Q6

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Joe Morris (Hexham) (Lab):

Prudhoe community high school in my constituency was forced to relocate to Washington after its just over eight-year-old building, built under the previous Government, was found to have cracks in the infrastructure. This incredibly distressing news has required huge resilience and strength from the local community. Will my right hon. Friend join me in paying tribute to the staff, the parents and, most importantly, the students at Prudhoe community high school, and in commending them for their hard work and dedication during this incredibly destabilising time?

Q9

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Vikki Slade (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD):

When my young constituent Axel was given his education, health and care plan a year ago, his primary school place was withdrawn, with no replacement offered. His nursery allowed him to stay on until Christmas, but since then, apart from a short break at a school, he has had nothing. He is at home with his mum, with no alternative provision for younger children, who cannot travel a long way. His mother also cannot go to work. I welcome the White Paper in the autumn, but can the Deputy Prime Minister commit to Axel’s mum—and the parents of Freddie, Ieuan, Ethan, and the other 640 children with special education needs and disabilities with no school to go to—that there will be somewhere for them in September?

On the specifics of the right hon. Lady’s question, that is not the case: we continue to keep the policy under review. I am very proud of this Government’s record on funding and support for schools: £4 billion more this year, £4 billion next year, and the result of all that investment is that we have the highest standards of reading in the entire western world. What a contrast from when the Labour party was in power.

We are extremely grateful for the work schools, childcare providers and local authorities have been doing since our announcement on the closure of schools and other educational and childcare settings. We are committed to ensuring that school staff are issued with the right guidance and support to keep them safe. We are in regular contact with the teacher and head teacher unions.

Currently the NHS is rightly prioritising COVID-19 tests for those caring for hospital patients with pneumonia or acute respiratory illness while continuing to investigate outbreaks. Most adults in good health who develop symptoms will fully recover and the Chief Medical Officer has advised that it is not necessary for them to be tested. However, school staff with symptoms of COVID-19 should, just as anyone displaying symptoms, self-isolate for at least seven days to reduce the spread in the community. The Government’s latest stay at home guidance can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection.

On 18 March, the Government made an announcement with regard to increasing the number of people tested for COVID-19 to 25,000 hospital patients a day, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/testing-for-coronavirus-covid-19-will-increase-to-25-000-a-day.

On 27 March, the Government launched a new drive on coronavirus tests for frontline NHS staff and more information is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-launches-new-drive-on-coronavirus-tests-for-frontline-nhs-staff.

Our health service and care staff are key in our fight against the virus. Frontline NHS staff who have symptoms of coronavirus or who have a family member with symptoms will be the first tested for coronavirus as the testing programme is developed. More on this developing programme can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-launches-new-drive-on-coronavirus-tests-for-frontline-nhs-staff.

We are working closely with other Government departments to secure tests for other critical workers, including in our education system.

The welfare of children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) and their parents or carers is a high priority for the government, especially during this period of uncertainty. We are working closely with colleagues across government to ensure that appropriate arrangements, and support, are in place for all of the department’s sectors – from early years and childcare to schools and children’s social care, and for vulnerable groups including children with special educational needs.

If the local authority has not yet issued an education, health and care (EHC) plan for a child, then they will not automatically be identified in the group of children considered to be vulnerable. However, educational settings and local authorities have discretion to undertake a risk assessment and offer support to children who are in the process of obtaining an EHC plan, and any other children they consider vulnerable, if that is needed.

If a child already has an EHC plan the local authority remains responsible for maintaining it, including until any appeal to the tribunal has been heard and resolved. However, the Coronavirus Act 2020 allows the Secretary of State for Education, where appropriate, to temporarily lift the statutory duty on local authorities to maintain the precise provision in EHC plans, with local authorities needing instead to apply ‘reasonable endeavours’ to support these children and their families. Any changes made to a child or young person’s provision in their EHC plan would only remain in place temporarily.

We are also proposing to amend SEND regulations to provide for flexibility over matters such as the timescales in EHC needs assessments, and the review, re-assessment and amendment processes where particular cases are affected by the COVID-19 situation.

The government has published guidance on ongoing provision for and vulnerable children which can be found at the link below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-vulnerable-children-and-young-people.

Schools can access the national voucher scheme as of Tuesday 31 March. This scheme allows schools to order a single voucher to the value of £15 each week for every child eligible for benefits-related free school meals who is not attending school, set a weekly £15 rolling voucher, or combine funding where a family has more than one child eligible. Schools will not have to pay for these vouchers as the costs for this scheme will be picked up centrally by the Department for Education.

Schools can also continue with a local solution to supporting pupils eligible for free school meals.

We understand that other approaches may mean that schools incur additional expenses. Guidance is available on how we will compensate schools who incur these additional costs, including prior to the introduction of the national voucher scheme, in providing free school meals or vouchers to pupils affected by COVID-19:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-financial-support-for-schools/school-funding-exceptional-costs-associated-with-coronavirus-covid-19-for-the-period-march-to-july-2020.

Further guidance is available at the link below: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-free-school-meals-guidance/covid-19-free-school-meals-guidance-for-schools.

To help ensure that the risk of COVID-19 spread for both staff and children is as low as possible, we have asked schools to ensure class sizes reflect the numbers of teaching staff available and are kept as small as possible.

We understand that this is a very difficult time for teachers – we are asking a lot of them and all school staff to help the country fight this virus.

Once schools have assessed their demand and capacity, they should liaise with their local authority to establish whether any staff need to be moved to an alternative setting. We have set out in guidance (published 22 March 2020) that local authorities will need to work closely with educational settings to ensure sufficient provision is available across the local area. Local authorities and educational settings may need to redeploy staff, such as teachers, support staff or other critical workers. They may need to do this across the usual boundaries of maintained, academy, college or other status to ensure the right staff are in the right settings.

Parliament has passed the Coronavirus Act 2020, which includes powers to direct schools and other educational settings, including academies and independent schools, to close, open, re-open or remain open. The Act allows my right hon. Friend, Secretary of State for Education, to delegate these powers to local authorities. The Act also supports schools to stay open by granting powers to the Secretary of State to relax certain elements of education law which would be impossible to fulfil in the current circumstances.

Local authorities are also responsible for coordinating the response to these new arrangements and we expect them to work with schools, nurseries, childminders and others to ensure that different settings are supported to stay open wherever possible, taking into account their circumstances and cohort to ensure there is adequate provision.

The advice from Public Health England (PHE) remains that childcare facilities and schools should stay open unless advised otherwise by PHE. However, the department is aware that pupils eligible for free school meals will miss out if their school is closed, or they are asked to self-isolate. We are closely monitoring the situation, and we are working closely with other government departments to consider what action can be taken. We recognise the challenge this could place on families and schools and education providers.

The department has launched a dedicated telephone and email service to allow quick access to the latest help and support for schools and parents. The purpose of the helpline is to ensure consistent and accurate information reaches education providers and should help ensure providers feel well-supported.

Details of the helpline:

Phone: 0800 046 8687 (8am to 6pm - Monday to Friday)

Email: DfE.coronavirushelpline@education.gov.uk

This government is committed to ensuring that children are well nourished and develop healthy eating habits that stay with them for the rest of their lives. We are making a significant investment in free school meals for children and have confirmed the funding arrangements for Universal Infant Free School Meals for the current academic year. Arrangements for 2020/21 will be confirmed in due course and funding arrangements after this date will be confirmed as part of the next Spending Review.

In March 2018, a contract was awarded to Family Action who are working in partnership with Magic Breakfast to deliver the National School Breakfast Programme. The initial value of this contract, broken down by financial year, was as follows: 2017-18: £0.3 million, 2018-19: £9.6 million and 2019-20: £13.9 million. Further information can be found on the Contracts Finder website, which is accessible from here:

https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/a43bea33-79c5-4c77-8c23-d0dc127f1410?p=@QxUlRRPT0=NjJNT08=UF.

In October 2019, this contract was extended by a further year. Up to £11.8 million additional funding will be invested in the financial year 2020-21. This will kick-start or improve breakfast clubs, making them sustainable in the long run. In total, the department has made over £35 million available to this programme between 2018 and 2021.

The department is investing up to a further £11.8 million into the National School Breakfast Programme using funds from the Soft Drinks Industry Levy revenues. This additional funding will kick-start or improve sustainable breakfast clubs in up to a further 650 schools. The total investment into this programme over 2018-2021 will be up to £35 million which will benefit up to 2,450 schools.

A contract was awarded to Family Action in March 2018 and will run until March 2021. This contract is based on recruiting schools in the most disadvantaged areas of the country, including the department’s Opportunity Areas, to help ensure every child gets the best start in life. Our targets are therefore based on the number of schools we support, rather than targeting a specific number of children. Family Action have reported in the Food for Thought Progress Report 2019 that there are already more than 1,800 schools benefitting from the programme and estimate 280,000 pupils receiving a breakfast meal per day.

We will provide further information on the impact of the programme once the contract has concluded.

The Department is committed to tackling entrenched underperformance in schools wherever it exists.

Last September, following confirmation of the biggest funding boost for schools in a decade, totaling an additional £14 billion over three years, the Department announced that we will provide more support for persistently underperforming schools from high-performing, experienced school leaders. These mechanisms are now being put in place.

We also confirmed that we would work with Ofsted so that it can provide more detailed analysis on areas of improvement for these schools. We have been doing so and will be confirming details in due course. This announcement can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-drive-to-continue-boosting-standards-in-schools.

On 10 January, the Department also launched a public consultation on removing the exemption from routine inspection for schools previously rated outstanding by Ofsted. The aim is to lift the exemption from September 2020, subject to the consultation outcome and parliamentary approval. Ending the exemption will mean all parents have up to date information about every school and can be confident that their children’s schools are continuing to deliver the best education. The Department will provide additional funding for these inspections for 2020-21, and funding for subsequent years will be determined through the forthcoming Spending Review.

The press release can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/raising-expectations-of-children-and-parents-high-standards-for-teachers-and-tackling-bad-behaviour-how-schools-in-left-behind-areas-can-improve.

The department is investing up to a further £11.8 million into the National School Breakfast Programme using funds from the Soft Drinks Industry Levy revenues. This additional funding will kick-start or improve sustainable breakfast clubs in up to a further 650 schools. The total investment into this programme over 2018-2021 will be up to £35 million which will benefit up to 2,450 schools.

A contract was awarded to Family Action in March 2018 and will run until March 2021. This contract is based on recruiting schools in the most disadvantaged areas of the country, including the department’s Opportunity Areas, to help ensure every child gets the best start in life. Our targets are therefore based on the number of schools we support, rather than targeting a specific number of children. Family Action have reported in the Food for Thought Progress Report 2019 that there are already more than 1,800 schools benefitting from the programme and estimate 280,000 pupils receiving a breakfast meal per day.

We will provide further information on the impact of the programme once the contract has concluded.

​The Department does not hold information on the number of schools with gardens. Responsible bodies such as local authorities, academy trusts and diocesan bodies are best placed to answer questions on the numbers of their schools with gardens.

Local authorities are under a statutory duty to ensure that there is a school place available for every child. The Department provides basic need funding for every place that is needed, based on local authorities’ own data on pupil forecasts. Local authorities can use this funding to provide places in new schools or through expansions of existing schools, and can work with any school in their local area, including academies and free schools.

Basic need allocations to local authorities to provide new school places from 2011-2021 can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/basic-need-allocations. Data for allocations prior to 2011-12 is not readily available.

The Department has also invested a total of £365 million through the Special Provision Capital Fund from 2018-19 to 2020-21. This funding will help local authorities to create new places and improve facilities for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.

Special Provision Capital Fund allocations to local authorities can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-provision-capital-funding-for-pupils-with-ehc-plans.

In addition, the Department has funded thousands of good new school places and opened schools across the country through the free schools programme. The Department’s total capital costs of establishing free schools are listed below. These annual costs include all aspects of site acquisition, design, and construction expended in that year.

There are also some much smaller additional capital programmes which have also created places, however this is not their primary objective. In total, the Department is on track to create one million places this decade (2010 to 2020), the largest increase in school capacity in at least two generations. This follows a decrease of 100,000 places between 2004 and 2010.

[1] This figure will be available once the Department lays its annual accounts before Parliament in 2020.