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1715172

	registered interest
	date	01/05/2024
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Special Educational Needs: Autism
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support young people with autism spectrum conditions who have education otherwise than at school plans.
	tabling member constituency	Bristol North West
	tabling member printed	Darren Jones
	uin	24512
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/05/2024 answer text <p>Local authorities provide support to certain children and young people with special educational needs (SEN) through Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans. A local authority may choose, where statutory criteria are met, to make an ‘Education Otherwise than in School’ arrangement, whereby the child or young person with the EHC plan receives special educational support outside of a school or college.</p><p> </p><p>The department are taking steps to improve the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system. There are measures in place for the department to support and challenge local authorities to improve their practice. Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission commenced a strengthened local inspection framework in January 2023. Where local authorities are failing, the department works with them, using a range of improvement programmes and SEND specialist advisers to address weaknesses. Inspections under this new framework will place greater emphasis on the outcomes that are being achieved for children and young people with SEND, including those who are autistic.</p><p> </p><p>More generally, as part of the department’s support for autistic young people, the department worked closely with the Department of Health and Social Care to develop a refreshed cross-government Autism Strategy. This was published in July 2021 and includes children and young people. The strategy recognised the progress that has been made, as well as the challenges and priorities for reducing inequalities, and enabling autistic people of all ages to have the same opportunities as everyone else to lead healthy, happy and fulfilling lives. The national strategy sets out the department’s vision to make life fundamentally better for autistic people, their families and carers by 2026.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston question first answered 10/05/2024 16:42:07 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
	tabling member	4621 label Biography information for Darren Jones

1714960

	registered interest
	date	30/04/2024
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Youth Endowment Fund
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the oral answer of 29 April 2024 by the Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing to Question 902545, Official Report, columns 32-33, if she will publish an update on the Youth Endowment Fund's schools-based work to reduce children's involvement in crime following the Minister's meeting with the Director of that Fund on 30 April 2024.
	tabling member constituency	Bristol East
	tabling member printed	Kerry McCarthy
	uin	24203
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/05/2024 answer text <p>Engagement in education provides an important opportunity to identify and support children and young people at risk of serious violence. Through the department’s Support, Attend, Fulfil, Exceed (SAFE) Taskforce and Alternative Provision Specialist Taskforce (APST) programmes, the department is investing over £50 million to fund specialist support in mainstream schools and alternative provisions in the areas where serious violence is most prevalent.</p><p> </p><p>The SAFE taskforce programmes are underpinned by evidence-based approaches to tackling serious violence, including utilising the Youth Endowment Fund’s (YEF) Toolkit for how to put these approaches into action. The department continues to work closely with YEF as they build up their evidence base for 'what works' in preventing serious violence, and as they fund the evaluations of the department's taskforce programmes. Updates to the YEF’s school-based work can be found on their website.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston question first answered 10/05/2024 16:39:29 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
	tabling member	1491 label Biography information for Kerry McCarthy

1714513

	registered interest
	date	29/04/2024
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Childcare and Pre-school Education: Staff
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to count the number of staff working in the early years and childcare sector.
	tabling member constituency	Houghton and Sunderland South
	tabling member printed	Bridget Phillipson
	uin	24020
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/05/2024 answer text <p>The department collects information on the overall size of the workforce through its regular Survey of Childcare and Early Years Providers, which can be found at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-and-early-years-providers-survey-2023" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-and-early-years-providers-survey-2023</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The latest data from this survey was published in December 2023 and showed the number of paid staff working in the early years sector had increased by 13,000 in 2023 alone.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston question first answered 10/05/2024 16:35:22 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
	tabling member	4046 label Biography information for Bridget Phillipson

1714751

	registered interest
	date	29/04/2024
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Special Educational Needs: York
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she plans to take to ensure the safety valve programme supports SEND services in York.
	tabling member constituency	York Central
	tabling member printed	Rachael Maskell
	uin	24085
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/05/2024 answer text <p>The Safety Valve programme is designed to improve special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services by making the very best use of resources to deliver the support that children and young people need.</p><p> </p><p>The agreements, based on proposals put forward by each local authority, hold local authorities to account for doing so in the most effective and sustainable way for the benefit of children and young people.</p><p> </p><p>The last few years have shown that increased spend does not automatically equate to better outcomes for children and young people; running systems more effectively does. Safety Valve plans generally place emphasis on improving the availability of support in and to mainstream schools, including increasing early access to support, building parental confidence in the system and increasing the availability of local provision. It is only through taking these steps and through the genuine collaboration of all partners locally that high needs systems can be delivered effectively and sustainably for the future.</p><p> </p><p>City of York Council made a Safety Valve agreement in 2021, with the department contributing £17.1 million. The authority agreed to reform their high needs system such that they would subsequently reach a positive in-year balance on its Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) and eliminate its cumulative deficit by the end of the agreement in 2025/26, while continuing to deliver for children and young people with SEND. City of York Council is on track to meet the deficit reduction targets set out in the agreement both for the current reporting year and the lifetime of the plan.</p><p> </p><p>The department continues to provide City of York Council with support through the Safety Valve programme via regular contact with department officials, SEND advisors and financial advisors.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston question first answered 10/05/2024 16:33:52 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
	tabling member	4471 label Biography information for Rachael Maskell

1714501

	registered interest
	date	29/04/2024
	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, whether her Department plans to review current practices for commissioning of foster care services.
	tabling member constituency	Darlington
	tabling member printed	Peter Gibson
	uin	24137
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/05/2024 answer text <p>The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) recommended that the government introduces a network of Regional Care Cooperatives (RCCs) to plan, commission and deliver children’s social care placements in fostering, children’s homes and secure homes on a regional basis. The department has committed to trialling this approach with two RCC pathfinders to build an evidence base before future rollout.</p><p> </p><p>The department’s long-term vision is that RCCs will help improve commissioning and sufficiency, and better enable local authorities to meet the needs of the children in their care, whilst reforming foster parent recruitment and retention.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, the department is investing £36 million to deliver a fostering and retention programme so foster care is available for more children who need it. This will boost approvals of foster carers, as well as taking steps to retain existing foster carers. Darlington local authority, as part of the North East pathfinder, were one of the first local authorities to take part in this programme.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston question first answered 10/05/2024 16:30:30 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
	tabling member	4754 label Biography information for Peter Gibson

1714514

	registered interest
	date	29/04/2024
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Childcare: Staff
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the impact of her policies on the childcare workforce.
	tabling member constituency	Houghton and Sunderland South
	tabling member printed	Bridget Phillipson
	uin	24021
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/05/2024 answer text <p>In accordance with standard practice, new policies which have been introduced to support the early years workforce will be evaluated to understand their impact and effectiveness. This includes the recently announced national recruitment campaign and early years financial incentives pilot, details of which can be found at: <a href="https://earlyyearscareers.campaign.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://earlyyearscareers.campaign.gov.uk/</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The department is also regularly engaging with both local authorities and early years providers from across the country to better understand the impact of workforce policies on the early years workforce in their local areas.</p><p> </p><p>Additionally, the department collects information on the childcare workforce through the Survey of Childcare and Early Years Providers which showed 13,000 more people working in the sector in 2023 alone. The survey can be found at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-and-early-years-providers-survey-2023" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-and-early-years-providers-survey-2023</a>.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston question first answered 10/05/2024 16:28:25 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
	tabling member	4046 label Biography information for Bridget Phillipson

1714545

	registered interest
	date	29/04/2024
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Special Educational Needs: Unpaid Work
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 12 July 2023 to Question 192929 on Special Educational Needs: Unpaid Work, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the pilot extending supported internships to young people without an education, health and care plan.
	tabling member constituency	St Albans
	tabling member printed	Daisy Cooper
	uin	24144
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/05/2024 answer text <p>Supported internships are a work study programme for young people aged 16 to 24 who have an Education Health and Care (EHC) plan, want to move into employment and need extra support to do so. In 2022, the department invested around £18 million until March 2025 to build capacity in the supported internship programme and double the number of supported internships to 4,500 by March 2025.</p><p> </p><p>In 2022, the SEN2 data collection recorded 2,477 supported internship starts. In 2023, SEN2 recorded 1,526 supported internship starts. However, this was following a change in the data collection to gather individual learner level, rather than aggregated returns, for each local authority. As with any new data collection, there were some quality issues and limitations to the data received, which the department is working with local authorities to address. The SEN2 data collection for 2024 will be published in June.</p><p> </p><p>The charity, DFN Project Search, are contracted as part of the Internships Work consortium to deliver local authority special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) Employment Forum training to any local authorities who wish to take up the offer to help them develop their supported internship programmes. DFN Project Search have delivered training to 134 out of 153 local authorities. Moving into the final year of the contract, DFN Project Search will target the remaining local authorities and additional training will remain open to any local authorities that request it.</p><p> </p><p>In the Spring Budget 2023, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced the supported internship pilot which extends the programme to young people with learning difficulties and disabilities (LDD) without EHC plans until March 2025.</p><p> </p><p>The pilot is being rolled out in 12 local authorities with a strong, existing supported internship offer in a mix of urban and rural areas. Delivery began in September 2023. Through the pilot, the department is hoping to support around 250 young people aged 16 to 24, who have complex SEND and LDD but who do not have an EHC plan, to develop the skills and experience needed to move into sustained, paid employment.</p><p> </p><p>As the delivery is still in its early stages, the department has not yet formally assessed the effectiveness of the pilot. The pilot will be evaluated to inform future policy planning on supported internships. Participating local authorities, employers, providers and interns are engaging with the evaluation partner, CooperGibson Research, who aim to publish their report in the summer of 2026.</p><p> </p><p>Early feedback from local authorities that are delivering the pilot shows that interns have been enrolled on positive and stretching work placements.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston grouped question UIN 24141 24142 24143 question first answered 10/05/2024 16:05:39 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
	tabling member	4769 label Biography information for Daisy Cooper

1714544

	registered interest
	date	29/04/2024
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Special Educational Needs: Unpaid Work
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 12 July 2023 to Question 192929 on Special Educational Needs: Unpaid Work, how many and what proportion of supported internships have been given to young people without an education, health and care plan under the pilot announced in the Spring Budget 2023.
	tabling member constituency	St Albans
	tabling member printed	Daisy Cooper
	uin	24143
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/05/2024 answer text <p>Supported internships are a work study programme for young people aged 16 to 24 who have an Education Health and Care (EHC) plan, want to move into employment and need extra support to do so. In 2022, the department invested around £18 million until March 2025 to build capacity in the supported internship programme and double the number of supported internships to 4,500 by March 2025.</p><p> </p><p>In 2022, the SEN2 data collection recorded 2,477 supported internship starts. In 2023, SEN2 recorded 1,526 supported internship starts. However, this was following a change in the data collection to gather individual learner level, rather than aggregated returns, for each local authority. As with any new data collection, there were some quality issues and limitations to the data received, which the department is working with local authorities to address. The SEN2 data collection for 2024 will be published in June.</p><p> </p><p>The charity, DFN Project Search, are contracted as part of the Internships Work consortium to deliver local authority special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) Employment Forum training to any local authorities who wish to take up the offer to help them develop their supported internship programmes. DFN Project Search have delivered training to 134 out of 153 local authorities. Moving into the final year of the contract, DFN Project Search will target the remaining local authorities and additional training will remain open to any local authorities that request it.</p><p> </p><p>In the Spring Budget 2023, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced the supported internship pilot which extends the programme to young people with learning difficulties and disabilities (LDD) without EHC plans until March 2025.</p><p> </p><p>The pilot is being rolled out in 12 local authorities with a strong, existing supported internship offer in a mix of urban and rural areas. Delivery began in September 2023. Through the pilot, the department is hoping to support around 250 young people aged 16 to 24, who have complex SEND and LDD but who do not have an EHC plan, to develop the skills and experience needed to move into sustained, paid employment.</p><p> </p><p>As the delivery is still in its early stages, the department has not yet formally assessed the effectiveness of the pilot. The pilot will be evaluated to inform future policy planning on supported internships. Participating local authorities, employers, providers and interns are engaging with the evaluation partner, CooperGibson Research, who aim to publish their report in the summer of 2026.</p><p> </p><p>Early feedback from local authorities that are delivering the pilot shows that interns have been enrolled on positive and stretching work placements.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston grouped question UIN 24141 24142 24144 question first answered 10/05/2024 16:05:39 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
	tabling member	4769 label Biography information for Daisy Cooper

1714542

	registered interest
	date	29/04/2024
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Special Educational Needs: Unpaid Work
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 12 July 2023 to Question 192929 on Special Educational Needs: Unpaid Work, how many supported internships have been given to young people with an education, health and care plan in (a) 2022, (b) 2023 and (c) 2024.
	tabling member constituency	St Albans
	tabling member printed	Daisy Cooper
	uin	24141
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/05/2024 answer text <p>Supported internships are a work study programme for young people aged 16 to 24 who have an Education Health and Care (EHC) plan, want to move into employment and need extra support to do so. In 2022, the department invested around £18 million until March 2025 to build capacity in the supported internship programme and double the number of supported internships to 4,500 by March 2025.</p><p> </p><p>In 2022, the SEN2 data collection recorded 2,477 supported internship starts. In 2023, SEN2 recorded 1,526 supported internship starts. However, this was following a change in the data collection to gather individual learner level, rather than aggregated returns, for each local authority. As with any new data collection, there were some quality issues and limitations to the data received, which the department is working with local authorities to address. The SEN2 data collection for 2024 will be published in June.</p><p> </p><p>The charity, DFN Project Search, are contracted as part of the Internships Work consortium to deliver local authority special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) Employment Forum training to any local authorities who wish to take up the offer to help them develop their supported internship programmes. DFN Project Search have delivered training to 134 out of 153 local authorities. Moving into the final year of the contract, DFN Project Search will target the remaining local authorities and additional training will remain open to any local authorities that request it.</p><p> </p><p>In the Spring Budget 2023, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced the supported internship pilot which extends the programme to young people with learning difficulties and disabilities (LDD) without EHC plans until March 2025.</p><p> </p><p>The pilot is being rolled out in 12 local authorities with a strong, existing supported internship offer in a mix of urban and rural areas. Delivery began in September 2023. Through the pilot, the department is hoping to support around 250 young people aged 16 to 24, who have complex SEND and LDD but who do not have an EHC plan, to develop the skills and experience needed to move into sustained, paid employment.</p><p> </p><p>As the delivery is still in its early stages, the department has not yet formally assessed the effectiveness of the pilot. The pilot will be evaluated to inform future policy planning on supported internships. Participating local authorities, employers, providers and interns are engaging with the evaluation partner, CooperGibson Research, who aim to publish their report in the summer of 2026.</p><p> </p><p>Early feedback from local authorities that are delivering the pilot shows that interns have been enrolled on positive and stretching work placements.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston grouped question UIN 24142 24143 24144 question first answered 10/05/2024 16:05:39 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
	tabling member	4769 label Biography information for Daisy Cooper

1714543

	registered interest
	date	29/04/2024
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Special Educational Needs: Unpaid Work
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 12 July 2023 to Question 192929 on Special Educational Needs: Unpaid Work, which local authorities have received training from DFN Project Search on developing their local supported internship offer.
	tabling member constituency	St Albans
	tabling member printed	Daisy Cooper
	uin	24142
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/05/2024 answer text <p>Supported internships are a work study programme for young people aged 16 to 24 who have an Education Health and Care (EHC) plan, want to move into employment and need extra support to do so. In 2022, the department invested around £18 million until March 2025 to build capacity in the supported internship programme and double the number of supported internships to 4,500 by March 2025.</p><p> </p><p>In 2022, the SEN2 data collection recorded 2,477 supported internship starts. In 2023, SEN2 recorded 1,526 supported internship starts. However, this was following a change in the data collection to gather individual learner level, rather than aggregated returns, for each local authority. As with any new data collection, there were some quality issues and limitations to the data received, which the department is working with local authorities to address. The SEN2 data collection for 2024 will be published in June.</p><p> </p><p>The charity, DFN Project Search, are contracted as part of the Internships Work consortium to deliver local authority special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) Employment Forum training to any local authorities who wish to take up the offer to help them develop their supported internship programmes. DFN Project Search have delivered training to 134 out of 153 local authorities. Moving into the final year of the contract, DFN Project Search will target the remaining local authorities and additional training will remain open to any local authorities that request it.</p><p> </p><p>In the Spring Budget 2023, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced the supported internship pilot which extends the programme to young people with learning difficulties and disabilities (LDD) without EHC plans until March 2025.</p><p> </p><p>The pilot is being rolled out in 12 local authorities with a strong, existing supported internship offer in a mix of urban and rural areas. Delivery began in September 2023. Through the pilot, the department is hoping to support around 250 young people aged 16 to 24, who have complex SEND and LDD but who do not have an EHC plan, to develop the skills and experience needed to move into sustained, paid employment.</p><p> </p><p>As the delivery is still in its early stages, the department has not yet formally assessed the effectiveness of the pilot. The pilot will be evaluated to inform future policy planning on supported internships. Participating local authorities, employers, providers and interns are engaging with the evaluation partner, CooperGibson Research, who aim to publish their report in the summer of 2026.</p><p> </p><p>Early feedback from local authorities that are delivering the pilot shows that interns have been enrolled on positive and stretching work placements.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston grouped question UIN 24141 24143 24144 question first answered 10/05/2024 16:05:39 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
	tabling member	4769 label Biography information for Daisy Cooper