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1127439

registered interest
date	20/05/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Special Educational Needs
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that mainstream schools are supported and incentivised to be more inclusive towards children with special educational needs and disabilities.
tabling member printed	Lord Porter of Spalding
uin	HL15850
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/05/2019 answer text <p>The Children and Families Act 2014 reinforced the presumption of mainstream education for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). The accompanying SEND code of practice provides detailed guidance to schools about how to support children with SEND.</p><p> </p><p>We have announced funding for new training places for over 600 new Educational Psychologists who help ensure that children with SEND get the support they need in school.</p><p> </p><p>We are promoting the increased development of mainstream units and resourced provision through recent capital expenditure and in our guidance to new bidders for mainstream free schools. In December we announced a further £100 million top-up to the Special Provision Capital Fund for local authorities in 2019-20. This takes our total investment to £365 million across 2018-21. This funding can be used for more places in SEND units and resourced provision in mainstream schools, colleges or in special schools.</p><p> </p><p>We are funding the Whole School SEND Consortium to embed SEND into school improvement planning and Continuing Professional Development (CPD). New SEND regional leads are bringing together practitioners and networks in their local area to build a community of practice and facilitate the exchange of knowledge and expertise.</p><p> </p><p>The new Ofsted common inspection framework, introduced from September 2019, will put more focus on SEND, rewarding schools for their work with pupils who need extra support. In addition, local area SEND inspections by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission are considering how effectively the local area identifies, meets the needs of, and improves the outcomes for the wide range of different groups of children and young people who have SEND.</p><p> </p><p>A call for evidence on how the SEND funding system operates was recently announced on 3 May 2019 to help the department understand how the current available funding is distributed, and what improvements to the financial arrangements could be made in future.</p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton question first answered 31/05/2019 10:25:44 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton
tabling member	4555 label Biography information for Lord Porter of Spalding

1127441

registered interest
date	20/05/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Special Educational Needs
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that local health partners are playing an equitable role alongside local government in supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities.
tabling member printed	Lord Porter of Spalding
uin	HL15852
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/06/2019 answer text <p>Creating an effective inter-agency approach, where local government works in partnership with health partners to meet needs, is a key feature of the reforms to the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) system introduced in the 2014 Children and Families Act.</p><p> </p><p>We introduced joint Ofsted/Care Quality Commission local area inspections of SEND services in May 2016 to hold services to account and support them with improving. Where issues with performance are identified, including following a SEND inspection, the Department for Education (DfE), Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England collaborate to drive improvement.</p><p> </p><p>In addition to the inspections, we have strengthened joint accountability through the introduction of a 2-year trial, which began in April 2018, extending the remit of the First-tier Tribunal (SEND) to make non-binding recommendations on health and social care elements of education health care (EHC) plans.</p><p> </p><p>To improve timeliness, the 2017-18 NHS Provider Contract for NHS Trusts included a new requirement to report on meeting the 6-week deadline for health input into EHC plans.</p><p>We are clear that strong strategic leadership across health, education and care is key to effective SEND services and we have:</p><p> </p><blockquote><p>Established a new joint SEND system leadership board, with representatives from education, health and social care, working alongside joint roundtables chaired by Ministers from both DfE and DHSC.</p></blockquote><p> </p><blockquote><p>Established a national network for Designated Medical Officers and Designated Clinical Officers, funded a local authority-led regional network and developed resources to support joint self-assessment and peer review.</p></blockquote><p> </p><blockquote><p>Funded a consortium of partners, including the Condition Data Collection, to work with health and social care services, including producing guidance on effective joint commissioning and improving EHC plans.</p></blockquote><p> </p><blockquote><p>Funded a SEND leadership programme and legal training for all local authorities and their health partners to ensure they are clear on their statutory responsibilities.</p></blockquote><p> </p><p>We have also re-emphasised the requirement to jointly commission Information, Advice and Support (IAS) Services across health and the local authority through our new minimum standards, backed by £10 million investment through the IAS programme.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton question first answered 03/06/2019 13:06:33 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton
tabling member	4555 label Biography information for Lord Porter of Spalding

1126325

registered interest
date	13/05/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Special Educational Needs: Finance
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they intend to take, if any, in the next Spending Review to ensure that councils can continue to meet their statutory duties towards those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.
tabling member printed	Lord Porter of Spalding
uin	HL15685
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/05/2019 answer text <p>We recognise that high needs budgets are under pressure and that is why we allocated an additional £250 million in high needs funding for 2018-19 and 2019-20 in December. This brings the total allocation for high needs this year to £6.3 billion.</p><p>My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced that the government will hold a Spending Review alongside the Budget where spending plans beyond 2019-20 will be agreed. The government will need to balance competing priorities across a broad range of areas, but we will be taking careful account of the importance of providing the right funding for education, and for high needs in particular. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has made clear that as we approach the next Spending Review, he will back head teachers to ensure they have the resources they need to deliver a world class education.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton question first answered 23/05/2019 11:34:51 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton
tabling member	4555 label Biography information for Lord Porter of Spalding

1082433

registered interest
date	05/03/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Apprentices: Taxation
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to extend the expiry date of apprenticeship levy funds beyond April 2019 for employers who have been unable to use that levy against standards (1) which have only recently been approved, (2) which are still in development, and (3) for which they cannot find a local provider.
tabling member printed	Lord Porter of Spalding
uin	HL14270
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/03/2019 answer text <p>Levy-paying employers have up to 24 months from the point at which funds enter their account in which to spend the funds available to them. The 24 month expiry period is designed to give employers time to develop their apprenticeship programmes whilst encouraging employers to take action to create new apprenticeship opportunities. Funds will only expire in May 2019 if an employer has spent less on apprenticeship training and assessment in the past 2 years than the amount that went into their account in May 2017. We currently have no plans to extend the expiry period.</p><p>In early 2018, the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education began its ‘Faster and Better’ programme to simplify aspects of the development of standards and to focus on reducing the time taken for standards to be approved. There are now over 400 apprenticeship standards available across all levels.</p><p>In the Budget 2018, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced £5 million of funding to support improved development of new standards and work to improve the training market. £1.5 million of funding was allocated in 2019/20 to a project focussing on how we can help employers and providers to improve and, where necessary, expand training provision.</p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton question first answered 19/03/2019 15:27:39 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton
tabling member	4555 label Biography information for Lord Porter of Spalding

1059219

registered interest
date	11/02/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pre-school Education: Finance
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to review funding levels for early entitlements to ensure that childcare providers are able to continue providing high quality early education.
tabling member printed	Lord Porter of Spalding
uin	HL13604
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/02/2019 answer text <p>We will be spending around £6 billion on childcare support in 2019-20 – a record amount. That will include funding for our early education entitlements, on which we plan to spend around £3.5 billion this year alone.</p><p> </p><p>Our average funding rates are based on the department’s ‘Review of Childcare Costs’ (attached) which was described as “thorough and wide ranging” by the National Audit Office. The review looked at both current and future cost pressures.</p><p> </p><p>The government recognises the need to keep the evidence base on costs up to date. We continue to monitor the provider market closely through a range of regular and one-off research projects which provide insight into various aspects of the provider market.</p><p> </p><p>Future spending decisions will be a matter for the Spending Review.</p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton question first answered 25/02/2019 11:59:28 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton attachment 1 file name HL13604_151124_Analytical_review.pdf title HL13604_Review_of_childcare_costs
tabling member	4555 label Biography information for Lord Porter of Spalding

1054365

registered interest
date	04/02/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Nurseries: Recruitment
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that children's nurseries are able to recruit and retain sufficient qualified staff practitioners to provide high quality early education to all children.
tabling member printed	Lord Porter of Spalding
uin	HL13415
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/02/2019 answer text <p>We are committed to ensuring that all children have access to high quality early education and can achieve their full potential. The latest Ofsted data confirms that 95% of providers are now rated good and outstanding, up from 68% in 2010.</p><p> </p><p>In March 2017, we published the attached early years workforce strategy which outlined government's plans to support employers to attract, retain and develop early years staff to deliver high quality provision. This can be accessed at:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-workforce-strategy" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-workforce-strategy</a>.</p><p> </p><p>As a result of the strategy, we have worked with sector stakeholders to develop criteria for new, more robust level 2 qualifications, as well as developing new career pathways information to support careers advice, recruitment and staff development. This can be accessed at: <a href="https://www.cache.org.uk/media/1417/dfe-career-pathway-map-v17.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.cache.org.uk/media/1417/dfe-career-pathway-map-v17.pdf</a>. The information is also attached.</p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton attachment 1 file name HL13415_Early_years_workforce_strategy.pdf title HL13415_Early_years_workforce_strategy 2 file name HL13415_career_pathway_map.pdf title HL13415_Career_pathway_map question first answered 18/02/2019 14:44:37 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton
tabling member	4555 label Biography information for Lord Porter of Spalding

1051971

registered interest
date	30/01/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pre-school Education
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure the sustainability of maintained nursery schools; and what assessment they have made of any additional costs faced by those nurseries as a result of the additional statutory responsibilities placed on them when compared to other early years settings.
tabling member printed	Lord Porter of Spalding
uin	HL13301
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/02/2019 answer text <p>Maintained nursery schools (MNS) make a valuable contribution to improving the lives of some of our most disadvantaged children. They experience costs that other providers do not, and we are providing local authorities with around £60 million a year in supplementary funding to enable them to protect MNS funding.</p><p>This arrangement is due to end in March 2020, and what happens after that will be determined by the next Spending Review. Owing to uncertainty over the exact date of the Spending Review, we are considering how best to handle transitional arrangements for a number of areas, including MNS.</p><p>To ensure that decisions are evidence-based, we have commissioned research to explore in detail the costs that MNS experience. That research will be published soon.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton question first answered 07/02/2019 17:21:10 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton
tabling member	4555 label Biography information for Lord Porter of Spalding

1012151

registered interest
date	21/11/2018
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Special Educational Needs: Finance
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Isos Partnership interim research for the Local Government Association which shows that councils face a minimum projected shortfall of £536 million in the support they provide for children with special educational needs and disabilities in England by 2018–19.
tabling member printed	Lord Porter of Spalding
uin	HL11678
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/11/2018 answer text <p>Nationally, funding for children with complex special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) has risen by £1 billion since 2013 to 2014, to just under £6 billion in 2018 to 2019, and will rise to over £6 billion in 2019 to 2020.</p><p>We are aware of local authorities reporting concerns about the costs of supporting children with SEND. We are monitoring local authority spending decisions in this area and are keeping under review the overall amount of funding for this support.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton question first answered 30/11/2018 14:32:03 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton
tabling member	4555 label Biography information for Lord Porter of Spalding

995641

registered interest
date	26/10/2018
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	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to allocate additional funding to children’s services.
tabling member printed	Lord Porter of Spalding
uin	HL11066
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/11/2018 answer text <p>Autumn Budget 2018 made £410 million available to local authorities, in 2019/20, for adult and children social care. The government also announced £84 million in targeted, evidence-based interventions which will transform services to reduce demand, saving money for local authorities but most importantly, improving the quality of services for our most vulnerable children.</p><p>The government will continue to work closely with the sector and other government departments to consider long-term children’s services funding as part of the upcoming spending review.</p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton question first answered 09/11/2018 11:36:57 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton
tabling member	4555 label Biography information for Lord Porter of Spalding

884256

registered interest
date	16/04/2018
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Academies: School Meals
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of exempt academies have not voluntarily signed up to the School Food Standards.
tabling member printed	Lord Porter of Spalding
uin	HL6941
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/04/2018 answer text <p>The government encourages all schools to promote healthy eating and provide healthy, tasty and nutritious food and drink.</p><p> </p><p>Compliance with the School Food Standards is mandatory for the majority of schools, including all maintained schools. Academies and free schools are required to comply with the standards by virtue of their funding agreements, with the exception of a proportion that we expect to comply voluntarily. All new academies and free schools have mandatory compliance specified in their funding agreements by default, and when these agreements are updated, we will seek to include this.</p><p> </p><p>To date, over 1400 exempt academies have indicated they are following the School Food Standards voluntarily.</p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton question first answered 30/04/2018 16:59:56 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton
tabling member	4555 label Biography information for Lord Porter of Spalding