Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what special educational needs and disabilities qualifications are required for people that issue education, health and care plans on behalf of local authorities.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans are a fundamental part of the vision described in the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan, published in March 2023. The department recognises the vital role that local authority staff play in supporting families in the SEND system. We will consider the skills and training that these teams receive and, when consulting on amending the SEND Code of Practice, we will propose new guidance on delivering a responsive and supportive SEND casework service to families.
The department does not play a direct role in the monitoring of timeliness or quality of EHC plans. Officials do monitor key performance indicators, including statutory timeliness and tribunal rates. This evidence can inform decisions to provide improvement support to local areas, which includes training and workshops on EHC plan quality. It is the role of Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission to monitor the quality of EHC plans through their Area SEND inspections.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department monitors the standard of provision of Education, Health and Care Plans.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans are a fundamental part of the vision described in the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan, published in March 2023. The department recognises the vital role that local authority staff play in supporting families in the SEND system. We will consider the skills and training that these teams receive and, when consulting on amending the SEND Code of Practice, we will propose new guidance on delivering a responsive and supportive SEND casework service to families.
The department does not play a direct role in the monitoring of timeliness or quality of EHC plans. Officials do monitor key performance indicators, including statutory timeliness and tribunal rates. This evidence can inform decisions to provide improvement support to local areas, which includes training and workshops on EHC plan quality. It is the role of Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission to monitor the quality of EHC plans through their Area SEND inspections.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether parents with young people with SEND have applied to the Fair Access Protocol.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department does not hold information on which children are referred to local Fair Access Protocols.
Parents do not apply for a school place via the Fair Access Protocol directly. Parents are referred to the Protocol when they are having difficulty in securing a school place in-year, and it can be demonstrated that reasonable measures have been taken to secure a place through the usual in-year admission procedures.
Children with special educational needs, disabilities or medical conditions but without an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan are eligible for the Fair Access Protocol. Paragraph 3.17 of the Schools Admissions Code outlines the groups of children who are eligible for a place via the Fair Access Protocol.
All children whose EHC plan names a school must be admitted to the school.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many young people have not been admitted to the school named in their education, health and care plan in each of the last five years.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The department does not have access to individual Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans and, as a result, we are unable to make an assessment of how many young people are not admitted to the school named in their plan.
Starting from summer 2023, the department plans to collect data from local authorities on the capacity of special schools and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) units and resourced provision in mainstream schools, as well as forecasts of the numbers of specialist placements local authorities expect to make in SEND units and resourced provision, special schools (of all types) and alternative provision (AP). We expect this to be an annual data collection forming part of the existing School Capacity Survey, which will support local authorities in managing their specialist provision.
The department is investing £2.6 billion between now and 2025 to fund new special and AP places and improve existing provision, including opening 33 new special free schools, with a further 48 in the pipeline.
In the SEND and AP Improvement Plan of March 2023, we set out our proposal to require local authorities to provide families with a tailored list of settings as part of an amended process for naming a placement in an EHC plan.
A tailored list would allow local authorities to give clear choices to families and better meet the needs of children and young people, while supporting them to manage placements in a way that ensures financial sustainability for the future.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to (a) improve road quality and (b) reduce the number of potholes.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Government is investing more than £5.5 billion between 2020 and 2025 into local highways maintenance, which is enough to fill millions of potholes, repair dozens of bridges, and resurface roads up and down the country. It is up to local authorities to determine how best to spend this funding, based on local needs and priorities. Well-planned maintenance to prevent potholes and other defects from forming in the first place is vital, and the Department has worked with groups including the UK Roads Leadership Group and the Association of Directors, for Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport (ADEPT) to raise standards and encourage good practice in highway maintenance.
In 2019, Government provided £22.9 million into the ADEPT Live Labs programme, empowering local authorities to drive innovation, use new materials, and create new techniques for highways that can be deployed throughout the country’s local road network. This research programme concluded in June 2022.
Based on the success of this previous programme, Government is now supporting a second round of Live Labs (‘Live Labs 2’). The Government has provided £30 million for seven carbon and climate change-related projects working across four interconnected thematic areas including a UK centre of excellence for materials. These are being led by local authorities working alongside commercial and academic partners.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase the number of young adults joining the Trade Industry through training schemes such as apprenticeships.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department has invested in a range of programmes aimed at encouraging young people and adults to train, retrain and get the skills they need for employment, including in the Trade industry.
We are providing an extra £1.6 billion in 16-to-19 education by the 2024/25 financial year, compared with 2021/22. This includes up to £500 million extra a year for T Levels when fully rolled out.
The Adult Education Budget, which is £1.34 billion in the 2022/23 financial year, fully funds or co-funds skills provision for eligible adults aged 19 and above from pre-entry to level 3, to support them to gain the skills they need for work, an apprenticeship or further learning.
The department has introduced T Levels, which are two-year, level 3, technical study courses that offer young people a choice of high-quality training. 16 T Levels are now available in further education providers across the country, with T Levels in Construction leading to careers in plumbing and heating engineering, carpentry and joinery, bricklaying, plastering & painting and decorating, along with many other trade occupations.
There are nearly 100 high-quality employer-designed apprenticeship standards available in the construction sector. The department is increasing investment in apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by 2024/25 to support more apprenticeship opportunities, and we continue to offer £1,000 payments to employers when they take on apprentices aged 16 to 18, or 19 to 24 where they have an education, health and care plan. In addition, our Career Starter apprenticeships campaign is promoting apprenticeships that offer great opportunities to those leaving full-time education, such as Engineering Fitter and Plumber.
We have introduced Skills Bootcamps which are free, flexible courses of up to 16 weeks, giving people over the age of 19 the opportunity to build up sector-specific skills, with an offer of a job interview with an employer on completion. Training is available in skill areas such as construction, engineering and other technical sectors including courses in welding, electrical installation and plumbing amongst others.
Following the recent Budget announcement of an additional £34 million investment in the 2024/25 financial year, building upon the £550 million investment across the 2022/25 financial years, we will target making 64,000 training places a year available by 2024/25 to ensure that even more adult learners across all areas of the country can access Skills Bootcamps.
The Free Courses for Jobs offer gives eligible adults the chance to access high value Level 3 qualification for free. This offer includes many qualifications that are delivered flexibly and online. Qualifications are available across the country in a wide range of sectors including building, construction and engineering.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve teacher's knowledge of neurodiversity conditions.
Answered by Nick Gibb
All teachers are teachers of special education needs and disabilities (SEND), and high quality teaching is central to ensuring that pupils with SEND are given the best possible opportunity to achieve at school.
Quality teaching is the most important in-school factor in improving outcomes for all children, particularly those with SEND. From September 2020, all new teachers have benefited from at least three years of evidence based professional development and support, starting with Initial Teacher Training (ITT) based on the new ITT Core Content Framework (CCF), and followed by a new two year induction underpinned by the Early Career Framework (ECF).
All courses must be designed so that trainee teachers can demonstrate that they meet the Teachers’ Standards at the appropriate level. This includes the requirement in Standard 1, that teachers must set goals that stretch and challenge pupils of all backgrounds, abilities and dispositions as well as Standard 5, that all teachers must have a clear understanding of the needs of all pupils, including those with SEND.
The CCF sets out a minimum entitlement of the knowledge and experiences that trainees need to enter the profession in the best position possible to teach and support all pupils to succeed. The Department will be conducting a review this year of the CCF and ECF to identify how the frameworks can equip new teachers to be more confident in meeting the needs of pupils with SEND.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent steps her Department has taken to support small businesses with employing more staff.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Government has taken action to support small businesses by reversing the National Insurance rise, saving small businesses approximately £4,200 on average, as well as raising the Employment Allowance to £5,000.
The network of 38 Growth Hubs across England provides access to information and advice to SMEs, alongside our free Business Support Helpline. Businesses can also use the Apprenticeship Service to find out about funding to pay for apprenticeships.
Furthermore, small businesses can access the Recovery Loan Scheme which helps smaller businesses access loans and other kinds of finance up to £2 million per business group so they can grow and invest.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that schools provide effective support for children with Education, Health and Care Plans in (a) Ipswich constituency and (b) England.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The department is committed to ensuring that children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), wherever they live, get the support they need, including those with education, health and care (EHC) plans. The SEND and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan outlines the department’s mission to create a single, national SEND and AP system with the proposal to develop national standards as a fundamental part of this. The standards will set out what support should be available and who is responsible for providing it, to give families confidence and clarity on how the needs of children and young people will be met. As these standards will apply nationally, Ipswich is automatically included.
The plan also sets out proposals to improve the assessment and planning process for EHC plans, by introducing standardised forms and processes, and supporting guidance to provide greater consistency.
Quality teaching and support is vital for all children with SEND to reach their potential. The department will introduce a new leadership level Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator National Professional Qualification for schools. We are also taking steps to build teacher expertise in meeting the needs of children with SEND through a review of the Initial Teacher Training Core Content Framework and Early Career Framework.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress her Department has made on reducing drug related anti-social behaviour in England.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
On 27 March we published the Anti-social Behaviour (ASB) Action Plan. The ASB Action Plan commits to tackling ASB across five key themes: stronger punishment; making communities safer; building local pride; prevention and early intervention; and improving data, reporting and accountability for action.
This plan is backed by £160m of funding. This includes up to £60m to fund an increased police and other uniformed presence to clamp down on anti-social behaviour, targeting hotspots. Initially we will work with 10 police force areas, but from 2024 we will support a hotspot approach across every police force area in England and Wales.
We are also providing up to £50m to support the provision of Immediate Justice, by issuing out of court disposals with conditions to swiftly repair any damage – the aim being for them to start within 48 hours of the offence. This will start in 10 initial trailblazer police force areas and be rolled out nationally in 2024.
Specifically in relation to drug misuse, an expansion in Drug Testing on Arrest is already underway and the ASB Action Plan commits to going further, including expanding testing to all Class A drugs. In addition, the ASB Action Plan announced our intention to ban nitrous oxide. This builds on the government’s 10-year Drug Strategy ‘From Harm to Hope’. The strategy sets out an ambitious long-term vision for real change and is underpinned by a record investment of £3 billion from 2022-25. Much of this investment is in creating a world-class treatment and recovery system, including a phased expansion to deliver at least 54,500 new high-quality drug and alcohol treatment places. This will help to tackle the cycle of crime and reoffending which drugs fuel.