Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will publish the data that his Department holds on eligibility for free school meals by ethnicity.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The department publishes the number of pupils who are eligible for free school meals in the ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics' publications, which are available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-school-and-pupil-numbers.
The breakdown of eligibility for free school meals by ethnicity is not available in the publication, however this is available on request. There were 346,055 (18.0%) BAME pupils eligible for free school meals in January 2019.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children with special educational needs in (a) Hampshire, (b) Southampton and (c) the UK are only able to attend school for part-days as a result of not having appropriate SEND support in place.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
The information requested is not held centrally.
We have invested heavily in improvements to support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including the announcement last month of more than £700 million in additional funding for high needs in 2020-2021. This is an increase of 11% on the 2019-2020 budget.
As a result of reforms introduced by the Children and Families Act 2014, we have seen the introduction of published local offers for each local area; new Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans for those with more complex needs; new statutory protections for 16-25 year olds in further education; and the setting up of Ofsted and Care Quality Commission SEND inspections to hold local areas to account and drive up standards.
Our SEND review, which was announced 6 September, will consider the quality of SEND provision 5 years on from the launch of Children and Families Act. This includes the extent to which schools, colleges and local authorities are providing the best possible support for children and young people with SEND, with or without an EHC plan.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children with special educational needs in (a) Hampshire, (b) Southampton and (c) the UK are unable to attend school as a result of not having an education, health and care plan in place.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
The information requested is not held centrally.
We have invested heavily in improvements to support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including the announcement last month of more than £700 million in additional funding for high needs in 2020-2021. This is an increase of 11% on the 2019-2020 budget.
As a result of reforms introduced by the Children and Families Act 2014, we have seen the introduction of published local offers for each local area; new Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans for those with more complex needs; new statutory protections for 16-25 year olds in further education; and the setting up of Ofsted and Care Quality Commission SEND inspections to hold local areas to account and drive up standards.
Our SEND review, which was announced 6 September, will consider the quality of SEND provision 5 years on from the launch of Children and Families Act. This includes the extent to which schools, colleges and local authorities are providing the best possible support for children and young people with SEND, with or without an EHC plan.