Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether there are any church schools in multi-academy trusts where less than half of the schools in that multi-academy trust are church schools.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
As at 1 May 2019, there are 371 Multi-Academy Trusts (MAT) that include church schools. Of these, there are 99 MATs where church schools make up less than half of the academies within that Trust. We have identified church schools as those schools with a religious designation relating to the Christian faith. This includes Church of England, Greek Orthodox, Catholic and non-denominational Christian schools.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 12 December 2018 to Question 198762 on Children: Protection, what cross-cutting factors his Department has identified as affecting trends in the level of demand for children's services.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The most common factors that present themselves in children’s social care assessments are domestic abuse, neglect and mental health. Data on this is available in Tables B3 and C3 of statistical release ‘Characteristics of children in need 2017-18’ here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/characteristics-of-children-in-need-2017-to-2018.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of (a) trends in the level of (i) looked-after children and (ii) child protection plans and (b) the reasons for those trends.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
We monitor the number of children looked after and the number of children with child protection plans on an ongoing basis. Figures on the number of looked after children at the 31 March in the last five years are published in Table A1 of statistical release ‘Children looked after in England including adoption: 2017 to 2018’ at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2017-to-2018.
Figures on the number of children with child protection plans are published in Table A2 of the statistical release ‘Characteristics of children in need 2017-18’ at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/characteristics-of-children-in-need-2017-to-2018.
The government is working between now and the Spending Review 2019 to get a sharper and more granular picture of demand for children’s services, including the factors that affect this demand, to help ensure that local authorities have the resources they need. The factors that affect these trends are cross-cutting and there is variation between local authorities. We are also working with Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on the fair funding review of relative needs and resources which is looking in more detail at levels of demand in local authorities.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the (a) level of harm caused to children and (b) amount of police time expended as a result of the absence of regulations governing over 16 year old children's homes; if he will (i) instruct Ofsted to undertake inspections of those homes and (ii) introduce a fit and proper person test for directors of those homes; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
All children’s homes are governed by the same legislation and regulations, regardless of the age of the children they look after. We expect local authorities to safeguard children in their care aged over 16 in the same way they safeguard any looked-after child and for Ofsted to challenge those that are not meeting their duties.
Under the Care Standards Act (2000) and the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations (2015), all providers of children’s homes, including children’s homes catering for young people 16 and over, must be registered with Ofsted and, where the provider is an organisation or partnership, appoint a registered manager. Each individual connected to the registration of a children’s home must have their fitness to practice continually assessed by Ofsted.
We recognise the impact calls from children’s homes can have on police time. We recently published a new ‘National protocol on reducing unnecessary criminalisation of looked-after children and care leavers’: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-protocol-on-reducing-criminalisation-of-looked-after-children. This will inform social care providers, including children’s homes, on practice in responding to an incident, and aims to reduce the burden on police caused by unnecessary call-outs for low-level behaviour management and issues we would normally expect a responsible parent to manage without the support of the police.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what systems are in place for a Children Missing Education Officer to contact HM Revenue and Customs to request information on a family where there are concerns about a child not receiving a suitable education.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Local authorities (LA) have a duty to make arrangements to establish, as far as possible, the identities of children of compulsory school age in their area who are not registered pupils at a school and are not otherwise receiving suitable education. The Department issues statutory guidance to enable LAs to implement this legal duty.
This guidance does not include a prescriptive or comprehensive list of all possible actions LAs could undertake when trying to locate a child, but does set out that in some cases it may be appropriate for LAs to make enquiries via other agencies.
The guidance sets out that LAs could ‘follow local information sharing arrangements and where possible make enquiries via other local databases and agencies e.g. those of housing providers, school admissions, health services, police, refuge, Youth Justice Services, children’s social care, and HMRC’. The guidance advises LAs that it may be helpful to have local contacts with the HMRC, and other agencies, to assist them in tracing children missing education.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the criteria is for HMRC to make available to local authority children missing education officers contact details of the families concerned.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Nothing is more important than keeping children safe and in suitable education. Local authorities have a duty to make arrangements to establish, as far as possible, the identities of children of compulsory school age in their area who are not registered pupils at a school and are not receiving suitable education otherwise.
When the whereabouts of a child is unclear or unknown, local authorities should consider the individual facts of each case, and use their judgment to decide what would constitute reasonable enquiries in order to try to locate the child.
The Department does not provide a prescriptive list of actions that should be completed when trying to locate a child. In some cases, it may be appropriate for local authorities to make enquiries via other agencies, including HMRC. There is no specific criteria they are required to meet in order to be provided this information. Any sharing of information must comply with the law relating to data protection, which should be in line with local arrangements for recording and sharing information. Further information can be found in our statutory guidance on Children Missing Education: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/children-missing-education.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the statistics on educational participation and attainment by Irish Travellers in the race disparity audit can be broken down for (a) Travellers living in settled accommodation in a mixed community and (b) Travellers living on Traveller-only sites.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department does not collect information on educational participation and attainment by Irish Travelers broken down by where they live (e.g. in settled accommodation in a mixed community or on traveller-only sites).
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 28 June 2017 to Question 854 on sex and relationship education, if she will provide an update on the engagement process for statutory guidance on relationships and sex education.
Answered by Nick Gibb
We will announce shortly further details on the wider engagement process. This will set out how we will build evidence from schools, parents, younger people and other organisations to shape draft statutory guidance, which will then be subject to public consultation.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Government plans to consult on proposed changes to relationships and sex education in schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department for Education will be conducting a thorough engagement process on the scope and content of relationships education and relationships and sex education, involving a wide range of interested stakeholders. This process will seek evidence from schools and teachers; parents and pupils; experts in safeguarding and child wellbeing; subject experts; voluntary organisations and other interested parties; and other government departments and public sector bodies.
It will inform the development of regulations and statutory guidance, covering subject content, school practice and quality of delivery, which will then be subject to consultation. Following consultation, regulations will be laid in the House allowing for a full and considered debate.
We will set out more details shortly about the engagement process and the work to consider age appropriate subject content.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department operates a ban the box employment policy in respect of ex-offender job applicants with unspent convictions; and how many employees of her Department have unspent convictions.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Department for Education’s recruitment policies are fully compliant with the Ban the Box initiative. The Department does not hold information about how many employees have unspent convictions.