Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the role of safe spaces for play in the healthy development of children; and if she will have discussions with the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on steps his Department is taking to help ensure that children have access to such spaces.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In January 2024, the Department published the guidance Improving the mental health of babies, children and young people. This recognises that outdoor learning can provide the building blocks for successful learning and attainment of engagement, enjoyment, social skills and self-regulated behaviour, experiencing success, and wellbeing and confidence.
The Government has put policies in place to require local authorities to provide access to open spaces for sport and physical activity, which is important for the health and well-being of communities. Officials in the Department are engaging across the Government on this, and a wide range of issues, to promote healthier places.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she plans to take with Cabinet colleagues to ensure young people in (a) Enfield North constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield and (c) London have access to learning in nature settings.
Answered by Nick Gibb
In April 2022, the Department released its Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy. Key initiatives included ‘The National Education Nature Park’ and ‘Climate Action Award’. These programmes will engage children and young people with the natural world and directly involve them in measuring and improving biodiversity in their nursery, school, college or university
In May, as part of this initiative, the Department announced £15 million of funding to help young people in nature depleted areas, which will enable schools, colleges and nurseries to create opportunities for outdoor learning in natural settings.
Young people in Enfield may already be taking advantage of activities run by London’s National Park City Rangers.
By 2025, the Department aims to introduce a natural history GCSE, giving young people a further opportunity to engage with and develop a deeper knowledge and understanding of the natural world. In studying this GCSE, young people will explore organisms and environments in more depth and gain knowledge and practical experience of fieldwork. This new qualification adds to fieldwork opportunities already available in subjects such as geography. As we deliver on our climate change strategy, the Department will continue to work across Government to identify opportunities for young people to access learning in nature settings.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if her Department will take steps with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to help promote low-cost visits and stays in the natural environment for targeted groups with the purpose of supporting individuals' wellbeing.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Within Countryside Stewardship (CS) and Environmental Stewardship (ES), we provide opportunities for school pupils and care farming clients to visit farms and engage with farming and the environment. There are approximately 800 live CS agreements and 500 live ES agreements offering educational access. We will continue to provide funding for educational purposes making it possible for more school pupils and care farming clients to access these nature rich environments.
The Department for Education launched the Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy for Education and Children’s Services in April 2022. The strategy includes the National Education Nature Park which will bring together all the land from across education settings into a virtual nature park enabling children and young people to get involved in taking practical action to improve the biodiversity of their setting. This will start to roll out from Autumn 2023 and is being delivered in partnership with the Natural History Museum, the Royal Horticultural Society and its prestigious partners. The Climate Action Awards will also provide opportunities to recognise the great work that young people and settings do to improve their local environment. A Natural History GCSE will also be introduced in 2025.
The Government is also providing funding to offer the Duke of Edinburgh's Award (DofE) to all mainstream secondary schools in England by 2025, allowing many more young people to benefit from this experience. DofE offers opportunities for young people to spend time in nature, including through an outdoor expedition away from home.
With funding from the Green Recovery Challenge Fund the 16-month Generation Green project connected young people to nature through new jobs, training, volunteering roles, residentials and outdoor and online learning experiences.
A number of England’s National Parks and AONBs are undertaking initiatives to provide opportunities to connect young people with nature.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will hold discussions with the Secretary of State for Education on the potential merits of teaching (a) primary and (b) secondary school children about engagement with the natural environment.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Within Countryside Stewardship (CS) and Environmental Stewardship (ES), we provide opportunities for school pupils and care farming clients to visit farms and engage with farming and the environment. There are approximately 800 live CS agreements and 500 live ES agreements offering educational access. We will continue to provide funding for educational purposes making it possible for more school pupils and care farming clients to access these nature rich environments.
The Department for Education launched the Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy for Education and Children’s Services in April 2022. The strategy includes the National Education Nature Park which will bring together all the land from across education settings into a virtual nature park enabling children and young people to get involved in taking practical action to improve the biodiversity of their setting. This will start to roll out from Autumn 2023 and is being delivered in partnership with the Natural History Museum, the Royal Horticultural Society and its prestigious partners. The Climate Action Awards will also provide opportunities to recognise the great work that young people and settings do to improve their local environment. A Natural History GCSE will also be introduced in 2025.
The Government is also providing funding to offer the Duke of Edinburgh's Award (DofE) to all mainstream secondary schools in England by 2025, allowing many more young people to benefit from this experience. DofE offers opportunities for young people to spend time in nature, including through an outdoor expedition away from home.
With funding from the Green Recovery Challenge Fund the 16-month Generation Green project connected young people to nature through new jobs, training, volunteering roles, residentials and outdoor and online learning experiences.
A number of England’s National Parks and AONBs are undertaking initiatives to provide opportunities to connect young people with nature.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will hold discussions with the Secretary of State for Education on the potential merits of providing funding for (a) residential and (b) other school visits to nature rich environments.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Within Countryside Stewardship (CS) and Environmental Stewardship (ES), we provide opportunities for school pupils and care farming clients to visit farms and engage with farming and the environment. There are approximately 800 live CS agreements and 500 live ES agreements offering educational access. We will continue to provide funding for educational purposes making it possible for more school pupils and care farming clients to access these nature rich environments.
The Department for Education launched the Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy for Education and Children’s Services in April 2022. The strategy includes the National Education Nature Park which will bring together all the land from across education settings into a virtual nature park enabling children and young people to get involved in taking practical action to improve the biodiversity of their setting. This will start to roll out from Autumn 2023 and is being delivered in partnership with the Natural History Museum, the Royal Horticultural Society and its prestigious partners. The Climate Action Awards will also provide opportunities to recognise the great work that young people and settings do to improve their local environment. A Natural History GCSE will also be introduced in 2025.
The Government is also providing funding to offer the Duke of Edinburgh's Award (DofE) to all mainstream secondary schools in England by 2025, allowing many more young people to benefit from this experience. DofE offers opportunities for young people to spend time in nature, including through an outdoor expedition away from home.
With funding from the Green Recovery Challenge Fund the 16-month Generation Green project connected young people to nature through new jobs, training, volunteering roles, residentials and outdoor and online learning experiences.
A number of England’s National Parks and AONBs are undertaking initiatives to provide opportunities to connect young people with nature.
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 plans to take with Cabinet colleagues to ensure young people have access to learning in nature settings.
Answered by Nick Gibb
In April 2022, the Department released its Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy. Key initiatives of this strategy include the National Education Nature Park and Climate Action Award. These programmes will engage children and young people with the natural world, and directly involve them in measuring and improving biodiversity in their nursery, school, college or university.
The Department has announced that £15 million will be provided, enabling schools, colleges, and nurseries to create opportunities for outdoor education in natural settings.
By 2025, the Department will aim to introduce a natural history GCSE, giving young people an opportunity to engage with and develop a deeper knowledge and understanding of the natural world. In studying this GCSE, young people will explore organisms and environments in more depth and gain knowledge and practical experience of fieldwork. This new opportunity for education adds to fieldwork opportunities already available in subjects such as geography. As the Department delivers on the climate change strategy, the Department will continue to work across Government to identify opportunities for young people to access education in nature settings.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the proportion of children accessing the Holiday activities and food programme who come from the most deprived areas.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The department is investing over £200 million a year in the holiday activities and food (HAF) programme, providing healthy meals, enriching activities and free childcare places to children from low-income families, benefiting their heath, wellbeing and learning through the provision of healthy free meals, nutritional education, and physical activities on a daily basis.
Good nutrition is essential to children’s health, development and their ability to fulfil their potential in life. The department’s HAF clubs ensure that children have access to healthy food and enriching activities throughout the school holidays.
The department’s external evaluation of the 2021 HAF summer programme found that children attending HAF reported significantly higher levels of participation in both outdoor and indoor sports and games than their non-HAF peers during a normal week. Children attending HAF were also significantly more likely to feel that they ate healthy foods over the summer. Evidence suggests HAF helped children feel more socially connected, taught them new things, and that they felt safe and enjoyed their HAF experience.
The evaluation also found that HAF local authority coordinators reported almost three-quarters of a million (730,000) children attended a HAF summer holiday club in person, of which 616,000 children’s places were directly funded by HAF and 498,000 were eligible for benefits-related FSM. The evaluation also indicated that two-thirds of HAF attendees lived in one of the 30% most deprived areas across the country.
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 effect of the Holiday activities and food programme on children's diets.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The department is investing over £200 million a year in the holiday activities and food (HAF) programme, providing healthy meals, enriching activities and free childcare places to children from low-income families, benefiting their heath, wellbeing and learning through the provision of healthy free meals, nutritional education, and physical activities on a daily basis.
Good nutrition is essential to children’s health, development and their ability to fulfil their potential in life. The department’s HAF clubs ensure that children have access to healthy food and enriching activities throughout the school holidays.
The department’s external evaluation of the 2021 HAF summer programme found that children attending HAF reported significantly higher levels of participation in both outdoor and indoor sports and games than their non-HAF peers during a normal week. Children attending HAF were also significantly more likely to feel that they ate healthy foods over the summer. Evidence suggests HAF helped children feel more socially connected, taught them new things, and that they felt safe and enjoyed their HAF experience.
The evaluation also found that HAF local authority coordinators reported almost three-quarters of a million (730,000) children attended a HAF summer holiday club in person, of which 616,000 children’s places were directly funded by HAF and 498,000 were eligible for benefits-related FSM. The evaluation also indicated that two-thirds of HAF attendees lived in one of the 30% most deprived areas across the country.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Education on ensuring conservation education is taught in schools in England.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I recently met with DfE's Minister Walker to discuss the importance of increasing children's connection and access to nature and to expand educational opportunities to support green skills and jobs. Defra and DfE worked closely on the Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy which was published on Thursday 21 April. The strategy includes the following commitments where conservation education will play a key role in delivery:
1. A commitment from DfE to increase opportunities for all children and young people to spend time in nature, learn more about it, and get involved in improving their local environment.
2. A commitment to build on the investment into the Children and Nature Programme by engaging with Defra on more research into outdoor learning and how to help schools deliver it. DfE also commit to embedding the learning from the Children and Nature Programme into their two new initiatives - the National Education Nature Park and the Climate Leaders Award. By 2030, they anticipate that participation in the National Education Nature Park, and increased opportunities to connect with nature, will increase the number of young people who become data scientists, ecologists and biologists.
3. A goal to introduce a new natural history GCSE by 2025, which will include developing a deeper understanding of conservation. This will be accompanied by a pathway of learning for children up to GCSE level so that they have the knowledge and skills to undertake the GCSE. This includes a new Primary Science Model Curriculum with an emphasis on nature. This will raise the profile of education on nature and climate change and help to ensure that young people have the right skills to progress into a career in green jobs if they choose to do so.
4. The Strategy recognises the 25 Year Environment Plan as a driver of green jobs and skills needs alongside the Net Zero Strategy and sets out the natural environment training on offer. DfE have also committed to working with Defra to help develop this offer where gaps are identified through the Green Jobs Delivery Group.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the Government's timescale is for allowing the (a) reopening of residential outdoor learning centres and (b) recommencement of residential school trips as covid-19 restrictions are eased; and what plans he has to provide additional financial support to residential outdoor learning centres.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Schools are advised against all educational visits at this time. The Department is working on advice for schools on the planning and booking of residential visits when it is safe to do so and in line with the Government’s roadmap to recovery, as set out in: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-response-spring-2021/covid-19-response-spring-2021. The advice will be published shortly.
The Government will continue to work closely with local authorities, businesses, business representative organisations, and the financial services sector to monitor the implementation of current support and understand whether there is additional need.
The Government would encourage businesses who are unable to access support, or who are unsure of the support available, to access free tailored advice through the Business Support Helpline, which can be accessed through the Business Support website at: www.gov.uk/business-support-helpline, or through local Growth Hubs in England: www.lepnetwork.net/local-growth-hub-contacts. Businesses in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland can access business support through the devolved Governments.