on average, a cash funding increase of 1.6%, or £779,000 through our formula.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that children registered for free school meals access a hot meal each day; and which agency is responsible for the enforcement of the standards of free school meals.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
We expect schools to provide hot meals. The legal requirement on schools is to provide a lunchtime meal that meets the school food standards, where they apply. School governing boards are responsible for ensuring that school food standards are met.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of foster care allowances in covering the cost of raising children.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
There has been no recent assessment of the adequacy of National Minimum Allowances for foster parents in covering the cost of raising children.
‘Foster Care in England’, the independent review of the fostering system and the Education Select Committee made a number of recommendations relating to the support foster parents receive, including financial support. We are carefully considering the recommendations made by both reports and the government response will be published in spring this year.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what his Department's policy is on schools charging pupils for hot water used to prepare food they have brought from home.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Schools should not charge for hot water, and should definitely not segregate pupils whose parents were unable to pay for their school meals.
By law, local authorities are required to provide facilities for pupils who bring their own lunch and/or drink at maintained schools, however it is ultimately for schools to set their own packed lunch policies. Schools are expected to be reasonable in the policies that they choose to adopt and the department expects schools to consider pupils’ medical, dietary and cultural needs accordingly.
Schools are obliged to provide meals where a child is eligible for free school meals (FSM). Where a child is not eligible for FSM, parents are expected to cover the cost of any meal.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what his Department's policy is on schools requiring children to eat a lunchtime meal in a separate room as a result of their parents being unable to pay a minimum advance payment to cover meals.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Schools should not charge for hot water, and should definitely not segregate pupils whose parents were unable to pay for their school meals.
By law, local authorities are required to provide facilities for pupils who bring their own lunch and/or drink at maintained schools, however it is ultimately for schools to set their own packed lunch policies. Schools are expected to be reasonable in the policies that they choose to adopt and the department expects schools to consider pupils’ medical, dietary and cultural needs accordingly.
Schools are obliged to provide meals where a child is eligible for free school meals (FSM). Where a child is not eligible for FSM, parents are expected to cover the cost of any meal.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) direct employees, (b) agency staff and (c) outsourced staff working for (i) his Department and (ii) agencies of his Department are paid less than the living wage, as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department and its executive agencies have no direct employees paid below the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.
There are no agency or outsourced staff paid below the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to monitor the (a) employment, (b) training, (c) housing and (d) health outcomes of vulnerable 16 and 17-year-olds who are cared for by local authorities.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The department collects data on children that were looked after and care leavers from local authorities annually, via the children looked after return.
Figures on the placement type of all children looked after during the year, for example whether they are a foster placement or a children’s home placement, and on a range of health-based measures, can be found in the national tables I1, I2, I3, and I5a of the ‘Children looked after in England including adoption: 2016 to 2017’ statistical first release, which is accessible via:
Figures on 17-year-old care leavers, including on whether the person is in higher education, further education, or in training or employment, what type of accommodation they are living in, and whether this accommodation is judged to be suitable, can be found in the national tables F3 and F4 of the ‘Children looked after in England including adoption: 2016 to 2017’ statistical first release via: