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Speech in Commons Chamber - Tue 26 Mar 2024
Israel and Gaza

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View all Tobias Ellwood (Con - Bournemouth East) contributions to the debate on: Israel and Gaza

Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 25 Mar 2024
Oral Answers to Questions

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View all Tobias Ellwood (Con - Bournemouth East) contributions to the debate on: Oral Answers to Questions

Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 25 Mar 2024
Cyber-security and UK Democracy

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View all Tobias Ellwood (Con - Bournemouth East) contributions to the debate on: Cyber-security and UK Democracy

Division Vote (Commons)
25 Mar 2024 - Investigatory Powers (Amendment)Bill [Lords] - View Vote Context
Tobias Ellwood (Con) voted No - in line with the party majority and in line with the House
One of 262 Conservative No votes vs 0 Conservative Aye votes
Vote Tally: Ayes - 171 Noes - 265
Division Vote (Commons)
25 Mar 2024 - Investigatory Powers (Amendment)Bill [Lords] - View Vote Context
Tobias Ellwood (Con) voted No - in line with the party majority and in line with the House
One of 261 Conservative No votes vs 0 Conservative Aye votes
Vote Tally: Ayes - 171 Noes - 265
Division Vote (Commons)
25 Mar 2024 - Investigatory Powers (Amendment)Bill [Lords] - View Vote Context
Tobias Ellwood (Con) voted No - in line with the party majority and in line with the House
One of 251 Conservative No votes vs 0 Conservative Aye votes
Vote Tally: Ayes - 39 Noes - 257
Division Vote (Commons)
25 Mar 2024 - Investigatory Powers (Amendment)Bill [Lords] - View Vote Context
Tobias Ellwood (Con) voted Aye - in line with the party majority and in line with the House
One of 252 Conservative Aye votes vs 0 Conservative No votes
Vote Tally: Ayes - 257 Noes - 38
Written Question
Special Educational Needs: Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council to reduce the time taken to complete education, health and care plans.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission conducted a joint inspection of the local area of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole in June 2021 and identified eight areas of significant weaknesses. Following this inspection, the Local Area Partnership were required to produce a Written Statement of Action.

Where local authorities are failing to deliver consistent outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), the department works closely with them using a range of improvement programmes and SEND specialist advisors to address weaknesses.

The department has appointed a SEND specialist advisor to work closely with the Council and has approved a robust package of sector led improvement support from Bedford Borough Council. Amongst a wide range of support, the specialist advisor and Bedford Borough Council are supporting the Council with meeting the 20 week timescales within the Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan process and improving the quality of EHC plans being produced.

Alongside this support, the department has issued the Council with a statutory direction for SEND services on 26 February 2024. This is due to the inadequate progress the Council has made following the Written Statement of Action Plan since their local area SEND inspection in June 2021. In line with the direction, the department will be working closely with the local area to ensure they are supported in addressing issues and driving improvements to services.


Written Question
Childcare: South West
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to increase childcare provision in (a) Bournemouth East constituency and (b) the South West.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. Part B of the early education and childcare statutory guidance for local authorities highlights that local authorities are required to report annually to elected council members on how they are meeting their duty to secure sufficient childcare, and to make this report available and accessible to parents.

In the government’s 2023 Spring Budget, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced transformative reforms to childcare for parents, children and the economy. By the 2027/28 financial year, this government expects to be spending in excess of £8 billion every year on free hours and early education, helping families with pre-school children with their childcare costs. This represents the single biggest investment in childcare in England ever and is set to save working families using the full 30 funded hours up to £6,500 per year from when their child is nine months until they are five years old by September 2025.

Funding will be key to delivering the existing and expanded childcare entitlements. The department has substantially uplifted the hourly rate paid to local authorities to increase hourly rates paid to childcare providers. In the 2024/25 financial year, the department is investing over £400 million additional funding to deliver a significant uplift to hourly rates, building on the £204 million of additional funding paid in September.

To support the sector further to deliver the expansion of childcare support, the government is confirming that the hourly rate that providers are paid to deliver the free hours offers will increase in line with the metric used in the Spring Budget 2023. This reflects that workforce costs are the most significant costs for childcare providers and represents an additional £500 million of investment over financial years 2025/26 and 2026/27.

Alongside increasing funding rates, the government is allocating £100 million in capital funding to local authorities in the 2023/24 financial year to support the expansion of childcare places for eligible working parents and to increase the supply of wraparound care in primary schools. The funding is anticipated to deliver thousands of new places across the country.

Following the department’s consultation on changes to the early years foundation stage framework, the department has introduced flexibilities that aim to make things easier for providers, as well as continuing to explore how the department can support the sector to deliver the additional places that will be required.

The department is ensuring a phased implementation of the expansion to the 30 hours offer to allow the market to develop the necessary capacity. On 2 February 2024, the department launched ‘Do something big, Work with small children’, a new national recruitment campaign to support the recruitment and retention of talented staff to support the expansion of the 30 hours offer. This campaign will raise the profile of the sector, support the recruitment of talented staff, and recognise the lifelong impact those working in early years and childcare have on children and their families.

The department is also continuing to monitor the sufficiency of childcare places across the sector. The department’s childcare and early years provider survey shows that both the number of places available and the workforce has increased since 2022.

The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing.

Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, the department discusses what action the local authority is taking to address those issues and, where needed, supports the local authority with any specific requirements through the department’s childcare sufficiency support contract.


Written Question
Family Hubs: South West
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made on expanding Family Hubs to (a) Bournemouth East constituency and (b) the South West.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The £12 million family hubs transformation fund (TF1) is supporting 13 local authorities, including Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP), with the costs of transforming to a Family Hub model of service delivery and a strong Start for Life offer at its core. Further information about BCP's Family Hubs can be found on their website at: https://www.fid.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/family-information-directory/information/family-hubs/family-hubs-early-help-and-outreach-centres.

As part of the Family Hubs Start for Life programme, the department is also investing £300 million in 75 local authorities. Funding has been targeted to the most deprived local authorities, ensuring families get the support they need. This will fund a network of Family Hubs and specific support within those hubs for parent–infant mental health, infant feeding services, parenting support, home learning environment, and to establish parent-carer panels. In addition, all 75 local authorities will publish their Start for Life offer and the department will be providing funding for trials of innovative workforce models to a smaller number of local authorities.

As part of the Family Hubs Start for Life programme, the department is funding 4 local authorities in the South West, which are Bristol, Cornwall, Plymouth and Torbay. Further information on Family Hubs in Bristol is available at: https://www.bristol.gov.uk/residents/social-care-and-health/children-and-families/help-for-families/family-hubs. Further information on Family Hubs in Torbay is available at: https://torbayfamilyhub.org.uk/. Further information on Family Hubs in Plymouth is available at: https://www.plymouth.gov.uk/family-hubs. Further information on Family Hubs in Cornwall is available at: https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/health-and-social-care/childrens-services/family-hubs/.

The department is currently in year 2 of the programme, and all local authorities have opened at least one Family Hub and are focusing on delivering the minimum expectations as set out in the Family Hubs and Start for Life local authority guide by March 2025. This guide is accessible at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/family-hubs-and-start-for-life-programme-local-authority-guide.