Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when the term of office for the current Children's Commissioner for England is due to end; and whether they anticipate an extension to that term.
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.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the welfare of young people in unregulated accommodation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The government is committed to ensuring that vulnerable children and young people remain protected. Local authorities, social workers and those providing support and care for our most vulnerable children and young people deserve our immense gratitude.
Local authorities have the key day-to-day responsibility for delivery of children’s social care. They are continuing to prioritise their responsibilities towards vulnerable children and young people, including those in independent and semi-independent provision. While we will continue to work with local authorities and providers of this provision to ensure that placements remain as stable as possible during this time, we continue to consult on new measures to improve the quality of this provision and ban the placement of under 16s, given that this provision does not deliver care and therefore cannot be appropriate for a child of this age.
We are also working with those delivering services on the frontline to ensure that the support needed for vulnerable children and young people continues. The government has provided £3.2 billion of additional funding to support local authorities to address pressures they are facing in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, including for delivering children’s social care.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Budget statement on 11 March, (1) how, and (2) by which Department, the £2.5 million for research and developing best practice around the integration of services for families will be administered; and to what criteria those applying for such funds will be subject.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The Department for Education will administer the £2.5 million for research and developing best practice around the integration of services for families. More information 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 what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of the role of the National Implementation Adviser for Care Leavers.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The role of the National Implementation Adviser for Care Leavers was created to support local authorities to implement new provisions introduced through the Children and Social Work Act 2017. Mark Riddell was appointed in this role in 2017. The focus of the role is to ensure local authorities provide services to care leavers in a way that reflects the corporate parenting principles set out in the Act; to help them consult on and develop a stronger ‘local offer’ for care leavers; and to implement an extended offer of a Personal Adviser to support all care leavers to the age of 25. Since 2017, Mark Riddell has visited over 60 local authorities and undertaken over 20 follow-up visits. The report of his activity from October 2017 to October 2018 was published last November and the Department for Education expects to publish a second annual report highlighting how local authorities are improving their services in due course.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Timpson Review will (1) clarify the numbers of children being excluded because of behavioural, emotional and social difficulties, and (2) identify what help is being given to such children and their families in schools that do not exclude them.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Exclusions can only be issued for disciplinary reasons. It is unlawful to exclude for a non-disciplinary reason. For example, it would be unlawful to exclude a pupil simply because they have additional needs or a disability that the school feels it is unable to meet.
The annual data on exclusions includes the numbers of children excluded for disciplinary reasons by type of special educational need, including those with social, emotional and mental health difficulties. The data is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/permanent-and-fixed-period-exclusions-in-england-2015-to-2016.
The exclusions review will explore exclusions practice and implications for pupil groups disproportionately represented in the national statistics. The review considers how schools use exclusion and how this impacts on all pupils. In particular, it will consider why some groups of children are more likely to be excluded from school. It will also seek to identify best practice which can be shared across the system.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many children have a statement of special educational needs or an education health and care plan primarily because of behavioural, emotional and social difficulties.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The department publishes the number and proportion of pupils with special educational needs, including the type of need and type of school in the annual ‘Special educational needs in England’ statistical release, which are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-special-educational-needs-sen.
The type of need ‘Behaviour, Emotional and Social Difficulties’ was removed in 2015 and ‘Social Emotional and Mental Health’ was added as a new type of need. Under the new categorisation, 13,493 children were in Special Schools as of the department’s last statistical release, in 2017. This new category is not expected to be treated as a direct replacement, therefore direct comparison is not advised.
We have launched a review of exclusions practice, led by Edward Timpson CBE. The review will consider how schools use exclusion and how this impacts on all pupils, but in particular why some groups of children (including those with special education needs) are more likely to be excluded from school. Views and evidence can be submitted via the call for evidence which is open until 6 May.
We have also set out our vision for transforming the education provided to those who would not otherwise receive it, including because they have been excluded from school. ‘Creating opportunity for all: our vision for alternative provision’, which is attached, sets out our plans to ensure that children in alternative provision receive consistently high-quality education so that they can achieve their potential, and is available at:
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many children are in special schools primarily because of behavioural, emotional and social difficulties.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The department publishes the number and proportion of pupils with special educational needs, including the type of need and type of school in the annual ‘Special educational needs in England’ statistical release, which are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-special-educational-needs-sen.
The type of need ‘Behaviour, Emotional and Social Difficulties’ was removed in 2015 and ‘Social Emotional and Mental Health’ was added as a new type of need. Under the new categorisation, 13,493 children were in Special Schools as of the department’s last statistical release, in 2017. This new category is not expected to be treated as a direct replacement, therefore direct comparison is not advised.
We have launched a review of exclusions practice, led by Edward Timpson CBE. The review will consider how schools use exclusion and how this impacts on all pupils, but in particular why some groups of children (including those with special education needs) are more likely to be excluded from school. Views and evidence can be submitted via the call for evidence which is open until 6 May.
We have also set out our vision for transforming the education provided to those who would not otherwise receive it, including because they have been excluded from school. ‘Creating opportunity for all: our vision for alternative provision’, which is attached, sets out our plans to ensure that children in alternative provision receive consistently high-quality education so that they can achieve their potential, and is available at:
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what personal data of children who are excluded is routinely collected in regard to their home backgrounds; and in particular, whether those children live with both parents, and what other close relationships with adults they have.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Information on excluded pupils is collected from schools via the school census data collection. The department does not routinely collect information about a child’s living arrangements, nor does it collect information on a child’s relationship with their parents or other adults.
The department does collect the home address and certain other characteristic information that will provide some insight into the home background of individual children. This includes information concerning: whether the pupil would be eligible for free school meals or other funding streams (including early years pupil premium and disability access fund); whether the pupil is a service child; and whether the pupil has left care in England and Wales through either adoption, a special guardianship order, a residence order or a child arrangement order.
A robust approvals panel and other controls are in place to ensure that our data is safely guarded and used only in legal, secure and ethical ways.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the terms of reference for the Timpson Review on the rising number of exclusions in schools have been set; and if so, what they are.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The government has announced an externally led review of exclusions which will be led by the former Minister for Vulnerable Children and Families, Edward Timpson. The review will consider how schools use exclusion and how this affects all pupils, but in particular why some groups of children are more likely to be excluded from school. This includes pupils from certain ethnic groups; pupils who are eligible for free school meals, or have been eligible for free school meals in the last six years; pupils with special educational needs; looked after children; and children in need.
The terms of reference for the exclusions review is attached.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to retain the requirement in section 148 of the Learning and Skills Act 2000, that pupils learn about the nature of marriage and importance for family life and the bringing up of children, when they lay regulations under section 34 of the Children and Social Work Act 2017 which provide for all schools in England to teach relationship education.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The government agrees that pupils need to understand the nature of marriage and its importance. We expect that the regulations and guidance will reflect fully the value of strong and stable relationships based on commitment, including marriage and civil partnerships.
The government legislated via the Children and Social Work Act 2017 to place a duty on the Secretary of State for Education to make Relationships Education at primary school and Relationships and Sex Education at secondary school mandatory through regulations.
These subjects will cover the core, age-appropriate knowledge that all children need to form safe, positive relationships based on respect and to prepare them for adult life, which includes family life.
The Department for Education is conducting a thorough and wide-ranging engagement with stakeholders, including a call for evidence, to help inform the development of the regulations as well as accompanying statutory guidance for all schools. The department will then consult on the draft regulations and guidance before they are debated in the House.