Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to encourage universities to financially compensate students affected by industrial action.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
We expect Higher Education Providers to consider their obligations under consumer law and students’ consumer rights carefully, including during industrial action. This includes ensuring that a range of appropriate remedies and mitigations are available, which may include financial compensation, to prevent and minimise the effects of any strike action upon their students
The Office for Students, the regulator for higher education in England, has issued guidance for students affected by industrial action. It encourages students to discuss with their university or college whether it is possible to make up for any lost teaching, and whether any other loss of services and support can be rearranged to minimise the disruption that students have experienced. Where lost teaching has had an impact on assessments or other work that has had to be submitted, students may be able to submit a claim for this to be considered as part of the university’s mitigating or extenuating circumstances process.
If the issue is not satisfactorily resolved, students can complain through the university’s complaints process; if they are unhappy with the outcome, students have the right to make a complaint to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA). The OIA has also published guidance on its website about its approach to complaints by students affected by the industrial action.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
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 the Higher Education (Higher Amount) (England) Regulations 2010 on industrial action at universities in England.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
There are currently two industrial disputes affecting higher education in England. The Universities Superannuation Scheme pension dispute relates to the scheme valuation, costs and governance. The second dispute is about pay, gender and racial pay gaps as well as contracts and working conditions. Universities are independent institutions and are responsible for their own decisions on pay, employment contracts and pension provision.
Government has made no specific assessment of the potential effect of the Higher Education (Higher Amount) (England) Regulations 2010 on these disputes. Those regulations prescribed the higher amounts of tuition fees for courses starting on or after 1 September 2012. Following the passage of the Higher Education and Research Act 2017, fee limits for prescribed courses are now provided for in the Higher Education (Fee Limits and Fee Limit Condition) (England) Regulations 2018 and the Higher Education (Fee Limits for Accelerated Courses) (England) Regulations 2019 (in those regulations where the first academic year began on or after 1 August 2019).
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to improve teaching of the Roma Holocaust in schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is fully committed to Holocaust education. Every young person should learn about the Holocaust and the lessons it teaches us today. The curriculum gives teachers and schools the freedom to decide how to teach the subject and what resources to use to support an understanding of the history of the Holocaust and the experiences of the non-Jewish victims of Nazi persecution.
The Department further supports pupils’ and teachers’ understanding of the Holocaust by providing funding for the Holocaust Educational Trust’s Lessons from Auschwitz project (£2,126,437 in 2019-20 and £2,193,675 in 2020-21) and to the UCL Institute of Education’s Centre for Holocaust Education (£500,000 in both 2019-20 and 2020-21, match funded by the Pears foundation). Additionally, £1.7 million for the 2019-20 financial year is being provided for the Bergen-Belsen Commemoration Programme to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
A wide array of resources are available to help teachers teach about the persecution by the Nazis of different groups of people, including Roma victims.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has plans to issue revised guidance to (a) headteachers and (b) school staff on the time limit for pupils being placed in isolation as punishment.
Answered by Nick Gibb
?Our guidance on behaviour and discipline in schools includes advice on using isolation, and states that it is for individual schools to decide how long a pupil should be kept in isolation. The guidance also states that schools should ensure that pupils are kept in isolation no longer than is necessary, and that their time spent there is used as constructively as possible. The schools must also ensure the health and safety of pupils, and any requirements in relation to safeguarding and pupil welfare. The guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/behaviour-and-discipline-in-schools.?
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that disciplinary measures used in schools do not harm the mental health of students.
Answered by Nick Gibb
All schools are required by law to have a behaviour policy which sets out the behaviour expected of pupils and the sanctions that will be imposed for misbehaviour. Schools may only impose sanctions or penalties that are reasonable and proportionate in all circumstances and must not breach any other legislation, such as in respect of disability, special educational needs, race and other equalities and human rights.
The Department’s guidance on behaviour and discipline states that schools should consider whether continuing disruptive behaviour may be the result of an unmet mental health need, in which case a multi-agency referral may be necessary.
Guidance on behaviour and discipline is available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/behaviour-and-discipline-in-schools.
Additionally, in 2018 the Department published updated Mental Health & Behaviour in Schools Guidance, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mental-health-and-behaviour-in-schools--2.?The purpose of this guidance is to help schools to identify pupils whose behaviour may be the result of an underlying mental health difficulty, and to understand when and how to put in place support.?
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether it remains the Government's policy to introduce free sanitary products in (a) secondary schools and (b) further education colleges.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
On 20 January 2020, the department launched a new scheme which makes free period products available for state-funded primary schools, secondary schools and colleges in England. This is an important step to ensure that menstruation does not present a barrier to learning and that no one is held back from reaching their potential. This scheme is part of a wider programme of work, led by the cross-sector Period Poverty taskforce, with the vision to eliminate period poverty and shame around menstruation in the UK by 2025.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he is taking steps under the universal declaration of human rights to uphold the rights of children in schools that use extended isolation in booths as punishment for minor incidents of misbehaviour; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Classrooms need to be safe and calm environments that enable teachers to teach, and children to learn. Schools can choose to remove pupils from the classroom for a variety of reasons.
The Department trusts schools to develop their own policies and strategies for managing disruptive behaviour according to their particular circumstances. To help schools develop effective strategies, the Department has produced advice for schools which covers what should be included in their behaviour policy. This advice can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/behaviour-and-discipline-in-schools.
The guidance states that schools can adopt a policy which allows disruptive pupils to be placed in isolation away from other pupils. If a school uses isolation rooms as a disciplinary penalty, this should be made clear in their behaviour policy. As with other disciplinary penalties, schools must act lawfully, reasonably and proportionately in all cases, and must take account of any special education needs or disabilities pupils placed in isolation may have. The school must also ensure the health and safety of pupils.
It is for individual schools to decide how long a pupil should be kept in isolation and for the staff member in charge to determine what pupils may and may not do during the time they are there. Schools should ensure that pupils are kept in isolation no longer than is necessary and that their time spent there is used as constructively as possible. Schools must allow pupils time to eat or use the toilet.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding his Department has allocated to further education colleges in Yorkshire and Humber in each year since 2010.
Answered by Anne Milton
The department publishes the funding allocations for individual colleges annually.
Links to funding allocations for the most recent years for both 16 to 19 year olds and adults are given below:
Funding allocations for 16 to 19 year olds can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-allocation-data-2018-to-2019-academic-year.
Funding allocations for adults can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/funding-allocations-to-training-providers-2018-to-2019.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Research and analysis entitled, Supporting mental health in schools and colleges conducted by his Department, what steps the Government has taken to increase the provision of counselling services in schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department recognises that school-based counselling by well-qualified practitioners can play an effective role as part of a ‘whole school’ approach to supporting mental health and wellbeing. The ‘Supporting mental health in schools and colleges’ research indicated that 61% of schools offer counselling services, with 84% of secondary schools providing their pupils with access to counselling support.[1]
It is for schools to decide what support to provide to their pupils, including how to draw on counselling provision made locally, for instance by local authorities and the voluntary and community sector. To help more schools to do so effectively, the Government has published advice on how to deliver high quality school-based counselling.
The Government is also introducing the new mental health support teams linked to groups of schools and colleges to provide additional mental health support for pupils with mild or moderate issues. The first 59 teams are being set up in 25 areas of the country and will be fully operational at the end of this year. The aim is for these teams to work together with existing provision, including school-based counselling. The Government will evaluate their introduction to ensure that they do not displace existing provision.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that schools in Yorkshire and the Humber achieve the England average for the number of Ofsted schools ranked good.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Ofsted’s latest published data to 31 May 2019 shows that 80% of schools in Yorkshire and Humber have an Ofsted rating of good or better compared with the England average of 85%. This data can be accessed here:
For the academic year 2018-19 where schools may need additional support, the Department has offered up to three days’ funded support from a national leader of education (or equivalent) to schools below the floor or coasting standards based on its 2017-18 results. This centred on helping the existing leadership team to identify and access appropriate support, with an additional £16,000 for schools that have two consecutive requires improvement judgements to implement an action plan. As at April 2019, 139 schools in Yorkshire and Humber were engaging with this offer.
In addition, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has confirmed that from academic year 2019-20, the Department will make an offer of support to all requires improvement schools not already benefitting from the current offer, to ensure that their leadership teams can access the support they need to improve.
The published 'Schools Causing Concern' guidance sets out how local authorities and Regional Schools Commissioners (RSC's) work with schools to support improvements to educational performance and how they can use their intervention powers. This guidance can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/schools-causing-concern--2.
Local authorities are responsible for the performance of maintained schools. RSCs acting on behalf of my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, are responsible for taking action where academies and free schools are underperforming. RSCs work closely with academy trusts to ensure that strong processes are in place to maintain and improve educational performance, including using their intervention powers where there is an inadequate Ofsted judgement.