Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what mechanisms are in place to ensure accountability for public sector bodies and organisations carrying out safeguarding functions on behalf of local authorities; and whether her Department plans to introduce new measures to improve transparency, oversight and consequences for procedural failures.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
‘Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026’ sets clear expectations for how organisations must safeguard children. Inspectorates and regulators are key to ensuring organisations follow their statutory duties. Ofsted inspects early years provision, schools, further education and skills providers, and all children’s social care services including children’s homes, fostering agencies and adoption services.
Joint Targeted Area Inspections are multi-agency inspections carried out by Ofsted, the Care Quality Commission, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services and HM Inspectorate Probation.
Out-of-school settings have a common law duty of care to take reasonable steps to prevent foreseeable harm, alongside other statutory obligations relating to Disclosure and Barring Service requirements and health and safety legislation.
DfE will provide a formal response to the call for evidence on safeguarding in these settings in due course, following ongoing stakeholder engagement.
The department is establishing a Child Protection Authority to strengthen the child protection response regardless of where harm takes place.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to review cases where foster carers and children may have been adversely affected by Local Authority Designated Officer investigations; and if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a public inquiry into historic failures in the foster care system and related safeguarding procedures.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The local authority designated officer (LADO) is a local authority function. Local authorities are responsible for managing allegations against adults who work with children and the LADO plays a vital role in safeguarding children by overseeing the management of allegations made against adults who work with children in any capacity. To help ensure the LADO role is delivered consistently and effectively, we are working with the national LADO network to make operational guidance available. This guidance seeks to draw together current good practice to support a more consistent approach nationally.
The department has announced an ambitious reform programme to urgently address the sharp decline in foster carers and modernise fostering. The reforms establish a clear direction built on relationships, stability and trust, simplifying outdated rules, strengthening national recruitment, expanding regional collaboration and improving support.
Our primary metric will be the number of approved fostering places in local authorities and third sector providers, with the aim of creating an additional 10,000 fostering places by the end of this Parliament.
The fostering plan is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/renewing-fostering-homes-for-10000-more-children.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to introduce increased statutory rights and protections for foster carers, including safeguards against unsubstantiated allegations; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of such reforms on the stability and wellbeing of children in foster care.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not hold data centrally on the number of fostering placements at constituency level. Nationally, placement sufficiency remains under strain, which is why reforms are essential to renewing fostering and improving support for carers and children.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she has taken to encourage exam boards to offer the British Sign Language GCSE.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government, working with the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual), has developed the content and assessment arrangements for a new British Sign Language (BSL) GCSE.
Now that Ofqual’s final qualification rules have been published, exam boards are able to develop detailed specifications which will form the basis of course content to be taught in schools and colleges.
Decisions on whether to develop qualification specifications are for exam boards, and any specifications developed by exam boards will need to be accredited by Ofqual before they are available to schools.
I have written to the exam boards to encourage them to seize the opportunity to offer this important qualification.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she expects the first BSL GCSE course to begin.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The development of a British Sign Language (BSL) GCSE is an important step toward fostering greater recognition of BSL as a language, and the government is committed to developing a qualification that benefits both students and the wider deaf community.
The department published subject content in December 2023, and Ofqual, the independent qualifications regulator, is in the process of finalising the assessment arrangements. We have worked closely with Ofqual throughout this process, as we do during the development of any new GCSE. Our focus is on ensuring that the BSL GCSE is of the highest quality. It is important that the assessment is fair, rigorous, and reflective of BSL as a language, so that the qualification meets the required standards and serves the needs of both students and the deaf community.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions her Department has had with Ofqual on the timing of the first teaching of the British Sign Language GCSE.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The development of a British Sign Language (BSL) GCSE is an important step toward fostering greater recognition of BSL as a language, and the government is committed to developing a qualification that benefits both students and the wider deaf community.
The department published subject content in December 2023, and Ofqual, the independent qualifications regulator, is in the process of finalising the assessment arrangements. We have worked closely with Ofqual throughout this process, as we do during the development of any new GCSE. Our focus is on ensuring that the BSL GCSE is of the highest quality. It is important that the assessment is fair, rigorous, and reflective of BSL as a language, so that the qualification meets the required standards and serves the needs of both students and the deaf community.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will extend the 50% faith-based admissions cap to all new schools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
I refer the hon. Member for South Leicestershire to the answer of 22 January 2025 to Question 23775.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the impact of removing the abatement law on teacher's pensions on (a) retaining teachers and (b) allowing retired teachers to return to the profession.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The department reviewed the abatement provisions as part of scheme reforms introduced in 2015 and removed abatement applying to any service accrued under the career average scheme that was introduced.
The abatement provision applies to pension accrued in the final salary section of the scheme only. The final salary section is closed to any further accrual, and all active members have now transitioned to the career average scheme.
Retired teachers are able to return to the profession and accrue further pension.
There are no plans to review the abatement provisions again.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of physics teachers in (a) South Leicestershire constituency and (b) Leicestershire.
Answered by Nick Gibb
As at the last school workforce census (November 2022, published on 8 June 2023), the number of teachers remains high, with 468,400 full time equivalent (FTE) teachers working in state funded schools across the country. This is over 27,000 (6%) more than in 2010. The last school workforce census is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
In November 2022 (latest available data), there were 5,331 FTE teachers in state funded schools in Leicestershire. This is an increase of 1.3% from last year (5,263) and an increase of 0.6% since 2010, when the school workforce census began (5,298).
In November 2022 (latest available data), there were 845 FTE teachers in state funded schools in South Leicestershire constituency. This is an increase of 0.8% from last year (838) and an increase of 12.2% since 2010 (753).
The Department’s reforms are aimed at increasing teacher recruitment and at ensuring teachers across England stay and thrive in the profession.
The Department announced a financial incentives package worth up to £181 million for those starting initial teacher training (ITT) in the 2023/24 academic year. The Department is providing bursaries worth up to £27,000 and scholarships worth up to £29,000 to encourage trainees to apply to train in key secondary subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, and computing. The Department has extended bursary and scholarship eligibility to all non-UK national trainees in languages and physics.
The Department provides a Levelling Up Premium for mathematics, physics, chemistry, and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who work in disadvantaged schools nationally, including within Education Investment Areas. There are 18 schools in the Leicester Local Authority area and 12 schools in the Leicestershire Local Authority eligible for Levelling Up Premium payments worth up to £2,000. The eligibility criteria and list of eligible schools is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/levelling-up-premium-payments-for-teachers.
The Department launched a pilot initial teacher training course in spring 2022 called ‘Engineers teach physics’. It was designed to encourage engineering graduates and career changers with an engineering background to consider a career as a physics teacher.
The Department has increased the number of providers offering ‘Engineers teach physics’ in the second year to 18. This expansion of providers will ensure that this programme will be available to more trainees across the country.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the rate of fines for parents and carers taking their children out of school during term times on encouraging school attendance.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Parents have a duty to ensure their child of compulsory school age, who is registered at school, attends regularly.
The Department has not formally assessed the impact of penalty notices. Data shows that absence due to unauthorised holidays, for which 85% of penalty notices are issued, has remained stable between 2017/18 (85%) and 2021/22 (85%). Data for 2020/21 should not be used due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The Department has consulted on a new framework to improve consistency and fairness in issuing penalty notices and to ensure they are used effectively as part of the suite of parental responsibility measures. The Department will be responding to this consultation in due course.