Asked by: Julie Cooper (Labour - Burnley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Timpson Review of School Exclusion, what progress has been made on updating guidance for head teachers on their powers to exclude pupils; and when a consultation on that revised guidance will be published.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is taking forward an ambitious programme of reform which will respect head teachers’ powers to use exclusion, while equipping schools to support children at risk of exclusion and ensuring excluded children continue to receive a good education.
As part of this, the Department will re-write guidance on exclusions and behaviour to offer clearer, more consistent guidance to schools on managing behaviour, the use of in-school units, managed moves and the circumstances where it may be appropriate to use exclusion.
The Department is engaging with stakeholders including schools and local authorities on this ambitious programme of action, and it will publish guidance by summer 2020.
Asked by: Julie Cooper (Labour - Burnley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children aged five-years old and under with a special educational need arising from autism or autism spectrum disorder had (a) an Education, Health and Care Plan and (b) received SEN support in each English region in each year since 2010.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
The information requested has been provided in the attached table.
The analysis includes all children aged 5 years old and under in state-funded primary and special schools. The information requested is not available for children with Education, Health and Care Plans who are not in school.
Further information can be found in the annual 'Special educational needs in England' statistical releases published at the following link, including national figures by all primary SEN types and age (Table B): https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-special-educational-needs-sen.
Asked by: Julie Cooper (Labour - Burnley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Transforming Children Green Paper, what his strategy is for ensuring a joined-up approach between school mental health leads and other appropriate agencies to improve the mental health of young people.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department has a joint programme of work with the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and Health Education England to deliver the proposals set out in the green paper ‘Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision’.
New Mental Health Support Teams are being introduced jointly by the Department and NHS England and will be available to 20-25% of England by 2023. These teams will work with schools and colleges and other professionals such as educational psychologists, school nurses, counsellors and social workers to supplement existing support.
The Department is also incentivising schools and colleges to identify and train a senior mental health lead, who will be responsible for overseeing the delivery of a whole school or college approach to promoting better mental health and wellbeing.
In addition, the Department is providing training through the Link programme to schools and colleges in England over four years from autumn 2019. The Link programme is designed to develop effective partnership working between schools and colleges and NHS specialist mental health services for children and young people.
Asked by: Julie Cooper (Labour - Burnley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that children in home education placements have a high standard of education and care.
Answered by Anne Milton
The government supports the right of parents to educate their children at home, and many families do this well, taking on a very significant responsibility in doing so. Local authorities are responsible for identifying any children who are not receiving a suitable education and taking steps to remedy that situation, if necessary, by enforcing school attendance.
We want to make sure that every child receives a good education. In some cases, the government is concerned about the quality of education which some children are receiving at home, especially in the context of the increasing numbers of children who are being removed from school to be educated at home.
As a result, the government consulted in 2018 on revised guidance for local authorities and parents on home education. The finalised versions of this guidance will be published shortly. At the same time, a call for evidence on the issues of registration and monitoring of children educated at home, and support for home educating families, was held, and a government response document setting out proposed next steps will also be published soon.
Asked by: Julie Cooper (Labour - Burnley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 20 November 2018 to Question 190480 on Pupil Exclusions, what steps Ofsted would undertake in the event that during a (a) section 5 school inspection or (b) joint Ofsted and Care Quality Commission inspection it found evidence of unlawful practice in relation to school exclusions; and who such evidence would be reported to.
Answered by Nick Gibb
This is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to the hon. Member. A copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Julie Cooper (Labour - Burnley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what powers Ofsted has to investigate the (a) level of and (b) reason for school exclusions through its (i) school inspections and (ii) joint area inspections with the Care Quality Commission.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Ofsted has a duty to consider pupils’ behaviour and safety as part of its section 5 school inspections. While it is not Ofsted’s role to investigate individual cases, inspectors always look at exclusions on school inspections and ask head teachers about trends and reasons for exclusions. The issue of exclusion is also covered as part of the joint Ofsted/Care Quality Commission inspections of local authorities’ effectiveness in identifying and meeting the needs of children and young people who have special educational needs or disabilities. Inspectors will report on overall levels of exclusions, and may comment when there is a specific or recurring trend.