Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any evaluation has been conducted to assess the effectiveness of the Partners in Practice programme in improving local authority children’s services.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Partners in Practice are a key part of this government’s efforts to improve practice across the children’s social care system and deliver better outcomes for children and families. The Partners in Practice are driving improvement by providing high quality support to those local councils who need it most. They are also developing and testing innovative approaches to supporting children and families, and sharing learning and best practice across the sector.
Building a robust evidence base is central to the programme and the Partners in Practice are all subject to detailed independent evaluation. Interim evaluation reports will be published in early 2019, with final reports due to be published in mid-2020. The Partners in Practice are also actively sharing live learning and best practice through conferences, workshops, study visits, guides and toolkits.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government in the light of their Children in need and child protection statistics, for 2006–07 and 2016–17, showing an increase in the number of children who were the subject of a child protection plan in place at year end from 27,900 to 51,080, what assessment they have made of the factors leading to that increase.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Department for Education considers that robust statistical comparisons using the Children in Need Census data can only be made between 2010-11 and 2016-17 due to different sources of data collection. Data preceding 2010 is drawn from the Child Protection and Referrals 3 (CPR3) statistical return.
The number of children subject of a child protection plan (CPP) has been rising over the recent years, a pattern that has continued through the collection of data from both sources. However, whilst it is likely there was an increase between 2008-09 and 2009-10, due to the differences in the data sources, it is not possible to confirm if the increase was solely down to an increase in the number of children subject to a CPP, or partially explained by the change in data source.
Since 2010 there has been a consistent increase in the number of section 47 enquiries, from 89,300 to 185,450. These are the enquiries initiated to decide whether and what type of action is required to safeguard and promote the welfare of a child who is suspected of, or likely to be, suffering significant harm.
There has also been an increase in the number of initial stage child protection conferences since 2010, from 43,900 to 76,930. These are the meetings which bring together family members (and the child, where appropriate), with advocates and professionals, to make decisions about the child’s safety, health and development. Over the same period, the number of children who are then subject to a CPP has also increased, but at a lower rate, from 39,100 to 51,080.
In recording the reason a child becomes subject to a CPP, since 2010, there has been an increase in the proportion of plans recorded under the initial categories of neglect and emotional abuse. Conversely, the proportion of plans under the categories of physical abuse and multiple forms of abuse have fallen.
Wherever local councils have reasonable cause to suspect that a child is suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm, they are under a duty to investigate. It is right that where local councils have concerns about a child, they undertake an assessment to determine what action is appropriate to take. As well as indicating some change in the categories of abuse under which social workers are recording CPPs, these trends indicate that local councils are undertaking more investigative action now than in 2010 – with an increasing number of children then going onto CPPs.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recommendations in the report by the Local Government Association, Bright Futures—getting the best for children, young people and families.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The government has noted the Local Government Association’s (LGA) recommendations in their report, Bright Futures – getting the best for children, young people and families. We are continuing to work closely with the LGA, and wider children’s sector, to develop and deliver the government’s strategy to ensure all children receive high quality care and support.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, and if so how, they will support the Women’s Local Government Society Project <i>From Suffrage to Citizenship</i> which will commemorate the centenary of the suffrage of women through the Representation of the People Act 1918.
Answered by Lord Nash
We will be providing £5m funding for projects to celebrate the centenary of the Representation of the People Act 1918, which extended voting rights to women for the first time.
This support will help mark the decisive step in the political emancipation of women in this country and encourage more women to engage in democracy.
The funding will be for projects that will help build a legacy for the future, by celebrating the upcoming centenary, as well as educating young people about its significance. Details of how organisations can apply for funding, what size grants will be available and when the scheme will start will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the benefits of devolving skills provision and funding to local areas in order to ensure that the industrial strategy is a success for all parts of the country.
Answered by Lord Nash
Mayoral Combined Authorities will be able to use their devolved Adult Education Budget to align their skills support with opportunities in the local labour market, and offer more bespoke solutions to individuals with multiple needs. We are committed to ensuring we have a strong skills system that can drive increases in productivity, improvements in social mobility and help make a success of Brexit. This will be essential to the success of our Industrial Strategy.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of children in schools currently graded by OFSTED as good or outstanding, which were graded as requiring improvement or inadequate in 2010, are in (1) academies, and (2) other state-maintained schools.
Answered by Lord Nash
The table attached shows the number of pupils in primary and secondary schools that were judged to be good or outstanding in their most recent inspection broken down by the previous inspection result and whether they are (1) academies or (2) other state-funded schools.
Providing the complete information requested would exceed the word limit for responses to written parliamentary questions. The table has therefore been attached.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many requests for directions to admit a child to an academy the Education Funding Agency has received from councils since its establishment on 1 April 2012; and how many such directions were issued in the last four years.
Answered by Lord Nash
The Education Funding Agency (EFA) has received 121 requests for directions to admit a child to an academy from Local Authorities since its establishment on 1 April 2012 to 31 October 2016.
These requests have resulted in the EFA issuing 15 directions to admit over the same period.