As the Chancellor pointed out, we have already put an additional £1.3 billion into schools’ budgets, which means that they are rising in real terms, and it is entirely proper for Education Ministers to appear in front of the Select Committee to discuss those issues.

There are 1.9 million more children being taught in good or outstanding schools than in 2010. The total number of pupils attending schools rated as Good or Outstanding as at August of each academic year since 2010 can be found in the table below:

Published data is only available back to August 2010.

The Government’s careers strategy, published in December 2017, contains a number of proposals to improve careers advice for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including:

• Funding for the Education and Training Foundation to provide professional development for practitioners working with these young people;
• Funding for training and materials for post-16 providers to help them design and tailor study programmes which offer a pathway to employment for these students;
• A toolkit for schools and colleges by The Careers & Enterprise Company and the Gatsby Foundation; and
• Training for Enterprise Advisers (senior volunteers from business who support schools with their careers programme) so young people with special educational needs and disabilities have the advice they need.

We will also be funding grants later this year to establish good practice in ways of working with young people with SEND and their parents.

The careers strategy makes clear that personal guidance from a qualified practitioner is important to help people make choices about their education, training and careers.

Secondary schools and colleges are responsible for making sure their students receive independent careers guidance. Every pupil should have opportunities for personal guidance interviews with a qualified careers adviser whenever significant study or career choices are being made. The Government’s expectation is that every pupil should have at least one such interview by the age of 16, and the opportunity for a further interview by the age of 18. Schools are encouraged to search for qualified careers practitioners in their area on the UK Register of Career Development Professionals.

The National Careers Service continues to provide impartial, high quality information, advice and guidance so that adults both in and out of work have tailored careers support. Nearly 1,300 careers advisers deliver the service, the majority of whom are qualified at Level 4 or above in careers information, advice and guidance.

All governing boards should ensure that the schools policy for supporting pupils with medical conditions is reviewed regularly and is readily accessible to parents and school staff.

We keep the statutory guidance, ‘supporting pupils in schools with medical conditions’, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3, under review and plan to host a roundtable with the Health Conditions in Schools Alliance where issues such as this will be discussed.

Ofsted’s corporate strategy, published in September 2017, sets out a programme of work to inform planned changes to the education inspection framework from September 2019. Guidance to school inspectors is the responsibility of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman.

The department has not received any representations on this matter.

The Department is currently speaking with a broad range of expert organisations about the potential curriculum content for the new compulsory subjects of relationships education (in primary schools) and relationships and sex education (in secondary schools), and in considering whether to make personal, social, health and economic education compulsory.

As part of this work, the Department has been in contact with teachers' representatives and parents’ bodies. The Department has also engaged with the British Heart Foundation, the British Red Cross and St John Ambulance. Discussions have considered whether first aid should be included.

The evidence the Department gathers from these discussions, along with the call for evidence that was launched in December and closes on 12 February 2018, will support the Government’s decisions on compulsory subject content. The Department will formally consult on the draft regulations and guidance before laying the regulations in the House for debate.

Ministers from the Department for Education (DfE) have written to all local authorities and Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) whose areas have been inspected under the Ofsted/Care Quality Commission (CQC) Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) inspection framework; and have written again, after 12 months, to those areas identified by the inspections as having significant weaknesses. These letters follow up the key points raised in the inspection reports, a summary of which is reflected in the one year on report.

The government has provided, since April 2014, over £300 million to support local authorities, working with their partners, including health and schools, to implement the SEND reforms; and we are in the process of procuring further support for 2018-2020.

We have funded training and a SEND leadership programme to support local authorities and health services to deliver their SEND services, which included training on joint commissioning. To improve the knowledge and skills of school staff on good SEND practice we have funded a school improvement programme. This includes a ‘what works’ resource, drawing on evidence-based practice on SEND in good and outstanding schools and colleges.

Where local area performance, such as the commissioning of services, is a particular concern, officials from the DfE working closely with partners, including Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England, have engaged with local areas to provide support and challenge, and have seen a proactive and positive response.