Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential effect on the wellbeing of vulnerable children of the UK's departure from the EU; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department for Education made extensive preparations for leaving the EU based on government planning assumptions to ensure continued support for vulnerable children. We are working with the Home Office and local authorities to ensure that vulnerable children in the care system secure a status under the EU Settlement Scheme and have their rights protected in future.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Education, whether his Department collects data from local authorities on the number of (a) trafficked and (b) at risk children in their care.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The latest information on episodes of need where trafficking was identified as a factor at the end of assessment is included in the department’s ‘Characteristics of children in need: 2018 to 2019’ statistical publication, available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/characteristics-of-children-in-need-2018-to-2019.
Table C3 of this publication shows that, at a national level, trafficking was identified as a factor at the end of assessment in 2,490 (0.5%) of the 498,870 episodes with assessment factor information in the year ending 31 March 2019.
Information on looked-after children is collected from local authorities in the annual looked-after children census, but does not include information on whether the child is specifically considered to be at risk of being trafficked.
The latest information on looked-after children is published in the ‘Children looked after in England including adoption: 2018 to 2019’ statistical release, available at the following link:
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2020 to Question 11622, on Pupils: Mental Health, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of standardising the tools such as surveys used by schools to monitor their pupils’ wellbeing.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Schools and colleges have an important role to play in supporting the mental health and wellbeing of their pupils by providing support and activities tailored to their particular needs. It is up to schools to decide what support to offer pupils and what measurement tools to use to inform those decisions.
The Department is working on guidance which will build upon the toolkit[1] issued by Public Health England. It will set out how schools can use existing measurement tools to inform different aspects of their provision. The Department will consider the use and suitability of existing tools, and decide whether to take any further action to support schools in the context of that work.
[1] https://www.annafreud.org/media/4612/mwb-toolki-final-draft-4.pdf.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department's policy is to support foster carers to maintain contact with children that they have fostered.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Maintaining contact is consistently one of the most important issues raised by children and young people. Many children value the relationships that they have, not only with family, but also with previous carers. Children should be supported and encouraged to maintain positive and constructive contact with all those who are important to them and this should include previous foster parents unless this is not consistent with the child’s best interest.
The department is currently talking to the sector to find ways that foster parents can be supported with all aspects of contact, including contact with children that they have previously fostered.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that fostering services are paying (a) at or (b) above the national minimum allowance level to foster carers.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The National Minimum Standards for fostering services are clear that every foster parent should receive an allowance that covers the full cost of caring for a child. Whilst local authorities determine the allowance paid to foster parents in their area, the National Minimum Allowance (NMA) serves as a baseline to the minimum amount that foster parents can expect to receive per week to cover the cost of a child living in their home.
The NMA rates for 2020-21 were published on 6 February. We have notified Directors of Children’s Services and reiterated that whilst it is not mandatory in regulations, we expect all fostering services to pay at least this amount.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of adequacy of the national minimum fostering allowance paid to foster carers to provide high quality care for the children they are fostering.
Answered by Vicky Ford
No foster parent should be out of pocket because of their fostering role. The National Minimum Standards for fostering services are clear that every foster parent should receive an allowance that covers the full cost of caring for a child. Whilst it is for fostering services to decide the level of financial support offered to foster parents in their area, the Department for Education recommends the National Minimum Allowance (NMA) as a minimum benchmark. No foster parent should expect to receive anything less than the NMA per week. The NMA is uplifted annually to keep in line with inflation.
Over and above the NMA, it is for fostering services to set their own payment systems. Many fostering services currently operate local fee payments for foster parents, which is often based on their skills, experience and qualifications, and/or tier based on the complexity of the child’s needs. Many local authorities also offer additional allowances for equipment costs or to cover expenses such as travel or emergency clothing or initial set-up costs.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Adoption Support Fund, how many claims have been received on behalf of previously looked after children on special guardianship orders by financial year; how many of those claims have been successful (a) in total and (b) by local authority area; and what the average amount awarded was for those claims (i) in total and (ii) by local authority area.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
As at the end of December 2019, the total number of approved applications on behalf of previously looked-after children on special guardianship orders was 3,619 with an average funding of £3,033. The number of rejected applications was 13 (0.4%). The breakdown by financial year and local authority area is attached.
As at December 2019, the total number of approved applications were 42,103 with an average funding of £3,321. The total number of rejected applications was 176 (0.4%). The breakdown by financial year and local authority area is attached.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Adoption Support Fund, how many claims have been received by financial year; how many of those claims have been successful (a) in total and (b) by local authority area; and what the average amount awarded was for those claims (i) in total and (ii) by local authority area.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
As at the end of December 2019, the total number of approved applications on behalf of previously looked-after children on special guardianship orders was 3,619 with an average funding of £3,033. The number of rejected applications was 13 (0.4%). The breakdown by financial year and local authority area is attached.
As at December 2019, the total number of approved applications were 42,103 with an average funding of £3,321. The total number of rejected applications was 176 (0.4%). The breakdown by financial year and local authority area is attached.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data his Department holds on the number of non-residential university buildings that are (a) under and (b) over 18m in height that have aluminium composite material cladding.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The safety of students and staff across the education estate remains a high priority. Since the Grenfell fire, the department has worked closely with the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) on fire safety. In line with the cross-government approach, we identified university-owned residential buildings over 18 metres with potentially dangerous aluminium composite material cladding. In the light of updated building safety guidance for owners of residential buildings published on 20 January 2020 by MHCLG, the department will gather any additional information required on residential buildings across the education estate, and we will continue to work with building owners to ensure that any subsequent remediation work, if any, is undertaken. The department does not hold information on cladding of non-residential university buildings.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data his Department holds on the number of non-residential university buildings that are (a) under and (b) over 18m in height that have high pressure laminate cladding.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The safety of students and staff across the education estate remains a high priority. Since the Grenfell fire, the department has worked closely with the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) on fire safety. In line with the cross-government approach, we identified university-owned residential buildings over 18 metres with potentially dangerous aluminium composite material cladding. In the light of updated building safety guidance for owners of residential buildings published on 20 January 2020 by MHCLG, the department will gather any additional information required on residential buildings across the education estate, and we will continue to work with building owners to ensure that any subsequent remediation work, if any, is undertaken. The department does not hold information on cladding of non-residential university buildings.