Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Goole and Pocklington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has undertaken an investigation into the adequacy of the safeguarding of Amira Abase.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Minister (Equalities)
Following reports of pupils from Bethnal Green Academy travelling to Syria, the department provided support to the school through the Regional Director (previously Regional Schools Commissioners), in addition to the support being provided by the local authority and police.
The department is clear in its statutory guidance, ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ (2018), that it is for local authorities to assess and consider safeguarding concerns of individual cases working with their statutory partners (police and health) where necessary. This includes considering risks outside the home such as exploitation by organised crime groups, including county lines, trafficking and influences of extremism leading to radicalisation.
Through their regulatory powers, Ofsted inspects local authority children’s social care services to check that the department's minimum standards are being met and takes proportionate enforcement action to ensure children are safe and well looked after.
When a serious incident becomes known to safeguarding partners, they must consider whether the case meets the criteria for a local review. Meeting the criteria does not mean that safeguarding partners must automatically carry out a local child safeguarding practice review. It is for them to determine whether a review is appropriate, taking into account that the overall purpose of a review is to identify improvements to practice. This was also the case in 2015 when previous local children’s safeguarding boards were in operation.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Goole and Pocklington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, on what legal basis the personal information and exam results of up to 28 million children were made available to gambling firms; who made the decision to make this information available; and what the legal limitations are on the provision of such information.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Examination result information was not made available to gambling firms. A third party made the decision to use their lawful access to the Learning Records Service without discussion with, or the agreement of, the Department. This was outside their conditions of use. The third party used the system to verify the age that individuals had given to gambling firms. When their actions became known, the Department immediately removed their access to the system. The Department reported itself to the Information Commissioner’s Office and has continued to work with them since to improve Departmental processes.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Goole and Pocklington)
Question to the Department for Education:
What progress he has made on implementing the recommendations of the Augar review of post-18 education and funding.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
The Augar report recommended 53 changes to address some of the challenges and tensions in our higher education and further education systems. It is imperative that we get any such decisions rights. I can reassure my right hon. Friend that this government will conclude the review alongside the next Spending Review.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Goole and Pocklington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to promote apprenticeships in (a) Haltemprice and Howden constituency, (b) Yorkshire and the Humber and (c) the UK.
Answered by Nick Gibb
We have introduced a wide range of reforms to apprenticeships to improve their quality and to encourage employers across England to increase the number of apprenticeships they offer.
Since May 2010, there have been 4,392,000 starts in England. Of these, 6,930 apprenticeships starts have been in Haltemprice and Howden and 535,420 in Yorkshire and the Humber.
We are raising the profile of our apprenticeship programme through wider communications and marketing activity. The third phase of the Fire it Up campaign was launched in January, targeting important audience groups that are central to widening participation in apprenticeships.
Our thirteenth annual National Apprenticeship Week took place this month (3 to 9 February). Nearly 900 events were held across the country to celebrate and promote the diversity and value that apprenticeships bring to employers, apprentices and communities across England today.
In addition, in January 2018, we introduced a legal requirement for schools to give colleges or other organisations providing further education or training, the opportunity to make pupils aware about technical qualifications and apprenticeships.
We also offer a free service to schools through the Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge (ASK) project to ensure that teachers have the knowledge and support to enable them to promote apprenticeships to their students. In the last academic year, the ASK Programme reached over 300,000 students.
We are investing £2.5 billion in apprenticeships this year (2019-20) so that employers of all sizes across England can provide apprenticeship opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds. We are moving smaller employers onto our award-winning apprenticeship service to give them a greater choice of where their apprentices are trained, and so that they can also benefit from transferred funds from levy payers. Levy transfers can help to support new starts in supply chains and address local skills needs.