Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the status is of the Office for Students (OfS) investigation into academic freedoms at Sussex University and free speech launched in November 2021; and when the OfS will publish the findings of that investigation.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
As the regulator for higher education in England, the Office for Students is an independent public body. Any investigations that they conduct are a matter for them and it is not for the department to provide comment.
The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill includes a range of measures aimed at protecting and promoting freedom of speech and academic freedom in higher education in England. In particular, it introduces a new complaints route for staff, members, students and visiting speakers, to be operated by the OfS, and creates a new statutory tort, enabling individuals to seek legal redress in the courts for loss they have suffered as a result of breaches of the specified duties.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what due diligence was carried out on (a) Diversity Role Models and (b) Equaliteach, prior to those organisations receiving funding from his Department.
Answered by Will Quince
The department carried out an open grant competition in which the bids received were assessed against the required criteria, which were: understanding the anti-bullying agenda, ability to design a plan to meet the project needs, approach to stakeholder engagement, project management and governance arrangements, evaluation plans, and sustainability plans.
All five organisations had previously delivered anti-bullying support under previous department and Government Equalities Office grant schemes. The department is working with all five organisations in the normal way to ensure any training and resources produced as part of these projects are in line with our requirements.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what funds his Department has paid to Diversity Role Models in each of the last five years; and to what projects those funds were allocated.
Answered by Will Quince
During Anti-Bullying Week, the department announced funding to five leading organisations, including Diversity Role Models, to deliver new anti-bullying projects which are aimed at preventing and tackling bullying of all children and young people, including those with protected characteristics. Diversity Role Models has been offered £187,530.00 grant funding for the period from 10 August to 31 March 2022 Further details can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/more-support-for-schools-to-tackle-bullying.
In addition to this, across financial years 2016-2020 Diversity Role Models was involved in two projects as part of the Government Equalities Office (then part of the Department for Education) Anti-Homophobic, Biphobic and Transphobic (HBT) Bullying programme. They received a payment of £57,057.45 in April 2016 and were provided with £131,231.25 to as part of the 2019-20 financial year extension of the Anti-HBT Bullying programme. Further details can be found here: https://www.diversityrolemodels.org/news/diversity-role-models-appeals-to-schools-to-use-new-funding-to-tackle-bullying-of-lgbt-pupils.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what funds have been paid by his Department to Global Butterflies in each of the last five years; and to what projects those funds were allocated.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
During the period from 1 April 2017 to 9 December 2021, the department has made no payments to Global Butterflies.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 4 November 2021 to Question 61056 on Department for Education: Stonewall, for what reason his Department's Answer is different to the Answer given by his Department in an FOI response in October 2021, reference FOI 2021-0011344; and whether other funding by his Department to Stonewall was omitted in that Answer or the FOI request.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The inconsistency between the two responses consists of two elements:
This is set out in the attached table.
The department has looked into the impact that this discrepancy has had on previous FOIs and at this stage we think it is limited to three responses. The department will amend and reissue those FOI responses accordingly.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many local authorities will receive funding from the £300 million Start for Life fund announced in the Spending Review 2021.
Answered by Will Quince
The £300 million investment announced by my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, will transform services for parents, carers, babies and children in half of council areas across England.
This package of support will provide funding for: the creation of a network of family hubs (£82 million), selected local authorities to co-design their Start for Life offer with parents and carers and publish it in an accessible format (£10 million), infant and perinatal mental health support (£100 million), breastfeeding support (£50 million) and parenting programmes (£50 million) in 75 areas. Trials of innovative workforce models for health visitors will also be funded in a smaller number of council areas to test approaches to improve the support available to new parents.
The Budget set out the 2024-25 financial year profile as follows: £18 million to create a network of family hubs to improve access to services for families; £20 million for parenting support; and £66 million for the Start for Life offer for families, including breastfeeding advice and parent-infant mental health support. The Budget is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/autumn-budget-and-spending-review-2021-documents. Further information on funding profiles will be published in due course.
The Department for Education and Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) will work together to deliver this. The Department for Education will oversee the family hubs and parenting programmes, with DHSC overseeing the other components of the package.
We will set out more detail in due course on how this funding will be allocated.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much and what proportion of the £300 million Start for Life funding announced in the Spending Review 2021 will be ringfenced when it reaches local authorities.
Answered by Will Quince
The £300 million investment announced by my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, will transform services for parents, carers, babies and children in half of council areas across England.
This package of support will provide funding for: the creation of a network of family hubs (£82 million), selected local authorities to co-design their Start for Life offer with parents and carers and publish it in an accessible format (£10 million), infant and perinatal mental health support (£100 million), breastfeeding support (£50 million) and parenting programmes (£50 million) in 75 areas. Trials of innovative workforce models for health visitors will also be funded in a smaller number of council areas to test approaches to improve the support available to new parents.
The Budget set out the 2024-25 financial year profile as follows: £18 million to create a network of family hubs to improve access to services for families; £20 million for parenting support; and £66 million for the Start for Life offer for families, including breastfeeding advice and parent-infant mental health support. The Budget is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/autumn-budget-and-spending-review-2021-documents. Further information on funding profiles will be published in due course.
The Department for Education and Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) will work together to deliver this. The Department for Education will oversee the family hubs and parenting programmes, with DHSC overseeing the other components of the package.
We will set out more detail in due course on how this funding will be allocated.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will publish details of (a) how the £300 million Start for Life funding, announced in the Spending Review 2021, will be distributed between Departments and (b) the allocation of that funding over the three years of the Spending Review period.
Answered by Will Quince
The £300 million investment announced by my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, will transform services for parents, carers, babies and children in half of council areas across England.
This package of support will provide funding for: the creation of a network of family hubs (£82 million), selected local authorities to co-design their Start for Life offer with parents and carers and publish it in an accessible format (£10 million), infant and perinatal mental health support (£100 million), breastfeeding support (£50 million) and parenting programmes (£50 million) in 75 areas. Trials of innovative workforce models for health visitors will also be funded in a smaller number of council areas to test approaches to improve the support available to new parents.
The Budget set out the 2024-25 financial year profile as follows: £18 million to create a network of family hubs to improve access to services for families; £20 million for parenting support; and £66 million for the Start for Life offer for families, including breastfeeding advice and parent-infant mental health support. The Budget is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/autumn-budget-and-spending-review-2021-documents. Further information on funding profiles will be published in due course.
The Department for Education and Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) will work together to deliver this. The Department for Education will oversee the family hubs and parenting programmes, with DHSC overseeing the other components of the package.
We will set out more detail in due course on how this funding will be allocated.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the (a) Family Nurse Partnership, (b) Maternal Early Childhood Sustained Home‐visiting program and (c) other programmes delivered by health visiting services or family nurses can be included in the programmes funded from the £50 million for parenting programmes announced in the Spending Review 2021.
Answered by Will Quince
The government has announced a £300 million package to transform services for parents and babies, carers and children in half of local authorities in England, helping to deliver our levelling up ambitions. £50 million will be available for parenting support. The department will set out more detail in due course, including on which parenting programmes will be available in the selected local authorities.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what funding his Department has allocated to Equaliteach in each of the last five years; and for what projects that funding has been allocated.
Answered by Will Quince
During Anti-Bullying Week, the department announced funding to five leading organisations, including EqualiTeach, to deliver new anti-bullying projects which are aimed at preventing and tackling bullying of all children and young people, including those with protected characteristics. EqualiTeach has been offered £163,765.54 grant funding for the period from 10 August 2021 to 31 March 2022.
In addition to this, across financial years 2016-2020 the Government Equalities Office (then part of the Department for Education) provided £105,016.00 to Equaliteach as part of the 2019-20 extension of the anti-homophobic, biphobic and transphobic (anti-HBT) bullying programme. Further details can be found here: https://equaliteach.co.uk/equaliteach-statement-on-geo-and-free-to-be/.