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1236517

answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/09/2020 answer text <p>The most recent figures for the number of pupils eligible for and claiming free school meals is based on the school census for January 2020. The number of children eligible for and claiming FSM in January 2020, by major ethnic group and for Vauxhall constituency, London and England, are provided in the attached table. Education and free school meal provision is a devolved responsibility, so figures for the United Kingdom are not available.</p><p>Further information can be found in the annual 'Schools, pupils and their characteristics' publication, available at:<br><a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics</a>.</p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford question first answered 22/09/2020 16:54:48 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford attachment 1 file name 91750 table showing pupils from major ethnic groups eligible for free school meals in 2020.doc title 91750 Table Attachment

1239970

registered interest
date	02/10/2020
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Schools: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to tackle the educational attainment gap following the closure of schools as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
tabling member constituency	Erith and Thamesmead
tabling member printed	Abena Oppong-Asare
uin	98778
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/10/2020 answer text <p>We know that school closures have had an adverse impact on all pupils, and we believe those from disadvantaged backgrounds will have been particularly affected. To ensure we properly understand all the impacts, we have commissioned independent research, which is currently in its early stages. Meanwhile, we have put in place a number of significant policy measures to help schools address the barriers to success that these pupils face, particularly as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.</p><p>Our £1 billion COVID-19 catch-up package is providing additional funding to support children and young people whose education has been disrupted by the COVID-19 outbreak. The package includes the National Tutoring Programme, which will provide up to £350 million of targeted support for disadvantaged and vulnerable pupils who are most at risk of falling further behind. From November, this investment will provide schools in all regions access to subsidised, high-quality tuition supplied by approved tuition partners. Schools in the most deprived areas will be supported to use in-house academic mentors to provide intensive catch-up support to their pupils in small groups.</p><p>The National Tutoring Programme sits alongside our £650 million universal catch-up premium funding for the current academic year, that will enable schools to prioritise support for specific groups of pupils according to their needs. We have also provided funding to support small group tuition for 16-19 year olds and the improvement of early language skills in reception classes. This £1 billion package is additional to the £14.4 billion 3 year investment in schools that we announced last year. Schools continue to receive the £2.4 billion pupil premium that allows school leaders to tailor the support they provide, based on the needs of their disadvantaged pupils, to accelerate their progress and improve their attainment.</p><p>This significant cash injection helps schools to take immediate action to address the learning lost due to the COVID-19 outbreak. We will continue to monitor the attainment gap closely, both at primary and secondary levels, as the nation recovers from the COVID-19 outbreak.</p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford grouped question UIN 98779 question first answered 12/10/2020 15:25:33 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	4820 label Biography information for Abena Oppong-Asare

1239971

registered interest
date	02/10/2020
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Schools: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the effect of the plans he has implemented on the time it will take to close the current educational attainment gap of one month.
tabling member constituency	Erith and Thamesmead
tabling member printed	Abena Oppong-Asare
uin	98779
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/10/2020 answer text <p>We know that school closures have had an adverse impact on all pupils, and we believe those from disadvantaged backgrounds will have been particularly affected. To ensure we properly understand all the impacts, we have commissioned independent research, which is currently in its early stages. Meanwhile, we have put in place a number of significant policy measures to help schools address the barriers to success that these pupils face, particularly as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.</p><p>Our £1 billion COVID-19 catch-up package is providing additional funding to support children and young people whose education has been disrupted by the COVID-19 outbreak. The package includes the National Tutoring Programme, which will provide up to £350 million of targeted support for disadvantaged and vulnerable pupils who are most at risk of falling further behind. From November, this investment will provide schools in all regions access to subsidised, high-quality tuition supplied by approved tuition partners. Schools in the most deprived areas will be supported to use in-house academic mentors to provide intensive catch-up support to their pupils in small groups.</p><p>The National Tutoring Programme sits alongside our £650 million universal catch-up premium funding for the current academic year, that will enable schools to prioritise support for specific groups of pupils according to their needs. We have also provided funding to support small group tuition for 16-19 year olds and the improvement of early language skills in reception classes. This £1 billion package is additional to the £14.4 billion 3 year investment in schools that we announced last year. Schools continue to receive the £2.4 billion pupil premium that allows school leaders to tailor the support they provide, based on the needs of their disadvantaged pupils, to accelerate their progress and improve their attainment.</p><p>This significant cash injection helps schools to take immediate action to address the learning lost due to the COVID-19 outbreak. We will continue to monitor the attainment gap closely, both at primary and secondary levels, as the nation recovers from the COVID-19 outbreak.</p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford grouped question UIN 98778 question first answered 12/10/2020 15:25:33 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	4820 label Biography information for Abena Oppong-Asare

1239267

registered interest
date	30/09/2020
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Outdoor Education: Finance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of funding the Nature Premium on (a) levels of health inequality, (b) combating mental health issues and (c) levels of learning development among children.
tabling member constituency	Portsmouth South
tabling member printed	Stephen Morgan
uin	97703
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/10/2020 answer text <p>Schools and colleges have an important role to play in supporting the health and well-being of children and young people. We recognise that playing and learning outside is a fundamental part of childhood and supports children’s health and wellbeing. We also know that some children have good access to natural spaces whilst others do not, such as those living in areas of high disadvantage.</p><p>We want headteachers to have as much discretion as possible over how they use their funding. It is for schools to decide what teaching approaches and wider pastoral and extra-curricular activity to put in place, as part of a whole school approach, based on the needs of their pupils and drawing on evidence of effective practice. Schools’ core funding in financial years is rising by £2.6 billion in 2020-21, £4.8 billion in 2021-22 and £7.1 billion in 2022-23, compared to 2019-20 funding levels.</p><p>To support children from disadvantaged backgrounds to have better access to natural environments, the Department for Education is funding the ‘Children and Nature Programme’, working alongside Natural England and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. The programme is supporting three delivery projects which include delivering greener grounds and pupil visits to green spaces for schools with the highest proportion of disadvantaged pupils.</p><p>I have asked departmental officials to meet with representatives of the Nature Premium campaign to discuss the potential merits further.</p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford grouped question UIN 97704 97705 question first answered 07/10/2020 15:27:52 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	4653 label Biography information for Stephen Morgan

1239268

registered interest
date	30/09/2020
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Outdoor Education: Finance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has had discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the potential merits of introducing a Nature Premium scheme.
tabling member constituency	Portsmouth South
tabling member printed	Stephen Morgan
uin	97704
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/10/2020 answer text <p>Schools and colleges have an important role to play in supporting the health and well-being of children and young people. We recognise that playing and learning outside is a fundamental part of childhood and supports children’s health and wellbeing. We also know that some children have good access to natural spaces whilst others do not, such as those living in areas of high disadvantage.</p><p>We want headteachers to have as much discretion as possible over how they use their funding. It is for schools to decide what teaching approaches and wider pastoral and extra-curricular activity to put in place, as part of a whole school approach, based on the needs of their pupils and drawing on evidence of effective practice. Schools’ core funding in financial years is rising by £2.6 billion in 2020-21, £4.8 billion in 2021-22 and £7.1 billion in 2022-23, compared to 2019-20 funding levels.</p><p>To support children from disadvantaged backgrounds to have better access to natural environments, the Department for Education is funding the ‘Children and Nature Programme’, working alongside Natural England and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. The programme is supporting three delivery projects which include delivering greener grounds and pupil visits to green spaces for schools with the highest proportion of disadvantaged pupils.</p><p>I have asked departmental officials to meet with representatives of the Nature Premium campaign to discuss the potential merits further.</p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford grouped question UIN 97703 97705 question first answered 07/10/2020 15:27:52 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	4653 label Biography information for Stephen Morgan

1239269

registered interest
date	30/09/2020
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Nature Premium
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will meet representatives of the Nature Premium campaign.
tabling member constituency	Portsmouth South
tabling member printed	Stephen Morgan
uin	97705
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/10/2020 answer text <p>Schools and colleges have an important role to play in supporting the health and well-being of children and young people. We recognise that playing and learning outside is a fundamental part of childhood and supports children’s health and wellbeing. We also know that some children have good access to natural spaces whilst others do not, such as those living in areas of high disadvantage.</p><p>We want headteachers to have as much discretion as possible over how they use their funding. It is for schools to decide what teaching approaches and wider pastoral and extra-curricular activity to put in place, as part of a whole school approach, based on the needs of their pupils and drawing on evidence of effective practice. Schools’ core funding in financial years is rising by £2.6 billion in 2020-21, £4.8 billion in 2021-22 and £7.1 billion in 2022-23, compared to 2019-20 funding levels.</p><p>To support children from disadvantaged backgrounds to have better access to natural environments, the Department for Education is funding the ‘Children and Nature Programme’, working alongside Natural England and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. The programme is supporting three delivery projects which include delivering greener grounds and pupil visits to green spaces for schools with the highest proportion of disadvantaged pupils.</p><p>I have asked departmental officials to meet with representatives of the Nature Premium campaign to discuss the potential merits further.</p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford grouped question UIN 97703 97704 question first answered 07/10/2020 15:27:52 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	4653 label Biography information for Stephen Morgan

1239211

registered interest
date	30/09/2020
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Adoption and Foster Care: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, on what date he became aware that not all of the responses to his Department’s consultation on Changes to the adoption and children regulations: coronavirus (COVID-19) had been counted and represented in the consultation outcome document his Department published on 28 August.
tabling member constituency	Hampstead and Kilburn
tabling member printed	Tulip Siddiq
uin	97654
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/10/2020 answer text <p>On 24 April 2020, the Adoption and Children Coronavirus (Amendment) Regulations 2020 were introduced to provide local authorities and children’s social care providers with temporary flexibilities to support them to focus on core safeguarding duties during the COVID-19 outbreak. The regulations lapsed on 25 September 2020.</p><p>Between 16 July and 5 August 2020, we sought views on those regulations that the government proposed should lapse and those that may be extended for continued use to 31 March 2021. The majority of responses were in favour of extending individual regulations on medical reports, virtual visits, and Ofsted inspections and all other temporary flexibilities should lapse.</p><p>Departmental officials informed me on 8 September 2020 that we needed to update our consultation response to include all emailed responses against all questions in addition to responses received directly through our consultation website.</p><p>The respondents defined as campaign responses in this consultation disclosed that they were part of a campaign and all responses were then included in the results. Respondents indicated how they would like their response to be counted (as an individual or as an organisation). Where respondents identified that they were happy to be made public, they have been listed in the consultation response.</p><p>Please see the attached table for the breakdown of types of respondents to the proposal to extend regulations on the frequency of children’s social care inspections.</p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford grouped question UIN 97655 97656 question first answered 08/10/2020 12:44:44 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford attachment 1 file name 97654_97655_97656_respondents_to_extend_regulations_on_frequency_of_children's_social_care_inspections.pdf title 97654_97655_97656_pdf
tabling member	4518 label Biography information for Tulip Siddiq

1239212

registered interest
date	30/09/2020
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Adoption and Foster Care: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the consultation on Changes to the adoption and children regulations: coronavirus (COVID-19), how his Department defines campaign response when considering submissions to a public consultation; and if he will provide the list of respondents who indicated that they represented an organisation in their response that consultation who were subsequently counted as an individual response in the outcome document.
tabling member constituency	Hampstead and Kilburn
tabling member printed	Tulip Siddiq
uin	97655
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/10/2020 answer text <p>On 24 April 2020, the Adoption and Children Coronavirus (Amendment) Regulations 2020 were introduced to provide local authorities and children’s social care providers with temporary flexibilities to support them to focus on core safeguarding duties during the COVID-19 outbreak. The regulations lapsed on 25 September 2020.</p><p>Between 16 July and 5 August 2020, we sought views on those regulations that the government proposed should lapse and those that may be extended for continued use to 31 March 2021. The majority of responses were in favour of extending individual regulations on medical reports, virtual visits, and Ofsted inspections and all other temporary flexibilities should lapse.</p><p>Departmental officials informed me on 8 September 2020 that we needed to update our consultation response to include all emailed responses against all questions in addition to responses received directly through our consultation website.</p><p>The respondents defined as campaign responses in this consultation disclosed that they were part of a campaign and all responses were then included in the results. Respondents indicated how they would like their response to be counted (as an individual or as an organisation). Where respondents identified that they were happy to be made public, they have been listed in the consultation response.</p><p>Please see the attached table for the breakdown of types of respondents to the proposal to extend regulations on the frequency of children’s social care inspections.</p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford grouped question UIN 97654 97656 question first answered 08/10/2020 12:44:44 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford attachment 1 file name 97654_97655_97656_respondents_to_extend_regulations_on_frequency_of_children's_social_care_inspections.pdf title 97654_97655_97656_pdf
tabling member	4518 label Biography information for Tulip Siddiq

1239213

registered interest
date	30/09/2020
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Adoption and Foster Care: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference the consultation on Changes to the adoption and children regulations: coronavirus (COVID-19), if he will provide a breakdown of the types of respondents who (a) agreed, (b) disagreed and (c) neither agreed nor disagreed to the proposal to extend regulations on the frequency of children’s care inspections using the six respondent categories provided in the document.
tabling member constituency	Hampstead and Kilburn
tabling member printed	Tulip Siddiq
uin	97656
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/10/2020 answer text <p>On 24 April 2020, the Adoption and Children Coronavirus (Amendment) Regulations 2020 were introduced to provide local authorities and children’s social care providers with temporary flexibilities to support them to focus on core safeguarding duties during the COVID-19 outbreak. The regulations lapsed on 25 September 2020.</p><p>Between 16 July and 5 August 2020, we sought views on those regulations that the government proposed should lapse and those that may be extended for continued use to 31 March 2021. The majority of responses were in favour of extending individual regulations on medical reports, virtual visits, and Ofsted inspections and all other temporary flexibilities should lapse.</p><p>Departmental officials informed me on 8 September 2020 that we needed to update our consultation response to include all emailed responses against all questions in addition to responses received directly through our consultation website.</p><p>The respondents defined as campaign responses in this consultation disclosed that they were part of a campaign and all responses were then included in the results. Respondents indicated how they would like their response to be counted (as an individual or as an organisation). Where respondents identified that they were happy to be made public, they have been listed in the consultation response.</p><p>Please see the attached table for the breakdown of types of respondents to the proposal to extend regulations on the frequency of children’s social care inspections.</p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford grouped question UIN 97654 97655 question first answered 08/10/2020 12:44:44 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford attachment 1 file name 97654_97655_97656_respondents_to_extend_regulations_on_frequency_of_children's_social_care_inspections.pdf title 97654_97655_97656_pdf
tabling member	4518 label Biography information for Tulip Siddiq

1238739

registered interest
date	29/09/2020
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children: Bereavement Counselling
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of (a) primary and (b) secondary school pupils who have suffered a family bereavement since the start of the covid-19 outbreak.
tabling member constituency	Wirral West
tabling member printed	Margaret Greenwood
uin	96934
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/10/2020 answer text <p>The government does not collect information from schools or local authorities on the number of primary and secondary school pupils who have suffered a family bereavement since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak. There are no official estimates of the number of children who are affected by family bereavement, neither usually nor since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak.</p><p>The government remains committed to promoting and supporting the mental health of children and young people. Access to mental health support, including bereavement support, is more important than ever during the COVID-19 outbreak and the department has taken action to ensure schools and colleges are equipped to support children and young people.</p><p>We have worked hard to ensure that all pupils and learners were able to return to a full high-quality education programme in September. Our £1 billion COVID-19 catch-up package, with £650 million shared across schools over the 2020-21 academic year, is supporting education settings to put the right catch-up and pastoral support in place.</p><p>Staff need to be equipped to understand that some pupils may have experienced bereavement. Our guidance for the full opening of schools signposts to further support and resources, and is available here:<br> <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools</a>.</p><p>This includes the MindEd website which has specific material on bereavement and dealing with death and loss, and their website is available here:<br> <a href="https://www.minded.org.uk/" target="_blank">https://www.minded.org.uk/</a>.</p><p>This is in addition to the department’s remote learning guidance and the National Children’s Bureau’s (NCB) self-review tool, ‘Preparing for recovery: Self-review and signposting tool’, which signposts online support from the Childhood Bereavement Network and Child Bereavement UK. More details on the NCB’s self-review tool is available here: <a href="https://www.ncb.org.uk/resources-publications/mental-health-and-wellbeing-primary-schools-preparing-recovery" target="_blank">https://www.ncb.org.uk/resources-publications/mental-health-and-wellbeing-primary-schools-preparing-recovery</a>.</p><p>The website for the Childhood Bereavement Network is available here:<br> <a href="http://www.childhoodbereavementnetwork.org.uk/" target="_blank">http://www.childhoodbereavementnetwork.org.uk/</a>.</p><p>The website for Child Bereavement UK is available here;<br> <a href="https://www.childbereavementuk.org/" target="_blank">https://www.childbereavementuk.org/</a>.</p><p>These materials were supported by webinars over the summer which reached thousands of school and college staff.</p><p>We are also investing £8 million in the Wellbeing for Education Return Programme, which will provide schools and colleges all over England with the knowledge and practical skills they need to support teachers, students and parents, to help improve how they respond to the emotional impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. The programme is funding expert advisers in every area of England to train and support schools and colleges during the autumn and spring terms. The training includes specific examples of supporting bereaved children.</p><p>School and college staff are not mental health professionals, and it is important that more specialist support is available for children and their families. All NHS mental health trusts have ensured that there are 24/7 open access telephone lines to support people of all ages. We have also provided £9.2 million of additional funding for mental health charities, including charities such as Young Minds, to support adults and children struggling with their mental wellbeing during this time.</p><p>In addition, Public Health England and Health Education England have developed advice and guidance for parents and professionals on supporting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing. This includes a specific section on dealing with grief and bereavement. The resources are available here:<br> <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-on-supporting-children-and-young-peoples-mental-health-and-wellbeing" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-on-supporting-children-and-young-peoples-mental-health-and-wellbeing</a>.</p> answering member constituency Chelmsford answering member printed Vicky Ford grouped question UIN 96935 question first answered 05/10/2020 16:08:45 answering member 4674 label Biography information for Vicky Ford
tabling member	4400 label Biography information for Margaret Greenwood