Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits in extending consumer protection law to cover further education courses.
Answered by Anne Milton
An assessment of the potential merits of extending consumer protection law to cover further education (FE) courses has not been made. However, the government promotes high quality FE within a regulatory framework, that aims to protect the rights of learners accessing FE courses.
FE college corporations operate as independent charities and are subject to robust accountability arrangements for the public funding they receive. Ofsted inspects and publicly reports on the quality of education within FE providers. The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) allocates significant annual funding to providers of education and skills training for young people and adults. ESFA holds providers to account for their performance to ensure they consistently raise standards.
The FE Choices learner satisfaction survey 2017-18 captures learners’ experiences of their college or training organisation. The most recent survey was published by the department on 19 July and reports that 82% of learners were ‘likely’ or ‘extremely likely’ to recommend their learning provider to friends or family.
FE providers must also ensure that complaint handling processes and practices are accessible, clear and fair to learners.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of school days missed by girls as a result of period poverty.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
We have sought to establish whether there has been any rigorous national assessment of the prevalence of period poverty or its impact on attendance, however none appears to be available.
We have produced additional analysis of our absence statistics to look for evidence of period poverty. Our analysis, published in March 2018, shows that while absence rates amongst girls do increase after a certain age, there is no evidence to suggest that this is related to pupils being disadvantaged. This suggests period poverty does not have a significant, nation-wide impact on attendance. We do want to find out more which is why we have placed questions on these issues in the department’s 2018 surveys for pupils and senior school leaders.
We have made it a priority to reduce overall pupil absence and there has been some notable success in this area, with overall yearly absence rates decreasing from 6.5% of possible sessions missed in 2006/07 to 4.7% in 2016/17.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which local funding authority is responsible for financial support for high needs students aged 16 to 25 when they study in a different area to that in which they reside.
Answered by Anne Milton
The local authority responsible for making provision for students aged 16 to 25 who have special educational needs and disabilities, and who have an education, health and care plan, is the local authority of the area in which the student normally resides.
In order to secure such provision the local authority provides the institution concerned with high needs funding, if the costs of additional support for the student exceed £6,000 per annum.
There are exceptions to this if the young person is in a children’s home or foster care, and is looked after by a local authority other than the authority of the area in which they normally reside. In that case we would expect the local authority that looks after the young person to meet the costs of additional support in excess of £6,000.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, where Government responsibility lies for the funding of high needs support for students aged 16 to 25 who are studying outside the UK.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
High needs funding is provided to local authorities through the high needs block of the Dedicated Schools Grant, and supports provision for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities up to the age of 25, including provision named in education, health and care (EHC) plans.
In deciding on the appropriate placement for a child or young person, local authorities have a duty to consider the efficient use of local authority resources, as well as whether the placement can meet the young person’s needs. If it is deemed necessary to secure provision outside of the UK for a child or young person with an EHC plan, the local authority may use its high needs budget to fund the special educational provision. There is no responsibility for local authorities to provide funding for provision outside of the UK if the child or young person’s needs do not require an EHC plan.
We are not aware of any current cases where local authorities are supporting pupils with special educational needs outside of the UK.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what consultation her Department held with Kent County Council on recent funding decisions for newly-assessed high-needs pupils.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The funding for newly-assessed high needs pupils is decided by each local authority. We do not prescribe in detail how much local authorities should allocate to their schools for their pupils with SEN, or how much schools should spend in making provision for them. Kent County Council responded to our recent consultation on the national funding formula, but this concerned how high needs funding is distributed between local authorities.