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1127644

	registered interest
	date	20/05/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Academies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department has taken to help ensure staff working for academy trusts can raise concerns about schools' governance.
	tabling member constituency	Wirral South
	tabling member printed	Alison McGovern
	uin	256305
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/05/2019 answer text <p>​The department requires a high level of accountability and transparency of academy trusts. Academy trust accountability is founded on a clear framework communicated and regulated by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), through trusts’ funding agreement and the Academies Financial Handbook.</p><p> </p><p>The Academies Financial Handbook requires that all academy trusts have appropriate whistleblowing procedures in place. Academy trusts must also ensure that all concerns raised with them by whistleblowers are responded to properly and fairly. Whistleblowers can also report allegations of fraud or financial irregularity to the ESFA. The ESFA has published guidance about how to report such allegations, the actions the ESFA will take when it receives an allegation and the rights of whistleblowers.</p><p> </p><p>The guidance is available here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-esfa-handles-allegations-of-suspected-fraud-or-financial-irregularity/how-esfa-handles-allegations-of-suspected-fraud-or-financial-irregularity" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-esfa-handles-allegations-of-suspected-fraud-or-financial-irregularity/how-esfa-handles-allegations-of-suspected-fraud-or-financial-irregularity</a>.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi grouped question UIN 256304 question first answered 23/05/2019 11:46:09 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
	tabling member	4083 label Biography information for Alison McGovern

1126505

	registered interest
	date	14/05/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Academies: Autism
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions (a) he (b) Ministers in his Department and (c) officials in his Department have had with AET on the benchmarking exercise for AET secondary schools in London; and whether his Department approved benchmarking process; and if he will place in the Library a copy of the benchmark against which AET secondary schools in London are being assessed.
	tabling member constituency	Manchester Central
	tabling member printed	Lucy Powell
	uin	254192
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/05/2019 answer text <p>The department, including ministers and officials, have held no detailed discussions with the Academies Enterprise Trust on a benchmarking exercise for their London Academies. We have not approved a benchmarking process, as this is for the trust to determine, and do not have a copy of any benchmark London Academies are currently being assessed against.</p><p>The department does publish a range of financial benchmarking tools, and signposts trusts to these. They include the Schools Financial Benchmarking tool which can be accessed publicly here: <a href="https://schools-financial-benchmarking.service.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://schools-financial-benchmarking.service.gov.uk/</a>.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 22/05/2019 11:24:25 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi previous answer version 119073 answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
	tabling member	4263 label Biography information for Lucy Powell

1127643

	registered interest
	date	20/05/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Academies: Disclosure of Information
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of whistleblowing policies throughout academy trusts.
	tabling member constituency	Wirral South
	tabling member printed	Alison McGovern
	uin	256304
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/05/2019 answer text <p>​The department requires a high level of accountability and transparency of academy trusts. Academy trust accountability is founded on a clear framework communicated and regulated by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), through trusts’ funding agreement and the Academies Financial Handbook.</p><p> </p><p>The Academies Financial Handbook requires that all academy trusts have appropriate whistleblowing procedures in place. Academy trusts must also ensure that all concerns raised with them by whistleblowers are responded to properly and fairly. Whistleblowers can also report allegations of fraud or financial irregularity to the ESFA. The ESFA has published guidance about how to report such allegations, the actions the ESFA will take when it receives an allegation and the rights of whistleblowers.</p><p> </p><p>The guidance is available here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-esfa-handles-allegations-of-suspected-fraud-or-financial-irregularity/how-esfa-handles-allegations-of-suspected-fraud-or-financial-irregularity" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-esfa-handles-allegations-of-suspected-fraud-or-financial-irregularity/how-esfa-handles-allegations-of-suspected-fraud-or-financial-irregularity</a>.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi grouped question UIN 256305 question first answered 23/05/2019 11:46:09 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
	tabling member	4083 label Biography information for Alison McGovern

1126802

	registered interest
	date	15/05/2019
	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, if he will make it his policy to (a) reverse the closure of children's centres and (b) publish a strategy for the long-term expansion of the provision of children's centres.
	tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
	tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
	uin	254727
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/05/2019 answer text <p>As set out in the government response to recommendation 13 of the Education Select Committee report on tackling disadvantage in the early years, published on 4 April 2019, we are clear that children’s centres have an important role to play in achieving my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education’s social mobility ambition, but it is right for local authorities to decide how to use them as part of the wider system of local services. The government response can be accessed here: <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/Education/Correspondence/Government-response-to-committee-9th-report-tackling-disadvantage-in-the-early-years-CP-68.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/Education/Correspondence/Government-response-to-committee-9th-report-tackling-disadvantage-in-the-early-years-CP-68.pdf</a>, the select committee report can be accessed here: <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmeduc/1006/1006.pdf" target="_blank">https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmeduc/1006/1006.pdf</a>.</p><p>The government’s role is to engage with the sector, find out what works and support local areas to make the right decisions for their communities, which is why we have commissioned the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF) to examine research and practice evidence with the aim of developing tools to help local authorities make informed choices about their children’s centre provision. The EIF project is part of the Department for Education’s £8.5 million local government programme, which will inform the next steps, including considering any future consultation, on children’s centres. Funding for the local government programme runs until March 2020, with evidence and learning emerging by its conclusion.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 22/05/2019 13:11:22 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
	tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe

1127780

	registered interest
	date	21/05/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children's Play
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reasons children’s play is not prioritized in the five foundations for building character.
	tabling member constituency	Totnes
	tabling member printed	Dr Sarah Wollaston
	uin	257060
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/05/2019 answer text <p>World-class education is not only about having the highest standards in academic and technical education, it also means ensuring that education builds character and resilience.</p><p>We want all children and young people to have opportunities to develop the key character traits of believing that they can achieve, being able to stick with the task in hand, seeing a link between effort today and reward in the future, and being able to bounce back from the knocks that life inevitably brings to all of us. Character must also be grounded in positive values such as kindness, generosity, fairness, tolerance and integrity.</p><p>The 5 Foundations for Building Character announced on 7 February by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education are sport, creativity, performing, volunteering and membership, and the world of work. Each of these areas covers a very wide range of activities that children and young people can enjoy doing. In developing key character traits, research suggests that high-quality delivery of the 5 foundations should take a structured approach, occur over a sustained period of time, and be self-directed by the child or young person. Through the support of teachers, coaches or other professionals, children and young people are more likely to receive a higher level of challenge and develop the traits that can help them achieve their goals.</p><p>Play can provide benefits to children and young people through physical activity and promotion of wellbeing, but the audit of the availability of out-of-school activities across the country does not currently include playing outside as that activity does not provide the structured and high quality elements that are required in character building activities as proposed in the 5 Foundations for Building Character.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi grouped question UIN 257062 question first answered 28/05/2019 14:13:39 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
	tabling member	4073 label Biography information for Dr Sarah Wollaston

1126195

	registered interest
	date	13/05/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children: Day Care
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to increase the (a) level and (b) quality of (i) staff qualifications and (ii) in-service professional development in the pre-school childcare sector.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	253524
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/05/2019 answer text <p>We are committed to ensuring that all children have access to high quality early education and can achieve their full potential. The latest Ofsted data confirms that 95% of early years providers are now rated ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’, up from 68% in 2010.</p><p> </p><p>The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework is mandatory for all early years providers in England. It sets out the staffing requirements for early years settings, including ratios and qualifications.</p><p> </p><p>In March 2017, we published the early years workforce strategy. This set out how the government will support employers to attract, retain and develop high quality early years staff, which is available here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-workforce-strategy" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-workforce-strategy</a>.</p><p> </p><p>Since then we have worked with sector stakeholders to develop criteria for new more robust level 2 qualifications and awarded a grant to take forward activity to promote gender diversity in the early years workforce. We have also created a new career pathway document to support careers advice, recruitment and staff development. This information is available here: <a href="https://www.cache.org.uk/media/1417/dfe-career-pathway-map-v17.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.cache.org.uk/media/1417/dfe-career-pathway-map-v17.pdf</a>.</p><p> </p><p>We are also supporting employer trailblazer groups to develop new apprenticeship standards for the early years workforce and investing £20 million in in-service professional development and training for early years practitioners in pre-reception settings in disadvantaged areas.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 21/05/2019 16:04:42 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1127505

	registered interest
	date	20/05/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children: Day Care
	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 the potential merits of providing financial assistance to enable (a) low-income and (b) single-unit families to cover childcare costs during the school summer holidays.
	tabling member constituency	Bermondsey and Old Southwark
	tabling member printed	Neil Coyle
	uin	256327
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/05/2019 answer text <p>The government has taken significant steps to raise the living standards of low-income and single-unit families. This includes raising the minimum wage, raising the personal tax allowance and improving financial incentives to work.</p><p>To support parents into work, the government spends £6 billion on childcare each year:</p><ul><li>Doubling free childcare to 30 hours a week for nearly 400,000 working parents of 3 and 4-year olds.</li><li>Introducing tax-free childcare, worth up to £2,000 per child per year.</li><li>With Universal Credit, parents can claim up to 85% of their childcare costs back compared to 70% on the legacy benefit system.</li></ul><p>We recently announced £9 million of funding for the 2019 summer holidays where we will be exploring how the local coordination of the provision of nutritious food and enriching and healthy activities can help more disadvantaged pupils to access free high quality holiday club provision during the school holidays in 11 areas across the country.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 28/05/2019 14:08:14 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
	tabling member	4368 label Biography information for Neil Coyle

1126847

	registered interest
	date	15/05/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children: Social Services
	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 long-term benefit to the economy of early intervention and prevention work provided by local authority children’s services departments.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	254818
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/05/2019 answer text <p>The government has funded the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF) since 2013, including almost £2 million in 2018-20, to assess, evaluate and disseminate evidence of what works. The EIF has assessed the benefits of a wide range of specific early intervention programmes and suggested that whilst producing robust estimates is challenging, there is a compelling argument that the costs of intervening early are likely to pay off to society in economic terms. In particular, they highlight that the long-term economic benefits are considerable where early intervention leads to labour market gains, such as improvements in employment and earnings. However, they are clear that it is not a quick fix and is unlikely to reduce pressure on the social care system in the short term.</p><p>The value of early intervention is reflected in statutory guidance ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ (2018), which is clear that providing early help is more effective in promoting children’s welfare than reacting later – playing an important part in supporting children and young people to achieve better outcomes. The guidance is clear that local areas should have a comprehensive range of effective, evidence-based services in place to address assessed needs early. It is right that local authorities are free to decide how to use their children’s social care budget to manage local priorities and deliver the best services for children.</p><p>The government has also committed £920 million to the Troubled Families Programme, an early intervention approach which aims to achieve significant and sustained improvement for families with multiple, high-cost problems.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 22/05/2019 11:27:27 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi previous answer version 118999 answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1126881

	registered interest
	date	15/05/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children: Social Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, by how much local authorities overspent on the provision of children’s social care in the year ending 31 March 2018; and what assessment he has made of the future financial sustainability of local government children’s services departments based on current levels of overspend.
	tabling member constituency	Bristol East
	tabling member printed	Kerry McCarthy
	uin	254773
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/05/2019 answer text <p>Local authorities are required under Section 251 of the ‘Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009’ to submit education and children’s social care budget and expenditure statements. This data is published in statistical releases annually. The most recent release shows local authorities had a difference of approximately £1 billion in 2017-18 when their planned spend is compared to their actual spend.</p><p>Funding for children’s services is made available through the Local Government Finance Settlement. We are in the final year of a multi-year settlement deal and have made £46.4 billion available this year for local services including those for children’s services. The government has also made £410 million available to local authorities this year specifically for adult and children social care.</p><p>My department is working with the sector, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and with HM Treasury, as part of our preparation for the next Spending Review, to understand the level of funding local government needs to meet demand and deliver statutory duties.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 22/05/2019 11:29:48 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi previous answer version 118964 answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
	tabling member	1491 label Biography information for Kerry McCarthy

1126911

	registered interest
	date	15/05/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children: Social Services
	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 financial sustainability of local government children’s services.
	tabling member constituency	Knowsley
	tabling member printed	Mr George Howarth
	uin	254748
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/05/2019 answer text <p>Funding for children’s services is made available through the Local Government Finance Settlement. We are in the final year of a multi-year settlement deal and have made £46.4 billion available this year for local services including those for children’s services. The government has also made £410 million available to local authorities this year specifically for adult and children social care.</p><p>My department is working with the sector, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and with HM Treasury, as part of our preparation for the next Spending Review, to understand the level of funding local government needs to meet demand and deliver statutory duties.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 23/05/2019 09:57:46 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
	tabling member	481 label Biography information for Sir George Howarth