Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children aged 16 and 17 in Lancashire for the year ending 31 March 2017 (a) were referred to children’s social care services, (b) received support as a child in need, (c) had been referred to children’s social care services in the preceding 24 months.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Figures are provided in the table below. Information on children re-referred to children’s social care is available for children referred within 12 months of a previous referral.
Referrals to Lancashire local authority, for children aged 16 to 17 years2
Year ending 31 March 2017
| Numbers1 |
Referrals | 1,080 |
Referrals resulting in an assessment where the child was deemed in need3 | 600 |
Referrals within 12 months of a previous referral | 260 |
Source: Children in need census 2016-17
Notes:
1. All numbers are given rounded to the nearest ten.
2. Child age is as at 31 March 2017.
3. Figures may include a small number of children still undergoing assessment at the end of the year whose needs are not yet determined.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to improve support and transitions into adulthood for children aged 16 and 17 years old who have been assessed as being in need and are experiencing mental ill-health, domestic abuse, exploitation or substance misuse.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The government is committed to preparing vulnerable children for adult life and recognises the importance of transitions into adulthood.
We are conducting a range of work to assess and improve the support Children in Need receive, including those experiencing mental ill-health, domestic abuse, exploitation or substance misuse. The Children in Need review and call for evidence, which was launched on 16 March, is looking widely at the educational outcomes for Children in Need, and what support they need to improve those outcomes.
The Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme is also funding projects to assess how early help and contextual safeguarding can help protect adolescents and prepare them for adult life.
The government recognises the significance of specific issues which can affect all Children in Need, including those aged 16 and 17 years old and is taking action to protect and support children facing these specific issues. The government is currently consulting on a wide-reaching package of measures, legislative and non-legislative, to tackle domestic abuse, and has committed to legislation on this issue.
On exploitation, the Department for Education’s communications campaign, ‘Together We Can Tackle Child Abuse’, focused earlier this year on educating the public to spot and report where children and young people were being sexual exploited.
On Mental Health, the new Mental Health Support Teams proposed in the government’s Mental Health Green Paper will provide significant support to 16-18 year olds in schools and colleges. The Department for Education will also test how the teams can support vulnerable 16-18 year olds and other not in school or college such as those in apprenticeships and other work-based learning. Additionally, the Department of Health and Social Care are setting up a new national strategic partnership with key stakeholders focused on improving the mental health of 16-25 year olds by encouraging more coordinated action, experimentation and robust evaluation.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that unregistered schools do not continue to operate.
Answered by Anne Milton
The department operate and fund a joint team with Ofsted on unregistered schools. Ofsted can and does carry out inspections without notice where it has reasonable cause to believe that an unregistered independent school continues to operate, either at the same premises or if it has re-established elsewhere. Ofsted draws significantly on local knowledge, from the local authority and other sources, on where such settings may be operating, and has achieved great success in securing that settings close or cease operating illegally.
We work together closely with Ofsted on all of these issues, including on the extent of their powers, which we keep continually under review.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing Ofsted with more powers to tackle unregistered schools.
Answered by Anne Milton
The department operate and fund a joint team with Ofsted on unregistered schools. Ofsted can and does carry out inspections without notice where it has reasonable cause to believe that an unregistered independent school continues to operate, either at the same premises or if it has re-established elsewhere. Ofsted draws significantly on local knowledge, from the local authority and other sources, on where such settings may be operating, and has achieved great success in securing that settings close or cease operating illegally.
We work together closely with Ofsted on all of these issues, including on the extent of their powers, which we keep continually under review.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools in England have access to a defibrillator.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The information requested is not held centrally. The purchase of a defibrillator is a matter for individual school and college leaders.
Swift access to a defibrillator is very important in cases of cardiac arrest, and so the government is encouraging schools and other eligible settings to purchase defibrillators as part of their first-aid equipment.
To make it as easy as possible for schools and other eligible settings to do so, the department has negotiated a deal, with NHS Supply Chain, to offer defibrillators at a reduced cost. Since the scheme was launched in November 2014, 2763 defibrillators have been purchased through this route.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools in the North West have access to a defibrillator.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The information requested is not held centrally. The purchase of a defibrillator is a matter for individual school and college leaders.
Swift access to a defibrillator is very important in cases of cardiac arrest, and so the government is encouraging schools and other eligible settings to purchase defibrillators as part of their first-aid equipment.
To make it as easy as possible for schools and other eligible settings to do so, the department has negotiated a deal, with NHS Supply Chain, to offer defibrillators at a reduced cost. Since the scheme was launched in November 2014, 2763 defibrillators have been purchased through this route.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools in London have access to a defibrillator.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The information requested is not held centrally. The purchase of a defibrillator is a matter for individual school and college leaders.
Swift access to a defibrillator is very important in cases of cardiac arrest, and so the government is encouraging schools and other eligible settings to purchase defibrillators as part of their first-aid equipment.
To make it as easy as possible for schools and other eligible settings to do so, the department has negotiated a deal, with NHS Supply Chain, to offer defibrillators at a reduced cost. Since the scheme was launched in November 2014, 2763 defibrillators have been purchased through this route.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many primary schools in England have access to a defibrillator.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The information requested is not held centrally. The purchase of a defibrillator is a matter for individual school and college leaders.
Swift access to a defibrillator is very important in cases of cardiac arrest, and so the government is encouraging schools and other eligible settings to purchase defibrillators as part of their first-aid equipment.
To make it as easy as possible for schools and other eligible settings to do so, the department has negotiated a deal, with NHS Supply Chain, to offer defibrillators at a reduced cost. Since the scheme was launched in November 2014, 2763 defibrillators have been purchased through this route.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many secondary schools in England have access to a defibrillator.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The information requested is not held centrally. The purchase of a defibrillator is a matter for individual school and college leaders.
Swift access to a defibrillator is very important in cases of cardiac arrest, and so the government is encouraging schools and other eligible settings to purchase defibrillators as part of their first-aid equipment.
To make it as easy as possible for schools and other eligible settings to do so, the department has negotiated a deal, with NHS Supply Chain, to offer defibrillators at a reduced cost. Since the scheme was launched in November 2014, 2763 defibrillators have been purchased through this route.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many further education colleges have access to a defibrillator.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The information requested is not held centrally. The purchase of a defibrillator is a matter for individual school and college leaders.
Swift access to a defibrillator is very important in cases of cardiac arrest, and so the government is encouraging schools and other eligible settings to purchase defibrillators as part of their first-aid equipment.
To make it as easy as possible for schools and other eligible settings to do so, the department has negotiated a deal, with NHS Supply Chain, to offer defibrillators at a reduced cost. Since the scheme was launched in November 2014, 2763 defibrillators have been purchased through this route.