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 previous answer version answering member constituency answering member printed answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

1052235

registered interest
date	31/01/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Free Schools
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of (a) the number of free school projects that were cancelled after receiving government funding and (b) the total cost to the public purse of cancelled free school projects in each year since the introduction of free schools.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	215084
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/02/2019 answer text <p>The primary objective of the department in all cases is to ensure the best possible educational outcomes for pupils and to secure value for money for the taxpayer. Where we have had concerns over the long-term success and viability of a proposed free school that has not yet opened, we take swift and decisive action to cancel the project. As a result, since the start of the programme, we have cancelled 30 free school proposals.</p><p> </p><p>The department publishes revenue and capital costs associated with cancelled free school projects on a regular basis through its annual accounts and on GOV.UK. Of the cancelled projects with costs published to date, the total cost to the public purse has been £6,762,381. This total does not include free school projects that were withdrawn by the proposer during the pre-opening period.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 07/02/2019 11:36:28 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi previous answer version 99838 answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1051311

registered interest
date	30/01/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Academies: Insolvency
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of academy chains that have (a) gone into administration and (b) collapsed in each year since 2010.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	214465
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/02/2019 answer text <p>Our latest records show that no academy trust has gone into administration. Where there is a risk to public funds, the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) will intervene in a proportionate manner to avoid financial issues affecting school provision.</p><p> </p><p>The ESFA has a robust intervention strategy to support an academy trust, which is a company limited by guarantee and subject to company law, to reach a stronger financial position. Intervention actions range from supporting and building trust capacity through to issuing a Financial Notice to Improve, or in the most serious cases, terminating a funding agreement, after schools have been transferred to another trust.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 04/02/2019 17:46:38 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1043021

registered interest
date	17/01/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Special Educational Needs
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 support the improvement of local authority-run services for children with special educational needs and disabilities.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	209746
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/01/2019 answer text <p>The Children and Families Act (2014) introduced a range of additional duties for local authorities in relation to services for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).</p><p> </p><p>We have invested heavily in training and support for local authorities to take on their new responsibilities and improve their services. This includes funding training and resources on education, health and care planning; leadership skills; joint commissioning of services; and effectively engaging with children, young people and their families to deliver a service that meets their needs. We are also working with IPSEA (Independent Parental Special Education Advice) to deliver legal training for local authorities on the implications of the SEND reforms, and are funding peer support via a network of local authority regional coordinators.</p><p>High needs funding has risen by £1 billion since 2013, to just under £6 billion this year and on 17 December 2018, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education announced additional high needs funding for local authorities of £125 million in 2018-19 and £125 million in 2019-20 to help local councils manage the increasing costs of provision for children and young people with SEND. He also announced a further £100 million top-up to the special provision capital fund for in 2019-20, to take the total investment to £365 million across 2018 to 2021. This will help local authorities invest in improved facilities and additional school and college places for children and young people with SEND.</p><p>Since May 2016, we have been funding Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to inspect local areas (the local authority and relevant commissioning health bodies) on how they are fulfilling their duties for children and young people with SEND. All 152 areas will be inspected over 5 years and where weaknesses are identified by the inspectors, areas are being supported by the Department for Education and NHS England regional SEND advisers to develop and implement an improvement plan known as a written statement of action (WSOA). Inspections are identifying a wide range of strengths, as well as areas for improvements and are acting as a real driver for change. Revisits by Ofsted and the CQC to those areas with a WSOA are helping to ensure than momentum is maintained.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 22/01/2019 15:23:38 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1041360

registered interest
date	14/01/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pre-school Education
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 number of men working in early years education.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	208191
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/01/2019 answer text <p>The department’s ‘Early Years Workforce Strategy’ (published March 2017) included a commitment to set up a gender diversity task and finish group of sector stakeholders to consider this issue in more depth. The group has shared its findings with the department and we are currently considering how best to address the issue of gender diversity in the early years workforce.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 17/01/2019 14:09:29 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1043685

registered interest
date	09/01/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children: Care Homes
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 17 December 2018 to Question 201570 on Children: Care Homes, what funding from the Children’s Social Care Innovation programme has been allocated to (a) Coventry City Council and (b) other local authorities.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	210010
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/01/2019 answer text <p>Launched in 2013, the Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme has invested £200 million in up to 98 projects across 3 funding rounds (2014-2020), enabling local authorities to develop, test and scale new approaches to supporting vulnerable children in the social care system supported by an independent evaluation.</p><p>We have supported Coventry City Council up to £871,000 over three years to adopt and adapt Project Crewe’s successful innovative model in providing targeted support to children in need. This includes utilising integrated cross-sector working and personalised interventions aimed at ensuring that children in need in the area receive targeted, multi-agency support they need to prevent repeat referrals, escalation to child protection measures or entry to care.</p><p>Coventry City Council also received £969,835 for their work with the Family Rights Group and Catch22 innovation projects.</p><p>We are also working with up to 116 local authorities who are involved with the innovation programme in either leading, partnering and or supporting on an innovation programme project up to 2022.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 23/01/2019 16:32:47 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1025317

registered interest
date	14/12/2018
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children: Temporary Accommodation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he is taking steps to provide additional educational support for schoolchildren who are housed in temporary accommodation; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	202287
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/12/2018 answer text <p>We know moving into temporary accommodation can mean changing schools, which is strongly associated with poorer attainment. We provide schools with extra resources to ensure all pupils, regardless of their home circumstances, have the educational support they require and can go as far as their talent and hard work will take them. We are spending over £2.4 billion this year through the pupil premium to support disadvantaged pupils, which may include those housed in temporary accommodation.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 19/12/2018 16:58:44 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1025323

registered interest
date	14/12/2018
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 guidance he provides to local authorities on the time they should take to make an Education, Health and Care needs assessment.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	202291
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/12/2018 answer text <p>The Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Code of Practice sets out the statutory timescales and decision points for the process of education, health and care (EHC) needs assessment and plan development (paragraphs 9.39 to 9.44 in the attached document).</p><p>The maximum time for the whole assessment process to be completed is 20 weeks. There are limited exceptions to this timescale, for example if exceptional personal circumstances affect the child or young person or their family, or if the child or young person is absent from the area for at least four weeks.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 19/12/2018 14:50:22 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi attachment 1 file name SEND_Code_of_Practice_January_2015.pdf title SEND_code_of_practice_January_2015
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1023920

registered interest
date	12/12/2018
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children: Care Homes
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 the (a) availability and (b) provision of children's residential care in (i) Coventry, (ii) the West Midlands and (iii) England.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	201570
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/12/2018 answer text <p>Ofsted, as the independent regulator, inspects all children’s homes to ensure they meet the standards outlined in the Social Care Common Inspection Framework and the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations (2015). At 30 September 2018, 82% of homes in England were judged good or outstanding. Ofsted publishes statistics on local authority inspection outcomes which can be found at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/local-authority-and-childrens-homes-in-england-inspections-and-outcomes-autumn-2018" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/local-authority-and-childrens-homes-in-england-inspections-and-outcomes-autumn-2018</a>.</p><p>Local authorities have a statutory duty to ensure there is sufficient accommodation available for the children that they look after. We are supporting local authorities in fulfilling this duty by providing funding as part of our £200 million Children’s Social Care Innovation programme to increase capacity and improve the commissioning of residential care placements. We are also establishing a residential care leadership board to drive improvements in the children’s residential care system in England.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 17/12/2018 13:25:06 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1017218

registered interest
date	29/11/2018
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children: Nutrition
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 South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	197324
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/12/2018 answer text <p>The government supports measures to ensure that children eat a healthy, nutritious meal at lunchtime. This is why we set out, through legislation, the minimum standards for food provided by schools.</p><p>It is ultimately for schools to set their own packed lunch policies. Schools must act reasonably in setting such policies and we would expect schools to consider pupils’ medical, dietary and cultural needs accordingly. We also expect that schools will consult with parents, setting out their objectives, gaining their support and giving proper consideration to any difficulties when setting their packed lunch policies.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 04/12/2018 16:53:10 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1017219

registered interest
date	29/11/2018
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Schools: Refugees
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 integration of refugee children that attend schools.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	197325
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/12/2018 answer text <p>Schools are responsible for ensuring that all of their pupils, irrespective of their ethnicity and background, are engaged, challenged and have opportunity to achieve their full academic potential. Such children and young people may be diverse in terms of their country of origin, how long they have been in England and their previous experiences of formal education – so individual schools will be best placed to determine how to integrate pupils with refugee status most effectively into the life of the school.</p><p>Head teachers have flexibility in how they use the funding allocated to their schools in order to support and address the specific needs of their pupils – including those who are refugees (or seeking asylum). Refugee children may have English language development needs. Through the new national funding formula (NFF) for schools, which was introduced in April 2018, schools are allocated funding for pupils with English as an additional language (EAL) who have been in the school system in England for up to three years. The funding equates to an additional £515 per primary school pupil and an additional £1,385 per secondary school pupil by the time the formula is fully implemented. The mobility factor in the NFF also directs funding to schools in which more than 10% of pupils joined the school mid-way through the academic year.</p><p>Where appropriate, schools can also use their pupil premium funding to support refugee pupils who are classed as disadvantaged, or who are currently or have previously been in local authority care.</p><p>Unaccompanied asylum seeking children who arrive in the UK become looked-after children and therefore will be safeguarded and have their welfare promoted in the same way as any other looked-after child. Such children will have a Personal Education Plan, and social workers, Virtual School Heads (VSH) and Independent Reviewing Officers, school admission officers and special educational needs departments will work together to ensure that appropriate education provision for the child is arranged.</p><p> </p><p>The department has contributed £1.3 million through the Controlling Migration Fund over two years to fund eight diverse local authorities in providing better access to initial assessment and education for unaccompanied asylum seeking children. The local authorities will also use their delivery models to develop resources for this vulnerable cohort of looked-after children that can be easily shared with and used by other local authorities facing similar challenges. We are working with the VSH Network to support the development of the tools and resources as well as good practice examples and case studies of effective support, which are being cascaded through the VSH Network to all other local authorities looking after unaccompanied and refugee children.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 04/12/2018 17:42:33 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham