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 question first answered answering member label attachment file name title
tabling member	label

Search

1349471

registered interest
date	22/07/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pre-school Education: Coronavirus
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 effect of the covid-19 outbreak on the early years sector in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England; and what steps his Department is taking to support that sector in those areas.
tabling member constituency	Coventry North East
tabling member printed	Colleen Fletcher
uin	38282
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/09/2021 answer text <p>We have spent over £3.5 billion in each of the past three years on early education entitlements, and the government continues to support families with their childcare costs. My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced on 25 November 2020 a £44 million investment for 2021-22, for local authorities (including Coventry and all other local authorities in the West Midlands) to increase hourly rates paid to childcare providers for the government’s free childcare entitlement offers.</p><p>For 2021-22, we have increased the hourly funding rates for all local authorities by 8p an hour for the two-year-old entitlement and, for the vast majority of areas, by 6p an hour for the three- and four-year-old entitlement. This will pay for a rate increase that is higher than the costs nurseries may face from the uplift to the national living wage in April.</p><p>We have also increased the minimum funding floor, meaning no council can receive less than £4.44 per hour for the three- and four-year-old entitlements.</p><p>Further, we are varying our approach to funding the early years sector over this financial year, to give local authorities and providers better certainty over their funding income during a period of continued uncertainty due to the COVID-19 outbreak. For the Spring term 2021, we provided top-up funding for authorities which could show rising demand for our free early education entitlements during that term after a period of national lockdown. For the next three terms, we will fund each authority based on attendance data they provide to us for each term. This will ensure that our funding aligns with attendance, which should provide the very welcome reassurance for providers that funding for the entitlements will be commensurate with up-to-date data.</p><p>We have liaised closely with all local authorities during the COVID-19 outbreak to monitor attendance and sufficiency of supply of childcare. We have not seen a significant number of parents unable to secure a childcare place, in this term or since early year settings re-opened fully on 1 June 2020. Across England as a whole, including for Coventry North East, Coventry and throughout the West Midlands, in situations where parents have been unable to temporarily secure a childcare place, for example due to their usual setting being temporarily closed due to COVID-19, this has been able to be quickly resolved locally and local authorities (including Coventry) are not reporting significant concerns about sufficiency of supply issues, and have not reported any significant concerns at any point during the COVID-19 outbreak.</p><p>All early years settings continue to benefit from a range of business support packages to help support them during these unprecedented times. Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, the government has been supporting the early years sector by continuing to have access to a range of business support packages, such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (where settings have experienced a drop in either their income from parents or government), Business Rates Relief Nurseries Discount and support from the Recovery Loan Scheme. Further information regarding these business support packages is available at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus/business-support" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus/business-support</a>.</p><p>We know that findings from the Childcare and Early Years Provider and COVID-19 survey have shown that in November and December 2020, 74% of group-based providers have made use of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme at any point.</p><p>We engage with local authorities on the accessibility of childcare on a regular basis and we continue to work with the early years sector to understand how they can best be supported to ensure that sufficient safe, appropriate, and affordable childcare is available for those returning to work now, and for all families who need it in the longer term.</p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford question first answered 06/09/2021 09:41:49 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	4378 label Biography information for Colleen Fletcher

1288915

registered interest
date	23/02/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pre-school Education: Finance
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 support the financial stability of early years and childcare providers in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England.
tabling member constituency	Coventry North East
tabling member printed	Colleen Fletcher
uin	157150
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/03/2021 answer text <p>During the COVID-19 outbreak, we have provided unprecedented support to the early years sector by continuing to fund the free childcare entitlements, making grants and loans available and ensuring early years providers can access the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) for their non-government funded income, and childminders the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS). We continue to ensure that providers can access the support available.</p><p> </p><p>As long as the staff meet the other criteria for the scheme, schools and early years providers are able to furlough their staff if they have experienced a drop in either their income from parents or government. Eligible nurseries can also benefit from a business rates holiday and can access the business loans as set out by my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. This is inclusive of Coventry North East constituency, Coventry, the West Midlands, and England. We have not taken different approaches in different areas.</p><p>On 17 December, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that both the CJRS and SEISS would be extended to April 2021. We also updated the CJRS guidance for early years so that all providers who have seen a drop in their overall income are able to furlough any staff (who were on payroll on or before 30 October) and who aren’t required for delivering the government’s funded entitlements. The guidance is available here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-financial-support-for-education-early-years-and-childrens-social-care/coronavirus-covid-19-financial-support-for-education-early-years-and-childrens-social-care" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-financial-support-for-education-early-years-and-childrens-social-care/coronavirus-covid-19-financial-support-for-education-early-years-and-childrens-social-care</a>.</p><p> </p><p>Where early years providers are struggling financially, they may be eligible to access support from the Additional Restrictions Grant, if not eligible for the Local Restrictions Support Grant schemes. Details on both grants are available here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-youre-eligible-for-the-coronavirus-additional-restrictions-grant" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-youre-eligible-for-the-coronavirus-additional-restrictions-grant</a> and <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-youre-eligible-for-the-coronavirus-local-restrictions-support-grant-for-open-businesses" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-youre-eligible-for-the-coronavirus-local-restrictions-support-grant-for-open-businesses</a>.</p><p> </p><p>We continue to work with the early years sector to understand how they can best be supported to ensure that sufficient safe, appropriate, and affordable childcare is available for those who need it now, and for all families who need it in the longer term.</p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford question first answered 01/03/2021 10:26:11 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	4378 label Biography information for Colleen Fletcher

1288930

registered interest
date	23/02/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Education: Coventry
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 tackle educational disadvantage in (a) Coventry North East constituency and (b) Coventry.
tabling member constituency	Coventry North East
tabling member printed	Colleen Fletcher
uin	157151
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/03/2021 answer text <p>Disadvantaged pupils have always been at the heart of our education policy. Since 2011 we have been providing extra funding - £2.4 billion this year alone - through the pupil premium for school leaders to boost the progress and attainment of their disadvantaged pupils. This year, schools in Coventry North East are sharing additional funding of £6.7 million from the pupil premium; the figure for Coventry city is £18.1 million.</p><p>To ensure schools have the tools to make effective use of the funding we established the £137 million Education Endowment Foundation. It carries out extensive research to produce guidance reports for schools setting out how they can use the additional funding to best improve their disadvantaged pupils’ outcomes. This guidance is available here: <a href="https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/evidence-summaries/pupil-premium-guide/" target="_blank">https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/evidence-summaries/pupil-premium-guide/</a>.</p><p>Alongside this, our £1 billion catch-up package for the current academic year includes a £350 million National Tutoring Programme for disadvantaged pupils. This is increasing access to high-quality tuition for the most disadvantaged young people, helping to accelerate their academic progress and tackling the attainment gap between them and their peers.</p><p>Since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak we have distributed over one million laptops to disadvantaged pupils so they can continue their studies remotely. On 24 February 2021, the government announced a £700 million Education Recovery package, focusing on an expansion of one-to-one and small group tutoring programmes, as well as supporting the development of disadvantaged children in early years settings, and summer provision for those pupils who need it the most. This includes a one-off Recovery Premium for the next academic year that will be allocated to schools based on the same methodology as the pupil premium. In this way, schools with more disadvantaged pupils will receive larger allocations.</p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford question first answered 01/03/2021 10:45:17 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	4378 label Biography information for Colleen Fletcher

1271266

registered interest
date	15/12/2020
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 the average monthly cost was of a childcare place in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England in each year since 2010.
tabling member constituency	Coventry North East
tabling member printed	Colleen Fletcher
uin	130099
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/12/2020 answer text <p>For a child taking up the universal 15 hours entitlement, the costs to the government are as follows:</p><ul><li>in Coventry local authority for 2020-21: £2,565 a year (or £4.50 an hour);</li><li>in the West Midlands for 2020-21: average £2,582 a year (or £4.53 an hour); and</li><li>in England for 2020-21: average £2,764 a year (or £4.85 an hour).</li></ul><p>Early years funding rates from the introduction of the early years national funding formula in 2017-18 can be found here:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-national-funding-formula-allocations-and-guidance" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-national-funding-formula-allocations-and-guidance</a>.</p><p>Early years funding allocations are published as part of the dedicated schools grant here:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2020-to-2021" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2020-to-2021</a>.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford question first answered 23/12/2020 10:37:25 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	4378 label Biography information for Colleen Fletcher

1271274

registered interest
date	15/12/2020
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	School Meals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance his Department issues on nutrition in packed lunches.
tabling member constituency	Coventry North East
tabling member printed	Colleen Fletcher
uin	130103
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/12/2020 answer text <p>We encourage schools to have a whole school approach to healthy eating. Schools may use the School Food Standards as a guide, when writing their packed lunch policies. For example, confectionery is banned throughout the school day and foods high in salt, sugar and fat are restricted.</p><p>We want to make it easier for parents to feel confident that they are preparing healthy balanced, lunches for their children. Further information such as recipes, tips and swap suggestions that are practical and affordable for parents are available on the Change4Life website at: <a href="https://www.nhs.uk/change4life-beta/healthier-lunchboxes" target="_blank">https://www.nhs.uk/change4life-beta/healthier-lunchboxes</a>.</p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford question first answered 23/12/2020 09:30:29 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	4378 label Biography information for Colleen Fletcher

1250822

registered interest
date	11/11/2020
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Free School Meals: Coventry
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of primary school pupils were in receipt of free school meals in (a) Coventry and (b) Coventry North East constituency in each year since 2010.
tabling member constituency	Coventry North East
tabling member printed	Colleen Fletcher
uin	114206
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/11/2020 answer text <p>The number of primary school pupils that were in receipt of free school meals (FSM), in (a) Coventry and (b) Coventry North East constituency, each year since 2010 are given in the table attached. The figures are published in the ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ publication available at: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics</a>.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford question first answered 16/11/2020 11:36:20 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford attachment 1 file name Table_114206_FSM_primary_pupils_Coventry_LA_Coventry_NE_Parliamentary_Constituency.pdf title Table_114206
tabling member	4378 label Biography information for Colleen Fletcher

1248808

registered interest
date	04/11/2020
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Schools: Bereavement Counselling
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of the services available in schools for children who experience a bereavement.
tabling member constituency	Coventry North East
tabling member printed	Colleen Fletcher
uin	111541
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/11/2020 answer text <p>It is for schools to decide what support to offer to their pupils, including for bereavement, and we do not collect detailed information on what schools provide. However, the government remains committed to promoting and supporting the mental health of children and young people. Access to mental health support, including bereavement support is more important than ever during the COVID-19 outbreak and the department has taken action to ensure schools and colleges are equipped to support children and young people.</p><p>As children and young people return to school, staff need to be equipped to understand that some of them may have experienced bereavement. Our guidance signposts further support and resources, including MindEd, which has specific material on bereavement and dealing with death and loss. Further information can be found here: <a href="https://www.minded.org.uk/" target="_blank">https://www.minded.org.uk/</a>. Our remote learning guidance also signposted online support from the Childhood Bereavement Network and their website, which can be found here: <a href="http://www.childhoodbereavementnetwork.org.uk/" target="_blank">http://www.childhoodbereavementnetwork.org.uk/</a>. This was supported by webinars over the summer, which reached thousands of school and college staff.</p><p>Additionally, we are investing £8 million in the Wellbeing for Education Return programme, which will provide schools and colleges all over England with the knowledge and practical skills they need to support teachers, students and parents, to help improve how they respond to the emotional impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. The programme is funding expert advisers in every area of England to train and support schools and colleges during the autumn and spring terms. The training includes specific examples of supporting bereaved children.</p><p>Of course, schools and colleges are not mental health professionals, and it is important that more specialist support is available for children and their families. All NHS mental health trusts have ensured that there are 24/7 open access telephone lines to support people of all ages. Public Health England and Health Education England have also developed advice and guidance for parents and professionals on supporting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing. This includes a specific section on dealing with bereavement and grief. Advice and guidance for this is available here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-on-supporting-children-and-young-peoples-mental-health-and-wellbeing" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-on-supporting-children-and-young-peoples-mental-health-and-wellbeing</a>.</p><p>We have also provided £9.2 million of additional funding for mental health charities, including charities like Young Minds, to support adults and children struggling with their mental wellbeing during this time.</p><p>In the long term, we remain committed to our joint green paper delivery programme with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England, including introducing new mental health support teams linked to schools and colleges, providing training for senior mental health leads in schools and colleges, and testing approaches to faster access to NHS specialist support.</p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford question first answered 12/11/2020 14:10:44 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	4378 label Biography information for Colleen Fletcher

1246245

registered interest
date	22/10/2020
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pupils: Self-harm
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 his Department's guidance to schools on supporting students affected by self-harm; and what assessment he has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on trends in the incidence of self-harm among students.
tabling member constituency	Coventry North East
tabling member printed	Colleen Fletcher
uin	107661
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/11/2020 answer text <p>The Department for Education keeps its guidance to schools under review, including the statutory Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) guidance that all schools must have regard to. Amongst other things, it sets out the role all staff have to play to protect children. This includes being aware of the indicators, which may signal that children are at risk from, or are involved with serious violent crime. These may include signs of self-harm or a significant change in wellbeing. Staff should be aware of the associated risks and understand the measures in place to manage these. This also includes identifying where mental health concerns are also safeguarding concerns, and making appropriate referrals into early help support services and statutory support services as appropriate.</p><p>KCSIE was strengthened on 1 September 2020 and includes additional information for school staff to help them support children with their mental health.</p><p>The Department for Education works closely with the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) on children’s mental health and safeguarding issues, and to understand the impact of COVID-19. Emerging evidence on self-harm is included in the children and young people section of the COVID-19 mental health and wellbeing surveillance report, which was published on 8 September 2020. The report is available here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-mental-health-and-wellbeing-surveillance-report/7-children-and-young-people" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-mental-health-and-wellbeing-surveillance-report/7-children-and-young-people</a>.</p><p>DHSC expanded the scope of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy in 2017 to include addressing self-harm as an issue in its own right. They fund the Multicentre Study of Self-harm, which is the most in-depth analysis and monitoring of self-harming trends in England.</p><p>Children’s wellbeing and mental health is a central part of the Department for Education’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak and we have taken action to ensure schools and colleges are equipped to support children and young people.</p><p>We have worked hard to ensure that all pupils and learners were able to return to a full high-quality education programme in September. Our £1 billion COVID-19 catch-up package, with £650 million shared across schools over the 2020-21 academic year, is supporting education settings to put the right catch-up and pastoral support in place. We are also investing £8 million in the new Wellbeing for Education Return programme which is funding expert advisers who will be able to train and support schools and colleges in every area of England and can make links to available local authority provision.</p><p>To increase support further in the long term, we remain committed to our joint green paper delivery programme with the DHSC and NHS England. This includes introducing new mental health support teams linked to schools and colleges, providing training for senior mental health leads in schools and colleges, and testing approaches to faster access to NHS specialist support.</p><p>The NHS Long Term Plan also commits to developing integrated models of primary and community care to support people with complex needs, including self-harming.</p><p>From the 2019-20 financial year, we are investing £57 million in suicide prevention through the NHS Long Term Plan. This will see investment in all areas of the country by the 2023-24 financial year to support local suicide prevention plans and establish suicide bereavement support services. We have ensured that the suicide prevention funding for local areas includes addressing self-harm as a priority focus.</p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford question first answered 02/11/2020 13:49:04 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	4378 label Biography information for Colleen Fletcher

1246247

registered interest
date	22/10/2020
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Qualifications: Gender
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 tackle the achievement gap in qualifications between male and female pupils in schools.
tabling member constituency	Coventry North East
tabling member printed	Colleen Fletcher
uin	107663
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/11/2020 answer text <p>This government is committed to raising school standards across the country to make sure that all young people leave school with the knowledge, qualifications and skills that they need to succeed in life.</p><p>The proportion of children in good or outstanding schools has risen from 66% in 2010 to 86%, meaning that 1.9 million more children are now in good or outstanding schools. Reforms to the curriculum, primary assessment and school accountability arrangements have been designed to ensure that schools are delivering the very best education to all children and young people. In particular, our GCSE reforms mean that we have a rigorous suite of qualifications for all pupils, in line with the standards expected in countries with high-performing education systems.</p><p>We know that teacher quality is vital in improving outcomes for all children and young people. That is why we are relentlessly focussed on reforms that will make the biggest difference to the recruitment and retention of excellent teachers. Since 2019, we have built on our Recruitment and Retention strategy, reforming Initial Teacher Training (ITT) content and developing the Early Career Framework (ECF).These reforms set out, for the first time, an evidence-based body of knowledge and skills that all teachers need in order to be effective in the classroom.</p><p>We know that the COVID-19 outbreak has affected every child and young person. That is why we have announced a £1 billion catch-up package to provide additional funding to support children and young people whose education has been disrupted by COVID-19. The package includes a National Tutoring Programme, which will provide up to £350 million of targeted support for disadvantaged and vulnerable pupils, as well as a £650 million universal catch-up premium, to support schools to target support for specific groups of pupils. This is in addition to our continued protection of pupil premium, worth more than £2.4 billion a year, which ensures that school leaders are equipped with the resources that they need in order to support pupils facing educational disadvantage.</p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford question first answered 02/11/2020 12:00:23 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	4378 label Biography information for Colleen Fletcher

1241296

registered interest
date	07/10/2020
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Teachers: Training
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 provision of mental health training for (a) schoolteachers and (b) university lecturers.
tabling member constituency	Coventry North East
tabling member printed	Colleen Fletcher
uin	100429
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/10/2020 answer text <p>The government is committed to promoting and supporting the mental health of children, young people and the school, college and university staff who support them.</p><p>School, college and university staff cannot act as mental health experts, and they should not try to diagnose conditions. However, it is important that they are able to identify possible mental health problems, so they are able to put appropriate support in place. It is up to schools and colleges to decide what training to offer their staff, but we have put in place a range of training for them to draw on.</p><p>Training has been particularly important to give schools confidence to deal with issues that will have arisen during the COVID-19 outbreak. To ensure that staff are equipped to support wellbeing as children and young people returned to schools and colleges, we made it a central part of our guidance both on remote education and on the return to school. We supported this with a range of training and materials, including webinars which have been accessed by thousands of education staff. We have also accelerated training on how to teach about mental health as part of the new relationships, sex and health curriculum, so that all pupils can benefit from this long-term requirement.</p><p>To provide further support during the autumn and spring terms the department has worked with our partners, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), Health Education England, Public Health England and key voluntary sector organisations, to launch Wellbeing for Education Return. This project, backed by £8 million, will train local experts to provide additional training, advice and resources to schools and colleges, to help support pupil and student wellbeing, resilience and recovery. It will give staff the confidence to support pupils and students, their parents, carers and their own colleagues, and know how and where to access appropriate specialist support where needed.</p><p>This specific support is building on our longer-term activity to help support teacher knowledge. As part of this, the government has successfully delivered on the 2017 commitment of my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, to make mental health awareness training available to all eligible secondary schools by March 2020. To help embed knowledge and practice in schools, we are now in the process of developing a bespoke senior mental health lead training programme. The training will equip senior mental health leads with the knowledge to introduce or develop their whole school and college approach to mental health, implement effective processes for ensuring pupils and students with mental health problems receive appropriate support and to promote positive mental health within the school or college so that it becomes a key part of how schools and colleges operate. The knowledge requirements and expected outcomes for the training closely align to Public Health England’s ‘Promoting children and young people’s emotional health and wellbeing. A whole school and college approach’, which is available here:<br><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/414908/Final_EHWB_draft_20_03_15.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/414908/Final_EHWB_draft_20_03_15.pdf</a>.</p><p>We also remain committed to our major joint green paper delivery programme with DHSC and NHS England, including introducing new mental health support teams linked to schools and colleges, and testing approaches to faster access to NHS specialist support.</p><p>We also recognise the importance of supporting staff with their own mental health and wellbeing. This is why we are funding a £95,000 pilot project with the Education Support Partnership, to focus on leaders’ mental health, providing online peer-support and telephone supervision from experts to around 250 school leaders. This is in addition to funding of £45,000 we provided to Timewise, to provide practical support and resources on flexible working, in light of new arrangements for schools responding to the COVID-19 outbreak.</p><p>It is up to higher education institutions to decide how to support their students and what training to offer to staff. The government strongly supports the University Mental Health Charter, which aims to drive up standards in promoting student and staff mental health and wellbeing. We are also working closely with Universities UK on embedding the Step Change: Mentally Healthy Universities framework, calling on higher education leaders to adopt mental health as a strategic priority and take a whole-institution approach, embedding it across all policies, cultures, curricula and practice.</p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford question first answered 12/10/2020 16:41:37 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	4378 label Biography information for Colleen Fletcher