Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information his Department holds on the number of students who (a) applied and (b) qualified for the Disabled Student Allowances in each year since 2011.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
Student Loans Company (SLC) Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSAs) application records are shown below. The data is shown by academic year and covers both new and continuing DSAs applications for full- and part-time students domiciled in England studying on undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
Year | Individual applications | Qualified | % of applications which qualified |
2011/12 | 49,978 | 42,952 | 86% |
2012/13 | 50,033 | 44,993 | 90% |
2013/14 | 54,049 | 49,646 | 92% |
2014/15 | 67,651 | 57,615 | 85% |
2015/16 | 69,608 | 58,711 | 84% |
2016/17[1] | 68,942 | 59,821 | 87% |
The SLC internal application tracker data do not align with SLC statistical first release (SFR) data covering take up of DSAs as: not all DSAs students need to apply each year; and not all students who are eligible/qualified for DSAs subsequently draw down support. The SLC SFR data are available at http://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/financial-support-awarded/england-higher-education.aspx.
[1] Applications are still being received, so these are not the final figures.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to include mental wellbeing in the national curriculum.
Answered by Nick Gibb
We have no plans to make changes to the national curriculum, but our Supporting Mental Health in Schools and Colleges survey, published in August 2017, sets out information on what schools are already doing to promote good mental health and well-being through teaching and pastoral support.
We are considering how we can build on this strong base to improve the support that is provided to children and young people in schools and will include proposals in the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Green Paper to be published by the end of this year.
In particular, as required by the Children and Social Work Act 2017, we are taking work forward to develop regulations and associate guidance for mandatory Relationships Education in primary schools and Relationships and Sex Education in secondary schools. The content of the guidance will include the role of physical and mental well-being in forming and maintaining healthy relationships. We plan to consult on a draft of the regulations and guidance next year.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she of officials in her Department have had with relevant stakeholders on improving the continuing professional development and understanding of teachers in Holocaust education.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Department officials have regular discussions as part of programme monitoring arrangements, with University College London’s Centre for Holocaust Education (CfHE), which receives funding to provide Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for 1100 teachers in England each year. This programme is jointly funded with the Pears Foundation, and my Rt hon. Friend the Secretary of State is meeting Sir Trevor Pears on 2 November.
In addition to CPD events, the CfHE produces teaching resources and lesson plans which are continually reviewed, improved and expanded. The Beacon Schools element of the programme develops hubs which serve a network of local schools, advocate to other schools for better Holocaust education, develop and share improved schemes of work, and will partner with the CfHE to improve teaching standards.
The Department also funds the ‘Lessons from Auschwitz’ programme for pupils and teachers. Officials have regular meetings with the Holocaust Education Trust who run this. The Lessons from Auschwitz Project aims to increase knowledge and understanding of the Holocaust for young people and to clearly highlight what can happen if prejudice and racism become acceptable.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 24 March 2015, to Question 31427, whether her Department plans to provide additional funding to enable 25 per cent of secondary schools to extend their school day in the event that less than £285 million is available from the soft drinks industry levy.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Chancellor announced in his Budget statement that up to £285 million a year would be made available to give 25% of secondary schools increased opportunity to extend their school day to offer a wider range of activities for pupils. The soft drinks industry levy is expected to raise £520 million in the first year and the revenue will contribute to this funding.
It is also confirmed that the Barnett formula will be applied to spending on this initiative in the normal way.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that (a) female and (b) other students are encouraged to take modules in entrepreneurship and business mentoring.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The government is committed to improving the extent and quality of the careers guidance and inspiration that all young people receive. This should begin with activities to enable children in primary school to explore the world of work. Primary Futures is an example of an initiative that helps primary age children to see a clear link and purpose between their learning and their futures.
The Department for Education has funded The Careers & Enterprise Company to take a lead role in transforming the provision of careers, enterprise and employer engagement experiences for young people aged 12 to 18 in England. This work includes ensuring that all students have access to high quality careers and enterprise provision, including interactions with employers. The Company helps employers, schools and colleges and other organisations to navigate their way through the existing landscape and find appropriate careers and enterprise organisations to partner with. An example of a successful initiative is the three-year industry-led Your Life campaign, which was launched by the Government in 2014. This aims to inspire young people, particularly girls, to study A level maths and physics as a gateway to an exciting and wide-ranging career.
Entrepreneurship education is an important component of high quality careers provision. The careers statutory guidance requires schools in England to offer pupils the opportunity to develop entrepreneurial skills and have access to advice on options available post-16 including entrepreneurship.
We are giving more young people access to a mentor to help raise aspirations, improve focus and attainment and help prepare them for the next stage in their lives. The Prime Minister announced on 14 March 2016 that the government will commit £12 million over this parliament for an investment fund to build capacity in the system to recruit and train a new generation of high-quality mentors, focussing on teenagers most at risk of under-achieving or dropping out of education. This will be supported by a national advertising campaign.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to provide additional support for educational studies to young carers.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Schools play an important part in identifying pupils who are young carers and in offering them appropriate support. That is why my Department works with Carers Trust and The Children’s Society to share tools, good practice and increase awareness in schools of young carers’ issues. Ofsted inspectors will also pay particular attention to the outcomes achieved by young carers in schools.
We have changed the law so that, since April 2015, all young carers are entitled to an assessment of their needs for support, regardless of who they care for, what type of care they provide or how much time they spend caring.
The 16 to 19 Bursary Fund enables students from disadvantaged backgrounds to participate in further education by helping them to overcome any financial barriers they face. With the help of Carers Trust, we have recently improved our guidance to the schools, colleges and training providers that administer the bursary on how they can better identify and support eligible young carers. We also have strong links with the National Association of Managers of Student Services, a network of college staff who have direct responsibility for providing appropriate support for students. We have provided Carers Trust with access to this network so they can agree in partnership how they can better raise awareness of young carers’ circumstances and support requirements.
Around 60%, of young carers are thought to be eligible for free school meals, and those who have been registered for free school meals at any point in the last six years will be attracting pupil premium funding to the schools that they attend.
Additionally, all young people who have not achieved their full potential at age 16 in terms of achieving a grade C in English and maths GCSE at the age of 16 attract extra funding to provide the educational support they need to achieve and progress. Any young carer who finds themselves in this situation will be able to access additional educational support from their school or college.
We also funded Suffolk Family Carers over £111,000 in 2015-16 to run a local project to raise awareness of young carers amongst teachers, non-teaching staff and school nurses, including a focus on young carers’ mental health, supporting Suffolk County Council’s strategy on young carers. We are now evaluating that project.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans the Government has to increase the study of Japanese in schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The government supports the efforts of the Japan Foundation to help schools teaching Japanese. Since September 2014, maintained primary schools in England must teach a modern or ancient foreign language to pupils at key stage 2 (ages 7 to 11). Schools can choose which language or languages to teach and should enable pupils to make substantial progress in one language by the end of primary school.
The government took action in 2010 to halt the decline in the number of school children taking language GCSEs by including it within the English Baccalaureate. This has had a positive effect on the take up of languages in schools. The proportion of the cohort in state funded schools entered for a modern foreign language has risen from 40 per cent in 2010 to 49 per cent in 2015. The government’s goal is that, in time, at least 90 per cent of pupils enter GCSEs in the EBacc subjects of English, maths, science, humanities and languages.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of resources available to (a) primary and (b) secondary school children requiring educational psychology services in each of the next five years; and how much such support will be made available during each of the next five years.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The responsibility for educational psychology training and services is devolved. This response relates to the current position in England.
Local authorities are responsible for ensuring there is a sufficient supply of educational psychologists to deliver their statutory responsibilities. This includes the local authorities’ statutory duties in primary and secondary schools for assessing, monitoring and reviewing children with special educational needs.
The Department works in partnership with local educational psychology services in the private and public sector to ensure a steady flow of educational psychologists to the workforce. As part of our assessment of the implications of the Children and Families Act 2014, the government has increased the number of funded educational psychology training places by 25% in response to the needs of educational psychology services. The cost of this training is shared with local educational psychology services. The Department contribution comes to £20,188,857 over the next five years.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support children and young people with Autistic Spectrum Disorder in the education system.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Children and Families Act 2014, which came into force in September 2014, introduced significant reforms to the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) system. The new statutory framework ensures that support is focused on needs and aspirations, enabling all pupils, including those with autism, to achieve better outcomes in education and adult life.
Changes to the SEND system since September 2014 include the publication of ‘local offers’ of SEND services by local authorities; the introduction of streamlined education, health and care needs assessments and plans; and new statutory protections for young people aged 16-25 in further education.
The Act also makes provision to ensure that parents, children and young people are able to access impartial information, advice and support about the SEND system through a local, dedicated and easily identifiable service. Among other things, this service offers help in preparing for meetings with schools, health professionals, or other agencies.
The Department’s Free Schools programme has seen nineteen special free schools open across the country. This includes several free schools that are specifically for children with Autism, such as the Rise free school in Hounslow, the Lighthouse free school in Leeds, and the National Autistic Society’s Church Lawton free school in Cheshire. There are a further eleven special free schools due to open in the future, five of which will specialise in provision for children with autism, including the Heartlands Autism free school in Haringey and a second National Autistic Society free school, the Vanguard free school in Lambeth. The other six will also offer some places for children with autism.
The Department has contracted with the Autism Education Trust (2015-16) to deliver autism training to education professionals. The Trust has now trained almost 80,000 education staff since 2012. The Department is also providing grant funding for two additional projects (2015-16): a project by the National Autistic Society to provide information and advice to parents and professionals on exclusions; and a project by Ambitious about Autism on strategies for supporting the transition from school to college.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children who have had a diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in each local authority area were excluded from school in the last five years.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Department does not hold information on the number of pupils excluded with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.