Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether (a) nationality and (b) country-of-birth data collected in the school census (i) has not been, (ii) is not and (iii) will not be processed for Home Office purposes; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department collected data on the nationality and country of birth of pupils via the school census between autumn 2016 and summer 2018. This data was collected for research purposes and has not been shared, nor will it be shared, with the Home Office for immigration enforcement purposes.
The Home Office can only request information from the Department for Education for immigration enforcement purposes in circumstances where they have clear evidence a child may be at risk or there is evidence of illegal activity, including illegal immigration. In such cases limited data including a pupil’s address and school details may be requested from the National Pupil Database. It is right that this data is shared if it helps to keep a child safe from harm or to disrupt a crime.
The basis for sharing information is set out in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Department for Education and the Home Office. A copy of this agreement is available in the house library.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will place in the Library copies of the Memorandum of Understanding and any other data-sharing agreement for pupil, student and workforce data between his Department and the Home Office.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The data sharing agreement between the Department for Education and the Home Office, and the Umbrella Memorandum of Understanding, will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 19 December 2018 to Question 201097 on Pupils: Personal Records, what methods schools have as available to them as joint data controllers to withdraw (a) nationality and (b) country-of-birth data that they collected in the school census since 2016 and which parents now wish to retract as a result of the ongoing use of pupil data for immigration enforcement purposes.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Data collected on pupil nationality and country of birth is not used for immigration enforcement purposes and has not been shared externally with third parties, including other government departments. The Department collected data on the nationality, country of birth and proficiency in English of pupils via the school census between autumn 2016 and summer 2018. The data are collected for research purposes to help us understand the impact of migration on the school system. Understanding trends in migration, and the associated needs in the school system, helps us ensure that all children, wherever they are from, have the best possible education.
The right to erasure or right to retraction are classed as individual rights requests under general data protection regulation (GDPR) and the 2018 Data Protection Act (DPA). Whilst individual rights are not absolute under GDPR/DPA, any individual rights requests from data subjects for data held or processed by the Department, or from individuals with unambiguous consent to act on behalf of a data subject, should be made via the contact us form on the DfE website and selecting ‘something else’ under the ‘question’ option. The form is available here: https://form.education.gov.uk/fillform.php?self=1&form_id=cCCNJ1xSfBE&type=form&ShowMsg=1&form_name=Contact+the+Department+for+Education&noRegister=false&ret=%2Fmodule%2Fservices&noLoginPrompt=1.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the economic merits of the level of funding for early intervention services provided by local authority children’s services.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The government has funded the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF) since 2013, including providing almost £2 million of funding in 2018-20, to assess, evaluate and disseminate evidence of what works. The EIF has assessed the benefits of a wide range of specific early intervention programmes and suggested that, whilst producing robust estimates is challenging, there is a compelling argument that intervening early is likely to bring economic benefits to society. In particular, the EIF has highlighted that the long-term economic benefits are considerable where early intervention leads to labour market gains, such as improvements in employment and earnings. However, the EIF is clear that this is not a quick fix and is unlikely to reduce pressure on the social care system in the short term.
The value of early intervention is reflected in the statutory guidance “Working Together to Safeguard Children (2018)”, which is clear that providing early help is more effective in promoting children’s welfare than reacting later and that it plays an important part in supporting children and young people to achieve better outcomes. The guidance is clear that local areas should have a comprehensive range of effective, evidence-based services in place to address assessed needs early. It is right that local authorities are free to decide how to use their children’s social care budget to manage local priorities and deliver the best services for children.
The government has also committed £920 million to the Troubled Families Programme, an early intervention approach which aims to achieve significant and sustained improvement for families in difficult circumstances.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Action for Children press release entitled Children's funding slashed by a third per child, leaving thousands at risk of falling into crisis, dated 26 February 2019, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the level of funding for children’s services.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
At Autumn Budget my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor announced an extra £410 million to address pressures on social care services, along with £84 million over five years to support up to 20 local authorities to improve their social work practice and decision-making, enabling them to work more effectively with the most vulnerable children and their families.
This builds on the £200 billion government has already made available to councils up to 2020 to provide services in the best interests of local residents, including those for children and young people.
We are also working closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the sector to ensure decisions around core funding made at Spending Review, and how it is shared between local authorities as part of the review of relative needs and resources, are informed by the best available evidence.
The government will continue to work closely with the sector to consider long-term children’s services funding as part of the upcoming Spending Review.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
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 Action for Children press release entitled Children's funding slashed by a third per child leaving thousands at risk of falling into crisis, dated 26 February 2019.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
At Autumn Budget my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor announced an extra £410 million to address pressures on social care services, along with £84 million over five years to support up to 20 local authorities to improve their social work practice and decision-making, enabling them to work more effectively with the most vulnerable children and their families.
This builds on the £200 billion government has already made available to councils up to 2020 to provide services in the best interests of local residents, including those for children and young people.
We are also working closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the sector to ensure decisions around core funding made at Spending Review, and how it is shared between local authorities as part of the review of relative needs and resources, are informed by the best available evidence.
The government will continue to work closely with the sector to consider long-term children’s services funding as part of the upcoming Spending Review.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking ensure that sixth form colleges receive adequate funding to offer (a) student support and (b) extra-curricular activities.
Answered by Anne Milton
We want young people to have a range of options so that they can develop the skills they will need in adult life. We encourage and support colleges, schools and other providers to provide a range of study programmes to help students develop these skills.
We have protected the base rate of funding for 16 to 19 year olds for all types of providers until the end of the current spending review period in 2020. Overall, the government plans to invest nearly £7 billion during 2018/19 to make sure that there is a place in education or training for every 16 to 19 year old who wants one. This includes over £500 million in funding for disadvantaged young people to get the educational support they need and £127 million for discretionary 16-19 Bursary Fund allocations to provide financial support for those students who need it to participate.
Providers are funded for an average of 600 planned hours per year per full-time student. This level of funding supports a significant programme of study, typically including qualifications and extra-curricular enrichment activity as well as pastoral support and employability support. However, the viability of individual courses depends on student numbers and student choices. Some providers, in particular smaller institutions, may not always be able to offer the full range of subjects where small class sizes make it expensive to deliver less popular subjects. Ultimately, it is up to individual colleges to decide which courses to offer and, as part of their curriculum planning, they can consider working with other providers to combine resources and maximise their offers.
We are considering the efficiency and resilience of the sector and are assessing how far the current funding and regulatory structures enable high quality provision for young people. We will continue to look carefully at these issues in preparation for the next Spending Review.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that sixth form colleges have adequate funding to offer courses in all STEM subjects.
Answered by Anne Milton
We want young people to have a range of options so that they can develop the skills they will need in adult life. We encourage and support colleges, schools and other providers to provide a range of study programmes to help students develop these skills.
We have protected the base rate of funding for 16 to 19 year olds for all types of providers until the end of the current spending review period in 2020. Overall, the government plans to invest nearly £7 billion during 2018/19 to make sure that there is a place in education or training for every 16 to 19 year old who wants one. This includes over £500 million in funding for disadvantaged young people to get the educational support they need and £127 million for discretionary 16-19 Bursary Fund allocations to provide financial support for those students who need it to participate.
Providers are funded for an average of 600 planned hours per year per full-time student. This level of funding supports a significant programme of study, typically including qualifications and extra-curricular enrichment activity as well as pastoral support and employability support. However, the viability of individual courses depends on student numbers and student choices. Some providers, in particular smaller institutions, may not always be able to offer the full range of subjects where small class sizes make it expensive to deliver less popular subjects. Ultimately, it is up to individual colleges to decide which courses to offer and, as part of their curriculum planning, they can consider working with other providers to combine resources and maximise their offers.
We are considering the efficiency and resilience of the sector and are assessing how far the current funding and regulatory structures enable high quality provision for young people. We will continue to look carefully at these issues in preparation for the next Spending Review.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that sixth form colleges have adequate funding to offer courses in modern foreign languages.
Answered by Anne Milton
We want young people to have a range of options so that they can develop the skills they will need in adult life. We encourage and support colleges, schools and other providers to provide a range of study programmes to help students develop these skills.
We have protected the base rate of funding for 16 to 19 year olds for all types of providers until the end of the current spending review period in 2020. Overall, the government plans to invest nearly £7 billion during 2018/19 to make sure that there is a place in education or training for every 16 to 19 year old who wants one. This includes over £500 million in funding for disadvantaged young people to get the educational support they need and £127 million for discretionary 16-19 Bursary Fund allocations to provide financial support for those students who need it to participate.
Providers are funded for an average of 600 planned hours per year per full-time student. This level of funding supports a significant programme of study, typically including qualifications and extra-curricular enrichment activity as well as pastoral support and employability support. However, the viability of individual courses depends on student numbers and student choices. Some providers, in particular smaller institutions, may not always be able to offer the full range of subjects where small class sizes make it expensive to deliver less popular subjects. Ultimately, it is up to individual colleges to decide which courses to offer and, as part of their curriculum planning, they can consider working with other providers to combine resources and maximise their offers.
We are considering the efficiency and resilience of the sector and are assessing how far the current funding and regulatory structures enable high quality provision for young people. We will continue to look carefully at these issues in preparation for the next Spending Review.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the correlation between funding for children’s services between 2010-11 and 2017-18 and the number of (a) referrals to children’s services, (b) re-referrals within 12 months, (c) children in need, (d) child protection enquiries, (e) child protection plans and (f) looked after children.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Funding for children’s services is made available through the local government finance settlement (LGFS), which gives local authorities flexibility to target spending according to local needs and to fulfil their statutory responsibilities, including services for children and families. Since 2010, the responsibilities of local authorities and the makeup of their funding streams have changed significantly. Therefore, wider spending power measures are not directly comparable over this period.
Over the 5 year period to 2019-20, councils have access, through the LGFS, to over £200 billion to deliver local services, including children’s services. Core spending power has increased from £45.1 billion in 2018-19 to £46.4 billion in 2019-20.
In addition to this the Autumn Budget announced a further £410 million in 2019-20 for local authorities to invest in adult and children’s social care services. It also announced £84 million of extra funding, over the next 5 years, to support local authorities to invest in initiatives that improve social work practice and decision making.
Local authority level data since 2013 is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authority-interactive-tool-lait.
National level children in need and service use since 2010 is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-children-in-need and: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-looked-after-children.
The most common factors recorded in children’s social care assessments are domestic abuse and mental health. These have been consistently the top two factors for the years during which we have collected this data and have risen in line with trends in demand.
The Department for Education are working closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on the review of relative needs and resources to develop a robust, up-to-date approach to funding distribution for children's services at LGFSs.
The government will continue to work closely with the sector to consider long-term children’s services funding as part of the upcoming Spending Review.