Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of introducing a transition period for pupils returning to school during the covid-19 outbreak in the autumn term so that they can focus on their well-being alongside academic studies.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The return to school is a vital factor in both the wellbeing and educational progress of pupils - the two reinforce each other. We have encouraged schools to focus on pastoral support as more pupils return to school this term. Children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 are now able to return to primary school, and Year 10 and 12 pupils are able to receive face-to-face support at secondary school. Primary schools with capacity can bring back additional groups, in line with existing protective measures. We have also given schools the flexibility to have face-to-face ‘check-ups’ with all pupils during the summer term.
The department has now published detailed plans for all children and young people to return to full-time education from September. The guidance highlights the particular need to focus on pastoral support and mental wellbeing as a central part of what schools provide, in order to re-engage them and rebuild social interaction with their friends and teachers. This will involve curriculum provision as well as extra-curricular and pastoral support, and our recently published relationships, sex and health education training module will support teachers with preparation to deliver content on mental health and wellbeing. The guidance for schools is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/schools-and-colleges-to-reopen-in-full-in-september.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance his Department has provided to schools on the provision of additional pastoral support for pupils when they return to school during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The government remains committed to promoting and supporting the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people.
The return to school is a key part of supporting the mental health and wellbeing of pupils, as attendance at school allows social interaction with peers, carers and teachers, which benefits wellbeing, and enables staff to directly provide pastoral support.
Throughout the government’s guidance on the wider opening of schools, we have encouraged schools to focus on pastoral support as pupils return. Children in Reception, year 1 and year 6 are now able to return to primary, and year 10 and year 12 pupils are able to receive face-to-face support at secondary. Primary schools with capacity can bring back additional groups, in line with existing protective measures, and we have given schools the flexibility to have face-to-face ‘check-ups’ with all pupils during the summer term to provide pastoral support. Our intention is for all children to return to school from September and guidance will be published soon.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that school behaviour policies do not adversely affect students who have experienced trauma as a result of the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It is important for schools to be calm and disciplined environments, where everyone follows the rules. The Department has published advice that sets out how, as schools start to welcome pupils back, schools should update their behaviour policy to reflect the new protective measures and new rules and routines:
Schools will be aware that the current circumstances can affect the mental health of pupils in a way that affects behaviour. Our guidance on mental health and behaviour in schools can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mental-health-and-behaviour-in-schools--2.
It sets out how mental health issues can bring about changes in a young person’s behaviour or emotional state and how this can be reflected within the approach to behaviour set out in Creating a Culture:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/behaviour-in-schools.
Additionally, some children will return to school having been exposed to a range of adversity including bereavement and anxiety. This may lead to an increase in social, emotional, and mental health (SEMH) concerns. We are aware that some children will need additional support and access to services such as Educational Psychologists, social workers, and counsellors, and the guidance below on supporting vulnerable children during the COVID-19 outbreak acknowledges that staff may need to be redeployed:
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to tackle delays in delivery of food vouchers through the free school meals scheme.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Since the launch of the free school meals voucher scheme, it has been upgraded and is working well for thousands of schools and families. Our supplier Edenred has indicated that orders are currently processed well within the 4-day period specified within our guidance to schools. Edenred has reported that over £169 million worth of voucher codes has been redeemed into supermarket e-gift cards by schools and families through the scheme as of Friday 19 June, and that over 17,500 schools had placed orders for the scheme.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to increase the number of supermarkets where free school meal vouchers are redeemable; and if he will take steps to help ensure that those vouchers are redeemable at (a) Co-op, (b) Spar and (c) all other supermarkets.
Answered by Vicky Ford
During this period, we are asking schools to support children who are at home and eligible for and claiming benefits-related free school meals by providing meals or food parcels through their existing food providers wherever possible. We know that many schools are successfully delivering food parcels or arranging food collections for eligible children, and we encourage this approach where it is possible. However, we recognise that providing meals and food parcels is not a practicable option for all schools. That is why on 31 March, we launched a national voucher scheme as an alternative option, with costs covered by the department.
The vouchers for free school meals can currently be spent in a variety of supermarkets. Initially, the scheme included supermarkets that already have e-gift card arrangements in place with our supplier, Edenred, including Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Morrisons, M&S and Waitrose. On Monday 27 April, we added Aldi to this list and on Wednesday 29 April, we added McColl’s. We have been working with other supermarkets to encourage them to join. Any additional supermarkets would need to have the right infrastructure to deliver e-gift cards across their network of stores.
Schools are best placed to make decisions about the most appropriate free school meal arrangements for eligible pupils during this period.
As schools open more widely, and their kitchens reopen, we expect schools to make food parcels available for collection or delivery for any children that are eligible for free school meals who are staying at home.
Where this is not possible, schools can use the national voucher scheme or make alternative voucher arrangements locally. Our guidance for schools sets out that they can be reimbursed for costs incurred where the national voucher scheme is not suitable for their families, and this can include alternative voucher arrangements with supermarkets that are not part of the national voucher scheme.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he will take to ensure infants eligible for free school meals that receive vouchers under the universal infant free school meals will continue to receive those vouchers during summer holiday 2020.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Provision for free school meals is ordinarily term time only. However, owing to the COVID-19 outbreak, the government understands that children and parents face an entirely unprecedented situation over the summer. To reflect this, we will be providing additional funding for a COVID-19 Summer Food Fund which will enable children who are eligible for benefits-related free school meals to receive food vouchers covering the six-week holiday period. This is a specific measure to reflect the unique circumstances of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Infant pupils in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 who are eligible for benefits-related free school meals will be eligible to receive vouchers as part of the COVID-19 Summer Food Fund. However, this provision is not available for children who receive universal infant free school meals and who are not eligible for benefits-related free school meals. It is right that we concentrate resources on those who are eligible for benefits-related free school meals at this time.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to allocate additional funding to schools for the employment of additional staff to support smaller class sizes from September 2020.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Schools will continue to receive their budgets for the coming year, as usual, regardless of any periods of partial or complete closure. That will ensure that they are able to continue to pay their staff and meet their other regular financial commitments.
We are also providing additional funding to schools, on top of existing budgets, to cover unavoidable costs incurred due to the COVID-19 outbreak that cannot be met from their existing resources. Our latest guidance on this is set out below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-financial-support-for-schools.
We want to see all children and young people back in school as soon as the scientific advice indicates they can because that is where they learn best. We are working towards bringing all children and young people back to school in September. We will provide further information and guidance with as much notice as possible.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding he plans to allocate to schools to facilitate additional staff from September 2020; and what the timeframe is for the announcement of that funding.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Schools will continue to receive their budgets for the coming year, as usual, regardless of any periods of partial or complete closure. That will ensure that they are able to continue to pay their staff and meet their other regular financial commitments.
We are also providing additional funding to schools, on top of existing budgets, to cover unavoidable costs incurred due to the COVID-19 outbreak that cannot be met from their existing resources. Our latest guidance on this is set out below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-financial-support-for-schools.
We want to see all children and young people back in school as soon as the scientific advice indicates they can because that is where they learn best. We are working towards bringing all children and young people back to school in September. We will provide further information and guidance with as much notice as possible.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children were in care in South Lakeland in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The information is not available in the form requested. The department is currently in the process of collecting looked after children data from local authorities for the reporting year ending 31 March 2020. Information on the number of children in care in 2019-20 will not be published until later in the year. This data is not collected below local authority area level. The latest annual figures on children in care were published in the statistical release 'Children Looked after in England including adoptions 2018-19':
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2018-to-2019.
Information at local authority and regional level can be located in the underlying data table ‘CLA2019’.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what additional support is being allocated to councils to support children in the care system during the covid-19 lockdown.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The government has provided over £3.2 billion of additional funding to support local authorities (LAs) in meeting COVID-19 related pressures, including within children’s social care.
Our latest guidance on children in care is set out below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-for-schools-and-other-educational-settings. We will keep this under very close review over the coming weeks and months to understand pressures and issues as they arise.
We have also committed over £100 million to support access to social care services and remote education, including by providing laptops, tablets and 4G wireless routers to children with a social worker who do not have access to the internet. Further, we have committed additional funding worth £26.4 million directly to charities to support vulnerable and disadvantaged children and £1.6 million to expand the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children’s helpline.
In order to ensure engagement with all children and to support effective risk assessment, through emergency legislation and with Social Work England, we have reinstated the professional registration of 8,000 former social workers so that they can re-join the profession, providing additional resource where it is required.
LAs have a statutory duty to ensure that there is sufficient provision in their area to meet the needs of the children in their care. We are committed to supporting local authorities to increase the sufficiency of care placements, having invested part of our £200 million Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme in three projects to increase councils’ capacity and improve their commissioning practice. Additional funding for 2 of these projects was confirmed on 24 April as part of the £12.1 million to support vulnerable children who are most at risk. This is in addition to having funded 7 partnerships to test new approaches to commissioning and sufficiency planning in foster care, worth almost £500,000. We have provided temporary flexibility in the fostering regulations which can be found here:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/445/contents/made.
This aims to make it easier for LAs to identify potential placements and ensure new foster carers are assessed and approved without delay.