Mike Amesbury

This government is committed to working in partnership with local authorities to recruit more foster carers and committed an additional £15 million in the Autumn Budget 2024. This funding is to start work to ensure every local authority has access to a hub and to embed the existing regional fostering recruitment and retention hubs, covering 64% of local authorities in England. The hubs will transform the way people who are interested in fostering are supported and rollout the Mockingbird programme, which offers peer-support to foster carers and the children in their care. The department is also funding ‘Fosterlink’, a support service for local authority fostering services not in the regional programme. This identifies areas for improvement and creates a national network to share best practice.

Multi-academy trusts are partners in this government’s vision to drive high standards across all parts of the education system. The government is committed to bringing forward legislation to enable the inspection of multi-academy trusts supporting this government’s ambition that every part of the education system which can drive improvement is doing so.

It is important that multi-academy trusts work effectively with local authorities in the areas where their schools are located.

No child should be prevented from accessing education by a lack of transport. The department’s home-to-school travel policy requires local authorities to arrange free travel for children of compulsory school age who attend their nearest school and would not be able to walk there because of the distance, their special educational needs, a disability or mobility problem, or because the route is unsafe. There are additional rights to free home to school travel for children from low-income households.

Children living in temporary accommodation may benefit from the continuity of remaining in their current school with familiar teachers and friends. They will not be eligible for free travel to that school if it is not the nearest school to their temporary accommodation, but local authorities have a discretionary power to arrange free home-to-school travel for children who are otherwise not eligible.

The department encourages local authorities to support vulnerable children and young people, and is working with local authorities to understand how well home to school transport supports all children to access educational opportunity.

This is a matter for His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver. I have asked him to write to my hon. Friend, the Member for Runcorn and Helsby, directly and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

The needs of the child are paramount when deciding the right care placement. Though the department wants to reduce out of area placements, they will always be part of the care landscape. Sometimes circumstances make it the right decision for a child to be placed elsewhere, for example when they are at risk from domestic abuse, sexual exploitation, trafficking or gang violence.

Moving a child away is not a decision to be taken lightly and there are legislative safeguards around this. Directors of children’s services are required to sign off each such decision and Ofsted can challenge where they believe poor decisions are being made. This is to encourage local authorities to place children locally wherever possible.

The department is clear that profiteering from vulnerable children in care is absolutely unacceptable, irrespective of whether a child is placed in or out of area, and the department is committed to stamping out profiteering where it occurs in the children’s social care placement market.

On 18 November 2024, the department published its policy paper ‘Keeping children safe, helping families thrive’, which set out ambitious reforms across children’s social care. As part of these, the department is taking forward a package of measures, including through legislation, to rebalance the children’s social care placement market. These measures will improve competition, regulation and commissioning of placements and bring greater visibility to the prices local authorities are paying and the profits providers are making. If the department does not see a reduction in profiteering it will not hesitate to take action to cap providers’ profits.

This government is committed to improving the support available to all children and young people, including those struggling with bereavement. This is why we are prioritising improving mental health support for all children and young people, which includes providing access to specialist mental health professionals in every school. In addition, the department provides a list of resources for schools on supporting pupils’ mental health and wellbeing, which may include supporting children dealing with loss and bereavement.

As I set out at a Westminster Hall Debate on childhood bereavement on 2 December, the cross-government bereavement working group, chaired within the Department of Health and Social Care, will continue to look at options for improving support for bereaved children and young people across government, including the potential to improve data collection.

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.

The department is committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, as well as ensuring special schools cater to those with the most complex needs, restoring parents’ trust that their child will get the support they need. This includes strengthening accountability for inclusivity, including through Ofsted, and encouraging schools to set up Resourced Provision or special educational needs units to increase capacity in mainstream schools.

High-quality teaching is central to ensuring that all pupils, including those with Down’s Syndrome or other types of SEND, are given the best possible opportunity to achieve. The department is committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers over the course of this parliament. To support all teachers, the department is implementing a range of teacher training reforms to ensure teachers have the skills to support all pupils to succeed, including those with SEND.

On 1 September 2024, the government introduced a new mandatory leadership level qualification for special educational needs coordinators (SENCOs). The qualification will play a key role in improving outcomes for pupils with SEND, including Down’s Syndrome, by ensuring SENCOs consistently receive high-quality, evidence-based training on how best to support children with SEND.

This government is also providing almost £1 billion more for high needs budgets in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding to £11.9 billion. This funding will help local authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting children and young people with SEND.

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.

The department is committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, as well as ensuring special schools cater to those with the most complex needs, restoring parents’ trust that their child will get the support they need. This includes strengthening accountability for inclusivity, including through Ofsted, and encouraging schools to set up Resourced Provision or special educational needs units to increase capacity in mainstream schools.

High-quality teaching is central to ensuring that all pupils, including those with Down’s Syndrome or other types of SEND, are given the best possible opportunity to achieve. The department is committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers over the course of this parliament. To support all teachers, the department is implementing a range of teacher training reforms to ensure teachers have the skills to support all pupils to succeed, including those with SEND.

On 1 September 2024, the government introduced a new mandatory leadership level qualification for special educational needs coordinators (SENCOs). The qualification will play a key role in improving outcomes for pupils with SEND, including Down’s Syndrome, by ensuring SENCOs consistently receive high-quality, evidence-based training on how best to support children with SEND.

This government is also providing almost £1 billion more for high needs budgets in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding to £11.9 billion. This funding will help local authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting children and young people with SEND.

The new government has inherited a crisis in school attendance. Thanks to the hard work of schools, local authorities and system leaders there is evidence of slight progress but we must go much further to get children back to school. This government is acting decisively to tackle absence via a new approach rooted in responsibility, partnership and belonging. This includes supporting schools and recognising they have important responsibilities by creating a welcoming, engaging and inclusive environment for children, but that it is also a parent’s legal responsibility to send their children to school every day that they can.

Taking children out of school during term time can damage their education. If children are taken out of school for a one week holiday every year and have an average number of days off for sickness and medical appointments, then by the time they finish year 11 at age 16, they will have missed the equivalent of two entire terms of their schooling. This also causes unnecessary disruption for teachers, making it more difficult for them to plan lessons and cover the curriculum, which is then disruptive for the other pupils in the class. The school year gives families various opportunities to enjoy holidays together.

The department is working with the sector to bring breakfast clubs to all primary schools so that every child is in on time and ready to learn. We are introducing new annual Ofsted reviews of safeguarding, attendance and off-rolling, as well as tackling mental ill-health among young people by providing access to specialist mental health professionals in every school. Where pupils are not regularly attending school, the ‘Working together to improve school attendance' statutory guidance emphasises that schools and local authorities should be working with them and their family to provide support and remove any barriers to attendance.

We publish regular school attendance data, which shows rates of absence, including unauthorised absence, on an ongoing basis. This is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-attendance-in-schools.

The department recognises that local authorities are facing rising costs to place children in care, with some private providers making excessive profits.

This is unacceptable. The department is taking a range of actions to rebalance the market and eliminate profiteering, including strengthening regulation and working with local government to make sure every child has a safe, loving home.

The department will be bringing forward measures in the Children’s Wellbeing Bill to achieve this and to return children’s social care to delivering high quality outcomes for looked after children at a sustainable cost to the taxpayer. The department will be announcing further detail in due course.

The most recently published figures on free school meals (FSM) eligibility are from the January 2024 school census, which were published in June 2024 here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics

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 schools and pupils statistics.

The constituency of Runcorn and Helsby is made up of elements of five old constituencies: Weaver Vale, Halton, Ellesmere Port and Neston, Eddisbury, and City of Chester. The attached Excel table gives FSM rates as of January 2024 for schools in those constituencies.

The ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ publication linked above includes data at school level. This can be combined with information from ‘Get Information About Schools’ (GIAS) to identify parliamentary constituency, which can be accessed here: https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/. GIAS reflects the changes made following the general election parliamentary constituency changes. Updates to geographical data in GIAS are made on a quarterly basis using data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

School support staff play a vital role in children’s education and the smooth running of schools. They are crucial to ensuring children are given the best possible life chances.

In a survey conducted by the department in 2023, titled ‘Use of teaching assistants in schools’, 75% of school leaders found it either 'fairly’ or ‘extremely’ difficult to recruit teaching assistants. The survey also showed that retention was less of a concern but still difficult for 29% of leaders.

The department values and recognises the professionalism of the entire school workforce and will address recruitment and retention challenges by reinstating the School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB) as a measure in the Employment Rights Bill, which was introduced on 10 October 2024.

The SSSNB will be tasked with establishing a national terms and conditions handbook, training, career progression routes and fair pay rates for support staff. This reform will ensure that schools can recruit and retain the staff needed to deliver high quality, inclusive education and drive high and rising standards to ensure every child has the best life chances.

The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) sits with local authorities.

The department supports local authorities to meet this duty by providing annual capital funding. In March 2024, local authorities were notified of £850 million of investment in places for children and young people with SEND or who require alternative provision.

Local authorities can use this funding to deliver new places in mainstream and special schools, as well as other specialist settings. It can also be used to improve the suitability and accessibility of existing buildings.

Halton Council has received just under £5.5 million in capital funding through this route between 2022 and 2025. Cheshire West and Chester Council has received £11.6 million.

In summer 2023, the department began collecting annual data from local authorities on available capacity in special schools, SEND units and resourced provision. This data will help the department to more effectively support local authorities to fulfil their statutory duty to provide sufficient specialist places.