Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of care experienced 16 and 17 year olds who have been placed in unregistered accommodation in Wellingborough constituency in the last 12 months.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not collect data by Parliamentary constituency area.
The latest information on children in looked after placements, relating to the year ending 31 March 2023, was published on 16 November 2023 in the annual statistical release ‘Children looked after in England including adoptions’ at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions.
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 assessment she has made of the adequacy of the availability of childcare places in Wellingborough constituency.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department continually monitors the sufficiency of childcare in North Northamptonshire. The department has regular contact with them, and all other local authorities in England, about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing.
The key measure of sufficiency is whether the supply of available places is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents and children.
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.
Where North Northamptonshire reports 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.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of looked after children raised in Wellingborough constituency who are placed (a) outside of the local authority area and (b) 20 miles or more from the local authority area as of 30 November 2023.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not collect this data by Parliamentary constituency area.
The available data relates to local authority level. The latest data on looked after children relates to 31 March 2023 and was published on 16 November 2023 in the annual statistical release ‘Children looked after in England including adoptions’, and is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of children with SEND who are (i) persistently absent and (ii) severely absent from school in Wellingborough 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. The latest release, covering the autumn and spring terms of the 2022/23 academic year is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england. Data from 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 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 Wellingborough parliamentary constituency by special educational need status for the latest full academic year available, 2021/22.
| Persistent absentees | Persistent absentee % | Severe absentees | Severe absentee % |
No identified SEN1 | 2,754 | 21.6 | 179 | 1.4 |
SEN Support | 548 | 30.1 | 71 | 3.9 |
Statement or EHCP2 | 167 | 29.9 | 22 | 3.9 |
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 recent estimate she has made of average waiting times from referral to the issue of an education, health and care plan in Wellingborough constituency.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Data on the number of Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plans is published on GOV.UK at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans. The latest data was published on 8 June 2023. This includes the number of EHC Plans that were issued within a 20-week timeframe in North Northamptonshire.
The department and NHS England will continue to work with North Northamptonshire Council to monitor, and improve the quality, consistency and experience of completing EHC Plan needs assessments, and the issuing of completed Plans.
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 assessment of the potential impact of the timing of publishing arrangements for the 2024 intake of the Education Psychology Funded Training on the number of students applying for training.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Educational psychologists play a critical role in the support available to children and young people, including those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. That is why the department is investing £21 million in training 400 more educational psychologists from September 2024. The department regularly reviews the data regarding applications to the course. This is a highly competitive training scheme, with a high volume of applications.
The department is not able to comment on plans to publish the details of the funding and arrangements for the September 2024 intake of the Educational Psychology Funded Training Scheme, as this is subject to a live procurement. An update will be provided as soon as possible.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when her Department plans to publish the details of (a) funding and (b) arrangements for the September 2024 intake of the Education Psychology Funded Training scheme.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Educational psychologists play a critical role in the support available to children and young people, including those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. That is why the department is investing £21 million in training 400 more educational psychologists from September 2024. The department regularly reviews the data regarding applications to the course. This is a highly competitive training scheme, with a high volume of applications.
The department is not able to comment on plans to publish the details of the funding and arrangements for the September 2024 intake of the Educational Psychology Funded Training Scheme, as this is subject to a live procurement. An update will be provided as soon as possible.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to Answer of 20 November 2023 to Question 755 on Carers: Finance, how her Department plans to spend the remaining £6 million committed in February 2023.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In February, the department announced £200 million funding alongside the ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’ strategy, which is being used to address urgent issues over this Spending Review period and set the path for longer-term reform. As these plans have been implemented, there have been a number of changes to the balance of funding across reform programme areas including increases to the fostering pathfinder. The total £200 million announced in February 2023 will be directed to reform activity as detailed in ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’.
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 report entitled Children's Social Care: Stable Homes, Built on Love, published in September 2023, how her Department plans to use the £9 million earmarked for kinship care training and support.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Dulwich and West Norwood to the answer of 20 November 2023 to Question 755.
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 her Department's publication entitled Stable Homes, Built on Love: Implementation Strategy, whether standards of care will (a) set standards on the use restraint and (b) apply to providers of secure transportation for looked after children.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The safeguarding and wellbeing of children and young people is always of the utmost importance to the department.
Restraint should only be used in exceptional cases where it is necessary and proportionate, for example, if there was no other way to prevent a child from seriously harming themselves or others.
In Stable Homes, Built on Love, the department committed to working closely with sector experts to review all existing legislation, standards and guidance, and to develop a core overarching set of Standards of Care with accompanying regulations. The department envisages that its new standards and regulations will cover the use of restraint and the department is exploring what further action is needed regarding the use of restraint in transportation as part of this.
The department intends to consult on the Standards of Care in due course, with a view to updating legislation subject to parliamentary time.