Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of the school teaching of home cooking; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Cooking and nutrition are part of the national curriculum for design and technology (D&T). This was introduced as part of the 2014 D&T curriculum and is compulsory for key stages 1 to 3, or ages 5 to 14. Schools are required to teach children how to cook, with an emphasis on savoury dishes, and how to apply the principles of healthy eating and nutrition. This means children are equipped with the knowledge and skills to prepare a range of nutritious dishes that will stand them in good stead in their adult lives.
The department also introduced a food preparation and nutrition GCSE in September 2016. This allows students to develop their skills further in practical cooking, as well as helping them to understand and apply the principles of food science and healthy eating when preparing and cooking food.
The Levelling Up White Paper confirmed the department’s dedication to food education, including a commitment to launch a school cooking revolution. The department is developing curriculum support to ensure young people leave school knowing how to cook at least six savoury recipes that will support healthy lifestyles.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to promote apprenticeships in the digital, culture, media and sport sectors to help support the Government’s agenda of levelling up across the UK.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
We are committed to supporting more employers in all sectors, including digital, culture, media, and sport, to use apprenticeships to develop the skilled workforces they need, and to supporting more people, from all backgrounds, to benefit from the high-quality training that apprenticeships offer.
In August, we launched a new £7 million flexi-job apprenticeship fund to support the greater use of apprenticeships in sectors, such as the creative industries, where flexible working practices are commonplace, including short periods of project-based employment. Flexi-job apprenticeships will enable apprentices to move between different host employers in a given sector or region as they complete the training requirements for their apprenticeship.
In addition, we are making it easier for large employers to transfer levy funds to support new starts in small businesses or in a certain sector or region. On 13 September, we launched a new online service to allow levy paying employers to advertise funding pledges, enabling a much wider range of businesses to browse and apply for available funds. It is brilliant to see that employers have already begun to take advantage of this opportunity, including Amazon who have made a pledge on the new service of £50,000 to support apprenticeships in the creative industries.
We are also working closely with Screenskills who are piloting a flexi-job apprenticeship training model funded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with the support of Netflix and Warner Bros. The pilot is funding 20 apprentices in Production Assistant and Production Accountant roles and aims to widen participation in the film sector.
To further help employers offer new apprenticeships, employers can claim £3,000 for each apprentice they take on as a new employee until 30 September, under the government’s Plan for Jobs.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to increase the awareness among school pupils of mental health issues; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The government is committed to promoting and supporting the mental health of children and young people.
Since September 2020, all pupils and students in state-funded schools are being taught about mental health as part of compulsory relationship, sex and health education. We are providing support for teaching that covers all of the key teaching requirements and prioritised the production of the training module covering mental wellbeing, so that it was available before the end of the summer term last year. Further information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-mental-wellbeing and https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-relationships-sex-and-health.
The government is also providing information and advice directly to children, young people and families. Public Health England have produced guidance for parents and carers on supporting children and young people's mental health and wellbeing and adapted its Every Mind Matters and Rise Above platforms in the context of the outbreak. Further information can be found here: https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/?WT.tsrc=Search&WT.mc_id=Brand&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIuKSHjPr97gIVCbDtCh2XSwvcEAAYASAAEgKgJfD_BwE and https://riseabove.org.uk/.
We know that the COVID-19 outbreak is having an effect on the mental wellbeing of children and young people. Our Wellbeing for Education Return programme, backed by £8 million, has trained local experts to provide additional advice and resources for schools and further education providers to help support pupil and student, parent and carer, and staff wellbeing, resilience and recovery in light of the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown. It will give staff the confidence to support pupils and students, their parents, carers and their own colleagues, and know how and where to access appropriate specialist support where needed. Additional information can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/supporting-pupils-wellbeing.
The department is convening a Mental Health in Education Action Group, to look at the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the mental health and wellbeing of children, young people and staff in nurseries, schools, colleges, and universities. It will consider how to support mental wellbeing while children and young people are being taught remotely, as they return to education settings and with transitions between education settings in September 2021.
The government remains committed to long term improvements to support children and young people’s mental health, set out in the government’s response to its green paper and NHS Long Term Plan. This includes rolling out new Mental Health Support Teams to work with a fifth to a quarter of schools and colleges across the country by academic year 2023/24, offering training for a senior mental health lead in every state school in the country, and Link Programme training for all schools and colleges to help frontline health and education professionals work together effectively.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will continue to pay providers of early years education for children who are not able to attend; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Vicky Ford
On 17 December 2020 the Government announced a return to funding early years settings for the spring term on the basis of attendance, as measured by the January 2021 census. The Early Years census count is still going ahead as expected and the census guidance is unchanged. To support local authorities, we have issued some technical advice on how that guidance can be applied this year.
In summary, children who are ill or self-isolating can be counted, as can those whose parents have temporarily withdrawn their children from open nurseries and childminders out of caution, and so long as the parent/guardian has not altered their parental declaration relating to expected hours with the provider.
Children should not be counted in the census where a setting has closed or restricted attendance, unless as a result of situations as set out in the supporting technical advice eg. staff sickness, COVID-19 isolation, staff shielding.
We stay in regular contact with the early years sector and have heard from them already on this subject. We will be closely monitoring both parental take-up of places and the capacity and responses of providers.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will enable apprenticeship levy costs to be temporarily used to fund existing staff wages in addition to training during the time restrictions imposed due to the covid-19 outbreak; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
We are developing guidance in partnership with the sector to support all parts of the apprenticeship system in response to the Covid-19 outbreak which is consistent with advice issued by Public Heath England. The specifics on this will follow as soon as possible.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will provide guidance to schools and colleges on good SEN support for children and young people who are on the autism spectrum.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The department is committed to promoting effective special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) support within schools and colleges, and good social care provision for all, including autistic children and young people. The department has issued guidance that encompasses all forms of SEND.
The SEND Code of Practice (2014) places a duty on schools and colleges to use their best endeavours to support all pupils with SEND, including those with autism. Support should be focused on the needs of individual children and young people, which can vary enormously even for those who have the same condition and where they may have more than one condition. This means that the educational interventions that may be effective for one child will not necessarily work for another with the same diagnosis. This need for a flexible and child-centred approach is why, as a department, we do not prescribe specific guidance on supporting particular conditions.
In order to support schools and colleges to put in place good practice for supporting autistic children and young people according to their individual needs, the department have, since 2011, funded the Autism Education Trust to deliver autism training to over 239,000 education staff, to provide resources for practitioners and education settings, and to develop communities of practice to facilitate mutual support and shared learning in good support for autism.
In terms of ensuring good social care practice, all children and young people, including those with autism, should have access to the support they need to keep them safe, ensure their wellbeing and overcome challenges to achieving their potential, as informed by the Children Act (1989), Children and Families Act (2014) and Care Act (2014). Working Together to Safeguard Children (2018) sets out how local authorities should provide effective, evidence-based services to protect and promote the welfare of children, including children with autism.
There are several developments currently underway, which will be of benefit to autistic children and young people (and their families). The department is working closely with the Department for Health and Social Care to produce an all ages Autism Strategy which will outline how education, health and social care systems will work to improve support for, and reduce inequalities experienced by autistic people. Alongside the Autism Strategy, a major review of the SEND system, announced in September 2019 and due to report in spring 2020, is aimed at improving support for children with SEND, including those with autism.
We recently announced a £780 million increase to local authorities’ high needs funding, boosting the budget by 12% and bringing the total spent on supporting those with the most complex needs to over £7 billion for 2020-21.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will develop a model of what good social care looks like for children and young people on the autism spectrum.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The department is committed to promoting effective special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) support within schools and colleges, and good social care provision for all, including autistic children and young people. The department has issued guidance that encompasses all forms of SEND.
The SEND Code of Practice (2014) places a duty on schools and colleges to use their best endeavours to support all pupils with SEND, including those with autism. Support should be focused on the needs of individual children and young people, which can vary enormously even for those who have the same condition and where they may have more than one condition. This means that the educational interventions that may be effective for one child will not necessarily work for another with the same diagnosis. This need for a flexible and child-centred approach is why, as a department, we do not prescribe specific guidance on supporting particular conditions.
In order to support schools and colleges to put in place good practice for supporting autistic children and young people according to their individual needs, the department have, since 2011, funded the Autism Education Trust to deliver autism training to over 239,000 education staff, to provide resources for practitioners and education settings, and to develop communities of practice to facilitate mutual support and shared learning in good support for autism.
In terms of ensuring good social care practice, all children and young people, including those with autism, should have access to the support they need to keep them safe, ensure their wellbeing and overcome challenges to achieving their potential, as informed by the Children Act (1989), Children and Families Act (2014) and Care Act (2014). Working Together to Safeguard Children (2018) sets out how local authorities should provide effective, evidence-based services to protect and promote the welfare of children, including children with autism.
There are several developments currently underway, which will be of benefit to autistic children and young people (and their families). The department is working closely with the Department for Health and Social Care to produce an all ages Autism Strategy which will outline how education, health and social care systems will work to improve support for, and reduce inequalities experienced by autistic people. Alongside the Autism Strategy, a major review of the SEND system, announced in September 2019 and due to report in spring 2020, is aimed at improving support for children with SEND, including those with autism.
We recently announced a £780 million increase to local authorities’ high needs funding, boosting the budget by 12% and bringing the total spent on supporting those with the most complex needs to over £7 billion for 2020-21.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make it his policy to provide free transport to and from schools for school pupils of compulsory education age; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Local authorities have a statutory duty under Section 508B of the Education Act 1996 to make arrangements for free home to school travel for all eligible children. A child is eligible if they are of compulsory school age, attend their nearest suitable school and live beyond the statutory walking distance (2 miles for children under the age of 8 and 3 miles for children aged 8 and over). Children are also eligible if they cannot reasonably be expected to walk because of their special educational needs, disability or mobility problems, or because the route is unsafe. There are additional rights to free home to school transport for children who are entitled to free school meals or whose parents are in receipt of the maximum working tax credit.
The Department provides statutory guidance for local authorities on meeting their home to school transport duties and is currently consulting on a revised version of this guidance. The consultation can be found at: https://consult.education.gov.uk/home-to-school-transport-and-admissions-team/home-to-school-travel-and-transport-statutory-guid/.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which schools are allocated to each of the teaching school alliance hubs.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The areas for the test and learn phase for teaching school hubs were chosen to test a variety of areas, for example, rural, coastal, urban or areas of high deprivation. This was done to test how the teaching school hub model will work in different contexts, prior to a decision being made about national roll out. There is one test and learn area in each regional schools commissioner region. In most cases, the area defined will cover whole local authority districts, aggregating to cover 200 to 300 schools.
The Department has published a prospectus which includes the names of the local authority districts in each region covered by the initiative. The prospectus can be found here:
https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/98dde964-ac94-410c-8254-1cd573c2dc45.
As the Department will be funding a maximum of only one hub in each region, it will be for the successful applicants to define the areas in which they operate. The Department will, however, expect hubs to serve all the state schools in their chosen areas.
The deadline for applications is Friday 26 July and it is not until after this date that it will be possible to determine the exact areas covered.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria his Department used to decide the regions that are pilots for the new teaching school alliance hubs; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The areas for the test and learn phase for teaching school hubs were chosen to test a variety of areas, for example, rural, coastal, urban or areas of high deprivation. This was done to test how the teaching school hub model will work in different contexts, prior to a decision being made about national roll out. There is one test and learn area in each regional schools commissioner region. In most cases, the area defined will cover whole local authority districts, aggregating to cover 200 to 300 schools.
The Department has published a prospectus which includes the names of the local authority districts in each region covered by the initiative. The prospectus can be found here:
https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/98dde964-ac94-410c-8254-1cd573c2dc45.
As the Department will be funding a maximum of only one hub in each region, it will be for the successful applicants to define the areas in which they operate. The Department will, however, expect hubs to serve all the state schools in their chosen areas.
The deadline for applications is Friday 26 July and it is not until after this date that it will be possible to determine the exact areas covered.