Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make it his policy to increase free school meal budgets in line with inflation; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Will Quince
The provision of free school meals (FSM) to children from out-of-work families or those on low incomes is of the utmost importance to this government. Under the benefits-related criteria, the department provides a free healthy meal to around 1.7 million children, ensuring they are well-nourished and can concentrate, learn, and achieve in the classroom.
Under this government, eligibility for FSM has been extended several times and to more groups of children than any other government over the past half a century, including the introduction of universal infant FSM, and further education FSM.
Schools fund benefit-related FSM from their core funding which they receive through the schools' block of the dedicated schools grant and is derived from the national funding formula (NFF). For the 2022/23 financial year, the funding schools attract through the 'FSM factor' in the NFF is increasing to £470 per eligible pupil.
In recognition of cost pressures, after the NFF rates were set, the department received additional funding from HM Treasury for core schools funding in the 2022/23 financial year, which was distributed through a schools supplementary grant. As a result of this additional funding, core schools funding for mainstream schools has increased by 5.8% per pupil in 2022/23.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 26 April 2022 to Question 154193, on Mental Health Services: Children, if he will make additional funding available for the 75 per cent of schools and colleges who will not supported by mental health support teams by 2022-23 to provide professional counselling for their pupils.
Answered by Will Quince
As a department, we are committed to building education providers’ capability to create safe, calm, and supportive environments for children and young people, where they can access mental health and wellbeing support if and when they need it.
The department recognises professional counselling can form an important part of an education providers’ approach to mental wellbeing, and we have set a strong expectation in our ‘Counselling in schools: a blueprint for the future’ guidance that over time, all schools will offer counselling services to their pupils. This guidance is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/497825/Counselling_in_schools.pdf.
Many children and young people also benefit from other in-school support, including from trained pastoral staff, educational psychologists and Emotional Literacy Support Assistants, who may offer a range of therapies. It is vital that schools and colleges continue to have the freedom to choose what support to offer their pupils based on need.
Schools can use the additional £1 billion of recovery premium funding announced in the autumn, on top of pupil premium funding, and their increased core budget to support their pupils’ mental health and wellbeing, including for counselling or other therapeutic services.
To support schools and colleges to introduce effective approaches to mental health and wellbeing, the department has committed to offer all state schools and colleges a grant to train a senior mental health lead by 2025. Over 8,000 schools and colleges, which includes half of all state-funded secondary schools in England, have taken up the offer so far, which has been backed by £9.5 million in the 2021/21 financial year. On 12 May, the department announced an additional £7 million to extend senior mental health lead training to even more schools and college to meet our ambition of reaching two-thirds of eligible education providers by 2023, bringing the total amount of funding for the 2022/23 financial year to £10 million.
As part of the training, senior leaders will be equipped with the knowledge and skills to understand the mental health needs of their student population and consider the range of in-school provision needed, such as counselling services.
Information on progress introducing Mental Health Support Teams is included in a report published on 12 May 2022, which follows the news that more than 2.4 million children and young people now have access to support in schools and colleges. This report is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transforming-children-and-young-peoples-mental-health-provision. NHS England has also announced that over 500 teams will be confirmed this year, which will surpass the government’s original ambition to have 400 teams in place by April 2023. This article is available here: https://www.england.nhs.uk/2022/05/nhs-fast-tracks-mental-health-support-for-millions-of-pupils/.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 26 April 2022 to Question 154193, on Mental Health Services: Children, what funding is available to the 75 per cent of schools and colleges who will not be supported by mental health support teams by 2022-23 to provide professional counselling for their pupils.
Answered by Will Quince
As a department, we are committed to building education providers’ capability to create safe, calm, and supportive environments for children and young people, where they can access mental health and wellbeing support if and when they need it.
The department recognises professional counselling can form an important part of an education providers’ approach to mental wellbeing, and we have set a strong expectation in our ‘Counselling in schools: a blueprint for the future’ guidance that over time, all schools will offer counselling services to their pupils. This guidance is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/497825/Counselling_in_schools.pdf.
Many children and young people also benefit from other in-school support, including from trained pastoral staff, educational psychologists and Emotional Literacy Support Assistants, who may offer a range of therapies. It is vital that schools and colleges continue to have the freedom to choose what support to offer their pupils based on need.
Schools can use the additional £1 billion of recovery premium funding announced in the autumn, on top of pupil premium funding, and their increased core budget to support their pupils’ mental health and wellbeing, including for counselling or other therapeutic services.
To support schools and colleges to introduce effective approaches to mental health and wellbeing, the department has committed to offer all state schools and colleges a grant to train a senior mental health lead by 2025. Over 8,000 schools and colleges, which includes half of all state-funded secondary schools in England, have taken up the offer so far, which has been backed by £9.5 million in the 2021/21 financial year. On 12 May, the department announced an additional £7 million to extend senior mental health lead training to even more schools and college to meet our ambition of reaching two-thirds of eligible education providers by 2023, bringing the total amount of funding for the 2022/23 financial year to £10 million.
As part of the training, senior leaders will be equipped with the knowledge and skills to understand the mental health needs of their student population and consider the range of in-school provision needed, such as counselling services.
Information on progress introducing Mental Health Support Teams is included in a report published on 12 May 2022, which follows the news that more than 2.4 million children and young people now have access to support in schools and colleges. This report is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transforming-children-and-young-peoples-mental-health-provision. NHS England has also announced that over 500 teams will be confirmed this year, which will surpass the government’s original ambition to have 400 teams in place by April 2023. This article is available here: https://www.england.nhs.uk/2022/05/nhs-fast-tracks-mental-health-support-for-millions-of-pupils/.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make it his policy to make free covid-19 testing available for all (a) pupils, (b) staff and (c) exam invigilators over the current exam period; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Robin Walker
Public health advice continues to be that testing in education and childcare settings is no longer needed. Most infectious diseases in education and childcare settings can be managed by following the advice in UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) updated health protection in education and childcare settings guidance. Students and staff should follow UKHSA’s advice for those who have symptoms.
As individuals are now mixing in an otherwise open society, regular testing within school and colleges is no longer as effective as it once was. Instead, the most effective protection against severe disease from COVID-19 for everyone, including those at higher risk from COVID-19, is to get vaccinated.
Although settings may still have some unused test kits in stock, they should not continue to hand these out to staff or students or dispose of them (unless they have reached their expiry date).
The department are currently working with UKHSA to explore the options for removal of testing resources no longer required and repurpose or redeploy them as much as possible based on clinical need prioritisation.
In the meantime, settings should retain any surplus stock and may wish to note this in their contingency plans. The department has published emergency planning and responce guidance for education and childcare settings here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/emergency-planning-and-response-for-education-childcare-and-childrens-social-care-settings.
The department is also aware that some schools and colleges have reported finding the recruitment of invigilators more challenging this year. We are working with exam boards to monitor the risk and have supported recruitment by sharing The Exams Office’s vacancy map with pools of invigilators like parents and higher education students.
The Joint Council for Qualifications has published updated guidance for centres managing exams in case of invigilator shortage. This includes information about varying start times; alternative sites; invigilation ratios; use of subject teachers as invigilators; addressing challenges for individual candidates; and remote invigilation.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make it his policy to immediately communicate to schools that they can use any stocks of lateral flow tests held locally; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Robin Walker
Public health advice continues to be that testing in education and childcare settings is no longer needed. Most infectious diseases in education and childcare settings can be managed by following the advice in UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) updated health protection in education and childcare settings guidance. Students and staff should follow UKHSA’s advice for those who have symptoms.
As individuals are now mixing in an otherwise open society, regular testing within school and colleges is no longer as effective as it once was. Instead, the most effective protection against severe disease from COVID-19 for everyone, including those at higher risk from COVID-19, is to get vaccinated.
Although settings may still have some unused test kits in stock, they should not continue to hand these out to staff or students or dispose of them (unless they have reached their expiry date).
The department are currently working with UKHSA to explore the options for removal of testing resources no longer required and repurpose or redeploy them as much as possible based on clinical need prioritisation.
In the meantime, settings should retain any surplus stock and may wish to note this in their contingency plans. The department has published emergency planning and responce guidance for education and childcare settings here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/emergency-planning-and-response-for-education-childcare-and-childrens-social-care-settings.
The department is also aware that some schools and colleges have reported finding the recruitment of invigilators more challenging this year. We are working with exam boards to monitor the risk and have supported recruitment by sharing The Exams Office’s vacancy map with pools of invigilators like parents and higher education students.
The Joint Council for Qualifications has published updated guidance for centres managing exams in case of invigilator shortage. This includes information about varying start times; alternative sites; invigilation ratios; use of subject teachers as invigilators; addressing challenges for individual candidates; and remote invigilation.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make it his policy to add to the criteria by which local authorities can make changes to Published Admission Numbers proposals for maintained schools to include consideration of (a) fairness for disadvantaged communities and (b) decisions to re-distribute pupil places based on the number of children living near their local school; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Robin Walker
A school’s admission authority is responsible for setting the published admission number (PAN) for each year in which children normally enter the school. This is usually the reception year in primary school and year 7 in secondary school. They must do so in line with the requirements of the school admissions code.
The local authority is the admission authority for community and voluntary controlled schools. For voluntary aided and foundation schools, the school’s governing body is the admission authority and is therefore responsible for setting the PAN.
Once they have determined their PAN, an admission authority may admit above that number but must notify the local authority of this in time to allow it to deliver its co-ordination responsibilities effectively. They may also admit above their PAN at any time through in-year admissions.
Where an admission authority proposes to decrease their PAN, they must first consult locally in accordance with the requirements set out in the school admissions code. This includes consulting with parents and all other admission authorities within the relevant area.
Community and voluntary controlled schools have the right to object to the Office of the Schools Adjudicator if the PAN set for them by the local authority is lower than they would wish. The decision of the Adjudicator is binding and enforceable.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the open letter to the Government by the Disabled Children’s Partnership, dated 26 November 2021, seeking clarification on how spending review funding will meet the health and social care needs of disabled children and their families, how his Department’s spending review settlement will (a) help every family with disabled children get the short breaks social care support to which they are entitled and (b) allow disabled children to recover lost progress in managing their conditions; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Will Quince
The department believes it is right for local authorities, who know their areas’ needs best, to determine what services are required locally, including short breaks.
This year, councils have access to £51.3 billion to deliver their core services, including a £1.7 billion grant for social care. The government has also given over £6 billion in funding directly to councils to support them with the immediate and longer-term impacts of the COVID-19 spending pressures. This includes children’s services.
The department will continue to work with other government departments, including the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, to ensure the needs of children’s services are met. The autumn 2021 Spending Review delivers an additional £4.7 billion for the core schools' budget by the financial year 2024-25. This settlement includes an additional £1.6 billion for schools and high needs in 2022-23, on top of the funding we previously announced. We will confirm in due course how this additional funding for 2022-23, and for the two subsequent years, will be allocated for schools and high needs.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make it his policy to require local authorities to record and publish the number of families they support through Section 17 of the Children Act (1989), including reasons for the support; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Will Quince
There are no plans to require local authorities to publish this information.
All local authorities in England are required to record and submit detailed data through the annual children in need census. This is published by the department at both national and local authority level. It includes data on both primary needs for assessment and on prevalent factors at the end of the assessment and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/characteristics-of-children-in-need-2020-to-2021.