Asked by: Ben Howlett (Conservative - Bath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to provide more funding for deaf people to procure the services of interpreters.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Local authorities have clear duties to support children with special educational needs (SEN). They are responsible for planning and delivering the necessary services for children within their area.
The Children and Families Act enables a joined-up approach to support children with sensory impairments, with clear information on the support that families can expect locally and the option of a personal budget for some parents and young people to give them control over the support they receive.
The Department for Education funds the National Sensory Impairment Partnership (NatSIP) to support local authorities to benchmark and improve the support available for children with sensory impairments. NatSIP is working with sensory support services across the country to support the SEN reforms. NatSIP helps local authorities and settings ensure that the right support is in place to improve the outcomes for deaf, blind and multi-sensory impaired children.
Asked by: Ben Howlett (Conservative - Bath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve the teaching of personal, social, health and economic education in schools.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Government wants all young people to leave school prepared for life in modern Britain. High quality personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) teaching has a vital role to play in providing young people with a ‘curriculum for life’, equipping them with the skills and understanding they need to manage their lives and stay safe. Departmental advice on the teaching of PSHE is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/personal-social-health-and-economic-education-pshe
To improve the quality of PSHE, we are developing a new, rigorous accreditation for schools which will enable them to demonstrate excellence in the quality of their PSHE teaching. The new quality mark will give parents more information about a school’s PSHE provision. We are also working with the PSHE Association to help quality assure teaching resources.