Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to mark Gypsy, Roma, Traveller history month in schools in June 2023.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Schools are free to decide which events to commemorate and what activities to put in place to support pupils’ understanding of significant events. This includes particular months or days dedicated to specific communities, such as the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller history month in June.
Schools also have the opportunity to promote events though the curriculum, for example through subjects such as history and citizenship. Resources are available from experts within the communities themselves, and from bodies such as the Historical Association. Within citizenship teaching at Key Stage 4, pupils should be taught the diverse national, regional, religious and ethnic identities in the United Kingdom, and the need for mutual respect and understanding of all.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of children with a CAMHS referral listed on their education, health and care plan who have been waiting more than 6 months for mental health support through CAMHS.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The department does not hold information on the number of children with a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) referral listed on their education, health and care (EHC) plan, who have been waiting more than six months for mental health support through CAMHS.
The department collects data on the number of EHC plans maintained by local authorities and on the request and assessment process, but this does not include information on whether a CAMHS referral has been listed on the EHC plan.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the funding provided by her Department to schools for children with SEND who (a) have and (b) do not have an education, health and care plan in Hornsey and Wood Green constituency.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The majority of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) do not have an education, health and care (EHC) plan, and are supported by their schools from the allocations of funding they receive for all their pupils.
For those children with the most complex needs, the department announced in July 2022 that we would be increasing high needs funding, within the core schools budget, by £1.65 billion over two years, between the 2021/22 and 2023/24 financial years. This is an increase of 21% and will bring total high needs funding to £9.7 billion by 2023/24. The provisional high needs funding allocation for Haringey in the 2023/24 financial year is £54 million. This represents an increase of 20% per pupil on the amount of high needs funding allocated over two years to 2023/24 compared to 2021/22. Overall, the high needs budget has risen by more than 40% over three years.
Funding provided through the schools National Funding Formula (NFF) should be used by schools to support pupils with low to mid-level SEND, who are educated in mainstream schools, and may not have an EHC plan. Schools in Hornsey and Wood Green are attracting £123.3 million in 2023/24, based on the schools NFF. This represents an increase of 5.2% per pupil for their pupil-led funding across two years to 2023/24 compared to 2021/22. Constituency figures are based on an aggregate of school allocations.
In addition to the figures above, the department will allocate more funding in 2023/24 following the £2 billion funding increases announced in the 2022 Autumn Statement. This additional funding will be used to support both mainstream schools, including those in Hornsey and Wood Green, and local authorities, including Haringey, with the costs of supporting children and young people with SEND. The department will set out our plans for allocation shortly.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the report by the Commission on Young Lives entitled Hidden in Plain Sight published in November 2022, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the recommendations in that report.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
Departmental officials regularly met with Anne Longfield during the development of the Commission’s report, and are considering their findings. The department is clear that safety from abuse, neglect and exploitation is a fundamental right for every child. We have made an additional £4.8 billion available up to 2025 for local authorities, who are responsible for protecting vulnerable children, to deliver key services.
The department is investing more than £1 billion to improve early help services, through a network of Family Hubs, programmes supporting thousands of families to stay together safely, and to provide support with their mental health and healthy food and activities during the school holidays. We are also strengthening the links between social care and education and providing targeted support to keep the children most at risk of exploitation engaged in their education.
To support long term change, the department is rapidly working up an ambitious and detailed implementation strategy in response to the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, including in relation to children who face harm outside the home.
The department is also providing targeted support through Alternative Provision and Support, Attend, Fulfil, Succeed (SAFE) taskforces, to keep vulnerable young people at risk of exploitation, serious violence and crime engaged in their education and on the right track. The Tackling Child Exploitation Support Programme (2019-2023) continues to work with local areas to improve responses to safeguarding young people from exploitation and extra familial risk.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Nuffield Foundation’s study of England’s childcare market, what assessment he has made of whether for-profit private providers meet the needs of disadvantaged children within their services.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The department continues to monitor the sufficiency of childcare. One of the signs of a healthy and competitive market is that a range of providers are able to offer choice and flexibility for parents. 65% of early years childcare places in England are provided by private, voluntary, and independent group-based providers who continue to provide high-quality childcare for families. On disadvantaged two-year-old entitlements, 16,040 out of 22,074 providers that delivered services are in the private, voluntary, and independent sector.
The majority of eligible two, three, and four-year-olds continue to access free childcare, and local authorities are not reporting any substantial sufficiency or place supply issues that they are unable to manage locally. The department has not seen a substantial number of parents saying that they cannot secure a childcare place.
The department continues to engage with sector stakeholders and local authorities to monitor dynamics within local markets, parents' access to government entitlements and the childcare they require, and the sustainability of the sector.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) reducing the (i) scope and (ii) funding of the Oak National Academy arms-length body and (b) pausing procurement processes until a new curriculum partner can be found following the withdrawal of United Learning.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
As an integral part of the process to set up Oak National Academy as an arm’s length body (ALB), the department carefully considered the scope and minimum viable funding that will enable the ALB to deliver its vital objectives and provide value for money. Progress will be monitored throughout Oak’s lifetime and will be factored into the body’s ongoing evaluation and two-year review.
Oak National Academy’s forthcoming procurement will identify curriculum partners, ensuring all teachers are able to access leading curriculum thinking and expertise, drawn from across the education sector.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact on revenue for education authors on converting the Oak National Academy to an arms-length curriculum body.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
As an integral part of the process to set up Oak National Academy as an arm’s length body, the department produced a business case which included an assessment of potential market impact. This business case will be published shortly.
Monitoring market impact will be a priority throughout Oak National Academy’s lifetime and will be factored into the body’s ongoing evaluation and two-year review.
Where Oak needs to use existing third-party content, such as texts, Oak will seek to have an overarching licence with relevant licensing bodies wherever feasible (or direct relationships with rights holders where necessary) so the rights holder gets full payment for their work.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress he has made on establishing a national Special Education Needs and Alternative Provision board as part of the Government's SEND review.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The department remains committed to publishing the government’s response to the green paper consultation in a national special educational needs and disability (SEND) and alternative provision (AP) improvement plan by the end of the calendar year. This will set out the government’s response to the consultation, and the next steps for delivering these reforms.
The department also intends to establish the SEND and AP Board by the end of the calendar year.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when his Department will publish the Government's national Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and Alternative Provision improvement plan.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The department remains committed to publishing the government’s response to the green paper consultation in a national special educational needs and disability (SEND) and alternative provision (AP) improvement plan by the end of the calendar year. This will set out the government’s response to the consultation, and the next steps for delivering these reforms.
The department also intends to establish the SEND and AP Board by the end of the calendar year.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact on the commercial education market of converting the Oak National Academy to an arms-length body producing state-financed curriculum materials.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
As an integral part of the process to set up Oak National Academy as an arm’s length body, the department produced a business case which included an assessment of potential market impact. This business case draws upon market engagement and evidence provided by the market and will be published shortly. Monitoring market impact will be a priority throughout Oak National Academy’s lifetime and will be factored into the body’s ongoing evaluation and two-year review.