Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how his Department is ensuring that funds allocated under the Teachers' Pay Grant for 2018-19 are being used to fund teachers' pay and not for any other purpose.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Schools are autonomous institutions and therefore it is for schools to determine by how much an individual teacher’s pay should rise if they are considered eligible for progression.
With the above in mind, it is for schools to decide how best to spend the funds allocated under the teachers’ pay grant. The Department has, however, made clear that this additional money is to fully fund an increase in pay for teachers and the Department would therefore expect schools to put it towards pay.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of financial support for sixth form students.
Answered by Anne Milton
The department keeps under review the use of the 16 to 19 Bursary Fund to inform our understanding of whether this is effectively supporting our most economically disadvantaged students.
A number of other financial support schemes are available to eligible 16 to 19 year olds such as support for free meals in further education, childcare costs if needed and residential support.
Together these are supporting young people to participate in education whatever their financial situation and have contributed to the current record high proportion of 16 to 17 year olds who are participating in education or apprenticeships, the highest since consistent records began.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many PE teachers were employed by schools in England in (a) 2009, (b) 2012 and (c) 2017.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Information on the number of teachers teaching individual subjects is available for state funded secondary schools only. Because the school workforce survey was only introduced in 2010 there is no information available for 2009. In November 2012 there was an estimated headcount of 24,700 teachers teaching PE in state funded secondary schools. In November 2017 there were 23,100.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average number of hours per week was of PE undertaken by pupils in secondary school pupils in England in (a) 2009, (b) 2012 and (c) 2017.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The government is clear that PE is a valuable subject. For this reason, the national curriculum continues to ensure that PE is compulsory at all four key stages. Academies and free schools are not required to follow the national curriculum but must provide a broad and balanced curriculum that should include PE. Ofsted inspections evaluate the effectiveness of the PE curriculum in all state funded schools as part of a broad and balanced curriculum.
We do not hold information on the average hours per week taught by secondary schools. Information on the number of hours taught in individual subjects has been collected since 2010 in the school workforce census for state-funded secondary schools only. This information is therefore not available for 2009. In November 2012, the number of hours taught in PE to pupils in state funded secondary schools, was 317,100 hours. For 2017, this same statistic was 282,200 hours. This school workforce census data can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-school-workforce.
However, these figures do not cover the time dedicated to extra-curricular sport or other physical activity done outside of formal lessons.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the effect of recent changes in the level of funding for early education on the number of nursery places available for children with special educational needs in Wandsworth; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Our Early Years National Funding Formula contains an additional needs element that takes account of children with special educational needs (SEN). On top of this, we have introduced the Disability Access Fund which provides £615 a year to help children access the free entitlements for three and four year olds. We have commissioned new research from Frontier Economics to provide further data on the cost of providing early education and care, which will take into account the cost of providing childcare for children with special education needs and disabilities.
For children with more complex needs, local authorities can draw on their high needs funding, which is at a record high of £6 billion across England, up from £5 billion in 2013.
Since April 2017, the department has required local authorities to establish SEN inclusion funds to help providers to address the needs of individual children in receipt of the early years entitlements with SEN.
The special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) Code of Practice requires providers to have arrangements in place to support children with SEN or disabilities. These arrangements should include a clear approach to identifying and responding to SEN. In addition, the Equality Act 2010 sets out the legal obligations for local authorities to plan in advance what disabled children and young people might require and what adjustments might need to be made to prevent that disadvantage. As such, we do not specify an exact number of places for children with special educational needs. According to January 2018 early years census data, there were approximately 370 children with SEND in Wandsworth benefitting from funded early education places.
Information relating to allocations to local authorities of both high needs and early years funding is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2018-to-2019.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the first report of the Education Committee, Fostering, published on 22 December 2017, HC 340, what steps his Department is taking to implement measures to improve financial support and working conditions for foster carers.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Foster parents play a vital role in supporting some of our most vulnerable children and young people. I am committed to ensuring that foster parents receive the support and recognition they need to meet the needs of the children they look after.
The National Minimum Standards for fostering services are clear that every foster parent with a child in placement should receive an allowance that covers the full cost of caring for a child. The government recommends a minimum allowance that fostering service providers should pay to their foster parents each week. Whilst it is for fostering service providers to decide the rate paid to foster parents, our strong expectation is that they will receive at least the national minimum allowance.
The National Fostering Stocktake, an independent review of the fostering system in England, has now concluded. It considered the support, recognition and status of foster parents. I will carefully consider the recommendations made by the Education Select Committee and the independent review on the recognition and support, including financial support, that foster parents receive. The government response will be published in spring 2018.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support families who have experienced delays in receiving appropriate support through education, health and care plans.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The government has provided significant resources to support implementation of the Special educational needs and disability (SEND) reforms. This includes £223 million to local councils between April 2014 and March 2018 and, during the same period, £60 million for around 1,200 Independent Supporters to help families with the Education Health and Care (EHC) plan process. Councils are making encouraging progress, but there is still work to be done to fully embed this improved system. That is why the government announced on 30 November an additional package of support worth nearly £45 million to provide help for children and young people with SEND. This included a further £29 million to support councils and their local partners to continue pressing ahead with implementation of the reforms to the SEND system beyond the end of the transition period.
We are beginning to see some positive feedback on EHC plans from parents and young people. A large-scale survey, published in March 2017, of over 13,000 families who gained an EHC plan in 2015 found that two thirds were satisfied with the overall experience of getting a plan, and three-fifths agreed the help and support set out in the plan will achieve the desired outcomes.
Where there are delays with any aspect of the EHC process, including issuing an EHC plan and delivering the provision set out in it, the local council should work with the family, explain the reason for the delay and address the situation swiftly. We know that sometimes issues cannot be immediately resolved and we have made available to families, in every local council, mediation services, as well as support from Independent Supporters and Information Advice and Support Services. Where issues regarding the EHC plan cannot be resolved, families can also appeal to the SEND Tribunal.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the replacement of Statements of Special Educational Needs, with Education, Health and Care Plans.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The government has provided significant resources to support implementation of the Special educational needs and disability (SEND) reforms. This includes £223 million to local councils between April 2014 and March 2018 and, during the same period, £60 million for around 1,200 Independent Supporters to help families with the Education Health and Care (EHC) plan process. Councils are making encouraging progress, but there is still work to be done to fully embed this improved system. That is why the government announced on 30 November an additional package of support worth nearly £45 million to provide help for children and young people with SEND. This included a further £29 million to support councils and their local partners to continue pressing ahead with implementation of the reforms to the SEND system beyond the end of the transition period.
We are beginning to see some positive feedback on EHC plans from parents and young people. A large-scale survey, published in March 2017, of over 13,000 families who gained an EHC plan in 2015 found that two thirds were satisfied with the overall experience of getting a plan, and three-fifths agreed the help and support set out in the plan will achieve the desired outcomes.
Where there are delays with any aspect of the EHC process, including issuing an EHC plan and delivering the provision set out in it, the local council should work with the family, explain the reason for the delay and address the situation swiftly. We know that sometimes issues cannot be immediately resolved and we have made available to families, in every local council, mediation services, as well as support from Independent Supporters and Information Advice and Support Services. Where issues regarding the EHC plan cannot be resolved, families can also appeal to the SEND Tribunal.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to ensure that all children in state schools who have medical conditions have individual healthcare plans.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Since September 2014, schools have been subject to a duty, under Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014, to support pupils with medical conditions, and to follow statutory guidance.
The guidance sets out that school governing boards should ensure that schools develop a policy for supporting pupils with medical conditions. It also states that governing boards should ensure that the school’s policy covers the role of individual healthcare plans, and who is responsible for their development.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to encourage primary school students to participate in after-school sports clubs.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Through the primary PE and sport premium, the government has invested over £600 million of ring-fenced funding to primary schools to improve PE and sport since 2013. The government has doubled the premium to £320 million a year from September 2017 using revenue from the Soft Drinks Industry Levy.
Schools must use the funding to make additional and sustainable improvements to the quality of PE and sport they offer. The premium must be used to develop or add to the PE and sport activities that a school already offers and make improvements now that will benefit pupils joining the school in future years, including after school clubs.
An independent evaluation report into the premium was published in December 2015. It found that 77% of schools surveyed introduced new sports in both curricular PE (74%) and extra-curricular sport (77%) since the premium was introduced.
Through its new Families Fund, Sport England will be investing up to £40 million into projects which offer new opportunities for families with children to get active and play sport together. Sport England is currently working with applicants who are developing proposals for the first tranche of investment (£10 million) from the Families Fund.