Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to provide financial support to foster carers who wish to offer staying put placements.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
Since its introduction in May 2014, the department has provided new burdens funding each year to local authorities to implement ‘Staying Put’, as set out in the table below:
Financial year | Amount of funding given to local authorities to implement ‘Staying Put’ |
2014-15 | £7.4 million |
2015-16 | £14.8 million |
2016-17 | £22.2 million |
2017-18 | £22.85 million |
2018-19 | £23.3 million |
2019-20 | £23.77 million |
Total | £114.32 million |
Decisions on funding beyond March 2020 will be subject to the department’s Spending Review settlement.
Funding for each Staying Put arrangement - including whether the young person should contribute to the cost of the placement through income they receive from earnings or benefits - is agreed on a case-by-case basis and is not reported to the department. Consequently, the information requested on whether young people are required to claim benefits to subsidise the Staying Put arrangement is not available.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he plans to encourage schools to use parents' national insurance numbers with their consent to identify eligibility and then automatically register eligible children for free school meals.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
The continuing provision of free school meals to children from out of work families, or those on low incomes, is of the utmost importance to this government. We want to make sure as many eligible pupils as possible are claiming their free school meals, and to make it as simple as possible for schools and local authorities to determine eligibility. To support this, we already provide an electronic Eligibility Checking System (ECS) to make the checking process as quick and straightforward as possible for schools and local authorities. We have also developed a model registration form to help schools encourage parents to sign up for free school meals. We also provide guidance to Jobcentre Plus advisers so that they can make Universal Credit recipients aware that they may also be entitled to wider benefits, including free school meals.
We will continue to look at what the most effective schools do and to highlight and disseminate best practice. We are prepared to consider any further steps we can take to improve the take-up of free school meals.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he will take to make school uniforms and PE kits more affordable for families on low incomes.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It is for the governing body of a school, or in the case of academies, the academy trust, to decide rules relating to appearance including whether there should be a school uniform, what it will be and how it should be sourced.
No school uniform should be so expensive as to leave pupils or their families feeling unable to apply to, or attend, a school of their choice. The Department’s best-practice guidance advises schools that they should give the highest priority to cost considerations and achieving value for money for parents.
The Department intends to put the school uniform guidance on a statutory footing when a suitable opportunity arises and the guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-uniform.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make it his policy to require schools to offer pupils breakfast on the morning of their exams.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Schools are responsible for their day-to-day running, including their school meals service. I refer the right hon. Member for Birkenhead to the answer I gave on 5 July 2019 to Question 270292.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether schools are required to provide breakfasts and free school meals to pupils who receive such support throughout the rest of the school year on days when end-of-year tests and examinations take place.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
If the end of year tests or examinations fall within the school day as defined in the Education Act (1996), then free school meals should be made available to the pupil on those days. Section 579 of the Education Act (1996) defines a school day as ‘any day on which at that school there is a school session’.
Schools are not required to provide breakfasts. However, the department is investing up to £26 million to set up or improve 1,700 sustainable breakfast clubs in schools in the most disadvantaged areas across the country.