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 - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
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
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.
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 (a) updating Initial Teacher Training to strengthen training on SEND for all teachers and (b) including deaf awareness in all Initial Teacher Training.
Answered by Robin Walker
The department is determined that all children and young people, including those who are deaf or have a hearing impairment, receive the support they need to succeed in their education.
Since September 2020, all new teachers entering the profession benefit from at least three years of evidence based professional development and support, starting with Initial Teacher Training (ITT) based on the new ITT Core Content Framework (CCF). This is followed by a new two-year induction underpinned by the Early Career Framework (ECF). Both frameworks, developed with educational experts, will equip teachers with a clear understanding of the needs of all children, including those pupils identified within the four areas of need set out in the SEND code of practice.
ITT courses must be designed so that trainee teachers can demonstrate that they meet the Teachers’ Standards at the appropriate level which includes the requirement that all teachers must have a clear understanding of the needs of all pupils. This includes those who are deaf or have a hearing impairment. All teachers in local authority-maintained schools or non-maintained special schools in England are required to hold Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), which is awarded upon successful completion of an ITT course.
In specialist settings, in addition to holding QTS, it is a legal requirement for teachers of classes of pupils who have sensory impairments to hold the relevant mandatory qualification. Providers must be approved by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education to offer these qualifications. Teachers working in an advisory role to support such pupils should also hold the appropriate qualification.
The department intends to develop a new approval process to determine providers of mandatory qualifications in sensory impairment from the start of academic year 2023/2024. Our aim is to ensure a steady supply of teachers of children with visual, hearing, and multi-sensory impairment, in both specialist and mainstream settings.
Wider decisions relating to teachers’ professional development rest with schools, headteachers, and teachers themselves, as they are in the best position to judge their own requirements, which may include further training and development.
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 providing immediate access to full maintenance loans for medical students in line with other healthcare professional courses for the duration of their degree programme.
Answered by Will Quince
The government is committed to supporting medical students. Students attending years one to four of a standard medical degree course qualify for a fee loan to meet the full costs of their tuition, and a partially means-tested loan for living costs from Student Finance England. Students with adult or child dependants can apply for fully means-tested grants, and students who are obliged to incur additional costs while studying as a result of a disability can apply for disabled students’ allowances.
Maximum grants and loans for living costs were increased by 3.1% this academic year, and we have announced that they will increase by a further 2.3% next year. In addition, we are freezing maximum tuition fees for the 2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years. By the 2024/25 academic year, maximum fees will have been frozen for seven years, meaning reduced debt for students in real terms.
We are also reforming student loans so that new borrowers starting from the 2023/24 academic year onwards will not, under the new terms, be required to repay more than they have borrowed when adjusted for inflation.
For the fifth year of a standard medical degree course, and years two to four of accelerated medical programmes, the Government pays students’ tuition fees via a non-repayable Bursary, funded by Health Education England via the NHS Business Services Authority. Every eligible student receives an NHS Bursary at a minimum of £1,000 plus a means-tested bursary of up to £3,191.
The NHS Bursary provides additional allowances including for childcare, travel and accommodation, and to help students manage shortfalls between their income and expenditure. Students eligible for bursary support for an academic year of their course can also apply for a reduced rate non-means tested loans for living costs from Student Finance England.
Where a student is struggling financially and is eligible for the NHS Bursary, the Exceptional Support Fund is available where they may be able to claim for any sum between £100 and £3,000, depending on current financial circumstances. Additionally, Travel and Dual Accommodation Expenses provides reimbursement towards travel and accommodation costs that may be incurred whilst undertaking a practice placement.
In our guidance to the Office for Students (OfS) on funding for the 2021/22 financial year, we made clear that the OfS should protect the £256 million allocation for the student premiums to support disadvantaged students and those that need additional help. The 2022/23 financial year guidance to the OfS confirms universities will continue to be able to support students in hardship through the student premium. Ministers’ Strategic Priorities Grant guidance letter to the OfS asks that the OfS looks to protect the student premium in cash terms for 2022/23.
Alongside this, the government is also making available discretionary funding of £144 million to support vulnerable people and individuals on low incomes, including students, to support those ineligible for council tax. The government recognises many households will need support to deal with rising energy costs, and has therefore announced a package of support to help households with rising energy bills, worth £9.1 billion in the 2022/23 financial year. This includes a £200 discount on energy bills this autumn for domestic electricity customers in Great Britain, which will be paid back automatically over the next five years.
The department has secured up to £75 million to deliver a National Scholarship Scheme that will support high achieving disadvantaged students to reach their full potential whilst studying in higher education. This scholarship aims to address the ongoing financial barriers that can restrict high achieving, disadvantaged students from achieving their full academic potential whilst studying in higher education and is in addition to the significant sector interventions already in place.
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 providing schools with additional ringfenced funds to cover rising energy bills.
Answered by Robin Walker
The department recognises the concern that schools will be facing cost pressures in the coming months, particularly due to the increase in energy prices. We are looking carefully at how this will impact schools and considering what additional support we can offer.
The department knows that the vast majority of school expenditure is devoted to staff costs. This means that even while energy costs are rising, inflation in this area would have an impact on a small portion of a school’s budget overall. Energy costs represented 1.3% of local authority maintained schools spending in the 2019/20 financial year and 1.4% of academy trust spending in the 2019/20 academic year. The department pays close attention to the financial health of the sector, and we are closely assessing where energy costs may more significantly impact schools’ financial health.
Cost increases should be seen in the wider context of funding for schools. The government is delivering a £4 billion cash increase in the core schools budget next year, taking total funding to £53.8 billion. This includes an additional £1.2 billion for schools in the new schools supplementary grant for the 2022/23 financial year. Overall, this represents a 7% cash terms per pupil boost, which will help schools meet the pressures we know they are facing.
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 providing financial assistance to childminders who are unable to operate in circumstances where someone in their household has tested positive for, or has symptoms of, covid-19.
Answered by Will Quince
Since Thursday 17 March, if someone in a childminder’s household has tested positive or has COVID-19 symptoms, childminders can continue to operate at home.
Childminders are advised to follow the steps below to reduce the risk of onward transmission:
The risk assessment must demonstrate that the provision of childcare in the setting is safe, and how childminders will put into place any additional but proportionate measures. Childminders can also consider using alternative places to operate such as other childminders’ houses, where possible.