Show Search Form

Search Results

registered interest	true false
date	exactly: or between: and
answering body
answering dept id
answering dept short name
answering dept sort name
hansard heading
house id
legislature	pref label
question text
tabling member constituency
tabling member printed
uin
answer	is ministerial correction true false date of answer exactly: or between: and answer text answering member constituency answering member printed question first answered answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

1403366

registered interest
date	17/01/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Coronavirus: Schools
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she made of the impact on (a) children aged five to 11 who are clinically extremely vulnerable or who have a close relative who is immunosuppressed and (b) the staff working with those children who are either clinically extremely vulnerable or have a close relative who is immunosuppressed, of allowing children aged five to 11 in families where there is a confirmed covid-19 case to continue attending school; and if she will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Bristol West
tabling member printed	Thangam Debbonaire
uin	105597
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/01/2022 answer text <p>The department will always prioritise the health and welfare of staff, pupils and students.</p><p>At the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, shielding was introduced as one of the few ways to support those who, at the time, were considered clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV).</p><p>The situation is now very different to when shielding was first introduced. We know a lot more about COVID-19 and what makes someone more or less vulnerable to the virus. The vaccine continues to be successfully rolled out, and other treatments and interventions are becoming available.</p><p>We are committed to protecting education, which is why the safety measures are based on the latest scientific advice and strike a balance between managing transmission risk with measures such as regular testing, enhanced ventilation and hygiene, and reducing disruption to face-to-face learning.</p><p>The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) have not advised people to shield since 1 April 2021, and people previously identified as CEV were advised to follow the same guidance as the general population. The guidance can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/covid-19-coronavirus-restrictions-what-you-can-and-cannot-do" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/guidance/covid-19-coronavirus-restrictions-what-you-can-and-cannot-do</a>.</p><p>All children and young people previously considered CEV were advised to return to childcare and education provision when shielding paused on 1 April. The decision to include children as part of the CEV group was based on the information that we had at the time. Now that we have more evidence, the clinical review panel has been able to recommend that all children and young people are no longer considered to be CEV and have been removed from the Shielded Patient List. However, if a child or young person has been advised to isolate or reduce their social contact by their specialist, due to the nature of their medical condition or treatment, they should continue to follow the advice of their specialist.</p><p>The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has advised that children aged 5 to 11 in a clinical risk group, and household contacts of individuals who are immunosuppressed, should be offered 2 10mcg doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, with an interval of 8 weeks between the first and second doses. The NHS is working through updated guidance and will set out how this is going to be operationalised in due course.</p><p>Vaccines remain an effective measure against COVID-19. We recommend all school staff take up the offer of a vaccine.</p><p>Education providers should continue to ensure good hygiene for everyone, maintain appropriate cleaning regimes, keep spaces well ventilated and follow public health advice on testing, self-isolation and managing confirmed cases of COVID-19. They should continue to conduct risk assessments for their particular circumstances and take appropriate action in line with our guidance, available here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak</a>.</p><p>It is important that we reduce the disruption to children and young people’s education, particularly given that the direct clinical risks to children are extremely low. The evidence is clear that being out of education causes significant harm to educational attainment, life chances, mental and physical health, which is why children should continue to attend their education provision, unless they are symptomatic or test positive for COVID-19. All students and pupils aged 5 and above are strongly advised to take seven daily lateral flow device tests if they are identified by Test and Trace as a close contact of a confirmed positive case.</p> answering member constituency Worcester answering member printed Mr Robin Walker question first answered 20/01/2022 16:36:28 answering member 4091 label Biography information for Mr Robin Walker
tabling member	4433 label Biography information for Thangam Debbonaire

1403630

registered interest
date	17/01/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Schools: Assessments
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when his Department will make a final decision on school exams going ahead in 2022.
tabling member constituency	Bristol West
tabling member printed	Thangam Debbonaire
uin	105600
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/01/2022 answer text <p>We are determined to press ahead with examinations this year. We regularly engage with stakeholders throughout the education sector and there continues to be widespread support for examinations to go ahead.</p><p>Together with Ofqual, we consulted on and have confirmed a range of adaptations to GCSE and A/AS level exams. By 7 February, exam boards will be releasing advance information about the focus of the content of examinations in most GCSE and A/AS level subjects. Combined with the choice of content or topics in some GCSEs, and a transition year for grading, this package provides unprecedented support, reflecting the disruption caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.</p><p>We have been clear our intention is for examinations to go ahead, but think it is right that we continue to have contingency plans in place for the unlikely event that examinations cannot go ahead fairly or safely, and have confirmed that students would receive teacher assessed grades instead.</p> answering member constituency Worcester answering member printed Mr Robin Walker question first answered 21/01/2022 18:39:32 answering member 4091 label Biography information for Mr Robin Walker
tabling member	4433 label Biography information for Thangam Debbonaire

1403661

registered interest
date	17/01/2022
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	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans the Government has to improve provision of social services to protect vulnerable children.
tabling member constituency	Bristol West
tabling member printed	Thangam Debbonaire
uin	105789
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/01/2022 answer text <p>Local authorities children’s social care spending on the most vulnerable children – those needing a social worker, children in care, and care leavers – has increased by over £3 billion since financial year 2012-13.</p><p>The department takes robust action when an authority does not meet its requirements to protect all children and young people. Local authorities rated inadequate by Ofsted receive comprehensive support from the department. Those performing well are supported to share best practice.</p><p>In this financial year, 2021-22, we have invested £5.7 million to expand our sector-led improvement (SLI) programme so that 19 of our strongest performing local authorities are able to work with their peers, to improve children’s social care services. Since July 2021, SLI partners have worked with 42 local authorities, the majority of which are judged to be inadequate or require improvement by Ofsted, and have delivered around 5,500 days of support to the sector.</p><p>We are investing over £4 million over the three years to March 2024 to support the development of corporate and political leadership across children’s services, working closely with the Local Government Association. 146 local authorities out of a total of 151 have benefited from the programme to date.</p><p>We have also invested £22.2 million in the COVID-19 Regional Recovery and Build Back Better Fund this year, which seeks to support local authorities to work together to address COVID-19 pressures, where a regional approach would be beneficial in addressing issues that face the sector.</p><p>Looking to the future, this government is committed to making a real difference to the needs, experience and outcomes of vulnerable children and families supported by children’s social care. To do this, we need to make fundamental changes to the current system. That is exactly why this government launched the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, a bold and broad review with the aim of contributing to ambitious and deliverable reforms.</p><p>The review will share its final recommendations in spring 2022 and the government will then consider and respond to them. Further, the National Child Safeguarding Practice Review of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes’s death and the Joint Targeted Area Inspection of Solihull will make sure we learn what needs to be changed nationally, and that we can understand and strengthen local work to safeguard children.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 25/01/2022 10:25:29 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4433 label Biography information for Thangam Debbonaire

1399768

registered interest
date	05/01/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Mental Health Services: Local Government
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if the Government will offer additional support and resources to local authorities' early intervention teams within their education departments.
tabling member constituency	Bristol West
tabling member printed	Thangam Debbonaire
uin	98329
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2022 answer text <p>In the autumn Budget a package of £500 million for ‘Early Help’ was announced. This includes a £300 million package to transform ‘Start for Life’ services and create a network of family hubs in half of council areas in England and a £200 million uplift to the ‘Supporting Families’ programme.</p><p>The additional funding provided for ‘Supporting Families’ takes the total investment to £695 million over the next 3 years, around a 40% real-terms uplift in funding for the programme by financial year 2024-25.</p><p>The ‘Supporting Families’ key workers consider the whole family’s needs and work through a multi-agency approach which includes schools and education specialists.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 11/01/2022 16:47:08 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4433 label Biography information for Thangam Debbonaire

1399769

registered interest
date	05/01/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Special Educational Needs: Codes of Practice
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if his Department will review the resources provided to local authorities in order to meet the service standards set out in the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice.
tabling member constituency	Bristol West
tabling member printed	Thangam Debbonaire
uin	98330
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2022 answer text <p>The department announced on 16 December that high needs funding for children and young people with complex needs is increasing in financial year 2022-23 by £1 billion to over £9.1 billion.</p><p>This unprecedented increase of 13% comes on top of the £1.5 billion increase over the last 2 years and will continue to support local authorities and schools with the increasing costs they are facing. Every local authority will attract an increase of at least 12% per head of the 2 to 18-year-old population in financial year 2022-23, with some local authorities seeing increases of up to 16% compared to the previous year.</p><p>As well as substantial increases in high needs funding for all local authorities, we are also targeting extra support for those authorities in the most financial difficulty and reviewing the overall system of support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).</p><p>The SEND Review is considering all elements of the SEND system, and the outcome of that review will be published in the first quarter of 2022 as a green paper for full public consultation.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 11/01/2022 17:17:57 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4433 label Biography information for Thangam Debbonaire

1387596

registered interest
date	14/12/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Special Educational Needs: Codes of Practice
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent progress his Department has made on reviewing the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice.
tabling member constituency	Bristol West
tabling member printed	Thangam Debbonaire
uin	92969
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/12/2021 answer text <p>The department is currently conducting a major review of the special educational needs and disability (SEND) system. In the first three months of 2022 we will launch a consultation on our proposals. We will need to consider the outcome of our consultation to determine whether any legislative changes are required in relation to any parts of the SEND system.</p><p>The SEND Code of Practice is statutory guidance about the exercise of SEND functions under Part 3 of the Children and Families Act 2014. We will therefore be consulting on updating the Code as part of delivering a reformed SEND system.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 21/12/2021 15:30:38 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4433 label Biography information for Thangam Debbonaire

1387602

registered interest
date	14/12/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Climate Change and Sustainable Development: Education
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, in what ways (a) young people and (b) others in Bristol West constituency are able to engage with his Department on its Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy.
tabling member constituency	Bristol West
tabling member printed	Thangam Debbonaire
uin	92970
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/12/2021 answer text <p>My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, announced a range of measures at COP26 to put climate change and sustainability at the heart of education. These included a draft Sustainability and Climate Change strategy for the education and children’s services systems, a new National Education Nature Park and Climate Leaders Award.</p><p>From December 2021 to March 2022, working groups of sector representatives and a group of young people, reflecting a diverse range of voices, backgrounds, and experiences, will bring together feedback on the draft Sustainability and Climate Change strategy from those they represent.</p><p>The department has set up a youth panel to ensure we can listen to the views of young people as we further develop the strategy. Young representatives from larger organisations such as the Student Climate Commission, Teach the Future, the UK Sustainable Schools Network and the Green Skills Youth Council will share the views of the children and young people from their networks at the youth panel meetings. The department encourages all interested stakeholders to feed their views in via these organisations.</p><p>The department will work closely with the working groups and with delivery partners across government to refine and build on the strategy ahead of publication of a final version in April 2022. We will also continue to engage with a wide range of stakeholders through bi-lateral meetings and topic specific workshops.</p><p>The department will be launching an informal online survey early next year for interested stakeholders. We will publish the details of the survey in the new year and will make it available to schools and young people.</p> answering member constituency Worcester answering member printed Mr Robin Walker question first answered 17/12/2021 17:01:36 answering member 4091 label Biography information for Mr Robin Walker
tabling member	4433 label Biography information for Thangam Debbonaire

1387603

registered interest
date	14/12/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Climate Change and Sustainable Development: Education
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to his Department's Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy, how his Department selected the user groups chosen to feedback on that Strategy.
tabling member constituency	Bristol West
tabling member printed	Thangam Debbonaire
uin	92971
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/12/2021 answer text <p>My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, announced a range of measures at COP26 to put climate change and sustainability at the heart of education. These included a draft Sustainability and Climate Change strategy for the education and children’s services systems, a new National Education Nature Park and Climate Leaders Award.</p><p>From December 2021 to March 2022, user groups of sector representatives and a group of young people, reflecting a diverse range of voices, backgrounds, and experiences, will bring together feedback on the draft Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy from those they represent. Youth representation will also be included in the sector group.</p><p>The department will work closely with these groups and with delivery partners across government to refine and build on the strategy ahead of publication of a final version in April 2022.</p><p>In recruiting members to each user group, we have been mindful of the need to balance the range of voices with the need for focused and meaningful discussion. The department has used the advice and views of sector leaders and experts to help us select participants in each group, seeking to ensure each one represents a key organisation working in the field or group of recognised stakeholders. This will allow us to more effectively access a broad range of opinions in a short space of time. Organisations such as the Early Years Alliance, teaching unions, Association of Colleges, and UniversitiesUK are amongst the participants and we would encourage interested stakeholders to feed in their views via these representatives.</p><p>The department will also continue to engage with a wide range of stakeholders through bi-lateral meetings, topic specific workshops and an informal public survey.</p> answering member constituency Worcester answering member printed Mr Robin Walker question first answered 17/12/2021 16:56:52 answering member 4091 label Biography information for Mr Robin Walker
tabling member	4433 label Biography information for Thangam Debbonaire

1387620

registered interest
date	14/12/2021
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Schools: Bristol
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of schools in Bristol have received carbon dioxide monitors.
tabling member constituency	Bristol West
tabling member printed	Thangam Debbonaire
uin	92978
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2022 answer text <p>During the Autumn term, the department provided CO<sub>2</sub> monitors to all state-funded education providers, including early years, schools and further education colleges, backed by £25 million in government funding.</p><p>We have now delivered on our public commitment with over 353,000 monitors delivered in the Autumn term. Feedback suggests that schools are finding the monitors helpful to manage ventilation and, in the majority of providers, existing ventilation measures are sufficient.</p> answering member constituency Worcester answering member printed Mr Robin Walker question first answered 11/01/2022 16:05:14 answering member 4091 label Biography information for Mr Robin Walker
tabling member	4433 label Biography information for Thangam Debbonaire

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