Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made on the implementation of the National Kinship Care Strategy.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
‘Championing Kinship Care’, which was published on 15 December 2023, sets out the department’s vision for a future kinship care system and how kinship carers can be better supported, so that more children can thrive. The department is investing £20 million of funding in 2024/25 to help move towards a children’s social care system with kinship at its heart.
The department will launch a Pathfinder programme in 2024 in up to eight local authorities to provide special guardian kinship carers, who care for previously looked after children, with a financial allowance to be paid at the same rate as foster care. This programme will be backed by an investment of £16 million in 2024/25 and the department will explore expanding eligibility to broader cohorts of kinship carers and all local authorities in the future, subject to the findings of our evaluation. The department is currently working through the criteria for the eight local authorities, and will share further information on the Pathfinder in the coming months.
The department also announced £3.8 million in 2024/25 to expand the role of Virtual School Heads to specifically include championing the education, attendance and attainment of children in kinship care. Local authority funding allocations were published in March 2024 and the role extension will come into effect from September 2024.
The department is also delivering a package of training and support that all kinship carers across England can access if they wish to within this Spending Review period. The department is pleased to confirm the charity Kinship as the successful training partner and that the service went live in April 2024.
Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made on the implementation of the financial allowance pathfinder.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department will launch a Pathfinder programme in 2024 in up to eight local authorities to provide special guardian kinship carers, who care for previously looked after children, with a financial allowance to be paid at the same rate as foster care. This programme will be backed by an investment of £16 million in 2024/25 and the department will explore expanding eligibility to broader cohorts of kinship carers and all local authorities in the future, subject to the findings of our evaluation. Local authority selection will take place this year. The department will also work with an evaluation partner to make sure that the programme can provide robust evidence for future rollout. The department will share further information on the Pathfinder in the coming months.
Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to announce the eight local authorities selected for the financial allowance pathfinder.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department will launch a Pathfinder programme in 2024 in up to eight local authorities to provide special guardian kinship carers, who care for previously looked after children, with a financial allowance to be paid at the same rate as foster care. This programme will be backed by an investment of £16 million in 2024/25 and the department will explore expanding eligibility to broader cohorts of kinship carers and all local authorities in the future, subject to the findings of our evaluation. Local authority selection will take place this year. The department will also work with an evaluation partner to make sure the programme can provide robust evidence for future rollout. The department will share further information on the Pathfinder in the coming months.
Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department provides financial support to (a) schools, (b) academy trusts and (c) local authorities for the cost of (i) overheads and (ii) maintenance required under the terms of private finance initiative contracts.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Mid Bedfordshire Upper Schools PFI contract covers two schools and was signed on 22nd December 2003.
The department’s private finance initiative (PFI) Revenue Support Grant (RSG) funding for the Mid Bedfordshire Upper Schools Project is paid to the Local Authority, Central Bedfordshire Council, rather than directly to schools. No payments are made by the department to Bedfordshire Schools Trust Ltd in relation to the Mid Bedfordshire Upper Schools PFI contract. The department has paid PFI RSG funding of £1,886,314 for each of the last ten years from 2014/15 to 2023/24 to Central Bedfordshire Council. All payments under Mid Bedfordshire Schools PFI Project to Bedfordshire Schools Trust Ltd are made by Central Bedfordshire Council.
The department supports local authorities that entered schools PFI contracts by providing Revenue Support Grant funding for the term of the PFI contract, which is normally 25 years. Central Bedfordshire Council, as the contracting party to Mid Bedfordshire Upper Schools Project PFI agreement, combines RSG grant funding from the department, plus additional funds from their own resources, to pay the PFI unitary charge to the contractor. The schools within each PFI contract ordinarily contribute towards the cost of the facilities. This applies equally to maintained schools and to academies.
The department also supports schools that have unavoidable extra premises costs related to their PFI contracts through the ‘PFI factor’ in the schools national funding formula (NFF). This funding is paid out to local authorities through the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) and is then allocated to schools by local authorities through their own local formulae.
The PFI factor only covers unavoidable extra premises costs, primarily related to the building itself. Costs which all schools face, such as facilities management and energy costs should be covered by the funding schools receive from the other formula factors in their local authority’s funding formula.
Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding her Department has given to (a) schools in Mid Bedfordshire and (b) Galliford Try in relation to the PFI contract between Central Bedfordshire Council and Galliford Try in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Mid Bedfordshire Upper Schools PFI contract covers two schools and was signed on 22nd December 2003.
The department’s private finance initiative (PFI) Revenue Support Grant (RSG) funding for the Mid Bedfordshire Upper Schools Project is paid to the Local Authority, Central Bedfordshire Council, rather than directly to schools. No payments are made by the department to Bedfordshire Schools Trust Ltd in relation to the Mid Bedfordshire Upper Schools PFI contract. The department has paid PFI RSG funding of £1,886,314 for each of the last ten years from 2014/15 to 2023/24 to Central Bedfordshire Council. All payments under Mid Bedfordshire Schools PFI Project to Bedfordshire Schools Trust Ltd are made by Central Bedfordshire Council.
The department supports local authorities that entered schools PFI contracts by providing Revenue Support Grant funding for the term of the PFI contract, which is normally 25 years. Central Bedfordshire Council, as the contracting party to Mid Bedfordshire Upper Schools Project PFI agreement, combines RSG grant funding from the department, plus additional funds from their own resources, to pay the PFI unitary charge to the contractor. The schools within each PFI contract ordinarily contribute towards the cost of the facilities. This applies equally to maintained schools and to academies.
The department also supports schools that have unavoidable extra premises costs related to their PFI contracts through the ‘PFI factor’ in the schools national funding formula (NFF). This funding is paid out to local authorities through the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) and is then allocated to schools by local authorities through their own local formulae.
The PFI factor only covers unavoidable extra premises costs, primarily related to the building itself. Costs which all schools face, such as facilities management and energy costs should be covered by the funding schools receive from the other formula factors in their local authority’s funding formula.
Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many meetings Ministers in her Department have had with officials at Central Bedfordshire Council on the transition from a three to two tier school system in Central Bedfordshire.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Officials from the East of England Regions Group have a weekly schedule of meetings with Central Bedfordshire officials, where a member of its Schools for the Future Programme responsible for the transition from a three to two tier school system is available to provide updates on the programme. In addition, on 23 February 2024, the department held a specific meeting where Central Bedfordshire officials provided an update on the progress of its three to two tier transition.
No Ministerial meetings were held in 2023 or 2024 with Central Bedfordshire Council to discuss its plans to move from a three to two-tier educational system.
Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many meetings officials in her Department have had with Central Bedfordshire Council officers on the transition from a three to two tier school system in Central Bedfordshire.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Officials from the East of England Regions Group have a weekly schedule of meetings with Central Bedfordshire officials, where a member of its Schools for the Future Programme responsible for the transition from a three to two tier school system is available to provide updates on the programme. In addition, on 23 February 2024, the department held a specific meeting where Central Bedfordshire officials provided an update on the progress of its three to two tier transition.
No Ministerial meetings were held in 2023 or 2024 with Central Bedfordshire Council to discuss its plans to move from a three to two-tier educational system.
Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the impact of the new Early Years Funding programme on the viability of providers where the Government’s payments do not match the nurseries current fees.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
There were 15,100 childcare places in 2023 than the previous year, with 12,900 paid staff added to the same period according to 2023’s Childcare and Early Years Provider Survey.
To support providers to expand their provision further, the department is investing over £400 million of additional funding to uplift the hourly rate for the entitlements next year. This investment consists of £67 million new funding to reflect the latest National Living Wage increase, an additional £57 million to support providers in respect of teachers’ pay and pensions, and the £288 million for the existing entitlements in 2024/25 announced in the Spring Budget in March 2023. It also builds on the £204 million of additional investment to increase funding rates this year.
The department will also be providing over £4.1 billion by the 2027/28 financial year to fund 30 hours of free childcare per week (38 weeks per year) for working parents with children aged 9 months and above in England, from the term after they reach the relevant age (£1.7 billion in 2024/25, £3.3 billion in 2025/26, £4.1 billion in 2026/27, and £4.1 billion in 2027/28). Additionally, hundreds of thousands of children aged 3 and 4 are registered for a 30-hour place, saving eligible working parents up to £6,900 per child per year, helping even more working parents and making a real difference to the lives of those families.
Providers are expanding placements across the country and the department is supporting providers to deliver each stage of the entitlement expansion rollout through increases to the rate of pay, the department’s national recruitment campaign and establishing more qualification routes into the sector.
Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the steps they are taking to support the new Early Years Funding programme to ensure nurseries are viable.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
There were 15,100 childcare places in 2023 than the previous year, with 12,900 paid staff added to the same period according to 2023’s Childcare and Early Years Provider Survey.
To support providers to expand their provision further, the department is investing over £400 million of additional funding to uplift the hourly rate for the entitlements next year. This investment consists of £67 million new funding to reflect the latest National Living Wage increase, an additional £57 million to support providers in respect of teachers’ pay and pensions, and the £288 million for the existing entitlements in 2024/25 announced in the Spring Budget in March 2023. It also builds on the £204 million of additional investment to increase funding rates this year.
The department will also be providing over £4.1 billion by the 2027/28 financial year to fund 30 hours of free childcare per week (38 weeks per year) for working parents with children aged 9 months and above in England, from the term after they reach the relevant age (£1.7 billion in 2024/25, £3.3 billion in 2025/26, £4.1 billion in 2026/27, and £4.1 billion in 2027/28). Additionally, hundreds of thousands of children aged 3 and 4 are registered for a 30-hour place, saving eligible working parents up to £6,900 per child per year, helping even more working parents and making a real difference to the lives of those families.
Providers are expanding placements across the country and the department is supporting providers to deliver each stage of the entitlement expansion rollout through increases to the rate of pay, the department’s national recruitment campaign and establishing more qualification routes into the sector.
Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has had discussions with (a) Central Bedfordshire Council and (b) Bedford Borough Council on the adequacy of provision for the expanded childcare offer in (i) April and (ii) September 2024.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. Part B of the ‘Early education and childcare’ statutory guidance highlights that local authorities are required to report annually to elected council members on how they are meeting their duty to secure sufficient childcare, and to make this report available and accessible to parents. The full guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-education-and-childcare--2/early-education-and-childcare-applies-from-1-april-2024.
The department has regular contact with each local authority in England, including Central Bedfordshire Council and Bedford Borough Council, about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing regarding their readiness to deliver the expanded childcare offer in both April and September 2024.
Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, the department discusses what action the local authority is taking to address those issues and, where needed, supports the local authority with any specific requirements through the department’s childcare sufficiency support contract.