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1301795

	registered interest
	date	11/03/2021
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Educational Visits and Outdoor Education: Coronavirus
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the Government's timescale is for allowing the (a) reopening of residential outdoor learning centres and (b) recommencement of residential school trips as covid-19 restrictions are eased; and what plans he has to provide additional financial support to residential outdoor learning centres.
	tabling member constituency	Somerton and Frome
	tabling member printed	David Warburton
	uin	167274
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/03/2021 answer text <p>Schools are advised against all educational visits at this time. The Department is working on advice for schools on the planning and booking of residential visits when it is safe to do so and in line with the Government’s roadmap to recovery, as set out in: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-response-spring-2021/covid-19-response-spring-2021" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-response-spring-2021/covid-19-response-spring-2021</a>. The advice will be published shortly.</p><p> </p><p>The Government will continue to work closely with local authorities, businesses, business representative organisations, and the financial services sector to monitor the implementation of current support and understand whether there is additional need.</p><p> </p><p>The Government would encourage businesses who are unable to access support, or who are unsure of the support available, to access free tailored advice through the Business Support Helpline, which can be accessed through the Business Support website at: <a href="https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fbusiness-support-helpline&amp;data=04%7C01%7CRoxana.Bakharia%40beis.gov.uk%7C9b0b3f4bf0124b81ca5008d8d9820dcf%7Ccbac700502c143ebb497e6492d1b2dd8%7C0%7C0%7C637498499884948550%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&amp;sdata=RdUvL0gaXCAYiI6V9L1v3O3KcNz1JBV4S3Nc8TJYmXs%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">www.gov.uk/business-support-helpline</a>, or through local Growth Hubs in England: <a href="http://www.lepnetwork.net/local-growth-hub-contacts/" target="_blank">www.lepnetwork.net/local-growth-hub-contacts</a>. Businesses in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland can access business support through the devolved Governments.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 19/03/2021 10:29:31 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
	tabling member	4526 label Biography information for David Warburton

1541497

	registered interest
	date	11/11/2022
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Special Educational Needs
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent progress her Department has made on increasing the number of school places available for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.
	tabling member constituency	Somerton and Frome
	tabling member printed	David Warburton
	uin	84934
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/11/2022 answer text <p>The department is investing £2.6 billion between 2022 and 2025 to support local authorities to deliver new places and improve existing provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities or who require alternative provision. This represents a significant investment in new high-needs provision. It will support local authorities to deliver new places in mainstream and special schools, as well as other specialist settings, and will also be used to improve the suitability and accessibility of existing buildings.</p><p>As part of this commitment, in March 2022 the department announced High Needs Provision Capital Allocations amounting to over £1.4 billion of new investment, focused on the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years. It is ultimately up to local authorities to determine how to best prioritise their funding to address their local priorities.</p><p>The £2.6 billion capital investment in high needs provision announced in October 2021 will also help to deliver up to 60 new special and alternative provision free schools. This is in addition to the 48 special free schools already in the pipeline and 90 special free schools already opened.</p> answering member constituency East Surrey answering member printed Claire Coutinho question first answered 21/11/2022 17:51:20 answering member 4806 label Biography information for Claire Coutinho
	tabling member	4526 label Biography information for David Warburton

1545730

	registered interest
	date	25/11/2022
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children: Separated People
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will take steps to encourage local authorities to help children of separated parents maintain a relationship with their grandparents.
	tabling member constituency	Somerton and Frome
	tabling member printed	David Warburton
	uin	96633
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/12/2022 answer text <p>Statutory guidance states that local authorities should offer Family Group Conferences to families undergoing or about to undergo care proceedings, with many providing this service before the care proceedings stage. Family Group Conferences allow extended family members to offer their practical support to parents, in order to develop a family plan that meets the needs of and promotes the welfare of the children involved. Under such circumstances, these plans can enable grandparents to maintain a relationship with their grandchildren, where the parents are separated.</p><p>A key principle of the Children’s Act 1989 is that children are best looked after within their families. Under certain circumstances, grandparents can become kinship carers of children from separated parents that might otherwise have been taken into care, via informal family arrangements or through legal orders made by the court. In 2011, the department issued statutory guidance for local authorities about supporting kinship carers, explaining that there is no limit on the level of support, including financial support, that local authorities can provide them.</p><p>The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care published in May 2022 set out recommendations on how the department can further support kinship families. We are now considering these recommendations, including those to create a financial allowance, and will set out an ambitious and detailed response to the recommendations in the review in early 2023.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Surrey answering member printed Claire Coutinho question first answered 05/12/2022 17:52:30 answering member 4806 label Biography information for Claire Coutinho
	tabling member	4526 label Biography information for David Warburton

1610429

	registered interest
	date	14/04/2023
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Home Education: Registration
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of introducing a statutory registration system for children not in school on home educators.
	tabling member constituency	Somerton and Frome
	tabling member printed	David Warburton
	uin	180562
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/04/2023 answer text <p>The Department completed all relevant and required impact assessments when the Children Not in School measures were part of the Schools Bill.</p><p>The Children Not in School measures were subject to a thorough equalities impact assessment, which considered the impact on families with different protected characteristics, and a regulatory impact assessment which looked at the impact measures will have on businesses and charities. A summary of these impact assessments have been published online as part of the Schools Bill impact assessment document, which can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/schools-bill-impact-assessment" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/schools-bill-impact-assessment</a>.</p><p>The Department also conducted a Local Authority new burdens assessment in relation to the implementation and maintenance of the register, and the Department is in the process of finalising our data protection impact assessment with the Information Commissioner’s Office prior to the Schools Bill being discontinued. This remains with the Information Commissioner’s Office for consideration.</p><p>When a suitable legislative opportunity arises to take forward the Children Not in School measures, all necessary assessments will be reviewed.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 24/04/2023 16:42:40 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
	tabling member	4526 label Biography information for David Warburton

1641218

	registered interest
	date	02/06/2023
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Countryside: Curriculum
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking through the national curriculum to help primary school children engage with nature.
	tabling member constituency	Somerton and Frome
	tabling member printed	David Warburton
	uin	187257
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/06/2023 answer text <p>The National Curriculum is a framework setting out the content of what schools are expected to cover in each curriculum subject. Teachers use their own knowledge and expertise to determine how they teach their pupils the content of the curriculum, tailoring their lessons to the individual needs of the pupils.</p><p>The geography and science curricula offer opportunities to teach about nature and related topics. In science at Key Stages 1 and 2, under the topics of ‘Plants’ and ‘Living things and their habitats’, the National Curriculum provides opportunities for pupils to engage with nature and explore the local environment to answer questions on plants and animals in their habitat. In the Key Stage 2 geography curriculum pupils use fieldwork to observe, measure, record and present the human and physical features in the local area using a range of methods, including sketch maps, plans and graphs, and digital technologies.</p><p>In April 2022, the Department released its Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy which will increase opportunities for pupils to spend time in nature. Key initiatives of this strategy include the National Education Nature Park and Climate Action Award. These programmes will not only engage pupils with the natural world, but will directly involve them in measuring and improving biodiversity in their nursery, school, college or university.</p><p>On 18 May, the Department announced £15 million in funding will be provided to nurseries, schools and colleges to create opportunities for outdoor education in natural settings. The funding boost will help them to develop the biodiversity of their site.</p><p>The Department will continue to work across Government to identify opportunities for children and young people to access education in natural settings.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 12/06/2023 16:09:34 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
	tabling member	4526 label Biography information for David Warburton

1682607

	registered interest
	date	16/01/2024
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Special Educational Needs: Free School Meals
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the guidance entitled Free school meals: guidance for schools and local authorities, published on 31 January 2023, if she will publish revised guidance with information on the provision of free school meals for children with special educational needs and disabilities.
	tabling member constituency	Somerton and Frome
	tabling member printed	Sarah Dyke
	uin	9975
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/01/2024 answer text <p>There are many pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) status that meet the eligibility criteria necessary for free school meals (FSM). The latest published statistics show that 41.1% of pupils with an Education, Health and Care plan and 37.5% of pupils on SEND support were eligible for FSM provision in 2023. Similarly, many children with disabilities but not Special Educational Needs will be eligible, and those rates are higher than the overall proportion of pupils eligible for FSM in England.</p><p>The standard food offering provided by schools will be suitable to the needs of many of these children. However, some pupils with additional needs may require special food provision or arrangements. All schools have duties under the Equality Act 2010 towards individual disabled children and young people, and they must make reasonable adjustments to prevent them being put at a substantial disadvantage. That means that a school cannot treat a pupil unfairly because of their disability.</p><p>The department will update its published guidance on FSM to make reference to the reasonable adjustments duty in order to heighten awareness about reasonable adjustments, such as meal provision, amongst schools, local authorities and families. This guidance will be made available in spring 2024.</p> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds question first answered 23/01/2024 17:37:01 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds
	tabling member	4995 label Biography information for Sarah Dyke

1682608

	registered interest
	date	16/01/2024
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Special Educational Needs: Nutrition
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of education, health and care plans include nutritional information; and what (a) funding and (b) other support she has made available to local authorities to support SEND children with nutritional needs.
	tabling member constituency	Somerton and Frome
	tabling member printed	Sarah Dyke
	uin	9976
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/01/2024 answer text <p>The department does not collect data on how many Education, Health and Care plans include nutritional information.</p><p> </p><p>High needs funding to support the education of children with complex Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) will total to £10.5 billion in 2024/25 which is an increase of over 60% from 2019/20. The majority of this funding is allocated to local authorities: they, and the schools they fund, can use this funding to subsidise or meet the cost of school food, including for those children with SEND who have nutritional needs.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston question first answered 23/01/2024 17:32:43 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
	tabling member	4995 label Biography information for Sarah Dyke

1683678

	registered interest
	date	19/01/2024
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Pupils: Sick Leave
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much ringfenced funding is available to local authorities to prevent school absence due to chronic health conditions.
	tabling member constituency	Somerton and Frome
	tabling member printed	Sarah Dyke
	uin	10691
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/01/2024 answer text <p>The department does not allocate funding to local authorities that is ringfenced for the purpose of preventing school absence due to chronic health conditions.</p><p>Local authorities’ expenditure arising from the authority’s functions under section 19 in chapter III of part I (exceptional provision of education in pupil referral units or elsewhere), and under chapter II of part VI (school attendance), of the Education Act 1996, and their functions under the Children and Families Act 2014 to support the special education of children with health needs, can be funded from their dedicated schools grant allocations.</p><p>The majority of absence from autumn to spring term 2022/23 was due to illness, which accounted for 4.5% of possible sessions in autumn term, and 3.6% in spring term. The department does not hold information about the number and proportion of state-educated students whose school absences are recorded as due to a chronic health condition or disability. The most recent school absence data can be found here: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england</a>.</p> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds grouped question UIN 10692 question first answered 29/01/2024 16:31:08 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds
	tabling member	4995 label Biography information for Sarah Dyke

1683685

	registered interest
	date	19/01/2024
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Pupils: Sick Leave
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what number and proportion of state-educated students recorded school absences due to (a) chronic health conditions and (b) disabilities.
	tabling member constituency	Somerton and Frome
	tabling member printed	Sarah Dyke
	uin	10692
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/01/2024 answer text <p>The department does not allocate funding to local authorities that is ringfenced for the purpose of preventing school absence due to chronic health conditions.</p><p>Local authorities’ expenditure arising from the authority’s functions under section 19 in chapter III of part I (exceptional provision of education in pupil referral units or elsewhere), and under chapter II of part VI (school attendance), of the Education Act 1996, and their functions under the Children and Families Act 2014 to support the special education of children with health needs, can be funded from their dedicated schools grant allocations.</p><p>The majority of absence from autumn to spring term 2022/23 was due to illness, which accounted for 4.5% of possible sessions in autumn term, and 3.6% in spring term. The department does not hold information about the number and proportion of state-educated students whose school absences are recorded as due to a chronic health condition or disability. The most recent school absence data can be found here: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england</a>.</p> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds grouped question UIN 10691 question first answered 29/01/2024 16:31:08 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds
	tabling member	4995 label Biography information for Sarah Dyke

1688613

	registered interest
	date	08/02/2024
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Special Educational Needs: Autism
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made a recent assessment on the level of (a) training and (b) guidance provided to teachers on autism in girls.
	tabling member constituency	Somerton and Frome
	tabling member printed	Sarah Dyke
	uin	13838
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/02/2024 answer text <p>The department is committed to ensuring that all pupils can reach their potential and receive excellent support from their teachers. Therefore, consideration of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) underpins both the Initial Teacher Training (ITT) Core Content Framework (CCF) and Early Career Framework (ECF) which set out the entitlement of trainee teachers and early career teachers (ECTs) to the core body of knowledge, skills and behaviours that define great teaching. To identify opportunities to build teacher expertise, the department reviewed the CCF alongside the ECF during 2023, combining an Education Endowment Foundation-assured review of the ‘Learn that’ statements and underpinning CCF and ECF 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 (ITTECF) was published on 30 January 2024, for delivery from September 2025.</p><p>The department's review of content for the ITTECF paid particular attention to the needs of trainees and ECTs when supporting pupils with SEND. The ITTECF is based on the best peer-reviewed evidence about what works, and it is designed to emphasise the importance of high-quality teaching. The framework therefore deliberately does not detail approaches specific to particular additional needs, such as autism, but what makes the most effective teaching. During the review, the department tested this approach with SEND educational experts, with consensus that the approach of ‘quality-first teaching’ would be the best way to improve outcomes for all children, particularly those with Special Educational Needs.</p><p>The department’s 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 its ambition to improve autistic children and young people’s access to education and support positive transitions into adulthood. Over 135,000 professionals have undertaken autism awareness training since the Universal Services programme began in May 2022. More information on the strategy can be found here: <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>.</p><p>The large majority of pupils diagnosed with autism as their primary type of need are boys. However, there is emerging research and awareness on the different presentation of autism traits according to gender and the late, under and misdiagnosis of girls and women. This gender imbalance is greater for autism than for any other primary type of need. To help raise awareness of this imbalance, the Universal Services autism awareness training addresses autism in girls and helps education staff understand more about how autism may present differently in girls.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds question first answered 19/02/2024 17:01:55 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds
	tabling member	4995 label Biography information for Sarah Dyke