Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of Auditory Verbal Therapy on educational outcomes for deaf children.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
There has been no assessment made by the department of the impact of Auditory Verbal Therapy.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve educational outcomes for deaf children.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
On 29 March 2022 the department published the Special Educational Needs Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision Green paper, which set out our plans to improve the experience and outcomes for children and young people with SEND, including those with Sensory Impairment, within a fairer and financially sustainable system. We carefully considered the feedback we received through the responses to the consultation and in the many events that took place during the 16-week consultation period. A full response has been published on 2 March 2023, in the SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan.
It is a legal requirement for qualified teachers of classes of pupils with sensory impairments to hold the relevant mandatory qualification (MQSI). To offer MQSIs, providers must be approved by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education. We have developed a new approval process to determine providers of MQSIs from the start of the 2023/24 academic year. Our aim is to ensure a steady supply of teachers of children with visual, hearing, and multi-sensory impairments, in both specialist and mainstream settings.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to increase the transparency of the process to assess whether an applied general qualification overlaps with a T level, including the rationale for the decisions reached.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Qualifications reform is being undertaken in three phases. Phase 1 removed around 5,500 qualifications because they had low or no publicly funded enrolments.
Phase 2 relates to the assessment of qualifications that overlap with T Levels. Qualifications are carefully assessed and considered against three tests:
The process we have used to identify overlapping qualifications is rigorous and has been led by evidence such as individual qualification specifications. Independent assessors were commissioned to conduct in-depth evaluations of the qualifications in scope and the outcomes of the process were moderated for consistency.
For the Wave 1 and 2 T Level overlap process, the department published a provisional list, and put in place an appeals process to give awarding organisations who did not feel we have applied the criteria correctly an opportunity to provide evidence. We published our final Wave 1 and 2 T Level overlap list (excluding health and science in October 2022, and it is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/qualifications-that-overlap-with-t-levels.
106 qualifications will cease to be publicly funded in August 2024. The department removed 26 qualifications from the provisional list due to a successful appeal. We will run a similar process for Wave 3 and 4 overlap, a provisional list will be published in spring 2023.
The department postponed the publication of the list of qualifications that overlap with health and science T Levels, as these T Levels are under review by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education. We will publish information related to the health and science qualifications that overlap with T Levels shortly.
Phase 3 of qualifications reform will assess the qualifications remaining after phases 1 and 2. The department’s approach to the future landscape was published on 10 January 2023, and we consulted on these proposals in 2019 and 2020. The publication is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1128144/Guide_to_the_post-16_qualifications_landscape_at_level_3_and_below_for_2025_and_beyond.pdf.
The department has been open and transparent about our intention that A Levels and T Levels should be at the heart of study programmes for 16 to 19-year-olds. The publication makes clear that large alternative academic qualifications may continue to be publicly funded in areas such as performing arts and sports, and that small alternative academic qualifications may continue to be funded in strategically important areas such as health and STEM. This process will remove further qualifications, including large Applied General qualifications. This strikes the right balance between ensuring sufficient choice for learners whilst ensuring that most students undertake world class A Levels and T Levels.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to make changes to the process that assesses whether an applied general qualification overlaps with a T level, to ensure (1) provider, and (2) employer, involvement.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department recognises the value that employers can bring to the design of qualifications, which is why we have included them in technical education reform.
We have put employers at the heart of our technical education system. T Levels have been co-designed and developed with providers, employers and the government. Occupational standards are employer-led products designed to ensure occupational competence. We have used independent assessors in our process for assessing whether a qualification overlaps with a T Level, and this includes reviewing qualification specifications against employer-led occupational standards. As part of this rigorous process, all qualifications were assessed against 3 tests:
Only qualifications which met all 3 tests in relation were added to the overlap list.
The department’s approach to the future landscape, published on 10 January 2023, and guidance for awarding organisations , available at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/awarding-organisations-submitting-qualifications-for-approval, makes clear the technical qualifications that can be put forward for 16-19s in 3 broad areas:
The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) has set out clear criteria on their requirement for awarding organisations to involve employers in the design of technical qualifications. This criteria includes examples of acceptable evidence which might be provided to satisfy IfATE’s statutory employer demand test.
This will build on the important work the department has already done to create world class T Levels, apprenticeships and higher technical qualifications by continuing to embed the principles of employer involvement and employer-led occupational standards at the heart of technical education.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the report by Adoption UK Cost of living crisis: Impact on adoptive families and adopted people. Summary of survey data December 2022, published on 26 January, what steps they will take to support adult adoptees in response to the findings in that report that (1) 41 per cent of adopted people said the increased cost of living was having "a significant negative impact on their mental health", and (2) 89 per cent reported that increased costs for transport and accommodation making it harder to maintain relationships with birth relatives.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government understands that many people, including adopters and adopted adults, are worried about the impact of rising prices. For this reason, the government is providing £37 billion of support this year, targeted at those who are most in need. The package will see millions of the most vulnerable households receive at least £1,200 of support in total this year to help with the cost of living, with all domestic electricity customers receiving at least £400 to help with their bills.
The department aims to ensure that children waiting to be found new adoptive families are placed with as little wait as possible. Tackling long waits for children who require new adoptive families is a key priority in the 2021 Adoption Strategy ‘Achieving excellence everywhere’. The department is funding Regional Adoption Agency (RRA) leaders to improve the recruitment of adopters, matching children with approved adopters and adoption support over the next three years. In the past year, RAAs have focused on those children who wait the longest and have seen a fall in the number of children with a court placement order waiting for 18 months, from 390 at March 2020 to 240 at September 2022.
Where necessary, the statutory framework covering adoption allows RRAs and local authorities to provide financial support to adoptive parents to support the placement of a child or the continuation of adoption arrangements.
Adult adoptees should be able to access the support that they need, particularly around their mental health needs. The department is publicly consulting on amendments to regulations to simplify arrangements for providers who support adopted adults that will increase the accessibility of support services. One of the proposed changes in the consultation is to remove the requirement that therapists be registered with Ofsted when providing counselling services to adopted adults. This change is recommended in Adoption UK’s ‘Cost of living crisis: impact on adoptive families and adopted people’ report.
The government is also improving NHS mental health support availability. The NHS Long Term Plan and mental health expansion plans will increase funding for mental health services, to target groups with severe mental illness and young people.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by Adoption UK Cost of living crisis: impact on adoptive families and adopted people. Summary of survey data December 2022, published on 26 January, which found that 41 per cent of prospective adopters surveyed were considering adopting fewer children than previously as a result of the increased cost of living; and what assessment they have made on the potential impact this would have on the length of time children with a plan for adoption wait to be placed.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government understands that many people, including adopters and adopted adults, are worried about the impact of rising prices. For this reason, the government is providing £37 billion of support this year, targeted at those who are most in need. The package will see millions of the most vulnerable households receive at least £1,200 of support in total this year to help with the cost of living, with all domestic electricity customers receiving at least £400 to help with their bills.
The department aims to ensure that children waiting to be found new adoptive families are placed with as little wait as possible. Tackling long waits for children who require new adoptive families is a key priority in the 2021 Adoption Strategy ‘Achieving excellence everywhere’. The department is funding Regional Adoption Agency (RRA) leaders to improve the recruitment of adopters, matching children with approved adopters and adoption support over the next three years. In the past year, RAAs have focused on those children who wait the longest and have seen a fall in the number of children with a court placement order waiting for 18 months, from 390 at March 2020 to 240 at September 2022.
Where necessary, the statutory framework covering adoption allows RRAs and local authorities to provide financial support to adoptive parents to support the placement of a child or the continuation of adoption arrangements.
Adult adoptees should be able to access the support that they need, particularly around their mental health needs. The department is publicly consulting on amendments to regulations to simplify arrangements for providers who support adopted adults that will increase the accessibility of support services. One of the proposed changes in the consultation is to remove the requirement that therapists be registered with Ofsted when providing counselling services to adopted adults. This change is recommended in Adoption UK’s ‘Cost of living crisis: impact on adoptive families and adopted people’ report.
The government is also improving NHS mental health support availability. The NHS Long Term Plan and mental health expansion plans will increase funding for mental health services, to target groups with severe mental illness and young people.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the increased cost of living on children’s social care budgets.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Children’s social care services are funded by the core spending power of local government. This is principally made up of council tax, retained business rates and central government grants. As agreed at the 2021 Spending Review, councils have access to £54.1 billion core spending power for their services in 2022/23. This is an increase of £3.7 billion on the 2021/22 financial year.
The government announced in the Autumn Statement that £1.3 billion in 2023/24 and £1.9 billion in 2024/25 will be distributed to local authorities through the Social Care Grant for adult and children’s social care. This is in addition to the funding agreed in the 2021 Spending Review.
We are working with the sector to understand the impact of inflation and will provide further details of the total funding available to local authorities in 2023/24 in the provisional local government finance settlement as soon as is possible this winter.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have (1) to designate senior political leadership for child protection and children’s social care, and (2) to appoint a Minister for Children who attends Cabinet.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Policy for children and families is a cross government matter. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, represents the interests of children and young people when attending Cabinet.
The department leads on the national policy for safeguarding and children’s social care. Following the report from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse we are working closely with the Home Office to ensure that the child’s voice is reflected in all policy decisions, and that the child’s experience and wellbeing is consistently factored in to measures we take to improve child protection and safeguarding processes. We will be reviewing the Inquiry’s recommendations and will work closely with other government departments to respond in due course.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many meetings of the Children’s Social Care National Implementation Board have taken place; and what role, if any, the Board has played in formulating His Majesty's Government's response to the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Members of the National Implementation Board met for the first time in July 2022, for an ‘interim’ meeting. At this stage the department were yet to appoint members with lived experience of the children’s social care system. Following their appointment, in October 2022 the full board met with officials in the department for an informal update on progress. The first, full board meeting took place in November, chaired by my hon. Friend, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children, Families and Wellbeing and with all members present. The most recent meeting was held on 13 December 2022.
The role of the board is to support, advise, and hold to account the government on its implementation of reforms to the children’s social care system. The board has reviewed and provided feedback on our strategic objectives, advising on how best to create the conditions for successful reform. They have also advised and challenged the department on our delivery plans, to help ensure we are taking the right actions to secure the outcomes we want to see for children and families in the short, medium, and long term.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions the Department for Education has had with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities about providing additional support to care-experienced young people.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Preventing homelessness and rough sleeping for care leavers is a priority of this government. The Department for Education and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) work closely to develop the government approach. Since 2018, the government has provided £8.2 million to local authorities to provide extra support to care leavers at highest risk of rough sleeping in contribution to the Cross Government Rough Sleeping Strategy.
We have been working closely with DLUHC on the specific recommendations around care leaver homelessness within the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care and will provide further detail on our joint plans within the Implementation Strategy which is due to be published in early 2023.