Asked by: Lord Bishop of Oxford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to assess the impact of the adoption and special guardianship support fund changes on (1) adoptive and kinship placement disruption, and (2) adopter recruitment.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The new criteria for the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund will enable as many children and families as possible to access the available funding. The department always assesses the impact of changes on vulnerable children. This includes reviewing the equalities impact assessment, which will be made available in the House Libraries in due course.
The department routinely monitors data on adoptive and kinship placement disruption, as well as on adopter recruitment. The department is working closely with Adoption England to improve its monitoring of placement disruption and is funding them to deliver specific projects designed to improve adopter recruitment and family support.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Oxford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the efficacy of therapeutic packages that can be funded through the adoption and special guardianship support fund limit of £3,000 per child per year.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The number of therapeutic sessions available to a child after a specialist assessment funded by the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) is dependent on a variety of factors. This includes the cost of the specialist assessment, the cost of the therapy and in which financial year the specialist assessment was completed. It is also important to note that additional funding may be made available by the local authority or Regional Adoption Agency beyond that provided by the ASGSF, therefore increasing the amount of therapy available, should the specialist assessment recommend this.
The department estimates that £3,000 of funding will fund an average of 19 to 20 hours of therapy. This is a significant package of support, which may be tailored to meet a child’s individual needs.
Outcomes measurement tool data enables the efficacy of ASGSF-funded support to be monitored at local and national level. The department started to collect data from outcomes measurement tools for ASGSF-funded therapies in December 2023. As therapy treatment comes to an end, this data will give an overall picture of the impact and adequacy of individual ASGSF-funded therapies. We are currently developing tools and methods for assessing this emerging information.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Oxford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of therapeutic sessions available to a child who has undergone a specialist assessment funded by the adoption and special guardianship support fund.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The number of therapeutic sessions available to a child after a specialist assessment funded by the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) is dependent on a variety of factors. This includes the cost of the specialist assessment, the cost of the therapy and in which financial year the specialist assessment was completed. It is also important to note that additional funding may be made available by the local authority or Regional Adoption Agency beyond that provided by the ASGSF, therefore increasing the amount of therapy available, should the specialist assessment recommend this.
The department estimates that £3,000 of funding will fund an average of 19 to 20 hours of therapy. This is a significant package of support, which may be tailored to meet a child’s individual needs.
Outcomes measurement tool data enables the efficacy of ASGSF-funded support to be monitored at local and national level. The department started to collect data from outcomes measurement tools for ASGSF-funded therapies in December 2023. As therapy treatment comes to an end, this data will give an overall picture of the impact and adequacy of individual ASGSF-funded therapies. We are currently developing tools and methods for assessing this emerging information.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Oxford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will carry out an impact assessment of the adoption and special guardianship support fund changes; and if so, when they will publish that impact assessment.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The new criteria for the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund will enable as many children and families as possible to access the available funding. The department always assesses the impact of changes on vulnerable children. This includes reviewing the equalities impact assessment, which will be made available in the House Libraries in due course.
The department routinely monitors data on adoptive and kinship placement disruption, as well as on adopter recruitment. The department is working closely with Adoption England to improve its monitoring of placement disruption and is funding them to deliver specific projects designed to improve adopter recruitment and family support.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Oxford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they give third parties access to national pupil data or learner records, and whether they charge a fee for any such access.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The department will only share pupil, or learner, level data with others where it is lawful, secure and ethical to do so. Where these conditions are met and data is shared, the department do not charge any fee.
All requests for data from the department are subject to a robust approvals process where senior data experts assess all applications for public benefit, proportionality, legal underpinning and strict information security standards. The approvals process where senior data experts assess all applications is known as the DfE Data Sharing Approval Panel (DSAP). The DSAP panel also includes external members who scrutinise the ongoing decision making in order to increase public trust.
As part of the department’s commitment to transparency, it publishes details of all organisations it has shared personal data with alongside a short description of the project. This publication is updated quarterly and is available from GOV.UK at the link below: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dfe-external-data-shares.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Oxford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the future use of artificial intelligence in education using national pupil data or learner records.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The department has conducted research and has a work programme around artificial intelligence in education settings. To date, the department has not used national pupil data or learner records in setting the strategy for the department's work in this area.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Oxford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the current status of the Advisory Board of the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI) Advisory Board was appointed on a fixed term basis, with terms ending in September 2023. As CDEI’s work evolves to keep pace with developments in data and AI, the CDEI will engage with a broader pool of expertise from across the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). CDEI will continue its work to enable trustworthy innovation using data and AI as part of DSIT, including developing tools, guidance and standards to help public and private sector organisations to use AI and data in a way that builds public trust.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Oxford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what future plans there are for the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI) Advisory Board was appointed on a fixed term basis, with terms ending in September 2023. As CDEI’s work evolves to keep pace with developments in data and AI, the CDEI will engage with a broader pool of expertise from across the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). CDEI will continue its work to enable trustworthy innovation using data and AI as part of DSIT, including developing tools, guidance and standards to help public and private sector organisations to use AI and data in a way that builds public trust.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Oxford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to protect customers with prepayment energy meters this winter.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Many customers choose prepayment meters to help them budget and avoid going into debt. Ofgem rules require energy suppliers to offer emergency and additional support credit or alternative short-term support to help prepayment meter customers stay on supply.
The Energy Price Guarantee will ensure that a typical household will pay on average £2,500 a year on their energy bill for the next two years from 1 October 2022. This includes prepayment customers, and will save a typical household £1,000 a year based on current energy prices.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Oxford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce the number of new prepayment energy meters installed this upcoming winter.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Many customers prefer prepayment meters to help them budget.
Ofgem’s License Conditions require suppliers to consider all options for appropriate debt management. This can include installing a prepayment meter, but suppliers have to consider whether this is safe and practicable, including whether a prepayment meter is appropriate for the specific customer. Ofgem rules restrict the force fitting of a prepayment meter to repay debt except as a last resort.