Show Search Form

Search Results

registered interest	true false
date	exactly: or between: and
answering body
answering dept id
answering dept short name
answering dept sort name
hansard heading
house id
legislature	pref label
question text
tabling member constituency
tabling member printed
uin
answer	is ministerial correction true false date of answer exactly: or between: and answer text answering member constituency answering member printed grouped question UIN question first answered answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

1132866

registered interest
date	18/06/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Education: Sustainable Development
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU with no deal on his Department’s ability to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4 in the UK.
tabling member constituency	Islington South and Finsbury
tabling member printed	Emily Thornberry
uin	266129
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2019 answer text <p>Leaving the EU, with or without a deal, will not affect the Department’s commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals.</p><p>The UK’s first Voluntary National Review (VNR) will be published shortly. The VNR will review UK action both domestically and internationally in support of Goal 4.</p><p>The Government has been clear that it does not want or expect a ‘no deal’ scenario, but whatever the outcome of our future relationship we remain committed to supporting the delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals, both domestically and internationally<strong>. </strong></p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 26/06/2019 15:11:09 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	1536 label Biography information for Emily Thornberry

1132885

registered interest
date	18/06/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children in Care
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to improve the (a) quality and (b) provision of accommodation for 16 and 17 year old children in care.
tabling member constituency	North East Bedfordshire
tabling member printed	Alistair Burt
uin	266105
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/06/2019 answer text <p>Local authorities have a duty to consider the placement for each child and are required to ensure that children in care are provided with suitable accommodation that meets their needs.</p><p> </p><p>Many children in care aged 16 and 17 live in foster care or children’s homes, which are inspected by Ofsted. Data from Ofsted’s latest annual report (2017/18) show that 84% of providers are judged as good or outstanding and 2% are inadequate.</p><p> </p><p>We are supporting local authorities to increase sufficiency of fostering, secure and non-secure residential placements and ensure that placements meet children’s needs. This includes investing £5 million in an innovation programme funding 3 projects to increase councils residential care capacity and improve commissioning practice.</p><p> </p><p>In fostering, we have invited local authorities and their partners to bid for seed funding to conduct feasibility studies into new or expanded collaborative approaches. This is across sufficiency planning, commissioning, recruitment and training of foster parents. In addition, arrangements for young people preparing to step up to, or down from residential care, or return home from foster care. The department is also increasing the number of secure children’s homes beds through our £40 million capital grants programme. In addition, the department has invested nearly £6 million in a pilot programme called Staying Close, which will provide further support for young people leaving residential care.</p><p> </p><p>Where it is judged to be in the child’s best interests, local authorities can also accommodate children in care and care leavers aged 16 or 17 in suitable unregulated provision.</p><p>Suitable accommodation is defined in regulations in the Children Act Volume 2 statutory guidance, a copy of which is available at the following link: <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/441643/Children_Act_Guidance_2015.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/441643/Children_Act_Guidance_2015.pdf</a>.</p><p> </p><p>Unregulated accommodation can be the right option for some older children in care and care leavers aged 16 or 17, providing a stepping-stone towards living as an independent adult. In some cases, the quality of accommodation provided may not be reaching the standards we would expect, so I have asked Sir Alan Wood, the Chair of the Residential Care Leadership Board, to collect evidence to help us understand where improvements might be needed.</p><p> </p><p>In light of Sir Alan Wood’s findings, we will consider whether further steps need to be taken to ensure that all children in care aged 16 or 17 are living in settings that are safe and provide the wrap-around support that they need.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 24/06/2019 11:55:45 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
tabling member	1201 label Biography information for Alistair Burt

1132890

registered interest
date	18/06/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Literacy: Children
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the National Literacy Trust report, Children, young people and digital reading, published on 30 April 2019, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the report's conclusions on the literacy benefits of children reading both digital and print formats.
tabling member constituency	Haltemprice and Howden
tabling member printed	Mr David Davis
uin	266092
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department welcomes the National Literacy Trust’s research on reading in both print and digital forms. The Department wants children to develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information, whatever the format. Research suggests that reading for pleasure is more important for children’s educational development than their parents’ level of education.</p><p> </p><p>There is sound evidence that systematic synthetic phonics is a highly effective method of teaching reading to children. Phonics performance is improving. In 2018, there were 163,000 more 6-year-olds on track to become fluent readers compared to 2012. This represented 82% of pupils meeting the expected standard in the phonics screening check, compared to just 58% when the check was introduced in 2012.</p><p> </p><p>In 2018 the Department launched a £26.3 million English Hubs Programme, building on the success of the Department’s phonics partnerships and phonics roadshows programmes. Hub schools are taking a leading role in improving the teaching of early reading through systematic synthetic phonics, early language development, and reading for pleasure. The Department has appointed 34 primary schools across England as English Hubs.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 26/06/2019 15:16:29 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	373 label Biography information for Sir David Davis

1132441

registered interest
date	17/06/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Literacy: Children
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the National Literacy Trust Report entitled Children, young people and digital reading, published April 2019, what assessment he has made of the literacy benefits of children reading both digital and print formats.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
uin	265462
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department welcomes the National Literacy Trust’s research on reading in both print and digital forms.</p><p> </p><p>The Department wants children to develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information, whatever the format. Research suggests that reading for pleasure is more important for children’s educational development than their parents’ level of education.</p><p> </p><p>There is sound evidence that systematic synthetic phonics is a highly effective method of teaching reading to children. Phonics performance is improving: in 2018, there were 163,000 more 6 year olds on track to become fluent readers compared to in 2012. This represented 82% of pupils meeting the expected standard in the phonics screening check, compared to just 58% when the check was introduced in 2012.</p><p> </p><p>Building on the success of the Department’s phonics partnerships and phonics roadshows programmes, the Department launched a £26.3 million English Hubs Programme in 2018. Hub schools are taking a leading role in improving the teaching of early reading through systematic synthetic phonics, early language development, and reading for pleasure. The Department has appointed 34 primary schools across England as English Hubs.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 20/06/2019 13:02:50 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1132492

registered interest
date	17/06/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children's Centres
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he plans to establish a children’s centre outcomes framework.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
uin	265463
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/06/2019 answer text <p>In 2013 the department published the children’s centre core purpose, which focussed on improving outcomes for children in greatest need of support. This can be found at the following link: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sure-start-childrens-centres" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sure-start-childrens-centres</a>.</p><p>In July 2018 we set an ambitious goal to halve, by 2028, the percentage of children leaving reception year without the communication, language and literacy skills they need to thrive. We have been clear about the outcomes that we are looking to achieve in the early years and it is for local authorities to decide how best to deliver local services.</p><p>To help local areas monitor and improve these outcomes, we published on 6 June 2019 the Early Years Outcomes Dashboard: <a href="https://department-for-education.shinyapps.io/smapey-dashboard/" target="_blank">https://department-for-education.shinyapps.io/smapey-dashboard/</a>. This dashboard makes the most important early years social mobility metrics easily available and will allow local authorities to benchmark their outcomes against their statistical neighbours. This is in addition to the extensive range of data made available to local authorities by Public Health England through its Child and Maternal Health profiles: <a href="https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/child-health-profiles" target="_blank">https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/child-health-profiles</a>.</p><p>In line with this emphasis on outcomes, the department has no plans to require local authorities to submit data on children’s centre use. The decision to reduce burdens on local authorities and stop requiring them to submit usage data was set out in paragraphs 5.28 and 5.29 of the Sure Start children’s centre planning and performance management guidance in 2006: <a href="https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100210171222/http:/www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/_download/?id=4974" target="_blank">https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100210171222/http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/_download/?id=4974</a>.</p><p>The department believes this is still the right approach. Local authorities should be reviewing data on service use and outcomes in order to ensure that they are meeting the duty to have sufficient children’s centres to meet local need and their commissioning decisions are informed by evidence of the impact of their local services. We will continue to work with local authorities to achieve the Secretary of State’s social mobility ambition, including through our £8.5 million early years local government programme.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi grouped question UIN 265464 question first answered 20/06/2019 16:08:42 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1132494

registered interest
date	17/06/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children's Centres
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the report entitled Closed Doors: children’s centre usage between 2014-15 and 2017-18, published in June 2019 by Action for Children, what steps he is taking to ensure that local authorities submit data on children's centre use in the early years to enable children’s centre provision to meet local need.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
uin	265464
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/06/2019 answer text <p>In 2013 the department published the children’s centre core purpose, which focussed on improving outcomes for children in greatest need of support. This can be found at the following link: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sure-start-childrens-centres" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sure-start-childrens-centres</a>.</p><p>In July 2018 we set an ambitious goal to halve, by 2028, the percentage of children leaving reception year without the communication, language and literacy skills they need to thrive. We have been clear about the outcomes that we are looking to achieve in the early years and it is for local authorities to decide how best to deliver local services.</p><p>To help local areas monitor and improve these outcomes, we published on 6 June 2019 the Early Years Outcomes Dashboard: <a href="https://department-for-education.shinyapps.io/smapey-dashboard/" target="_blank">https://department-for-education.shinyapps.io/smapey-dashboard/</a>. This dashboard makes the most important early years social mobility metrics easily available and will allow local authorities to benchmark their outcomes against their statistical neighbours. This is in addition to the extensive range of data made available to local authorities by Public Health England through its Child and Maternal Health profiles: <a href="https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/child-health-profiles" target="_blank">https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/child-health-profiles</a>.</p><p>In line with this emphasis on outcomes, the department has no plans to require local authorities to submit data on children’s centre use. The decision to reduce burdens on local authorities and stop requiring them to submit usage data was set out in paragraphs 5.28 and 5.29 of the Sure Start children’s centre planning and performance management guidance in 2006: <a href="https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100210171222/http:/www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/_download/?id=4974" target="_blank">https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100210171222/http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/_download/?id=4974</a>.</p><p>The department believes this is still the right approach. Local authorities should be reviewing data on service use and outcomes in order to ensure that they are meeting the duty to have sufficient children’s centres to meet local need and their commissioning decisions are informed by evidence of the impact of their local services. We will continue to work with local authorities to achieve the Secretary of State’s social mobility ambition, including through our £8.5 million early years local government programme.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi grouped question UIN 265463 question first answered 20/06/2019 16:08:42 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1132503

registered interest
date	17/06/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	English Language: Refugees
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of access to English language classes to reduce levels of loneliness among resettled refugees.
tabling member constituency	Nottingham North
tabling member printed	Alex Norris
uin	265589
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/06/2019 answer text <p>The government is committed to tackling loneliness and published its first loneliness strategy on 15 October 2018, bringing together the government, local government, public services, the voluntary and community sector and businesses to identify opportunities to tackle loneliness and build more integrated communities.</p><p>The government recognises that learning English is essential in enabling refugees to rebuild their lives. We are working closely across government to develop a new strategy for English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) in 2019, which will provide a shared vision for all publicly funded English language provision, including addressing the needs of refugees.</p><p>We know that language skills are crucial to help people integrate into life in England, as well as to break down barriers to work and career progression. This is why we support adults in England through the Adult Education Budget to secure the English language skills they need. The Home Office and the Department for Education have also provided £10 million to enable refugees resettled through the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme to access additional classes.</p> answering member constituency Guildford answering member printed Anne Milton question first answered 20/06/2019 12:53:28 answering member 1523 label Biography information for Anne Milton
tabling member	4641 label Biography information for Alex Norris

1132510

registered interest
date	17/06/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Schools: Finance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has made an assessment of a potential correlation between (a) reductions in real-terms school budgets, (b) shortages of teaching assistants and (c) pastoral staff and schools' ability to tackle incidents of bullying.
tabling member constituency	Oxford West and Abingdon
tabling member printed	Layla Moran
uin	265590
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/06/2019 answer text <p>The Government has no plans to require schools to report centrally on incidents of bullying, but the Department included questions in its School Snapshot survey in winter 2017 to obtain information on different types of bullying. The results can be found at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-snapshot-survey-winter-2017" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-snapshot-survey-winter-2017</a>.</p><p>Similar questions have been included in the summer 2019 survey. The results of this survey will be published next year.</p><p>The Government has sent a clear message to schools that all bullying, for whatever reason, is unacceptable. The public sector Equality Duty means that schools must have due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation, and to foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not.</p><p>The Department has issued guidance to schools about how to prevent and respond to bullying as part of their overall behaviour policy. It has also published the Respectful Schools Communities tool to support schools to develop a whole school approach which promotes respect amongst all pupils and signposts further sources of advice.</p><p>This will be supported by the introduction of compulsory relationships education in all primary and secondary state-funded schools. Statutory guidance for schools sets out that pupils should be taught about different types of bullying, the impact of bullying and how to get help. We are committed to ensuring schools are supported and ready to teach these new subjects to high quality and have announced a budget of £6 million in 2019-20 financial year to develop a programme of support for schools. The Department is establishing an early adopter school programme to support early teaching of the new requirements. It is also working with early adopter schools to support the design of the training programme and to refine supplementary guidance to ensure that the teaching of the subjects is as effective as possible.</p><p>The Department is also providing over £2.8 million of funding between September 2016 and March 2020 to four anti-bullying organisations to support schools to tackle bullying. This includes the Anne Frank Trust who have developed the Free to Be debate programme, which encourages pupils to think about the importance of tackling prejudice, discrimination and bullying. It also includes the Anti-Bullying Alliance, whose programme has a particular focus on reducing bullying of those with special educational needs and disabilities. Between 2016-2019 the Government Equalities Office provided £3 million of funding to prevent and tackle homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying in schools. In the LGBT Action Plan published last year, it committed £1million to continue the programme until 2020.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb grouped question UIN 265591 265592 265597 question first answered 20/06/2019 12:27:07 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4656 label Biography information for Layla Moran

1132512

registered interest
date	17/06/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Bullying: Pupils
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the higher rates of bullying in schools experienced by (a) LGBTQ and (b) ethnic minority pupils.
tabling member constituency	Oxford West and Abingdon
tabling member printed	Layla Moran
uin	265591
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/06/2019 answer text <p>The Government has no plans to require schools to report centrally on incidents of bullying, but the Department included questions in its School Snapshot survey in winter 2017 to obtain information on different types of bullying. The results can be found at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-snapshot-survey-winter-2017" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-snapshot-survey-winter-2017</a>.</p><p>Similar questions have been included in the summer 2019 survey. The results of this survey will be published next year.</p><p>The Government has sent a clear message to schools that all bullying, for whatever reason, is unacceptable. The public sector Equality Duty means that schools must have due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation, and to foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not.</p><p>The Department has issued guidance to schools about how to prevent and respond to bullying as part of their overall behaviour policy. It has also published the Respectful Schools Communities tool to support schools to develop a whole school approach which promotes respect amongst all pupils and signposts further sources of advice.</p><p>This will be supported by the introduction of compulsory relationships education in all primary and secondary state-funded schools. Statutory guidance for schools sets out that pupils should be taught about different types of bullying, the impact of bullying and how to get help. We are committed to ensuring schools are supported and ready to teach these new subjects to high quality and have announced a budget of £6 million in 2019-20 financial year to develop a programme of support for schools. The Department is establishing an early adopter school programme to support early teaching of the new requirements. It is also working with early adopter schools to support the design of the training programme and to refine supplementary guidance to ensure that the teaching of the subjects is as effective as possible.</p><p>The Department is also providing over £2.8 million of funding between September 2016 and March 2020 to four anti-bullying organisations to support schools to tackle bullying. This includes the Anne Frank Trust who have developed the Free to Be debate programme, which encourages pupils to think about the importance of tackling prejudice, discrimination and bullying. It also includes the Anti-Bullying Alliance, whose programme has a particular focus on reducing bullying of those with special educational needs and disabilities. Between 2016-2019 the Government Equalities Office provided £3 million of funding to prevent and tackle homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying in schools. In the LGBT Action Plan published last year, it committed £1million to continue the programme until 2020.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb grouped question UIN 265590 265592 265597 question first answered 20/06/2019 12:27:07 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4656 label Biography information for Layla Moran

1132514

registered interest
date	17/06/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Special Educational Needs: Finance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of reductions in real-term school budgets on schools' ability to support SEND pupils at risk of bullying.
tabling member constituency	Oxford West and Abingdon
tabling member printed	Layla Moran
uin	265592
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/06/2019 answer text <p>The Government has no plans to require schools to report centrally on incidents of bullying, but the Department included questions in its School Snapshot survey in winter 2017 to obtain information on different types of bullying. The results can be found at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-snapshot-survey-winter-2017" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-snapshot-survey-winter-2017</a>.</p><p>Similar questions have been included in the summer 2019 survey. The results of this survey will be published next year.</p><p>The Government has sent a clear message to schools that all bullying, for whatever reason, is unacceptable. The public sector Equality Duty means that schools must have due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation, and to foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not.</p><p>The Department has issued guidance to schools about how to prevent and respond to bullying as part of their overall behaviour policy. It has also published the Respectful Schools Communities tool to support schools to develop a whole school approach which promotes respect amongst all pupils and signposts further sources of advice.</p><p>This will be supported by the introduction of compulsory relationships education in all primary and secondary state-funded schools. Statutory guidance for schools sets out that pupils should be taught about different types of bullying, the impact of bullying and how to get help. We are committed to ensuring schools are supported and ready to teach these new subjects to high quality and have announced a budget of £6 million in 2019-20 financial year to develop a programme of support for schools. The Department is establishing an early adopter school programme to support early teaching of the new requirements. It is also working with early adopter schools to support the design of the training programme and to refine supplementary guidance to ensure that the teaching of the subjects is as effective as possible.</p><p>The Department is also providing over £2.8 million of funding between September 2016 and March 2020 to four anti-bullying organisations to support schools to tackle bullying. This includes the Anne Frank Trust who have developed the Free to Be debate programme, which encourages pupils to think about the importance of tackling prejudice, discrimination and bullying. It also includes the Anti-Bullying Alliance, whose programme has a particular focus on reducing bullying of those with special educational needs and disabilities. Between 2016-2019 the Government Equalities Office provided £3 million of funding to prevent and tackle homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying in schools. In the LGBT Action Plan published last year, it committed £1million to continue the programme until 2020.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb grouped question UIN 265590 265591 265597 question first answered 20/06/2019 12:27:07 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4656 label Biography information for Layla Moran