Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will undertake a review of the eligibility criteria for free school meals before the start of the 2023-24 academic year.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Through the provision of free school means (FSM), together with a further 1.25 million infants supported through the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy, the greatest ever proportion of school children, 37.5%, are now provided with a free meal at lunchtime, at a cost of over £1 billion a year.
The department continues to monitor the situation surrounding the rising cost of living whilst working with other government departments on support surrounding this issue. We do not have any plans to extend universal provision, but we will continue to review free school meal eligibility, to ensure that these meals are supporting the most disadvantaged, those out of work or on the lowest incomes. In setting a threshold, the department believes that the current level, which enables children to benefit, while remaining affordable and deliverable for schools, is the right one. Extending FSM eligibility to all pupils would carry a significant financial cost.
The department is also providing over £200 million per year for the next three years to provide healthy food in the holidays via our Holiday Activities and Food programme, providing breakfast clubs in thousands of schools, as well as delivering the School Fruit and Vegetable scheme and wider government schemes such as Healthy Start vouchers.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential impact of increases in the cost of living on the number of children who will be both living in poverty and ineligible for free school meals in the next three years.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Through the provision of free school means (FSM), together with a further 1.25 million infants supported through the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy, the greatest ever proportion of school children, 37.5%, are now provided with a free meal at lunchtime, at a cost of over £1 billion a year.
The department continues to monitor the situation surrounding the rising cost of living whilst working with other government departments on support surrounding this issue. We do not have any plans to extend universal provision, but we will continue to review free school meal eligibility, to ensure that these meals are supporting the most disadvantaged, those out of work or on the lowest incomes. In setting a threshold, the department believes that the current level, which enables children to benefit, while remaining affordable and deliverable for schools, is the right one. Extending FSM eligibility to all pupils would carry a significant financial cost.
The department is also providing over £200 million per year for the next three years to provide healthy food in the holidays via our Holiday Activities and Food programme, providing breakfast clubs in thousands of schools, as well as delivering the School Fruit and Vegetable scheme and wider government schemes such as Healthy Start vouchers.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will take steps to ensure that children living in poverty who are not eligible for free school meals have access to healthy meals.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Through the provision of free school means (FSM), together with a further 1.25 million infants supported through the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy, the greatest ever proportion of school children, 37.5%, are now provided with a free meal at lunchtime, at a cost of over £1 billion a year.
The department continues to monitor the situation surrounding the rising cost of living whilst working with other government departments on support surrounding this issue. We do not have any plans to extend universal provision, but we will continue to review free school meal eligibility, to ensure that these meals are supporting the most disadvantaged, those out of work or on the lowest incomes. In setting a threshold, the department believes that the current level, which enables children to benefit, while remaining affordable and deliverable for schools, is the right one. Extending FSM eligibility to all pupils would carry a significant financial cost.
The department is also providing over £200 million per year for the next three years to provide healthy food in the holidays via our Holiday Activities and Food programme, providing breakfast clubs in thousands of schools, as well as delivering the School Fruit and Vegetable scheme and wider government schemes such as Healthy Start vouchers.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
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 increasing pay for educational psychologists, in the context of the rising cost of food and domestic bills.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The department does not currently plan to make an assessment on increasing pay for educational psychologists.
The department currently funds the tuition fees for the three-year training course for educational psychologists, as well as a bursary for the first year of the course, which is passed on to trainees. Trainees also receive a bursary for the second and third years of study, which is funded by the local authorities where trainees undertake their placements. The bursary can be used to assist with living and travel costs.
After graduation, specific employment terms, including pay, are governed by the education psychologist’s contract of employment with their employer.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the number of (a) teachers and (b) therapists employed in special educational needs schools in London; and what steps he is taking to help increase the number of (a) teachers and (b) therapists employed in those schools.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
In November 2021, there were 3,423 full-time equivalent teachers in state-funded special schools in London, which is 1,057, or 45% higher than in 2010.
The department’s priority is to ensure that we continue to attract, retain, and develop the highly skilled teachers that we need, as set out in the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy, published in 2019.
Children and young people may access therapists through a number of different routes, one of which may be directly through their school. In November 2021, there were 169 staff contracts in state-funded special schools based in London, with the main role reported as therapist. These figures will not include therapists working in schools on contracts that last for fewer than 28 days.
The further increases in school funding next year mean that high needs funding for children with more complex needs in England, including those in London special schools, is increasing by £1.65 billion over two years, between the 2021/22 and 202324 financial years. This is an increase of 21% and will bring total high needs funding to over £9.7 billion by 2023/24.
Decisions about how funding is used locally, including for the employment of specialist teachers and other specialist services, are made by local authorities and schools.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of granting kinship carers paid time off work when a child starts living with them.
Answered by Brendan Clarke-Smith
The department will consider the recommendations made in the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, including the recommendations to introduce a statutory definition of kinship care, provide kinship carers with paid time off work when a child starts living with them, and provide financial allowances at the same rate as foster carers.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing all kinship carers with a weekly allowance.
Answered by Brendan Clarke-Smith
The department will consider the recommendations made in the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, including the recommendations to introduce a statutory definition of kinship care, provide kinship carers with paid time off work when a child starts living with them, and provide financial allowances at the same rate as foster carers.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a single statutory definition of kinship care.
Answered by Brendan Clarke-Smith
The department will consider the recommendations made in the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, including the recommendations to introduce a statutory definition of kinship care, provide kinship carers with paid time off work when a child starts living with them, and provide financial allowances at the same rate as foster carers.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of guaranteeing funding for BTEC qualifications for the current parliamentary session.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The year delay to the qualifications review which was announced by my right Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education in November 2021 means that no qualifications, including BTECs, will have their funding approval removed because they overlap with T Levels before 1 August 2024.
We will continue to fund applied general style qualifications including BTECs as part of mixed programmes where there is a clear need for them, and they meet new quality and other criteria. Students will also be able to study qualifications such as BTECs as their full programme of study where there is no A level or T Level. These qualifications will continue to play an important role for 16 to 19 year olds and adults as they do now.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of restricting eligibility for student loans to people with (a) GCSEs and (b) other equivalent qualifications on social mobility in England.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
In the higher education policy statement and reform consultation, which closed on 6 May 2022, the department started a conversation on the principle of a minimum eligibility requirement (MER) for access to student finance for those intending to study a degree-level qualification.
The department sought views on what would be a fair and proportionate level at which to potentially set a MER and on proposed exemptions from such a MER, such as for mature and/or part-time students.
The department strongly believe that access to higher education should be based on a student’s attainment and ability to succeed – not their background. It’s important that students, of all backgrounds, are not pushed into courses they are not ready for, and that are unlikely to provide high-quality outcomes for them and good value for money.
In every scenario the department are considering students would have other means of progressing to a degree. This is including by first doing a Foundation Year, an Access to higher education course, retaking their GCSEs or A-Levels, or by undertaking a Level 4 or 5 qualification (for example, a Higher Technical Qualification). Successfully completing any of these would allow a student to progress to a degree, regardless of their GCSEs or A-Levels.
A decision has not yet been made on whether to introduce a MER. The department is considering consultation responses and will publish the government's response in due course.
Our published equality analysis covers impacts potentially arising from proposed higher education reforms, including minimum eligibility requirements. The published equality analysis can be accessed here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1058933/Higher_education_policy_statement_reform_consultation_-_Equality_analysis.pdf.