Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the guidance 'How to be a white ally', published by Imperial College London; and whether they intend to take steps in response to review that institution’s funding.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
Universities are autonomous institutions and as such have control over what they publish on their own websites.
Decisions about funding for individual higher education providers are made by the Office for Students, rather than the department.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take, if any, to increase the number of care leavers at high tariff higher education institutions.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
We have published guidance for higher education (HE) providers, setting out areas where care leavers are likely to need additional support, including examples of the types of additional support that have been put in place, drawing on best practice from across the sector. We have also introduced the Care Leaver Covenant, which enables organisations, including HE providers, to make offers of support to care leavers.
The National Network for the Education of Care Leavers has developed the Quality Mark: a developmental accreditation process for universities and colleges to demonstrate their support for the inclusion and success of care experienced students. The Quality Mark has a focus on getting the right information to students on academic and pastoral support available to them, along with tailored mentoring and financial advice.
As autonomous bodies independent from government, HE providers are responsible for their own admissions decisions. However, the department encourages HE providers to put the interests of students at the heart of their decision-making, including providing the appropriate support for care leavers.
All HE providers in the approved (fee cap) category of the Office for Students’ (OfS) register are required to have an access and participation plan (APP) agreed by the Director for Fair Access and Participation at the OfS. In order to be approved, APPs must represent a credible, ambitious strategy to reduce gaps in access, participation and attainment for disadvantaged and under-represented groups.
As care leavers are underrepresented within HE, APPs will often address specific interventions by the provider for improving equality of opportunity for care-experienced individuals. This may take the form of targeted outreach, additional pastoral, accommodation or financial support while studying, or support through mentorship or buddy schemes.
Care leavers attending HE courses are treated as independent students when their entitlement to living costs is assessed. This means that in nearly all cases they will qualify for the maximum loan for living costs. Care leavers undertaking HE also qualify for a £2,000 HE bursary from their local authority. Additional bursaries are offered by some HE providers for care leavers in higher education.
The enclosed attachment contains the department’s analysis of the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) student record showing the number of care leavers who entered courses at English HE providers in each academic year from 2018/19 to 2020/21. Coverage refers to entrants domiciled in England prior to study and care leavers are defined as codes 01 and 04 in the HESA care leaver collection documentation. Further information can be found here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/collection/c20051/a/careleaver.
The summary table below shows the number of care leavers who entered courses at high tariff[1] English HE providers in each year, along with total care leavers entering courses at all HE providers. A full breakdown by institution can be found in the attachment.
Academic year | Care leavers entrants at high tariff providers | Care leavers entrants at all providers |
2018/19 | 435 | 3,570 |
2019/20 | 505 | 3,895 |
2020/21 | 580 | 4,290 |
We will take account of the recommendations from the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, which is due to report shortly, when assessing what further support can be provided to increase the number of care leavers who attend university.
[1] The tariff grouping used here is the same as that which the Office for Students defined in Annex A (pg 20) of their technicaly guidance, available here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/6591e671-624a-4ebf-a5fb-1be904a5eb9f/technical-gudiance-to-accompany-provider-modelling-finalforweb.pdf.
They are based on the average UCAS tariff score of their young (aged under 21) UK-domiciled undergraduate entrants in the 2012-13 to 2014-15 academic years. Providers in the top third of the ranking by average tariff score form the ‘High tariff’ group.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what data they collect on the average level of educational attainment for looked after children (1) at Key Stage 5, and (2) in post-16 education.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The department does not hold information centrally on the types of qualifications looked-after children study and complete beyond key stage 4. The department does hold and publish information on pupils who were at the end of key stage 4 in the 2018/2019 academic year and reports on their destinations in the following academic year (2019/2020).
The figures show in the 2019/20 academic year, 5,450 children looked after were in a sustained education destination in the year following the end of key stage 4. Of these, 2,910 were in further education, 860 were in a school sixth form or sixth form college and 1,240 were in some other form of education. The full figures can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/d583af1d-ad7d-4f1f-990b-2b27586d6c69.
The department does not hold information on the educational attainment of looked after children beyond key stage 4.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many looked after children (1) started, and (2) completed, A-Level courses in each of the last three years for which the data are available.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The department does not hold information centrally on the types of qualifications looked-after children study and complete beyond key stage 4. The department does hold and publish information on pupils who were at the end of key stage 4 in the 2018/2019 academic year and reports on their destinations in the following academic year (2019/2020).
The figures show in the 2019/20 academic year, 5,450 children looked after were in a sustained education destination in the year following the end of key stage 4. Of these, 2,910 were in further education, 860 were in a school sixth form or sixth form college and 1,240 were in some other form of education. The full figures can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/d583af1d-ad7d-4f1f-990b-2b27586d6c69.
The department does not hold information on the educational attainment of looked after children beyond key stage 4.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many care leavers entered high tariff higher education institutions in each of the last three years for which the data are available; and how many entered each institution.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The enclosed attachment contains the department’s analysis of the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) student record showing the number of care leavers who entered courses at English higher education providers (HEPs) in each academic year from 2018/19 to 2020/21. Coverage refers to entrants domiciled in England prior to study and care leavers are defined as codes 01 and 04 in the HESA care leaver collection documentation. Further information can be found here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/collection/c20051/a/careleaver.
The summary table below shows the number of care leavers who entered courses at high tariff[1] English HEPs in each year, along with total care leavers entering courses at all HEPs. A full breakdown by institution can be found in the attachment.
Academic year | Care leavers entrants at high tariff providers | Care leavers entrants at all providers |
2018/19 | 435 | 3,570 |
2019/20 | 505 | 3,895 |
2020/21 | 580 | 4,290 |
[1] The tariff grouping used here is the same as that which the Office for Students defined in Annex A (pg 20) of their technical guidance, available here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/6591e671-624a-4ebf-a5fb-1be904a5eb9f/technical-gudiance-to-accompany-provider-modelling-finalforweb.pdf.
They are based on the average UCAS tariff score of their young (aged under 21) UK-domiciled undergraduate entrants in the 2012-13 to 2014-15 academic years. Providers in the top third of the ranking by average tariff score form the 'High tariff' group.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much funding they have provided in total for family hubs since 2020; and how much of this has been allocated, broken down by fund.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
At Budget, the government announced £82 million to create a network of family hubs. This is part of a wider £300 million package to transform services for parents, carers, babies and children in half of council areas across England.
Further information on funding profiles and how funding will be allocated will be made available in due course.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government to which named funds the £500 million of families and early years funding will be directed.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
Supporting families and children across the country to get the best start in life is a crucial part of the government’s ambition to level up. The £500 million announced at the Autumn 2021 Budget includes:
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much new funding for family hubs they have set aside in the Autumn Budget and Spending Review for each financial year to 2024–25; and how local authorities can apply for these funds.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
At Budget, the government announced £82 million to create a network of family hubs. This is part of a wider £300 million package to transform services for parents, carers, babies and children in half of council areas across England. The department will set out more detail in due course on how this new funding will be allocated.
The department has previously announced £39.5 million of funding to support the implementation of family hubs. Some of this has been direct support to local authorities:
The remainder of funding is for programmes to support the development of family hubs policy, evidence and data and digital implementation, covering mixed teams of local authorities, officials, and contracted partners. This includes:
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of the total population was ever in local authority care as children.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The information requested is not held by the department.
Information of the current number of children in care, as a proportion of the child population, is published in table A1 of the statistical release ‘National tables: children Looked after in England including adoption 2018 to 19’: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2018-to-2019.
Figures for the reporting year ending 31 March 2020 will be published later this year.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the appointment process for the Children's Commissioner for England; and when they expect to begin this process for the next Commissioner.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The Children Act 2004 states that the Children’s Commissioner is to be appointed by the Secretary of State for Education. The Children’s Commissioner post is a Significant Public Appointment and therefore follows the process and requirements set out in the Governance Code on Public Appointments.
Officials in the Department for Education have already started planning for the recruitment of the next Children’s Commissioner. We will be monitoring closely the current situation with the COVID-19 outbreak to see when would be most appropriate to launch the campaign.
The current Children’s Commissioner’s term in office will conclude at the end of February 2021. The Children’s Commissioner maximum term in office is six years as set out in primary legislation – the Children Act 2004, as amended by the Children and Families Act. An extension to the term of the Children’s Commissioner is not permitted under the current legislation.