Asked by: Paul Williams (Labour - Stockton South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information his Department holds on trends in the number of people being home-schooled in Stockton South constituency.
Answered by Anne Milton
The information requested is not held centrally. A consultation on home education, and call for evidence on the issues of registration, monitoring and support for home educating families, closed on 2 July 2018 and responses are now being considered.
Asked by: Paul Williams (Labour - Stockton South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many colleges in England offer music at A-Level.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The number of further education sector colleges that had at least one student entering A level music, or music technology, in 2016/17 was 103. [1],[2],[3]
[1] Includes: sixth form colleges, general further education colleges, agriculture and horticulture colleges & art, design and performing art colleges.
[2] Only includes colleges with A level students at the end of their 16-18 study in the 2016/17 academic year. Where qualifications taken by a student are in the same subject area and similar in content, ‘discounting’ rules have been applied to avoid double counting qualifications.
[3] The Department publishes this information at the following link: https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/download-data. Select the academic year, then ‘All of England’, then ’16 to 18 qualification and subject data’ and then download the Excel file.
Asked by: Paul Williams (Labour - Stockton South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential effect of the use of isolation as a form of discipline in schools on children's mental health.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Schools are free to develop their own behaviour policies and strategies for managing behaviour according to their own particular circumstances. 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.
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.
The Department is currently refreshing its guidance on pupil behaviour and mental health in schools, which will be published later this year. It will emphasise the importance of setting clear routines and expectations for the school as a whole. It will also support schools to consider the mental health needs of their pupils and to provide an appropriate response that helps pupils to improve their behaviour.
Asked by: Paul Williams (Labour - Stockton South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing British Sign Language as a GCSE qualification.
Answered by Nick Gibb
There are no plans to introduce any new GCSEs in this Parliament, to allow schools a period of stability following the recent reforms. The Government is open to considering a proposal for a British Sign Language (BSL) GCSE for possible introduction in the longer term. The Department has indicated this to Signature, the awarding organisation proposing to develop a GCSE in BSL, and the National Deaf Children’s Society.
Any new GCSE would need to meet the rigorous expectations for subject content, which are set by the Department. It would also need to meet the expectations for assessment and regulatory requirements, which are set by Ofqual, the independent qualifications regulator. The Department and Ofqual will consider carefully the merits of any proposals put forward in due course.
Asked by: Paul Williams (Labour - Stockton South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many young people aged 16 to 25 with autism were allocated places as learners with further education and skills providers in each year since 2012.
Answered by Anne Milton
The table in the attachment shows learners aged between 16 and 25 with Autism Spectrum Disorder participating in further education and skills programmes in the academic year 2012/13 to 2015/16 (final year figures) and reported to date in 2016/17 (provisional full year figures).
Changes in the methodology of data collection between 2014/15 to 2015/16 produced a variation in learner numbers. This was due to a revision in the way learners with learning difficulties and disabilities were categorised. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/478551/ILRSpecification2015_16_v4_Nov2015.pdf
From the 2015/16 academic year a learning provider can record multiple disabilities on the Individualised Learner Record (ILR) that collects this data. This has led to an increase in the number of learners being reported against certain disabilities.
Prior to 2015/16 only the primary disability was recorded, therefore comparisons of figures in 2015/16 and 2016/17 should not be made with earlier years.
Asked by: Paul Williams (Labour - Stockton South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many young people aged 16 to 25 with high needs were allocated places as learners with further education and skills providers in each year since 2012.
Answered by Anne Milton
High needs students can attend both specialist and mainstream institutions, including general further education colleges.
In the 2015 to 2016 academic year, 21,982 young people with high needs were either placed in special post-16 institutions or further education institutions which received additional funding from local authorities. In 2016 to 2017, this number rose to 25,675 students.
Further education institutions include further education and sixth form colleges, and independent learning providers (formerly known as post-16 charitable and commercial providers).
Comparable data regarding young people with high needs prior 2015 is not readily available.
Asked by: Paul Williams (Labour - Stockton South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people with autism aged 16 to 25 years old had (a) a statement of special needs, (b) an education, health and care plan or (c) a learning support assessment in each year since 2012.
Answered by Anne Milton
The table attached shows learners with autism aged between 16 and 25 with an Education, Health and Care Plan or Learning Support Assessment participating in further education and skills programmes in the academic year 2012/13 to 2015/16 (final year figures) and reported to date in 2016/17 (provisional full year figures).
Further education and skills data is collected via the Individualised Learner Record (ILR). The ILR does not hold information on statements of special educational need, this is only collected for school pupils via the school census.
From the 2015/16 academic year a learning provider can record multiple disabilities on the Individualised Learner Record (ILR) that collects this data. This has led to an increased in the number of learners being reported against certain disabilities.
Prior to 2015/16 only the primary disability was recorded, therefore comparisons of figures in 2015/16 and 2016/17 should not be made with earlier years.
Young people with special educational needs and disabilities received support through a Learning Difficulty Assessment (LDA) or a statement prior to September 2014. Revision to this support is reflected in the variation between 2014/15 to 2015/16 learner numbers.