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1385223

registered interest
date	06/12/2021
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 assessment the Government has made of the capacity of local authorities, educational settings and health and care services to provide a high level of support and choice for families, as set out in the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice.
tabling member constituency	Bristol West
tabling member printed	Thangam Debbonaire
uin	87723
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/12/2021 answer text <p>The department closely monitors a range of data and intelligence to assess the operation and delivery of the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system. This includes data on:</p><ul><li>special educational needs in schools via the annual collection of data from schools</li><li>the numbers of new assessments, plans and placements</li><li>local authority expenditure and dedicated schools grant assessment on spend/financial sustainability including Section 251 returns</li><li>feedback from local authorities and the Parent and Pupil Panel survey</li><li>inspection or revisit reports from the local area SEND inspections undertaken by Ofsted and Care Quality Commission (CQC).</li></ul><p> </p><p>The government recognises that the current SEND system does not deliver the outcomes we want or expect for children and young people with SEND, their families or the people and services who support them. The SEND Review is seeking to improve the outcomes for children, with high expectations and ambitions. We need to build a financially sustainable system, where there is clear accountability. The Review will publish as a green paper for full public consultation in the first three months of 2022.</p><p>The department, with SEND advisers and NHS England advisers, provides support and challenge to 89 local authority/health/social care areas who, following their Ofsted and CQC inspection or revisit, were required to produce a written statement of action (71 local authorities) or accelerated progress plan (19 local authorities) to improve the local areas’ ability to meet their statutory duties as set out in the SEND Code of Practice. In addition, the department commissions specialist support from delivery partners and delivers training programmes to local authorities, health and social care staff across the country on their statutory assessment duties.</p><p>We recognise that pressures on high needs budgets have contributed to some local authorities finding it difficult to manage their dedicated schools grant funding.</p><p>By financial year 2021-22, annual funding allocations to local authorities for high needs will have increased by more than £2 billion, or one third, since 2019-20. As a result of the recent Spending Review, overall funding for the core schools budget, from which high needs funding is drawn, will increase by a further £4.7 billion by financial year 2024-25, compared to previous plans, representing further real terms per pupil increase each year. We will announce how that increase will be split between mainstream schools and high needs in due course.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 09/12/2021 17:59:10 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4433 label Biography information for Thangam Debbonaire

1383353

registered interest
date	30/11/2021
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, if the Government will provide additional support to local authorities to meet increased demands for statutory assessments for Education and Health Care Plans for children, beyond specific support from the Department for Education and Ofsted to manage historical backlogs.
tabling member constituency	Bristol West
tabling member printed	Thangam Debbonaire
uin	84391
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/12/2021 answer text <p>The Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities is responsible for local government funding, including funding necessary to support local authorities to meet their statutory duties with regards to all children's services, including special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services.</p><p>This year, local authorities have access to £51.3 billion to deliver their core services, including SEND services. Local authorities have the flexibility to spend according to local needs and priorities, including to undertake education, health and care needs assessments.</p><p>The autumn 2021 Spending Review delivered an additional £4.7 billion for the core schools' budget by financial year 2024-25. That includes an additional £1.6 billion for schools and high needs in financial year 2022-23, on top of the funding we announced last summer. The department will confirm in due course how this additional funding for 2022-23, and for the two subsequent years, will be allocated for schools and high needs. Increasing funding for schools should help to reduce the demand for statutory assessment, thereby reducing the burden on local authorities.</p><p>We have introduced the ‘safety valve’ intervention programme for those local authorities with the very highest percentage dedicated schools grant deficits. The programme requires the local authorities involved to develop substantial plans for reform to their high needs systems, with support and challenge from the department, to rapidly place them on a sustainable footing, including appropriately managing demand for education. The department will help these local authorities with additional funding over time to contribute to their historic deficits, contingent on delivery of reforms and targets set out in published agreements.</p><p>The department will continue to work with other government departments, including the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, to ensure the Spending Review reflects the needs of children’s services.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 06/12/2021 17:04:23 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4433 label Biography information for Thangam Debbonaire

1383354

registered interest
date	30/11/2021
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 estimate the Government has made of the proportion of Education and Health Care Plans that have been issued within 20 weeks nationally.
tabling member constituency	Bristol West
tabling member printed	Thangam Debbonaire
uin	84392
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/12/2021 answer text <p>The number and percentage of education, health and care (EHC) plans that have been issued within the statutory timescale of 20 weeks is available at: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/9641146e-f32a-4f3f-925c-bde4cc238be0" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/9641146e-f32a-4f3f-925c-bde4cc238be0</a>.</p><p>The latest published data shows that 58.0% (31,446) of EHC plans issued in 2020, excluding exceptions, were issued within 20 weeks.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 06/12/2021 17:12:00 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4433 label Biography information for Thangam Debbonaire

1353749

registered interest
date	08/09/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Paramedical Staff: Training
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when his Department plans to publish the outcome of discussions with the Department of Health and Social Care on providing an exemption to the student finance equivalent or lower qualification rules for paramedicine.
tabling member constituency	Bristol West
tabling member printed	Thangam Debbonaire
uin	45186
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/09/2021 answer text <p>The Department for Education continues to work closely with the Department of Health and Social Care on the possibility of extending the equivalent or lower qualification exemption to those studying paramedic science degrees.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Chippenham answering member printed Michelle Donelan question first answered 15/09/2021 13:32:00 answering member 4530 label Biography information for Michelle Donelan
tabling member	4433 label Biography information for Thangam Debbonaire

1338791

registered interest
date	22/06/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Students: Finance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when applications will open for students to apply for postgraduate student loans for the academic year 2021-22.
tabling member constituency	Bristol West
tabling member printed	Thangam Debbonaire
uin	20430
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/06/2021 answer text <p>The Student Loans Company launched its application system for postgraduate loans for the 2021/22 academic year on 28 June 2021.</p> answering member constituency Chippenham answering member printed Michelle Donelan question first answered 30/06/2021 15:28:46 answering member 4530 label Biography information for Michelle Donelan
tabling member	4433 label Biography information for Thangam Debbonaire

1338888

registered interest
date	22/06/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	British Students Abroad
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance his Department is issuing to universities on continuing study abroad programmes for students for the academic year 2021-22.
tabling member constituency	Bristol West
tabling member printed	Thangam Debbonaire
uin	20435
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/06/2021 answer text <p>For any forthcoming international mobility in education, regardless of how it is funded, we expect all universities, colleges and schools managing these to follow the relevant Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) travel advice for the destination country and to highlight this to their participants, being aware that the situation can change.</p><p>We suggest anyone who may be affected discuss their placement with their provider, being conscious that their placement may not be able to continue as originally planned, but there may be opportunities for it to start at a later date if the situation changes and this is feasible. Participants should be ready to comply with local isolation, testing or quarantine requirements, and will need to rely on the local health system.</p><p>Turing Scheme and Erasmus+ mobilities will both be in operation during the 2021/22 academic year.</p><p>Current government guidance for Turing Scheme, Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps travel is available here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-reopening-buildings-and-campuses/higher-education-coronavirus-covid-19-operational-guidance#travel-guidance-for-erasmus-and-european-solidarity-corps-exchanges" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-reopening-buildings-and-campuses/higher-education-coronavirus-covid-19-operational-guidance#travel-guidance-for-erasmus-and-european-solidarity-corps-exchanges</a>.</p><p>FCDO travel advice per country can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice</a>.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Chippenham answering member printed Michelle Donelan question first answered 30/06/2021 11:20:40 answering member 4530 label Biography information for Michelle Donelan
tabling member	4433 label Biography information for Thangam Debbonaire

1333951

registered interest
date	14/06/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	GCSE
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance his Department has issued to schools to ensure that the individual circumstances of pupils can be taken into consideration and discretion exercised in awarding GCSE grades.
tabling member constituency	Bristol West
tabling member printed	Thangam Debbonaire
uin	15282
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/06/2021 answer text <p>Students should have confidence in their grades this year. Awarding organisations have provided assessment materials, guidance, and training to support centres to make fair, consistent, and evidence based decisions which are without bias. Ofqual has also published information for centres about making objective judgements this year.</p><p>For the 2021 summer series, reasonable adjustments for disabled students and access arrangements should have been in place when evidence was generated. Where they were not, centres should take that into account when coming to their judgement. Teachers have had the flexibility to substitute or discount evidence where reasonable adjustments were not applied. For all assessments completed in the summer term, centres should have ensured students had access to reasonable adjustments. Special circumstances that may lead a teacher to disregard a piece of evidence or to replace it with another piece of evidence would cover instances where students were not provided with their approved access arrangements or reasonable adjustments when completing their work. This also applies where temporary illness or injury, bereavement, or some other event outside of the student’s control might have temporarily affected their performance.</p><p>This year, teachers have assessed their students based on what they were taught, not what they missed. Regarding the use of set texts, the Department expects students to have been assessed on the specific texts taught by their schools. Schools should follow their own processes for ensuring students have access to set texts, as they would in any other year.</p><p>Centres should follow the schools operational guidance on equipment when using classroom based resources, available to view here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/schools-coronavirus-covid-19-operational-guidance#system-of-controls" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/schools-coronavirus-covid-19-operational-guidance#system-of-controls</a>.</p><p>Where schools have taught remotely, they should follow the guidance on remote education, which refers to the provision of resources, available to view here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/schools-coronavirus-covid-19-operational-guidance#system-of-controls" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/schools-coronavirus-covid-19-operational-guidance#system-of-controls</a>.</p><p>Where only some of the text has been taught, teachers had the flexibility to focus their assessments on the proportion taught.</p><p>Deadline for centres to submit their teacher assessed grades was 18 June so centres have therefore completed their assessments for the 2021 series.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb grouped question UIN 15283 question first answered 22/06/2021 11:24:46 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4433 label Biography information for Thangam Debbonaire

1333970

registered interest
date	14/06/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	GCE A-level and GCSE: Textbooks
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 that students taking GCSEs and A Levels have access to set texts for upcoming assessments.
tabling member constituency	Bristol West
tabling member printed	Thangam Debbonaire
uin	15283
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/06/2021 answer text <p>Students should have confidence in their grades this year. Awarding organisations have provided assessment materials, guidance, and training to support centres to make fair, consistent, and evidence based decisions which are without bias. Ofqual has also published information for centres about making objective judgements this year.</p><p>For the 2021 summer series, reasonable adjustments for disabled students and access arrangements should have been in place when evidence was generated. Where they were not, centres should take that into account when coming to their judgement. Teachers have had the flexibility to substitute or discount evidence where reasonable adjustments were not applied. For all assessments completed in the summer term, centres should have ensured students had access to reasonable adjustments. Special circumstances that may lead a teacher to disregard a piece of evidence or to replace it with another piece of evidence would cover instances where students were not provided with their approved access arrangements or reasonable adjustments when completing their work. This also applies where temporary illness or injury, bereavement, or some other event outside of the student’s control might have temporarily affected their performance.</p><p>This year, teachers have assessed their students based on what they were taught, not what they missed. Regarding the use of set texts, the Department expects students to have been assessed on the specific texts taught by their schools. Schools should follow their own processes for ensuring students have access to set texts, as they would in any other year.</p><p>Centres should follow the schools operational guidance on equipment when using classroom based resources, available to view here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/schools-coronavirus-covid-19-operational-guidance#system-of-controls" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/schools-coronavirus-covid-19-operational-guidance#system-of-controls</a>.</p><p>Where schools have taught remotely, they should follow the guidance on remote education, which refers to the provision of resources, available to view here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/schools-coronavirus-covid-19-operational-guidance#system-of-controls" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/schools-coronavirus-covid-19-operational-guidance#system-of-controls</a>.</p><p>Where only some of the text has been taught, teachers had the flexibility to focus their assessments on the proportion taught.</p><p>Deadline for centres to submit their teacher assessed grades was 18 June so centres have therefore completed their assessments for the 2021 series.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb grouped question UIN 15282 question first answered 22/06/2021 11:24:46 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4433 label Biography information for Thangam Debbonaire

1333971

registered interest
date	14/06/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Assessments: Finance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether (a) schools and (b) teachers in England will receive additional financial support to carry out the work associated with providing pupils with teacher assessment grades.
tabling member constituency	Bristol West
tabling member printed	Thangam Debbonaire
uin	15284
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/06/2021 answer text <p>This year, due to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, students are being awarded grades determined by their teachers and based on a range of evidence. Assessing students and determining their standard of performance is an important part of teachers’ roles in a typical year. Nevertheless, many elements of the approach to awarding qualifications in 2021 have been designed with workload in mind. The Department is regularly engaging with teacher unions and other sector representatives to ensure the processes developed, and the guidance that supports them, reflects their feedback. The Joint Council for Qualifications and the exam boards have published extensive guidance and materials for schools and colleges to support teachers with their assessment, marking and making their judgements of students’ performance in these challenging circumstances.</p><p>Exceptionally for 2021, the Department is providing additional funding to centres for teachers to process priority appeals following results day. This will be £75 per each priority appeal. In addition, we are providing funding to awarding organisations so that state-funded schools will not need to pay a fee for formal appeals this year. Last year, we announced the biggest pay rise the teaching profession has seen since 2005, with above-inflation rises to the teacher pay scales. We are also committed to introducing a £30,000 starting salary.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 22/06/2021 11:35:15 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4433 label Biography information for Thangam Debbonaire

1328086

registered interest
date	26/05/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children: Poverty
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what research his Department has carried out or commissioned on the effect of hunger and poverty on children's ability to learn effectively.
tabling member constituency	Bristol West
tabling member printed	Thangam Debbonaire
uin	7851
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/06/2021 answer text <p>The government supports the provision of nutritious food in schools, which ensures that pupils are well nourished, develop healthy eating habits and can concentrate and learn. Under the benefits-related criteria, there are currently 1.6 million pupils eligible for and claiming a free school meal, and a further 1.4 million infant-aged children who benefit from our Universal Infant Free School Meals policy.</p><p>The government also funds breakfast clubs in over 2,450 schools to support more than a quarter of a million children in the most disadvantaged areas of the country. Up to £24 million will be available to extend our support for school breakfast clubs until 2023, to make sure that thousands of children in disadvantaged areas have a healthy start to the day. We know that breakfast clubs can bring a wide range of benefits for children. An evaluation by the Education Endowment Foundation found that supporting schools to run a free-of-charge, universal breakfast club before school delivered an average of 2 months’ additional progress for pupils in key stage 1 with moderate to low security. Breakfast club schools also saw an improvement in pupil behaviour and attendance.</p><p>Backed by an investment of up to £220 million, the Holiday Activities and Food programme ran nationwide throughout the Easter holiday period and will run during the summer and Christmas holidays in 2021, supporting disadvantaged pupils with enriching activities, providing them with healthy food, helping them to learn new things and improving socialisation. This programme builds on pilots of the scheme since 2018, including last summer’s programme, which supported around 50,000 children across 17 local authorities. We have developed this programme, as we know that disadvantaged children are more likely to experience unhealthy holidays (in terms of nutrition and physical exercise), are less likely to take part in enriching activities and can experience isolation during the holidays.</p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford question first answered 07/06/2021 12:06:29 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	4433 label Biography information for Thangam Debbonaire