Asked by: Iain Wright (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her policy is on continuing free school meals for children between the ages of four and seven; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The continuation of universal infant free school meals was a commitment in the Conservative Party’s election manifesto.
The government is currently conducting a Spending Review across all its programmes.
Asked by: Iain Wright (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of (a) the adequacy of counselling services in schools for young people and (b) the effectiveness of curriculum content on emotional well-being and self-harm.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
We recognise that schools have a vital role to play in helping to promote good mental health for all their pupils as well as providing early support where mental health problems have been identified
Schools are best placed to decide what support and teaching they need to provide and we know that many schools provide their pupils with counselling. While we do not collect detailed central information on this provision, we have produced a blueprint for school counselling services which provides schools with practical, evidence-based advice informed by schools and counselling experts on how to deliver high quality school based counselling. More information can be found online here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/counselling-in-schools. However, teachers are not mental health professionals and it is important that students can get swift access to specialist mental health support where needed. An additional £1.25bn is available for mental health services for children, young people and new mothers over the next 5 years, to ensure timely access to appropriate specialist support is available.
In March 2015, we published a review of the research evidence for Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education teaching. This covers effective practice and teaching as well as the impact of PSHE teaching on pupil’s outcomes, including their emotional health and well-being and their academic attainment. This research is published online here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pshe-education-a-review-of-impact-and-effective-practice
We have already funded the PSHE Association to produce guidance to improve teaching about mental health in PSHE which was published in March 2015. This will be supplemented by detailed lesson plans for Key Stages 1-4. More information is available online here https://www.pshe-association.org.uk/news_detail.aspx?ID=1435
Asked by: Iain Wright (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will provide more resources for counselling in schools for young people; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
We recognise that schools have a vital role to play in helping to promote good mental health for all their pupils as well as providing early support where mental health problems have been identified
Schools are best placed to decide what support and teaching they need to provide and we know that many schools provide their pupils with counselling. While we do not collect detailed central information on this provision, we have produced a blueprint for school counselling services which provides schools with practical, evidence-based advice informed by schools and counselling experts on how to deliver high quality school based counselling. More information can be found online here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/counselling-in-schools. However, teachers are not mental health professionals and it is important that students can get swift access to specialist mental health support where needed. An additional £1.25bn is available for mental health services for children, young people and new mothers over the next 5 years, to ensure timely access to appropriate specialist support is available.
In March 2015, we published a review of the research evidence for Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education teaching. This covers effective practice and teaching as well as the impact of PSHE teaching on pupil’s outcomes, including their emotional health and well-being and their academic attainment. This research is published online here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pshe-education-a-review-of-impact-and-effective-practice
We have already funded the PSHE Association to produce guidance to improve teaching about mental health in PSHE which was published in March 2015. This will be supplemented by detailed lesson plans for Key Stages 1-4. More information is available online here https://www.pshe-association.org.uk/news_detail.aspx?ID=1435
Asked by: Iain Wright (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what research her Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated in the last five years on a link between brain development and nurturing in early years; and what additional resources her Department is providing in (i) Hartlepool, (ii) North East England and (iii) England to ensure infants' brains are stimulated and developed.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Department for Education recognises the importance of brain development and nurturing in the early years. Research shows that high quality early education, in conjunction with effective parenting skills, has a positive influence on children’s confidence, their capacity to learn, and contributes to a sense of well-being and self-worth. The foundations for human development – physical, intellectual and emotional – are laid in early childhood. It is for this reason that the department has invested so heavily in the early education entitlement for all three- and four-year-olds as well as the most disadvantaged two-year-olds. The department has also brought forward a Childcare Bill to give families where all parents are working an entitlement to 30 hours of free childcare for their three- and four-year olds.
The department has commissioned and evaluated a significant amount of research on early education, which encompasses consideration of a range of issues such as child development and nurturing. The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework, which all registered early years providers must follow, recognises that good parenting and high quality early learning together provide the foundation that children need to make the most of their abilities and talents as they grow up. The EYFS is based on evidence considered by Dame Clare Tickell in her 2011 review. A report of the evidence can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-early-years-foundation-stage-review-report-on-the-evidence
A number of other important reviews have also informed this department’s policy on early education. These include reports by Graham Allen MP in 2011 on early intervention and Professor Sir Michael Marmot in 2010 which highlighted the important lifelong effects that the early years (starting in the womb) has on many aspects of health and well-being, educational achievement and economic status. The reports can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-intervention-the-next-steps--2 and https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/61012/earlyintervention-smartinvestment.pdf
http://www.instituteofhealthequity.org/projects/fair-society-healthy-lives-the-marmot-review
The department also published research in 2014 on the CANparent trial, a government initiative to examine the development of a universal offer of parenting classes to enhance parenting skills and increase confidence. The report can be found at: http://www.canparent.org.uk/sites/default/files/Trial_evaluation_final_report__09_07_14_.pdf
Child development in the early years remains a key research priority for this department. A major piece of longitudinal research, Study of Early Education and Development (SEED), has been commissioned to evaluate the effectiveness of the current early education model in England. SEED will specifically examine the impact on child development of providing funded early years education to two year olds from lower income families. The study will follow the progress of over 5,000 children from the age of two, up until the end of key stage one at the age of seven. SEED will update evidence from the highly influential Effective Provision of Pre-school Education (EPPE) that has provided crucial evidence of the benefits of high quality early years education. A full impact report is due in 2020.
Although we do not have a separate funding stream to “ensure infants’ brains are stimulated and developed”, the department continues to invest heavily in the early education entitlement for all three- and four-year-olds and the most disadvantaged two-year-olds. The early years pupil premium (EYPP) was introduced in April 2015 and provides additional support for disadvantaged three- and four-year-olds accessing the government-funded entitlement hours.
For three- and four-year-olds, the 2015-16 initial funding allocation for the existing entitlement and the early years pupil premium is:
3/4-year-old entitlement | EYPP
| Total
| |
Hartlepool | £2.99 million
| £135,000 | £3.13 million |
North East England | £92.89 million
| £2.98 million | £95.87 million |
England | £2.18 billion
| £50 million | £2.23 billion |
These data are published and are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2015-to-2016
Funding allocations for 2015-16 for two-year-olds will be announced in July 2015, as this is the first year of participation-based funding for two-year-olds. The hourly rate for two-year-olds was announced in October 2015 for all local authorities. Children in Hartlepool will receive £4.85 per hour and the national average hourly funding rate is £5.09. This data is published and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/392709/Hourly_rates_for_2-year-olds__2015_to_2016.pdf
Local authorities are funded for the early years entitlement and the EYPP through the Dedicated Schools Grant. In consultation with their Schools Forum, local authorities are responsible for deciding how best to distribute this funding across their locality. They also set their own local rates of funding for early years providers and should set rates in close consultation with providers.