Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to take steps to equalise (a) allowances given to foster and kinship families, (b) leave entitlements for foster and kinship families, (c) support available for children in kinship care and children in care and (d) access to training and support for kinship carers and foster carers.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Minister (Equalities)
Where a child cannot live with their birth family, local authorities have a legal duty to first consider family and friend carers. This may not always the best placement for the child, and the child may therefore be placed in the care of the local authority.
Statutory guidance on family and friends care, issued to local authorities in England, makes clear that children and young people should receive the support that they and their carers need to safeguard and promote their welfare. There is no limit on the level of support, including financial support, that local authorities can provide. All local authorities should have in place clear eligibility criteria in relation to the provision of support services for family and friend carers.
Foster carers, whether connected persons or unrelated, are entitled to an allowance to cover the costs of caring for a child. The ’Fostering Services: National Minimum Standards,’ set out the expectations that are placed on foster carers and their agencies in England. The national minimum standards set out that all foster carers should receive at least the national minimum allowance plus any agreed expenses to cover the full cost of caring for each child placed with them. These standards can be accessed here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/192705/NMS_Fostering_Services.pdf.
The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care made a set of bold and ambitious recommendations which seek to improve the financial and practical support kinship carers receive. These include recommendations on a financial allowance, a leave entitlement, and support and training for kinship carers.
The department is due to respond to these recommendations in early 2023.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the (a) real terms pay, (b) working conditions and (c) staff pension schemes of university staff; and whether she has taken any steps to resolve the industrial disputes in the higher education sector.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Universities are autonomous and responsible for the pay and pension provision of their staff. While the department plays no role in such disputes, we hope all parties can reach an agreement that delivers good value for students, staff and the universities, so that industrial action can be avoided.
It is disappointing that students who have already suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic face further disruption to their learning due to industrial action. The department hopes that all sides can work together so that students do no suffer with further learning loss. If students are worried about the impact of strikes on their education, they should raise this with their university.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 9 February 2022 to Question 117005 on Teachers: Workplace Pensions, what new regulations were implemented following engagement with the independent education sector.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Teachers’ Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 were implemented following engagement with the independent private sector.
These Regulations amended the participation rules for independent schools to allow phased withdrawal from the Teachers’ Pension Scheme.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps his Department has taken to develop of new early years training routes to support workforce development and retention in early years education and childcare.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
As part of work to support recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the department has announced up to £180 million in programmes to support workforce development, including increasing the number of places available for early years initial teacher training. Training for up to 5,000 special educational needs coordinators is also part of the development programmes
The department is also developing new early years training routes. Employer trailblazer groups have developed level 2 and 3 apprenticeships, and in August 2021, we launched a level 5 apprenticeship
Free level 3 early years qualifications are available through the Lifetime Skills Guarantee for adults without a level 3 or higher qualification. From April 2022, eligibility was expanded to include adults who are unemployed or earning below the National Living Wage annually, or £18,525, regardless of any other qualifications held.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the consultation on Childcare: regulatory changes published on 4 July 2022, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of increasing childcare ratios on safety of children; and when he expects to announce the result of that consultation.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The consultation on ‘Childcare: regulatory changes’ closed on 16 September, and the department will respond in due course. Responses from this consultation will help to build the evidence base, including understanding more around the potential effect of safeguarding in the event that department guidelines are changed.
Alongside the consultation the department ran a survey of early years providers to establish the likely impact of the changes on providers. This survey will be published in due course.
The department’s priority continues to be to provide safe, high-quality early years provision for our youngest children.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of BTEC qualifications in widening professional and educational opportunities available to disadvantaged students.
Answered by Andrea Jenkyns
As part of the post-16 qualifications review, the department has considered the available evidence about outcomes for students who have taken BTECs and other Applied General qualifications (AGQs), which many students from disadvantaged backgrounds take.
The evidence suggests that after taking into account a student’s background characteristics and prior attainment, those who followed an A level-only route generally experience better outcomes in terms of attainment and future employment impacts. Considering access to higher education (HE) and reformed AGQs, the department found that across different prior attainment bandings, students with A levels were consistently more likely to enter HE than those just holding AGQs. For those with the lowest prior attainment, mixed A level and AGQ programmes were slightly more likely to lead to HE than those with a study programme consisting only of A levels.
The department will continue to fund some alternative level 3 qualifications including BTECs where they do not overlap with A levels or T Levels, and where they meet the new quality criteria being implemented as part of the funding approval process for 2025 and beyond. Details of this will be published in due course. Qualifications such as BTECs will continue to play an important role for 16-to-19-year-olds and adults. This includes students taking these qualifications in mixed programmes alongside A levels, or as an alternative programme in areas that may be less well-served by A levels or T Levels.
The updated impact assessment published alongside the response to the second-stage consultation looked at the potential impact of the review on students, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds. This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-post-16-qualifications-at-level-3-in-england.