Tag: Lord Ouseley

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2016-01-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to put mental health on the national curriculum for primary school children, as advocated by the Young People’s Mental Health Advisory Group.

Lord Nash

The new national curriculum, introduced in September 2014, does not attempt to represent the sum total of everything that should be taught in schools. It only prescribes the essential knowledge that should be taught, leaving schools greater flexibility to teach over and above what the national curriculum requires and to decide how to teach the essential content that is prescribed. It is also places greater trust in teachers to cover topics important for their community, including mental health.

Mental health and wellbeing is part of the non-statutory programme of study for Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education, produced by the PSHE Association. To help schools deliver this, we funded the PSHE Association to produce guidance and lesson plans to support age-appropriate teaching about mental health. Further support for teachers and other professionals who work with children and young people is available through the Government funded MindEd site[1].

[1] MindEd can be accessed at the following link: https://www.minded.org.uk/

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2016-03-14.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they propose to take to improve the arrest and prosecution rates for racist attacks, abuse and graffiti on London’s rail network, in the light of the 650 incidents reported since 2013, resulting in only 13 arrests.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The Government considers the safety of people using the rail network to be of paramount importance. The British Transport Police (BTP) treats racially motivated hate crimes very seriously and a daily review takes place of every hate crime from the previous 24 hours. In line with the College of Policing’s National Hate Crime Strategy, BTP is working with partners to reduce hate crime and every crime is investigated in accordance with the College of Policing Guidance for the investigation of hate crime.

In addition, the London Transport Community Safety Partnership (LTCSP), which brings together Transport for London (TfL), the police and other key stakeholders, is looking at this important issue at a strategic level to ensure a coordinated response. Both the BTP and the Metropolitan Police have stepped up operational activity to provide a visible, engaging, reassuring presence across the TfL network. TfL is also working with community organisations to engage with them on this issue and encourage reporting. TfL provides full support to the police for their investigations, through staff reporting and access to CCTV and oyster card data, to help bring any offenders to justice.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2016-07-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government further to the Written Answer by Lord Keen of Elie on 18 July (HL948 and HL949), what assessment they have made of the factors contributing to the low number of black, Asian and ethnic minority candidates being recommended for judicial appointments; how those factors are being addressed; and whether they plan to support the development and introduction of pre-appointment training for those from under-represented groups seeking judicial appointments.

Lord Keen of Elie

The Government recognises that judges from a Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic (BAME) background are under-represented in the judiciary in England and Wales when compared with the general population. We are committed to continue working with the judiciary and all others concerned to make sure that, while appointments will always be made on merit, the pool of candidates is as diverse as possible.

On average over the last 5 years, 11 per cent of candidates recommended for judicial appointment were from BAME groups. Meanwhile, 10 per cent of appointed judges aged over 50 were from BAME backgrounds on 1 April 2015.

The Government is committed to working with other members of the Judicial Diversity Forum, including the Judicial Appointments Commission, the judiciary and the legal professions, to explore ways of increasing the percentage of judges from under-represented groups, including individuals from a BAME background, whilst continuing to safeguard the fundamental principle of appointment on merit. The Forum is considering the feasibility of proposals around pre-application training. The Government fully supports such work and is strongly committed to the judicial diversity agenda.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2016-01-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they intend to address the shortfall of trainee teachers in business studies, social science, and design and technology.

Lord Nash

Teaching continues to be a popular career choice for both graduates and career changers, and last year we recruited 1,000 more secondary teachers overall than in the previous year. We recognise, however, that recruitment is more difficult in some subjects than others, which is why we offer generous financial incentives in those subjects where more teachers are needed to meet demand.

We continue to support recruitment to Design and Technology initial teacher training through bursaries of up to £12,000. Subject knowledge enhancement courses are also available for those candidates who need to refresh or boost their knowledge of Design and Technology prior to commencing teacher training.

Bursaries are designed to incentivise applications in subjects where it is difficult to recruit, and where the Department’s teacher supply model tells us that we need to attract more applicants.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2016-03-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what quality of education criteria and evidence of education achievement levels have been considered to justify the proposed academisation of schools.

Lord Nash

The plan for all schools to become academies forms part of our recent White Paper, Educational Excellence Everywhere. Our focus is on increasing the quality of education and ensuring that schools are able to raise standards and deliver the best outcomes for children.

The academies programme is already helping to turn around struggling schools while offering our best schools the freedom to excel. Results from 2015 show that primary sponsored academies open for two years have improved their results by an average of 10 percentage points since opening. This is more than double the rate of improvement in local authority maintained schools over the same period. In addition, the 2015 GCSE results show that secondary converter academies are outperforming the national average and, despite starting from a high bar, show continued improvement.

Indeed, as Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector (HMCI) set out in the latest Ofsted annual report, academisation can lead to rapid improvements. In his letter of 10 March 2016 to the Secretary of State, HMCI also confirmed his belief that it is right to give greater autonomy to the front line and that there are some excellent multi-academy trusts that have made remarkable progress in some of the toughest areas of the country.

It is through the academies programme that we are giving more power, responsibility and freedoms directly to education professionals, who know what is best for their pupils, but within a strong framework of accountability. Academies working together in Multi-Academy Trusts are achieving substantial benefits from economies of scale, consistent practices, substantially enhanced career and leadership development opportunities for their staff and many others.

In addition, the international evidence shows that autonomy for schools, with strong leadership and accountability in place, is linked to improved performance. A PISA in Focus study from 2011, for example, concluded “it is a combination of several autonomy and accountability policies, not just a single, isolated policy that is related to better student outcomes”.

A fully academised schools system, in which great teachers and leaders are able to spread their influence, strong multi-academy trusts can grow, and underperformance is swiftly tackled, will help ensure that every child receives an excellent education.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2016-09-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many youth centres have been closed since 2010 and what assessment they have made of the impact of those closures on young people.

Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen

It is the responsibility of local authorities to decide how to allocate funding for youth services, according to local need. Individual local authorities would be best placed to advise on any changes there have been to the number of youth centres in their local area.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2016-01-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what guidance they give to academies about having education, health and care plans in order to stop them from turning away children with special needs.

Lord Nash

It is vital that young people with special education needs and disabilities (SEND) are supported throughout their education so that they develop the knowledge and skills they need to fulfil their potential.

The School Admissions Code ensures that academies operate a fair admissions policy for all children with SEND. Section 1.8 of that Code requires admission authorities to ‘ensure that their arrangements will not disadvantage unfairly, either directly or indirectly, a child from a particular social or racial group, or a child with a disability or special educational needs.’ These provisions apply to admission authorities for all state-funded mainstream schools, including academies.

Once a school (of any type) is open, anyone can object to the Schools Adjudicator if its admission policy breaches these requirements. This is in addition to their right to seek redress through the courts for any breach of equalities legislation, since disability is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010. Parents also have the right to refer disability discrimination cases to the First Tier Tribunal (SEN & Disability) to seek redress if their issues cannot be resolved locally.

In addition, all schools, including academies, must adhere to the statutory guidance, the ‘Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice: 0-25 years’.

The Code of Practice is clear that parents are asked to express a preference for a school, as part of the process for agreeing an education and health care (EHC) plan for their child. The local authority must name the parents’ preferred school in the EHC plan, unless it is unsuitable for the child’s age, aptitude, ability and special educational needs; or if placing the child at the preferred school would be incompatible with the efficient education of others or the efficient use of the authority’s resources. The local authority must consult the school before naming it in the EHC plan.

If an academy is named in an EHC plan, it is obliged to admit that child or young person.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2016-04-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the reasons why school pupils self-harm, and what measures they propose to tackle that problem.

Lord Nash

Good mental health and wellbeing is a key priority for this Department. We have high aspirations for all children and want them to be able to fulfil their potential both academically and in terms of their mental wellbeing.

Self-harm occurs in relation to a wide range of personal problems, emotional turmoil and psychiatric disorders. The Department of Health commissions the MultiCentre Study on self-harm. This provides essential information on self-harm in the population to inform clinical responses and preventative activity. New data coming on stream through the Public Health Outcomes Framework and the forthcoming prevalence survey for children and young people will help to further improve this assessment and treatment.

To help schools to draw on specialist support where needed, we have contributed to a £3m joint pilot between schools and specialist mental health services, to test single points of contact in schools and mental health services.

While teachers are not mental health specialists, schools can play an important role in building good mental wellbeing and supporting pupils where they have issues. We have taken a range of actions to help them to build a whole-school approach to good mental wellbeing. We funded guidance and age-appropriate lesson plans on teaching mental health in PSHE – which covers teaching about self-harm; training for teachers on self-harm is available through MindEd, a free online portal which has been developed to enable all adults working with children and young people learn more about specific mental health problems and how to support them.

We have also recently revised and updated our blueprint for effective school-based counselling. This provides practical, evidence-based advice, informed by experts on how to ensure school based counselling services achieve the best outcomes for all students, including vulnerable children and young people.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2016-09-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many youth service staff posts have been removed since 2010 and what assessment have they made of the affect of the reduced provision for young people.

Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen

It is the responsibility of local authorities to decide how to allocate funding for youth services and as part of this, youth service staff posts, according to local need. There is an existing statutory duty on local authorities through Education Act 2006 (Section 507B) to secure, as far as is practicable, sufficient services and activities to improve the wellbeing of young people. Individual local authorities would be best placed to advise on any changes there have been to the number of youth service staff posts in their local area.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2016-01-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the Prime Minister’s commitment to tackle race inequality in the labour market, what action they propose to end the current situation identified by the Resolution Foundation that the black and minority ethnic group find it twice as hard to secure employment as their white counterparts.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

The Equality Act 2010 protects all individuals against racial and other forms of discrimination in the workplace. The Prime Minister has underlined the Government’s commitments to increasing racial diversity in the workplace in his 2020 Vision in which he made a commitment to increase BAME employment by 20% by 2020. The Government is aware of the forthcoming report by the Resolution Foundation and will study its recommendations carefully when it is published.