Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will allocate funding to wraparound care providers to ensure that they continue to provide support to key workers, vulnerable children and working families during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The department does not currently hold a central register of wraparound providers. Therefore we are unable to make an accurate assessment of the effect of a potential reduction of providers. However, we understand and recognise that the wraparound childcare sector, like many sectors, is facing unprecedented financial pressures as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. We also recognise the value this sector offers to our children and young people, in terms of the enriching activities they provide and, in particular, the valuable support they provide to our working parents and carers, and to vulnerable children.
Ensuring working parents and carers have access to the childcare they need remains a priority for the government. We acknowledge that this childcare will be crucial in the UK’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 outbreak. That is why we have ensured that all before and after-school clubs, holiday clubs, and other out-of-school settings have been able to continue to stay open for children eligible to attend school on-site (i.e. for critical worker children, and vulnerable children and young people), for the duration of the recent national lockdown. From 8 March wraparound childcare and other children’s activities have been able to open for all other children, where their parents/carers need the provision to support them to work, attend education, seek medical care or attend a support group, as well as for other essential purposes. Vulnerable children can attend childcare and other children’s activities in all circumstances.
The government has made a range of financial packages of support available for businesses to access throughout the COVID-19 outbreak. This includes tax relief, business loans or cash grants through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme, as well as a £594 million discretionary fund for councils and the devolved administrations to support local businesses that may not be eligible for other support, during the current national lockdown.
We are also still encouraging all local authorities to consider using local grants that have been made available to them during the COVID-19 outbreak, to support the wraparound childcare sector in their areas, and to safeguard sufficient childcare provision for all families. This includes the expanded Holiday Activities and Food Programme which comprises a £220 million fund to be delivered through grants to local authorities. This programme will give children eligible for free school meals the option to join a free holiday-time programme that provides healthy food and enriching activities during the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays in 2021.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of a potential reduction of providers in the wraparound childcare and holiday club sector on the UK’s economic recovery from the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The department does not currently hold a central register of wraparound providers. Therefore we are unable to make an accurate assessment of the effect of a potential reduction of providers. However, we understand and recognise that the wraparound childcare sector, like many sectors, is facing unprecedented financial pressures as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. We also recognise the value this sector offers to our children and young people, in terms of the enriching activities they provide and, in particular, the valuable support they provide to our working parents and carers, and to vulnerable children.
Ensuring working parents and carers have access to the childcare they need remains a priority for the government. We acknowledge that this childcare will be crucial in the UK’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 outbreak. That is why we have ensured that all before and after-school clubs, holiday clubs, and other out-of-school settings have been able to continue to stay open for children eligible to attend school on-site (i.e. for critical worker children, and vulnerable children and young people), for the duration of the recent national lockdown. From 8 March wraparound childcare and other children’s activities have been able to open for all other children, where their parents/carers need the provision to support them to work, attend education, seek medical care or attend a support group, as well as for other essential purposes. Vulnerable children can attend childcare and other children’s activities in all circumstances.
The government has made a range of financial packages of support available for businesses to access throughout the COVID-19 outbreak. This includes tax relief, business loans or cash grants through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme, as well as a £594 million discretionary fund for councils and the devolved administrations to support local businesses that may not be eligible for other support, during the current national lockdown.
We are also still encouraging all local authorities to consider using local grants that have been made available to them during the COVID-19 outbreak, to support the wraparound childcare sector in their areas, and to safeguard sufficient childcare provision for all families. This includes the expanded Holiday Activities and Food Programme which comprises a £220 million fund to be delivered through grants to local authorities. This programme will give children eligible for free school meals the option to join a free holiday-time programme that provides healthy food and enriching activities during the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays in 2021.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many devices for remote learning were provided in 2020 to (a) primary schools and (b) secondary schools in (i) Camberwell and Peckham and (ii) Southwark; and what types of devices have been provided.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government is investing over £400 million to support access to remote education and online social care services, including securing 1.3 million laptops and tablets for disadvantaged children and young people. As of Monday 8 February 2021, over 980,000 laptops and tablets have been delivered to schools, trusts, local authorities and further education providers.
Laptops and tablets are owned by schools, academy trusts, local authorities or further education providers who can lend these to the children and young people who need them most, during the current COVID-19 restrictions. Device types include Microsoft Windows laptops, Microsoft Windows tablets, Google Chromebooks and Apple iPads. The specification of the devices can be viewed through the following link: https://get-help-with-tech.education.gov.uk/devices/device-specification.
The Government is providing this significant injection of devices on top of an estimated 2.9 million laptops and tablets already owned by schools before the start of the COVID-19 outbreak.
More information on the number of devices delivered to schools, trusts and local authorities, can be viewed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/laptops-and-tablets-data. Figures by Parliamentary constituency are not available.
Where schools need additional devices, in order to support disadvantaged children, they should contact the Department for Education’s service team at: covid.technology@education.gov.uk. They should include the number of pupils in Years 3 to 13 who require support and an explanation of how they have gathered this evidence.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to recruit more teachers from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds.
Answered by Nick Gibb
In October 2018, the Department set out its commitment to increasing the diversity of the teaching workforce across all protected characteristics when it launched the Statement of Intent.
This commitment to increasing teacher diversity was made alongside 10 co-signatories from the sector (including unions and grassroots organisations) who set out their own individual commitments.
The Department has been making progress against its commitments, including:
We have made significant progress in improving the diversity of postgraduate initial teacher training participants. Those belonging to a BAME group (i.e. any non-White ethnicity) made up 19% of all postgraduate entrants in 2019/20, up from 18% last year and 14% in 2015/16.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to increase funding in the early years education sector.
Answered by Vicky Ford
We are planning to spend over £3.6 billion on early education entitlements in 2020-21. Future funding will be a matter for the next spending review.
The government is committed to supporting families with their childcare costs. Last October, we announced increases in our hourly rates for the 2-year-old entitlement and in most areas for the 3- and 4-year-old entitlement, effective from April of this year.
We also announced that supplementary funding for maintained nursery schools will continue until the end of the financial year 2020-21.
During the COVID-19 outbreak, we continue to pay local authorities their regular instalments of Dedicated Schools Grant, including the early years block, as usual.
We continue to work closely with the early years sector to understand how it can best be supported to ensure that sufficient childcare is available for those returning to work now, and for all families who need it in the longer term.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will implement the recommendations of the Black Curriculum.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department has responded directly to The Black Curriculum’s campaign. The reply sets out in detail how the history curriculum already enables the teaching of Black history, as do other curriculums across other subject areas.
The substance of our reply to The Black Curriculum is based on the national curriculum’s history programmes of study, available at the link below:
The national curriculum is a framework setting out the content of what the Department expects schools to cover in each subject. The curriculum does not set out how curriculum subjects, or topics within the subjects, should be taught. The Department believes teachers should be able to use their own knowledge and expertise to determine how they teach their pupils, and to make choices about what they teach.
As part of a broad and balanced curriculum, pupils should be taught about different societies, and how different groups have contributed to the development of Britain, and this can include the voices and experience of Black people. The flexibility within the history curriculum means that Black British history can already be included.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many primary school children receive free school meals in (a) Camberwell and Peckham and (b) the London Borough of Southwark.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The most recent figures for number of pupils eligible for and claiming free school meals come from the school census for January 2019, published on 27 June 2019. 2,658 pupils in primary schools in Camberwell and Peckham constituency were eligible for and claiming free school meals in January 2019, and 5,732 primary school pupils in the whole of the London Borough of Southwark.
Further information can be found in the annual “School, pupils and their characteristics” statistical release which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-school-and-pupil-numbers.
Figures relating to January 2020 are due to be published on 25 June 2020.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will implement the School Teachers' Review Body's recommendations on teachers’ pay.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government accepted in full the School Teachers’ Review Body's (STRB) 2018 recommendation for a 3.5% uplift to the minima and maxima of the main pay range. A 2% uplift was applied to the statutory minima and maxima of the upper pay range and the leading practitioner pay range. A 1.5% uplift was applied to leadership pay ranges, including headteacher groups.
The STRB is currently considering the pay remit in respect of the 2019 teachers' pay award. The Government will consider the STRB recommendations once they have been received.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the level of national minimum allowances for foster carers; and what plans he has to set minimum allowances for those providing staying-put arrangements.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The national minimum standards for fostering services are clear that every foster parent with a child in placement should receive an allowance that covers the full cost of caring for a child. The government recommends a minimum allowance that fostering service providers should pay to their foster parents each week and uplifts it annually in line with the gross domestic product deflators.
The government does not believe that introducing a national minimum allowance for Staying Put carers is the right way forward. Unlike children in foster care, young people in Staying Put arrangements are adults, and may be in work, or claiming benefits. These financial sources can be used to contribute to the cost of providing the Staying Put arrangement, in a similar way that young people who are still living at home with their parents may contribute to the costs of running the household.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average waiting time was for a child to be assessed for an Education, Health Care Plan after receiving a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder in (a) the London Borough of Southwark, (b) London and (c) England in each of the last five years.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The information requested is not held centrally.
Under the Children and Families Act 2014, parents and schools are able to apply for an assessment for an Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan without the need for a diagnosis to have already been made.
Data is collected by the department on assessments for EHC plans that are completed within their 20 week target. This is published in the ‘Statements of SEN and EHC plans: England, 2018’ publication available here – https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statements-of-sen-and-ehc-plans-england-2018 .