Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the potential health risks to (a) pupils and (b) staff of the use of lead pipes in schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department takes the health and wellbeing of both pupils and staff very seriously. All schools need to be safe, well maintained, and compliant with all relevant regulations. This is the responsibility of those running the schools, which includes Local Authorities, academy trusts and voluntary aided school bodies. Where responsible bodies discover lead piping, they must take action, working, as appropriate, with water companies directly.
The Department does not collect data on whether schools have lead pipes.
All schools must ensure their water supply meets the requirements of either the School Premises (England) Regulations 2012 or the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014 for maintained schools and academies respectively.
These Regulations set strict requirements that schools must provide 'suitable drinking water facilities' and that they are clearly labelled and readily accessible at all times when schools are in use. The Water Supply Regulations 2016 require water to be wholesome at the point of consumption and the School Premises Regulations reinforces this requirement.
Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department is taking steps to remove lead pipes from schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department takes the health and wellbeing of both pupils and staff very seriously. All schools need to be safe, well maintained, and compliant with all relevant regulations. This is the responsibility of those running the schools, which includes Local Authorities, academy trusts and voluntary aided school bodies. Where responsible bodies discover lead piping, they must take action, working, as appropriate, with water companies directly.
The Department does not collect data on whether schools have lead pipes.
All schools must ensure their water supply meets the requirements of either the School Premises (England) Regulations 2012 or the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014 for maintained schools and academies respectively.
These Regulations set strict requirements that schools must provide 'suitable drinking water facilities' and that they are clearly labelled and readily accessible at all times when schools are in use. The Water Supply Regulations 2016 require water to be wholesome at the point of consumption and the School Premises Regulations reinforces this requirement.
Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her planned timetable is for publication of guidance for schools on matters relating to gender identity.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department understands that gender is a complex and sensitive issue, and that some schools and colleges feel that they need more support in this area in order to help pupils, students and parents deal with concerns raised. That is why the Department is working with the Minister for Women and Equalities to develop guidance to support schools in relation to gender questioning pupils. The Department will publish a draft for consultation later in the summer term.
Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment his Department has made of the impact of covid-19 lockdowns on the ability of local authorities and partner organisations and agencies to safeguard children.
Answered by Will Quince
Individuals who work to support children and families must be clear of what is expected of them, and how they need to work together in partnership with others. ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children (2018)’ is the statutory guidance on inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and respond to their needs. This guidance is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/942454/Working_together_to_safeguard_children_inter_agency_guidance.pdf.
Targeted area inspections, carried out jointly by Ofsted, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Probation for England and Wales, and the Care Quality Commission, provide a rigorous assessment of the quality of these multi-agency arrangements in a local area.
We know that lockdown has been a difficult time for safeguarding partners and appreciate all that they have done to safeguard vulnerable children in challenging circumstances. However, the statutory duty to work together and provide quality safeguarding services remained unchanged.
The department has been in close contact with all safeguarding partners throughout the COVID-19 outbreak to ensure they continued to identify and risk assess children in their areas. There is no doubt that the COVID-19 outbreak added challenges to services’ ability to identify and work with families, especially those intent to deceive them.
The department launched the See, Hear, Respond programme aimed to support vulnerable children and young people whose usual support networks were impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak and national restrictions. The government provided over £11 million to the programme which was delivered between June 2020 and March 2021 by a consortium of over 70 national and local organisations.
In April 2020, the government made £1.8 million available to the NSPCC to expand and promote its national helpline for adults to report concerns. While schools, social workers and the police remain at the forefront of work to protect vulnerable children, expanding the NSPCC helpline will mean many more adults know how and where to raise concerns and seek advice or support about the safety and wellbeing of any child or young person they are worried about.
Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding for the training and development of the children's social work workforce.
Answered by Will Quince
Local authorities are responsible for the training and development of their children’s social care workforce, including ensuring that their social workers meet the standards set out in the ‘Post qualifying standards: knowledge and skills statement for child and family practitioners’.
The government is providing local authorities with £4.8 billion of new grant funding over the Spending Review period to 2025. This will enable the sector to maintain vital frontline services including children’s social care. Moreover, the government has given over £6 billion in un-ringfenced funding directly to councils to support them with the immediate and longer-term impacts of COVID-19 spending pressures. Local authorities are best placed to decide how much to invest in the training and development of their children’s social care workforce.
The government supports local authorities by funding the initial training of social workers. The Department of Health and Social Care provides funding of approximately £77 million per annum for social worker initial training (both child and family and adult social). In addition, the department provides approximately £50 million per annum on fast-track initial training programmes.
The government works closely with local authorities to ensure that child and family social worker have the right skills and capability to meet the needs of children and families.
Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to support early intervention services in children's social care.
Answered by Will Quince
In the autumn budget a combined Department for Education, Department of Health and Social Care, and Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities package of £500 million for Early Help was announced. This includes a £300 million package to transform ‘Start for Life’ services and create a network of family hubs in half of council areas in England and a £200 million uplift to the Supporting Families programme.
The additional funding for Supporting Families takes the total investment to £695 million over the next 3 years, around a 40% real-terms uplift in funding for the programme by 2024-25.