Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions her Department has had with relevant stakeholders on how to equip parents with the knowledge to ask appropriate safeguarding questions when choosing extracurricular activities.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government is committed to safeguarding children across all education settings, including extracurricular providers outside the statutory education and childcare system, referred to as out-of-school settings (OOSS).
All OOSS have a legal duty of care to ensure the safety of children attending their settings. To support providers to meet this duty, the department has published guidance and free accompanying e-learning outlining the safeguarding standards we expect them to meet.
The department has also published guidance for parents and carers to help them make informed decisions when choosing OOSS, which includes potential issues to watch out for and steps to take if concerns arise. These resources are regularly reviewed, including with key stakeholders such as safeguarding partners, sector representatives, and parent groups.
Whilst the department believes most OOSS offer enriching education in a safe environment, we want this to be true for all. That’s why the government launched a call for evidence on 29 May to better understand safeguarding practices in the sector and invite views on approaches for further strengthening safeguarding, including potential regulation. This closed on 21 September, and we are currently analysing responses. We will publish our response, including next steps, in due course.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to take legislative steps to put safeguarding in extracurricular settings on the same statutory footing as (a) schools and (b) statutory services.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government is committed to safeguarding children across all education settings, including extracurricular providers outside the statutory education and childcare system, referred to as out-of-school settings (OOSS).
All OOSS have a legal duty of care to ensure the safety of children attending their settings. To support providers to meet this duty, the department has published guidance and free accompanying e-learning outlining the safeguarding standards we expect them to meet.
The department has also published guidance for parents and carers to help them make informed decisions when choosing OOSS, which includes potential issues to watch out for and steps to take if concerns arise. These resources are regularly reviewed, including with key stakeholders such as safeguarding partners, sector representatives, and parent groups.
Whilst the department believes most OOSS offer enriching education in a safe environment, we want this to be true for all. That’s why the government launched a call for evidence on 29 May to better understand safeguarding practices in the sector and invite views on approaches for further strengthening safeguarding, including potential regulation. This closed on 21 September, and we are currently analysing responses. We will publish our response, including next steps, in due course.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the safeguarding risks posed by extracurricular activity providers who fall outside statutory safeguarding requirements.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government is committed to safeguarding children across all education settings, including extracurricular providers outside the statutory education and childcare system, referred to as out-of-school settings (OOSS).
All OOSS have a legal duty of care to ensure the safety of children attending their settings. To support providers to meet this duty, the department has published guidance and free accompanying e-learning outlining the safeguarding standards we expect them to meet.
The department has also published guidance for parents and carers to help them make informed decisions when choosing OOSS, which includes potential issues to watch out for and steps to take if concerns arise. These resources are regularly reviewed, including with key stakeholders such as safeguarding partners, sector representatives, and parent groups.
Whilst the department believes most OOSS offer enriching education in a safe environment, we want this to be true for all. That’s why the government launched a call for evidence on 29 May to better understand safeguarding practices in the sector and invite views on approaches for further strengthening safeguarding, including potential regulation. This closed on 21 September, and we are currently analysing responses. We will publish our response, including next steps, in due course.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of which areas of England have the highest proportion of adults with below average functional (a) numeracy and (b) literacy.
Answered by Anne Milton
We recognise that more needs to be done to ensure adults in England have the literacy and numeracy skills that they need for life and work. This is why this government provides full funding for adults in England to enable them to develop their literacy and numeracy skills and to secure qualifications from entry level up to GCSE level.
The Skills for Life Survey, which was published in 2011, estimated the literacy and numeracy knowledge of adults aged 16 to 65 in England. This includes estimates for regions and local authorities. The survey shows estimates of the percentage of the adult population with different levels for these components for England and each region. It can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/36520/region-2009-all_1_.xlsx.
According to the survey, adults who have the lowest proportion of literacy and numeracy skills (with a L2 qualification or above) are in London and the North East respectively. However, this does not take into account adults who have English as a second language.
We are working with a range of sector and research partners to improve the evidence base on the best ways to support adults to secure basic English and maths skills. This includes exploring innovative ways through the Career Learning Pilots.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to support adults without basic literacy skills.
Answered by Anne Milton
This government recognises the importance of English, both in work and everyday life. This is why we provide full funding for adult learners in England to secure English qualifications from entry level to level 2.
To raise standards of adult literacy, we are reforming English Functional Skills qualifications, which are accessed primarily by adults. This will make sure that these qualifications are more rigorous and better recognised by employers.
Through the Flexible Learning Fund, we are investing over £11 million to design and test ways of delivering learning more flexibly to adults with low or intermediate skills.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to raise standards of adult literacy.
Answered by Anne Milton
We provide full funding for adult learners in England to secure English and mathematics qualifications from entry level to level 2.
To raise standards of adult literacy and numeracy, we are reforming English and mathematics Functional Skills qualifications, which are accessed primarily by adults. This will ensure that these qualifications are more rigorous and better recognised by employers.
Through the Flexible Learning Fund, we are investing over £11 million to design and test ways of delivering learning to adults with low or intermediate skills more flexibly.
We are also establishing 21 Centres for Excellence across the country, with at least one in every region of England, to improve the quality of mathematics teaching and basic mathematics knowledge and skills in post-16 institutions. The programme will spread best practice across the country through mathematics networks, which will benefit adult learners.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans the Government has to improve adult literacy and numeracy.
Answered by Anne Milton
We provide full funding for adult learners in England to secure English and mathematics qualifications from entry level to level 2.
To raise standards of adult literacy and numeracy, we are reforming English and mathematics Functional Skills qualifications, which are accessed primarily by adults. This will ensure that these qualifications are more rigorous and better recognised by employers.
Through the Flexible Learning Fund, we are investing over £11 million to design and test ways of delivering learning to adults with low or intermediate skills more flexibly.
We are also establishing 21 Centres for Excellence across the country, with at least one in every region of England, to improve the quality of mathematics teaching and basic mathematics knowledge and skills in post-16 institutions. The programme will spread best practice across the country through mathematics networks, which will benefit adult learners.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether any (a) external contractors and (b) consultancy companies engaged by her Department have charged more than the initial price agreed for their services since May 2010.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department for Education does not collect this information in the requested format and it could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to tackle cyber-bullying; and what resources his Department provides to charities which address this issue.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Government believes that internet providers, schools and parents all have a role to play in keeping children and young people safe online.
All schools must have a behaviour policy which includes measures to prevent all forms of bullying, including cyberbullying. The ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education' guidance outlines the importance of tackling cyberbullying, which can be found online at:
http://www.anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/schools-the-wider-sector/cyberbullying.aspx
Schools have the flexibility to develop their own measures to prevent and tackle bullying, but are held to account by Ofsted.
The Government recognises that educating young people about online safety is key to tackling cyberbullying. As part of changes to the new computing programmes of study which will be taught from September 2014, e-safety will be taught at all four key stages. This will empower young people to tackle cyberbullying through responsible, respectful and secure use of technology, as well as ensuring that pupils understand age-appropriate ways of reporting any concerns they may have about what they see or encounter online.
The new curriculum also offers opportunities to tackle the underlying causes of bullying; for example the new citizenship programme of study sets out a requirement for pupils to be taught about the diverse national, regional, religious and ethnic identities in the United Kingdom and the need for mutual respect and understanding.
The Department for Education is providing £4 million of funding over two years from 2013 to four anti-bullying organisations: Beatbullying, the Diana Award, Kidscape and the National Children's Bureau consortium. While this funding has been awarded to specific projects to reduce bullying in general this can, and does, include work to tackle cyberbullying.
The Department has produced case studies showing good practice in how to manage behaviour and bullying. These include a case study about how a school deals with cyber-bullying. Also through funding provided by the Department the Anti-Bullying Alliance has produced specific advice on cyberbullying for children and young people with special educational needs and or disabilities. We provide a link to this in our own advice on preventing and tackling bullying.
Government ministers have regular meetings with internet providers, social media platforms and search engines on matters related to internet safety, including cyber-bullying. Ministers from the Department for Education, Home Office and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport also co-chair the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) which brings together a range of experts across government, law enforcement, industry, academia and charities to consider the best ways to minimise the risk of harm to children when online.
In July 2013 the Prime Minister announced measures to support parents to install free and easy to use internet filters which can block access to harmful websites. The Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have now rolled out easy to use filtering to all new customers and will confirm that, by the end of 2014, 95% of all homes with an existing internet connection will be required to choose whether to switch on a whole home family friendly internet filter. The filters are constantly being refined and updated by the ISPs to keep families as safe as possible in the fast changing digital world. The ISPs have also announced a new £25 million internet safety campaign over 3 years that will reach out to millions of parents on how best to protect their children and make good use of filters
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent research has been commissioned into truancy in schools; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
From the 2011/12 absence data, we know that pupils who have regular attendance at school are four times more likely to achieve five or more A*-C grades at GCSE, including English and maths, than those pupils who are persistently absent. Persistent absence has fallen by 15 per cent under this Government, from 392,305 pupils missing 15 per cent of school time in 2010/11 to 333,850 in 2011/12. The former Government Adviser on behaviour, Charlie Taylor, published his report on improving school attendance in April 2012. It can be found at http://tinyurl.com/crt8nok