Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people over the age of 18 have used the Staying Put arrangements to stay with foster parents in Gloucestershire since 2014; and how many time was such a person not granted continuity of care.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Children and Families Act (2014) introduced a new duty on local authorities in England to advise, assist and support fostered young people to stay with their foster families when they reach 18, if both parties agree. This allow the young person to transition to adulthood when they wish and from the security and stability of an established family base. As with other young people, some care leavers will choose to live independently at age 18; others will choose to live in a staying put arrangement for a short period whilst they complete their education; some will want and need ongoing support within a staying put arrangement until they reach their 21st birthday.
Information on the number of children in Gloucestershire who ceased to be looked after in a foster placement on their 18th birthday who were eligible for care leaver support and were still living with their former foster carer (“staying put”) at age 18 or age 19 to 20 are shown in the attached tables.
In the table, figures on the number of 18 year old care leavers are presented in a separate tab to figures on 19 and 20 year olds. They were only collected for the first time on an individual level basis in 2016 and are still classed as experimental statistics.
Information on the number of times a child looked after is not granted continuity of care is not held centrally.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has (a) commissioned and (b) funded an assessment of the correlation between student mental health and (i) the number of contact hours they have and (ii) other aspects of the type of course they study; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
Mental health is a priority for this government, which is why the government is working closely with Universities UK on embedding the Step Change programme within the sector. Step Change calls on higher education leaders to adopt mental health as a strategic priority. Step Change also advocates a whole-institution approach to transform cultures and embed mental health initiatives beyond student services teams.
The University Mental Health Charter announced in June 2018 is backed by the government and led by the sector, and will drive up standards in promoting student and staff mental health and wellbeing. The charter will reward institutions that deliver improved student mental health outcomes.
UK Research and Innovation launched eight new mental health networks in September, including the SMARTEN Network. This will work with researchers with a range of expertise and key stakeholders across the Higher Education sector to improve the understanding of student mental health.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance he provides to the higher education sector on providing a safe and understanding environment for students who (a) have existing and (b) develop mental health conditions at college.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
Mental health is a priority for this government, which is why the government is working closely with Universities UK on embedding the Step Change programme within the sector. Step Change calls on higher education leaders to adopt mental health as a strategic priority. Step Change also advocates a whole-institution approach to transform cultures and embed mental health initiatives beyond student services teams.
The University Mental Health Charter announced in June 2018 is backed by the government and led by the sector, and will drive up standards in promoting student and staff mental health and wellbeing. The charter will reward institutions that deliver improved student mental health outcomes.
UK Research and Innovation launched eight new mental health networks in September, including the SMARTEN Network. This will work with researchers with a range of expertise and key stakeholders across the Higher Education sector to improve the understanding of student mental health.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make and assessment of adequacy of the guidance issued to schools, local education authorities and other responsible bodies to ensure that classroom notice boards are installed correctly and in accordance with fire standards that are legally compliant.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department’s guidance documents, under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, highlight schools’ responsibilities to carry out risk assessments for their Fire Safety Management Plans.
The Department also specifies the fire safety requirements for notice boards in the ‘Output Specification’ documents that set out the design and construction requirements for all Department for Education delivered school buildings. In order to fully address the issue, the Department needs to carry out background research. Should the research show there is further guidance to give, the Department would then update the Output Specification and consider releasing a technical note to responsible bodies on the specification and installation of noticeboards.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of changes in the time allocated to teachers for planning, preparation and assessment.
Answered by Nick Gibb
All teachers who participate in the teaching of pupils are entitled to reasonable periods of Planning, Preparation and Assessment (PPA). PPA time must amount to not less than 10% of the teacher’s timetabled teaching time. A teacher must not be required to carry out any other duties during the teacher’s PPA time.
There have been no changes in the time allocated to teachers for planning, preparation and assessment: this requirement has been in place since 2004.
The Department continues to work with unions, teachers and Ofsted to challenge and remove unnecessary workload so that teachers can focus on tasks which make the most positive impact on their pupils. For example, a workload reduction toolkit has been published which provides schools with practical tools and evidence-based solutions to enable them to streamline practice in their schools. This includes a section on reviewing curriculum planning with case studies on how schools have successfully reduced workload associated with planning.
The workload reduction toolkit can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/workload-reduction-toolkit.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of education, health and care (EHC) plans produced by Gloucestershire County Council in each of the last three years; and on how many occasions that Council did (a) not proceed with an EHC Needs Assessment, (b) not produce an EHC plan when one had been requested and (c) receive an appeal against the support included in the plan in each of the last three years.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The number of initial requests for assessment for an education, health and care (EHC) plan that were refused during the calendar year and the number of children and young people assessed during the calendar year for whom it was decided not to issue an EHC plan are shown in the table below for Gloucestershire local authority for the calendar years 2015 to 2017.
Gloucestershire local authority, 2015 to 2017 calendar years.
| Calendar Year 2015 | Calendar Year 2016 | Calendar Year 2017 |
Number of children and young | 240 | 373 | 514 |
Number of initial requests for assessment for an EHC plan that were refused during the calendar year | 25 | 0 | 0 |
Number of children and young people assessed during the calendar year for whom it was decided not to issue an EHC plan | 10 | 22 | 19 |
Source: SEN2 data collection
The information requested on the number of appeals against the support included in the plan in each of the last three years is not held centrally.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in Gloucestershire have posted a deficit budget for the years (i) 2017-18 and (ii) 2018-2019.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government trusts schools to manage their own budgets and the vast majority are operating with a cumulative surplus, with only a small percentage having a deficit.
The Department will be publishing 2017-18 data on maintained school reserves in December 2018; this will show the schools in Gloucestershire which reported a deficit. 2018-19 data is expected to be published in December 2019. Academy trusts are the legal entities responsible for academies, including their finances, and are accountable at trust level. The accounts for each trust are submitted for publication on the Companies House website by May of each year; the latest accounts, published this year, relate to 2016-17.
The latest figures for Gloucestershire’s maintained schools showed one hundred and eighty-eight primary schools and five secondary schools reporting a cumulative surplus or breaking even, compared to fifteen primary schools and one secondary school reporting a deficit in the financial year 2016-17.
Forty-four primary and thirty secondary academies in Gloucestershire were in trusts that reported a surplus in the academic year 2016-17, compared to one primary and three secondary academies in trusts that reported a deficit. An academy in a local authority may belong to a trust outside the local authority.
Academy trust accounts allow for a significantly higher level of public scrutiny than is required of maintained schools. This is because maintained schools are not required to prepare individual statutory accounts – their financial performance is instead summarised within local authorities’ accounts.
Academy trust accounts are consolidated in the Sector Annual Report and Accounts (SARA). The SARA provides a sector-level overview and does not break down the data by trust or local authority. The Department published the 2016-17 SARA on 6 November and it is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/academies-consolidated-annual-report-and-accounts-2016-to-2017.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of children who have been off-rolled in each of the last two years; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department does not hold information centrally on the number of pupils who have been officially taken off roll by schools. Local authorities have a duty to make arrangements to establish the identities of children of compulsory school age in their area who are not registered pupils at a school and are not otherwise receiving suitable education.
The law is clear that a pupil’s name can only be deleted from the admission register on the grounds prescribed in regulation 8 of the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 as amended. All schools must notify the local authority when a pupil’s name is to be deleted from the admission register under any of the grounds prescribed in regulation 8.