Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many exclusions from school (a) in total and (b) of pupils with SEN occurred in Buckingham constituency in each of the last five years.
Answered by Will Quince
The data on requests and issuing of education, health and care plans (EHCPs) are not collected by parliamentary constituency, or by who the requestor is for the plan. The answer provided is based on all requests made to the Buckinghamshire local authority. The number of requests received, and plans issued by Buckinghamshire local authority, are detailed below.
Year | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
Requests for EHCP | 680 | 658 | 888 | 940 | 940 |
New EHCPs issued | 447 | 300 | 628 | 674 | 592 |
The tables below show the number of permanent exclusions and suspensions for pupils with and without special educational needs (SEN) in Buckingham constituency between the 2015/16 and 2019/20 academic years.
Permanent Exclusions
Academic year | All pupils | Pupils without SEN | SEN with EHCP or statement | SEN without EHCP or statement |
2019/20 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
2018/19 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 4 |
2017/18 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
2016/17 | 14 | 5 | 2 | 7 |
2015/16 | 14 | 8 | 3 | 3 |
Suspensions
Academic year | All pupils | Pupils without SEN | SEN with EHCP or statement | SEN without EHCP or statement |
2019/20 | 503 | 261 | 98 | 144 |
2018/19 | 696 | 330 | 115 | 251 |
2017/18 | 423 | 146 | 64 | 213 |
2016/17 | 457 | 234 | 67 | 156 |
2015/16 | 283 | 133 | 53 | 97 |
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many requests for education, health and care plans were (a) requested by parents and (b) signed off by Buckinghamshire Council for students in the Buckingham constituency in each of the last five years.
Answered by Will Quince
The data on requests and issuing of education, health and care plans (EHCPs) are not collected by parliamentary constituency, or by who the requestor is for the plan. The answer provided is based on all requests made to the Buckinghamshire local authority. The number of requests received, and plans issued by Buckinghamshire local authority, are detailed below.
Year | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
Requests for EHCP | 680 | 658 | 888 | 940 | 940 |
New EHCPs issued | 447 | 300 | 628 | 674 | 592 |
The tables below show the number of permanent exclusions and suspensions for pupils with and without special educational needs (SEN) in Buckingham constituency between the 2015/16 and 2019/20 academic years.
Permanent Exclusions
Academic year | All pupils | Pupils without SEN | SEN with EHCP or statement | SEN without EHCP or statement |
2019/20 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
2018/19 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 4 |
2017/18 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
2016/17 | 14 | 5 | 2 | 7 |
2015/16 | 14 | 8 | 3 | 3 |
Suspensions
Academic year | All pupils | Pupils without SEN | SEN with EHCP or statement | SEN without EHCP or statement |
2019/20 | 503 | 261 | 98 | 144 |
2018/19 | 696 | 330 | 115 | 251 |
2017/18 | 423 | 146 | 64 | 213 |
2016/17 | 457 | 234 | 67 | 156 |
2015/16 | 283 | 133 | 53 | 97 |
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the all-party Parliamentary group on cerebral palsy’s report, Early identification, intervention and pathways of care of infants and young children with cerebral palsy: The case for reform and investment, published in March 2021, what plans he has to review how personal budgets in the Local Offer under the Children and Families Act 2014 can be used to enable access to early support for families with babies with or at risk of cerebral palsy.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Currently, any parent or carer of a child or a young person, including those with cerebral palsy, may request a personal budget as part of their education, health and care (EHC) plan as a means of delivering the outcomes specified in the plan. The scope of that budget will vary depending on the needs of the individual, the eligibility criteria for the different components and the mechanism for delivery. This means that decisions need to be taken on an individual basis, including for children with cerebral palsy. Decisions about the provision of personal budgets and other operational matters are for local authorities. Local authorities and their health partners remain responsible for securing the provision specified in an EHC plan, funded where necessary through joint commissioning arrangements.
More broadly, a review regarding special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) was announced in September 2019. The SEND review is looking at ways of making sure that the SEND system is consistent, high-quality and integrated across education, health and care. It is also considering measures to make sure that money is being spent fairly, efficiently and effectively, and that the support available to children and young people is sustainable in the future.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to provide (a) skills and (b) training to help support the UK manufacturing of small satellites; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
We recently published the White Paper, Skills for Jobs: Lifelong Learning for Opportunity and Growth. This is focused on giving people the skills they need, in a way that suits them, so they can get great jobs in sectors the economy needs and boost this country’s productivity.
A key focus of the White Paper is making the skills systems more responsive to employer skill needs both locally and nationally. Building on the success of our flagship apprenticeships programme, we are putting employers at the heart of the system so education and training meets their needs. Through employer engagement, we have transformed apprenticeships from a second-rate option to a prestigious opportunity to train with leading employers and get a well-paid job. Our new apprenticeships system includes a Space Engineering Technician apprenticeship that covers the design and manufacture of satellites and the components and subsystems they comprise, along with production, operation and maintenance of the highly specialised ground support equipment used to support development and testing of satellites before launch. It has been developed by employers including Airbus Defence & Space, BAE Systems, Thales Alenia Space UK Ltd, Nammo Westcott Ltd, Reaction Engines Ltd, Oxford Space Systems, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd and several others.
Alongside apprenticeships, by 2030, almost all technical courses will be based on employer-led standards, ensuring that the education and training people receive are directly linked to the skills needed for jobs.
A key part of our plans is to provide the advanced technical and higher technical skills the nation needs including, for example, in satellite production. We are doing this by expanding our flagship Institutes of Technology programme to every part of the country by the end of this Parliament to spearhead the increase in higher-level technical skills in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. We will also continue to roll out T Levels, which prepare students for entry into skilled employment or higher levels of technical study, including apprenticeships. We are reforming higher technical education with a new approval system based on employer-led standards and are creating clear progression routes for students towards the higher-level technical qualifications that employers need.
We are also funding the High-Value Manufacturing Catapult’s ‘Skills Value Chain’. This process assesses future skills needs in advanced manufacturing, develops courses to meet these needs, and makes those courses widely available through high-quality providers such as Institutes of Technology. It will support Small and Medium Enterprises to work with emerging technologies in the manufacturing sector, such as electrification, additive manufacturing, and metrology. We will then explore whether this Skills Value Chain approach can be used in other emerging skills areas and to support government priorities such as net zero.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that schools are aware of the social, psychological and health problems that pupils with neurofibromatosis 1 may have.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The government is committed to pupils with medical conditions being properly supported at school so that they have full access to education.
In 2014, the government introduced a new duty on schools to support all pupils with medical conditions and has published statutory guidance on this for schools and others. The guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.
The guidance does not specify which medical conditions should be supported in schools. Instead, it focuses on how to meet the needs of each individual child and how their medical condition impacts on school life.
Governing bodies must ensure that arrangements are in place in schools to support pupils at school with medical conditions, and that school leaders consult health and social care professionals, pupils and parents to ensure that the needs of these children are properly understood and effectively supported.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what advice his Department gives to schools to ensure that pupils with (a) neurofibromatosis 1 and (b) other genetic conditions receive adequate and effective support.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Our ambition is for every child, no matter what challenges they face, to have access to a world-class education that sets them up for life.
The statutory guidance to support pupils at school with medical conditions are designed to help schools ensure that they are meeting their legal responsibilities by taking reasonable action to support children with medical conditions and to give parents confidence that the right support will be put in place. The guidance is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.
The guidance covers a range of areas including the preparation and implementation of school policies for supporting pupils with medical conditions, the use of individual healthcare plans, staff training, medicines administration, roles and responsibilities, consulting with parents and collaborative working with healthcare professionals. It was developed based on good practice in schools.
We will continue to work with organisations such as the Health Conditions in Schools Alliance to help raise further awareness of the duty on schools. Collaborative working between local authorities, health bodies, schools and school governing bodies is vital to ensure that pupils with medical needs are appropriately supported in school.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of disruption to education as a result of the covid-19 outbreak on the timetabling of 11 plus examinations in 2020; and if he will issue new guidance to admissions authorities to enable 11 plus examinations to be rescheduled in 2020.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Arrangements for selecting pupils by ability are for the admission authorities of selective schools to decide. We are working with the sector and intend to publish advice on the impact of COVID-19 on testing arrangements for admissions to selective schools shortly.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of primary schools in England have a dedicated music teacher.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The information requested is not held centrally.