Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to improve the education of children and young people on risks associated with online gambling.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Children and young people are taught about the importance of online safety and the risks associated with it as part of the statutory relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) curriculum.
The statutory RSHE guidance sets out that that young people should be taught about the risks related to online gambling, including the accumulation of debt, how advertising and information is targeted at them and how to be a discerning consumer of information online. These subjects support young people to develop their ability to self-regulate, as well as providing strategies for doing so. Young people are also taught how to seek help and support if they have concerns.
The department is currently reviewing the statutory RSHE curriculum for primary and secondary pupils and is analysing consultation responses, talking to stakeholders and considering relevant evidence before setting out next steps, including whether any additional content is needed on the risks associated with online gambling.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of reviewing the threshold for intervention from children's services to protect children.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Keeping children safe from multiple forms of abuse and harm is the foundation of giving every child the best start in life, ensuring they can achieve and thrive as they grow up. In our Plan for Change, this government set out its ambition to ensure every child is kept safe, regardless of their background or where they live across the country.
The Children Act 1989 is the legislative framework for local authorities in terms of investigating child protection concerns (under section 47 of the Act) and providing support and services for children in need (under section 17 of the Act). The statutory guidance ‘Working together to safeguard children' (2023) is clear that local authorities and their partners should publish a threshold document for support and services under section 17.
As a child-centred government, keeping children safe is a priority. The department has made £500 million available this year to support the national rollout of the Families First Partnership Programme. We envision a transformed system, where practitioners from social work, police, health, education and beyond work together to promote the wellbeing of children and keep them safe from harm. Through this end-to-end system reform, families will receive the help and support they need, at the earliest opportunity and more children will be protected at the right time.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve (a) recruitment and (b) retention in local government children's services.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Local government children’s services provide vital support and protection to society’s most vulnerable children. The department is grateful for the work that children’s social care workforces do every day.
In November, we published ‘Keeping children safe, helping families thrive’ setting out our strategic vision to children’s social care reform. The department is confident these reforms will result in a more effective system that more people will want to work and stay in.
The department is directly supporting the recruitment and retention of child and family social workers, including training around 850 new social workers annually through our fast-track programmes and has also provided funding to support up to 461 new social work apprenticeship places. We are working with local authorities to improve working conditions through our ‘Support for social workers’ platform and are reviewing the National Workload Action Group’s report on reducing unnecessary workload.
On 20 March, we also launched a public consultation on new post-qualifying standards for child and family social workers and a new social work induction programme to strengthen early career support and improve retention.
On 30 September 2024, there were 34,300 full-time equivalent child and family social workers in post, which is the highest number since data collection began. This reflects the combined efforts of local authorities, and departmental investment, to improve recruitment and retention in children’s services.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has plans to reintroduce a safeguarding database for children.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Keeping children safe is a priority for this government. Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, the department is taking a range of steps to improve safeguarding. We are introducing a new information sharing duty, making provision for a Single Unique Identifier, strengthening the role of education in local safeguarding arrangements and introducing multi-agency child protection teams.
There are presently no plans to re-introduce a national safeguarding database for children.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to take steps to allow childminders to provide funded places to related children who do not live with them.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Childminders are an important part of the early education sector. They provide flexible and affordable care which can be tailored to the specific needs of parents and children.
Primary legislation does not permit funding care that is provided by a relative under the early years entitlements. Successive governments have taken this same approach to avoid creating an incentive for adults to register to become childminders and being paid to look after related children that they are already looking after on an informal basis. For this reason, the department currently has no plans to change this long-standing position. A local authority can choose to fund a childminder providing childcare for a related child. However, this would have to be from local authority funds that are independent of the dedicated schools grant.
Although childminders cannot receive entitlements funding for related children, flexibilities within staff to child ratios can be used to allow childminders who are caring for related children to avoid limiting the income they can earn. This clarification, which aims to provide more flexibility and remove burdens for childminders while maintaining quality and safety standards, is part of our wider changes to the early years foundation stage.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to consult (a) teachers and (b) students in relation to its planned phase-out of BTEC qualifications.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government has not set out plans to phase out applied general qualifications.
In July, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, announced the review of qualifications reform. The rapid review is focused on Level 3 qualifications currently scheduled to have funding removed on 31 July 2025.
The department has an extensive programme of engagement underway, to ensure that the views of colleges, schools and teachers are fed into the review of qualifications reform. The department has already held a Ministerial chaired round table with key leaders in the college sector and is undertaking a series of focus groups and interviews with colleges, schools and other organisations to ensure that the views of stakeholders are fully considered. These events include key leaders from across the further education sector, as well as subject teachers and leaders of curriculum in institutions. In addition, departmental officials are using the latest student data and information available to inform the review.