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1487629

registered interest
date	08/07/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	School Meals: Standards
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to (a) monitor schools progress towards and (b) enforce the School Food Standards.
tabling member constituency	Twickenham
tabling member printed	Munira Wilson
uin	33009
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/07/2022 answer text <p>The department supports the provision of nutritious food in schools via the Requirements for School Food Regulations 2014: <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/1603/contents/made" target="_blank">https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/1603/contents/made</a>.</p><p> </p><p>Compliance with the School Food Standards is mandatory for all maintained schools including academies and free schools. School Governors have a responsibility to ensure compliance and can ask the headteacher for evidence that the school is compliant with the School Food Standards.</p><p> </p><p>In February 2022 the Levelling Up White Paper outlined what the department is doing to strengthen adherence with the School Food Standards, including investing up to £200,000 in a pilot Governor Training Scheme. We will also be running a joint project with the Food Standards Agency to design and test a new approach for local authorities in England, to help assure compliance with the School Food Standards. We will promote accountability and transparency of school food arrangements by encouraging schools to complete a statement on their school websites, which sets out their whole school approach to food. The reporting would be voluntary initially, with the intention that this will become mandatory when schools can do this effectively.</p><p> </p><p>The Healthy Schools Rating Scheme celebrates the positive actions that schools are delivering in terms of healthy living, healthy eating and physical activity, and supports schools in identifying further actions that they can take in this area. This voluntary rating scheme is available for both primary and secondary schools. Schools engage in a self-assessment exercise and receive their rating based on their responses to questions on subjects including compliance with the mandatory school food standards.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 13/07/2022 16:55:29 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4776 label Biography information for Munira Wilson

1486482

registered interest
date	05/07/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Academies
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the form entitled Model articles of association for academy trusts, published on 3 January 2013, whether it remains his policy that the maximum aggregate number of votes exercisable by local authority associated persons should not exceed 19.9 per cent of the total number of votes exercisable by Members in general meeting.
tabling member constituency	Bognor Regis and Littlehampton
tabling member printed	Nick Gibb
uin	30971
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/07/2022 answer text <p>The most recent model articles of association for use by mainstream academies, last updated on 30 June 2021 states:</p><p> </p><p>“Notwithstanding the number of Members from time to time, the maximum aggregate number of votes exercisable by Local Authority Associated Persons shall never exceed 19.9% of the total number of votes exercisable by Members in general meeting and the votes of the other Members having a right to vote at the meeting will be increased on a pro-rata basis.”</p><p> </p><p>This remains the department’s policy position, and we have no plans to change this approach for most types of academy trusts.</p><p> </p><p>The department is testing an approach to allow local authorities to establish new multi academy trusts, where there is a need, to which the above limit on local authority Associated Persons shall not apply. We will, however, require at least one member to be independent of any association with the local authority. We will work with a small number of local authorities to test the concept. Local authority-established multi-academy trusts will be subject to the same oversight and, where necessary, intervention as all trusts. More information about this policy can be found in the registration of interest document, here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authority-established-mats-registration-of-interest" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authority-established-mats-registration-of-interest</a>.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 13/07/2022 16:55:04 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb

1485436

registered interest
date	28/06/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Free School Meals: Universal Credit
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 help ensure that children from families in receipt of Universal Credit receive free school meals.
tabling member constituency	South Shields
tabling member printed	Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck
uin	900849
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/07/2022 answer text <p>Under the benefits-related criteria the department provides a free healthy meal to around 1.9 million children, ensuring they are well nourished and can concentrate, learn and achieve. We also spend around £600 million per year ensuring around 1.25 million infants enjoy a free, healthy and nutritious meal at lunchtime following the introduction of the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy in 2014.</p><p>Schools fund benefit-related free school meals (FSM) from their core funding which they receive through the schools block of the dedicated schools grant and is derived from the national funding formula. For 2022-23, the funding schools attract through the 'FSM factor' in the national funding formula (NFF) is increasing to £470 per eligible pupil. The per meal rate for Universal Infant Free School Meals was increased in 2022-2023 to £2.41.</p><p>Under this government, eligibility has been extended several times and to more groups of children than any other government over the past half a century, including the introduction of universal infant free school meals and further education FSM. The department has permanently extended eligibility to children from all groups with no recourse to public funds.</p><p>The number of pupils eligible for FSM has been increasing since 2018, when we introduced new eligibility criteria for Universal Credit families that was estimated to increase the number of free school meal pupils by 2022. Alongside this, we also introduced generous protections that meant no child would lose their free school meal eligibility as a result of this criteria change and throughout the rollout of Universal Credit.</p><p>We want to make sure as many eligible pupils as possible are claiming their FSM, and to make it as simple as possible for schools and local authorities to determine eligibility. To support this:</p><ul><li>We provide an Eligibility Checking System (ECS) to make the checking process as quick and straightforward as possible for schools and local authorities.</li><li>We have developed a model registration form to help schools encourage parents to sign up for free school meals.</li><li>We also provide guidance to Jobcentre Plus advisers so that they can make Universal Credit recipients aware that they may also be entitled to wider benefits, including free school meals.</li></ul> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 04/07/2022 16:24:03 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4277 label Biography information for Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck

1485438

registered interest
date	28/06/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children: Disability
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 ensure adequate provision of social care services for children and young people with disabilities and their families.
tabling member constituency	Bristol East
tabling member printed	Kerry McCarthy
uin	900855
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/07/2022 answer text <p>In the past three months we have published the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Green Paper, and the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care published its final report.</p><p>The SEND and AP Green Paper aims to ensure the right support is delivered in the right setting at the right time for children and young people with SEND. Our proposals include the introduction of national standards for how needs are assessed, identified and met across education, health and care in order to drive greater national consistency</p><p>The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care has also now published its final report, making a number of recommendations on the support that disabled children and their families should receive. To respond to this Review we will publish a detailed and ambitious implementation strategy later this year. We are committed to aligning this with the SEND and AP reforms so that we build a coherent system with the best interest of all vulnerable children at its heart.</p><p>Local authorities have access to £54.1 billion core spending power in the 2022/23 financial year to deliver their services, including for children and young people, this is £3.7 billion more than in the 2021/22 financial year.</p><p>As part of this, the government has boosted the social care grant, increasing it by £636 million, and so bringing it to a total of around £2.35 billion in the 2022/23 financial year. Local authorities will have access to a one-off Services Grant in the 2022/23 financial year, which is worth over £800 million and can be used for all services, including children’s social care.</p><p>The department is also making better respite care available for those who care for children with special educational needs and disabilities, with councils invited to bid for an extra £30 million for the next three years to set up more than 10,000 additional short break and respite placements for vulnerable children.</p><p>We will publish proposals to improve support for young people with disabilities and their families.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 04/07/2022 16:34:22 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	1491 label Biography information for Kerry McCarthy

1483558

registered interest
date	27/06/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	PE and Sport Premium
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when primary schools will be informed of the (a) outcome of their application to and (b) funding allocation from the PE and Sport Premium Fund.
tabling member constituency	Stockport
tabling member printed	Navendu Mishra
uin	26039
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/06/2022 answer text <p>My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, announced on 25 June that the £320 million PE and sport premium will continue for the 2022/23 academic year.</p><p>The PE and sport premium is paid to all eligible schools and there is no application process. Funding allocations for individual schools will be published in September.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 30/06/2022 08:55:09 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4811 label Biography information for Navendu Mishra

1483644

registered interest
date	27/06/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Foster Care
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 increase the number of foster carers (a) nationally and (b) in areas where there is a shortage of foster carers.
tabling member constituency	York Central
tabling member printed	Rachael Maskell
uin	25919
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/07/2022 answer text <p>Local authorities have a duty to secure, as far as reasonably practicable, sufficient accommodation within their area that meet the needs of their looked after children in their area.</p><p>The department recognises the urgency of action in placement sufficiency, and we will prioritise working with local authorities to recruit more foster carers. This will include pathfinder local recruitment campaigns that build towards a national programme, to help ensure children have access to the right placements at the right time. As the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care recommends, the department will focus on providing more support throughout the application process to improve the conversion rate from expressions of interest to approved foster carers.</p><p>The department has already invested in Fosterline Plus, which offers one-to-one support for prospective foster families.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 05/07/2022 12:22:52 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4471 label Biography information for Rachael Maskell

1483647

registered interest
date	27/06/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Foster Care: Care Leavers
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 value of the payments available for staying put arrangements.
tabling member constituency	York Central
tabling member printed	Rachael Maskell
uin	25920
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/07/2022 answer text <p>Since the introduction of the Staying Put duty in 2014, the government has provided £174 million of funding to support local implementation and is committed to continuing to invest £99.8 million over the next three years.</p><p> </p><p>Each local authorities allocation is determined by the proportion of eligible children they have relative to the national total. The formula uses the department’s data on the number of young people in foster care immediately before their 18<sup>th</sup> birthday to identify the percentage of eligible young people in each local authority and this percentage is then applied to the total national funding available.</p><p> </p><p>Up until the 2019/20 financial year, the funding was based on an assumption that 25% of eligible care leavers would Stay Put, which is the proportion of care leavers who Stayed Put in the pilots, which ran before the legal duty was introduced.</p><p> </p><p>In the 2019/20 financial year the latest data showed that across the 18 to 20 age range around 35% of care leavers were Staying Put. This meant that actual take up was 40% higher than the original assumption. As a result, the department increased funding in the 2020/21 financial year by 40% (£9.5 million) to address this. We will keep Staying Put funding under review during the next spending review period.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 05/07/2022 12:27:03 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4471 label Biography information for Rachael Maskell

1483648

registered interest
date	27/06/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Foster Care: Mental Health Services
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department provides additional support to foster carers who are supporting children and young people who have experienced trauma.
tabling member constituency	York Central
tabling member printed	Rachael Maskell
uin	25921
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/07/2022 answer text <p>The Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011 clearly set out the requirement that such advice, information, support, and training is made available from the fostering service provider to their foster carers as appears necessary in the interests of the children they are caring for. This is supported by the National Minimum Standards for Fostering Services, which includes a specific requirement that foster carers should have training in appropriate safer-care practice, including skills to care for children who have been abused (Standard 4.6).</p><p> </p><p>Specific training is arranged by fostering service providers, as local fostering service providers benefit from the flexibility to meet local need.</p><p> </p><p>All fostering service providers are expected to support their carers to meet the training, support and development standards (TSD) for foster care following their approval. Standard 5 of the TSD standards requires foster carers to understand the development of children and young people, including the impact of trauma. The TSD standards require that foster carers can provide evidence to show they understand the impact of trauma on children’s ability to form attachments, their behaviour, and their ability to cope with transitions.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 05/07/2022 12:16:07 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4471 label Biography information for Rachael Maskell

1483672

registered interest
date	27/06/2022
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 assessment he has made of the potential impact of increasing childcare ratios on levels of childcare staff (a) recruitment and (b) retention.
tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
tabling member printed	Helen Hayes
uin	25945
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/07/2022 answer text <p>In the summer, the department will be consulting on moving to the Scottish ratios for two-year-olds, from a ratio of 1:4 (one adult to four children) to 1:5 (one adult to five children). Alongside this, the department is also considering how we can provide greater flexibility within ratios for childminders.</p><p> </p><p>Our priority continues to be to provide safe, high quality early years provision for our youngest children, and throughout this consultation process we will engage fully with the sector and parents and carers on this proposed change.</p><p> </p><p>Responses from this consultation will help to build the evidence base, including on the impact that changing childcare ratios may have on staff recruitment and retention.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 05/07/2022 12:18:10 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4510 label Biography information for Helen Hayes

1483673

registered interest
date	27/06/2022
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, how many (a) nurseries and (b) childcare settings have closed in each region of England in each year since 2018.
tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
tabling member printed	Helen Hayes
uin	25946
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/06/2022 answer text <p>This is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 30/06/2022 08:58:49 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4510 label Biography information for Helen Hayes