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1690039

registered interest
date	19/02/2024
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Education: Autism
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential (a) impact of National Autistic Society Cullum Centres on students with autism in mainstream schools and (b) merits of implementing similar provision based on the Callum Model in schools.
tabling member constituency	Wigan
tabling member printed	Lisa Nandy
uin	14562
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/02/2024 answer text <p>The department works closely with the National Autistic Society (NAS) and is aware of the Cullum Centres and the evaluation currently being undertaken by Goldsmiths, University of London, but has made no assessments of the Centres to date. The department engages regularly with NAS and other autism stakeholders to understand the issues faced by autistic children and young people and to understand possible solutions.</p><p> </p><p>The department supports local authorities to provide sufficient school places for all children, including autistic children, through capital funding. The department has published over £1.5 billion of High Needs Provision Capital Allocations for the 2022/23 and 2023/24 financial years. This funding is allocated to local authorities to support them to deliver new places and improve existing provision for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with autism, or who require alternative provision (AP). This funding forms part of our transformational investment of £2.6 billion in new high needs provision between 2022 and 2025 and is on top of the department’s ongoing delivery of new special and AP free schools.</p><p> </p><p>Reaching over 70% of schools and further education (FE) colleges, the Universal Services programme helps the school and FE workforce to identify and meet the needs of children and young people with SEND earlier and more effectively. The programme will also help the schools to successfully prepare children and young people for adulthood, including employment. Universal offers online training, professional development groups, bespoke school and college improvement projects, sector-led research, autism awareness training and an embedded focus on preparation for adulthood, including employer-led webinars for college staff. The programme commenced in May 2022 and runs until Spring 2025, with a budget of nearly £12 million.</p><p> </p><p>The department has begun collecting data from local authorities on available capacity in special schools, SEND units and resourced provision, along with corresponding forecasts of demand for these places. This data will help the department to effectively support local authorities to fulfil their statutory duty to provide sufficient specialist places.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston question first answered 22/02/2024 17:21:48 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
tabling member	4082 label Biography information for Lisa Nandy

1690040

registered interest
date	19/02/2024
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Autism: Education
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing national guidance on how to adapt school environments to support the needs of students with autism.
tabling member constituency	Wigan
tabling member printed	Lisa Nandy
uin	14563
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/02/2024 answer text <p>I refer the hon. Member for Wigan to the answer of 12 February 2024 to Question <a href="https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-01-26/11638" target="_blank">11638</a>.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston question first answered 22/02/2024 17:11:33 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
tabling member	4082 label Biography information for Lisa Nandy

1690042

registered interest
date	19/02/2024
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Autism: Education
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the level of training on autism received by (a) teachers and (b) education staff in schools.
tabling member constituency	Wigan
tabling member printed	Lisa Nandy
uin	14564
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/02/2024 answer text <p>The department is committed to ensuring that all pupils, including those with autism, can reach their potential and receive excellent support from their teachers. Consideration of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) underpins both the Initial Teacher Training (ITT) Core Content Framework (CCF) and Early Career Framework (ECF). These frameworks set out for new teachers the core body of knowledge, skills and behaviours that define great teaching.</p><p>To identify opportunities to build teacher expertise, the department reviewed the CCF alongside the ECF during 2023. This review combined a review of the framework content, underpinning evidence with evaluation data, lessons learned from the first years of implementation, and extensive expert and sector feedback including from SEND specialists. This included a public call for evidence. Following this review, the updated and combined Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework was published on 30 January 2024, for delivery from September 2025. The framework is available at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/initial-teacher-training-and-early-career-framework" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/initial-teacher-training-and-early-career-framework</a>.</p><p>To support education staff at any stage in their career, the Universal Services contract brings together SEND-specific training and support for staff working in schools and further education. It aims to improve outcomes for children and young people through one programme which reaches 70% of schools and colleges in England per year. The contract offers autism awareness training and resources, which align with the national all-age autism strategy and shares the strategy’s ambition to improve autistic children and young people’s access to education and support positive transitions into adulthood. The strategy is available at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-strategy-for-autistic-children-young-people-and-adults-2021-to-2026" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-strategy-for-autistic-children-young-people-and-adults-2021-to-2026</a>. Over 135,000 professionals have undertaken autism awareness training since the Universal Services programme began in May 2022.</p><p>More broadly, the 2023 SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan outlines the department’s vision to improve mainstream education by setting standards for the early and accurate identification of need, and timely access to support to meet those needs. The plan is available at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-and-alternative-provision-improvement-plan" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-and-alternative-provision-improvement-plan</a>. The standards will clarify the types of support that should be ordinarily available in mainstream settings and practitioner standards will be developed to support frontline professionals to deliver this support. The first three practitioner standards will be published by the end of 2025 and will include one on supporting autistic children and young people.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston question first answered 22/02/2024 17:06:38 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
tabling member	4082 label Biography information for Lisa Nandy

1685444

registered interest
date	29/01/2024
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Education: Autism
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that children with autism receive a good standard of education.
tabling member constituency	Wigan
tabling member printed	Lisa Nandy
uin	11774
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/02/2024 answer text <p>The department aim is for all children and young people, including those who are autistic, to receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life. The department wants all children to achieve well throughout their education, to find employment, to lead happy and fulfilled lives and to experience choice and control.</p><p>In the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan, the department set out a vision to improve mainstream education by setting standards for the early and accurate identification of need and the timely provision of access to support. The standards will clarify the types of support that should be ordinarily available in mainstream settings and who is responsible for securing the support. This will give parents confidence and clarity on how their child’s needs will be met.</p><p>As part of this, the department has committed to developing practitioner standards, which were known as practice guides in the Improvement Plan, to provide advice to education professionals. The three practitioner standards will be published by the end of 2025, one of which will be focused on autism. The department will build on existing best practice and will include guidance on how an education environment may be adapted to better support the needs of autistic pupils.</p><p>The department’s Universal Services contract brings together SEND-specific continuous professional development and support for the school and further education workforce to improve outcomes for children and young people, including those who are autistic.</p><p>The contract offers autism awareness training and resources delivered by the Autism Education Trust (AET). Over 100,000 education professionals have undertaken autism awareness training as part of AET's ‘train the trainer’ model since the Universal Services programme commenced in May 2022.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston question first answered 01/02/2024 10:56:56 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
tabling member	4082 label Biography information for Lisa Nandy

1669471

registered interest
date	13/11/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Schools: Air Conditioning
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of installing HEPA filters in early years educational settings.
tabling member constituency	Wigan
tabling member printed	Lisa Nandy
uin	1547
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/11/2023 answer text <p>To date, department officials are not aware of any studies looking at the impact of using air conditioning units (ACU) specifically in early years settings. However, there is strong evidence from laboratory studies of the efficacy of high-efficiency particulate absorbing (HEPA) filtration technology at removing airborne viruses and particulate matter from the air. In addition, department officials sit on the working group for a project looking at the implications and potential benefits of fitting primary schools with air cleaning technology: the Bradford classroom air cleaning technology (class-ACT) trial. This was funded by the Department of Health and Social Care and managed through the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). The study is run from the Centre for Applied Education Research which is based at the Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, UK. The trial has concluded and the academic leads intend to publish the results in a peer-reviewed journal in due course.</p><p>The department recognises that good ventilation helps to create a healthy indoor environment for staff and students. Letting fresh air into indoor spaces can help remove air that contains virus particles which reduces the risk of respiratory illness, as well as improving pupils’ alertness and concentration.</p><p>Between September 2021 and April 2023, the department delivered over 700,000 CO<sub>2</sub> monitors to over 45,000 state-funded settings, including early years, further education, childminders operating in groups of four or more, and children’s homes that offer places to 6 or more. This means that all eligible settings now have an assigned CO<sub>2</sub> monitor for every teaching and childcare space to help them manage their ventilation.</p><p>For settings that identified spaces with sustained high CO<sub>2</sub> readings (1500ppm or more) through their monitors, an application process was made available for department-funded ACUs that utilise HEPA technology. This policy was informed by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies’ (SAGE) Environmental Modelling Group, which advises that ACUs have limited benefit in spaces that are already adequately ventilated and should only be considered where the ventilation is inadequate and cannot be easily improved. The department has subsequently delivered over 9,000 ACUs to over 1,300 settings between January 2022 and April 2023. This included eligible early years settings.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston question first answered 16/11/2023 17:36:07 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
tabling member	4082 label Biography information for Lisa Nandy