Tag: Sharon Hodgson

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2016-04-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to assess the potential benefits of applying school food standards to all schools as part of the Government’s childhood obesity strategy.

Mr Sam Gyimah

Tackling obesity, particularly in children, is one of our major priorities. We will be launching our cross-government Childhood Obesity Strategy in the summer. It will look at everything that contributes to a child becoming overweight and obese. It will also set out what more can be done by all.

The School Food Standards apply to all local authority maintained schools and to academies that opened prior to 2010 and from June 2014 onwards.

1,420 academies have voluntarily registered to follow the standards, including some of the largest Multi-Academy Trusts. Many academy caterers also hold the Food for Life Catering Mark, which also guarantees compliance with the School Food Standards.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2016-06-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to adjust the pupil premium funding for schools to take account of the additional responsibilities proposed in the Children and Social Work Bill in its current form.

Mr Sam Gyimah

The Children and Social Work Bill proposes a new duty on schools to appoint a designated teacher to promote the educational achievement of previously looked after children.

The pupil premium plus is additional funding for schools to support the educational needs of looked-after children and those who were previously looked after but who have left care through an adoption, Special Guardianship or Child Arrangements Order. The Spending Review confirmed that the pupil premium will be protected at current rates over the course of this Parliament. This protection applies to the pupil premium plus, which will continue at £1,900 per pupil.

Pupil premium plus funding for pupils who were previously looked after is allocated directly to schools and it is for the head teacher to decide how best to use it to support the needs of these pupils.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2015-11-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to take steps to promote the STEAM agenda in schools to support the development of skills for careers in creative digital sectors.

Nick Gibb

Both the arts and STEM subjects are important in developing the skills people need for the global economy, including the creative digital economy.

The national curriculum sets the expectation that pupils study the arts subjects in Key Stages 1 to 3 and the arts are one of four "entitlement areas” at Key Stage 4. Provisional figures show that since 2012, the percentage of pupils for all schools with at least one GCSE entry in an arts subject has increased from 44.4% to 48.7% in 2015.[1] We are reforming all GCSEs and A levels, including STEM and arts subjects, to make them robust and rigorous; to match the best education systems in the world; and to keep pace with universities’ and employers’ demands.

It is important that pupils are given the information and advice to choose a combination of subjects that will open doors for their future. The Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC) is an employer-led, independent organisation strengthening links between schools, colleges, employers and careers and enterprise organisations, including in the digital and technological sectors, to inspire young people and prepare them for the world of work.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/473178/EBacc_and_non-EBacc_subject_entries_and_achievement.pdf

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to publish A-Level data for each type of 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 2016-02-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 28 January 2016 to Question 23325, whether she has carried out a review since 2014 of whether local authorities are meeting statutory requirements for the content of Education, Health and Care plans.

Edward Timpson

Since September 2014, Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans have been regularly monitored and reviewed. This is part of the Department’s ongoing work to support and challenge local authorities’ implementation of the reforms to the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) system. The Department also gathers information about EHC plans from parents and young people, through termly surveys of Parent Carer Forums, correspondence, and regular dialogue with parents’ and young people’s groups.

Where individual EHC plans are considered not to be fully compliant, advice on how to improve them has been provided directly to the local authorities concerned by the Department’s team of SEND advisors. Thus far, our SEND advisors have noted issues around non-compliance for 29 local authorities, all of which were subsequently given advice about improving their EHC plans in order to fulfil statutory requirements

Our advisors are currently delivering a number of workshops for local authorities on how to write high quality, legally compliant EHC plans, and to share good practice. The training resources from these workshops will be published shortly.

There are a number of places where local authorities can find guidance about EHC plans. This includes the statutory SEND Code of Practice, which clearly sets out what must be included in a plan, and provides detailed guidance on the process that must be followed to produce one. There are also examples of good quality EHC plans produced by the SEND Pathfinder local authorities.

The review of EHC plans carried out in 2014 looked specifically at EHC plan templates.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2016-04-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to publish the consultation into mandatory reporting.

Karen Bradley

The Government will launch a full 12 week public consultation later this year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2016-07-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many secondary schools use cashless payment systems for school meals.

Mr Sam Gyimah

Cashless payment systems can have a number of advantages, including better queue management, removing issues around pursuing payment and reducing potential stigma for those claiming free school meals. However, it is for governing boards to decide the best system for collecting payment for school lunches and the department does not collect data on how many schools use such systems. The department has produced non-statutory guidance for schools on biometric systems in general, available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/268649/biometrics_advice_revised_12_12_2012.pdf

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2015-11-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the contribution of art subjects to ensuring people develop the skills needed for a career in the creative digital economy.

Nick Gibb

Both the arts and STEM subjects are important in developing the skills people need for the global economy, including the creative digital economy.

The national curriculum sets the expectation that pupils study the arts subjects in Key Stages 1 to 3 and the arts are one of four "entitlement areas” at Key Stage 4. Provisional figures show that since 2012, the percentage of pupils for all schools with at least one GCSE entry in an arts subject has increased from 44.4% to 48.7% in 2015.[1] We are reforming all GCSEs and A levels, including STEM and arts subjects, to make them robust and rigorous; to match the best education systems in the world; and to keep pace with universities’ and employers’ demands.

It is important that pupils are given the information and advice to choose a combination of subjects that will open doors for their future. The Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC) is an employer-led, independent organisation strengthening links between schools, colleges, employers and careers and enterprise organisations, including in the digital and technological sectors, to inspire young people and prepare them for the world of work.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/473178/EBacc_and_non-EBacc_subject_entries_and_achievement.pdf

“

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average point score for deaf A-level students was in 2015 was.

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 2016-02-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 28 January 2016 to Question 23325, how many local authorities received advice from her Department on Education, Health and Care plans that were considered to be non-compliant with statutory requirements in 2015.

Edward Timpson

Since September 2014, Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans have been regularly monitored and reviewed. This is part of the Department’s ongoing work to support and challenge local authorities’ implementation of the reforms to the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) system. The Department also gathers information about EHC plans from parents and young people, through termly surveys of Parent Carer Forums, correspondence, and regular dialogue with parents’ and young people’s groups.

Where individual EHC plans are considered not to be fully compliant, advice on how to improve them has been provided directly to the local authorities concerned by the Department’s team of SEND advisors. Thus far, our SEND advisors have noted issues around non-compliance for 29 local authorities, all of which were subsequently given advice about improving their EHC plans in order to fulfil statutory requirements

Our advisors are currently delivering a number of workshops for local authorities on how to write high quality, legally compliant EHC plans, and to share good practice. The training resources from these workshops will be published shortly.

There are a number of places where local authorities can find guidance about EHC plans. This includes the statutory SEND Code of Practice, which clearly sets out what must be included in a plan, and provides detailed guidance on the process that must be followed to produce one. There are also examples of good quality EHC plans produced by the SEND Pathfinder local authorities.

The review of EHC plans carried out in 2014 looked specifically at EHC plan templates.