Every parliamentary written question tabled by Ben Maguire this session, with the full answer and department. See how every department answers, or back to the MP page.
Showing 21–31 of 31 · Department for Education
Whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of funding school trip coach costs for visits to Parliament.
The government is committed to creating opportunities for all children to achieve and thrive. The department has not made an assessment of the merits of funding school trips to Parliament. It is for schools to decide whether to offer school trips to their...
If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing ring-fenced funding to post-16 colleges to fund bus transport for students.
The department recognises that the cost and availability of public transport can be an issue for some 16 to 19-year-olds when travelling to their college or sixth form.It is the responsibility of local authorities to put in place transport arrangements to...
If her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of additional Government-funded Adult Education Centres across Cornwall.
Adult education, for learners aged 19 years and above, is funded through the Adult Skills Fund (ASF) and delivered through further education colleges, local authority adult education services, training providers and Institutes of Adult Learning. Providers...
What steps her Department is taking to support adult education in Cornwall.
The department is investing in education and skills training for adults through the Adult Skills Fund (ASF), which is worth £1.34 billion this academic year. The ASF fully or co-funds education and skills training for eligible adults aged 19 and above, fr...
If her Department will take steps to support Budehaven Community School's SEND unit.
This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.Support for Budehaven Community School is the ...
What steps her Department is taking to ensure that schools receive adequate funding to provide equitable access to arts education alongside English Baccalaureate subjects in (a) Cornwall and (b) England.
This government is clear that arts subjects should be part of every child’s education.The independent Curriculum and Assessment Review will advise on how the department delivers a broader curriculum for every child, including arts subjects and English Bac...
Pursuant to the Answer of 26 July 2024 to Question 627 on Free School Meals, if she will make it her policy to commission an assessment of the potential merits of broadening the eligibility criteria for children to receive free school meals.
The department has not made a formal assessment of the merits of broadening the free school meals (FSM) eligibility criteria. The department is committed to tackling the grave issue of child poverty, which has gone up by 700,000 since 2010, with over four million children now growing up in a low-income family. That is why the government is committed to delivering an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty, tackling the root causes, and giving every child the best start at life. To support this, a new ministerial taskforce has been set up to begin work on the Child Poverty Strategy. The department is also committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity so that all children have the freedom to achieve and thrive in education. To support this aim, the government is committed to introducing free breakfast clubs in every primary school, to set children up for the day and ensure they are ready to learn, while supporting parents and carers to work. The department has additionally invested in programmes which provide over three million children with free and nutritious meals. This includes FSM, which 2.1 million disadvantaged pupils are registered to receive, and universal infant free school meals, which will benefit around 1.3 million pupils in reception, year 1 and year 2.
If she will review the SEND funding formula allocations for pupils in Cornwall.
The department will take time to consider whether to make changes to the high needs national funding formula (NFF) that is used to allocate funding for children and young people with complex special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The department will consider the impact of any formula changes on local authorities, including Cornwall County Council. It is important that there is a fair education funding system that directs funding to where it is needed. Budgets for the 2025/26 financial year have not been set, which means that decisions on the high needs NFF and the publication of allocations for that year will not be to the usual timescales.
How many and what proportion of children (a) with an education, health and care plan and (b) who had previously been identified in the SEN Support category by their school were not in school in Cornwall in each of the last five years.
The department publishes statistics on education, health and care (EHC) plans at local authority level, which can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans. This includes information on children and young people not in school or further education, including those awaiting provision, in elective home education, in other arrangements, having had notice of their plan to cease, or Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET). The number and proportion of children and young people with an EHC plan who were elsewhere than at school in Cornwall from 2020 to 2024, which includes the last 5 years of data available, can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/6066ca5a-0309-412e-6920-08dca70c1109. The data collection for EHC plans does not include information on previous Special Educational Needs (SEN) support identification. Wider data on special educational needs, including information on the total number of pupils with EHC plans and SEN support at local authority level, is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england.
What recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of SEND provision in Cornwall; and what steps she plans to take to with Cornwall Council to help improve the (a) funding and (b) delivery of SEND services.
The department has been working with the local area partnership since the Area Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Inspection in February 2023. The inspection concluded that the local area partnership’s arrangements lead to inconsistent experiences and outcomes for children and young people with SEND.The department holds regular, formal monthly monitoring meetings, in partnership with NHS England, that are focussed on the impact of actions taken to improve the lives of children and young people with SEND and their families. The department has put in place a SEND advisor and funded the Research and Improvement for SEND Excellence (RISE) consortium to support improvement. Cornwall is part of the Developing Better Value in SEND (DBV in SEND) programme, which supports local authorities and their local area partners to improve the delivery of SEND services for children and young people whilst working towards financial sustainability. This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with SEND or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life. The department will continue with its work with the local area to ensure that they deliver further improvements in services.
What steps she is taking to reduce the time taken for children in North Cornwall constituency to receive an Education, Health and Care needs assessment.
The department is aware that the SEN2 Data for the 2023 calendar year, which was published on 13 June 2024 and includes data on the rate that education, health and care plans are issued within the statutory 20 week period, showed that Cornwall had issued 1.6% of plans on time, which is well below the national average of 50.3%. The department is focussed on ensuring the local area partnership works at pace to improve the timeliness of plans for children and young people in Cornwall. This support includes departmental officials carrying out monthly monitoring, a department appointed special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) advisor and department funded training workshops delivered by the Research and Improvement for SEND Excellence (RISE) consortium.