Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the number of schools which ascribed ethnicity to children whose nationality and country of birth details were not filled in by a parent as part of the national schools census; and what steps they have taken to ensure that schools fully understand that this information is not required.
Answered by Lord Nash
Schools collect and use data to support the effective day to day running of their school. Schools capture this data within their own management information systems (MIS). They are free to purchase an MIS of their choice and some of the data held in this system is then shared with DfE when legally permitted to do so.
Some MIS contain an option for schools to ascribe ethnicity however this information is not captured by DfE and the Schools Census guidance (May 2016) is clear that parents or pupils may choose to withhold information on nationality, country of birth or ethnicity if they so wish. The guidance also states that there is no requirement for schools to request, or see, documentary evidence such as a passport or birth certificate to ascertain information on nationality and country of birth.
To address any uncertainties regarding how information should be collected, I have placed an information note in the House Libraries.
We are also continuing to work with the sector to consider how we can better support schools in collecting school census data for future rounds.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the number of schools which have asked for pupils’ passport numbers or expiry dates as part of the national schools census; and what steps they have taken to ensure that schools fully understand that this information is not required.
Answered by Lord Nash
The Department for Education Schools Census guidance (May 2016) clearly states that there is no requirement for schools to request, or see, any documentary evidence such as a passport or birth certificate to ascertain information on nationality and country of birth. Additionally, the guidance states that parents may choose to withhold this information if they so wish.
The School Census does not collect passport numbers or expiry dates, and this information is not collected by the Department. We are aware that some schools collect passport details and hold them on their Management Information Systems. This is something requested by schools themselves – for example for school trips. This is a matter for Management Information System providers and schools.
To address any uncertainties, I have placed an information note in the House Libraries. This note has also been published on the Department’s public website.
We know there has been some confusion and some schools have asked parents for passports or birth certificates. We will work with the sector to consider how we can better support schools in collecting school census data for future rounds.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government why, in the original guidance on the national schools census, schools were asked to collect or ascribe information on the ethnicity of children.
Answered by Lord Nash
The DfE has been collecting data about pupils attending schools in England through the School Census for over ten years.
The data is collected termly and supports a number of DfE’s strategic objectives. It is widely used by DfE for the purpose of improving, and promoting, the education or well-being of all pupils in England. For example, data on disadvantaged or special educational needs pupils enable the department to target support to where it is needed most.
Ethnic background data is regarded as sensitive personal data. Parents and pupils have always had the right to refuse to provide this information. From 2011, if a parent or pupil refused to provide this information, schools should record “refused” in their systems rather than recording an ethnic background for that pupil. Up to 2010 the ethnic monitoring guidance provided by the Department permitted the ascription of ethnicity by schools where certain safeguards were met. In 2011 the ability for schools to ascribe the ethnicity for pupils was removed from the guidance.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what actions they are taking to ensure that Rotherham Borough Council's children's services improve in respect of protecting children, in the light of the report by Professor Alexis Jay <i>Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham (1997–2013)</i>.
Answered by Lord Nash
The Secretary of State for Education has appointed a Children’s Social Care Commissioner, Malcolm Newsam, to examine the nature and scale of the problems and oversee and drive improvements in children’s social care functions.
On the basis of the Commissioner’s initial work and when the review of Rotherham Council's corporate governance reports, the Secretary of State will consider what further action is needed.
A statutory direction to Rotherham is published by the Department and is available online at: www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/363018/Final_direction_to_Rotherham_Council_10_Oct_2014.pdf