Asked by: Crispin Blunt (Independent - Reigate)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Commission on Religious Education's report entitled Religion and Worldviews: The Way Forward a national plan for RE, published in September 2018, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the conclusion in that report that all young people should have a statutory national entitlement to the study of religion and worldviews.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department welcomes the Commission for Religious Education’s report and will carefully consider the merits of the report’s recommendations, one of which is to rename the subject ‘religion and worldviews’. At present, religious education is compulsory for pupils in all age groups in state-funded schools. It has an important role in developing children’s knowledge of the values and traditions of Britain and other countries, and in fostering understanding among different faiths and cultures.
Asked by: Crispin Blunt (Independent - Reigate)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Commission on Religious Education's report entitled Religion and Worldviews: The Way Forward a national plan for RE, published in September 2018, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the recommendation in that report to rename the subject to religion and worldviews.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department welcomes the Commission for Religious Education’s report and will carefully consider the merits of the report’s recommendations, one of which is to rename the subject ‘religion and worldviews’. At present, religious education is compulsory for pupils in all age groups in state-funded schools. It has an important role in developing children’s knowledge of the values and traditions of Britain and other countries, and in fostering understanding among different faiths and cultures.
Asked by: Crispin Blunt (Independent - Reigate)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the gap between demand and provision of social care services for disabled children and their families; what steps he is taking to address any such gap; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Working Together to Safeguard Children (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-safeguard-children--2) sets out how local authorities should provide effective, evidence-based services to protect and promote the welfare of children, including disabled children. The guidance was updated on July 4 2018 and states that it is better to provide services addressing needs early, rather than reacting later. The statutory duty to provide short breaks, introduced in 2011, falls on local authorities. In the transition up to 2015, £880 million was provided to local authorities; funding for short breaks is now is an un-ring-fenced part of the wider local government finance settlement.
The 2015 Spending Review made available more than £200 billion until 2020 for councils to deliver the local services their communities want to see, including services for disabled children. In February, Parliament confirmed the 2018-19 settlement for local government which has provided a £1.3 billion increase in resources to local government over the next two years - £44.3 billion in 2017-18 to £45.6 billion in 2019-20. This recognises both the growing pressure on local government's services and higher-than-expected inflation levels.
The Department for Education has committed almost £270 million since 2014 in addition to the core local government funding settlement, to help local authorities learn from what works and to support improvement in the children's social care sector. This includes £200 million for the Innovation Programme, which is funding the Ealing project to provide interventions in the form of therapeutic breaks, to disabled children and young people that reduce the risk of escalation, and provide long-term solutions to children and families. Learning from innovation projects is published on the Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme website (http://innovationcsc.co.uk).
The government is conducting a review of the relative needs and resources of local authorities that will develop a robust, up-to-date approach to distributing funding across all local authorities in England at local government finance settlements, including for children’s services. To inform the review, the Department for Education and the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government have jointly-commissioned a data research and collection project on cost and demand pressures for children’s services, to understand local authorities’ relative funding needs. We are working towards implementation in 2020-21, while keeping this date under review as our work progresses.
Asked by: Crispin Blunt (Independent - Reigate)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will establish a disabled children’s fund to improve early intervention services such as short breaks for disabled children.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Working Together to Safeguard Children (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-safeguard-children--2) sets out how local authorities should provide effective, evidence-based services to protect and promote the welfare of children, including disabled children. The guidance was updated on July 4 2018 and states that it is better to provide services addressing needs early, rather than reacting later. The statutory duty to provide short breaks, introduced in 2011, falls on local authorities. In the transition up to 2015, £880 million was provided to local authorities; funding for short breaks is now is an un-ring-fenced part of the wider local government finance settlement.
The 2015 Spending Review made available more than £200 billion until 2020 for councils to deliver the local services their communities want to see, including services for disabled children. In February, Parliament confirmed the 2018-19 settlement for local government which has provided a £1.3 billion increase in resources to local government over the next two years - £44.3 billion in 2017-18 to £45.6 billion in 2019-20. This recognises both the growing pressure on local government's services and higher-than-expected inflation levels.
The Department for Education has committed almost £270 million since 2014 in addition to the core local government funding settlement, to help local authorities learn from what works and to support improvement in the children's social care sector. This includes £200 million for the Innovation Programme, which is funding the Ealing project to provide interventions in the form of therapeutic breaks, to disabled children and young people that reduce the risk of escalation, and provide long-term solutions to children and families. Learning from innovation projects is published on the Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme website (http://innovationcsc.co.uk).
The government is conducting a review of the relative needs and resources of local authorities that will develop a robust, up-to-date approach to distributing funding across all local authorities in England at local government finance settlements, including for children’s services. To inform the review, the Department for Education and the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government have jointly-commissioned a data research and collection project on cost and demand pressures for children’s services, to understand local authorities’ relative funding needs. We are working towards implementation in 2020-21, while keeping this date under review as our work progresses.
Asked by: Crispin Blunt (Independent - Reigate)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the gap between demand and provision of social care services for disabled children and their families; what steps he is taking to address any such gap; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Working Together to Safeguard Children (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-safeguard-children--2) sets out how local authorities should provide effective, evidence-based services to protect and promote the welfare of children, including disabled children. The guidance was updated on July 4 2018 and states that it is better to provide services addressing needs early, rather than reacting later. The statutory duty to provide short breaks, introduced in 2011, falls on local authorities. In the transition up to 2015, £880 million was provided to local authorities; funding for short breaks is now is an un-ring-fenced part of the wider local government finance settlement.
The 2015 Spending Review made available more than £200 billion until 2020 for councils to deliver the local services their communities want to see, including services for disabled children. In February, Parliament confirmed the 2018-19 settlement for local government which has provided a £1.3 billion increase in resources to local government over the next two years - £44.3 billion in 2017-18 to £45.6 billion in 2019-20. This recognises both the growing pressure on local government's services and higher-than-expected inflation levels.
The Department for Education has committed almost £270 million since 2014 in addition to the core local government funding settlement, to help local authorities learn from what works and to support improvement in the children's social care sector. This includes £200 million for the Innovation Programme, which is funding the Ealing project to provide interventions in the form of therapeutic breaks, to disabled children and young people that reduce the risk of escalation, and provide long-term solutions to children and families. Learning from innovation projects is published on the Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme website (http://innovationcsc.co.uk).
The government is conducting a review of the relative needs and resources of local authorities that will develop a robust, up-to-date approach to distributing funding across all local authorities in England at local government finance settlements, including for children’s services. To inform the review, the Department for Education and the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government have jointly-commissioned a data research and collection project on cost and demand pressures for children’s services, to understand local authorities’ relative funding needs. We are working towards implementation in 2020-21, while keeping this date under review as our work progresses.
Asked by: Crispin Blunt (Independent - Reigate)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate he has made of the number of school-age children who live in the catchment area of only a state-funded faith school.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
All mainstream state funded schools, including faith schools, must comply with the School Admissions Code. This requires all admissions authorities to publish admission arrangements, which detail how, in the event of more applications than places, allocation of places will be prioritised. Admission authorities may choose to give priority to children living within a designated catchment area, but not all will set a catchment.
Asked by: Crispin Blunt (Independent - Reigate)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department's announcement of 4 June 2015, whether there will be a reduction in the provision of education and training for 16-19 year olds.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The savings announced by the Chancellor will come from a variety of measures including expected departmental underspends in demand-led budgets, efficiencies and some small budgetary reductions.
Asked by: Crispin Blunt (Independent - Reigate)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Government plans to reduce funding for education and training for 16 to 19 year olds.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
Decisions about how 16-19 institutions will be funded in the academic year 2016/17 and beyond will be subject to the outcome of the next spending review, which will set the budget for education and other public spending for the coming years.