Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of public spending cuts on child social care.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
HM Treasury are responsible for setting government departmental budgets. Children’s social care budgets are set by local authorities from their non-ringfenced core spending power to allow councils freedom to spend according to need and local priorities.
In 2022/23, councils have access to over £54 billion in core spending power for their services, including for children and young people. This is £3.7 billion more than in 2021/22. As part of this, the government has increased the social care grant, which has risen from £410 million in 2019 to £2.35 billion this year.
Local authorities have increased spending on children’s services over time. In 2020/21 councils spent £11.1 billion on children and young people’s services. This is 23% (£2.05bn) higher than spend in 2015-16.
As announced in May 2022, the department will consider the recommendations of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, the National Panel Review into the murders of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and Star Hobson, and the Competition and Market Authority study into Children’s Social Care Placements. Plans will be set out for children’s social care reform through an implementation strategy, including cost and funding implications, in due course
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children were in local authority care in each of the last five years.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The number of children in local authority care is published annually. The latest information on the numbers of children in local authority care in each year between 1994 and 2021 is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/fast-track/119f2f49-9f37-43cd-91fe-b6c0b2ffc723.
Information for the 2022 reporting year will be published in November 2022.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many international students were accepted by British Universities in (a) 2018, (b) 2019, (c) 2020, (d) 2021 and (e) 2022.
Answered by Andrea Jenkyns
UCAS publish data on the number of international students accepted to UK higher education providers.
Data on acceptances at the end of the admission cycle is available here: https://www.ucas.com/data-and-analysis/undergraduate-statistics-and-reports/ucas-undergraduate-sector-level-end-cycle-data-resources-2021.
The 2022 admissions cycle is still in progress and latest available data is here: https://www.ucas.com/data-and-analysis/undergraduate-statistics-and-reports/statistical-releases-daily-clearing-analysis-2022.
Note that not all international students are accepted through UCAS. The Higher Education Statistics Agency publishes data on the total number of international student enrolments, with the latest data covering the 2020/21 academic year. This data is available here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/whos-in-he#numbers.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the impact of (a) inflation, (b) rising fuel prices and (c) other increases in the cost of living on the cost of children's journeys to school.
Answered by Will Quince
The department understands that many people are worried about the impact of rising prices, with many households struggling to make their incomes stretch to cover the basics.
Although the department cannot insulate people from these cost rises completely, we are stepping up to provide support, as we did during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The government is providing £37 billion of support this year, targeted at those who are most in need. The package will see millions of the most vulnerable households receive at least £1,200 of support in total this year to help with the cost of living, with all domestic electricity customers receiving at least £400 to help with their bills.
The government’s dedicated website provides more information about the broader cost of living support, which is available here: https://costoflivingsupport.campaign.gov.uk/.
The department’s home to school transport policy aims to ensure that no child is unable to access education because of a lack of transport. Local authorities must provide free home to school transport for children of compulsory school age who attend their nearest school and would not be able to walk there because of the distance, because of their special educational needs or disability, or because the route is unsafe. There are additional rights to free transport for low-income families, aimed at helping them exercise school choice. Home to school travel and transport guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-to-school-travel-and-transport-guidance.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much his Department has spent on consultancy fees in each of the last five years.
Answered by Will Quince
I refer the hon. Member for Richmond Park to the answer the former Minister for Higher and Further Education gave on 1 July 2022 to Question 22552.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that SATs do not have a negative impact on the emotional wellbeing of primary school students.
Answered by Robin Walker
Assessment is a crucial part of a child’s schooling and fundamental in a high-performing education system. At primary school, statutory assessments are an essential part of ensuring that all pupils master the basics of reading, writing and maths to prepare them for secondary school. Assessment data also enables parents, schools and the department to understand the impact of lost time in education and recovery initiatives.
Schools should encourage pupils to work hard and achieve well, but the department does not recommend that they devote excessive preparation time to assessments, and certainly not at the expense of pupils’ mental health and wellbeing. We trust schools to administer assessments in the appropriate way.
Research conducted by UCL Institute of Education, published in 2021, found that there was ‘little evidence to changes in [pupil] wellbeing around the time of key stage 2 tests, or that children in England become happier - either in general or about school - once these tests are over’.
Nevertheless, the department knows that the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted on the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people and will have an impact in the longer-term. Mental health and wellbeing are a priority for the government, and we remain committed to promoting and supporting mental health and wellbeing support in schools and colleges. In May 2021, the department announced an investment of over £17 million of mental health funding to improve mental health and wellbeing support in schools and colleges. This includes £9.5 million dedicated to training senior mental health leads in over 8,000 schools and colleges, with an additional £3 million announced this year to extend this training to even more schools and colleges. The training will equip leads with the skills and knowledge to develop a culture and ethos that promotes positive mental health wellbeing, as well as how to make the best use of local resources to support children and young people experiencing issues such as anxiety.
The department has also recently brought together all its sources of advice for schools and colleges into a single site on GOV.UK, which includes signposting to external sources of mental health and wellbeing support for teachers, school staff and school leaders. The site is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mental-health-and-wellbeing-support-in-schools-and-colleges#mental-health-and-wellbeing-resources.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many new schools built in England in each of the last 10 years have achieved net zero status.
Answered by Robin Walker
Over the past ten years, the department has designed schools that are good quality, easy to manage and maintain, and deliver low energy solutions.
In November 2021, the department launched its first specification to deliver schools that are net zero carbon in operation. All schools that are procured under this specification will not only be net zero in operation but will also incorporate a wider range of measures to tackle climate change. The department’s full specification can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/school-design-and-construction#output-specification
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to increase the provision of (a) training programmes and (b) other support for people seeking to become qualified to fit retrofitting measures in homes.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions his Department has held with the University and College Union about grievances of university staff relating to pensions, pay and working conditions.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Higher education providers are autonomous and responsible for the pay and pension provision of their staff.
While the government has no direct role in the disputes, we have been clear that we want this disagreement resolved in a way that avoids further disrupting students’ learning. We strongly encourage a resolution that delivers good value for students, staff, and providers.
The Pensions Regulator is currently working with the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), Universities UK and a range of other stakeholders as they work to find a long-term solution to the funding challenges faced by the USS.
The USS is a private pension scheme. It has more than 450,000 members, and sizable assets and liabilities. USS is one of the largest private pension schemes in the country, with assets worth over £80 billion in December 2020.
The Office for Students (OfS) has wide-ranging powers to ensure students’ interests are protected, and they expect providers to do all they can to avoid disruption to students. The OfS has written to universities to make their expectations clear: universities must abide by the conditions of registration and ensure they meet obligations under consumer protection law in relation to the impact of industrial action.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will take steps to ensure that the provision of free schools meals is extended to children from immigrant families.
Answered by Will Quince
The department will be extending free school meal (FSM) eligibility to children from all households with no recourse to public funds. Further information is available at: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2022-03-24/hcws714.
This builds on the department’s existing benefits-related criteria which ensures 1.7 million children receive a free nutritious school meal each day, and the universal infant FSM policy which has been in place since 2014, benefitting a further 1.3 million infant children.