Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the findings in the report by Action for Children in their report entitled Above and beyond, published on 25 April 2024 on the number of children that experience barriers to their education due to issues outside school, what steps her Department is taking to provide (a) early and (b) timely help to affected families.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government recognises the importance of providing early and timely help for children to support them to achieve their full potential at school so that they can thrive in adulthood.
At the last spending review, the department announced over £1 billion toward programmes to improve early help services from birth to adulthood, including delivering on Family Hubs and helping families facing multiple disadvantage through the Supporting Families and Holiday Activities and Food programmes.
The department’s statutory guidance, titled ‘Working together to safeguard children’, which was updated in 2023, confirms the expectation that local areas should have a range of evidence-based services available to provide early support for children and families who need it.
In ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’, the department announced plans to build on the strengths of early help services through the implementation of Family Help. In the Families First for Children Pathfinder, the department is investigating how multi-disciplinary family help teams can provide targeted support to help children and families overcome challenges at the earliest opportunity.
The department is spending more on children’s mental health services than ever before and working across government to ensure partnerships working across different sectors are delivering for children who need support.
The department is also continuing to roll out Mental Health Support Teams in education settings and supporting schools and colleges to train senior mental health leads, ensuring that as many young people as possible have access to the support they need.
Up to an additional £2.3 billion of additional funding a year since 2018/19 has been allocated to expand and transform mental health services. This is with the aim that 345,000 more children and young people will have been able to access NHS-funded mental health support by March 2024.
The department is making the ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance statutory from September 2024. This sets out how schools, local authorities and other services need to work together to support pupils at risk of poor attendance and how support provided to these families is consistent across the country.
The department’s package of wide-ranging reforms designed to support schools to improve attendance means there were 440,000 fewer children persistently absent or not attending in 2022/23 compared to 2021/22.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of the findings in the report by Action for Children in their report entitled Above and beyond, published on 25 April 2024, on the number of children that experience barriers to their education due to issues outside school.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government recognises the importance of providing early and timely help for children to support them to achieve their full potential at school so that they can thrive in adulthood.
At the last spending review, the department announced over £1 billion toward programmes to improve early help services from birth to adulthood, including delivering on Family Hubs and helping families facing multiple disadvantage through the Supporting Families and Holiday Activities and Food programmes.
The department’s statutory guidance, titled ‘Working together to safeguard children’, which was updated in 2023, confirms the expectation that local areas should have a range of evidence-based services available to provide early support for children and families who need it.
In ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’, the department announced plans to build on the strengths of early help services through the implementation of Family Help. In the Families First for Children Pathfinder, the department is investigating how multi-disciplinary family help teams can provide targeted support to help children and families overcome challenges at the earliest opportunity.
The department is spending more on children’s mental health services than ever before and working across government to ensure partnerships working across different sectors are delivering for children who need support.
The department is also continuing to roll out Mental Health Support Teams in education settings and supporting schools and colleges to train senior mental health leads, ensuring that as many young people as possible have access to the support they need.
Up to an additional £2.3 billion of additional funding a year since 2018/19 has been allocated to expand and transform mental health services. This is with the aim that 345,000 more children and young people will have been able to access NHS-funded mental health support by March 2024.
The department is making the ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance statutory from September 2024. This sets out how schools, local authorities and other services need to work together to support pupils at risk of poor attendance and how support provided to these families is consistent across the country.
The department’s package of wide-ranging reforms designed to support schools to improve attendance means there were 440,000 fewer children persistently absent or not attending in 2022/23 compared to 2021/22.
Apr. 30 2024
Source Page: UK/Rwanda: Agreement for the Provision of an Asylum Partnership to Strengthen Shared International Commitments on the Protection of Refugees and Migrants [TS No.20/2024]Found: adequate public transport links); 1.2.3.2 the importance of a relocated Child to remain in the same school
Correspondence Apr. 30 2024
Committee: International Development Committee (Department: Department for International Development)Found: We heard from representatives of the World Food Programme (WFP) , Mercy Corps, and UNICEF.
Mentions:
1: Andrea Leadsom (Con - South Northamptonshire) There was another anecdote about a school where children decided to drink the vape fluid and the school - Speech Link
2: Kirsten Oswald (SNP - East Renfrewshire) They are in the shops that are in the vicinity of or on the route to and from school. - Speech Link
3: Lisa Cameron (Con - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow) can absolutely see children going out at lunchtime and spending their money on that, instead of on food - Speech Link
4: Angela Richardson (Con - Guildford) premises or, indeed, a near miss within the school—the better we will be. - Speech Link
Apr. 30 2024
Source Page: Scottish Government response to the report of the Independent Commission for the Land-based Learning ReviewFound: In the “Purpose and Principles for Post -School Education, Research and Skills” 5 Ministers committed
Found: age and who has not yet started to attend a primary school, have the right to request an assessment
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that the cost of childcare is affordable for single parent families.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is providing over £4.1 billion by the 2027/28 financial year to fund 30 hours of free childcare per week (38 weeks per year) for working parents with children aged 9 months to 3 years in England. This will remove one of the biggest barriers to parents working by vastly increasing the amount of free childcare that working families can access. This is set to save working families using the full 30 funded hours up to £6,900 per year from when their child is nine months until they are five years old by September next year.
Already, hundreds of thousands of children aged 3 and 4 are registered for a 30-hour place, which can save eligible working parents up to £6,000 per child per year. Expanding this entitlement will help even more eligible working parents with the cost of childcare and make a real difference to the lives of those families.
To be eligible for the expanded 30 hours entitlement, as with the current 30 hours offer, parents will need to earn the equivalent of 16 hours a week at national minimum wage or living wage (£183 per week/ £9,518 per year in 2024/2025), and less than £100,000 adjusted net income per year. For families with two parents, both must be working to meet the criteria, unless one is receiving certain benefits. In a single-parent household, the single parent must meet the threshold. This offer aims to support parents to return to work or to work more hours if they wish.
In addition to the expanded entitlements, the government has also taken action to support parents on Universal Credit with childcare costs upfront when they need it, rather than in arrears. The department has increased support for these parents by increasing the childcare cost maximum amounts to £950 for one child and £1630 for two children.
Tax-Free Childcare remains available for working parents of children aged 0 to 11, or up to 17 for eligible disabled children. This can save parents up to £2,000 per year, or up to £4,000 for eligible children with disabilities and has the same income criteria as 30 hours free childcare.
The department is committed to improving the cost, choice, and availability of childcare and government funding schemes are designed to be flexible enough to support families’ different situations.
For the 2024/25 financial year, the department’s funding rates for the York local authority will be £10.30 per hour for under 2s, £7.59 per hour for the 2 year old entitlements and £5.20 per hour for 3 and 4 year olds.
The government is also investing £289 million in a new wraparound childcare programme. The government’s ambition is for all parents of primary school children who need it to be able to access childcare in their local area from 8am to 6pm. Parents will still be expected to pay to access this provision, but support will be available to eligible parents through Universal Credit childcare and Tax-Free Childcare.
Parents should expect to see an expansion in the availability of wraparound care from September 2024, with every parent who needs it able to access term-time wraparound childcare by September 2026. The department is also providing over £200 million a year for the continuation of the Holiday Activities and Food programme and the department is investing a transformational £560 million in youth services in England over the next 3 years. This is part of a wider package the government has provided long term, to support young people facing the greatest challenges.
The department will also continue 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.
Local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, the department discusses what action the local authority is taking to address those issues and where needed support the local authority with any specific requirements through our childcare sufficiency support contract.
The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the availability of flexible childcare for single parent families.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is providing over £4.1 billion by the 2027/28 financial year to fund 30 hours of free childcare per week (38 weeks per year) for working parents with children aged 9 months to 3 years in England. This will remove one of the biggest barriers to parents working by vastly increasing the amount of free childcare that working families can access. This is set to save working families using the full 30 funded hours up to £6,900 per year from when their child is nine months until they are five years old by September next year.
Already, hundreds of thousands of children aged 3 and 4 are registered for a 30-hour place, which can save eligible working parents up to £6,000 per child per year. Expanding this entitlement will help even more eligible working parents with the cost of childcare and make a real difference to the lives of those families.
To be eligible for the expanded 30 hours entitlement, as with the current 30 hours offer, parents will need to earn the equivalent of 16 hours a week at national minimum wage or living wage (£183 per week/ £9,518 per year in 2024/2025), and less than £100,000 adjusted net income per year. For families with two parents, both must be working to meet the criteria, unless one is receiving certain benefits. In a single-parent household, the single parent must meet the threshold. This offer aims to support parents to return to work or to work more hours if they wish.
In addition to the expanded entitlements, the government has also taken action to support parents on Universal Credit with childcare costs upfront when they need it, rather than in arrears. The department has increased support for these parents by increasing the childcare cost maximum amounts to £950 for one child and £1630 for two children.
Tax-Free Childcare remains available for working parents of children aged 0 to 11, or up to 17 for eligible disabled children. This can save parents up to £2,000 per year, or up to £4,000 for eligible children with disabilities and has the same income criteria as 30 hours free childcare.
The department is committed to improving the cost, choice, and availability of childcare and government funding schemes are designed to be flexible enough to support families’ different situations.
For the 2024/25 financial year, the department’s funding rates for the York local authority will be £10.30 per hour for under 2s, £7.59 per hour for the 2 year old entitlements and £5.20 per hour for 3 and 4 year olds.
The government is also investing £289 million in a new wraparound childcare programme. The government’s ambition is for all parents of primary school children who need it to be able to access childcare in their local area from 8am to 6pm. Parents will still be expected to pay to access this provision, but support will be available to eligible parents through Universal Credit childcare and Tax-Free Childcare.
Parents should expect to see an expansion in the availability of wraparound care from September 2024, with every parent who needs it able to access term-time wraparound childcare by September 2026. The department is also providing over £200 million a year for the continuation of the Holiday Activities and Food programme and the department is investing a transformational £560 million in youth services in England over the next 3 years. This is part of a wider package the government has provided long term, to support young people facing the greatest challenges.
The department will also continue 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.
Local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, the department discusses what action the local authority is taking to address those issues and where needed support the local authority with any specific requirements through our childcare sufficiency support contract.
The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing.
Apr. 29 2024
Source Page: Modernising support for independent living: the health and disability green paperFound: disabled person themselves, or of the family members or friends who act as carers instead of attending school