Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding her Department plans to provide for the early years free hours entitlement to each local authority; and what guidance her Department has issued to providers on the costs that this funding should cover.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is determined to support as many families as possible with access to high quality, affordable childcare, which is why the 2023 Spring Budget announced significant new investments to expand the free early education entitlements from April 2024. Further, at the 2024 Spring Budget the department committed to increasing the national average hourly funding rate to deliver the entitlements in line with the metric used at Spring Budget 2023, in the 2025/26 and 2026/27 financial years to reflect key cost providers face, at an estimated £500 million of additional investment over the two financial years, based on current forecast.
The department expects to provide over £4.1 billion by the 2027/28 financial year to facilitate the expansion and to be spending in excess of £8 billion every year overall on free hours and early education entitlements. This is the single biggest investment in childcare in England ever.
In 2024/25 alone, the department expects to provide over £1.7 billion to support local authorities and providers to deliver the expansion. On top of this, the department is increasing the 2024/25 hourly rates to local authorities for the existing and new entitlements by over £400 million.
To ensure local authorities are fully supported in delivering the new entitlements, the department is funding local authorities an additional four weeks in the 2024/25 financial year, at an estimated cost of £120 million, for the under 2s working parent entitlement starting in September 2024.
Indicative funding allocations for individual local authorities for 2024/25 were published in December 2023 and can be found at: https://skillsfunding.service.gov.uk/view-latest-funding/national-funding-allocations/DSG/2024-to-2025. Funding allocations for local authorities for 2025/26 will be announced in the autumn.
The department’s statutory guidance for local authorities sets out that government funding is intended to deliver 15 or 30 hours a week (for 38 weeks of the year) of free, high-quality, flexible childcare. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-education-and-childcare--2.
The funding should cover the cost, including core business costs, of delivering this provision. The funding is not intended to cover the costs of meals, other consumables, such as nappies and sun cream, additional hours or additional services, such as trips and specialist tuition. However, as set out in paragraph A1.33 of the guidance, such charges for consumables or additional services should not be made a condition of accessing a free place. The statutory guidance for local authorities also specifies that local authorities ensure that providers do not charge parents top-up fees or require parents to pay a registration fee as a condition of taking up their child’s place. Providers who choose to offer the free entitlements are responsible for setting their own policy on providing parents with options for alternatives to additional charges, including allowing parents to supply their own meals or nappies, or waiving or reducing the cost of meals and snacks.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 2.25(3) of the Spring Budget 2024, HC 560, published on 6 March 2024, how much and what proportion of the £165 million funding for the children’s homes estate will be spent on (a) new children’s homes, (b) rebuilding children’s homes and (c) repairing existing children's homes in each local authority area; and if she will make an estimate of the number of new places that will be created.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In the Spring Budget, the department was awarded £165 million capital funding to invest in open and secure children’s homes. This consists of £45 million match funding to local authorities to create 200 new open children’s home (OCH) placements for the most vulnerable children, and £120 million to fund the maintenance of the existing secure children’s home (SCH) estate and rebuild Atkinson SCH and Swanwick SCH.
It will be for local authorities in receipt of this OCH match funding to decide how best to deliver these additional 200 placements to meet the needs of the children they look after.
The department will work with Atkinson and Swanwick SCHs and other SCHs to determine the number of places and maintenance required to meet current and future needs of the individual SCHs and the SCH estate as a whole. The department will then allocate the £120 million to the SCHs on this basis.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Spring Budget 2024, HC 560, where the 15 new special schools will be located.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Spring Budget confirmed plans for 15 additional special free schools. An announcement on the location of these schools will be made by May 2024.
The department received a large number of high-quality applications from local authorities through the most recent special free schools application round. In March 2023, the department approved 33 new special free schools.
The Spring Budget announcement means that the department can now go further, by considering more high-quality applications that were not able to be approved at the time. Therefore, the department does not currently plan to invite new local authority applications for this wave.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish a table on the net increase per quarter of the number of Ofsted-registered childcare places for children aged (a) two or under and (b) over two per local authority since 15 March 2023.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This is a matter for His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver. I have asked him to write to the hon. Member and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an estimate of how many schools are non-compliant with paragraphs 6.81 of the SEND Code of Practice, published in January 2015.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department expects all schools to comply with paragraph 6.81 of the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) Code of Practice.
As part of the department's work to implement the SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan, the department is exploring whether the expectations about the contents of the special educational needs information report could be developed further to improve transparency.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will provide a list of dates of meetings of the national SEND and alternative provision implementation board since June 2023; and if she will publish the minutes of these meetings.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The National Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and Alternative Provision Implementation Board met on 6 June, 18 September and 12 December 2023. Information about the Board is available on GOV.UK and will continue to be updated in due course.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her Department's policy is on the publication of the strategic delivery plans for each SEND Change Programme Partnership.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Each of the Change Programme Partnerships (CPP) has developed a Strategic Delivery Plan, which outlines their plan for delivery across their local areas for the duration of the Change Programme.
These plans are specifically for the department to understand how the CPPs will work with each other, the department and delivery partners to deliver the Change Programme. As such, these are internal working documents and are not intended for publication.
The department will be sharing updates on the progress of the Change Programme in due course.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the number and proportion of local authorities who have advised their local childcare providers of their hourly rate from 1 April 2024; and what steps she is taking to help ensure that childcare providers have adequate notice to prepare for the expanded roll-out.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The 2024/25 government hourly funding rates for all the early years entitlements for individual local authorities were announced on 29 November 2023 to reflect the funding uplifts and the national living wage increase.
The department is in close communication with local authorities and recognises the need to ensure childcare providers have early confirmation of their early years funding rates for 2024/25. The department now anticipates that all local authorities will have confirmed funding rates that come into force from 1 April 2024 no later than the end of February 2024.
As of 31 January 2024, the department can confirm that over 40 local authorities in England have published their final funding rates for providers. Where local authorities have not yet published the final rates, the vast majority have provided indicative rates to their providers to support in their business planning.
On 2 February 2024, the department also took steps to provide greater funding certainty to nurseries and childcare providers going forwards. Each year, the government sets out funding rates in the autumn, to take effect in the following financial year. A window, likely to be 8 weeks, will be introduced, within which local authorities have to confirm rates, after the point the department announces local authority hourly rates. The department will work with the sector in the coming weeks to finalise the approach.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of children with SEND are (a) persistently and (b) severely absent from school in Blackpool South constituency.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Information on pupil absence, including breakdowns by pupil characteristics, is published in the ‘Pupil absence in schools in England’ national statistic. This publication for the latest full academic year, 2021/22, is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england/2021-22.
A pupil is classified as persistently absent if they miss 10% or more of their own possible sessions. A pupil is classified as severely absent if they miss 50% or more of their possible sessions.
The table below shows the numbers and rates of persistently absent and severely absent pupils in Blackpool South parliamentary constituency by Special Educational Need (SEN) status for the latest full academic year available, 2021/22.
| Persistent absentees | Persistent absentee % | Severe absentees | Severe absentee % |
SEN Support1 | 554 | 33.5 | 34 | 2.1 |
Statement or EHCP2 | 189 | 32.6 | 18 | 3.1 |
Source: School Census.
1 Special Educational Need
2 Education, Health and Care Plan.
This table excludes a small number of pupils with unclassified SEN status.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what opportunities parents and carers of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) have had to contribute to the development of new professional standards for mediators working with SEND.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan, the department committed to work with the Civil Mediation Council (CMC) and the College of Mediators (CoM) to review and build on the existing professional standards for SEND mediators, which was first published in 2018. The standards are owned by CMC and CoM and apply to those listed on their joint register of accredited SEND mediators.
CMC and CoM conducted a review of the existing standards last year and are currently consulting on proposed updated standards. Departmental officials have been working closely with CMC and CoM to ensure that the views of families, local authorities and other stakeholders are considered.
Parents and carers of children with SEND can contribute their views directly by responding to the consultation via the CMC’s website: https://civilmediation.org/send-consultation.
The department has also engaged with the National Network of Parent Carer Forums (NNPCF), which is the national combined strategic voice of parent carer forums working in co-production with the government. All funded local parent carer forums are, by default, members of the NPCF. The department has engaged with NNPCF via the department’s SEND Dispute Resolution Steering Group, where they have had an opportunity to comment and share their views on plans to update the standards. NNPCF have also shared details of the consultation with their network.
The Council for Disabled Children and Contact have also shared details of the consultation.