Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to help ensure that opportunities for play will be encouraged, supported and facilitated through Early Years provision as part of covid-19 catch-up strategies; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Will Quince
To support education recovery, the department is investing up to £180 million of recovery support in the early years (EY) sector. This will be used to build a stronger, more expert workforce, enabling education providers to deliver high quality teaching and help address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the youngest children, particularly those in the most disadvantaged areas. The support includes up to £153 million which will provide the opportunity for evidence-based professional development for EY practitioners.
New programmes will focus on key areas such as speech and language development, and physical and emotional development for the youngest children, for which play is an important part. The department is also investing up to £17 million for the Nuffield Early Language Intervention and up to £10 million for a second phase of the EY professional development programme in the 2021/22 academic year, targeted to support EY staff working with disadvantaged children.
The package will build on EY foundation stage reforms. These will support more effective EY curriculum and assessment, reducing unnecessary assessment paperwork so that practitioners and teachers can spend more time engaging children in enriching activities, including play, to support their learning.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he plans to introduce (a) regulations and (b) mandatory data-gathering on the restraint of children during secure transportation equal to that for children restrained in secure accommodation.
Answered by Will Quince
All children’s homes, including secure children’s homes, are governed by the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015. These have provisions around behaviour and restraint. The Regulations and quality standards require homes to have a behaviour management policy that focuses on establishing positive relationships with young people, encourages acceptable behaviour, and sets out acceptable restraint measures.
There is a requirement for homes to record any incidents of restraint under Regulation 35 of the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015, though central government does not collect any data on the use of restraint. The Regulations 2015, the guide to the children’s homes regulations, and the quality standards outline the types of support children receive from the home if they have been restrained. This includes, but is not limited to, the right to:
There is also a requirement under Regulation 40 of the Regulations 2015 for the registered person to inform Ofsted of any incident in relation to a child that they consider to be serious. The department is clear that restraint is only permissible in a very narrow range of circumstances, as set out in Regulation 20, and must always be necessary and proportionate.
In 2019, the government published guidance on reducing the need for restraint and restrictive intervention, available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/812435/reducing-the-need-for-restraint-and-restrictive-intervention.pdf.
Regarding the use of restraint during secure transportation, the registered person and relevant local authority (LA) have a responsibility to ensure that children are kept safe, and their welfare is promoted. If transportation is arranged by the LA who has responsibility for the child, then the care of the child would fall to them. Where LAs have contract arrangements with transport services, the department expects the same approach to the use of restraint to be applied.
There is a review of the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 planned for the near future. The department will revisit guidance on the use of restraint and strengthen the law in this area if our findings prove this is necessary.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support his Department provides to children in secure accommodation after they have been restrained; and whether that same level of support is provided to children who have been restrained by secure transportation providers.
Answered by Will Quince
All children’s homes, including secure children’s homes, are governed by the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015. These have provisions around behaviour and restraint. The Regulations and quality standards require homes to have a behaviour management policy that focuses on establishing positive relationships with young people, encourages acceptable behaviour, and sets out acceptable restraint measures.
There is a requirement for homes to record any incidents of restraint under Regulation 35 of the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015, though central government does not collect any data on the use of restraint. The Regulations 2015, the guide to the children’s homes regulations, and the quality standards outline the types of support children receive from the home if they have been restrained. This includes, but is not limited to, the right to:
There is also a requirement under Regulation 40 of the Regulations 2015 for the registered person to inform Ofsted of any incident in relation to a child that they consider to be serious. The department is clear that restraint is only permissible in a very narrow range of circumstances, as set out in Regulation 20, and must always be necessary and proportionate.
In 2019, the government published guidance on reducing the need for restraint and restrictive intervention, available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/812435/reducing-the-need-for-restraint-and-restrictive-intervention.pdf.
Regarding the use of restraint during secure transportation, the registered person and relevant local authority (LA) have a responsibility to ensure that children are kept safe, and their welfare is promoted. If transportation is arranged by the LA who has responsibility for the child, then the care of the child would fall to them. Where LAs have contract arrangements with transport services, the department expects the same approach to the use of restraint to be applied.
There is a review of the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 planned for the near future. The department will revisit guidance on the use of restraint and strengthen the law in this area if our findings prove this is necessary.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support children living in secure accommodation receive after they have been restrained; and how incidents of restraint are recorded by relevant authorities.
Answered by Will Quince
All children’s homes, including secure children’s homes, are governed by the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015. These have provisions around behaviour and restraint. The Regulations and quality standards require homes to have a behaviour management policy that focuses on establishing positive relationships with young people, encourages acceptable behaviour, and sets out acceptable restraint measures.
There is a requirement for homes to record any incidents of restraint under Regulation 35 of the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015, though central government does not collect any data on the use of restraint. The Regulations 2015, the guide to the children’s homes regulations, and the quality standards outline the types of support children receive from the home if they have been restrained. This includes, but is not limited to, the right to:
There is also a requirement under Regulation 40 of the Regulations 2015 for the registered person to inform Ofsted of any incident in relation to a child that they consider to be serious. The department is clear that restraint is only permissible in a very narrow range of circumstances, as set out in Regulation 20, and must always be necessary and proportionate.
In 2019, the government published guidance on reducing the need for restraint and restrictive intervention, available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/812435/reducing-the-need-for-restraint-and-restrictive-intervention.pdf.
Regarding the use of restraint during secure transportation, the registered person and relevant local authority (LA) have a responsibility to ensure that children are kept safe, and their welfare is promoted. If transportation is arranged by the LA who has responsibility for the child, then the care of the child would fall to them. Where LAs have contract arrangements with transport services, the department expects the same approach to the use of restraint to be applied.
There is a review of the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 planned for the near future. The department will revisit guidance on the use of restraint and strengthen the law in this area if our findings prove this is necessary.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to introduce a minimum guarantee of access to early years services.
Answered by Will Quince
The department is leading a cross government approach to champion the family hub model. The government is investing over £34 million to champion family hubs. This includes a National Centre for Family Hubs to provide expert advice, guidance and advocacy; a £10 million transformation fund to open family hubs in around 10 new areas in England; an evaluation innovation fund to build the evidence base; and work with local authorities to develop data and digital products that will support the practical implementation of family hubs. Further details are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/20m-to-provide-more-early-help-for-vulnerable-families.
Alongside this, the government is committed to delivering the action areas set out in the Early Years Healthy Development Review led by my right hon. Friend, the member for South Northamptonshire: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-best-start-for-life-a-vision-for-the-1001-critical-days.
One key action area was to champion Family Hubs as a place where parents and carers can access Start for Life services. To support delivery of this, the National Centre for Family Hubs will support councils to understand how best to build a Family Hub network and to take steps at a national and local level to reduce the stigma some parents or carers experience when asking for help. We will consider the recommendations in the Action for Children report as we take forward this work.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the findings of Action for Children in their report, Barriers to accessing early years services for children, published 21 September 2021.
Answered by Will Quince
The department is leading a cross government approach to champion the family hub model. The government is investing over £34 million to champion family hubs. This includes a National Centre for Family Hubs to provide expert advice, guidance and advocacy; a £10 million transformation fund to open family hubs in around 10 new areas in England; an evaluation innovation fund to build the evidence base; and work with local authorities to develop data and digital products that will support the practical implementation of family hubs. Further details are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/20m-to-provide-more-early-help-for-vulnerable-families.
Alongside this, the government is committed to delivering the action areas set out in the Early Years Healthy Development Review led by my right hon. Friend, the member for South Northamptonshire: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-best-start-for-life-a-vision-for-the-1001-critical-days.
One key action area was to champion Family Hubs as a place where parents and carers can access Start for Life services. To support delivery of this, the National Centre for Family Hubs will support councils to understand how best to build a Family Hub network and to take steps at a national and local level to reduce the stigma some parents or carers experience when asking for help. We will consider the recommendations in the Action for Children report as we take forward this work.