Written questions by Trott.

Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of BBFC age ratings as best practice for age labelling on streaming services.

The Secretary of State has made no assessment of the adequacy of British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) age ratings on streaming services. Following implementation of the Media Act 2024, the independent regulator Ofcom is currently undertaking a review of the audience protection measures in use on on-demand programme services. This includes age ratings.

How many trusts submitted grant applications for the Trust Capacity Fund in the most recent funding window.

The most recent application window for the Trust Capacity Fund opened on 1 March 2024 and closed on 25 June 2024. A total of 190 applications were received from 174 establishments, mainly trusts.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact on schools of ending the academy conversion support grant.

High and rising standards are at the heart of this government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and ensure every child has the best life chances.Trusts have played, and continue to play, an important role in supporting collaboration between schools and spreading best practice in pursuit of high standards. Against a challenging fiscal inheritance the government has had to make difficult choices and ensure that limited funding is best targeted. On 1 November, we announced that we would be ending the academy conversion grant from 1 January 2025.Voluntary conversion is a choice for schools. The department thinks that the benefits, including financial, of joining a strong structure are well understood in the sector and schools and trusts should continue to make these informed choices.Additionally, latest published figures show 98% of academy trusts and 87% of local authority maintained schools are in cumulative surplus or breaking even. At the Autumn Budget 2024, the government announced an additional £2.3 billion for mainstream schools and young people with high needs for 2025/26, compared to 2024/25. This means that overall core school funding will total almost £63.9 billion next year, compared to £61.6 billion in 2024/25, after technical adjustments.

With reference to paragraph 5.20 of the Spring Budget 2024, published on 6 March 2024, HC 560, what her policy is on building 15 new special free schools.

This government is clear it wants to make sure all children with special educational needs and disabilities receive the support they need to achieve and thrive. That is why we have set out a clear ambition to improve inclusivity in mainstream schools, while ensuring that special schools cater for those with the most complex needs.The window for trusts to apply to run these schools closed on 19 July. The department will provide an update in due course.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact on schools of ending the academy conversion support grant.

High and rising standards are at the heart of this government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and ensure every child has the best life chances.Trusts have played, and continue to play, an important role in supporting collaboration between schools and spreading best practice in pursuit of high standards. Against a challenging fiscal inheritance the government has had to make difficult choices and ensure that limited funding is best targeted. On 1 November, we announced that we would be ending the academy conversion grant from 1 January 2025.Voluntary conversion is a choice for schools. The department thinks that the benefits, including financial, of joining a strong structure are well understood in the sector and schools and trusts should continue to make these informed choices.Additionally, latest published figures show 98% of academy trusts and 87% of local authority maintained schools are in cumulative surplus or breaking even. At the Autumn Budget 2024, the government announced an additional £2.3 billion for mainstream schools and young people with high needs for 2025/26, compared to 2024/25. This means that overall core school funding will total almost £63.9 billion next year, compared to £61.6 billion in 2024/25, after technical adjustments.

How many and what proportion of pupils with SEND who currently attend independent schools do not have an Education, Health and Care plan.

The number and proportion of pupils in independent schools with special educational needs who do not have an education, health and care plan is published annually in the statistical release ‘Special educational needs in England’. The release can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england.The information requested can be found in the section titled ‘Pupils with special educational needs in schools’.

What the mean annual costs are for nurseries in England by (a) nursery class childcare settings, (b) maintained nursery schools, (c) school-based providers, (d) private group-based providers, (e) voluntary group-based providers, (f) all group-based providers and (g) all nurseries.

Data collected by the 2024 survey of childcare and early years providers has been used to estimate the average unit costs of delivering childcare per child in a setting. This data can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/673b14b8fc572967fe66a92e/Providers__finances_Evidence_from_the_2023_Survey_of_Childcare_and_Early_Years_Providers.pdf.The department no longer publishes providers’ total costs as differences between providers largely reflect differences in the average number of children that attend them and the average number of hours that they attend for.There are limitations to the unit cost measure because of some challenges in gathering information from providers on total costs, such as the difficulty in estimating costs shared with other settings for group-based providers that are part of a chain. Furthermore, the number of hours of care provided was estimated. As a result, caution should be applied to the interpretation of the unit cost measures.

Whether her Department has made an equalities impact assessment of the decision for Ofsted to no longer produce single headline grades.

On 2 September, the government announced that the use of single headline grades for Ofsted’s school inspection would end with immediate effect, and that a new system of report cards would be launched from September 2025. Single headline grades were overly simplistic, being low information for parents and high stakes for schools.Ofsted’s Big Listen consultation, the largest in Ofsted’s history, evidenced widespread concerns about single headline grades and the need for reform. Ofsted found that single headline grades were supported by only 3 in 10 professionals and 4 in 10 parents. The schools section of the consultation found that only 1 in 8 respondents agreed that the number of good and outstanding providers was reflective of the overall quality of the sector. Therefore, it was right for the government to act quickly and decisively to address this.The department is currently engaging closely with Ofsted to develop proposals for new reporting arrangements, through a report card system, to capture the performance of schools in a much richer way, and to provide more helpful information to parents and support school improvement. The new reporting system will be accompanied by improved support arrangements through Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence teams. Proposals for the new arrangements will be subject to public consultation in the new year.An equalities impact assessment will be carried out as part of the process of reform in the usual way.

Whether her Department has made an impact assessment of the decision for Ofsted to no longer produce single headline grades.

On 2 September, the government announced that the use of single headline grades for Ofsted’s school inspection would end with immediate effect, and that a new system of report cards would be launched from September 2025. Single headline grades were overly simplistic, being low information for parents and high stakes for schools.Ofsted’s Big Listen consultation, the largest in Ofsted’s history, evidenced widespread concerns about single headline grades and the need for reform. Ofsted found that single headline grades were supported by only 3 in 10 professionals and 4 in 10 parents. The schools section of the consultation found that only 1 in 8 respondents agreed that the number of good and outstanding providers was reflective of the overall quality of the sector. Therefore, it was right for the government to act quickly and decisively to address this.The department is currently engaging closely with Ofsted to develop proposals for new reporting arrangements, through a report card system, to capture the performance of schools in a much richer way, and to provide more helpful information to parents and support school improvement. The new reporting system will be accompanied by improved support arrangements through Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence teams. Proposals for the new arrangements will be subject to public consultation in the new year.An equalities impact assessment will be carried out as part of the process of reform in the usual way.

Whether she plans to publish an impact assessment of the decision for Ofsted to no longer produce single headline grades.

On 2 September, the government announced that the use of single headline grades for Ofsted’s school inspection would end with immediate effect, and that a new system of report cards would be launched from September 2025. Single headline grades were overly simplistic, being low information for parents and high stakes for schools.Ofsted’s Big Listen consultation, the largest in Ofsted’s history, evidenced widespread concerns about single headline grades and the need for reform. Ofsted found that single headline grades were supported by only 3 in 10 professionals and 4 in 10 parents. The schools section of the consultation found that only 1 in 8 respondents agreed that the number of good and outstanding providers was reflective of the overall quality of the sector. Therefore, it was right for the government to act quickly and decisively to address this.The department is currently engaging closely with Ofsted to develop proposals for new reporting arrangements, through a report card system, to capture the performance of schools in a much richer way, and to provide more helpful information to parents and support school improvement. The new reporting system will be accompanied by improved support arrangements through Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence teams. Proposals for the new arrangements will be subject to public consultation in the new year.An equalities impact assessment will be carried out as part of the process of reform in the usual way.

Whether she plans to publish an equalities impact assessment of the decision for Ofsted to no longer produce single headline grades.

On 2 September, the government announced that the use of single headline grades for Ofsted’s school inspection would end with immediate effect, and that a new system of report cards would be launched from September 2025. Single headline grades were overly simplistic, being low information for parents and high stakes for schools.Ofsted’s Big Listen consultation, the largest in Ofsted’s history, evidenced widespread concerns about single headline grades and the need for reform. Ofsted found that single headline grades were supported by only 3 in 10 professionals and 4 in 10 parents. The schools section of the consultation found that only 1 in 8 respondents agreed that the number of good and outstanding providers was reflective of the overall quality of the sector. Therefore, it was right for the government to act quickly and decisively to address this.The department is currently engaging closely with Ofsted to develop proposals for new reporting arrangements, through a report card system, to capture the performance of schools in a much richer way, and to provide more helpful information to parents and support school improvement. The new reporting system will be accompanied by improved support arrangements through Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence teams. Proposals for the new arrangements will be subject to public consultation in the new year.An equalities impact assessment will be carried out as part of the process of reform in the usual way.

If her Department will take steps to increase the use of Deprivation of Liberty orders.

Depriving a child of their liberty must always be a last resort in order to keep the child safe. A growing number of children in England and Wales, often with complex behavioural needs, are being deprived of their liberty through Deprivation of Liberty Orders (DOLOs) under the inherent jurisdiction of the High Court, due to a lack of suitable registered placements.The department would like to see fewer children given DOLOs and an improved quality of provision for these children. As set out in the department’s recent policy statement, ‘Keeping Children Safe, Helping Families Thrive’, we want to see new forms of provision to address the rising need for suitable, registered homes capable of depriving a child of their liberty. This provision needs to be able to respond flexibly to children’s changing and fluctuating needs, as well as provide the crucial therapeutic care and, when necessary, restriction.The department intends, when Parliamentary time allows, to amend primary legislation to provide a statutory framework for local authorities seeking to place children in such new forms of accommodation, rather than relying on a DOLO. This new legislation will ensure that, where a secure children’s home cannot meet a child’s needs, there are clear criteria for when children may need to be deprived of liberty and mandatory review points to ensure that no child is deprived of liberty for longer than is required to keep them safe, while in high quality, registered provision.This is part of a wider programme of work to improve outcomes for children with complex needs. This includes a programme of capital investment to support local authorities to maintain existing capacity and expand provision in both open and secure children’s homes, including for children with complex needs. This also includes the creation of 350 additional open children’s homes placements by March 2025. The recent Autumn Budget 2024 announced £90 million for the 2025/26 financial year which includes a multi-million pound package of match funding to support local authorities to build additional open children’s home placements. This will provide high quality, safe homes for some of our most vulnerable children and young people.We have also recently commissioned independent research to understand the existing system and how we can achieve better outcomes for children who are, or are at risk of, being deprived of liberty. We aim to publish this in summer 2025. This will build on the insights gained from the research commissioned by the department from the Office of the Children’s Commissioner’s ‘Children with complex needs who are deprived of liberty’ report, published on 18 November, which interviewed children with complex needs who are deprived of liberty, their parents and the professionals who support them.

With reference to her oral statement on Children’s Social Care of 18 November 2024, Official Report, column 23, what estimate her Department has made of the cost of her proposed reforms.

The department published ‘Keeping Children Safe, Helping Families Thrive’ on 18 November, setting out our vision for reform to children’s social care. Our legislative proposals will keep families together and children safe, remove barriers to opportunity for children in care and care leavers, make the care system child-centred, and tackle profiteering.To deliver reform across children’s social care, the department announced £44 million for 2025/26 at the Autumn Budget 2024 to support children in kinship and foster care, and £90 million to provide safe and suitable homes for some of the most vulnerable children and young people.The government has confirmed its commitment to further reforms to children’s social care in future spending reviews, to make sure every child, irrespective of background, has the best start in life.

With reference to her statement of 18 November 2024 on Children’s Social Care, Official Report columns 23 to 25, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the changes announced on the number of places available for looked after children.

As at 31 March 2024, there were 83,630 looked after children, which was similar to the previous year. The government has announced the following measures to ensure there are more of the right placements to meet the needs of looked after children:£44 million investment to support children in kinship care and foster care. This includes trialling a new kinship allowance in up to ten local authorities and ensuring that every local authority has access to a regional recruitment hub.£90 million to maintain capacity and expand provision in secure and open residential children’s homes. This will include creating 200 additional open children’s homes beds. This will provide safe and suitable homes for some of our vulnerable children and young people.Building on this investment in kinship, fostering and children’s homes, this government will go further to reform the children's social care system by helping children to stay with their families where possible, fixing the broken care market, and investing in key enablers which underpin the system.As the suite of reforms are developed, we will assess the impact for children, the social care system (including care places and workforce pressures) and the value for money of our reforms. Impact assessments will be published at the point of introducing proposals, subject to parliamentary procedure and time.The level of any future cap on the profits of children’s social care placement providers would depend on a number of factors, including market conditions at the point it was introduced. Before introducing any such cap we would consult fully, including with providers and local authorities.On the quality of children’s homes and inspection, the department is working hard to improve the quality of this provision through numerous avenues. We will seek to strengthen Ofsted’s powers to hold provider group owners of children’s homes and other children’s social care provision to account where there are quality issues across several settings owned by a group. This will help to resolve issues quickly and ensure the quality of children’s placements.The department is also working closely with Ofsted as they revise both their Social Care Common Inspection Framework (SCCIF) and Inspecting Local Authority Children’s Services framework in response to the Big Listen. We welcome their focus on ensuring that inspections are a constructive force in the sector that champion good practice, empower leaders and also that the progress and experiences of children are at the heart of inspection.Additionally, the department is working with Social Work England to scope and develop options for establishing professional registration for children’s homes managers and staff. This has the potential to raise the status and profile of working in the sector and improve the quality of provision by providing greater oversight of those working in the sector. We are confident that the ongoing work on provider oversight, updates to the SCCIF and development the workforce will result in significant improvements to the quality of children’s homes and inspection processes.There are no plans to increase the frequency of inspections this year. Children’s homes normally receive a full inspection at least once annually and if leaders and managers have shown that they can consistently deliver services for children well, it may be appropriate to return less often or do a more proportionate inspection. However, Ofsted always takes into account the risk to children of not inspecting as frequently.

With reference to her statement of 18 November 2024 on Children’s Social Care, Official Report column 25, at what level she plans to cap profit from children’s social care placements.

As at 31 March 2024, there were 83,630 looked after children, which was similar to the previous year. The government has announced the following measures to ensure there are more of the right placements to meet the needs of looked after children:£44 million investment to support children in kinship care and foster care. This includes trialling a new kinship allowance in up to ten local authorities and ensuring that every local authority has access to a regional recruitment hub.£90 million to maintain capacity and expand provision in secure and open residential children’s homes. This will include creating 200 additional open children’s homes beds. This will provide safe and suitable homes for some of our vulnerable children and young people.Building on this investment in kinship, fostering and children’s homes, this government will go further to reform the children's social care system by helping children to stay with their families where possible, fixing the broken care market, and investing in key enablers which underpin the system.As the suite of reforms are developed, we will assess the impact for children, the social care system (including care places and workforce pressures) and the value for money of our reforms. Impact assessments will be published at the point of introducing proposals, subject to parliamentary procedure and time.The level of any future cap on the profits of children’s social care placement providers would depend on a number of factors, including market conditions at the point it was introduced. Before introducing any such cap we would consult fully, including with providers and local authorities.On the quality of children’s homes and inspection, the department is working hard to improve the quality of this provision through numerous avenues. We will seek to strengthen Ofsted’s powers to hold provider group owners of children’s homes and other children’s social care provision to account where there are quality issues across several settings owned by a group. This will help to resolve issues quickly and ensure the quality of children’s placements.The department is also working closely with Ofsted as they revise both their Social Care Common Inspection Framework (SCCIF) and Inspecting Local Authority Children’s Services framework in response to the Big Listen. We welcome their focus on ensuring that inspections are a constructive force in the sector that champion good practice, empower leaders and also that the progress and experiences of children are at the heart of inspection.Additionally, the department is working with Social Work England to scope and develop options for establishing professional registration for children’s homes managers and staff. This has the potential to raise the status and profile of working in the sector and improve the quality of provision by providing greater oversight of those working in the sector. We are confident that the ongoing work on provider oversight, updates to the SCCIF and development the workforce will result in significant improvements to the quality of children’s homes and inspection processes.There are no plans to increase the frequency of inspections this year. Children’s homes normally receive a full inspection at least once annually and if leaders and managers have shown that they can consistently deliver services for children well, it may be appropriate to return less often or do a more proportionate inspection. However, Ofsted always takes into account the risk to children of not inspecting as frequently.

If she will take steps to increase the number of places for looked after children.

As at 31 March 2024, there were 83,630 looked after children, which was similar to the previous year. The government has announced the following measures to ensure there are more of the right placements to meet the needs of looked after children:£44 million investment to support children in kinship care and foster care. This includes trialling a new kinship allowance in up to ten local authorities and ensuring that every local authority has access to a regional recruitment hub.£90 million to maintain capacity and expand provision in secure and open residential children’s homes. This will include creating 200 additional open children’s homes beds. This will provide safe and suitable homes for some of our vulnerable children and young people.Building on this investment in kinship, fostering and children’s homes, this government will go further to reform the children's social care system by helping children to stay with their families where possible, fixing the broken care market, and investing in key enablers which underpin the system.As the suite of reforms are developed, we will assess the impact for children, the social care system (including care places and workforce pressures) and the value for money of our reforms. Impact assessments will be published at the point of introducing proposals, subject to parliamentary procedure and time.The level of any future cap on the profits of children’s social care placement providers would depend on a number of factors, including market conditions at the point it was introduced. Before introducing any such cap we would consult fully, including with providers and local authorities.On the quality of children’s homes and inspection, the department is working hard to improve the quality of this provision through numerous avenues. We will seek to strengthen Ofsted’s powers to hold provider group owners of children’s homes and other children’s social care provision to account where there are quality issues across several settings owned by a group. This will help to resolve issues quickly and ensure the quality of children’s placements.The department is also working closely with Ofsted as they revise both their Social Care Common Inspection Framework (SCCIF) and Inspecting Local Authority Children’s Services framework in response to the Big Listen. We welcome their focus on ensuring that inspections are a constructive force in the sector that champion good practice, empower leaders and also that the progress and experiences of children are at the heart of inspection.Additionally, the department is working with Social Work England to scope and develop options for establishing professional registration for children’s homes managers and staff. This has the potential to raise the status and profile of working in the sector and improve the quality of provision by providing greater oversight of those working in the sector. We are confident that the ongoing work on provider oversight, updates to the SCCIF and development the workforce will result in significant improvements to the quality of children’s homes and inspection processes.There are no plans to increase the frequency of inspections this year. Children’s homes normally receive a full inspection at least once annually and if leaders and managers have shown that they can consistently deliver services for children well, it may be appropriate to return less often or do a more proportionate inspection. However, Ofsted always takes into account the risk to children of not inspecting as frequently.

Whether she will be taking steps to (a) improve the quality of children's homes and (b) increase the regularity of inspection of those homes.

As at 31 March 2024, there were 83,630 looked after children, which was similar to the previous year. The government has announced the following measures to ensure there are more of the right placements to meet the needs of looked after children:£44 million investment to support children in kinship care and foster care. This includes trialling a new kinship allowance in up to ten local authorities and ensuring that every local authority has access to a regional recruitment hub.£90 million to maintain capacity and expand provision in secure and open residential children’s homes. This will include creating 200 additional open children’s homes beds. This will provide safe and suitable homes for some of our vulnerable children and young people.Building on this investment in kinship, fostering and children’s homes, this government will go further to reform the children's social care system by helping children to stay with their families where possible, fixing the broken care market, and investing in key enablers which underpin the system.As the suite of reforms are developed, we will assess the impact for children, the social care system (including care places and workforce pressures) and the value for money of our reforms. Impact assessments will be published at the point of introducing proposals, subject to parliamentary procedure and time.The level of any future cap on the profits of children’s social care placement providers would depend on a number of factors, including market conditions at the point it was introduced. Before introducing any such cap we would consult fully, including with providers and local authorities.On the quality of children’s homes and inspection, the department is working hard to improve the quality of this provision through numerous avenues. We will seek to strengthen Ofsted’s powers to hold provider group owners of children’s homes and other children’s social care provision to account where there are quality issues across several settings owned by a group. This will help to resolve issues quickly and ensure the quality of children’s placements.The department is also working closely with Ofsted as they revise both their Social Care Common Inspection Framework (SCCIF) and Inspecting Local Authority Children’s Services framework in response to the Big Listen. We welcome their focus on ensuring that inspections are a constructive force in the sector that champion good practice, empower leaders and also that the progress and experiences of children are at the heart of inspection.Additionally, the department is working with Social Work England to scope and develop options for establishing professional registration for children’s homes managers and staff. This has the potential to raise the status and profile of working in the sector and improve the quality of provision by providing greater oversight of those working in the sector. We are confident that the ongoing work on provider oversight, updates to the SCCIF and development the workforce will result in significant improvements to the quality of children’s homes and inspection processes.There are no plans to increase the frequency of inspections this year. Children’s homes normally receive a full inspection at least once annually and if leaders and managers have shown that they can consistently deliver services for children well, it may be appropriate to return less often or do a more proportionate inspection. However, Ofsted always takes into account the risk to children of not inspecting as frequently.

How many pupils have an (a) education, health and care plan and (b) a named school in each (i) region, (ii) local authority and (iii) constituency.

The requested information for each region and local authority is attached.Information on the number of all education, health and care (EHC) plans, and their named school is not readily available at constituency level.Information on the number of pupils in schools in England with EHC plans is available at constituency level here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england. The data file titled ‘School level underlying data 2024 (csv, 10 Mb)’ under the section ‘Additional supporting files’ includes the figures at school level, including the school type and parliamentary constituency. As these figures are taken from the January 2024 school census, the parliamentary constituencies are based on pre-election boundaries. Where statistics were published prior to the changes in parliamentary constituency boundaries, they will be updated to reflect the new boundaries in the next publication of statistics. This is expected to be in June 2025 for statistics on schools and pupils, including special educational needs.

Whether increased costs from employer national insurance contributions will be taken into account in the childcare funding formula.

I refer the right Hon. member for Sevenoaks to the answer of 11 November 2024 to Question 12804.

What steps her Department is taking to ensure mobile phones are not a distraction in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools.

​The department knows that using mobile phones in schools can lead to online bullying, distraction and classroom disruption, which can, in turn, lead to lost learning time. Schools are required by law to have a behaviour policy that sets out what is expected of all pupils, including outlining the items that are banned from school premises. Additionally, the government’s non-statutory guidance supports schools on how to develop, implement and maintain a policy that prohibits the use of mobile phones throughout the school day. Headteachers are responsible for the implementation of such guidance within their schools.