Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on the mental health of (a) children under 12 and (b) young people under 18 of terrorist attacks near their school or home.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is committed to supporting schools to promote good mental wellbeing, provide a supportive environment for pupils experiencing problems and secure access to more specialist help for those who need it. This can be especially important for children who have experienced trauma. In November 2018, the Department updated its advice on Mental Health and Behaviour in Schools. It directs schools towards information on how trauma and adverse childhood experiences such as bereavement can affect individual children and how schools can adapt their approach to support these pupils within the context of a school environment which sets clear expectations of behaviour and clear routines. It also highlights the importance of continuous professional development to ensure staff have the knowledge and confidence to identify the early signs of mental health problems.
The Department is taking forward the proposals set out in our green paper ‘Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision’. There are three core commitments, which are intended to support local areas to support children and young people’s mental health as quickly as possible.
The commitments will incentivise all schools and colleges to identify and train a Senior Mental Health Lead; to fund new Mental Health Support Teams (which will be supervised by NHS children and young people’s mental health staff) and the piloting of a four-week waiting time for access to specialist NHS children and young people’s mental health services. As part of the Green Paper proposals, the Government also committed to provide Mental Health Awareness Training for a member of staff from all state funded secondary schools in England by March 2020. This programme is funded and managed by DHSC.
The Department provides support for schools to help them manage their security effectively so that they can meet their obligations and ensure they have in place sensible and proportionate security policies and plans, covering various scenarios – including terrorism. As part of our regular review, the Department has been working with educational institutions and local authorities to better understand what role it should play in supporting institutions to better prepare for and respond to a terrorist incident that affects the sector. As a result, the Department has developed incident response guidance. This guidance signposts resources and highlights areas for consideration in the immediate aftermath and the days and weeks following a terrorist incident that affects pupils, students or staff. A key part of the guidance is signposting resources for those experiencing mental health issues as a result of terrorist incidents near their school or home. The Department works closely with the cross-government Victims of Terrorism Unit to ensure the guidance we provide is accurate and includes the most relevant, up to date material. We expect to publish this in November.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of terrorist attacks on the academic progression of (a) children under 12 and (b) young people under 18 who live near to the place an attack happened.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is committed to supporting schools to promote good mental wellbeing, provide a supportive environment for pupils experiencing problems and secure access to more specialist help for those who need it. This can be especially important for children who have experienced trauma. In November 2018, the Department updated its advice on Mental Health and Behaviour in Schools. It directs schools towards information on how trauma and adverse childhood experiences such as bereavement can affect individual children and how schools can adapt their approach to support these pupils within the context of a school environment which sets clear expectations of behaviour and clear routines. It also highlights the importance of continuous professional development to ensure staff have the knowledge and confidence to identify the early signs of mental health problems.
The Department is taking forward the proposals set out in our green paper ‘Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision’. There are three core commitments, which are intended to support local areas to support children and young people’s mental health as quickly as possible.
The commitments will incentivise all schools and colleges to identify and train a Senior Mental Health Lead; to fund new Mental Health Support Teams (which will be supervised by NHS children and young people’s mental health staff) and the piloting of a four-week waiting time for access to specialist NHS children and young people’s mental health services. As part of the Green Paper proposals, the Government also committed to provide Mental Health Awareness Training for a member of staff from all state funded secondary schools in England by March 2020. This programme is funded and managed by DHSC.
The Department provides support for schools to help them manage their security effectively so that they can meet their obligations and ensure they have in place sensible and proportionate security policies and plans, covering various scenarios – including terrorism. As part of our regular review, the Department has been working with educational institutions and local authorities to better understand what role it should play in supporting institutions to better prepare for and respond to a terrorist incident that affects the sector. As a result, the Department has developed incident response guidance. This guidance signposts resources and highlights areas for consideration in the immediate aftermath and the days and weeks following a terrorist incident that affects pupils, students or staff. A key part of the guidance is signposting resources for those experiencing mental health issues as a result of terrorist incidents near their school or home. The Department works closely with the cross-government Victims of Terrorism Unit to ensure the guidance we provide is accurate and includes the most relevant, up to date material. We expect to publish this in November.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to increase the number of University Technical Colleges achieving good and outstanding Ofsted reports.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The department wants university technical colleges (UTCs) to flourish so that they offer a high standard of education for young people who want to follow a technical pathway.
We have been supporting UTCs to improve their educational performance through a range of measures, including funding intensive support from a local teaching school and providing advice, guidance and challenge from experienced secondary education experts. We are also encouraging and supporting UTCs to join multi-academy trusts, which we believe is the best way to ensure they improve educationally, as well as helping improve their financial viability.
The department has also introduced several measures to support pupil recruitment in UTCs. Changes in the Technical and Further Education Act 2017 (known as the Baker Clause), introduced in January 2018, require maintained schools and academies to provide opportunities for providers of technical education, such as UTCs, to visit schools to talk to students in years 8-13, to inform them of their offer. UTCs are also now able to apply to the department to extend their age range to 11-19, further embedding them in their local education landscape, and widening the offer to local pupils.
Strong UTCs help young people progress into further education, employment and apprenticeships. In 2016, 87% of students who left a UTC progressed into a sustained destination after key stage 5, which is higher than the national average for all schools and colleges. 21% progressed into sustained apprenticeships, double the national average.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking against cosmetic surgery clinics that provide substandard care.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care providers, including cosmetic surgery clinics, in England and has a key responsibility in the overall assurance of safety and quality of health and adult social care services.
All providers of regulated activities must be registered and follow the set of fundamental standards of safety and quality. The fundamental standards describe the basic requirements that providers should always meet, and outline the outcomes that service users should always expect.
The CQC regulates and assesses all providers of regulated activities by looking at five domains – whether they are safe, effective, caring, responsive to people’s needs and well-led.
Where the CQC finds cosmetic surgery services are providing substandard care, a range of enforcement powers have been and will continue where necessary to be used against these services. The CQC has a wide range of enforcement powers. These powers include but are not limited to immediate closure of a service, suspending a service, issuing Warning Notices and prosecuting providers.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he plans to have with his Jordanian counterpart on the imprisonment of women for disobeying their so-called male guardians in Jordan.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
We are aware of the recent report by Amnesty International on this issue. We have close and frequent dialogue with the Jordanian government on human rights, including women’s rights, and will raise the report in that context.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that cosmetic surgery clinics provide a safe standard of care.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care providers, including cosmetic surgery clinics, in England and has a key responsibility in the overall assurance of safety and quality of health and adult social care services.
All providers of regulated activities must be registered and follow the set of fundamental standards of safety and quality. The fundamental standards describe the basic requirements that providers should always meet, and outline the outcomes that service users should always expect.
The CQC regulates and assesses all providers of regulated activities by looking at five domains – whether they are safe, effective, caring, responsive to people’s needs and well-led.
Where the CQC finds cosmetic surgery services are providing substandard care, a range of enforcement powers have been and will continue where necessary to be used against these services. The CQC has a wide range of enforcement powers. These powers include but are not limited to immediate closure of a service, suspending a service, issuing Warning Notices and prosecuting providers.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that students who are particularly vulnerable to mental health issues are (a) identified and (b) receive support after a terrorist incident near their school or home.
Answered by Nick Gibb
I refer the hon. Member for Coventry South to the answer I gave on 4 November 2019 to Questions 7039, 7040, 7041, and 7042.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of delays to train services in the West Midlands.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Department meets regularly with West Midlands Trains to discuss, amongst other issues, train performance. In addition, we have recently required the franchise to deliver a plan to improve train performance. We anticipate receiving this plan by the end of November and this will detail how performance will improve and return to the levels required under the Franchise Agreement.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to reduce the salaries of executives of academy schools earning more than £150,000 a year.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Academy trusts must exercise effective control over the use of public funding. That is why the Department has taken sustained action over the last two years to ensure executive pay is proportionate and justifiable.
Academy trusts are free to set their own salaries. Therefore, our challenge, and the consideration of the justification of any high executive salaries, takes into account factors including: educational performance, financial performance, the strength of the trust’s governance and the number of pupils being educated by the trust.
To date, the Department has challenged 278 academy trusts, both those paying a salary over £150,000 and those paying two or more over £100,000. The names of all these trusts are available on GOV.UK, along with guidance on the setting of executive pay. Since the Department commenced the challenge, 51 trusts have reduced salaries.
Most recently, the Department has strengthened the criteria for next year’s Condition Improvement Fund, which will incentivise academies and trusts to improve finances and governance. Bids will be assessed on a points based criteria and applicants outside of London will get a four-point deduction (a one-point deduction for trusts and academies in the greater London area) if they pay one salary over £150,000 or two or more salaries in excess of £100,000 and have failed to take appropriate action in response to our high pay challenge.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to increase awareness among staff at heritage sites of invisible disabilities such as autism.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The heritage sector is working to increase awareness among staff at heritage sites of invisible disabilities such as autism. English Heritage is committed to enabling everyone to experience the historic places in its care. Their ‘welcome all’ approach highlights to staff and volunteers that disability is not always obvious and that a best practice approach to access must look at a wide range of special needs. For example, English Heritage is part of the dementia-friendly heritage network, has held touch-tours for partially sighted visitors, and is currently considering ways to introduce quiet times and spaces at some of its properties.
In the museums part of the heritage sector, there is increasing activity supporting children and adults with autism to access culture. A number of DCMS-sponsored museums run ‘quiet openings’ where families with children with autism can explore the museum in a relaxed and quiet environment. Kids in Museums, an Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation, has partnered with Autism in Museums to deliver training days for museums around the country.