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1698278

registered interest
date	25/03/2024
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Students: Visual Impairment
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what is the educational attainment gap for blind and visually impaired students at (1) Key Stage 2, (2) GCSE, and (3) A Level; by what date, if any, they aim to eradicate that gap; and what additional research have they undertaken, or do they intend to undertake, to support work in this area.
tabling member printed	Lord Holmes of Richmond
uin	HL3582
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/04/2024 answer text <p>Data is collected on pupils receiving either special educational needs support or have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan and their primary category of need. The links below provide the attainment of pupils assessed as having a primary need of ‘visual impairment’ and how this compares to other pupils:</p><ul><li>Key stage 2: data for the 2022/23 year is in the table atttached.</li><li>Key stage 4: data for the 2022/23 year is in the table attached.</li><li>A level: data for the 2022/23 year is in the table attached.</li></ul><p> </p><p>The department wants all children and young people to be able to reach their full potential and to receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life. The department is creating a new single national special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and alternative provision system for how needs are identified and met across EHC. This new single national system will set standards on what support should be made available in mainstream settings, including for children with visual impairments.</p><p>The department is committed to ensuring a steady supply of teachers of children with sensory impairments in both specialist and mainstream settings. To teach a class of pupils with sensory impairments, a teacher is required to hold the relevant mandatory qualification (MQSI). There are currently six providers of the MQSI, with a seventh available from September 2024. In addition, the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education is developing a new occupational standard for teachers of sensory impairment, which is expected to launch in 2025.</p><p>The national curriculum tests are designed and modified to ensure they are accessible to visually impaired pupils. Access arrangements can be agreed with exam boards before an assessment for candidates with specific needs, including SEND, to help them access assessments to show what they know and can do without changing the demands of the assessment. The intention behind an access arrangement is to meet the needs of an individual candidate without affecting the integrity of the assessment.</p><p>Children and young people with SEND have more access to assistive technology (AT) following investment in remote education and accessibility features which can reduce or remove barriers to learning. Following the promising results of a pilot training programme in 2022 to increase mainstream school staff confidence using assistive technology, the government extended training to capture more detailed data on the impact on teachers and learners. The independent evaluation will be published in May 2024. The department is also now researching the AT skills required by staff at special schools, including those working with blind and visually impaired students.</p> answering member printed Baroness Barran attachment 1 file name KS2_attainment_table.xlsx title KS2_attainment_table 2 file name KS4_attainment_table.xlsx title KS4_attainment_table 3 file name ALevel_attainment_table.xlsx title ALevel_attainment_table question first answered 08/04/2024 14:58:29 answering member 4703 label Biography information for Baroness Barran
tabling member	4294 label Biography information for Lord Holmes of Richmond

1698303

registered interest
date	25/03/2024
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Childcare
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what additional support they are providing to enable local authorities and childcare providers to meet demand arising from their commitment to provide free childcare hours.
tabling member printed	Lord Weir of Ballyholme
uin	HL3607
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/04/2024 answer text <p>There were 15,100 more childcare places in 2023 than the previous year, with 12,900 paid staff added to the same period according to the department’s latest Childcare and early years provider survey (2023).</p><p>To support providers to expand their provision further, the department is investing over £400 million of additional funding to uplift the hourly rate for the entitlements next year. This investment consists of £67 million in new funding to reflect the latest National Living Wage increase, an additional £57 million to support providers in respect of teachers’ pay and pensions, and the £288 million for the existing entitlements in 2024/25 announced in the Spring Budget in March 2023. It also builds on the £204 million of additional investment to increase funding rates this year. To further support the sector delivering the expansion of childcare support, the government is confirming that the hourly rate providers are paid to deliver the free hours offers will increase in line with the metric used at Spring Budget 2023 for the next two years. This reflects that workforce costs are the most significant costs for childcare providers and represents an estimated additional £500 million of investment over two years. Additionally, hundreds of thousands of children aged 3 and 4 are registered for a 30-hour place, saving eligible working parents up to £6,900 per child per year, helping even more working parents and making a real difference to the lives of those families.</p><p>Local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare, including supporting them through our childcare delivery support contract where appropriate.</p><p>The government has allocated £100 million in capital funding to local authorities to support the expansion of childcare places and the supply of wraparound care. The funding is anticipated to deliver thousands of new places across the country.</p><p>On top of the department’s funding reforms, it is also providing significant support for local authorities to deliver the early years expansion from April, such as:</p><ul><li>Appointing a delivery support contractor (Childcare Works) to provide local authorities with support, advice, guidance and best practice sharing to help them deliver the expansion and deliver enough childcare places for residents. Coram are part of the Childcare Works consortium, and the department is delighted to be working with them to support local authorities to deliver.</li><li>Providing £12 million of delivery support funding to local authorities in financial year 2023/24, to help them meet the costs associated with the rollout.</li><li>In February 2024, the department launched a new national recruitment campaign for the early years and childcare sector, ‘Do something Big, Work with small children’, and a financial incentives pilot. Eligible joiners and returners will receive a tax-free payment of up to £1,000. This followed the introduction of workforce flexibilities to the Early Years Foundation Stage in January 2024.</li><li>The department has also introduced Skills Bootcamps for Early Years which will create a pathway to accelerated Level 3 Early Years Apprenticeships.</li></ul> answering member printed Baroness Barran grouped question UIN HL3609 question first answered 08/04/2024 12:07:12 answering member 4703 label Biography information for Baroness Barran
tabling member	4970 label Biography information for Lord Weir of Ballyholme

1698304

registered interest
date	25/03/2024
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Childcare
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the percentage of eligible families who will be able to take advantage of free childcare care hours committed by April.
tabling member printed	Lord Weir of Ballyholme
uin	HL3608
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/04/2024 answer text <p>In the 2023 Spring Budget, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced that free childcare would be extended to children of eligible working parents in England from nine months old to support increased parental engagement in the labour market.</p><p>The proportion of eligible parents who will take up the new entitlement is provisionally estimated to be around 75% for those with children aged two, around 60% for those with children aged one and around 35% for those with children under the age of one. These estimates are detailed in a policy costing information note, which was published in July 2023. The information note can be found in the attachment.</p><p>Data on actual take up of the entitlement for children aged two from April 2024 will be collected via the early years census in January 2025, and published in June or July 2025.</p> answering member printed Baroness Barran question first answered 08/04/2024 12:23:14 answering member 4703 label Biography information for Baroness Barran attachment 1 file name HL3608 attachment.pdf title HL3608_attachment
tabling member	4970 label Biography information for Lord Weir of Ballyholme

1698305

registered interest
date	25/03/2024
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Childcare: Shortages
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the percentage of areas where there is a shortage of childcare facilities and providers to provide their commitment of free childcare hours.
tabling member printed	Lord Weir of Ballyholme
uin	HL3609
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/04/2024 answer text <p>There were 15,100 more childcare places in 2023 than the previous year, with 12,900 paid staff added to the same period according to the department’s latest Childcare and early years provider survey (2023).</p><p>To support providers to expand their provision further, the department is investing over £400 million of additional funding to uplift the hourly rate for the entitlements next year. This investment consists of £67 million in new funding to reflect the latest National Living Wage increase, an additional £57 million to support providers in respect of teachers’ pay and pensions, and the £288 million for the existing entitlements in 2024/25 announced in the Spring Budget in March 2023. It also builds on the £204 million of additional investment to increase funding rates this year. To further support the sector delivering the expansion of childcare support, the government is confirming that the hourly rate providers are paid to deliver the free hours offers will increase in line with the metric used at Spring Budget 2023 for the next two years. This reflects that workforce costs are the most significant costs for childcare providers and represents an estimated additional £500 million of investment over two years. Additionally, hundreds of thousands of children aged 3 and 4 are registered for a 30-hour place, saving eligible working parents up to £6,900 per child per year, helping even more working parents and making a real difference to the lives of those families.</p><p>Local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare, including supporting them through our childcare delivery support contract where appropriate.</p><p>The government has allocated £100 million in capital funding to local authorities to support the expansion of childcare places and the supply of wraparound care. The funding is anticipated to deliver thousands of new places across the country.</p><p>On top of the department’s funding reforms, it is also providing significant support for local authorities to deliver the early years expansion from April, such as:</p><ul><li>Appointing a delivery support contractor (Childcare Works) to provide local authorities with support, advice, guidance and best practice sharing to help them deliver the expansion and deliver enough childcare places for residents. Coram are part of the Childcare Works consortium, and the department is delighted to be working with them to support local authorities to deliver.</li><li>Providing £12 million of delivery support funding to local authorities in financial year 2023/24, to help them meet the costs associated with the rollout.</li><li>In February 2024, the department launched a new national recruitment campaign for the early years and childcare sector, ‘Do something Big, Work with small children’, and a financial incentives pilot. Eligible joiners and returners will receive a tax-free payment of up to £1,000. This followed the introduction of workforce flexibilities to the Early Years Foundation Stage in January 2024.</li><li>The department has also introduced Skills Bootcamps for Early Years which will create a pathway to accelerated Level 3 Early Years Apprenticeships.</li></ul> answering member printed Baroness Barran grouped question UIN HL3607 question first answered 08/04/2024 12:07:12 answering member 4703 label Biography information for Baroness Barran
tabling member	4970 label Biography information for Lord Weir of Ballyholme

1698306

registered interest
date	25/03/2024
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Breakfast Clubs
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of (1) primary, and (2) secondary, schools currently provide breakfast clubs.
tabling member printed	Lord Weir of Ballyholme
uin	HL3610
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/04/2024 answer text <p>The government is committed to continuing support for breakfast clubs in England in schools in disadvantaged areas. Up to £40 million is being invested to continue the department’s national programme until July 2025. This funding will support up to 2,700 schools in disadvantaged areas in England, meaning thousands of children from low income families will be offered free nutritious breakfasts to better support their attainment, wellbeing and readiness to learn. Schools are eligible for the programme if they have 40% or more pupils from deprived households, as measured by the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index.</p><p>The department does not currently hold recent data on the percentage of schools that provide breakfast clubs. As of November 2022, over 2,100 schools signed up to the programme, of which 65% were primary and 23% secondary.</p><p>The recruitment process is still underway for schools that wish to sign up. In March 2023, 2,500 schools had signed up to the programme and the department will work with its supplier, Family Action, to monitor and publish updated data in due course.</p><p>​The government is very supportive of school breakfasts and the contribution these can make to children’s wellbeing and learning. ​Alongside our national programme, there are a number of organisations such as Magic Breakfast, Kellogg’s and Greggs providing valuable support to schools with a breakfast provision.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Barran question first answered 08/04/2024 12:24:26 answering member 4703 label Biography information for Baroness Barran
tabling member	4970 label Biography information for Lord Weir of Ballyholme

1698308

registered interest
date	25/03/2024
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Carers: Young People
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government, following statistics published on 21 March showing that the percentage of young carers who missed at least ten per cent of school is almost twice as high as that for pupils without caring responsibilities, what steps they are taking to improve the (1) identification of, and (2) support for, young carers in schools.
tabling member printed	Lord Young of Cookham
uin	HL3612
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/04/2024 answer text <p>Young carers make an enormous contribution by caring for their loved ones. The department wants to ensure young carers are supported in their education and can take advantage of opportunities beyond their caring responsibilities.</p><p>The department introduced The Young Carers (Needs Assessments) Regulations in 2015. This is an assessment of needs, conducted by the local authority which must consider whether it is appropriate or excessive for the child or young person to provide care for the person in question, in light of the young carer’s needs and wishes. It also helps to determine whether the care which the young carer provides, or intends to provide, impacts on the young carer’s well-being, education and development.</p><p>The department added young carers to the annual school census in 2023 for the first time and identified 38,983 young carers, raising their visibility in the school system and allowing schools to better identify and support their young carers. This is providing the department with strong evidence on both the numbers of young carers and their educational outcomes. This also provides an annual data collection to establish long-term trends.</p><p>As this is a new data collection, the department expects the quality of the data returns to improve over time as the collection becomes established. All schools (except nursery schools) must send this information as part of the spring school census. However, the recording and handling of the information is at the school’s discretion. 79% of schools recorded no young carers in 2023.</p><p>The department recognises that absence is often a symptom of other problems. The department has a comprehensive support-first strategy to improve attendance, which includes:</p><ul><li>Stronger expectations of schools, trusts and local authorities to work together to tackle absence, which is set out in guidance that will become statutory in August 2024.</li><li>An attendance data tool allowing early identification and intervention of pupils at risk of persistent absence, which will become mandatory from September 2024.</li><li>The Attendance Action Alliance of system leaders who are working to remove barriers to attendance.</li><li>Appointing Rob Tarn as the new national attendance ambassador to work with school leaders to champion attendance as well as ten expert Attendance Advisers to support local authorities and trusts.</li><li>Expanding the department’s attendance mentor pilot from 5 to 15 areas from September, backed by an additional £15 million and reaching 10,000 children.</li><li>Doubling the number of lead attendance hubs, bringing the total to 32 which will see nearly 2,000 schools supported to tackle persistent absence.</li><li>A national communications campaign aimed to highlight the benefits of attendance and target preventable odd days of absence linked to mild illness, mild anxiety and term-time holidays.</li></ul><p>The department is also building a system of family help by reforming children’s social care. The £45 million Families First for Children Pathfinder programme is testing how multi-disciplinary family help teams can improve the support that children, families and young carers receive.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Barran question first answered 10/04/2024 11:06:43 answering member 4703 label Biography information for Baroness Barran
tabling member	57 label Biography information for Lord Young of Cookham

1698371

registered interest
date	25/03/2024
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Childcare: Finance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 3.15 of the Spring Budget 2024, HC 560, how much and what proportion of the estimated £500 million of additional funding she plans to allocate in the (a) 2025-26 and (b) 2026-27 financial year.
tabling member constituency	Walthamstow
tabling member printed	Stella Creasy
uin	20305
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/04/2024 answer text <p>The last economic data available at the time funding rates are set will be used to determine the proportions allocated in the 2025/6 and 2026/7 financial years.</p><p> </p><p>The department estimates the changing costs to providers by using the annual results of the Survey of Childcare and Early Years Providers and the department’s cost pressures model, which also takes account of the different ages of children, as both reported staff-child ratios and the relative proportion of entitlement hours delivered by different provider types vary by child age. Separate calculations are therefore performed in respect of the different entitlements.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston grouped question UIN 20306 question first answered 17/04/2024 12:10:31 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
tabling member	4088 label Biography information for Stella Creasy

1698372

registered interest
date	25/03/2024
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Childcare: Finance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 3.15 of the Spring Budget 2024, HC 560, what weighting was given to (a) average earnings growth, (b) changes in the National Living Wage and (c) the (i) consumer price index and (ii) other measures of inflation when estimating that there would be £500 million of additional funding in the 2025-26 and 2026-27 financial years.
tabling member constituency	Walthamstow
tabling member printed	Stella Creasy
uin	20306
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/04/2024 answer text <p>The last economic data available at the time funding rates are set will be used to determine the proportions allocated in the 2025/6 and 2026/7 financial years.</p><p> </p><p>The department estimates the changing costs to providers by using the annual results of the Survey of Childcare and Early Years Providers and the department’s cost pressures model, which also takes account of the different ages of children, as both reported staff-child ratios and the relative proportion of entitlement hours delivered by different provider types vary by child age. Separate calculations are therefore performed in respect of the different entitlements.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston grouped question UIN 20305 question first answered 17/04/2024 12:10:31 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
tabling member	4088 label Biography information for Stella Creasy

1698476

registered interest
date	25/03/2024
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Academic Freedom
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 21 March 2024 to Question 17725 on Academic Freedom, whether she has had recent discussions with the Office for Students on whether (a) higher education institutions and (b) students’ unions will have enough time to implement the guidance on securing free speech within the law before those obligations enter into force.
tabling member constituency	Sheffield Central
tabling member printed	Paul Blomfield
uin	20287
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/04/2024 answer text <p>My right hon. Friend, the Member for East Sussex, and former Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing with responsibility for freedom of speech in the department, met with Professor Arif Ahmed in 2023 following his appointment, and discussed plans for implementation of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act (the Act) over the next two years. I also met with Arif Ahmed on 16 January 2024. The intention has always been for the Office for Students (OfS) to publish any guidance within good time of the Act coming into force to allow the sector sufficient time to consider it. The expectation expressed was that any guidance pertaining to the provisions that come into force on 1 August 2024 would be published by summer 2024, giving the sector the summer period to implement it into their practices.</p><p> </p><p>The department understands that the OfS continues to work towards these timelines as set out on their website here: <a href="https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/quality-and-standards/freedom-of-speech/changes-to-regulation/" target="_blank">https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/quality-and-standards/freedom-of-speech/changes-to-regulation/</a>, although precise timings are a matter for the OfS.</p><p> </p><p>A draft version of the guidance that the OfS intend to issue following consultation has already been published for the sector to consider here: <a href="https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/fsvjdljh/regulatory-advice-24-guidance-related-to-freedom-of-speech.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/fsvjdljh/regulatory-advice-24-guidance-related-to-freedom-of-speech.pdf</a>.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston question first answered 19/04/2024 11:54:40 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
tabling member	4058 label Biography information for Paul Blomfield

1698528

registered interest
date	25/03/2024
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Alternative Education: Physical Education
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 ensure all children and young people attending alternative provision settings are provided with access to high-quality physical education.
tabling member constituency	Sheffield, Hallam
tabling member printed	Olivia Blake
uin	20474
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/04/2024 answer text <p>Although alternative provision (AP) settings are not required to follow the national curriculum, there is an expectation that they should aim to deliver a high-quality, broad and balanced curriculum, including physical education that responds to the needs and ambitions of all children to give them the foundations and resilience to succeed in education and in their future life.</p><p> </p><p>Data on the amount and type of outdoor space for all schools, including state-funded AP schools can be found here: <a href="https://depositedpapers.parliament.uk/depositedpaper/2285521/files" target="_blank">https://depositedpapers.parliament.uk/depositedpaper/2285521/files</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The department does not hold information on dedicated space for indoor physical education in AP settings.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston grouped question UIN 20475 20476 question first answered 15/04/2024 16:50:47 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
tabling member	4864 label Biography information for Olivia Blake