Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to ensure that (a) receiving councils are (i) involved in and (ii) able to object to decisions relating to out of county placements of looked after children and (b) adequate handovers take place between relevant service providers when such a placement is made.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The ‘Care Planning, Placement and Care Review (England) Regulations 2010’ and statutory guidance outline duties on local authorities regarding out of area placements, including to notify and consult other local authorities if they place a child in care within their area. A link to the regulations is available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/959/contents/made. The statutory guidance is also available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/60e6fb43d3bf7f56896127e5/The_Children_Act_1989_guidance_and_regulations_Volume_2_care_planning__placement_and_case_review.pdf.
The needs of the child are paramount when deciding the right care placement. Though the department wants to reduce out of area placements, they will always be part of the care landscape and sometimes circumstances make it the right decision for a child to be placed elsewhere, for example when they are at risk from sexual exploitation, trafficking or gang violence.
The government recognises that there are challenges in the placements market and that is why the government is investing £259 million of capital funding to help local authorities create more beds in their local areas. The funding for open residential placements, match-funded equally by the department and local authority investment, is expected to create 95 new children’s homes, providing 360 additional placements across England.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to promote careers for young people in science and technology industries.
Answered by Robert Halfon
High-quality careers guidance is key to helping young people to find out about and consider a wide range of future options, including careers in the science and technology industries.
The department funds The Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC) to support schools and colleges to deliver high-quality careers programmes in line with the government’s careers framework, the Gatsby Benchmarks of Good Career Guidance. The benchmarks include an expectation that secondary schools and colleges should provide at least one meaningful interaction with employers per student per year, with a particular focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) employers. The benchmarks also state that all teachers should link curriculum learning with careers. For example, STEM subject teachers should highlight the relevance of STEM subjects for a wide range of career pathways.
CEC connects business and sector bodies with schools and colleges through a national network of Careers Hubs. Almost 400 Cornerstone Employers provide local leadership to increase opportunities for meaningful employer encounters and workplace experiences. Over 4,000 Enterprise Advisers provide support to schools and colleges in Careers Hubs to help develop their employer engagement plans, including ensuring that STEM encounters are built into careers programmes. Examples of STEM employers funded by the CEC to deliver encounters with young people include Engineering UK, Greenpower Trust and Manufacturing UK.
The STEM Ambassadors programme is a nationwide network of 30,000 volunteers, representing over 7,000 employers, who engage with young people to increase their interest in STEM subjects and to raise awareness of the range of careers that STEM qualifications offer. The department is a partner signatory to the Tomorrow's Engineers Code. Through the code, the department aims to work with the engineering sector to improve the quality, targeting and reach of engineering inspiration activities.
The CEC’s STEM careers webpage includes resources for schools and colleges, as well as information for employers, and is available at: https://www.stem.org.uk/secondary/careers. This includes a STEM toolkit for careers leaders. My Learning My Future resources support teachers to link careers to the curriculum and include several STEM subjects, such as science, biology, physics, chemistry, geography, design technology, computer science/IT, maths. The resources available can be viewed at: https://resources.careersandenterprise.co.uk/my-learning-my-future.
Young people can also access information on a range of digital tools and resources through the National Careers Service website, which is available at: https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/explore-careers. More than 800 profiles include jobs like microbiologist, nuclear engineer and web developer within the science and technology sectors.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the level of school attendance by (a) pupils who receive free school meals and (b) other pupils.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Improving attendance remains a priority for the Department. The Department is implementing a comprehensive attendance strategy, to ensure that absence is minimised and rates are returned to pre pandemic levels as soon as possible.
Absence data from the School Census is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england.
Data showing the overall absence rate in England and Gloucestershire in the combined autumn and spring terms from 2018/19 to 2022/23 is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/8e7082d1-d935-476b-48d8-08dbdfb23d99.
Data showing the overall absence rates for pupils with Free School Meals and those not eligible is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/26b94e77-f63c-4287-48d9-08dbdfb23d99.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the level of school attendance in (a) England and (b) Gloucestershire.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Improving attendance remains a priority for the Department. The Department is implementing a comprehensive attendance strategy, to ensure that absence is minimised and rates are returned to pre pandemic levels as soon as possible.
Absence data from the School Census is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england.
Data showing the overall absence rate in England and Gloucestershire in the combined autumn and spring terms from 2018/19 to 2022/23 is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/8e7082d1-d935-476b-48d8-08dbdfb23d99.
Data showing the overall absence rates for pupils with Free School Meals and those not eligible is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/26b94e77-f63c-4287-48d9-08dbdfb23d99.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made for her policies of difficulties experienced by schools in attracting teachers to take up leadership roles.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
There are now over 468,000 full time equivalent (FTE) teachers in state funded schools in England, which is an increase of 27,000 (6%) since 2010. This makes it the highest number of FTE of teachers since the School Workforce Census began in 2010.
The Department has put in place a range of measures, including bursaries worth £28,000 tax free and scholarships worth £30,000 tax free, to encourage talented trainees to key subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing. The Initial Teacher Training financial incentives package for the 2024/25 recruitment cycle, which incentivises candidates to take teacher training in hard to recruit subjects, is worth up to £196 million, which is an increase of 15 million on the last cycle.
Teacher retention is key to ensuring effective teacher supply and quality. To support retention, the Department is funding a Levelling Up Premium worth up to £3,000 after tax for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools, including in Education Investment Areas. For 2024/25 and 2025/26, the Department will be providing around £100 million each year to double the rates of the Levelling Up Premium to up to £6,000 after tax.
On 13 July, the Department announced that it is accepting the School Teachers Review Body’s recommendations for the 2023/24 pay award for teachers and leaders. This means that teachers and leaders in maintained schools received a pay award of 6.5%, which is the highest pay award for teachers in over 30 years. This delivers the Government’s manifesto commitment for school teachers in all regions of the country to have a starting salary of at least £30,000.
The Department has also launched a new and updated suite of National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) for teachers and school leaders at all levels, designed for those who want to develop expertise in high quality teaching practice to those leading multiple schools across trusts. Four leadership NPQs are available to help boost leaders’ existing knowledge and confidence as they progress into more senior roles. This includes an NPQ in Headship (NPQH), Executive Leadership (NPQEL), Senior Leadership (NPQSL) and Early Years Leadership (NPQEYL). An Early Headship Coaching offer (EHCO) is also available to professionals who are new to the role of headship.
The qualifications are part of a wider set of teacher development reforms. These qualifications sit alongside the support, training and development which is available through the entirety of a teacher’s career.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help schools improve the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of teachers.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
There are now over 468,000 full time equivalent (FTE) teachers in state funded schools in England, which is an increase of 27,000 (6%) since 2010. This makes it the highest number of FTE of teachers since the School Workforce Census began in 2010.
The Department has put in place a range of measures, including bursaries worth £28,000 tax free and scholarships worth £30,000 tax free, to encourage talented trainees to key subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing. The Initial Teacher Training financial incentives package for the 2024/25 recruitment cycle, which incentivises candidates to take teacher training in hard to recruit subjects, is worth up to £196 million, which is an increase of 15 million on the last cycle.
Teacher retention is key to ensuring effective teacher supply and quality. To support retention, the Department is funding a Levelling Up Premium worth up to £3,000 after tax for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools, including in Education Investment Areas. For 2024/25 and 2025/26, the Department will be providing around £100 million each year to double the rates of the Levelling Up Premium to up to £6,000 after tax.
On 13 July, the Department announced that it is accepting the School Teachers Review Body’s recommendations for the 2023/24 pay award for teachers and leaders. This means that teachers and leaders in maintained schools received a pay award of 6.5%, which is the highest pay award for teachers in over 30 years. This delivers the Government’s manifesto commitment for school teachers in all regions of the country to have a starting salary of at least £30,000.
The Department has also launched a new and updated suite of National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) for teachers and school leaders at all levels, designed for those who want to develop expertise in high quality teaching practice to those leading multiple schools across trusts. Four leadership NPQs are available to help boost leaders’ existing knowledge and confidence as they progress into more senior roles. This includes an NPQ in Headship (NPQH), Executive Leadership (NPQEL), Senior Leadership (NPQSL) and Early Years Leadership (NPQEYL). An Early Headship Coaching offer (EHCO) is also available to professionals who are new to the role of headship.
The qualifications are part of a wider set of teacher development reforms. These qualifications sit alongside the support, training and development which is available through the entirety of a teacher’s career.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department are taking to reduce the number of EHCP applications going to appeal; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Most Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan needs assessments and reviews are concluded without parents/carers appealing to the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Tribunal. Nationally, in 2022, only 2.3% of all appealable decisions subsequently resulted in an appeal to the SEND Tribunal.
However, the department knows that the system needs to work better for parents. In the SEND and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan, published in March 2023, the department set out ambitious plans to establish a single national system that delivers for every child and young person with SEND and in AP so that they enjoy their childhood, achieve good outcomes, and are well prepared for adulthood and employment.
The department will give families greater confidence that their child will be able to fulfil their potential through improved mainstream provision in their local school through setting national standards for early and accurate identification of need, and timely access to support to meet those needs. The standards will include clarifying the types of support that should be ordinarily available in mainstream settings and who is responsible for securing the support.
For those children and young people who require an EHC plan, the department will improve the quality of plans. We will also improve the experience of getting a plan by creating a standard national EHC plan template, backed by standardising the use of local multi-agency panels to provide local authorities with holistic advice from education, health and care partners on whether to proceed to full EHC Plan assessment. The department also plans to digitise EHC plans, to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy in the system. In combination, this will deliver a more nationally consistent EHC plan system, and help restore parental confidence.
Where there are disputes, the department has committed to explore, test, and evaluate approaches for strengthening mediation between parents/carers and local authorities to help resolve disputes earlier before cases go to Tribunal.
The department continues to provide support and challenge to individual local authorities, through our team of professional SEND advisers, and are looking to include data on appeals as part of national and local inclusion dashboards to support the monitoring of performance across areas and drive improvements.
Taken together, our proposals should help meet the needs of children and young people sooner and reduce the number of EHC Plan applications going to appeal.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the local authority decision-making process when deciding specialist placement for SEND children; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Local authorities are responsible for deciding on the educational placement of a child or young person with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan, following the statutory process set out in the Children and Families Act 2014.
In the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan, the department sets out the proposal to support parents and carers, or young people from the age of 16, to express an informed preference for a suitable placement, by requiring local authorities to provide a tailored list of settings that are appropriate to meet a child or young person’s needs. This would allow local authorities to give clear choices to families and better meet the needs of children and young people, while supporting the management of placements in a sustainable way.
The department is testing an advisory tailored list in participating local authorities through the Change Programme, to gain feedback on the best way to support families as they chose a placement. During the Change Programme, participating families will receive clear information about which settings are able to meet the needs of their child, but there will be no change to the existing statutory framework and their existing rights will be unaffected.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to increase the number of training providers in (a) Gloucestershire and (b) the UK; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The quality and integrity of education and training provision is of paramount importance therefore we have stringent entry criteria for all of the department’s skills programmes to ensure training providers are capable and experienced. The department will take opportunities to streamline processes where we can, but the department will not compromise on the need to ensure learners and employers receive high quality education and training. Devolved Mayoral Combined Authorities and the Greater London Authority decide how to make best use of the Adult Education Budget (AEB) to meet the needs of their areas and decide which providers to contract with to deliver AEB-funded learning, and the processes used to select these providers.
The department frequently provides training providers with opportunities to access funding. Earlier this year, for instance, the department issued an invitation to tender for the delivery of adult education and training to learners aged 19 and over in non-devolved areas of England, including Gloucestershire.
Where there is a gap in provision in a specific location, due to poor quality of existing provision or an identified additional need for a particular type of provision, and this cannot be met by existing providers, the department will seek to bring in a new training provider that meets our robust standards. We are not aware of any specific gaps in provision in Gloucestershire that cannot be met by existing providers.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to streamline the process of becoming a training provider; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The quality and integrity of education and training provision is of paramount importance therefore we have stringent entry criteria for all of the department’s skills programmes to ensure training providers are capable and experienced. The department will take opportunities to streamline processes where we can, but the department will not compromise on the need to ensure learners and employers receive high quality education and training. Devolved Mayoral Combined Authorities and the Greater London Authority decide how to make best use of the Adult Education Budget (AEB) to meet the needs of their areas and decide which providers to contract with to deliver AEB-funded learning, and the processes used to select these providers.
The department frequently provides training providers with opportunities to access funding. Earlier this year, for instance, the department issued an invitation to tender for the delivery of adult education and training to learners aged 19 and over in non-devolved areas of England, including Gloucestershire.
Where there is a gap in provision in a specific location, due to poor quality of existing provision or an identified additional need for a particular type of provision, and this cannot be met by existing providers, the department will seek to bring in a new training provider that meets our robust standards. We are not aware of any specific gaps in provision in Gloucestershire that cannot be met by existing providers.