Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the new standards for equal access to sports announced by her Department on 8 March 2023, whether her Department has issued updated guidance for schools on using the funding to support pupils with physical education, sport and games.
Answered by Nick Gibb
On 19 July 2023, the Government published an update to the School Sport and Activity Action Plan (SSAAP). The update builds on the Government’s announcement in March that set out new ambitions for equal access to PE and sport for girls and boys, two hours of PE a week, alongside over £600 million funding for the primary PE and Sport Premium and the School Games Organiser Network.
Alongside the SSAAP, the Department has published updated guidance for primary schools on the PE and Sport Premium, including a new digital tool to support schools in using the funding to the best advantage of their pupils. This will be piloted in 2024 and become mandatory in 2025.
The Department will publish non-statutory guidance for schools later this year, which will illustrate the practical steps taken by schools to provide two hours of PE and equal access for girls and boys.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he Department is taking steps to support families on low incomes through provision of nutritious meals for children over school holidays.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is aware school holidays can be particular pressure points for some families because of increased costs, such as food and childcare, and reduced incomes.
This year, the government in England is again investing over £200 million in the Holiday Activities and Food programme, with all local authorities delivering in the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays. The programme provides heathy meals, enriching activities, and free childcare places to children from low-income families, benefiting their health, wellbeing and learning. Last summer, the programme reached around 600,000 children across England, including over 475,000 children eligible for free school meals across England.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what (a) algorithmic and (b) other automated decision making systems her Department uses; and for what purposes.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Information relating to use of algorithmic and other automated decision making systems to make automated decisions is not centrally held within the Department.
The Department uses elements of Automation, Robotics and Machine Learning, although much of the work remains experimental. Most automation that has been developed is for internal use and is aimed at improving the Department’s operational processes and not to aid implementation of policies. Neither the Department’s robotics/automation nor machine learning work are used in isolation to make decisions and do not drive decisions or actions directly or in an automated fashion.
The Department’s automation and robotics work includes using business rules to assign correspondence to team queues and text readers to help read and analyse reports. It also includes automation of data flows and validation processes, robots to develop and publish management information reports and analytical insight tools, and chatbots. Guidance for public sector organisations on how to use automated or algorithmic decision making systems in a safe, sustainable and ethical way can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ethics-transparency-and-accountability-framework-for-automated-decision-making.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the number of opportunities that children from low-income families have to participate in activities during the summer holidays.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The department recognises that school holidays can be particular pressure points for some families because of increased costs such as food and childcare, and reduced incomes. For some children, that can lead to a holiday experience gap, with children from disadvantaged families less likely to access organised out-of-school activities, more likely to experience ‘unhealthy holidays’ in terms of nutrition and physical health and are more likely to experience social isolation. Free holiday clubs are a response to this issue and evidence suggests that they can have a positive impact on children and young people.
This year, the government is again investing over £200 million in our Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme, with all local authorities in England delivering the programme in the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays. The HAF programme provides heathy meals, enriching activities and free childcare places to children from low-income families, benefiting their health, wellbeing and learning. Last summer, the programme reached around 600,000 children across England, including over 475,000 children eligible for free school meals across England.
The department’s 2021 independent evaluation of the 2021 HAF summer programme found that 730,000 children attended a HAF summer holiday club in person, of which 616,000 places were directly funded by HAF and 498,000 were eligible for benefits-related free school meals (FSM). The evaluation also found that two-thirds of HAF attendees lived in one of the 30% most deprived areas across the country.
As in previous years, local authorities have discretion to use up to 15% of their funding to provide free or subsidised holiday club places for children who are not in receipt of benefits-related FSM, but who the local authority believe could benefit from HAF, such as other vulnerable children. This could include, where appropriate, providing places at HAF clubs that support working families. In deciding which children should benefit from the 15% flexible funding, local authorities are asked to ensure that these places are aligned to their local priorities. The department also encourages all our providers to offer paid places, alongside HAF-funded, to increase the reach of holiday clubs. Clubs must provide healthy free meals, nutritional education, and physical activities on a daily basis.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the affordability of school holiday clubs.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The department recognises that school holidays can be particular pressure points for some families because of increased costs such as food and childcare, and reduced incomes. For some children, that can lead to a holiday experience gap, with children from disadvantaged families less likely to access organised out-of-school activities, more likely to experience ‘unhealthy holidays’ in terms of nutrition and physical health and are more likely to experience social isolation. Free holiday clubs are a response to this issue and evidence suggests that they can have a positive impact on children and young people.
This year, the government is again investing over £200 million in our Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme, with all local authorities in England delivering the programme in the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays. The HAF programme provides heathy meals, enriching activities and free childcare places to children from low-income families, benefiting their health, wellbeing and learning. Last summer, the programme reached around 600,000 children across England, including over 475,000 children eligible for free school meals across England.
The department’s 2021 independent evaluation of the 2021 HAF summer programme found that 730,000 children attended a HAF summer holiday club in person, of which 616,000 places were directly funded by HAF and 498,000 were eligible for benefits-related free school meals (FSM). The evaluation also found that two-thirds of HAF attendees lived in one of the 30% most deprived areas across the country.
As in previous years, local authorities have discretion to use up to 15% of their funding to provide free or subsidised holiday club places for children who are not in receipt of benefits-related FSM, but who the local authority believe could benefit from HAF, such as other vulnerable children. This could include, where appropriate, providing places at HAF clubs that support working families. In deciding which children should benefit from the 15% flexible funding, local authorities are asked to ensure that these places are aligned to their local priorities. The department also encourages all our providers to offer paid places, alongside HAF-funded, to increase the reach of holiday clubs. Clubs must provide healthy free meals, nutritional education, and physical activities on a daily basis.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of taking steps with local authorities to provide subsidised holiday club spaces to children from low-income families who are not eligible for free school meals.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The department recognises that school holidays can be particular pressure points for some families because of increased costs such as food and childcare, and reduced incomes. For some children, that can lead to a holiday experience gap, with children from disadvantaged families less likely to access organised out-of-school activities, more likely to experience ‘unhealthy holidays’ in terms of nutrition and physical health and are more likely to experience social isolation. Free holiday clubs are a response to this issue and evidence suggests that they can have a positive impact on children and young people.
This year, the government is again investing over £200 million in our Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme, with all local authorities in England delivering the programme in the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays. The HAF programme provides heathy meals, enriching activities and free childcare places to children from low-income families, benefiting their health, wellbeing and learning. Last summer, the programme reached around 600,000 children across England, including over 475,000 children eligible for free school meals across England.
The department’s 2021 independent evaluation of the 2021 HAF summer programme found that 730,000 children attended a HAF summer holiday club in person, of which 616,000 places were directly funded by HAF and 498,000 were eligible for benefits-related free school meals (FSM). The evaluation also found that two-thirds of HAF attendees lived in one of the 30% most deprived areas across the country.
As in previous years, local authorities have discretion to use up to 15% of their funding to provide free or subsidised holiday club places for children who are not in receipt of benefits-related FSM, but who the local authority believe could benefit from HAF, such as other vulnerable children. This could include, where appropriate, providing places at HAF clubs that support working families. In deciding which children should benefit from the 15% flexible funding, local authorities are asked to ensure that these places are aligned to their local priorities. The department also encourages all our providers to offer paid places, alongside HAF-funded, to increase the reach of holiday clubs. Clubs must provide healthy free meals, nutritional education, and physical activities on a daily basis.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Data and Digital Infrastructure of 14 June 2023 at Topical Questions, T7, Official Report, column 286, what plans her Department has to (a) utilise the provisions in Part 3 of the Data Protection and Digital Information (No. 2) Bill and (b) use smart data in new sectors.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is preparing for the introduction of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill and has a dedicated resource that is focusing on understanding what the impact the Bill on its data protection practices. Given that the Bill has not been finalised, the Department does not have an update in respect of Part 3 as it is considering the wider impact of the changes.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 13 January 2023 to Question 113179, when she plans to place a copy of the Trustopia agreement in the Library; and for what reason the placement of the agreement in the Library has been delayed.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department has now deposited a redacted copy of the agreement in the Library.
The Department has made significant progress in improving data protection processes and intends to publish an updated summary of recommendations and actions taken, in relation to these, in spring 2023.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 3 February 2023 to Question 133725 on Department for Education: Data Protection, if she will publish the recommendations from the audit by the Information Commissioner's Office; what steps her Department has taken to implement the recommendations; what steps must be taken to implement the remaining three per cent. of recommendations; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department has now deposited a redacted copy of the agreement in the Library.
The Department has made significant progress in improving data protection processes and intends to publish an updated summary of recommendations and actions taken, in relation to these, in spring 2023.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the 2018-2020 LRS Data Breach by Trustopia, whether pupils past and present will be informed that their personal data was used by LRS for age verification purposes.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department does not use the Learning Records Service (LRS) information for age verification, although it does include dates of birth for identification purposes. The dates of birth on the service was misused by Trustopia to search for individuals that it had already acquired data to confirm the age given to Trustopia matched what was held on the LRS by the department.
UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) states that if a breach is likely to result in a high risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals, the Department must inform those concerned directly and without undue delay. As no additional personal data of pupils past and present was compromised by the breach, whilst the breach itself remained serious, it did not pose a high risk to individuals.
Once aware, the Department took immediate action and referred the incident to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). At the time of the breach, the Department was already working closely with the ICO in relation to the audit already in progress.
Procedures for monitoring unusual activity have been strengthened, along with additional improvements. These improvements include a more robust application process, better in-application audit processes that have been used to monitor and remove users who may not be using the system in accordance with their agreement, and the ability to remove or suspend accounts quickly in the event of possible misuse.
The Department has made significant progress in improving processes and has completed 97% of the ICO recommendations to date, with plans to complete the remaining recommendations by the end of March 2023. All actions relating to the LRS data breach have been completed.
The Department continues to work closely with the ICO. No further controls from the ICO have been placed upon the Department.
The Office of the Data Protection Officer leads on ensuring compliance with Data Protection Legislation for the Department, led by the Departmental Data Protection Officer. The team continues to work with the Department and the ICO to make further improvements in the Department’s data protection practices.