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1666746

registered interest
date	23/10/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pre-school Education: City of Durham
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the availability of staff in early years education settings in City of Durham constituency.
tabling member constituency	City of Durham
tabling member printed	Mary Kelly Foy
uin	203952
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/10/2023 answer text <p>The department collects information on the childcare workforce through the survey of childcare and early years providers. This is a long-standing, nationally representative survey of 10,000 childcare and early years providers. The latest data was published on 15 December 2022, and can be accessed at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-and-early-years-providers-survey-2022" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-and-early-years-providers-survey-2022</a>. The department does not collect data on workforce at constituency level.</p><p>Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area.</p><p>The department has regular contact with each local authority in England, including Durham County Council, about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing, such as workforce recruitment and retention.</p><p>Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, the department discuss what action the local authority is taking to address those issues and, where needed, support the local authority with any specific requirements through our childcare sufficiency support contract.</p><p>The early years workforce makes a huge contribution to young children’s lives. Supporting and growing this workforce to deliver the transformative reforms announced by the Chancellor in the Spring 2023 Budget is a priority for the department. The department is developing a range of new workforce initiatives including the launch of a new, national, multi-channel broadcast recruitment campaign, planned for the beginning of 2024, to boost interest in the sector and support the recruitment of talented staff.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston question first answered 26/10/2023 10:18:50 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
tabling member	4753 label Biography information for Mary Kelly Foy

1666069

registered interest
date	19/10/2023
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, whether her Department plans to implement a 20% reduction target for Education Health and Care Plans as part of the Delivering Better Value in SEND programme.
tabling member constituency	Ellesmere Port and Neston
tabling member printed	Justin Madders
uin	203508
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/10/2023 answer text <p>The department’s Delivering Better Value (DBV) programme has no targets to reduce the number of new Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans. Decisions about individual children and young people and whether they require EHC plans must be made on an individual basis, following the processes set out in the Children and Families Act 2014. The department is protecting every parent and family’s existing legal right to an EHC plan when they need one, and that will not change.</p><p>The DBV programme is part of the wider reform work set out in detail in the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan. DBV aims to put the SEND system on a more sustainable footing by funding system transformation in up to 55 local authorities with high dedicated schools grant deficits. It does so by providing diagnostic support to each local authority to engage with its stakeholders and identify opportunities to improve services and meet children’s needs at an early stage and with the right level of support.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston grouped question UIN 203016 question first answered 25/10/2023 15:05:00 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
tabling member	4418 label Biography information for Justin Madders

1666204

registered interest
date	19/10/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Childcare: Finance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 55 of the Spring Budget 2023, what the planned timescales are for spending the £289 million in start-up funding for childcare; and how much and what proportion of that funding will be allocated to childcare school-aged children.
tabling member constituency	Stroud
tabling member printed	Siobhan Baillie
uin	203621
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/10/2023 answer text <p>In the Spring Budget 2023, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced a transformative set of childcare reforms. This included the largest ever investment in childcare including expansions of early years entitlements and wraparound childcare.</p><p> </p><p>The department is investing £289 million in a new wraparound childcare programme to support local authorities to work with primary schools and providers, including childminders, to set up and deliver more wraparound childcare before and after school in the term time. The department’s ambition is for all parents of primary school children who need it to access childcare in their local area from 8am to 6pm.</p><p> </p><p>Parents should expect to see an expansion in the availability of wraparound care from September 2024, with every parent who needs it able to access term-time wraparound childcare by September 2026. Programme funding allocations will be announced at the necessary points to support local authorities and schools to meet these timescales.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston question first answered 26/10/2023 10:19:55 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
tabling member	4847 label Biography information for Siobhan Baillie

1666205

registered interest
date	19/10/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Employment: Childcare
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the number of parents who have been unable to return to the workforce due to being unable to access school-aged childcare.
tabling member constituency	Stroud
tabling member printed	Siobhan Baillie
uin	203622
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/10/2023 answer text <p>The department understands that parents may struggle to return to work or may work fewer hours when their children are of school age. A key barrier is the availability of school-age wraparound childcare. In 2022, 43% of non-working mothers with children aged 5 to14 said that if they could arrange good quality childcare that was convenient, reliable and affordable, they would prefer to go out to work.</p><p> </p><p>The availability of wraparound childcare differs across schools and local authorities. In March 2023, only 60% of primary schools reported to currently offer childcare at both ends of the day. This means that although there is some excellent provision, whether delivered by schools or providers, not all families are receiving the support that they need to enable them to work.</p><p> </p><p>For this reason, the government is investing £289 million in a new wraparound childcare programme to support local authorities to work with primary schools and private providers to set up and deliver more wraparound childcare before and after school in the term time. This is the first step in the government’s ambition for all parents of primary school children who need it to access childcare in their local area from 8am to 6pm. Successfully meeting this objective will go some way to ensuring that parents have enough childcare to work full time, more hours and more flexible hours.</p><p> </p><p>Eligible working parents can continue to access support with childcare costs when their children are of school age: through Tax Free Childcare, worth up to £2,000 per year for children aged up to 11, or £4,000 per year for children aged up to 17 with disabilities, and the childcare element of Universal Credit for children up to age 16.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston question first answered 26/10/2023 10:24:06 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
tabling member	4847 label Biography information for Siobhan Baillie

1666225

registered interest
date	19/10/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Childcare: Staff
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Government's planned expansion of subsidised childcare announced in March 2023, what estimate she has made of the additional number of staff required as a result of that expansion by (a) April 2024, (b) September 2024 and (c) September 2025.
tabling member constituency	Walthamstow
tabling member printed	Stella Creasy
uin	203481
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/10/2023 answer text <p>The department knows that to deliver the expanded early years entitlements, the sector will require additional staff. The phased implementation of the free hours offers will allow the market to develop the necessary capacity. The department continues to monitor sufficiency of childcare provision, including recruitment challenges, through our regular conversations with local authorities, and we are implementing a range of interventions to support the increase required.</p><p>In early 2024 we will launch a new, national, multi-channel broadcast recruitment campaign to boost interest in the sector and support the recruitment of talented staff. Alongside this, the department will consider how to introduce new accelerated apprenticeship and degree apprenticeship routes so everyone from junior staff to senior leaders can easily move into a career in the sector.</p><p>The department is also committed to delivering flexibility for providers to help them meet the ambition of the Spring Budget investment and has carried out a consultation on a package of possible flexibilities that could be introduced to the early years foundation stage framework.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston question first answered 24/10/2023 16:39:04 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
tabling member	4088 label Biography information for Stella Creasy

1665740

registered interest
date	18/10/2023
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 progress her Department has made on introducing early intervention services for children without an education, health and care plan.
tabling member constituency	North East Hampshire
tabling member printed	Mr Ranil Jayawardena
uin	203359
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/10/2023 answer text <p>The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan, published March 2023, set out the department’s plans to deliver an inclusive system with improved, high-quality mainstream provision where children and young people have their needs identified early and can access prompt, evidence-based, targeted support. This will mean that more children and young people can have their needs met, without the need to rely on an Education, Health and Care plan to get the support they need. Our plan includes testing approaches to early intervention services through, for example, a Speech, Language and Communication Needs pilot, the Early Language Support for Every Child, co-funded with NHS England.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston grouped question UIN 203079 question first answered 25/10/2023 14:54:21 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
tabling member	4498 label Biography information for Mr Ranil Jayawardena

1665898

registered interest
date	18/10/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Schools: Mental Health Services
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 (a) primary and (b) secondary schools offer professional mental health support for pupils.
tabling member constituency	Ilford North
tabling member printed	Wes Streeting
uin	203366
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/10/2023 answer text <p>The mental health of children is a priority for this government and schools play a vital role in this, particularly by providing calm, safe and supportive learning environments that promote good mental wellbeing and help pupils who need it to access early targeted support.</p><p>Schools are best placed to decide what support to provide to respond to the social, emotional and mental health needs of their pupils. This can include the provision of school-based mental health professionals such as counsellors and working with external providers and, where necessary, NHS specialist services.</p><p>The requested information on schools offering professional mental health support is not collected centrally. The department collects information on staff working in state funded schools via the annual School Workforce Census, but does not directly identify mental health professionals. The results are published in the annual ‘School Workforce in England’ national statistics release, available at: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england</a>.</p><p>To expand access to early mental health support in schools and colleges, the department is working with NHS England to increase the number of Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) working with schools and colleges. These teams include trained mental health professionals who can offer support to children experiencing common mental health problems and liaise with external specialist services to help pupils get the right support. As of April 2023, MHSTs covered 35% of pupils in schools and students in further education in England. We are expanding coverage to an estimated 44% of pupils/students by the end of this financial year and at least 50% by April 2025.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston question first answered 26/10/2023 10:08:33 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
tabling member	4504 label Biography information for Wes Streeting

1665371

registered interest
date	17/10/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Childcare
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 to support parents of primary-aged children with childcare outside of school hours.
tabling member constituency	North Swindon
tabling member printed	Justin Tomlinson
uin	202973
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/10/2023 answer text <p>The government is investing £289 million in a new wraparound childcare programme to support local authorities to work with primary schools and providers, including childminders, to set up and deliver more wraparound childcare before and after school in the term time. The government’s ambition is for all parents of primary school children who need it, to access childcare in their local area from 8am to 6pm. Successfully meeting this objective will go some way to ensuring that parents have enough childcare to work full time, more hours and more flexible hours.</p><p>Parents will still be expected to pay to access this provision, but support with costs will be available to eligible parents through Universal Credit childcare and Tax-Free Childcare.</p><p>Parents should expect to see an expansion in the availability of wraparound care from September 2024, with every parent who needs it able to access term-time wraparound childcare by September 2026.</p><p>The department is also providing over £200 million a year for the continuation of the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme, with all local authorities in England delivering the programme in the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays. The HAF programme provides heathy meals, enriching activities and free childcare places to children from low-income families, benefiting their health, wellbeing and learning. In summer 2022, the programme reached around 600,000 children across England, including over 475,000 children eligible for free school meals across England. The department is working to ensure that the creation of new or expanded wraparound childcare provision can also help to support the delivery of sustainable holiday childcare provision, wherever possible.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston question first answered 25/10/2023 10:29:57 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
tabling member	4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson

1665445

registered interest
date	17/10/2023
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 assessment she has made of the adequacy of the local authority decision-making process when deciding specialist placement for SEND children; and if she will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Tewkesbury
tabling member printed	Mr Laurence Robertson
uin	202872
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/10/2023 answer text <p>Local authorities are responsible for deciding on the educational placement of a child or young person with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan, following the statutory process set out in the Children and Families Act 2014.</p><p>In the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan, the department sets out the proposal to support parents and carers, or young people from the age of 16, to express an informed preference for a suitable placement, by requiring local authorities to provide a tailored list of settings that are appropriate to meet a child or young person’s needs. This would allow local authorities to give clear choices to families and better meet the needs of children and young people, while supporting the management of placements in a sustainable way.</p><p>The department is testing an advisory tailored list in participating local authorities through the Change Programme, to gain feedback on the best way to support families as they chose a placement. During the Change Programme, participating families will receive clear information about which settings are able to meet the needs of their child, but there will be no change to the existing statutory framework and their existing rights will be unaffected.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston question first answered 20/10/2023 13:46:24 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
tabling member	253 label Biography information for Mr Laurence Robertson

1665446

registered interest
date	17/10/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Special Educational Needs: Appeals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department are taking to reduce the number of EHCP applications going to appeal; and if she will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Tewkesbury
tabling member printed	Mr Laurence Robertson
uin	202873
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/10/2023 answer text <p>Most Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan needs assessments and reviews are concluded without parents/carers appealing to the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Tribunal. Nationally, in 2022, only 2.3% of all appealable decisions subsequently resulted in an appeal to the SEND Tribunal.</p><p>However, the department knows that the system needs to work better for parents. In the SEND and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan, published in March 2023, the department set out ambitious plans to establish a single national system that delivers for every child and young person with SEND and in AP so that they enjoy their childhood, achieve good outcomes, and are well prepared for adulthood and employment.</p><p>The department will give families greater confidence that their child will be able to fulfil their potential through improved mainstream provision in their local school through setting national standards for early and accurate identification of need, and timely access to support to meet those needs. The standards will include clarifying the types of support that should be ordinarily available in mainstream settings and who is responsible for securing the support.</p><p>For those children and young people who require an EHC plan, the department will improve the quality of plans. We will also improve the experience of getting a plan by creating a standard national EHC plan template, backed by standardising the use of local multi-agency panels to provide local authorities with holistic advice from education, health and care partners on whether to proceed to full EHC Plan assessment. The department also plans to digitise EHC plans, to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy in the system. In combination, this will deliver a more nationally consistent EHC plan system, and help restore parental confidence.</p><p>Where there are disputes, the department has committed to explore, test, and evaluate approaches for strengthening mediation between parents/carers and local authorities to help resolve disputes earlier before cases go to Tribunal.</p><p>The department continues to provide support and challenge to individual local authorities, through our team of professional SEND advisers, and are looking to include data on appeals as part of national and local inclusion dashboards to support the monitoring of performance across areas and drive improvements.</p><p>Taken together, our proposals should help meet the needs of children and young people sooner and reduce the number of EHC Plan applications going to appeal.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston question first answered 20/10/2023 13:40:25 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
tabling member	253 label Biography information for Mr Laurence Robertson