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1686001

	registered interest
	date	30/01/2024
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Schools: Greater London
	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 support London’s schools and local authorities with falling school rolls.
	tabling member constituency	Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner
	tabling member printed	David Simmonds
	type	WrittenParliamentaryQuestion
	uin	12192
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/02/2024 answer text <p>The department recognises the challenge some schools face with falling rolls, particularly in London. London is attracting an additional £75.1 million of funding for schools in 2024/25 compared to 2023/24 through the schools Dedicated Schools Grant, which is an increase of 1.6% per pupil excluding growth funding. This takes the total funding for 2024/25 in London to over £7.4 billion, based on current pupil numbers.</p><p> </p><p>In the 2024/25 financial year, the department is changing how ‘growth and falling rolls funding’ is allocated to local authorities, so that this is based not only on increases in pupil numbers, but also decreases. This methodology will ensure that local authorities in which schools are experiencing significant decreases in pupil numbers will attract additional funding to support those schools. The restriction that schools must be judged ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ in their last Ofsted inspection to be eligible for falling rolls funding has also been removed.</p><p> </p><p>The department is also broadening the scope of growth funding to allow local authorities to use growth funding to meet the revenue costs of removing surplus places. Such funding could support local authorities to repurpose space to create Special Educational needs and Disability (SEND) units, resourced bases, or wraparound childcare provision in mainstream schools. This is activity which we know many local authorities are already undertaking.</p><p> </p><p>More information is available in published guidance at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pre-16-schools-funding-local-authority-guidance-for-2024-to-2025/growth-and-falling-rolls-fund-guidance-2024-to-2025" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pre-16-schools-funding-local-authority-guidance-for-2024-to-2025/growth-and-falling-rolls-fund-guidance-2024-to-2025</a>.</p> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds question first answered 06/02/2024 17:46:43 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds
	tabling member	4872 label Biography information for David Simmonds

1520820

	registered interest
	date	11/10/2022
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children in Care: Supported Housing
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the ban on placing children under the age of 16 in unregulated accommodation on outcomes for those children in the 12 months since the introduction of that policy.
	tabling member constituency	Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner
	tabling member printed	David Simmonds
	type	WrittenParliamentaryQuestion
	uin	61421
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/10/2022 answer text <p>The department completed a child rights impact assessment and an equalities impact assessment banning the placement of under 16s in unregulated provision. Children of this age should be placed in children’s homes or in foster care.</p><p>The department will keep these under review as we move forward with wider reforms to introduce mandatory national standards and Ofsted registration and inspection requirements for providers of unregulated supported accommodation for 16 and 17-year-old looked-after children and care leavers.</p><p>Ofsted will continue to monitor placement practice through the inspecting local authority children’s services framework, and the department will also continue to collect and review data on local authority placements via the annual children looked after data return. Data from the period, since the regulations were laid in 2021, will be submitted to the department by local authorities in 2022. This data will be monitored and tracked by the department and will assist us to understand the impact on outcomes for the children placed in these settings.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 25/10/2022 10:58:42 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	4872 label Biography information for David Simmonds

1520821

	registered interest
	date	11/10/2022
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children in Care: Supported Housing
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many under-16s are currently placed in unregulated accommodation compared to prior to when the ban on that practice came into force on 9 September 2021.
	tabling member constituency	Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner
	tabling member printed	David Simmonds
	type	WrittenParliamentaryQuestion
	uin	61422
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/10/2022 answer text <p>On 31 March 2021, 65 looked-after children aged under 16 were placed in unregulated accommodation. Information for the reporting year 2021/22 will not be available until November 2022.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 24/10/2022 09:46:46 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	4872 label Biography information for David Simmonds

1520823

	registered interest
	date	11/10/2022
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children in Care: Supported Housing
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of the requirement for providers of supported accommodation for 16 and 17 year olds to register with Ofsted on the sufficiency of placements.
	tabling member constituency	Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner
	tabling member printed	David Simmonds
	type	WrittenParliamentaryQuestion
	uin	61423
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/10/2022 answer text <p>Local authorities have a statutory duty to make sure there is sufficient provision in their area to meet the needs of children in their care. The government is supporting local authorities to meet their statutory duty by investing £259 million capital funding to maintain capacity and expand provision in both secure and open children’s homes. This will provide high-quality safe homes for some of the most vulnerable children and young people. This will support local authorities to develop the provision they need locally, that may not be met in the private market.</p><p>The government will invest over £142 million across the next three years to support local authorities, providers, and Ofsted to implement mandatory national standards, and Ofsted registration and inspection for currently unregulated supported accommodation providers who accommodate 16 and 17-year-old looked-after children and care leavers.</p><p>The department expects the national standards to become mandatory from autumn 2023, following a minimum six-month registration window, which will enable providers to register before the standards come into force, reducing any potential disruption or sufficiency challenges for local authorities. We will invest up to £1.3 million to support providers to prepare for the reforms.</p><p>The department will complete the required impact assessments ahead of laying the regulations, which will bring the new regime into effect.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 24/10/2022 09:50:42 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	4872 label Biography information for David Simmonds

1520824

	registered interest
	date	11/10/2022
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Secure Accommodation
	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 help increase the availability of places in secure children's homes.
	tabling member constituency	Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner
	tabling member printed	David Simmonds
	type	WrittenParliamentaryQuestion
	uin	61424
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/10/2022 answer text <p>To help local authorities ensure there is sufficient available accommodation for all children in their care, the department is making a substantial investment in building new secure children’s homes (SCH). The Chancellor announced £259 million capital funding in the Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021 to provide high-quality homes for some of the most vulnerable young people, closer to families, schools, and health services. This also includes £195 million to support SCH estates.</p><p>This investment will enable local authorities to undertake more ambitious work to reconfigure and expand these estates, reduce the number of children waiting for a secure welfare place in a SCH, and support local authorities to place children in their care closer to families and friends, where possible. This includes replacing ageing parts of the estates, investing in upgrades and improvement works to improve occupancy rates, increase the number of beds, and build new provision in regions, such as London and the West Midlands, where there is currently none.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 24/10/2022 10:15:59 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	4872 label Biography information for David Simmonds

1464752

	registered interest
	date	23/05/2022
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Schools: Protection
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure schools co-operate with local safeguarding arrangements.
	tabling member constituency	Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner
	tabling member printed	David Simmonds
	type	WrittenParliamentaryQuestion
	uin	900178
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/05/2022 answer text <p>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><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><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><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> answering member constituency Worcester answering member printed Mr Robin Walker question first answered 24/05/2022 14:17:45 answering member 4091 label Biography information for Mr Robin Walker
	tabling member	4872 label Biography information for David Simmonds

1455455

	registered interest
	date	29/03/2022
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Free School Meals: Migrants
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will publish the review of free school meals to children from families with no recourse to public funds.
	tabling member constituency	Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner
	tabling member printed	David Simmonds
	type	WrittenParliamentaryQuestion
	uin	149455
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/04/2022 answer text <p>The work that has been done on reviewing the relationship between the no resource to public funds (NRPF) condition, and access to free school meals (FSM) will not be published.</p><p>FSM eligibility will be extended to children from all groups with NRPF from the start of the summer term, with guidance for schools being published shortly. Information on the number of children who received a free meal, and attracted pupil premium funding under the temporary extension of free school meal eligibility to some NRPF households in the 2021/2022 financial year can be found in the third document here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-allocations-and-conditions-of-grant-2021-to-2022" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-allocations-and-conditions-of-grant-2021-to-2022</a>.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince grouped question UIN 149459 question first answered 05/04/2022 14:40:37 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4872 label Biography information for David Simmonds

1455458

	registered interest
	date	29/03/2022
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Refugees: Children
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to protect children who have been separated from parents and family on arrival in the UK.
	tabling member constituency	Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner
	tabling member printed	David Simmonds
	type	WrittenParliamentaryQuestion
	uin	149458
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/04/2022 answer text <p>The department takes the welfare of all unaccompanied children extremely seriously and is committed to ensuring they are properly safeguarded. Statutory duties placed on the local authority in respect of unaccompanied children will apply to any child arriving in the UK who has been separated from their parents and family.</p><p>In England Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 (CA89) imposes a general duty on local authorities to safeguard and promote the welfare of ‘children in need’ in their area. Section 20 CA89 imposes a duty to accommodate children in need if they meet the relevant criteria.</p><p>Generally, once a child has been accommodated by a local authority continuously for more than 24 hours, they become a looked after child and should be safeguarded and have their welfare promoted in the same way as any other looked after child, taking account of their particular needs. Any child separated from their parents and family would likely remain accommodated by the local authority, until such time as they can be re-united when possible and appropriate.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 06/04/2022 11:44:34 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4872 label Biography information for David Simmonds

1455459

	registered interest
	date	29/03/2022
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children: Migrants
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department holds data on the impact of the extension of free school meals to children in families with no recourse to public funds on the educational attainment of those children.
	tabling member constituency	Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner
	tabling member printed	David Simmonds
	type	WrittenParliamentaryQuestion
	uin	149459
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/04/2022 answer text <p>The work that has been done on reviewing the relationship between the no resource to public funds (NRPF) condition, and access to free school meals (FSM) will not be published.</p><p>FSM eligibility will be extended to children from all groups with NRPF from the start of the summer term, with guidance for schools being published shortly. Information on the number of children who received a free meal, and attracted pupil premium funding under the temporary extension of free school meal eligibility to some NRPF households in the 2021/2022 financial year can be found in the third document here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-allocations-and-conditions-of-grant-2021-to-2022" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-allocations-and-conditions-of-grant-2021-to-2022</a>.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince grouped question UIN 149455 question first answered 05/04/2022 14:40:37 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4872 label Biography information for David Simmonds

1385850

	registered interest
	date	07/12/2021
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Free School Meals: Migrants
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of the continued provision of free school meals to children whose families are subject to the no recourse to public funds condition.
	tabling member constituency	Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner
	tabling member printed	David Simmonds
	type	WrittenParliamentaryQuestion
	uin	88857
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/12/2021 answer text <p>The department is working with departments across government to evaluate access to free school meals for families with no recourse to public funds. In the meantime, the extension of eligibility will continue with the current income threshold until a decision on long-term eligibility is made.</p><p>Once the review is complete, we will update our guidance accordingly. The department's current guidance regarding the extension can be viewed here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-free-school-meals-guidance/guidance-for-the-temporary-extension-of-free-school-meals-eligibility-to-nrpf-groups" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-free-school-meals-guidance/guidance-for-the-temporary-extension-of-free-school-meals-eligibility-to-nrpf-groups</a>.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 15/12/2021 16:05:41 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4872 label Biography information for David Simmonds