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 current advertised vacancies there are in local authority educational psychology services.

Edward Timpson

The Department does not collect information on the current advertised vacancies in local educational psychology service. This information is collected by an external organisation, the Association of Educational Psychologists (AEP).

The AEP are the main advertiser of educational psychology posts in England and send us their figures, on a monthly basis. This information is broken down by the total number of educational psychology posts being advertised in the private and public sector. These figures could include other areas of the public sector that employ the profession such as schools and NHS services, as well as local educational psychology services, so we are unable to provide this information.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2015-10-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of provision of play opportunities for children with disabilities and complex needs.

Edward Timpson

Play has an important role in supporting all young children to develop and prepare for later learning. The importance of play is recognised in the Early Years Foundation Stage framework [1], which states: “Each area of learning and development must be implemented through planned, purposeful play and through a mix of adult-led and child-initiated activity. Play is essential for children’s development, building their confidence as they learn to explore, to think about problems, and relate to others. Children learn by leading their own play, and by taking part in play which is guided by adults.”

Early Years educators and Early Years teachers are required to have an understanding of different pedagogical approaches, including the role of play in supporting early learning and development. It is for individual schools and settings to provide opportunities for play for their children and pupils, including those with special educational needs.

We welcome the report published by Sense and their continuing efforts to support deafblind children and young people.

As the Spending Review is underway, we are unable to give details of which programmes will be funded. We have committed to protecting the core schools budget throughout this Parliament at flat cash per pupil. We will look carefully at the impact of changes in schools’ and early years settings’ costs when making plans for education spending as part of the spending review.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-framework–2

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what care pathways are in place at each sexual assault referral centre; and what the average waiting time is for access to those pathways for (a) adults and (b) children under 18.

Jane Ellison

NHS England has set out care pathways for adult and child Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) services in its `Commissioning Framework for Adult and Paediatric Sexual Assault referral Centre (SARC) Services’, published in August 2015. Pathway services are wide-ranging, including safeguarding, social care, housing, other medical support and therapeutic counselling. The framework is now being rolled out across England and outlines the expected core service.

Data on waiting times into care pathways or therapeutic services in SARCs or referred to by SARCs, is not collected centrally.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether an evaluation has been undertaken of the Ofsted pilot inspections of local area provision for children with special educational needs and disability; and if she will publish that evaluation.

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 2016-02-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has for the implementation of the recommendations in the School Food Plan (SFP) after the end of the SFP office’s contract with her Department at the end of March 2016.

Mr Sam Gyimah

Actions from the School Food Plan include significant lasting achievements, such as cooking in the national curriculum and the implementation of a set of new school food standards. We are committed to the Plan’s vision of increasing take-up of school meals through improvements to the quality of the food and the dining experience.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of school pupils aged 18 or under had either a Statement of Special Educational Needs or an Education, Health and Care Plan 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 2015-10-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will ensure that spending on play is protected in the forthcoming Comprehensive Spending Review.

Edward Timpson

Play has an important role in supporting all young children to develop and prepare for later learning. The importance of play is recognised in the Early Years Foundation Stage framework [1], which states: “Each area of learning and development must be implemented through planned, purposeful play and through a mix of adult-led and child-initiated activity. Play is essential for children’s development, building their confidence as they learn to explore, to think about problems, and relate to others. Children learn by leading their own play, and by taking part in play which is guided by adults.”

Early Years educators and Early Years teachers are required to have an understanding of different pedagogical approaches, including the role of play in supporting early learning and development. It is for individual schools and settings to provide opportunities for play for their children and pupils, including those with special educational needs.

We welcome the report published by Sense and their continuing efforts to support deafblind children and young people.

As the Spending Review is underway, we are unable to give details of which programmes will be funded. We have committed to protecting the core schools budget throughout this Parliament at flat cash per pupil. We will look carefully at the impact of changes in schools’ and early years settings’ costs when making plans for education spending as part of the spending review.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-framework–2

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the time taken that children who have experienced abuse wait to receive support from therapeutic services.

Jane Ellison

In line with guidance published by NHS England in August, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have produced Local Transformation Plans (LTPs) for children and young people’s mental health with their local partners as proposed in Future in mind. These include plans for how CCGs will ensure that the needs of vulnerable groups, including children who have been sexually abused or assaulted, are met and will address the need for improvements and reduced waiting times, which will make it easier for children and young people to access high quality mental health care when they need it. All LTPs were received by 16 October 2015 and they are now being considered by NHS England. In addition, standard waiting times for mental health are being introduced for the first time, starting with standards on Early Intervention in Psychosis (came into force April 2015) and on Eating Disorders in Children and Young People (published in August 2015 and included in the local transformation plans produced by CCGs and now being assessed by NHS England).

NHS England also published a Commissioning Framework for Adult and Paediatric Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) Services in August 2015 which outlines the core services in SARCs and referral pathways to other services. These are now being rolled out throughout England.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many local authorities have been identified by her Department as being non-compliant with the statutory requirements relating to the content of Education, Health and Care plans since September 2014.

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 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2016 to Question 25621, if her Department will publish that part of the small schools taskforce report which is not already in the public domain.

Mr Sam Gyimah

We do not have any plans to publish anything further beyond the toolkit for small schools which was made available to schools last year.