Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of section 63 of the Children and Families Act 2014 in ensuring that parents of children with special educational needs or a disability are able to choose an independent school if that is their wish.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Section 63 of the Children and Families Act (2014) sets out the local authority’s duty to pay fees for special educational provision where an institution, including an independent institution, is named in a final education, health and care (EHC) plan.
The process by which parents’ wishes are considered is, instead, set out within the ‘Special Educational Needs & Disabilities 0-25 Code of Practice’, attached, and under section 39 of the Children and Families Act (2014).
Chapter 9 in the ‘Special Educational Needs & Disabilities 0-25 Code of Practice’ sets out the duties of local authorities and the rights of parents regarding the naming of schools in EHC plans. When a local authority is finalising an EHC plan, parents can ask for a particular school to be named in the plan. This can be any maintained nursery school; maintained school; any form of academy or free school (mainstream or special); non-maintained special school; independent special school or independent specialist college, where they have been approved for this purpose by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, under section 41 of the Children and Families Act (2014). These schools are published in the section 41 list, which is available to all parents and young people.
The local authority must name the parent’s or young person’s choice of school in the EHC plan unless the school would be unsuitable for the child or young person’s age, ability, aptitude or special educational need or unless the child or young person’s attendance would be incompatible with the efficient education of others or the efficient use of resources.
The child’s parent or the young person may also make representations for places at independent schools, independent colleges or other post-16 providers that are not on the section 41 list. However, these schools are not obliged to admit children with EHC plans and local authorities are not under the same conditional duty to name these schools in EHC plans.
As at January 2019, there were 17,362 children and young people with EHC plans in independent schools. This figure represents 4.9% of all children and young people with an EHC plan.
Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the work of the Chartered College of Teaching.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
In January 2017, The Chartered College of Teaching (CCT) became a new, independent, professional teaching body and now has more than 24,000 members. Their membership offer includes a peer-reviewed and award-winning journal; an online platform for members to share and engage with research; the Chartered Teacher programme to recognise excellence in teaching; and access to teacher networks, conferences and workshops.
CCT has contributed their expertise to the department; for example, in the development of the Early Career Framework and Recruitment and Retention Strategy, published in January 2019. The department is continuing to work with CCT about their plans to increase membership and support the teaching profession in the future.
Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by Refugee Action Turning Words into Action: why the Government must invest now to let refugees learn, published in June.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The government recognises that learning English is essential in enabling refugees to rebuild their lives. We are working across government to develop a new strategy for English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) in 2019. The strategy will provide a shared vision for all publicly funded English language provision and it will include addressing the needs of refugees. We will explore what needs to be done to enable good local solutions and to support greater access to English language provision. We will consider the ‘Turning Words into Action’ report, attached, as we develop the strategy.
The department funds ESOL through the Adult Education Budget (AEB), which is allocated to providers on an annual basis. Colleges and adult learning providers have the freedom and flexibility to determine how they use their AEB allocation to meet the needs of their communities. This includes planning, with local partners, the ESOL courses that they will deliver locally. The Home Office and the Department for Education have provided £10 million to enable refugees resettled through the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme to access additional classes.
From the start of the 2019/20 academic year approximately 50% of the AEB will be devolved to 6 Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) and to the Mayor of London through the Greater London Authority (GLA). The MCAs and GLA will be responsible for commissioning and funding AEB provision, including ESOL, for learners resident in their areas.
We know that there are many examples of good practice to overcome barriers for learners with childcare needs. Through the ESOL strategy, we will explore what else needs to be done to enable good local solutions and to support greater access to English language provision.
Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether collaboration between maintained and independent schools will increase as a result of the Education and Skills Funding Agency funding, announced on 6 June
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The new partnerships grant funding announced on 7 June at the Schools Together Group annual conference, aims to raise the ambition for what schools can achieve together, and to remove a key financial barrier to new partnerships forming. It is designed to attract bids from both new partnerships who may benefit from seed funding, as well as existing partnerships looking to deepen and expand their collaborations. We will publish further details and invite schools to submit bids in the autumn.
As part of this programme, the department also plans to conduct evaluation on the success of this grant in increasing the quality and impact of partnerships. This will be published in due course.
Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what were their reasons for increasing the employer’s contribution to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
A number of factors determine the cost of providing pensions, most significantly by the Superannuation Contributions Adjusted for Past Experience (SCAPE) rate. The SCAPE discount rate is the central measure of the affordability of public service pension schemes; it is based on the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasts for long-term Growth Domestic Product growth. In light of the material change to the OBR forecast compared to the forecast at Budget 2016, and based on the methodology for setting the SCAPE rate as agreed in 2011,
HM Treasury took the decision to set the SCAPE discount rate at 2.4% plus Consumer Price Index from 1 April 2019. This reduction in the SCAPE rate has resulted in an increase to employer contributions in the Teachers Pension Scheme of 7.2 percentage points.[1]
[1] based on an implementation date of 1 September 2019.
Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the ability of maintained and independent schools to afford the increase in the employer’s contribution to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme announced in October.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
In the schools sector, the department currently proposes to cover the costs of maintained schools, academies, independent special schools and non-maintained special schools. The department will be consulting shortly to form an assessment on the impact these costs will impose on the sector.
Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 22 November (HL Deb, cols 325–8), whether they will ensure that all local councils respect the right of parents of children with special needs to nominate a local independent school on an education health and care plan.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The government does not have any plans to conduct such an inquiry.
The government has made fundamental changes to the way the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) support system works for families. The system is now more person-centred with significant direction given to local authorities, and other bodies, to engage effectively with families.
Local authorities should respond appropriately to any SEND Tribunal appeal. In doing so, they will inevitably incur costs. When families make appeals, the local authority will need to judge how to respond to them and in doing so, must put the interests of the child or young person first.
The government are investing £20 million until March 2020 to improve the quality of local information, advice and support services available to families, and to provide guidance and training to local authorities to help improve the quality of education, health and care (EHC) plans.
Parents have the right to ask that an independent school, approved under Section 41 of the Children and Families Act (2014) and published in a list available to all parents and young people, be named on their EHC plan.
The local authority must, after consultation with the school, name the requested school unless specific criteria apply. These conditions are that the school would be unsuitable for the young person’s needs, incompatible with the efficient education of others or an inefficient use of the local authority’s resources.
Parents may also make representations for a place at an independent school that is not on the Section 41 list and the local authority must consider their request. While not under the same conditional duty to name the provider, the local authority must have regard to the general principle that children should be educated in accordance with their parents’ wishes if this is compatible with the provision of efficient instruction and does not cause unreasonable public expenditure.
Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 22 November (HL Deb, cols 325–8), whether they will conduct an inquiry into reports that local councils spent £100 million in four years to prevent parents obtaining support for children with special needs, losing nine out of ten cases.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The government does not have any plans to conduct such an inquiry.
The government has made fundamental changes to the way the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) support system works for families. The system is now more person-centred with significant direction given to local authorities, and other bodies, to engage effectively with families.
Local authorities should respond appropriately to any SEND Tribunal appeal. In doing so, they will inevitably incur costs. When families make appeals, the local authority will need to judge how to respond to them and in doing so, must put the interests of the child or young person first.
The government are investing £20 million until March 2020 to improve the quality of local information, advice and support services available to families, and to provide guidance and training to local authorities to help improve the quality of education, health and care (EHC) plans.
Parents have the right to ask that an independent school, approved under Section 41 of the Children and Families Act (2014) and published in a list available to all parents and young people, be named on their EHC plan.
The local authority must, after consultation with the school, name the requested school unless specific criteria apply. These conditions are that the school would be unsuitable for the young person’s needs, incompatible with the efficient education of others or an inefficient use of the local authority’s resources.
Parents may also make representations for a place at an independent school that is not on the Section 41 list and the local authority must consider their request. While not under the same conditional duty to name the provider, the local authority must have regard to the general principle that children should be educated in accordance with their parents’ wishes if this is compatible with the provision of efficient instruction and does not cause unreasonable public expenditure.
Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have received representations from the Independent Schools Council about the forthcoming increase in the employer’s contribution to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme; and if so, what reply they have given.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The government has received a number of representations from employer representatives including the Independent Schools Council, to both the Department for Education (DfE) and to Her Majesty’s Treasury (HM Treasury), about the proposed increase in employer contributions and the impact this would have on their schools. HM Treasury and the DfE will be responding imminently.
Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have plans to help more children in care to secure places in state and independent boarding schools.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
This government wants every child, whatever their background and no matter what challenges they face, to have access to a world-class education that prepares them for life in the modern world. This is particularly important for looked-after children who start with the disadvantage of their pre-care experiences and who may also have special educational needs.
It is for this reason that we launched the Boarding School Partnerships (BSP) Information Service which is aimed at both independent and state boarding schools. This will give local authorities the tools and information they need to consider boarding as an option for children in their care. We believe that this could be beneficial for some children in or on the edge of care.
The BSP Information Service, in partnership with the Norfolk County Council and the Norfolk Boarding School Partnership, recently published research on positive outcomes for vulnerable children following placements in boarding. This research identified a number of benefits including reducing the likelihood of a child going into care and improved educational outcomes. While this is not suitable for all children, we would urge local authorities to consider boarding as an option if it is suitable for the child in question.