Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress has been made on her Department's review of Special Guardian Orders.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Government published its response to the special guardianship review on 17 December 2015, which can be found on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/special-guardianship-review
The review found that the majority of Special Guardianship Orders are made to carers who have an existing relationship with the child and who will be able to care for the child until adulthood, with appropriate support. However, some issues have been identified with special guardianship.
On 2 December 2015, the Prime Minister announced that we would strengthen regulations to ensure that special guardian assessments are more robust and based on the principle that the guardian should be capable of caring for the child to the age of 18. Further proposals to strengthen special guardianship will be issued shortly.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that schools provide support and guidance to pupils who are victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Schools play an important role in safeguarding children from all forms of abuse. Our statutory guidance is clear that schools have an important role in identifying children who may be suffering abuse, or at risk of abuse, and then take necessary action, working with other services where appropriate. Schools also have an important role in raising pupils’ awareness of these issues, thus helping pupils to keep themselves safe.
The Department for Education has produced statutory guidance for schools, ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’, which sets out the roles and responsibilities of schools and their staff, and which contains links to more detailed advice on specific forms of abuse, including domestic violence, teenage relationship abuse and forced marriage.
Schools can use relevant parts of the curriculum, including sex and relationship education and personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE), to raise pupils’ awareness. It is for schools to determine which issues they address and how, and the Government’s statutory guidance on sex and relationship education makes clear that schools should ensure that young people develop positive values and a moral framework that will guide their decisions, judgements and behaviour. To complement work done in schools, the Government’s ‘This is Abuse’ campaign has helped to educate young people about damaging behaviours within relationships.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to raise awareness among pupils of forced marriage and domestic violence.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Schools play an important role in safeguarding children from all forms of abuse. Our statutory guidance is clear that schools have an important role in identifying children who may be suffering abuse, or at risk of abuse, and then take necessary action, working with other services where appropriate. Schools also have an important role in raising pupils’ awareness of these issues, thus helping pupils to keep themselves safe.
The Department for Education has produced statutory guidance for schools, ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’, which sets out the roles and responsibilities of schools and their staff, and which contains links to more detailed advice on specific forms of abuse, including domestic violence, teenage relationship abuse and forced marriage.
Schools can use relevant parts of the curriculum, including sex and relationship education and personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE), to raise pupils’ awareness. It is for schools to determine which issues they address and how, and the Government’s statutory guidance on sex and relationship education makes clear that schools should ensure that young people develop positive values and a moral framework that will guide their decisions, judgements and behaviour. To complement work done in schools, the Government’s ‘This is Abuse’ campaign has helped to educate young people about damaging behaviours within relationships.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when the Education Funding Authority first (a) had an interest in the Maddox offices property located in Birmingham Northfield, (b) entered negotiations with the site owners about purchasing that site and (c) agreed the sale of that site.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Education Funding Agency first became aware of the property on 26 November 2014 and negotiations began on 27 November 2014.
The conditional contracts were exchanged on 13 March 2015 and completion of the sale occurred on 1 July 2015.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much the Education Funding Authority paid for the Maddox offices site located in Birmingham Northfield.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Secretary of State purchased, in the name of the Edge Academy Trust, 946 Bristol Road Northfield Birmingham B31 2LQ for the sum of £1,650,000 (exclusive of VAT).
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 16 March 2015 to Question 227136, for what reasons the names of schools which applied for but were not allocated funding will not be published until July 2015.
Answered by David Laws
To publish now the names of schools which applied for but were not allocated funding would be unfair to the local authorities and schools which are affected by the announcement. Those organisations will be considering the next steps for resolving their situations; these might involve finding alternative capital funding sources or non-capital solutions. Publishing the details now could lead to unwelcome pressure from potential suppliers whilst they are considering their options. It is reasonable to assume that all authorities and schools will have decided on the approach they will be taking forward by July.