Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria are used to define challenging behaviour as used in the 2012 School Admissions Code.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It is for admission authorities to agree with their local authorities what they regard as challenging behaviour, based on the circumstances of each case.
Each local authority is required to have a Fair Access Protocol in place, to ensure that – outside the normal admissions round – unplaced children are offered a place at a suitable school as quickly as possible and that no school is asked to take a disproportionate number of children with challenging behaviour or children excluded from other schools.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of fair access protocols on pupil referral units.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Fair access protocols exist to ensure that, outside the normal admissions round, unplaced children, especially the most vulnerable, are offered a place at a suitable school as quickly as possible and that no school is asked to take a disproportionate number of children with challenging behaviour or children excluded from other schools.
Fair access protocols do not have a direct impact on pupil referral units.
It is for local authorities, together with the schools in their area, to decide on which children should be eligible for consideration under their fair access protocol, which as a minimum must include children from pupil referral units who need to be integrated back into mainstream education.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of (a) the school a pupil attends and (b) access to transport on participation in after-school sport.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Local authorities are responsible for making sure that local travel arrangements enable children to attend school. The responsibility covers transport from home to school at the start and finish of the school day. Local authorities can use their discretionary powers to provide transport to meet local needs. They should engage both with parents and schools in deciding what support can be expected from the local authority.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what measures are in place to ensure that no school is asked to admit a disproportionate number of children who have been excluded from other schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Each local authority is required to have a Fair Access Protocol in place, to ensure that unplaced children, especially the most vulnerable, are offered a place at a suitable school as quickly as possible. The protocol also ensures that no school is asked to take a disproportionate number of children with challenging behaviour or who have been excluded from other schools.
All admission authorities, including those of academies and free schools, are required to participate in the Fair Access Protocol for their area.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what statutory duties local authorities have towards young people who have been abused while in foster care.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Local authorities have a duty under The Children Act 1989 regarding the protection of all children, including those for whom they have direct responsibility as looked after children.
All referrals and allegations, whatever their origin, must be taken seriously and investigated. Local authorities have a statutory duty, under Section 47 of the Children Act 1989, to make enquiries where they have reasonable cause for concern that a child might need protection. As with all looked-after children, local authorities must assess their needs and decide how best to meet them on an ongoing basis through the statutory care planning process, set out in the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review guidance, which is available at:
There are stringent checks for anyone who wishes to become a foster carer, including a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. Anyone who wants to become a foster carer must undergo a full, rigorous assessment process and be approved by a registered fostering service.
All children’s homes and fostering services are regulated and inspected by Ofsted to national minimum standards, including safeguarding and child protection standards. Each child will be supported by a social worker who will visit them regularly to check they are being properly being looked after.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps are being taken to ensure the impartiality of the online careers advice service recommended in the Department's statutory guidance to schools.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The statutory guidance for schools on careers guidance and inspiration, published by the Department for Education, underpins the duty on schools to secure independent careers guidance for pupils in years 8-13. Organisations and careers services named throughout the statutory document and the accompanying non-statutory document are provided as examples of good practice and are not specifically endorsed by government. It is for schools to decide how best to fulfil their legal requirements in accordance with the needs of their pupils, and online careers advice services may form part of their independent careers provision.
As stated in the statutory guidance, the National Careers Service offers information and professional advice about education, training and work to adults and young people aged 13 years and over. Pupils and their parents can access support via a website, helpline and web chat. The National Careers Service contractors, website and helpline advisers all hold and adhere to the government’s Matrix Standard, the recognised national quality standard for information, advice and guidance services. Award of the Standard is contingent on the provision of an impartial, professional service.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps is the Government taking to ensure that young people in children's homes have the option of receiving support until the age of 21, as children in foster care currently do.
Answered by Edward Timpson
All care leavers receive support from a personal adviser until age 21; this extends to age 25 if a care leaver remains engaged in education or training. All care leavers also receive a leaving care grant to help with the costs of setting up home; and those attending further and higher education receive financial support to meet the costs associated with engaging in education in the form of further education and higher education bursaries. Each care leaver has a pathway plan setting out the support they will receive from the local authority in order to meet their goals.
The department recognises that the transition into adulthood can often be difficult for care leavers because they may not receive the same level of support as young people who live with their families. This is what prompted us to introduce the ‘staying put’ duty in 2014, which requires local authorities to support young people to continue living with their former foster carers up to age 21, if both they and their foster carer are happy with this arrangement.
Our statutory guidance makes clear that local authorities should have a range of semi-independent and independent accommodation options for all those leaving care. The government is also looking at what more can be done to improve support for care leavers, building on the first ever cross-government care leaver strategy which was introduced in October 2013, with the aim of giving all care leavers, whatever their care experience, a good start to adulthood.