Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to help increase the number of young people who are able to remain living with their foster carer in a staying put arrangement.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The cross-government care leaver strategy ‘Keep on Caring’ (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/535899/Care-Leaver-Strategy.pdf), which was published in July 2016, reiterated our commitment to Staying Put. It made clear that we want to maximise the number of eligible care leavers who take up the option to Stay Put. This includes continuing to provide funding to local authorities to implement Staying Put, totalling £92.12 million over the period 2016/17 to 2019-20. Through the Children and Social Work Act 2017, the government introduced a requirement for local authorities to publish a ‘Local Offer’ for care leavers, which should set out care leavers’ legal entitlements, and which should include the local authority’s policy on Staying Put.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of extending the national minimum fostering allowance to cover young people in staying put arrangements.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Foster carers and those providing Staying Put arrangements play a vital role in supporting some of our most vulnerable children and young people. It is right that they receive the support they need to meet the needs of those they care for, including financial support.
There has been no assessment of the adequacy of National Minimum Allowances for foster carers or whether it would be appropriate to set minimum allowances for those providing Staying Put arrangements.
However, the National Fostering Stocktake, an independent review of the fostering system in England, has now concluded. I will carefully consider any recommendations made by the review and the Education Select Committee on payments to foster carers and Staying Put carers. The government response will be published in spring 2018.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many young people were (a) eligible to and (b) did remain with a foster carer in a staying put arrangement in 2016-17.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The number of care leavers who were eligible for, and receiving care leaver support in, a staying put arrangement with a former foster carer was published in table F2 for 19 and 20 year olds. This is published in table F4 for 18 year olds, in the statistical release ‘Children looked after in England including adoption: 2016 to 2017’ at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2016-to-2017.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the medical conditions policies of schools are checked by Ofsted as part of their regular system of inspections.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The government knows how important it is that children with medical conditions are supported to enjoy a full education. That is why it has introduced a new duty to require governing boards to make arrangements to support pupils with medical conditions, and have provided statutory guidance outlining schools’ responsibilities in this area. This guidance sets out that governing boards should ensure that all schools develop a policy for supporting pupils with medical conditions that is reviewed regularly and is readily accessible to parents and school staff. We keep the guidance under review, including in the context of school awareness, and the role it plays in securing accessibility of school policies
Ofsted’s Common Inspection Framework requires inspectors, in making judgements, to pay particular attention to the outcomes of a range of groups of pupils, including those with medical needs. Ofsted included guidance to inspectors on this matter in their March 2017 school inspection update, reminding inspectors that they should consider how schools are meeting the needs of pupils with medical conditions.
The department works with organisations such as the Health Conditions in Schools Alliance to help raise awareness of the duty on schools, and recently promoted the duty through the department’s social media channels.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has plans to update the statutory guidance on support for pupils with medical conditions to require schools to make their medical conditions policies readily accessible to parents by publishing them on their websites.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The government knows how important it is that children with medical conditions are supported to enjoy a full education. That is why it has introduced a new duty to require governing boards to make arrangements to support pupils with medical conditions, and have provided statutory guidance outlining schools’ responsibilities in this area. This guidance sets out that governing boards should ensure that all schools develop a policy for supporting pupils with medical conditions that is reviewed regularly and is readily accessible to parents and school staff. We keep the guidance under review, including in the context of school awareness, and the role it plays in securing accessibility of school policies
Ofsted’s Common Inspection Framework requires inspectors, in making judgements, to pay particular attention to the outcomes of a range of groups of pupils, including those with medical needs. Ofsted included guidance to inspectors on this matter in their March 2017 school inspection update, reminding inspectors that they should consider how schools are meeting the needs of pupils with medical conditions.
The department works with organisations such as the Health Conditions in Schools Alliance to help raise awareness of the duty on schools, and recently promoted the duty through the department’s social media channels.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has plans to provide additional guidance to help schools (a) understand and (b) comply with their responsibilities on supporting pupils with medical conditions.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The government knows how important it is that children with medical conditions are supported to enjoy a full education. That is why it has introduced a new duty to require governing boards to make arrangements to support pupils with medical conditions, and have provided statutory guidance outlining schools’ responsibilities in this area. This guidance sets out that governing boards should ensure that all schools develop a policy for supporting pupils with medical conditions that is reviewed regularly and is readily accessible to parents and school staff. We keep the guidance under review, including in the context of school awareness, and the role it plays in securing accessibility of school policies
Ofsted’s Common Inspection Framework requires inspectors, in making judgements, to pay particular attention to the outcomes of a range of groups of pupils, including those with medical needs. Ofsted included guidance to inspectors on this matter in their March 2017 school inspection update, reminding inspectors that they should consider how schools are meeting the needs of pupils with medical conditions.
The department works with organisations such as the Health Conditions in Schools Alliance to help raise awareness of the duty on schools, and recently promoted the duty through the department’s social media channels.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has assessed the adequacy of National Minimum Fostering Allowance rates since their introduction in 2007.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Foster carers and those providing Staying Put arrangements play a vital role in supporting some of our most vulnerable children and young people. It is right that they receive the support they need to meet the needs of those they care for, including financial support.
There has been no assessment of the adequacy of National Minimum Allowances for foster carers or whether it would be appropriate to set minimum allowances for those providing Staying Put arrangements.
However, the National Fostering Stocktake, an independent review of the fostering system in England, has now concluded. I will carefully consider any recommendations made by the review and the Education Select Committee on payments to foster carers and Staying Put carers. The government response will be published in spring 2018.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to help increase the number of young people who are able to remain living with their foster carer in a staying put arrangement.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The cross-government care leaver strategy ‘Keep on Caring’ (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/535899/Care-Leaver-Strategy.pdf), which was published in July 2016, reiterated our commitment to Staying Put. It made clear that we want to maximise the number of eligible care leavers who take up the option to Stay Put. This includes continuing to provide funding to local authorities to implement Staying Put, totalling £92.12 million over the period 2016/17 to 2019-20. Through the Children and Social Work Act 2017, the government introduced a requirement for local authorities to publish a ‘Local Offer’ for care leavers, which should set out care leavers’ legal entitlements, and which should include the local authority’s policy on Staying Put.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of extending the national minimum fostering allowance to cover young people in staying put arrangements.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Foster carers and those providing Staying Put arrangements play a vital role in supporting some of our most vulnerable children and young people. It is right that they receive the support they need to meet the needs of those they care for, including financial support.
There has been no assessment of the adequacy of National Minimum Allowances for foster carers or whether it would be appropriate to set minimum allowances for those providing Staying Put arrangements.
However, the National Fostering Stocktake, an independent review of the fostering system in England, has now concluded. I will carefully consider any recommendations made by the review and the Education Select Committee on payments to foster carers and Staying Put carers. The government response will be published in spring 2018.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many young people were (a) eligible to and (b) did remain with a foster carer in a staying put arrangement in 2016-17.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The number of care leavers who were eligible for, and receiving care leaver support in, a staying put arrangement with a former foster carer was published in table F2 for 19 and 20 year olds. This is published in table F4 for 18 year olds, in the statistical release ‘Children looked after in England including adoption: 2016 to 2017’ at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2016-to-2017.