Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of parliamentary constituencies in England that have no further education institution that provides A-Levels.
Answered by Anne Milton
We do not hold data for further education (FE) institutions not providing A Levels by parliamentary constituency.
From the Single Individualised Learner Record for the 2015/16 academic year, there were 280 parliamentary constituencies where there were no learners participating in A Level courses in FE institutions based on the delivery location.
It is important to note that this does not include A level provision in school sixth forms. There are significantly more school sixth forms than FE institutions providing A levels.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what financial support her Department provides to students who travel to attend a further education institution that provides A-Levels where there is no such provision in their home parliamentary constituency.
Answered by Anne Milton
The department provides financial support through the 16-19 Bursary Fund to support young people who need financial help to participate in education.
The majority of the fund, approximately £130 million in the 2017/18 academic year, is allocated to education and training providers, who make awards to students to cover the costs of transport, books, food, equipment or any other education-related costs. It is up to institutions to set their own eligibility criteria for discretionary bursaries, based upon local barriers to participation and individual circumstances; and to decide how much each student will receive.
Students in defined vulnerable groups (in broad terms, young people who are most affected by disability; or who live independently and do not receive financial support from their families) may receive bursaries of £1,200 per year dependent on their circumstances and receipt of benefits. These can be used to support travel costs. Further details can be found at:
www.gov.uk/1619-bursary-fund and www.gov.uk/guidance/advice-for-young-people-16-to-19-bursary-fund-guide.
We also provide financial support via the Residential Support Scheme to the small number of students, aged 16 to 18, that require help with the costs of living away from home to participate in a study programme if the same or similar substantial Level 2 or Level 3 qualification is not available locally. In order to receive support students must meet the eligibility criteria (which includes an income assessment) and the course must be outside a reasonable daily travelling distance which is defined as more than 15 miles or a 2-hour return journey. Further details can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/residential-support-scheme.
For learners aged 19 and above, Learner Support is available to help those with a specific financial hardship that prevents them from taking part in learning. Providers have discretion to help learners meet costs such as transport, accommodation, books, equipment and childcare.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the cost to local authorities in England of using independent fostering agencies in each of the last five years.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Local council expenditure on independent (including private and voluntary) fostering service providers has been between 45 and 47 per cent of the total expenditure on fostering services between 2011 and 2016. This information can be found in the attached table. The 2016-17 data will be published in December.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of hours taken as long-term sickness leave by social workers in (a) Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, (b) the North East and (c) England in each of the last five years.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The department has not made an estimate for the number of hours of long-term sickness absence taken by social workers.
Information on the sickness absence rate for children’s social workers in local councils in England has been collected on a comparable basis as of 30 September each year since 2013. The most recent data for 30 September 2016 was published by the department on 16 February 2017 and is available online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-childrens-social-care-workforce.
The available data is shown below:
As at 30 September | Redcar and Cleveland | North East | England |
2013 | - | - | 4% |
2014 | 3% | 5% | 4% |
2015 | 3% | 4% | 4% |
2016 | 4% | 5% | 4% |
Note: Absence rates at 30 September 2013 have not been disseminated below national level due to concerns with data quality.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the employee turnover rate for social workers in (a) Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, (b) the North East and (c) England in each of the last five years.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Information on the turnover of children’s social workers in local authorities in England has been collected on a comparable basis as of 30 September each year since 2013. The most recent data was published by the department on 16 February 2017 and is available online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-childrens-social-care-workforce.
The requested data is shown below:
As at 30 September | Redcar and Cleveland | North East | England |
2013 | 19% | 14% | 15% |
2014 | 9% | 12% | 17% |
2015 | 18% | 13% | 16% |
2016 | 16% | 16% | 15% |
Note: turnover rates have been calculated using the number of leavers during the year ending 30 September as a percentage of the number of children’s social workers at 30 September.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the number of looked-after children being placed 20 miles or more outside the boundary of their local authority.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The government is clear that the needs of the child are paramount when making decisions about the right care placement. Local councils have a statutory duty to consider the right placement for each child and take into account a number of factors, one of which is placement area. Sometimes circumstances make it the right decision for a local council to identify a placement outside of the child’s local area, for example when a child is at risk from child sexual exploitation, trafficking or gang violence or when they need very specialist care.
Out of area placements require approval from the Director of Children’s Services, and Ofsted will challenge local councils where they believe poor out of area placement are being made. The government is funding Innovation Programme pilots for residential care in areas where demand for residential places outstrips supply. We are also setting up a Residential Care Leadership Board, which will bring together representatives from local councils and providers to explore how to improve commissioning of children’s residential placements. As part of this work we expect the Board to assess data on the use of out of area placements.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that local authorities provide adequate pastoral support for social workers; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Local councils as employers are responsible for the provision of appropriate pastoral support. The Standards for Employers of Social Workers, published by the Local Government Association, provide an important means of ensuring that employers are providing the right support to social workers in the difficult work they do.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many looked-after children were placed 20 miles or more outside the boundary of their local authority in (a) Redcar and Cleveland, (b) the North East and (c) England in each of the last five years.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
At 31 March in each of the last five years for which figures are available, the number of looked-after children placed outside their local council boundary and more than 20 miles from their home is given in the table below:
Children looked after who were placed outside the boundary of their responsible local council and over 20 miles from home at 31 March1,2,3 | |||||
Years ending 31 March 2012 to 2016 | |||||
| |||||
| 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Redcar and Cleveland | 25 | 25 | 30 | 25 | 25 |
North East | 350 | 360 | 380 | 390 | 410 |
England | 8,160 | 8,430 | 9,500 | 9,890 | 10,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Source: SSDA903 | |||||
1. England and regional figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. Local council figures have been rounded to the nearest 5. | |||||
2. Figures exclude children looked after under an agreed series of short term placements. | |||||
3. Figures exclude children whose local council of placement is not known. | |||||
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what systems are in place for schools reporting hate incidents occurring in the classroom.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Schools are required by law to have behaviour and safeguarding policies. Schools should record and deal with incidents according to those policies and are held to account for how they do so by Ofsted. The Department for Education’s statutory safeguarding guidance, ‘Keeping children safe in education’ (September 2016), is clear that if staff have any concerns about a child, or think that the child is in danger, they should speak to the school’s designated safeguarding lead.
The Department’s ‘Preventing and Tackling Bullying’ guidance (July 2017) sets out that some types of harassing or threatening behaviour or communications could constitute a criminal offence. When school staff feel that an offence may have been committed, they should seek assistance from the police.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on how many schools teach anti-racism education; and what assessment her Department has made of the quality of that education.
Answered by Nick Gibb
We do not hold data on how many schools teach anti-racism education. Every school is different and each school will face its own challenges. Schools have the autonomy to tailor their approach to tackling these issues and to take action according to their individual requirements.
The Equality Act introduced the Public Sector Equality Duty. Under this duty, state funded schools must have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people with protected characteristics and none.
The National Curriculum also provides many opportunities to raise awareness of racial and religious diversity and tolerance.
Teaching about racism and discrimination can be included as part of the statutory programme of study for citizenship education at ages 11-16 in maintained schools. Citizenship education should include the development of pupils’ understanding of the diverse national, regional, religious and ethnic identities in the United Kingdom and the need for mutual respect and understanding.
Schools are also free to teach about racism in personal, social, health, economic (PSHE) education, where pupils can reflect on and challenge notions of prejudice.
Schools are already expected to promote the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils and, as part of this, fundamental British values, including the values of mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. This is at the heart of their responsibility to prepare pupils for life in modern Britain.