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1401238

registered interest
date	10/01/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Noonan Syndrome
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what Government support is offered to families in which someone lives with Noonan's Syndrome; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing a blue badge for the carer of that person.
tabling member constituency	Congleton
tabling member printed	Fiona Bruce
uin	100493
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/01/2022 answer text <p>The department recognises that Noonan’s syndrome can cause a range of needs and difficulties for individuals, which may mean that they, or their families, require additional support. For children, support can be provided through both the education system, and through children’s social care services.</p><p>Schools are required to identify and address the special educational needs (SEN) of the pupils they support and to use their best endeavours to make sure that a child or young person who has SEN gets the support they need. Local authorities (LAs) have a statutory responsibility to assess whether children and young people have SEN that require the support of an education, health and care (EHC) plan. If the local authority issues an EHC plan, it also has a statutory duty to secure the provision specified in the plan, working with its education, health, and social care partners.</p><p>Outside education, the department believes that it is right for LAs, who know their areas’ needs best, to determine what services are required locally, including early help. In line with this, respite care services for disabled children (which are sometimes known as Short Breaks) are provided based on an individual assessment of each child and family’s needs. The Children and Families Act 2014 (Section 97) requires local authorities to assess and support the needs of parents/carers as well as those of children with SEN or a disability. Assessments are based on individual needs but should include parents’ well-being and ‘control over day-to-day life’.</p><p>This year LAs have access to £51.3 billion to deliver their core services, including a £1.7 billion grant for social care. In addition to statutory services, we are providing £27.3 million to the Family Fund in financial year 2021-22 to support over 60,000 families on low incomes raising children and young people with disabilities or serious illnesses. Grants can be used for a range of purposes, including family breaks.</p><p>The Blue Badge Scheme provides a national arrangement of parking concessions for people with a range of disabilities and medical conditions to enable them to park closer to the places they wish to visit. Eligibility for a blue badge is not restricted to specific conditions. People with conditions such as Noonan’s Syndrome could receive a badge if they meet the eligibility criteria. It is for the relevant LA to decide if an applicant meets the criteria. If an individual is eligible for a badge, then their carer can use it when accompanying the badge holder.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 13/01/2022 16:25:56 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	3958 label Biography information for Fiona Bruce

1338594

registered interest
date	21/06/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Extracurricular Activities: Coronavirus
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 ensure that children and young people are able to attend youth residential activities over the forthcoming summer holiday period in the event that covid-19 restrictions are maintained beyond 19 July 2021.
tabling member constituency	Congleton
tabling member printed	Fiona Bruce
uin	19567
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/06/2021 answer text <p>The Department recognises the significant benefits that summer camps and other forms of education outside the classroom can have on children’s academic development as well as their mental health and wellbeing.</p><p>Since 17 May 2021, out of school settings, including outdoor education centres, have been able to operate in groups of any size for both indoor and outdoor provision. It remains important to continue minimising mixing between children where possible.</p><p>Since 21 June, out of school settings have been able to undertake residential visits and overnight stays with groups of up to 30 children. The Department has provided updated guidance which sets out how this can be operated safely. This guidance can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/protective-measures-for-holiday-or-after-school-clubs-and-other-out-of-school-settings-for-children-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak/protective-measures-for-holiday-and-after-school-clubs-and-other-out-of-school-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/protective-measures-for-holiday-or-after-school-clubs-and-other-out-of-school-settings-for-children-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak/protective-measures-for-holiday-and-after-school-clubs-and-other-out-of-school-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak</a>.</p><p>Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, the Government has listened to the views of the scientific community, in particular the information from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies and its sub-groups when taking decisions on the best way to tackle COVID-19.</p><p>Education and childcare settings continue to be supported with appropriate guidance on safety measures, and the Department is committed to ensuring that out of school settings are able to effectively manage risks, create an inherently safer environment and maximise face to face education wherever possible. As new evidence or data emerges, the Government will act accordingly to ensure that all out of school settings have the right safety measures in place and that measures remain proportionate to the threat posed by COVID-19. The advice on residential visits and the need for protective measures will be reviewed again in advance of Step 4.</p><p>The Department is also working closely with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the National Youth Agency to ensure we have full awareness of the effect the COVID-19 outbreak has had on the youth sector. In response to youth sector engagement, dedicated youth sector COVID-19 guidance has been developed by the National Youth Agency in collaboration with DCMS, the Department, youth sector organisations and public health experts.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb grouped question UIN 19510 19511 19512 19626 19627 question first answered 24/06/2021 10:44:04 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	3958 label Biography information for Fiona Bruce

1300126

registered interest
date	08/03/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pupils: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what provision is being made for unaccompanied children who need to return to the UK and quarantine in order to return to school.
tabling member constituency	Congleton
tabling member printed	Fiona Bruce
uin	164413
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/03/2021 answer text <p>Unaccompanied children arriving in the UK to attend a day school must quarantine in accordance with the requirements for other people arriving in the UK. For those arriving from non ‘red list’ countries, this will normally require them to quarantine with their family or guardians. Unaccompanied children arriving from ‘red list’ countries who are not boarding school pupils will need to meet a family member who can quarantine with them in a managed quarantine facility on arrival.</p><p>Arrangements for the quarantine of international boarders attending schools in England should be in place before boarding school pupils’ travel.</p><p>Arrangements for boarders arriving from non ‘red list’ countries are laid out in ‘Schools coronavirus (COVID-19) operational guidance’ published by the Department. This guidance is available here: <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/964351/Schools_coronavirus_operational_guidance.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/964351/Schools_coronavirus_operational_guidance.pdf</a>.</p><p>Arrangements for boarders that meet the relevant UK entry requirements and will arrive from ‘red list’ countries, or having travelled through a ‘red list’ country in the 10 days prior to arrival, must be in line with the guidance available at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/quarantine-arrangements-for-boarding-school-students-from-red-list-countries" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/quarantine-arrangements-for-boarding-school-students-from-red-list-countries</a>. In line with the guidance, boarding school pupils must quarantine within accommodation provided for or arranged by their boarding school.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 11/03/2021 17:00:27 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	3958 label Biography information for Fiona Bruce

1290292

registered interest
date	26/02/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Family Hubs
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress has been made on developing a national centre for Family Hubs.
tabling member constituency	Congleton
tabling member printed	Fiona Bruce
uin	159279
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/03/2021 answer text <p>Families play a critical role in caring for and educating their children; and the COVID-19 outbreak has highlighted the need for cross-government collaboration to provide support to families. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education is driving forward this government’s focus on improving outcomes for families’ and has appointed a Departmental Policy Adviser on families.</p><p>On family hubs, the department is investing over £14 million and is taking steps to champion this approach. We expect to have completed the procurement of a National Centre for family hubs by March 2021 and for the centre to be up and running by spring 2021. We are also investing in an evaluation innovation fund, and work to develop data and digital products to help professionals collaborate and plan with families in the early years.</p><p>To support and strengthen families, and to ensure children have the best start, the department has:</p><ul><li>launched an Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, on 15 January 2021;</li><li>announced that the Adoption Support Fund (ASF) will continue for a further year up to March 2022 (£185 million has been made available through the core ASF to help pay for essential therapeutic services for over 65,000 adoptive and eligible special guardianship families since 2015);</li><li>launched the cross government special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) review to strengthen the support available to children and young people, and their families;</li><li>continued to deliver 30 hours childcare places to nearly 350,000 children in January 2020, with over one million disadvantaged two-year-olds having benefitted from 15 hours free childcare since the entitlement began in 2013;</li><li>commenced reform of the early years foundation stage to improve outcomes for all children at age five, especially disadvantaged children, and to reduce the workload so practitioners and teachers can spend more time teaching children;</li><li>introduced the Nuffield Early Language Intervention to 40% of primary schools in the 2020-21 academic year to address the education recovery needs of reception-age children;</li><li>continued to work with voluntary and community sector partners and deliver online resources to help parents engage in home learning activities with under-fives to support early language, literacy and numeracy development, and parent and child mental health and wellbeing, and to support children with SEND;</li><li>worked in partnership with Public Health England, the Local Government Association and the Early Intervention Foundation to secure improved early language outcomes for disadvantaged children through effective integration of local services;</li><li>spent more than £18 billion since 2011 – and another £2.4 billion this year – through the pupil premium to tackle educational inequality;</li><li>supported families through free school meals (FSM) - under the benefits-related criteria there are currently around 1.4 million pupils eligible for and claiming FSM, saving families around £400 a year for each child. In addition, the Holiday Activity and Food programme will expand in 2021 so that disadvantaged children across England will be offered free healthy meals and enriching activities over the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays through a £220 million investment.</li></ul> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford grouped question UIN 159280 159281 159282 159283 question first answered 03/03/2021 11:29:48 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	3958 label Biography information for Fiona Bruce

1290293

registered interest
date	26/02/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Family Hubs
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 rollout Family Hubs across the country; and what resources are being provided by his Department for that rollout.
tabling member constituency	Congleton
tabling member printed	Fiona Bruce
uin	159280
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/03/2021 answer text <p>Families play a critical role in caring for and educating their children; and the COVID-19 outbreak has highlighted the need for cross-government collaboration to provide support to families. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education is driving forward this government’s focus on improving outcomes for families’ and has appointed a Departmental Policy Adviser on families.</p><p>On family hubs, the department is investing over £14 million and is taking steps to champion this approach. We expect to have completed the procurement of a National Centre for family hubs by March 2021 and for the centre to be up and running by spring 2021. We are also investing in an evaluation innovation fund, and work to develop data and digital products to help professionals collaborate and plan with families in the early years.</p><p>To support and strengthen families, and to ensure children have the best start, the department has:</p><ul><li>launched an Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, on 15 January 2021;</li><li>announced that the Adoption Support Fund (ASF) will continue for a further year up to March 2022 (£185 million has been made available through the core ASF to help pay for essential therapeutic services for over 65,000 adoptive and eligible special guardianship families since 2015);</li><li>launched the cross government special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) review to strengthen the support available to children and young people, and their families;</li><li>continued to deliver 30 hours childcare places to nearly 350,000 children in January 2020, with over one million disadvantaged two-year-olds having benefitted from 15 hours free childcare since the entitlement began in 2013;</li><li>commenced reform of the early years foundation stage to improve outcomes for all children at age five, especially disadvantaged children, and to reduce the workload so practitioners and teachers can spend more time teaching children;</li><li>introduced the Nuffield Early Language Intervention to 40% of primary schools in the 2020-21 academic year to address the education recovery needs of reception-age children;</li><li>continued to work with voluntary and community sector partners and deliver online resources to help parents engage in home learning activities with under-fives to support early language, literacy and numeracy development, and parent and child mental health and wellbeing, and to support children with SEND;</li><li>worked in partnership with Public Health England, the Local Government Association and the Early Intervention Foundation to secure improved early language outcomes for disadvantaged children through effective integration of local services;</li><li>spent more than £18 billion since 2011 – and another £2.4 billion this year – through the pupil premium to tackle educational inequality;</li><li>supported families through free school meals (FSM) - under the benefits-related criteria there are currently around 1.4 million pupils eligible for and claiming FSM, saving families around £400 a year for each child. In addition, the Holiday Activity and Food programme will expand in 2021 so that disadvantaged children across England will be offered free healthy meals and enriching activities over the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays through a £220 million investment.</li></ul> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford grouped question UIN 159279 159281 159282 159283 question first answered 03/03/2021 11:29:48 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	3958 label Biography information for Fiona Bruce

1290294

registered interest
date	26/02/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Families
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 strengthen families.
tabling member constituency	Congleton
tabling member printed	Fiona Bruce
uin	159281
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/03/2021 answer text <p>Families play a critical role in caring for and educating their children; and the COVID-19 outbreak has highlighted the need for cross-government collaboration to provide support to families. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education is driving forward this government’s focus on improving outcomes for families’ and has appointed a Departmental Policy Adviser on families.</p><p>On family hubs, the department is investing over £14 million and is taking steps to champion this approach. We expect to have completed the procurement of a National Centre for family hubs by March 2021 and for the centre to be up and running by spring 2021. We are also investing in an evaluation innovation fund, and work to develop data and digital products to help professionals collaborate and plan with families in the early years.</p><p>To support and strengthen families, and to ensure children have the best start, the department has:</p><ul><li>launched an Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, on 15 January 2021;</li><li>announced that the Adoption Support Fund (ASF) will continue for a further year up to March 2022 (£185 million has been made available through the core ASF to help pay for essential therapeutic services for over 65,000 adoptive and eligible special guardianship families since 2015);</li><li>launched the cross government special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) review to strengthen the support available to children and young people, and their families;</li><li>continued to deliver 30 hours childcare places to nearly 350,000 children in January 2020, with over one million disadvantaged two-year-olds having benefitted from 15 hours free childcare since the entitlement began in 2013;</li><li>commenced reform of the early years foundation stage to improve outcomes for all children at age five, especially disadvantaged children, and to reduce the workload so practitioners and teachers can spend more time teaching children;</li><li>introduced the Nuffield Early Language Intervention to 40% of primary schools in the 2020-21 academic year to address the education recovery needs of reception-age children;</li><li>continued to work with voluntary and community sector partners and deliver online resources to help parents engage in home learning activities with under-fives to support early language, literacy and numeracy development, and parent and child mental health and wellbeing, and to support children with SEND;</li><li>worked in partnership with Public Health England, the Local Government Association and the Early Intervention Foundation to secure improved early language outcomes for disadvantaged children through effective integration of local services;</li><li>spent more than £18 billion since 2011 – and another £2.4 billion this year – through the pupil premium to tackle educational inequality;</li><li>supported families through free school meals (FSM) - under the benefits-related criteria there are currently around 1.4 million pupils eligible for and claiming FSM, saving families around £400 a year for each child. In addition, the Holiday Activity and Food programme will expand in 2021 so that disadvantaged children across England will be offered free healthy meals and enriching activities over the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays through a £220 million investment.</li></ul> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford grouped question UIN 159279 159280 159282 159283 question first answered 03/03/2021 11:29:48 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	3958 label Biography information for Fiona Bruce

1290295

registered interest
date	26/02/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Families: Social Mobility
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of strengthening families on promoting social mobility.
tabling member constituency	Congleton
tabling member printed	Fiona Bruce
uin	159282
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/03/2021 answer text <p>Families play a critical role in caring for and educating their children; and the COVID-19 outbreak has highlighted the need for cross-government collaboration to provide support to families. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education is driving forward this government’s focus on improving outcomes for families’ and has appointed a Departmental Policy Adviser on families.</p><p>On family hubs, the department is investing over £14 million and is taking steps to champion this approach. We expect to have completed the procurement of a National Centre for family hubs by March 2021 and for the centre to be up and running by spring 2021. We are also investing in an evaluation innovation fund, and work to develop data and digital products to help professionals collaborate and plan with families in the early years.</p><p>To support and strengthen families, and to ensure children have the best start, the department has:</p><ul><li>launched an Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, on 15 January 2021;</li><li>announced that the Adoption Support Fund (ASF) will continue for a further year up to March 2022 (£185 million has been made available through the core ASF to help pay for essential therapeutic services for over 65,000 adoptive and eligible special guardianship families since 2015);</li><li>launched the cross government special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) review to strengthen the support available to children and young people, and their families;</li><li>continued to deliver 30 hours childcare places to nearly 350,000 children in January 2020, with over one million disadvantaged two-year-olds having benefitted from 15 hours free childcare since the entitlement began in 2013;</li><li>commenced reform of the early years foundation stage to improve outcomes for all children at age five, especially disadvantaged children, and to reduce the workload so practitioners and teachers can spend more time teaching children;</li><li>introduced the Nuffield Early Language Intervention to 40% of primary schools in the 2020-21 academic year to address the education recovery needs of reception-age children;</li><li>continued to work with voluntary and community sector partners and deliver online resources to help parents engage in home learning activities with under-fives to support early language, literacy and numeracy development, and parent and child mental health and wellbeing, and to support children with SEND;</li><li>worked in partnership with Public Health England, the Local Government Association and the Early Intervention Foundation to secure improved early language outcomes for disadvantaged children through effective integration of local services;</li><li>spent more than £18 billion since 2011 – and another £2.4 billion this year – through the pupil premium to tackle educational inequality;</li><li>supported families through free school meals (FSM) - under the benefits-related criteria there are currently around 1.4 million pupils eligible for and claiming FSM, saving families around £400 a year for each child. In addition, the Holiday Activity and Food programme will expand in 2021 so that disadvantaged children across England will be offered free healthy meals and enriching activities over the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays through a £220 million investment.</li></ul> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford grouped question UIN 159279 159280 159281 159283 question first answered 03/03/2021 11:29:48 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	3958 label Biography information for Fiona Bruce

1290298

registered interest
date	26/02/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Families
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 and promote stable and secure family life to ensure that children have the best start.
tabling member constituency	Congleton
tabling member printed	Fiona Bruce
uin	159283
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/03/2021 answer text <p>Families play a critical role in caring for and educating their children; and the COVID-19 outbreak has highlighted the need for cross-government collaboration to provide support to families. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education is driving forward this government’s focus on improving outcomes for families’ and has appointed a Departmental Policy Adviser on families.</p><p>On family hubs, the department is investing over £14 million and is taking steps to champion this approach. We expect to have completed the procurement of a National Centre for family hubs by March 2021 and for the centre to be up and running by spring 2021. We are also investing in an evaluation innovation fund, and work to develop data and digital products to help professionals collaborate and plan with families in the early years.</p><p>To support and strengthen families, and to ensure children have the best start, the department has:</p><ul><li>launched an Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, on 15 January 2021;</li><li>announced that the Adoption Support Fund (ASF) will continue for a further year up to March 2022 (£185 million has been made available through the core ASF to help pay for essential therapeutic services for over 65,000 adoptive and eligible special guardianship families since 2015);</li><li>launched the cross government special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) review to strengthen the support available to children and young people, and their families;</li><li>continued to deliver 30 hours childcare places to nearly 350,000 children in January 2020, with over one million disadvantaged two-year-olds having benefitted from 15 hours free childcare since the entitlement began in 2013;</li><li>commenced reform of the early years foundation stage to improve outcomes for all children at age five, especially disadvantaged children, and to reduce the workload so practitioners and teachers can spend more time teaching children;</li><li>introduced the Nuffield Early Language Intervention to 40% of primary schools in the 2020-21 academic year to address the education recovery needs of reception-age children;</li><li>continued to work with voluntary and community sector partners and deliver online resources to help parents engage in home learning activities with under-fives to support early language, literacy and numeracy development, and parent and child mental health and wellbeing, and to support children with SEND;</li><li>worked in partnership with Public Health England, the Local Government Association and the Early Intervention Foundation to secure improved early language outcomes for disadvantaged children through effective integration of local services;</li><li>spent more than £18 billion since 2011 – and another £2.4 billion this year – through the pupil premium to tackle educational inequality;</li><li>supported families through free school meals (FSM) - under the benefits-related criteria there are currently around 1.4 million pupils eligible for and claiming FSM, saving families around £400 a year for each child. In addition, the Holiday Activity and Food programme will expand in 2021 so that disadvantaged children across England will be offered free healthy meals and enriching activities over the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays through a £220 million investment.</li></ul> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford grouped question UIN 159279 159280 159281 159282 question first answered 03/03/2021 11:29:48 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	3958 label Biography information for Fiona Bruce

1242495

registered interest
date	12/10/2020
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Remote Education: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what additional support he is providing to families educating children in non-school settings as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
tabling member constituency	Congleton
tabling member printed	Fiona Bruce
uin	102030
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/10/2020 answer text <p>The Department announced further remote education support on 1 October, which will be available over the coming months to schools or colleges seeking additional support. This can be found on the ‘Get help with remote education’ page: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/remote-education-during-coronavirus-covid-19" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/guidance/remote-education-during-coronavirus-covid-19</a>.</p><p>This support was announced alongside the Temporary Continuity Direction, which makes it clear that schools have a duty to provide remote education for school-age children in state-funded education who are unable to attend school due to COVID-19: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/remote-education-temporary-continuity-direction-explanatory-note" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/remote-education-temporary-continuity-direction-explanatory-note</a>.</p><p>The purpose of the Temporary Continuity Direction is to ensure that there is no doubt about the roles and responsibilities within the system for providing remote education. This will come into effect from 22 October 2020. The Temporary Continuity Direction poses no additional expectations on the quality of remote education expected of schools beyond those set out in this guidance.</p><p>The support for schools includes 250,000 laptops and tablets for disadvantaged children and development resources for staff, including a good practice guide and school-led webinars. We are also investing £1.5 million of additional funding to expand the EdTech Demonstrator programme, which provides peer-to-peer support for schools and colleges.</p><p>This support package will include 80 grants of £1,000 to colleges across England, providing additional training and support for mentors and coaches specialising in assisting teachers with remote education.</p><p>The package is designed to help schools and colleges build on and deliver their existing plans in the event that individuals or groups of pupils are unable to attend school because of COVID-19 in line with guidance and the law. This adds to existing support, including resources available from Oak National Academy.</p><p>During the lockdown, most children were educated at home. This ‘home-schooling’ is not the same as elective home education (EHE), and children remained on their school roll and received a combination of support from schools, online learning resources such as Oak Academy, and other resources parents may have provided themselves. EHE is where a parent chooses not to send their child to school full-time but assumes responsibility for making sure their child otherwise receives a full-time education.</p><p>The Government supports the right of parents to educate children at home through EHE when they wish to do so and can provide a suitable education. EHE works well when it is a positive choice and carried out with a proper regard for the needs of the child.</p><p>For parents who wish to educate children at home by EHE, they must be prepared to assume full financial responsibility for their child’s education, including bearing the cost of any public examinations, which would have to be entered via an external examinations centre. Some local authorities may provide financial or other assistance to home-educating families for public examinations, but this is discretionary.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 15/10/2020 16:17:34 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	3958 label Biography information for Fiona Bruce

1240123

registered interest
date	05/10/2020
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Families
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 2.7 of Budget 2020 on the provision of £2.5 million for research and developing best practice around the integration of services for families, what that allocation has been spent on.
tabling member constituency	Congleton
tabling member printed	Fiona Bruce
uin	98935
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/10/2020 answer text <p>There are already many family hubs across the country up and running. We want to ensure that innovations such as family hubs are recognised and shared, and successful approaches can spread. Local areas are using their existing funding pots to move to a family hub model.</p>The Budget 2020 allocated £2.5 million for research and developing best practice around the integration of services for families, including family hubs. We will be launching the procurement process for this work shortly. answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford question first answered 08/10/2020 16:08:02 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	3958 label Biography information for Fiona Bruce