Asked by: Oliver Colvile (Conservative - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans the Government has to improve employment and careers advice.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Government has introduced a number of measures to improve employment and careers advice. We have established The Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC) to strengthen links between employers, schools and colleges, and careers and enterprise organisations to inspire young people and help them take control of their own futures. The CEC is rolling out the Enterprise Adviser Network, which connects employees from firms of all sizes to schools through a network of volunteer enterprise advisers. The Company has also launched its £5m Careers & Enterprise Fund to scale up good ideas and fill gaps in provision.
The Prime Minister recently announced a new campaign to encourage a new generation of high quality mentors. The campaign, which will be led by the CEC, will aim to increase the number of business and professional mentors working with teenagers who are under-achieving or at risk of dropping out of education.
The Government is also introducing a new initiative which will see Jobcentre Plus staff offer support, where schools request it, to supplement careers guidance and to help schools deliver their statutory duty to provide high quality, independent and impartial careers advice. Jobcentre Plus staff will focus support on those students at risk of not participating in education, employment or training. The scheme will be aligned with the CEC’s Enterprise Adviser network and will be rolled out later this academic year.
Building on these measures, we want to go further to improve careers education and guidance for all young people. We will launch a careers strategy in the spring of 2016, which will set out the government’s vision for careers education and how we will get there by 2020.
Asked by: Oliver Colvile (Conservative - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children under the age of 16 in Plymouth who have been diagnosed with an autism spectrum condition or have been identified as having autism-related needs are being home educated.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Our reformed system for meeting the needs of children and young people with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Disabilities is designed to ensure that their needs are identified at an early stage, that the right support is in place, and that problems do not escalate.
All early years providers are required to have arrangements in place to identify and support children with SEN or disabilities and to promote equality of opportunity for children in their care. All schools should have a clear approach to identifying and responding to SEN and must use their best endeavours to ensure that children with SEN, including those with autism, get the support they need.
As part of their Initial Teacher Training, all teachers are expected to learn to identify and address various types of SEN, including autism. The Government is also funding the Autism Education Trust in 2015-16, providing £650,000 to provide tiered training at universal, enhanced and specialist levels for early years, school and post-16 staff to help them understand how best to recognise and support children and young people with autism.
The Department does not hold data on the numbers of autistic children who are home educated nor the numbers of children who are not in school. The Alternative Provision Census does collect data about children who are not in school or in a pupil referral unit. However, it covers as a single ‘Not in School’ category only those who are educated otherwise than at school under arrangements made and funded by local authorities. The information does not reflect types of special educational need.
The data may be available from Plymouth City Council, since it has a duty under Section 22 of the Children and Families Act 2014 to carry out its functions with a view to identifying all the children and young people in its area who have or may have special educational needs or a disability, and also a duty to provide children of compulsory school age with an education.
Asked by: Oliver Colvile (Conservative - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children under the age of 16 in Plymouth who have been diagnosed with an autism spectrum condition or have been identified as having autism-related needs are not in education.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Our reformed system for meeting the needs of children and young people with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Disabilities is designed to ensure that their needs are identified at an early stage, that the right support is in place, and that problems do not escalate.
All early years providers are required to have arrangements in place to identify and support children with SEN or disabilities and to promote equality of opportunity for children in their care. All schools should have a clear approach to identifying and responding to SEN and must use their best endeavours to ensure that children with SEN, including those with autism, get the support they need.
As part of their Initial Teacher Training, all teachers are expected to learn to identify and address various types of SEN, including autism. The Government is also funding the Autism Education Trust in 2015-16, providing £650,000 to provide tiered training at universal, enhanced and specialist levels for early years, school and post-16 staff to help them understand how best to recognise and support children and young people with autism.
The Department does not hold data on the numbers of autistic children who are home educated nor the numbers of children who are not in school. The Alternative Provision Census does collect data about children who are not in school or in a pupil referral unit. However, it covers as a single ‘Not in School’ category only those who are educated otherwise than at school under arrangements made and funded by local authorities. The information does not reflect types of special educational need.
The data may be available from Plymouth City Council, since it has a duty under Section 22 of the Children and Families Act 2014 to carry out its functions with a view to identifying all the children and young people in its area who have or may have special educational needs or a disability, and also a duty to provide children of compulsory school age with an education.
Asked by: Oliver Colvile (Conservative - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many young people over the age of 16 who are not in education, employment or training have been diagnosed with an autism spectrum condition or identified as having autism-related needs.
Answered by Nick Boles
The Department does not hold this information.
The 0-25 Special Educational Needs and Disability system extends the rights that children with SEND of compulsory school age previously enjoyed to all those who are studying after the age of 16.All further education providers must now have regard to the SEND Code of Practice[1], and must endeavour to meet the needs of students with SEND, including those with autism.
In 2015-16 the Department is providing funding of £239,502 for Ambitious about Autism to extend their previous grant-funded project, Finished at School, which developed an innovative, integrated model of transition support to enable more young people with complex autism and learning disabilities to access further education and training beyond school.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25
Asked by: Oliver Colvile (Conservative - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what early intervention and education support is available for children who are on the autism spectrum to prevent them developing mental health difficulties later in their school career.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Our reformed system for meeting the needs of children and young people with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Disabilities is designed to ensure that their needs are identified at an early stage, that the right support is in place, and that problems do not escalate.
All early years providers are required to have arrangements in place to identify and support children with SEN or disabilities and to promote equality of opportunity for children in their care. All schools should have a clear approach to identifying and responding to SEN and must use their best endeavours to ensure that children with SEN, including those with autism, get the support they need.
As part of their Initial Teacher Training, all teachers are expected to learn to identify and address various types of SEN, including autism. The Government is also funding the Autism Education Trust in 2015-16, providing £650,000 to provide tiered training at universal, enhanced and specialist levels for early years, school and post-16 staff to help them understand how best to recognise and support children and young people with autism.
The Department does not hold data on the numbers of autistic children who are home educated nor the numbers of children who are not in school. The Alternative Provision Census does collect data about children who are not in school or in a pupil referral unit. However, it covers as a single ‘Not in School’ category only those who are educated otherwise than at school under arrangements made and funded by local authorities. The information does not reflect types of special educational need.
The data may be available from Plymouth City Council, since it has a duty under Section 22 of the Children and Families Act 2014 to carry out its functions with a view to identifying all the children and young people in its area who have or may have special educational needs or a disability, and also a duty to provide children of compulsory school age with an education.
Asked by: Oliver Colvile (Conservative - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to maintain current levels of the schools budget and per-pupil spending.
Answered by Baroness Morgan of Cotes
As we pledged in our manifesto, we are protecting funding for our schools and the money spent on our children because nothing is more important than investing in the next generation. This will mean that as pupil numbers increase, so too will the amount of money schools receive.
Asked by: Oliver Colvile (Conservative - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which schools in England and Wales have a dementia strategy.
Answered by David Laws
All schools have a duty to ensure the wellbeing, health and safety of their staff. The Department for Education does not hold data on the number of schools which have a dementia strategy, but all schools are required to have systems in place to monitor staff who show signs of suffering from a medical condition and to provide necessary support.