Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help tackle persistent school absences.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Persistent absence is a post-pandemic challenge which is affecting schools around the world. With the standards of schools continuing to rise, the benefits of this success can only be felt when all children are in school.
The department knows that persistent absence is often a symptom of other problems. Progress has already been made with 380,000 fewer children persistently absent or not attending in the 2022/23 academic year than in 2021/22. The department’s comprehensive strategy to improve attendance continues to tackle this attendance challenge.
The department has published new, stronger guidance setting out the expectations for schools, academy trusts and local authorities to work together to improve attendance. To make it easier for schools and local authorities to identify pupils at risk of becoming persistently absence, a new attendance data tool to has also been piloted with 88% of state-funded schools currently involved.
This year, the department will introduce 18 new attendance hubs, bringing the total to 32 and 2,000 schools supported to tackle persistent absence. Attendance hubs involve several leading schools sharing practical solutions with others to break down barriers to attendance. From direct pupil engagement initiatives, like breakfast clubs and extracurricular activities, to improving other schools’ processes and analysis, these hubs are already making a real difference, with more than one million pupils being supported into regular education.
The department is also expanding the three-year mentoring programme to tackle absenteeism. Backed by an additional investment of £15 million, this programme provides direct intensive one-to-one support to 10,000 persistent and severely absent pupils and their families. From September 2024, attendance mentors will work in a further ten areas. These areas are in addition to the existing pilot programme with Barnardo’s, which is already operating in Middlesbrough, Doncaster, Knowsley, Salford, and Stoke on Trent.
Ten newly appointed expert attendance advisers have also played an important role in supporting local authorities and a number of multi-academy trusts with higher levels of persistent absence to review their current practice and develops plans to improve.
Alongside these measures, the department is investing:
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential relationship between junk food advertising and trends in the levels of junk food consumption by children.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Government advice on a healthy, balanced diet is encapsulated in the United Kingdom’s national food model, the Eatwell Guide. The Department promotes the Eatwell Guide principles through platforms such as the National Health Service website and social marketing campaigns including Healthier Families and Better Health. More information on the marketing campaigns is available at the following links:
https://www.nhs.uk/healthier-families/
https://www.nhs.uk/better-health/
We have taken action to empower people to make healthier food choices, which includes implementing regulations in 2022 on out of home calorie labelling for food sold in large businesses including restaurants, cafes and takeaways and restricting the placement of less healthy products in key selling locations in store and online. We are committed to bringing forward further measures by 2025, restricting adverts on television for less healthy foods and drinks before the 9pm watershed, as well as paid-for adverts online and restricting volume price promotions of less healthy foods such as buy-one-get-one-free offers.
Measures to restrict advertising are underpinned by evidence which suggests that exposure to high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) advertising can affect what and when children eat, shaping children’s food preferences from a young age. Over time, excess consumption can lead to children becoming overweight or obese, all of which puts their future health at risk. This evidence is referenced in the recent consultation from December 2022, Introducing further advertising restrictions on TV and online for products high in fat, salt or sugar: consultation on secondary legislation. We will publish the response to the consultation in due course. More information on the consultation is available at the following link:
Through our Healthy Food Schemes, the Government provides a nutritional safety net to those who need it the most. Healthy Start, Nursery Milk and the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme together help more than three million children. Over £200 million is devoted to the Healthy Food Schemes each year to reflect this commitment.
The School Food Standards are set in legislation and require school caterers to serve healthy and nutritious food and drinks to ensure children get the energy and nutrition they need throughout the school day. The standards define the foods and drinks that must be provided, those which are restricted to a minimum, and those which must not be provided. HFSS foods are restricted.
Education around healthy eating is also covered through several curriculum subjects including design and technology, science and health education. The relationships, sex and health education statutory guidance states that by the end of primary school, pupils should know what constitutes a healthy diet; the principles of planning and preparing a range of healthy meals; the characteristics of a poor diet; and risks associated with unhealthy eating.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to reduce the consumption of junk food among children.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Government advice on a healthy, balanced diet is encapsulated in the United Kingdom’s national food model, the Eatwell Guide. The Department promotes the Eatwell Guide principles through platforms such as the National Health Service website and social marketing campaigns including Healthier Families and Better Health. More information on the marketing campaigns is available at the following links:
https://www.nhs.uk/healthier-families/
https://www.nhs.uk/better-health/
We have taken action to empower people to make healthier food choices, which includes implementing regulations in 2022 on out of home calorie labelling for food sold in large businesses including restaurants, cafes and takeaways and restricting the placement of less healthy products in key selling locations in store and online. We are committed to bringing forward further measures by 2025, restricting adverts on television for less healthy foods and drinks before the 9pm watershed, as well as paid-for adverts online and restricting volume price promotions of less healthy foods such as buy-one-get-one-free offers.
Measures to restrict advertising are underpinned by evidence which suggests that exposure to high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) advertising can affect what and when children eat, shaping children’s food preferences from a young age. Over time, excess consumption can lead to children becoming overweight or obese, all of which puts their future health at risk. This evidence is referenced in the recent consultation from December 2022, Introducing further advertising restrictions on TV and online for products high in fat, salt or sugar: consultation on secondary legislation. We will publish the response to the consultation in due course. More information on the consultation is available at the following link:
Through our Healthy Food Schemes, the Government provides a nutritional safety net to those who need it the most. Healthy Start, Nursery Milk and the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme together help more than three million children. Over £200 million is devoted to the Healthy Food Schemes each year to reflect this commitment.
The School Food Standards are set in legislation and require school caterers to serve healthy and nutritious food and drinks to ensure children get the energy and nutrition they need throughout the school day. The standards define the foods and drinks that must be provided, those which are restricted to a minimum, and those which must not be provided. HFSS foods are restricted.
Education around healthy eating is also covered through several curriculum subjects including design and technology, science and health education. The relationships, sex and health education statutory guidance states that by the end of primary school, pupils should know what constitutes a healthy diet; the principles of planning and preparing a range of healthy meals; the characteristics of a poor diet; and risks associated with unhealthy eating.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help encourage the consumption of healthy foods by children.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Government advice on a healthy, balanced diet is encapsulated in the United Kingdom’s national food model, the Eatwell Guide. The Department promotes the Eatwell Guide principles through platforms such as the National Health Service website and social marketing campaigns including Healthier Families and Better Health. More information on the marketing campaigns is available at the following links:
https://www.nhs.uk/healthier-families/
https://www.nhs.uk/better-health/
We have taken action to empower people to make healthier food choices, which includes implementing regulations in 2022 on out of home calorie labelling for food sold in large businesses including restaurants, cafes and takeaways and restricting the placement of less healthy products in key selling locations in store and online. We are committed to bringing forward further measures by 2025, restricting adverts on television for less healthy foods and drinks before the 9pm watershed, as well as paid-for adverts online and restricting volume price promotions of less healthy foods such as buy-one-get-one-free offers.
Measures to restrict advertising are underpinned by evidence which suggests that exposure to high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) advertising can affect what and when children eat, shaping children’s food preferences from a young age. Over time, excess consumption can lead to children becoming overweight or obese, all of which puts their future health at risk. This evidence is referenced in the recent consultation from December 2022, Introducing further advertising restrictions on TV and online for products high in fat, salt or sugar: consultation on secondary legislation. We will publish the response to the consultation in due course. More information on the consultation is available at the following link:
Through our Healthy Food Schemes, the Government provides a nutritional safety net to those who need it the most. Healthy Start, Nursery Milk and the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme together help more than three million children. Over £200 million is devoted to the Healthy Food Schemes each year to reflect this commitment.
The School Food Standards are set in legislation and require school caterers to serve healthy and nutritious food and drinks to ensure children get the energy and nutrition they need throughout the school day. The standards define the foods and drinks that must be provided, those which are restricted to a minimum, and those which must not be provided. HFSS foods are restricted.
Education around healthy eating is also covered through several curriculum subjects including design and technology, science and health education. The relationships, sex and health education statutory guidance states that by the end of primary school, pupils should know what constitutes a healthy diet; the principles of planning and preparing a range of healthy meals; the characteristics of a poor diet; and risks associated with unhealthy eating.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool, West Derby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to NHS figures showing a recent increase in hospital admissions for cases of (a) malnutrition and (b) nutritional deficiencies, published in The Guardian on 21 December 2023, what steps her Department is taking to improve access to (i) affordable and (ii) nutritious food.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Malnutrition is a complex condition, and it is unclear from hospital admissions data what the underlying causes are. Through our Healthy Food Schemes, the Government provides a nutritional safety net to those who need it the most. Healthy Start, Nursery Milk and the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme together help more than three million children.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to promote healthy eating in schools.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department encourages a healthy balanced diet and healthy life choices through school funding, legislation and guidance.
The standards for school food are set out in the Requirements for School Food Regulations 2014. These regulations are designed to ensure that schools provide pupils with healthy food and drink options, and to make sure that pupils have the energy and nutrition they need throughout the school day.
Under the benefits-based criteria, over 2 million of the most disadvantaged pupils are eligible for and claiming a free school meal. An additional 1.3 million infants enjoy a free, healthy and nutritious meal at lunchtime following the introduction of Universal Infant Free School Meals.
The School Fruit and Vegetables Scheme also provides over 2.2 million children in Reception and key stage 1 with a portion of fresh fruit or vegetables each day at school. Schools are encouraged to use it as an opportunity to educate children and to assist a healthy, balanced diet.
The importance of a healthy diet is also included in the science curriculum for both primary and secondary school. Healthy eating is covered through topics relating to nutrition and digestion, which cover the content of a healthy diet and the impact of diet on how the body functions.
The Relationships, Sex and Health Education statutory guidance states that by the end of primary school, pupils should know what constitutes a healthy diet; the principles of planning and preparing a range of healthy meals; the characteristics of a poor diet; and risks associated with unhealthy eating and other behaviours. By the end of secondary school pupils should know how to maintain healthy eating and the links between a poor diet and health risks.
Healthy eating and opportunities to develop pupils’ cooking skills are covered in the design and technology (D&T) curriculum. Cooking and nutrition are a discrete strand of the D&T curriculum and is compulsory in maintained schools for key stages 1 to 3. The curriculum aims to teach children how to cook and how to apply the principles of healthy eating and nutrition. The department has also introduced a new food preparation and nutrition GCSE to provide pupils with practical cookery experience and teach them the underlying scientific concepts of nutrition and healthy eating.
The Healthy Schools Rating Scheme celebrates the positive actions that schools are delivering in terms of healthy living, healthy eating and physical activity. This voluntary rating scheme is available for both primary and secondary schools.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps to provide support for students with diabetes.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Pupils at school with medical conditions should be properly supported so that they have full access to education. In 2014, the government introduced a new duty on schools to support pupils with all medical conditions and has published statutory guidance intended to help governing bodies meet their legal responsibilities. This guidance sets out the arrangements they will be expected to make, based on good practice. Schools should ensure they are aware of any pupils with medical conditions and should have policies and processes in place to ensure these can be well managed.
The government encourages all schools to promote healthy eating amongst pupils and provide healthy, tasty and nutritious food and drink. Compliance with the School Food Standards, which restricts foods that are high in fat, salt and sugar, is mandatory. It ensures that pupils always have healthy food and drink options available to them while in school, and that children get the energy and nutrition they need across the school day.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 19 September 2023 to Question198717 on Free School Meals, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that schools continue to be able to provide healthy meals; and what discussions his Department has had with schools on whether they can provide these meals within the agreed budgets.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department spends over £1 billion on the provision of free meals. Schools currently attract £480 annually through the free school meals (FSM) factor of the national funding formula, in respect of FSM-eligible pupils. This is increasing to £490 in 2024/25.
In addition to this, schools are currently plaid a meal rate of £2.53 to support the provision of Universal infant FSM.
The department continues to keep funding under review and regularly meet with stakeholders to monitor issues in this sector, including food industry representatives, school leaders and pupils.
Further to this, the department supports the provision of nutritious food in schools through ‘The Requirements for School Food Regulations’ (2014), which require schools to provide children with healthy food and drink options, and to make sure that children get the energy and nutrition they need across the school day. These regulations are available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/1603/contents/made.
The school food standards restrict foods high in fat, salt and sugar, as well as low quality reformed or reconstituted foods. Compliance with the school food standards is mandatory for all maintained schools, academies and free schools.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her Department's timescale is for replacing (a) school buildings and (b) sports facilities affected by RAAC; and what criteria her Department plans to use when judging the suitability of replacement buildings.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
An updated list of schools and colleges with confirmed cases of RAAC was published on 6 December, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-raac-management-information.
The department has committed to remove RAAC from the school estate. This will be delivered through capital grants or the School Rebuilding Programme. The department will set out further details in due course.
The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) is providing support to Responsible Bodies with revenue funding to cover a range of RAAC-related costs, including lost income due to cancelled lettings. Affected Responsible Bodies should contact their RAAC caseworker to discuss any revenue needs including lost income, so that support from the ESFA can be sought as soon as possible.
On grading, the department’s focus is on supporting schools and colleges to put in place suitable mitigations to minimise disruption to learning. Officials in the department have also been working hard to ensure that any school or college that is struggling to deliver particular assessments due to RAAC receives the support they need for their specific circumstances. Officials have asked awarding organisations to agree extensions to coursework and non-examined assessment deadlines with affected schools and colleges wherever possible within the confines of their processes and regulations.
Special consideration is only given to a candidate who has temporarily experienced illness, injury or some other event outside of their control at the time of the exam or assessment. Decisions on special consideration are made by exam boards on an individual basis. The Joint Council for Qualifications’ guidance is clear that students would not be eligible for special consideration on the grounds that teaching and learning has been disrupted by building work or a lack of facilities. This is important so that employers and/or further or higher education institutions can rely on the qualification outcomes as evidence of an individual’s abilities against the published content requirements.
The department has a robust offer of support for pupils including extra education support for those who need it. The department has made more than £1 billion available to support tutoring. Since the launch of the National Tutoring Programme in November 2020, nearly four million tutoring courses have been started.
The department is investing record amounts of pupil premium funding with £2.6 billion in 2022/23 and £2.9 billion this financial year. The department also offers wider support for pupils who are disadvantaged and may need more support, such as free school meals that support 1.9 million children and the holiday activities and food programme where the department investing over £200 million a year for the next 2 years and support for 2,500 breakfast clubs.
Ofsted is avoiding scheduling school inspections during this term for schools on the department’s published list of settings affected by RAAC. For schools impacted by RAAC, but not on the list, Ofsted will carefully consider any requests for a deferral of an inspection.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate her Department has made of the number of (a) school buildings and (b) sports facilities affected by RAAC; and whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of compensating schools for lost income due to their inability to rent out such buildings.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
An updated list of schools and colleges with confirmed cases of RAAC was published on 6 December, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-raac-management-information.
The department has committed to remove RAAC from the school estate. This will be delivered through capital grants or the School Rebuilding Programme. The department will set out further details in due course.
The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) is providing support to Responsible Bodies with revenue funding to cover a range of RAAC-related costs, including lost income due to cancelled lettings. Affected Responsible Bodies should contact their RAAC caseworker to discuss any revenue needs including lost income, so that support from the ESFA can be sought as soon as possible.
On grading, the department’s focus is on supporting schools and colleges to put in place suitable mitigations to minimise disruption to learning. Officials in the department have also been working hard to ensure that any school or college that is struggling to deliver particular assessments due to RAAC receives the support they need for their specific circumstances. Officials have asked awarding organisations to agree extensions to coursework and non-examined assessment deadlines with affected schools and colleges wherever possible within the confines of their processes and regulations.
Special consideration is only given to a candidate who has temporarily experienced illness, injury or some other event outside of their control at the time of the exam or assessment. Decisions on special consideration are made by exam boards on an individual basis. The Joint Council for Qualifications’ guidance is clear that students would not be eligible for special consideration on the grounds that teaching and learning has been disrupted by building work or a lack of facilities. This is important so that employers and/or further or higher education institutions can rely on the qualification outcomes as evidence of an individual’s abilities against the published content requirements.
The department has a robust offer of support for pupils including extra education support for those who need it. The department has made more than £1 billion available to support tutoring. Since the launch of the National Tutoring Programme in November 2020, nearly four million tutoring courses have been started.
The department is investing record amounts of pupil premium funding with £2.6 billion in 2022/23 and £2.9 billion this financial year. The department also offers wider support for pupils who are disadvantaged and may need more support, such as free school meals that support 1.9 million children and the holiday activities and food programme where the department investing over £200 million a year for the next 2 years and support for 2,500 breakfast clubs.
Ofsted is avoiding scheduling school inspections during this term for schools on the department’s published list of settings affected by RAAC. For schools impacted by RAAC, but not on the list, Ofsted will carefully consider any requests for a deferral of an inspection.