Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that school (a) staff and (b) pupils are protected from violence in schools.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Any violence in schools is deplorable. The Department issues health and safety advice designed to help schools meet their statutory obligations. The employer in a school has the overall responsibility of ensuring that reasonable steps are taken to ensure staff and pupils are not being exposed to risks to their health and safety, including making the school secure.
We have appointed Tom Bennett, an expert in behaviour, to look at improving training for new teachers, to deal with school disruption and more widely at what needs to be done to improve behaviour in schools.
Schools should be safe and secure environments. Combined figures relating to the number of exclusions for physical assault against pupils and adults and verbal abuse/threatening behaviour against pupils and adults show a decrease for fixed period exclusions in recent years. We have given powers to schools to search pupils and confiscate inappropriate items. Schools continue to be vigilant and I expect that they will take all the necessary steps to ensure staff and pupils are appropriately protected.
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which local authorities are including independent providers of children's services in their local offers.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Department for Education has invested heavily in practical and financial support for the implementation of the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) reforms. We have also put in place a range of measures to gather, and act upon, information and intelligence on the effectiveness of implementation. This includes:
a team of DfE advisers to offer local areas one-to-one support;
termly surveys of local authorities to assess their progress, the results of which are published;
providing resources to enable Contact a Family to conduct a parallel survey of Parent Carer Forums, the results of which are also published; and
funding a number of voluntary organisations, and working closely with our strategic partner, the Council for Disabled Children, to gather intelligence from, and offer support to, local areas.
From next year, all local areas will be subject to inspection of their SEND arrangements by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission. Ofsted will consult on the proposed SEND inspection framework in the autumn.
Progress in the first year has been encouraging. For example, all local areas have a local offer in place and a plan to ensure smooth transition to the new system. Results from the first 781 respondents to a family survey on Independent Supporters indicate that:
over 90% found the Independent Support service very or extremely useful;
85% would like further support on EHC planning in the future;
nearly 75% would recommend IS service;
over 96% said support was available when they needed it.
This is, however, a major reform programme and we continue to monitor progress.
The Children and Families Act 2014 requires all local authorities to publish a local offer of the services and support available to children and young people in their area with special educational needs and disabilities.
The local offer should include specialist provision such as special schools, non-maintained special schools, independent special schools and specialist post-16 institutions which are either within the local area or where the local authority would expect to make placements. In addition, there is a statutory requirement to refer to the list of independent special schools and independent specialist colleges approved by the Secretary of State under Section 41 of the 2014 Act. This can be found online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/section-41-secretary-of-state-approved-list. All local authorities have included this information in their local offer.
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the implementation of the SEN code of practice.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Department for Education has invested heavily in practical and financial support for the implementation of the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) reforms. We have also put in place a range of measures to gather, and act upon, information and intelligence on the effectiveness of implementation. This includes:
a team of DfE advisers to offer local areas one-to-one support;
termly surveys of local authorities to assess their progress, the results of which are published;
providing resources to enable Contact a Family to conduct a parallel survey of Parent Carer Forums, the results of which are also published; and
funding a number of voluntary organisations, and working closely with our strategic partner, the Council for Disabled Children, to gather intelligence from, and offer support to, local areas.
From next year, all local areas will be subject to inspection of their SEND arrangements by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission. Ofsted will consult on the proposed SEND inspection framework in the autumn.
Progress in the first year has been encouraging. For example, all local areas have a local offer in place and a plan to ensure smooth transition to the new system. Results from the first 781 respondents to a family survey on Independent Supporters indicate that:
over 90% found the Independent Support service very or extremely useful;
85% would like further support on EHC planning in the future;
nearly 75% would recommend IS service;
over 96% said support was available when they needed it.
This is, however, a major reform programme and we continue to monitor progress.
The Children and Families Act 2014 requires all local authorities to publish a local offer of the services and support available to children and young people in their area with special educational needs and disabilities.
The local offer should include specialist provision such as special schools, non-maintained special schools, independent special schools and specialist post-16 institutions which are either within the local area or where the local authority would expect to make placements. In addition, there is a statutory requirement to refer to the list of independent special schools and independent specialist colleges approved by the Secretary of State under Section 41 of the 2014 Act. This can be found online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/section-41-secretary-of-state-approved-list. All local authorities have included this information in their local offer.
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of children with special educational needs and disabilities statements have been given Education, Health and Care plans since the implementation of the new SEN Code of Practice.
Answered by Edward Timpson
From September 2014 local authorities in England were required to implement the Special Educational Need and Disability reforms.
The Department for Education’s advice to local authorities on Transition to the new 0 to 25 special educational needs and disability system (March 2015) sets out the groups of children and young people whose statements must be reviewed and transferred where appropriate to Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans during 2014/15. This can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/414952/SEND_Reforms_transitional_advice_March15.pdf
Every local authority has published an individual Local Transition Plan setting out the timings for transfers to the new system. Figures returned by local authorities and published in the Special Educational Needs in England Statistical First Release in May 2015. This information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-special-educational-needs-sen
The department expects that young people who are currently receiving support as a result of a Learning Difficulty Assessment (LDA) and who remain in further education or training during the transition period will be issued with an EHC plan if they request and need one.
The department has provided extensive support to local authorities over the preparation of EHC plans, including the publication of guidance and the provision of training. As part of this we commissioned the Council for Disabled Children (CDC), to work with relevant professionals to produce guidance and training material on the transition to adult social care. CDC published ‘The role of social care in implementing the Children and Families Act 2014’ in March 2015. This can be found here: http://www.councilfordisabledchildren.org.uk/resources/the-role-of-social-care-in-implementing-the-children-and-families-act. The department is monitoring progress of transition in local areas closely, to determine what further support local authorities may need in order to undertake transfers effectively and to produce good quality EHC plans.
The Children and Families Act 2014 requires all local authorities to publish a Local Offer of the services and support available to children and young people in their area with special educational needs and disabilities. Detailed requirements are set out in chapter 4 of the relevant statutory guidance, the 0-25 SEND code of practice (January 2015). This can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25
All local authorities have published a Local Offer. An important requirement of the Local Offer is that it should include the institutions offering provision for children and young people with SEN which the local authority would expect to draw upon. This will include specialist provision such as special schools, non-maintained special schools, independent special schools and specialist post-16 institutions which are either within the local area or where the local authority would expect to make placements. In addition, there is a statutory requirement to refer to the list of independent special schools and independent specialist colleges approved by the Secretary of State under Section 41 of the 2014 Act: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/section-41-secretary-of-state-approved-list
Responsibility for publishing and maintaining Local Offers lies with each local authority. The department is supporting local authorities to help make sure they meet all statutory requirements for their Local Offer, and that quality continues to improve.
In addition to producing their Local Offer, local authorities are under a statutory duty to provide children, young people and parents with information, advice and support. The government has boosted the support available to families by investing £30 million over two years to ensure there are independent supporters available in every local authority area.
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the performance of local authorities in moving children with special education needs (SEN) statements onto Education, Health and Care plans under the new SEN Code of Practice.
Answered by Edward Timpson
From September 2014 local authorities in England were required to implement the Special Educational Need and Disability reforms.
The Department for Education’s advice to local authorities on Transition to the new 0 to 25 special educational needs and disability system (March 2015) sets out the groups of children and young people whose statements must be reviewed and transferred where appropriate to Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans during 2014/15. This can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/414952/SEND_Reforms_transitional_advice_March15.pdf
Every local authority has published an individual Local Transition Plan setting out the timings for transfers to the new system. Figures returned by local authorities and published in the Special Educational Needs in England Statistical First Release in May 2015. This information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-special-educational-needs-sen
The department expects that young people who are currently receiving support as a result of a Learning Difficulty Assessment (LDA) and who remain in further education or training during the transition period will be issued with an EHC plan if they request and need one.
The department has provided extensive support to local authorities over the preparation of EHC plans, including the publication of guidance and the provision of training. As part of this we commissioned the Council for Disabled Children (CDC), to work with relevant professionals to produce guidance and training material on the transition to adult social care. CDC published ‘The role of social care in implementing the Children and Families Act 2014’ in March 2015. This can be found here: http://www.councilfordisabledchildren.org.uk/resources/the-role-of-social-care-in-implementing-the-children-and-families-act. The department is monitoring progress of transition in local areas closely, to determine what further support local authorities may need in order to undertake transfers effectively and to produce good quality EHC plans.
The Children and Families Act 2014 requires all local authorities to publish a Local Offer of the services and support available to children and young people in their area with special educational needs and disabilities. Detailed requirements are set out in chapter 4 of the relevant statutory guidance, the 0-25 SEND code of practice (January 2015). This can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25
All local authorities have published a Local Offer. An important requirement of the Local Offer is that it should include the institutions offering provision for children and young people with SEN which the local authority would expect to draw upon. This will include specialist provision such as special schools, non-maintained special schools, independent special schools and specialist post-16 institutions which are either within the local area or where the local authority would expect to make placements. In addition, there is a statutory requirement to refer to the list of independent special schools and independent specialist colleges approved by the Secretary of State under Section 41 of the 2014 Act: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/section-41-secretary-of-state-approved-list
Responsibility for publishing and maintaining Local Offers lies with each local authority. The department is supporting local authorities to help make sure they meet all statutory requirements for their Local Offer, and that quality continues to improve.
In addition to producing their Local Offer, local authorities are under a statutory duty to provide children, young people and parents with information, advice and support. The government has boosted the support available to families by investing £30 million over two years to ensure there are independent supporters available in every local authority area.