Tag: Sharon Hodgson

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many pupils who had either a Statement of Special Educational Needs or an Education, Health and Care Plan were excluded from schools in England in each of the last five years.

Edward Timpson

The transition period from statements to Education, Health and Care plans (EHCPs) runs until April 2018. Every local authority has published an individual Local Transition Plan setting out the timings for transfers to the new system. We are monitoring local authority progress and published figures about transition up to January 2015, returned by local authorities, in the Special Educational Needs in England Statistical First Release of May 2015[1]. We will publish the figures up to January 2016 in May 2016.

The Department does not collect information on the number of children who are home educated. Some local authorities choose to maintain registers so that parents can voluntarily register children being educated at home.

The number and proportion of school pupils who had a Statement of Special Educational Needs or an EHCP in each of the last five years is as follows:

x	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Pupils with statements or EHCPs	224,210	226,125	229,390	232,190	236,165
Pupils on roll	8,123,865	8,178,200	8,249,810	8,331,385	8,438,145
Incidence (%)	2.8	2.8	2.8	2.8	2.8[2]

The number of permanent and fixed period exclusions received by pupils with a Statement of Special Educational Needs in each of the last five years for which data is available is as follows:

x	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14
Fixed period exclusions	37,140	36,740	35,640	32,210	33,190
Permanent exclusions	420	430	380	330	330[3]

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-special-educational-needs-sen

[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england-january-2015

[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-exclusions

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2015-11-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he plans to take to ensure that high-speed broadband provision can meet the likely demand for such provision by 2020 of creative and digital companies in geographic clusters.

Mr Edward Vaizey

This Government recognises the need for creative and digital companies to have access to have access to high-speed broadband, wherever in the UK they are located. The Government’s Superfast Broadband Programme is on track to deliver superfast broadband coverage to 95 per cent of UK premises by the end of 2017.Inaddition we are supporting seven pilot projects to explore ways to extend superfast broadband beyond 95 per cent of UK homes and businesses. The Government will also launch a public consultation early next year in preparation for the implementation of a new broadband USO by 2020, with the ambition to give people the legal right to request a connection to broadband with speeds of 10 Mbps,nomatterwherein the countrytheylive.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2015-11-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 16 November 2015 to Question 15298, on Consumer Protection Measures in the Ticket Resale Market Review; who his Department contacted in Parliament; by what means they were contacted; and what response his Department received from Parliament.

Nick Boles

In relation to the Consumer Protection Measures in the Ticket Resale Market Review, the following Parliamentarians were contacted by my Department by letter and/or email on 30 March 2015. The draft Terms of Reference were attached to these letters:

Baroness Hayter

Baroness Heyhoe Flint

Lord Addington

Lord Borwick

Lord Clement-Jones

Lord Moynihan

Lord Pendry

Lord Stevenson

Lord Stoneham

Lord Younger

I met with yourself, Nick Smith MP, Lord Moynihan, Lord Stevenson and Baroness Heyhoe-Flint to discuss secondary ticketing issues including Terms of Reference for the Review on 15 September. Subsequently, a detailed response on the Terms of Reference was received from Lord Moynihan.

The following Parliamentarians were also contacted by email on 13 October regarding the Terms of Reference and Call for Evidence:

Andrew Bingham MP

David Morris MP

Mark Garnier MP

Mark Pritchard MP

Nick Smith MP

Nigel Adams MP

Sharon Hodgson MP

Stephen McPartland MP

All the Peers listed above were also contacted on 13 October.

Details of the Terms of Reference were also laid in the Libraries of both Houses on 13 October 2015.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to improve collection of data on the outcomes achieved by children who have a disability but not a special educational need.

Edward Timpson

Information regarding the attainment of students with special educational needs (SEN) in England is broken down by type of SEN and published in the “Phonics screening check and key stage 1 assessment: England 2015”[1], “National curriculum assessments at key stage 2: 2015”[2] and “GCSE and equivalent results in England: 2015”[3] statistical first releases.

A wider summary of available SEN information is provided in “Special educational needs – an analysis and summary of data sources”[4]

Information on the average points score of students with a hearing impairment or the number that achieve three A* to A grades or better at A level is not held by the Department. The Department also does not hold information on the number of students with a hearing impairment who have not achieved a level 2 qualification in English by the age of 19.

Currently, there are no plans for the Department to publish A-level data split by type of special educational need or to collect additional data on the outcomes achieved by students who have a disability but not an identified special educational need, although this is reviewed every year as part of the collection process.

[1] Phonics and KS1 assessments for 2014/15: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/phonics-screening-check-and-key-stage-1-assessments-england-2015

[2] KS2 for 2014/15: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-curriculum-assessments-at-key-stage-2-2015-revised

[3] KS4 for 2014/15: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/revised-gcse-and-equivalent-results-in-england-2014-to-2015

[4] https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/472575/Special_educational_needs-_an_analysis_and_summary_of_data_sources.pdf

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to monitor local authority spending in 2016-17 on specialist education services for children with special educational needs and disabilities.

Edward Timpson

Local authorities’ (LAs) spending on education and children’s social care is monitored on a twice yearly basis. LAs are required under Section 251 (S251) of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009, to submit their planned (budget) and actual (outturn) expenditure to the Secretary of State, which includes spending in support of children with special educational needs and disabilities. The data collection began in early March 2016 for the 2016-17 budget statements, and the 2015-16 outturn statements are due to start being collected in early July 2016, with the 2016-17 outturn collection beginning in July 2017.

The department publishes the data from these S251 financial collections on the GOV.UK website, usually in the following September for budget and in the following December for outturn. The department also requires LAs to provide us with an annual assurance statement from the Chief Finance Officer that confirms the funding given for the purpose of education has been spent in line with the regulations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2016-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential effect of the academisation of all schools on the provision of sex and relationship education in maintained secondary schools; and whether she plans to introduce a requirement on academies to provide sex and relationship education.

Edward Timpson

All maintained secondary schools are required to teach sex and relationship education and we also expect academies to teach it as part of a broad and balanced curriculum.

When any school, including academies, teaches SRE, they must have regard to the Secretary of State’s statutory Sex and Relationship Education Guidance (2000). The guidance makes clear that all SRE lessons should be age-appropriate and that schools should ensure young people develop positive values and a moral framework that will guide their decisions, judgments and behaviour.

Academies and free schools must have regard to the SRE guidance further to section 403 of the Education Act 1996. The model funding agreement can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/academy-and-free-school-funding-agreements-single-academy-trust

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2015-11-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of proposed changes to Tier 2 visas on the recruitment of people with specific skills from overseas to the video games industry.

James Brokenshire

The Government has commissioned the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to advise on restricting Tier 2 to genuine skills shortages and jobs which require highly-specialised experts, but with sufficient flexibility to include high value roles and key public service workers. There are 18 jobs in the video games industry currently included on the Shortage Occupation List.

The MAC is looking at selection criteria such as, but not limited to, salaries, particular attributes, economic need and skills level. The MAC is not due to report until December and we do not yet know what its findings and recommendations will be. We await the report with interest and will consider it carefully before making any significant changes to the Tier 2 route.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2015-12-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Independent Cancer Taskforce’s report entitled, Achieving world-class cancer outcomes, a strategy for England 2015 to 2020, published in July 2015, what (a) short-term and (b) long-term steps he plans to take to ensure that there is (i) sufficient capacity and (ii) the optimal skills mix within the cancer workforce.

Jane Ellison

NHS England is currently working with partners across the health system to determine how best to take forward the recommendations in the independent Cancer Taskforce’s report, Achieving world-class cancer outcomes: a strategy for England 2015 to 2020, and has appointed Cally Palmer CBE as NHS National Cancer Director to lead on managing implementation. She is currently setting up a new Cancer Transformation Board to lead the roll-out of the recommendations of the new strategy, including on workforce, and a Cancer Advisory Group, chaired by Dr Harpal Kumar, Chief Executive of Cancer Research UK, will oversee and scrutinise their work.

We announced in September that Health Education England (HEE) is developing a new national training programme for an additional 200 staff to get the skills and expertise to carry out endoscopies by 2018. The content of the next mandate from the Government to HEE is currently being determined.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how she plans to determine whether the Children and Families Act 2014 has successfully improved outcomes for children who have a disability but not a special educational need.

Edward Timpson

Local authorities have made good progress complying with the statutory special educational needs duties in the Children and Families Act 2014 since they came into force in September 2014. We continue to monitor progress.

All local authorities have published a Local Offer of the services and support available to children and young people in their area with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Responsibility for publishing and maintaining Local Offers lies with each local authority. The Department supports local authorities to help make sure they meet all statutory requirements for their Local Offer, and that the quality of services continues to improve.

In summer 2014, the Department conducted a review of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans and plan templates from half of local authorities. The majority of the EHC plan templates we reviewed were judged likely to meet the requirements in the SEND Code of Practice. Where changes were needed, this was often due to inaccurate labelling of the required sections. Feedback was provided to individual local authorities alongside information to all local authorities about the key areas for focus. Since September 2014, EHC plans have been continually monitored. Where individual EHC plans are considered not to be fully compliant, advice on improvement is provided to the local authority.

Figures returned by local authorities and published in the Statements of SEN and EHC plans Statistical First Release[1] in May 2015 show that, of the 1,360 new EHC plans issued between 1 September 2014 and 15 January 2015, 64.3% were within the statutory 20 week time limit when excluding exception cases.

The Department for Education is providing specific additional funding to Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to support their inspection of the effectiveness of local areas in fulfilling their new SEND duties. We are in the process of setting individual budgets as part of our internal business planning process.

Ofsted and CQC conducted pilots as part of their wider consultation on their inspection proposals. These pilots explored different approaches to securing evidence in what is a complex area, involving a range of education, social care, and health providers at the local level. Ofsted and CQC will publish their response to the consultation on these new inspection arrangements in spring 2016. In addition, they will evaluate the impact of inspections, which will begin later in 2016.

The Department draws on a wide range of evidence to determine whether the SEND provisions of the Children and Families Act have improved outcomes for children. Our intention is that a combination of local accountability measures; data and analysis; and independent inspection will show how the SEND system is performing and whether outcomes are improving for children and young people.

The SEND inspections will evaluate local areas’ effectiveness in identifying and meeting the needs of children and young people. We will draw on a wide range of statistics[2], including information on educational attainment, absence and exclusions and research into families and young people’s experience of the new system.

A summary of the available data on SEN and disability is available at

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/472575/Special_educational_needs-_an_analysis_and_summary_of_data_sources.pdf

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statements-of-sen-and-ehc-plans-england-2015

[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-special-educational-needs-sen

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much additional funding for 2016-17 her Department has allocated to (a) Ofsted and (b) the Care Quality Commission to support their inspection of the effectiveness of local areas in fulfilling their new special educational needs and disabilities duties.

Edward Timpson

For the financial year 2016-17, the department has allocated £1,057,675 of funding to Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission, in order to meet the costs of their inspections of local areas’ effectiveness in fulfilling their new special educational needs and disabilities duties.