Asked by: Matt Hancock (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the guidance entitled Mobile phones in schools, published on 19 February 2024, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that students with special educational needs and disabilities who rely on mobile phones and technology for learning are not disproportionately affected by that guidance.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
All schools should have a behaviour policy which is aligned with the school’s legal duties and standards relating to the welfare of children. As part of this policy, schools should develop a mobile phone policy that prohibits the use of mobile phones and other smart technology with similar functionality to mobile phones.
Exemptions may be required for children with specific special educational needs or disabilities, including users of assistive technology. Schools have a duty under the Equality Act 2010 to take such steps as is reasonable to avoid substantial disadvantage to a disabled pupil caused by the school’s policies or practices. Allowing a disabled pupil access to their mobile phone during the school day, where it is necessary due to the nature of their disability, may be considered a reasonable adjustment and a failure to do so may be a breach of the school’s duty.
Headteachers remain responsible for deciding how to implement a mobile phone policy, taking into account the unique context of each school and its pupils. Headteachers should assess each case for adjustments and adaptations on its own merits.
The ‘Mobile phones in schools’ guidance contains practical advice for schools, including case studies, which consider how to ensure that the needs of all children are met while continuing to remove distractions in lessons and create an environment where children can focus on learning and building friendships.
Asked by: Matt Hancock (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken with schools to ensure that they differentiate their approach to mobile phone restrictions for students with special educational needs and disabilities who rely on (a) mobile phones and (b) other technology for (i) communication and (ii) learning support.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
All schools should have a behaviour policy which is aligned with the school’s legal duties and standards relating to the welfare of children. As part of this policy, schools should develop a mobile phone policy that prohibits the use of mobile phones and other smart technology with similar functionality to mobile phones.
Exemptions may be required for children with specific special educational needs or disabilities, including users of assistive technology. Schools have a duty under the Equality Act 2010 to take such steps as is reasonable to avoid substantial disadvantage to a disabled pupil caused by the school’s policies or practices. Allowing a disabled pupil access to their mobile phone during the school day, where it is necessary due to the nature of their disability, may be considered a reasonable adjustment and a failure to do so may be a breach of the school’s duty.
Headteachers remain responsible for deciding how to implement a mobile phone policy, taking into account the unique context of each school and its pupils. Headteachers should assess each case for adjustments and adaptations on its own merits.
The ‘Mobile phones in schools’ guidance contains practical advice for schools, including case studies, which consider how to ensure that the needs of all children are met while continuing to remove distractions in lessons and create an environment where children can focus on learning and building friendships.
Asked by: Matt Hancock (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has put provisions in place to accommodate the needs of students with special educational needs and disabilities who rely on (a) mobile phones and (b) other technology for learning.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
All schools should have a behaviour policy which is aligned with the school’s legal duties and standards relating to the welfare of children. As part of this policy, schools should develop a mobile phone policy that prohibits the use of mobile phones and other smart technology with similar functionality to mobile phones.
Exemptions may be required for children with specific special educational needs or disabilities, including users of assistive technology. Schools have a duty under the Equality Act 2010 to take such steps as is reasonable to avoid substantial disadvantage to a disabled pupil caused by the school’s policies or practices. Allowing a disabled pupil access to their mobile phone during the school day, where it is necessary due to the nature of their disability, may be considered a reasonable adjustment and a failure to do so may be a breach of the school’s duty.
Headteachers remain responsible for deciding how to implement a mobile phone policy, taking into account the unique context of each school and its pupils. Headteachers should assess each case for adjustments and adaptations on its own merits.
The ‘Mobile phones in schools’ guidance contains practical advice for schools, including case studies, which consider how to ensure that the needs of all children are met while continuing to remove distractions in lessons and create an environment where children can focus on learning and building friendships.
Asked by: Matt Hancock (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to introduce mechanisms for students with special educational needs and disabilities to request exemptions from mobile phone bans based on their educational needs.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
All schools should have a behaviour policy which is aligned with the school’s legal duties and standards relating to the welfare of children. As part of this policy, schools should develop a mobile phone policy that prohibits the use of mobile phones and other smart technology with similar functionality to mobile phones.
Exemptions may be required for children with specific special educational needs or disabilities, including users of assistive technology. Schools have a duty under the Equality Act 2010 to take such steps as is reasonable to avoid substantial disadvantage to a disabled pupil caused by the school’s policies or practices. Allowing a disabled pupil access to their mobile phone during the school day, where it is necessary due to the nature of their disability, may be considered a reasonable adjustment and a failure to do so may be a breach of the school’s duty.
Headteachers remain responsible for deciding how to implement a mobile phone policy, taking into account the unique context of each school and its pupils. Headteachers should assess each case for adjustments and adaptations on its own merits.
The ‘Mobile phones in schools’ guidance contains practical advice for schools, including case studies, which consider how to ensure that the needs of all children are met while continuing to remove distractions in lessons and create an environment where children can focus on learning and building friendships.
Asked by: Robert Buckland (Conservative - South Swindon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of NHS England’s Dynamic Support Register policy.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
NHS England published updated policy and guidance on Dynamic Support Registers (DSRs) and Care (Education) and Treatment Reviews (C(E)TRs) on 25 January 2023, for implementation from 1 May 2023. The purpose of the updated policy and guidance is to help ensure that people with a learning disability and autistic people get the right support, to stay well in their communities.
NHS England produced the updated policy and guidance following a process of reviewing the learning since the inception of DSRs and C(E)TRs, including consultation and engagement with people with lived experience. This process included drawing on the findings of the Norfolk Safeguarding Adults Board’s review of the deaths of Joanna, Jon, and Ben at Cawston Park in Norfolk, and the subsequent safe and wellbeing reviews for all people with a learning disability and autistic people in mental health hospitals.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much her Department spent on autism assessments in each of the last five years; how much funding her Department has allocated to autism assessments in each of the next three years; and what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of that funding in meeting the target waiting time for such an assessment.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Information on the total spend on autism assessments is not held centrally. NHS England is responsible for funding allocations to integrated care boards (ICBs), which are responsible for commissioning services using these core allocations to meet the needs of their local populations, including autism assessment services. The following table shows the total baseline expenditure in ICBs for learning disability and autism services over the last five years, disaggregated for autism services where possible:
| Learning disability | Autism services | Unseparated learning disability and autism services | Total |
2019/20 | N/A | N/A | £1,809,200,000 | £1,809,200,000 |
2020/21 | N/A | N/A | £2,285,600,000 | £2,285,600,000 |
2021/22 | £85,800,000 | £3,700,000 | £2,268,300,000 | £2,357,900,000 |
2022/23 | £625,800,000 | £27,100,000 | £1,928,800,000 | £2,581,700,000 |
2023/24 | £926,000,000 | £47,100,000 | £1,928,800,000 | £2,904,600,000 |
In addition, specific funding has been allocated to ICBs in 2023/4 and 2024/25 from the Service Development Funding, to improve autism assessment waiting lists and pathways. The following table shows information on the additional national funding allocated to ICBs by NHS England, over each of the last five years, to improve autism assessment waiting lists and pathways:
| Service Development Funding via the NHS Long Term Plan Transformation Funding | Spending Review 2021 via the COVID-19 Recovery Fund | Total funding for autism assessment pathways |
2019/20 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
2020/21 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
2021/22 | £2,500,000 | £14,500,000 | £17,000,000 |
2022/23 | £5,000,000 | N/A | £5,000,000 |
2023/24 | £4,200,000 | N/A | £4,200,000 |
2024/25 | £4,300,000 | N/A | £4,300,000 |
Notes:
The NHS Operational and Planning Guidance 2024/25 asks local systems to improve autism assessment pathways, through implementation of the NHS England autism assessment national framework. Allocations from 2025/26 onwards are subject to future decisions on spending. Further information on the operational and planning guidance and national framework is available respectively at the following links:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/autism-diagnosis-and-operational-guidance/
A specific assessment of the adequacy of funding in meeting the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s waiting time standard for autism assessments has not been made. However, autism waiting times statistics are published on a quarterly basis. The total number of people with an open referral, where the diagnosis not yet completed, for suspected autism has increased by 47%, from 117,032 in December 2022 to 172,022 in December 2023. In December 2023, it was estimated that only 5.9% of patients whose referrals have been open in the system for at least 13 weeks received their first contact appointment within 13 weeks.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many learning disability nurses there (a) are and (b) were in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England publishes monthly Hospital and Community Health Services workforce statistics for England. These include staff working for hospital trusts and core organisations, but excludes staff working for other providers such as in primary care, general practice, or social care. This data is drawn from the Electronic Staff Record, the human resources system for the National Health Service. The statistics are available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statistics
A large proportion of learning disability nurses work outside NHS trusts, and we do not hold data on where they work. However, the Nursing and Midwifery Council publishes data on the number of nurses on the register across the United Kingdom, which will include nurses employed in other settings, such as education. Data is available in the Fields of Practice sheet in the permanent register data tables, at the following link:
https://www.nmc.org.uk/about-us/reports-and-accounts/registration-statistics/
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of learning disability nurses are in senior leadership roles.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England publishes monthly Hospital and Community Health Services workforce statistics for England. These include staff working for hospital trusts and core organisations, but excludes staff working for other providers such as in primary care, general practice, or social care. This data is drawn from the Electronic Staff Record, the human resources system for the National Health Service. The statistics are available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statistics
A large proportion of learning disability nurses work outside NHS trusts, and we do not hold data on where they work. However, the Nursing and Midwifery Council publishes data on the number of nurses on the register across the United Kingdom, which will include nurses employed in other settings, such as education. Data is available in the Fields of Practice sheet in the permanent register data tables, at the following link:
https://www.nmc.org.uk/about-us/reports-and-accounts/registration-statistics/
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an estimate of the number of health and adult social care staff that will undertake the second part of tier (a) one and (b) two of the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism in the next three years.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
We have provided estimates of the number of health and adult social care staff that would undertake Tier 1 and Tier 2 of the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training in our consultation stage impact assessment. This assessment was published as part of the public consultation on the Oliver McGowan Code of Practice. The impact assessment and wider public consultation are available, respectively, at the following two links:
For healthcare, we estimated that over the first three years of training roll-out, 1,036,000 staff would be trained at Tier 1 level, and 1,186,000 staff would be trained at Tier 2 level. For adult social care, over the same period, we estimated that 840,000 staff would be trained at Tier 1 level, and 492,000 staff would be trained at Tier 2 level. In addition, over 1.7 million people have already completed the first part of Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism, an e-learning package.
The final stage impact assessment incorporates additional evidence on the number of staff expected to undertake training, which was provided by organisations through the public consultation. The final assessment will be published in due course.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the National Learning Disability Board last met.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The final meeting of the National Learning Disability Board took place on 19 July 2016. More information is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/learning-disability-programme-board#minutes