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.
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 of available childcare places per child in each region in England on 24 January 2024.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not hold this information in the form requested. The department has regular contact with each local authority in England to ensure their sufficiency needs are met.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the number of parents of 2-year-olds who have applied for the expanded childcare entitlement; and how many applications are yet to be processed.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department will be providing an update on the childcare application system shortly.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the number and proportion of children with SEND who are (a) persistently and (b) severely absent from school in Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
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.
This table shows the numbers and rates of persistently absent and severely absent pupils in Blackpool North and Cleveleys 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 % |
SEN1 Support | 491 | 31.9 | 34 | 2.2 |
Statement or EHCP2 | 122 | 31.2 | 8 | 2.0 |
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.
Information on pupil absence, including breakdowns by pupil characteristics, is published in the ‘Pupil absence in schools in England’ national statistic, though this does not give constituency level information. 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.
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 make an assessment of the adequacy of the availability of childcare places in Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In the government’s Spring Budget 2023, the Chancellor announced transformative reforms to childcare for parents, children and the economy. By 2027/28, this government will expect to be spending in excess of £8 billion every year on free hours and early education, helping working families with their childcare costs. This represents the single biggest investment in childcare in England ever.
Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency is within the area covered by Blackpool Council.
Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. Part B of the ‘Early education and childcare’ statutory guidance for local authorities highlights that local authorities are required to report annually to elected council members on how they are meeting their duty to secure sufficient childcare, and to make this report available and accessible to parents.
If Blackpool Council report any sufficiency challenges, the department discusses what action the local authority is taking to address those issues, and where needed, supports them with any specific requirements through its childcare sufficiency support contract.
The department does not hold data for the number of childcare providers that have either opened or closed in the Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency, specifically, or by individual years.
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 make an estimate of the average cost of childcare for a (a) two and (b) three and four-year-old child for 25 hours a week in Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In the government’s Spring Budget 2023, the Chancellor announced transformative reforms to childcare for parents, children and the economy. By 2027/28, this government will expect to be spending in excess of £8 billion every year on free hours and early education, helping working families with their childcare costs. This represents the single biggest investment in childcare in England ever.
Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency is within the area covered by Blackpool Council.
Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. Part B of the ‘Early education and childcare’ statutory guidance for local authorities highlights that local authorities are required to report annually to elected council members on how they are meeting their duty to secure sufficient childcare, and to make this report available and accessible to parents.
If Blackpool Council report any sufficiency challenges, the department discusses what action the local authority is taking to address those issues, and where needed, supports them with any specific requirements through its childcare sufficiency support contract.
The department does not hold data for the number of childcare providers that have either opened or closed in the Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency, specifically, or by individual years.
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 make an estimate of the number of looked-after children who were raised in Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency who have been placed (a) outside and (b) 20 miles or more from the local authority area.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Dulwich and West Norwood to the answer of 19 January 2024 to Questions 9906 and 9907.