Tag: Steve McCabe

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2015-02-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many complaints the DVLA has received about delays in completing a review of an individual’s medical information in relation to a driving licence in each year since 2010.

Claire Perry

Specific reasons for complaints about drivers’ medical cases, such as delays, are not available for 2010 to 2013 and are only available for 2014 onwards. For 2014, there were 2275 complaints due to delays in reviewing medical information.

Data on the total number of complaints about medical driving licence issues since 2010 is held, however, and over the last five years this equates to 0.3% of the total number of applications that required a medical investigation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2014-06-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the provision of advice for students with special educational needs.

Mr Edward Timpson

The Department for Education, in partnership with the Council for Disabled Children, has worked directly with a number of young people, including students, with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Their views have helped shape the reforms to the current SEND system to ensure it meets their needs – including how they would like to receive information and advice. Arrangements for providing information, advice and support for young people are set out in the SEND Code of Practice which was laid before Parliament on 11 June 2014.

From this September, local authorities will be required to provide information and advice directly to children and young people with SEND as well as to parents. Staff working directly with children and young people should be trained to support and work in partnership with them. Local information and advice services should direct young people to specialist support to help them prepare for employment, independent living (including housing) and participation in society. It should also provide access to careers advice where needed.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2015-02-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many complaints the DVLA has received about delays in people receiving driving licences in each year since 2010.

Claire Perry

Specific reasons for complaints about drivers’ driving licence applications, such as delays, are not available for 2010 to 2013 and are only available for 2014 onwards. For 2014, there were 2606 complaints due to delays in issuing a driving licence.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2014-06-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance his Department gives schools and teachers on online abuse from a student towards a teacher.

Elizabeth Truss

Guidance to schools about online abuse by pupils towards teachers is set out in our advice document, ‘Preventing and Tackling Bullying’. This guidance signposts schools to ‘Digizen.Org’ who offer a range of advice and support for school staff. Schools can also access a range of practical resources from the UK Safer Internet Centre.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2015-02-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many applications the DVLA has received relating to a review of medical information in relation to a driver’s licence in each year since 2010.

Claire Perry

The table below provides the total number of applications received that required a medical investigation before making a driver licensing decision:

Year	Total number of applications received
2010	599,050
2011	576,291
2012	619,383
2013	652,702
2014	626,629

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2014-06-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance his Department gives teachers and those working in schools on responding to a violent student with special educational needs.

Elizabeth Truss

We have issued advice to schools on the use of reasonable force, which makes clear that teachers have a specific power to use reasonable force to prevent pupils from causing injury to themselves or others, causing damage to property or from causing disorder. While there is no requirement for schools to have a policy on the use of force, we say that it is good practice to do so. Our advice says that any school policy on the use of reasonable force should acknowledge their legal duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled children and children with special educational needs (SEN). Whether or not to physically intervene is down to the professional judgement of the staff member concerned and should always depend on individual circumstances and the needs of the individual pupil.

Additionally, we have laid before Parliament a new 0-25 SEN and Disability Code of Practice. This makes it clear that schools should seek to identify whether there are any factors, such as undiagnosed special educational needs, that might underlie disruptive behaviour. We also issued advice on Behaviour and Mental Health in June 2014 to help teachers differentiate between pupils that are simply behaving badly, and behaviour – whether it is disruptive, withdrawn, anxious, depressed or otherwise – that may be related to an unmet mental health need. This advice also outlined how these children can be supported.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2015-02-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to collect information on waiting times for students referred to educational psychologists.

Mr Edward Timpson

The Department for Education has no plans to collect information on waiting times for students referred to educational psychologists. Recruitment and deployment of educational psychologists is a matter for local authorities taking into account their statutory duties. In 2013 the Department invested an additional £6.194 million, to increase the number of training places by 10% (from 120 to 132 intakes in 2014 and 2015).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2014-06-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of specialist support within maintained schools to help students with mental health problems.

Mr Edward Timpson

The way in which specialist support is provided will vary according to local arrangements.

When specialist provision is required, schools and teachers should have support from appropriately trained and qualified local health partners and other organisations. Both education and health providers should be clear when referrals to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) are the most appropriate form of specialist support.

To support schools with doing this, on 16 June 2014 the Department for Education issued new non-statutory guidance for schools and teachers on pupils’ mental health and behaviour. This guidance helps school staff identify those pupils who may have emerging problems and provides guidance on appropriate routes of ensuring appropriate specialist support where necessary.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2015-02-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what background checks are carried out when a qualified teacher from (a) outside and (b) inside the EU applies to teach in England.

Mr David Laws

The School Staffing (England) Regulations 2009, the Education (Independent School Standards) (England) Regulations 2014 and the Non-maintained Special Schools (England) Regulations 2011 require schools to carry out specific checks before they may appoint an individual, including from abroad, to work at the school.

The regulations require schools to check: the identity of the individual; that the person meets any relevant staff qualification requirements; and that the person has a right to work in the UK. In addition, the school must obtain an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Certificate and where relevant a check of the children’s barred list. For those appointed into a teaching position, schools must ensure that the individual is not prohibited by the Secretary of State for Education from carrying out teaching work in England.

Where the person to be appointed has lived outside of the United Kingdom the regulations require further checks to be made and that the school must have regard to statutory guidance issued by the Secretary of State when deciding what those additional checks should be.

The Department’s ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ (KCSIE) statutory guidance makes clear that all schools and colleges have a duty to carry out mandatory safer recruitment checks that help to identify individuals who are not suitable to work with pupils. This guidance also signposts Home Office advice about obtaining criminal record information from overseas police forces and certificates of good conduct.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2014-06-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many local authorities in England use external contractors to assist with the delivery of childcare services excluding fostering and adoption.

Mr Edward Timpson

Through its Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme, the Government is supporting local authorities to take new approaches to maximise the capacity and skills brought to bear in improving services for the most vulnerable children. Part of that work involves giving local authorities greater freedom to test new delivery models and harness external ideas and expertise by allowing them to delegate children’s social care functions to external providers.

In November 2013 we gave all local authorities the power to operate in this manner. So far five providers have registered with Ofsted as performing these functions on behalf of local authorities.

Local authorities also make widespread use of contractors in the provision of children’s services such as residential care and foster care.

The Government does not collect data on local authority spend on external contracts.