Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North and Kimberley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to help schools improve the cultural literacy of pupils aged four and five.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework sets out the learning and development requirements which all early years settings and schools are required to follow. This ensures all children from birth to five are supported throughout the EYFS and attain a good level of development - at the end of reception- ready to begin Year 1. This provides a firm basis for cultural literacy through the seven areas of learning: communication and language; physical development; personal, social and emotional development; literacy; mathematics; understanding the world; and expressive arts and design.
The Department’s proposed reforms to the EYFS, including revisions to the curriculum activities and assessment goals under the seven areas of learning, are intended to improve early language and literacy outcomes for all children - particularly those from a disadvantaged background. The reforms provide opportunities for teachers to support children’s cultural literacy through reading from a range of fiction and non-fiction books, singing rhymes and poems and visits to parks, museums and libraries. Strengthening teaching practice in these areas can enable all children to flourish as they move through school and beyond.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North and Kimberley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of synthetic phonics lessons on children's reading outcomes since the introduction of the Phonics Partnership Grant programme in 2015.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government is committed to continuing to raise literacy standards by ensuring all children, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, can read fluently and with understanding.
Evidence has shown that phonics is a highly effective component in the development of early reading skills, particularly for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Our phonics performance is improving. In 2019, 82% of pupils in Year 1 met the expected standard in the phonics screening check, compared to just 58% when the check was introduced in 2012. The disadvantage gap in the phonics screening check has decreased from 17% in 2012, to 14% in 2019. The gender gap in the phonics screening check has fallen from 8% in 2012 to 7% in 2019.
England achieved its highest ever score in reading in 2016, moving from joint 10th to joint 8th in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Stud (PIRLS) rankings. This follows a greater focus on reading in the primary curriculum, and a particular focus on phonics. The average improvement of England’s pupils in 2016 is largely attributable to two changes:
Building on the success of our phonics partnerships and phonics roadshows programmes, in 2018, the Department launched a £26.3 million English Hubs Programme. We have appointed 34 primary schools across England as English Hubs. The English Hubs programme is supporting nearly 3000 schools across England to improve their teaching of reading through systematic synthetic phonics, early language development, and reading for pleasure. The English Hubs are focused on improving educational outcomes for the most disadvantaged pupils in Reception and Year 1.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North and Kimberley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of teaching synthetic phonics on the attainment gap between (a) advantaged and disadvantaged students and (b) boys and girls.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government is committed to continuing to raise literacy standards by ensuring all children, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, can read fluently and with understanding.
Evidence has shown that phonics is a highly effective component in the development of early reading skills, particularly for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Our phonics performance is improving. In 2019, 82% of pupils in Year 1 met the expected standard in the phonics screening check, compared to just 58% when the check was introduced in 2012. The disadvantage gap in the phonics screening check has decreased from 17% in 2012, to 14% in 2019. The gender gap in the phonics screening check has fallen from 8% in 2012 to 7% in 2019.
England achieved its highest ever score in reading in 2016, moving from joint 10th to joint 8th in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Stud (PIRLS) rankings. This follows a greater focus on reading in the primary curriculum, and a particular focus on phonics. The average improvement of England’s pupils in 2016 is largely attributable to two changes:
Building on the success of our phonics partnerships and phonics roadshows programmes, in 2018, the Department launched a £26.3 million English Hubs Programme. We have appointed 34 primary schools across England as English Hubs. The English Hubs programme is supporting nearly 3000 schools across England to improve their teaching of reading through systematic synthetic phonics, early language development, and reading for pleasure. The English Hubs are focused on improving educational outcomes for the most disadvantaged pupils in Reception and Year 1.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North and Kimberley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what plans the Government has to improve workplace support for women experiencing the menopause.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The Government is committed to supporting working women at all stages of their lives and enabling them to reach their potential.
We have worked with businesses and academics to highlight the role employers can play in supporting women going through menopause transition. This includes setting out practical actions employers can take. This also sits alongside other policies and programmes, such as flexible working, which can help everyone remain economically active as long as they choose to.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North and Kimberley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when his Department will publish the (a) results and (b) final guidance from the consultation on school security.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
The department is currently considering the results of a public consultation on new security guidance for schools and colleges, with the intention of publishing this later in the year. We will publish the department’s response to the consultation at the same time we publish the guidance.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North and Kimberley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of access to English language classes to reduce levels of loneliness among resettled refugees.
Answered by Anne Milton
The government is committed to tackling loneliness and published its first loneliness strategy on 15 October 2018, bringing together the government, local government, public services, the voluntary and community sector and businesses to identify opportunities to tackle loneliness and build more integrated communities.
The government recognises that learning English is essential in enabling refugees to rebuild their lives. We are working closely across government to develop a new strategy for English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) in 2019, which will provide a shared vision for all publicly funded English language provision, including addressing the needs of refugees.
We know that language skills are crucial to help people integrate into life in England, as well as to break down barriers to work and career progression. This is why we support adults in England through the Adult Education Budget to secure the English language skills they need. The Home Office and the Department for Education have also provided £10 million to enable refugees resettled through the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme to access additional classes.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North and Kimberley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in (a) the East Midlands, (b) Nottingham and (c) Nottingham North have been taken into social care by court order in the last (i) one, (ii) three and (iii) five years.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The government wants every child to be in a stable, loving home that is right for them.
One of the key principles of the legislation which underpins the UK’s child protection system, is that children are best looked after within their families. However, that is not always possible and, as a last resort, local authorities can apply to the courts for a care or supervision order where the child is suffering, or is at risk of suffering, significant harm. In making their decisions, the courts must be satisfied that the threshold for significant harm has been met and that taking the child from his or her family’s care will be in the child’s best interests.
Where a child cannot live at home, we must make sure they are safe and receive the highest quality care, which is why we are working hard to improve the social care support for children across England through our reform programme, Putting Children First. We have also established the Children’s Social Care What Works Centre, whose initial research priority focuses on ‘what works in safely reducing the need for children to enter care’.
In the Autumn Budget, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced an additional £410 million for adult and children’s social care in 2019-20. A further £84 million is also being invested over the next 5 years through the Strengthening Families, Protecting Children programme. This will build on three of our most promising Innovation Programme projects, with the aim of improving social work practice to enable children to stay safely at home where that is in their best interests.
This investment is in addition to the almost £270 million the department has invested in our Innovation and Improvement programmes since 2014. There have been 4 programmes in local authorities in the East Midlands region and over 90 in local authorities across England to help innovate and re-design service delivery to achieve higher quality. The Creating Strong Communities model, for example, developed by North East Lincolnshire has been designed to fundamentally change the way local practitioners and partners in North East Lincolnshire work together to safeguard vulnerable children.
The number of children taken into care in the East Midlands region and Nottingham local authority area is shown in the attached table. The department does not collect this data by parliamentary constituency area.
Figures on children taken into care by legal status is published for England in Table C1 of the statistical release “Children Looked after in England including adoptions: 2017:2018” at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2017-to-2018
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North and Kimberley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of children in (a) the East Midlands, (b) Nottingham and (c) Nottingham North who are taken into social care by court order.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The government wants every child to be in a stable, loving home that is right for them.
One of the key principles of the legislation which underpins the UK’s child protection system, is that children are best looked after within their families. However, that is not always possible and, as a last resort, local authorities can apply to the courts for a care or supervision order where the child is suffering, or is at risk of suffering, significant harm. In making their decisions, the courts must be satisfied that the threshold for significant harm has been met and that taking the child from his or her family’s care will be in the child’s best interests.
Where a child cannot live at home, we must make sure they are safe and receive the highest quality care, which is why we are working hard to improve the social care support for children across England through our reform programme, Putting Children First. We have also established the Children’s Social Care What Works Centre, whose initial research priority focuses on ‘what works in safely reducing the need for children to enter care’.
In the Autumn Budget, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced an additional £410 million for adult and children’s social care in 2019-20. A further £84 million is also being invested over the next 5 years through the Strengthening Families, Protecting Children programme. This will build on three of our most promising Innovation Programme projects, with the aim of improving social work practice to enable children to stay safely at home where that is in their best interests.
This investment is in addition to the almost £270 million the department has invested in our Innovation and Improvement programmes since 2014. There have been 4 programmes in local authorities in the East Midlands region and over 90 in local authorities across England to help innovate and re-design service delivery to achieve higher quality. The Creating Strong Communities model, for example, developed by North East Lincolnshire has been designed to fundamentally change the way local practitioners and partners in North East Lincolnshire work together to safeguard vulnerable children.
The number of children taken into care in the East Midlands region and Nottingham local authority area is shown in the attached table. The department does not collect this data by parliamentary constituency area.
Figures on children taken into care by legal status is published for England in Table C1 of the statistical release “Children Looked after in England including adoptions: 2017:2018” at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2017-to-2018
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North and Kimberley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his department has made of the potential benefits of reinstating rounders on the activity list of assessed sports for GCSE and A-level physical education.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department published subject content for reformed physical education GCSE, AS and A levels in England in January 2015. Both sets of subject content include a list of activities in which students can be assessed. On 24 October 2018, the Department launched a review inviting proposals to add activities to the list, information about which is available here:
The deadline for responses is 20 December 2018.
The Department will consider all responses to this review, including those relating to rounders, along with Ofqual and exam boards. Decisions drawn from the review will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North and Kimberley)
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 including parenting education in the national curriculum.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Teachers are currently able to cover topics relating to parenting in their wider school curriculum, including in their personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE) lessons. Many schools use the PSHE Association’s non-statutory programme of study. The roles and responsibilities of the programme include parenting skills, the value of family relationships, and the impact of separation, divorce and bereavement on families.
Under provisions in the Children and Social Work Act 2017, the Government is making regulations to introduce mandatory Relationships Education in all primary schools, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) in all secondary schools and Health Education in state-funded primary and secondary schools. The key aim of Relationships Education is to put in place the building blocks needed for positive and safe relationships of all kinds, starting with family and friends, and moving out to other kinds of relationships, including online. RSE will also cover the importance of healthy relationships and the roles and responsibilities of parents.
Consultation on draft regulations and associated guidance for the new subjects closed on 7 November. The Department is currently considering the responses to the consultation, and plans to finalise the regulations and guidance next year and lay the regulations for debate in Parliament. Schools will be encouraged and supported to teach the new subjects from September 2019, and it will be mandatory to do so from September 2020.