Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will publish the guidance his Department issues to schools on the use of medication prescribed to children to treat behavioural issues.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The information requested is not held centrally, on the number of pupils who use medication to treat behavioural issues.
The Government is committed to pupils with medical conditions being properly supported at school so that they have full access to education.
In 2014, the Government introduced a new duty on schools to support pupils with all medical conditions and has published statutory guidance on this for schools and others. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.
The guidance does not specify which medical conditions should be supported in schools. Instead, it focuses on how to meet the needs of each individual child and how their medical condition impacts on school life.
In June 2014, the Department issued non-statutory advice on mental health and behaviour to help schools identify underlying mental health problems in young people, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mental-health-and-behaviour-in-schools--2 .
The advice clarifies the responsibility of the school, outlines what they can do and how to support a child or young person whose behaviour may be related to an unmet mental health need.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department plans to collect information on the use of isolation booths by schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
All schools are required by law to have a behaviour policy which outlines measures to encourage good behaviour and prevent all forms of bullying amongst pupils. The school’s behaviour policy should set out the behaviour expected of pupils, the sanctions that will be imposed for misbehaviour, and rewards for good behaviour. This should be communicated to all pupils, school staff, and parents.
To help schools develop effective strategies, the Department has produced advice for schools which covers what should be included in the behaviour policy. This advice can be viewed here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/behaviour-and-discipline-in-schools.
Existing guidance makes clear that schools can adopt a policy which allows disruptive pupils to be placed in isolation away from other pupils for a limited period. If a school uses isolation rooms as a disciplinary penalty, this should be made clear in their behaviour policy. As with other disciplinary penalties, schools must act lawfully, reasonably and proportionately in all cases. The school must also ensure the health and safety of pupils.
It is for individual schools to decide how long a particular pupil should be kept in isolation and for the staff member in charge to determine what pupils may and may not do during the time they are there. Schools should ensure that pupils are kept in isolation no longer than is necessary and their time spent there is used as constructively as possible. Schools must allow pupils time to eat or use the toilet.
The Department has made no recent assessment of trends in the level of the use of isolation booths in schools, and has no plans to collect national data on their use.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of the use of isolation booths in schools in each of the last five years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
All schools are required by law to have a behaviour policy which outlines measures to encourage good behaviour and prevent all forms of bullying amongst pupils. The school’s behaviour policy should set out the behaviour expected of pupils, the sanctions that will be imposed for misbehaviour, and rewards for good behaviour. This should be communicated to all pupils, school staff, and parents.
To help schools develop effective strategies, the Department has produced advice for schools which covers what should be included in the behaviour policy. This advice can be viewed here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/behaviour-and-discipline-in-schools.
Existing guidance makes clear that schools can adopt a policy which allows disruptive pupils to be placed in isolation away from other pupils for a limited period. If a school uses isolation rooms as a disciplinary penalty, this should be made clear in their behaviour policy. As with other disciplinary penalties, schools must act lawfully, reasonably and proportionately in all cases. The school must also ensure the health and safety of pupils.
It is for individual schools to decide how long a particular pupil should be kept in isolation and for the staff member in charge to determine what pupils may and may not do during the time they are there. Schools should ensure that pupils are kept in isolation no longer than is necessary and their time spent there is used as constructively as possible. Schools must allow pupils time to eat or use the toilet.
The Department has made no recent assessment of trends in the level of the use of isolation booths in schools, and has no plans to collect national data on their use.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to limit the use of isolation booths in schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
All schools are required by law to have a behaviour policy which outlines measures to encourage good behaviour and prevent all forms of bullying amongst pupils. The school’s behaviour policy should set out the behaviour expected of pupils, the sanctions that will be imposed for misbehaviour, and rewards for good behaviour. This should be communicated to all pupils, school staff, and parents.
To help schools develop effective strategies, the Department has produced advice for schools which covers what should be included in the behaviour policy. This advice can be viewed here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/behaviour-and-discipline-in-schools.
Existing guidance makes clear that schools can adopt a policy which allows disruptive pupils to be placed in isolation away from other pupils for a limited period. If a school uses isolation rooms as a disciplinary penalty, this should be made clear in their behaviour policy. As with other disciplinary penalties, schools must act lawfully, reasonably and proportionately in all cases. The school must also ensure the health and safety of pupils.
It is for individual schools to decide how long a particular pupil should be kept in isolation and for the staff member in charge to determine what pupils may and may not do during the time they are there. Schools should ensure that pupils are kept in isolation no longer than is necessary and their time spent there is used as constructively as possible. Schools must allow pupils time to eat or use the toilet.
The Department has made no recent assessment of trends in the level of the use of isolation booths in schools, and has no plans to collect national data on their use.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the trend in the level of use of medication to treat behavioural issues in young children.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The information requested is not held centrally, on the number of pupils who use medication to treat behavioural issues.
The Government is committed to pupils with medical conditions being properly supported at school so that they have full access to education.
In 2014, the Government introduced a new duty on schools to support pupils with all medical conditions and has published statutory guidance on this for schools and others. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.
The guidance does not specify which medical conditions should be supported in schools. Instead, it focuses on how to meet the needs of each individual child and how their medical condition impacts on school life.
In June 2014, the Department issued non-statutory advice on mental health and behaviour to help schools identify underlying mental health problems in young people, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mental-health-and-behaviour-in-schools--2 .
The advice clarifies the responsibility of the school, outlines what they can do and how to support a child or young person whose behaviour may be related to an unmet mental health need.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the report entitled Left out of learning: FOI 2019 report published by RNIB in October 2019, what steps he is taking to ensure (a) adequate and (b) equitable provision of specialists to support children with vision impairment throughout the UK.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
We want all schools to have a workforce fully equipped to support children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), and are working with various organisations, including the National Sensory Impairment Partnership, to make sure that is the reality.
The Children and Families Act 2014 requires local authorities to work with parents, young people, and providers to keep the provision for children and young people with SEND under review, including its sufficiency. We have recently announced a £780 million increase to local authorities’ high needs funding, boosting the budget by 12% and bringing the total spent on supporting those with the most complex needs to over £7 billion for 2020-21.
We do not prescribe in detail how local authorities should allocate their high needs funding. In consultation with schools and other services, local authorities should consider carefully how best to meet the needs of children and young people in their area, including those with vision impairment.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the Equality and Human Rights Commission's report entitled, Tackling harassment: universities challenged; and what steps he is taking to ensure that university staff receive adequate training to deal effectively with racial harassment.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
Racial harassment is unacceptable and we cannot tolerate staff and students being victims of it at our world-leading universities. There is no place in our society - including within higher education (HE) – for hatred or any form of harassment, discrimination or racism. Universities have clear responsibilities in this regard.
As independent institutions, HE providers are responsible for training and development opportunities available for their staff. We encourage providers to make use of tools such as the Race Equality Charter and the Race at Work Charter to identify and address institutional and cultural barriers that affect minority ethnic staff and students.
We will continue to work closely with partners, including Universities UK and the Office for Students on matters of harassment and hate crime in HE.
The Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers recognises the need to create and develop positive environments and cultures in which all researchers can flourish and achieve their full potential. This includes having effective policies and practice for tackling discrimination, bullying and harassment and providing appropriate support for those reporting issues.
By improving the representation, progression and success of minority ethnic staff within HE we can ensure that everyone who has the potential to thrive at university, both as a student and as a member of staff, does so.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that all schools teach every part of the Equality Act 2010.
Answered by Nick Gibb
We know that many schools choose to teach pupils about the Equality Act and the protected characteristics under that Act in the context of duties on schools, such as the requirements to promote both fundamental British values and the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of their pupils. Schools are entitled to teach about the Equality Act in this context, and the Department thinks it is right that pupils leave school with a proper understanding of the importance of equality and respecting difference.
From September 2020 Relationships Education will be compulsory for all primary pupils and Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) will be compulsory for all secondary pupils. These subjects will give pupils the knowledge they need to stay safe and develop respectful, caring relationships of all kinds. The guidance on these subjects can be found here:
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of ensuring that universities throughout the UK adopt system-wide planning process in addition to controls on numbers.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
Formal student number controls were phased out in 2012/13 with the exception of capped medical places to enable as many students as possible to access and succeed in higher education (HE). This has enabled record rates of 18-year olds to benefit from a university education than ever before, including from disadvantaged backgrounds. 50% of students are now choosing to study in HE and in 2018, those from disadvantaged backgrounds were 52% more likely to enter full-time HE than in 2009.
One of the aims of the new independent regulator for HE, the Office for Students, which became operational on 1 August 2019, is to hold providers to account for delivering well-designed courses that offer successful outcomes for all of their students.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress he is making to increase the recruitment and retention of childcare professionals.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department continues to support employer trailblazer groups to develop new apprenticeship standards for the early years workforce and to access funding for apprenticeship training. Organisations with a pay bill of less than £3 million each year are only required to pay 5% of the training costs for apprentices (within the relevant funding band). Alongside this, the Department is investing £20 million for in-service professional development and training for pre-reception early years practitioners in targeted disadvantaged areas from 53 local authorities.
The Department also continues to work closely with the sector to look at issues that might be affecting recruitment and retention in the early years workforce. For example, the Fatherhood Institute has been awarded a grant to develop tools and resources aimed at increasing gender diversity in the early years sector. In partnership with Ofsted the Department has also supported a project led by the Early Years Alliance to explore and respond to workload burdens in the sector.