Education policy is devolved, and so cost of living issues for institutions is the responsibility of the devolved administrations. Ministers in the department meet regularly with their devolved counterparts and my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, is looking forward to attending the next meeting of education ministers from across the UK in Edinburgh next week.<\/p>
The department secured an excellent settlement for England in the Spending Review, and so this will be reflected in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland through the Barnett Formula.<\/p>
It is for devolved administrations to determine how to spend this generous settlement, but in England we have carefully budgeted for a range of policies that will help universities, schools, their staff, and families which will help to meet the challenges in the cost of living right now. This includes our very successful Holiday Activities and Food scheme, National Tutoring Programme, and of course a huge increase in core school funding that means schools are better placed to cover cost increases.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4091", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Mr Robin Walker"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Worcester"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Mr Robin Walker"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2022-05-24", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "groupedQuestionUIN" : {"_value" : "900184"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2022-05-24T14:27:08.74Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "60"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Education"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Education"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2022-05-23", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Students: Cost of Living"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions he has had with devolved Administrations on providing additional support for (a) school and (b) higher education students to help meet increases in the cost of living.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4463", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Chris Stephens"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Glasgow South West"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Chris Stephens"} ], "uin" : "900176"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1464751", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Education"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1464751/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
Education is a powerful protective factor for young people. It plays a vital role in early intervention and prevention of the worst possible outcomes for young people, including involvement in county lines and serious violence.<\/p>
The department\u2019s statutory safeguarding guidance Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) contains extensive safeguarding advice, which all schools and colleges must have regard to when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. It contains advice about all forms of abuse and neglect including the indicators of these harms. KCSIE is clear that all staff should have an awareness of safeguarding issues that can put children at risk of harm.<\/p>
The new statutory relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) curriculum was introduced in September 2020 with a focus on building respectful, healthy relationships, including ways of resolving conflict. Schools have the freedom to ensure the curriculum meets the need of their pupils which allows them to respond to local issues such as violence and exploitation, with high quality materials available to support teaching.<\/p>
In addition to this wider work, we are investing £45 million in two new programmes, which are funding specialist support in both mainstream and alternative provision (AP) schools in the areas where serious violence is most damaging to local communities. The first of these are the Alternative Provision Specialist Taskforces, launched in November 2021, which involves specialists being drawn from across health, education, social care, youth services and youth justice to work directly with young people in AP settings.<\/p>
The second programme is the SAFE (\u2018Support, Attend, Fulfil, Exceed\u2019) Taskforces programme, launched earlier this year. SAFE Taskforces are being led by partnerships of local secondary schools in 10 serious violence hotspots with the aim of re-engaging young people in their education through intensive support, informed by the research on what works to prevent serious violence.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4423", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Will Quince"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Colchester"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Will Quince"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2022-05-24", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2022-05-24T14:06:49.273Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "60"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Education"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Education"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2022-05-23", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Schools: Safety"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that schools are a safe environment for pupils.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4773", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Kate Kniveton"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Burton"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Kate Griffiths"} ], "uin" : "900177"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1464752", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Education"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1464752/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
Safeguarding partners are under a statutory duty to safeguard and promote the wellbeing of all children in a local area. All three safeguarding partners have equal and joint responsibility for local safeguarding arrangements and must set out how they will work together and with any relevant agencies. Relevant agencies must act in accordance with those arrangements.<\/p>
Schools, colleges and other educational providers have a pivotal role to play in safeguarding children and promoting their welfare. The safeguarding partners should make arrangements to allow all schools (including multi academy trusts), colleges and other educational providers in the local area to be fully engaged, involved, and included in the new safeguarding arrangements. It is expected that local safeguarding partners will name schools, colleges and other educational providers as relevant agencies and will reach their own conclusions on how best locally to achieve the active engagement of individual institutions in a meaningful way. Once designated as a relevant agency, schools and colleges, and other educational providers, in the same way as other relevant agencies, are under a statutory duty to co-operate with the published arrangements.<\/p>
Following the Ofsted review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges in June 2021, Ministers from the Department for Education, Home Office, and Department of Health and Social Care wrote to all 135 all safeguarding partners to request that they review their arrangements with schools, colleges, and education providers and set out their local offer to education.<\/p>
We have also held a series of national events with safeguarding partners, education providers, and other government departments to understand emerging practice and barriers to effective working. These will form part of a wider programme of work to ensure that the arrangements that have been put in place are being utilised to their fullest by both safeguarding partners, and schools and colleges.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4091", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Mr Robin Walker"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Worcester"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Mr Robin Walker"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2022-05-24", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2022-05-24T14:17:45.553Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "60"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Education"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Education"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2022-05-23", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Schools: Protection"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure schools co-operate with local safeguarding arrangements.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4872", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for David Simmonds"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "David Simmonds"} ], "uin" : "900178"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1464753", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Education"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1464753/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
Local authorities have a statutory duty to make sure that there is sufficient provision in their area to meet the needs of children in their care.<\/p>
The government is supporting local authorities to meet their statutory duty through capital investment. The 2021 Spending Review announced £259 million capital funding to maintain capacity and expand provision in both secure and open children\u2019s homes. This will provide high quality, safe homes for some of our most vulnerable children and young people.<\/p>
Increasing the capacity of open and secure children\u2019s homes will enable more vulnerable children to get the right care and support at the right time, positively impacting upon their outcomes. It will reduce the number of children placed far from home, improving their life chances and reducing costs to local authorities. It will also support local authorities to develop the provision they need locally that may not be met in the private market. In particular, children with complex needs are often placed in so-called unregulated provision<\/p>