Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which sectors and roles were identified in the most recent Employers’ Skills Survey as being hard to fill; what assessment they have made of the extent to which those gaps could be filled by those coming to the UK from Hong Kong under (1) the British National (Overseas) visa, and (2) any other schemes; and what plans they have (a) to identify, and (b) to recruit, suitably qualified people from Hong Kong for such roles.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
On 31 January, the UK launched the new Hong Kong British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) route for those with BN(O) status and their eligible family members to come to the UK to live, study and work in virtually any capacity, on a pathway to citizenship.
There is no cap on numbers on the BN(O) route, nor are there any requirements for BN(O) status holders to have a job offer in order to apply. As such, those on the BN(O) route will be able to work in virtually any capacity (with the exception of working as a professional sportsperson or sports coach) whilst in the UK, including in the sectors and occupations highlighted in the most recent Employer Skills Survey.
The Employer Skills Survey collects data on how many vacancies are proving hard to fill due to a lack of applicants with the right skills, experience, or qualifications – these are called skill-shortage vacancies (SSVs). The most recent survey conducted in 2019 found that 24% of all vacancies were SSVs. By sector, the rates of SSVs were highest in the Construction and Manufacturing industries, with both sectors reporting that 36% of their vacancies were SSVs. By occupation group, the Skilled Trades had the highest rates of SSVs (48% of vacancies were classed as SSVs). The three specific occupations with the highest rates of SSVs were Carpenters and Joiners, Welding trades, and Metal machining setters.
These findings from the Employer Skills Survey can be found at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/936489/ESS_2019_Skills_Needs_Report_Nov20.pdf.
Departments across Government are working together closely to ensure that necessary support and guidance is provided for BN(O) status holders who take advantage of the new visa route.
We want the UK to be the first choice for the highly skilled both from Hong Kong and around the world. This can be seen in the focus on high skilled migration in the Budget, including plans to modernise the immigration system and make it easier to use, as well as new routes for high skilled talent. We also want to ensure the UK is seen as open and welcoming to talent by those who are thinking of moving. At this stage we are considering those coming to the UK from Hong Kong as part of the wider picture of high skilled migration.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how they assess the quality assurance of providers of supported internships in relation to (1) the programme structure, (2) the programme content, and (3) the cohort outcomes. [T]
Answered by Baroness Berridge
Supported Internships are an educational study programme and, as such, are inspected by Ofsted.
This is a matter for Her Majesty's Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to the noble Lord and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that children and young people who enter alternative education provision are assessed by a speech and language therapist to determine whether they have speech, language and communication needs.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Code of Practice (2015) sets out high expectations of schools, alternative provision and colleges about how they identify and meet the needs of pupils with special educational needs (SEN), including those with speech, language and communication needs. The code emphasises that schools, including alternative provision, should work closely with their local authority and other providers to commission specialist services directly, such as speech and language therapists. This guidance is attached.
The code is clear that schools should take appropriate steps to identify and address any learning difficulties presented by a child. The support that will be provided for children and young people with SEN entering alternative provision, with or without an education, health and care plan, should be agreed as part of the commissioning process. To allow for continuity of support, mainstream and alternative providers should promptly share appropriate information on a child or young person’s SEN.
Commissioners of alternative provision should ensure that there is a clear plan for pupils’ progression and keep the arrangements under regular review so that they can be adapted in response to the needs of the child or young person. Where an alternative provider has concerns that a child or young person may have a speech and language difficulty that is not being appropriately supported, they should raise their concerns with the commissioner and agree how these potential needs will be assessed and supported.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide commissioners of services for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs with guidance on seeking the views of service users and their families and the co-production of service design.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
We recognise the importance of ensuring that children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their parents are engaged in developing SEND policy and processes, including commissioning arrangements, in local areas.
As part of a £3.8 million contract with the Council for Disabled Children and KIDS that will be delivered between 2018 and 2020, we invested £1.15 million between April 2016 and March 2018 to support young people with SEND to contribute to the ongoing development of SEND policy and implementation. We are also providing £4.6 million to Parent Carer Forums between 2018 and 2020. This will bring parents together with local decision makers and help provide them with a voice in the system.
The views of service users and the effectiveness of co-production are key elements of the Ofsted and Care Quality Commission inspections of SEND services. These inspections, which began in 2016, will take place in all local authority areas in England over a period of five years. The inspections identify strengths and areas for development and support commissioners to work with partners, including families, to further improve services.
We have worked with partners, including NHS England, to establish a national network for Designated Medical Officers and Designated Clinical Officers. We have also funded a local authority-led regional network and developed resources to support joint self-assessment and peer review.
Improving local SEND commissioning arrangements has been identified as a key area in recent reviews. In particular, this was identified in the ‘Good intentions, good enough?’ report by Christine Lenehan, published in November 2017, and the ‘Bercow: 10 Years On’ report, published by I CAN and the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists in March this year. Both reports are attached. We are establishing a leadership board of key stakeholders, and a key focus for this board will be to work with local authorities and NHS clinical commissioning groups to support them to improve local planning and commissioning.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission about ensuring that local area SEND inspections evaluate how effectively local areas use the data collected at age two (Ages and Stages Questionnaire), age four (baseline assessment), and age five (early years foundation stage profile) to monitor children identified as in need of support.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The effectiveness of the use of data by local areas to monitor children identified as in need of support is a key element of the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) inspection framework.
In preparation for the inspection, inspectors will consider all available evidence to develop a picture of the local area’s performance in fulfilling its responsibilities. This includes, but is not restricted to, data relating to the identification of SEND. This includes health review assessments and commissioning and delivery, including the healthy child programme and school nursing service.
During the inspection, inspectors will draw on a range of information and data to support making their judgements. Inspectors will also test the local area’s self-evaluation of its effectiveness in identifying and meeting the needs of children and young people with SEND.
All inspection reports include findings on the effectiveness of the local area’s use of evaluation. In West Berkshire, for example, leaders across health, education and care services regularly meet to consider the support for pupils with the highest level of need. This close collaboration not only ensures that current support is working well but also that services change and evolve to meet the needs of these pupils as they grow.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Agnew of Oulton on 20 June (HL8427), how many disabled people serve on the external steering group working with the Department for Education on updating the mental health and behaviour guidance for schools.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The department does not hold disability data on members of the external steering group. The group includes representatives from a range of organisations, including those that work with and for children with special educational needs and disabilities. This includes the Council for Disabled Children and the Social, Emotional & Behavioural Difficulties Association which works to support provision children with social, emotional and mental health difficulties in mainstream and special schools.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to fund a national programme of training for education staff working with children and young people with speech, language and communication needs, similar to that previously funded for autism.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Since 2010, the department has funded the development of training and resources to ensure that the schools’ workforce is equipped to support pupils with specific types of special educational needs and disability (SEND), including speech language and communication needs (SLCN). These are hosted on the SEND and Education Foundation Gateway.
Our focus is on enabling education professionals to access and navigate these resources. We have agreed a new schools’ workforce contract with the National Association for Special Educational Needs (NASEN), to encourage schools to prioritise SEND within their CPD and school improvement plans, and to equip them to identify and meet their training needs. This contract will look across all types of impairment, including SLCN.
We are also continuing to fund The Communications Trust and are undertaking a gap analysis of training and resources for the schools’ workforce. The findings from this research will inform what programmes might be required in the future.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that the trailblazer areas proposed in the Transforming Children and Young People's Mental Health Provision: a Green Paper (Cm 9525) have embedded, or have access to, dedicated speech and language therapy services.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The government is considering the responses to the consultation on the green paper ‘Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision’ and plans to publish a response before summer recess. The response will set out more information on how the trailblazers for new mental health support teams will work. The trailblazers will test how teams can link to the work of other professionals to enhance the support for vulnerable children and will consider how this can include speech and language therapists.
Mental health support teams will work closely with schools and colleges. They can build on the steps the government has already taken to improve access to speech and language therapy. The government introduced through the Children and Families Act 2014, a framework for ensuring that children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with speech language and communication needs, are identified early and receive the support they require to succeed in education and move into independent adult life.
The department has also funded I CAN, on behalf of The Communication Trust, and several other specific impairment organisations, to produce materials for use by schools, colleges and others. These materials and resources are freely available on the SEND and Education Training Foundation Gateway.
The Department for Health and Social Care is also working with the department and Public Health England to enable early years professionals to identify and support children’s early speech, language and communication needs.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to include someone with expertise in speech, language and communication on the external steering group working with the Department for Education on updating the mental health and behaviour guidance for schools.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The external steering group for the mental health and behaviour, chaired by Tom Bennett, includes members with a wide range of experience and expertise on behaviour, mental health and vulnerable groups. It includes a range of senior teachers and head teachers as well as special educational needs specialists, such as the Council for Disabled Children. The department will continue to consult experts as the work progresses.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions the Department for Education has had with the Department of Health and Social Care about the findings of the Ofsted and CQC report Local area SEND inspections: one year on, published on 18 October 2017, particularly in respect of the finding that access to therapy services was weak in half the local areas inspected.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Officials from the Department for Education (DfE), Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England (NHSE) are working together closely to implement the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reforms underpinned by the Children and Families Act 2014.
We are addressing the finding on access to therapy services through follow up by DfE and NHSE officials with the individual local areas following the publication of an inspection report. This is particularly the case where Ofsted and CQC have required a local area to produce a written statement of action to address weaknesses.
We are about to launch a two-year national trial looking at extending the powers of the First-tier Tribunal (SEND) to make non-binding recommendations on the health and social care aspects of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans. Currently the First-tier Tribunal (SEND) hears appeals with regard to education only. Health and social care aspects of EHC plans are resolved through separate complaint routes. The trial will give the Tribunal the power to consider all parts of a child’s EHC plan. We are trialling this (following an earlier small-scale pilot) as we need to gather further evidence to understand whether the new appeal route is easier for families, the impact on health and social care and whether recommendations are followed. These new powers will apply to local authority decisions made and EHC plans issued or amended from 3 April 2018.
We are working with stakeholders, which include DHSC and NHSE, through the Children’s Complex Needs board and across the Transforming Care programme to assure better support across health and care services for children and young people
Finally, the green paper, ‘Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision’, set out our proposals on how to improve access to mental health support for children and young people including those with SEND.