Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to support (a) primary schools and (b) health and social care providers to identify the special education needs of children.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The statutory Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) code of practice sets out high expectations of schools about how they identify and meet the special educational needs of their pupils.
We have made clear through the Framework for Initial Teacher Training that it should equip trainees to identify the needs of all pupils and make provision for them, including seeking the advice of colleagues with specialist knowledge and experience. We are currently undertaking an audit of university-based and school-based providers of Initial Teacher Training which we will use to produce a best practice guide.
The Department for Education (DfE) has contracted with the Whole School SEND consortium, led by the National Association for Special Educational Needs, to prove support to the SEND schools’ workforce. A key aim of the contract is to equip schools to identify and meet their training needs in relation to SEND. The Consortium has produced resources and training to enable schools to review their SEND provision, to ensure they can identify and meet the needs of pupils effectively. Additionally, DfE has funded a range of organisations to develop specialist resources and training to support teachers to identify and effectively meet the needs of pupils with autism; dyslexia and specific learning difficulties; speech, language and communication needs; sensory impairments and physical disabilities. All the materials funded by the department are hosted on the SEND Gateway, an online portal which offers education professionals free, easy access to high quality information, resources and training for identifying and meeting the needs of children with SEND.
We also fund a consortium of partners, including the Council for Disabled Children, to work with health and social care services to identify and spread effective practice and to produce guidance which supports effective identification of need, joint commissioning and the improvement of education, health and care plans.
We fund a SEND leadership programme and legal training for all local authorities and their health partners to ensure they are clear on their statutory responsibilities and we have introduced joint Ofsted and Care Quality Commission (CQC) SEND inspections of the effectiveness of services in identifying and meeting the needs of children and young people with SEND and improving their outcomes. These inspections began in 2016 and all 152 areas in England will be inspected by 2021. The inspections have identified a number of strengths around identification and we are working with partners, including NHS England, to spread effective practice and further embed the principles and practice from the reforms with health and social care providers.
NHS England, DfE and the Department for Health and Social Care are also collaborating to engage local services where we identify concerns with performance. This includes providing support and challenge to local areas following their Ofsted/CQC SEND inspection.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support his Department provides to children from state nursery schools that have closed to ensure that those children are able to access alternative nursery provision.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Maintained nursery schools make a valuable contribution to improving the lives of some of our most disadvantaged children. They also experience costs over and above those of other early years providers. That is why we are providing local authorities with around £60 million a year of supplementary funding, to enable them to protect maintained nursery schools’ funding at least until 2019-20. What happens after this will be determined by the next Spending Review, and informed by research we are carrying out on the value offered by maintained nursery schools.
There is a presumption against the closure of maintained nursery schools. This does not mean that they will never close, but when they do, local authorities have a statutory requirement to ensure that alternative provision: is of at least equal quality; maintains expertise and specialism; and is more accessible and convenient for local parents.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will take steps to ensure that adequate funding is provided to ensure the sustainability of maintained nursery schools.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Maintained nursery schools make a valuable contribution to improving the lives of some of our most disadvantaged children. They also experience costs over and above those of other early years providers. That is why we are providing local authorities with around £60 million a year of supplementary funding, to enable them to protect maintained nursery schools’ funding at least until 2019-20. What happens after this will be determined by the next Spending Review, and informed by research we are carrying out on the value offered by maintained nursery schools.
There is a presumption against the closure of maintained nursery schools. This does not mean that they will never close, but when they do, local authorities have a statutory requirement to ensure that alternative provision: is of at least equal quality; maintains expertise and specialism; and is more accessible and convenient for local parents.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the finding in The Sutton Trust's report, The Lost Part-Timers, published in March 2018 that there has been a decline in the number of (a) part-time and (b) mature students in higher education, what steps his Department is taking to tackle the reasons for those declines.
Answered by Anne Milton
The government recognises that studying part-time and later in life can bring considerable benefits for individuals, employers and the wider economy. The Review of Post-18 Education and Funding will look, as part of its broad remit, at how we can encourage learning that is more flexible, like part-time, distance learning and commuter study options.
In order for everyone to benefit from higher education (HE), we have adopted a number of measures to support part-time and mature students and this academic year, part-time students will - for the first time ever - be able to access full-time equivalent maintenance loans.
Evidence also shows that shorter degree courses appeal particularly to mature students who want to retrain and enter the workplace more quickly than a traditional course would permit. The government recently published its consultation response on proposed fee cap increases for accelerated degrees through a change in regulations. We believe this will incentivise expanded provision by more providers of a greater range of accelerated degree subjects, allowing both more students and providers to realise the benefits of this form of study.
Furthermore, the Higher Education and Research Act 2017 established the Office for Students (OfS), as a regulator of HE in England. The act placed a general duty on the OfS in performing its functions, to have regard to the need to promote greater choice in the provision of HE. This choice includes the means of provision, such as part-time or distance learning. The OfS targets an element of the Teaching Grant to recognise the additional costs of part-time study. £72 million was made available in academic year 2017/18 and the same amount was allocated in academic year 2018/19, for this purpose.
Within my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State’s guidance, we have also asked the OfS and the Director for Fair Access and Participation to encourage providers to consider the different barriers that mature learners can face in their Access and Participation Plans. This covers access to, success in, as well as progress from HE.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools will not receive a cash-terms increase in their budget per pupil in 2018-19.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The national funding formula (NFF) has allocated an increase for every pupil in every school in 2018-19, with up to 3% increases for underfunded schools.
Local authorities remain responsible for setting school budgets at a local level, so schools may not always receive the per pupil increase in funding they are allocated through the NFF.
The Department will shortly publish details of the actual budgets set for schools by local authorities in 2018-19.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has has made of the adequacy of provision of services for children with special educational needs and disabilities in nursery schools.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Maintained nursery schools (MNS) make a valuable contribution to improving the lives of some of our most disadvantaged children, including those with all levels of special educational needs and disability (SEND). Many of them have specialist SEND expertise.
We have a range of measures in place to ensure that the right support can be put in place for children with SEND and that all nursery providers, including MNS, are able to access this through their local authorities. Our Disability Access Fund is worth £615 per eligible child per year, and there is also a requirement that local authorities establish a SEN Inclusion Fund to ensure children with SEND get the best from the free childcare entitlements. Furthermore, our National Funding Formula has an additional needs factor which directs more funding to local authorities with more need.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to provide adequate funding to ensure the sustainability of further education colleges.
Answered by Anne Milton
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. We have been allocated £1.5 billion for the Adult Education Budget for each year of the 2015 spending review period, up to 2020, to engage adults to participate and develop the skills and learning that they need up to level 3 to equip them for work, an apprenticeship or further learning.
Since 2016, we have made over £330 million available to support major college restructuring, supporting significant improvements to financial sustainability in the sector. We are currently considering the final applications for the Restructuring Facility and expect the final figure to rise significantly before the programme ends in March 2019.
We are actively exploring the funding and resilience of further education and will be assessing how far existing and forecast funding and regulatory structures enable high quality provision. This work will align closely with the Post-18 Funding Review, in particular, to ensure a coherent vision for further and higher education. As with other areas of departmental spending, further education funding from 2020 onwards will be considered as part of the next Spending Review.