Recommendations & Conclusions
19 items
2
Recommendation
Third Report - COVID-19: Support for ch…
Accepted
Only a small minority of vulnerable children attended school in the early stages of the pandemic, increasing the risk of hidden harm. The Department acknowledges that the pandemic presented real safeguarding challenges. It kept schools open for vulnerable children—for example, those with a social worker or an education, health and …
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Only a small minority of vulnerable children attended school in the early stages of the pandemic, increasing the risk of hidden harm. The Department acknowledges that the pandemic presented real safeguarding challenges. It kept schools open for vulnerable children—for example, those with a social worker or an education, health and care (EHC) plan, or those deemed ‘otherwise vulnerable’—because continued attendance was seen as an important way of safeguarding and supporting them. However, the proportion of vulnerable children who attended school or college remained below 11% from 23 March to late May 2020, and only reached a weekly average of 26% by the end of the summer term. The written evidence we received highlighted concerns about the potential impact of so few vulnerable children attending school. Referrals to children’s social care services for the weeks surveyed between 27 April and 16 August 2020 were around 15% lower than the average for the same period over the previous three years. The Department says that referral levels are still down by around 10% year-on-year, and that there are concerns about ongoing hidden harm to children. Recommendation: The Department should work with the Association of Directors of Children’s Services to understand why the number of referrals to children’s social care services remains below expected levels, and take action in light of the findings to make sure children are being effectively safeguarded.
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees, committing to work with ADCS and local authorities to understand reasons for low social care referrals, detailing ongoing data collection, support for LAs, and a £24 million Children’s Social Care recovery fund to safeguard children.
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HM Treasury
3
Recommendation
Third Report - COVID-19: Support for ch…
Accepted
The disruption to schooling had a particularly detrimental impact on children with special educational needs and disabilities, in terms of both their education and their health. In spring 2020, the Department temporarily changed aspects of the law on EHC needs assessments and plans. While this reduced pressure on schools and …
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The disruption to schooling had a particularly detrimental impact on children with special educational needs and disabilities, in terms of both their education and their health. In spring 2020, the Department temporarily changed aspects of the law on EHC needs assessments and plans. While this reduced pressure on schools and local authorities, it meant that some children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) experienced delays in assessments and did not receive the support they would expect in normal times. While children with an EHC plan were eligible to continue attending school throughout the pandemic, in some cases risk assessments to determine whether children should be in school or at home were carried out without consulting families. The Department accepts that not all 6 COVID-19: Support for children’s education schools were confident about educating children with an EHC plan during school closures, and there was local variation in the extent to which schools offered these children a place. Remote learning is especially difficult for children with SEND, and children with complex needs struggled because they did not have at home the specialist support and equipment they would normally have at school. In some cases, restrictions to their normal routine also affected children’s health. The Department concedes that improvements will be needed in the event of future disruption, including better joint working with the Department of Health and Social Care. Recommendation: The Department should work with the Department of Health and Social Care to identify the specific actions needed to help children with SEND recover from the damage caused during the pandemic.
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees, outlining specific actions within its recovery plan including close collaboration with DHSC to assess therapy access, significant funding for mental health services, and investment in mental health support teams in schools for children with SEND.
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HM Treasury
5
Recommendation
Third Report - COVID-19: Support for ch…
Accepted
The Department has not set out how it will judge the effectiveness of the catch- up programme in making up for the learning children lost as a result of the disruption to schooling. The disruption has adversely affected children’s learning and development, with the learning loss greatest among disadvantaged children. …
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The Department has not set out how it will judge the effectiveness of the catch- up programme in making up for the learning children lost as a result of the disruption to schooling. The disruption has adversely affected children’s learning and development, with the learning loss greatest among disadvantaged children. The attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their peers is likely to grow significantly as a result of school closures. The Department has committed £1.7 billion to fund catch-up learning, and has commissioned independent evaluations of the National Tutoring Programme schemes, alongside research into how schools are using the £650 million universal catch-up premium in the 2020/21 school year. It says that the National Tutoring Programme schemes, which are intended to focus on disadvantaged children, will be judged on levels of take-up and evidence COVID-19: Support for children’s education 7 that children are making significant progress, but it has not articulated what levels of take-up or pupil progression it wants these schemes to achieve, or how it will determine whether the catch-up programme as a whole has been effective. Recommendation: Alongside its Treasury Minute response, the Department should write to us, setting out clear metrics that it will use to monitor the catch- up learning programme, and what level of performance would represent success.
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees, committing to developing metrics to monitor lost learning and write to the Committee by Autumn 2021, while also detailing multiple commissioned studies and evaluations to assess learning loss, catch-up premium use, and intervention effectiveness.
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HM Treasury
6
Recommendation
Third Report - COVID-19: Support for ch…
Accepted
The success of the National Tutoring Programme will depend on the quality of provision and whether it reaches the disadvantaged children who need it most. Previous evaluations by the Education Endowment Foundation indicate that tutoring programmes are effective in supporting children’s learning. However, the Department recognises that the tutoring market …
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The success of the National Tutoring Programme will depend on the quality of provision and whether it reaches the disadvantaged children who need it most. Previous evaluations by the Education Endowment Foundation indicate that tutoring programmes are effective in supporting children’s learning. However, the Department recognises that the tutoring market is under-developed, and there have been issues with quality and access in the past. As well as supporting disadvantaged children to catch up on lost learning, the Department intends that the National Tutoring Programme schemes will improve quality and grow capacity in the tutoring market. It expects that the ‘tuition partners’ scheme will reach between 200,000 and 250,000 children in 2020/21, and that tutoring will become an integral part of the education system. However, at February 2021, only 44% of children receiving tuition were eligible for pupil premium funding, raising questions over whether the scheme will reach the children who need it most. Also at February 2021, demand for the ‘academic mentors’ scheme had outstripped supply, with more than 600 schools who had requested a mentor not having access to one. Recommendation: The Department should set out how it intends to gain assurance on the quantity and quality of tutoring and mentoring provided under the National Tutoring Programme. Its response should cover in particular how it intends to ensure there is adequate tutoring and mentoring provision in areas of the country where educational attainment is lower. 8 COVID-19: Support for children’s education 1 The Department for Education’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic
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Government response AI summary
The government accepts the recommendation, stating it will continue the National Tutoring Programme (NTP) in 2021-22 with increased reach and focus on areas of low reach and attainment through operational targets. It commits to monitoring regional spread, engagement, and holding providers accountable for tuition quality …
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HM Treasury
7
Recommendation
Third Report - COVID-19: Support for ch…
Accepted
We asked the Department when it expected to conduct a lessons-learned exercise. It highlighted that the pandemic had often required it to take action collectively with other organisations as it could not respond unilaterally to what was a health situation. It said that any such exercise should therefore be carried …
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We asked the Department when it expected to conduct a lessons-learned exercise. It highlighted that the pandemic had often required it to take action collectively with other organisations as it could not respond unilaterally to what was a health situation. It said that any such exercise should therefore be carried out collaboratively with the rest of government in order to draw out consistent lessons.10 Attendance of vulnerable children
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees, committing to carry out a collaborative lessons-learned exercise consistent with other cross-government activities, engaging with the Cabinet Office, and continuously analyzing its COVID-19 response by December 2022.
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HM Treasury
9
Conclusion
Third Report - COVID-19: Support for ch…
Accepted
The Department explained that people had been extremely anxious in the early months of the pandemic and had taken the “stay at home” message seriously, and it had therefore been a challenge to persuade them to send their children to school.12 It said that it had begun to gather information …
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The Department explained that people had been extremely anxious in the early months of the pandemic and had taken the “stay at home” message seriously, and it had therefore been a challenge to persuade them to send their children to school.12 It said that it had begun to gather information from schools and colleges on patterns of attendance from the first day of the lockdown, and local authorities had given real-time feedback about any issues or concerns.13 It told us that the important thing was that school had been available for the children who needed to be there, and stressed that it had supported vulnerable children whether they were in school or not, including via the regional education and children’s teams.14
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees with the Committee's recommendation, stating it continues to collect and report data on referrals to children's social care, supports local authorities in safeguarding vulnerable children, and has allocated £24 million through the Children’s Social Care recovery fund for regional plans, with a …
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HM Treasury
12
Conclusion
Third Report - COVID-19: Support for ch…
Accepted
The Department told us that there had not been the spike in referrals to children’s social care services which many people had expected when schools fully re-opened in September 2020, and that referrals were still around 10% below normal levels year-on- year.19 It explained that this raised concern about the …
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The Department told us that there had not been the spike in referrals to children’s social care services which many people had expected when schools fully re-opened in September 2020, and that referrals were still around 10% below normal levels year-on- year.19 It explained that this raised concern about the potential for ongoing hidden harm to children whose families were not in contact with the social care system.20
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees with the committee's observation regarding reduced social care referrals, detailing ongoing work with ADCS and LAs to collect and interpret data, and the use of the Vulnerable Children and Young People Survey. It commits £24 million to the Children’s Social Care recovery …
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HM Treasury
13
Conclusion
Third Report - COVID-19: Support for ch…
Accepted
The NSPCC also emphasised that school environments were crucial for the educational and social development of children, acting as places of support for their mental health.21 The Department highlighted that it had put in place a number of sources of support for children’s mental health during the lockdown period, and …
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The NSPCC also emphasised that school environments were crucial for the educational and social development of children, acting as places of support for their mental health.21 The Department highlighted that it had put in place a number of sources of support for children’s mental health during the lockdown period, and had consistently signposted Public Health England’s guidance for parents and professionals. In particular, the Department spoke about the ‘wellbeing for education return’ programme that it had set up for September 2020, which funded expert training for every local authority area to help education staff to respond to the emotional and mental health pressures that some children had faced a as a result of the pandemic.22 The Department also said that it welcomed the announcement of additional funding from the Department of Health and Social Care to accelerate the roll-out of mental health support teams in schools.23 Supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities
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Government response AI summary
The government details specific financial commitments to support children's mental health and wellbeing, including £500 million announced by DHSC for mental health (with £31 million targeting individuals with learning disabilities and autistic people, including £3 million for respite services). Additionally, the Department is investing £79 …
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HM Treasury
16
Conclusion
Third Report - COVID-19: Support for ch…
Accepted
We asked the Department why some schools had felt unable to offer places to children with EHC plans. It told us that the situation changed over the course of the pandemic – for example, attendance of children with EHC plans grew from about 5% in March 2020 to 27% by …
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We asked the Department why some schools had felt unable to offer places to children with EHC plans. It told us that the situation changed over the course of the pandemic – for example, attendance of children with EHC plans grew from about 5% in March 2020 to 27% by June, and during the period of disrupted schooling which started in January 2021 the figure was around 37%. But the Department also conceded that there had been regional and school-to-school variation in attendance. It told us that schools’ levels of confidence in making judgements on which children were safe to attend school varied, and that in the future it might look at how to improve the advice and support available to help schools make these decisions.30
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees with the committee's observation, detailing its 2020-21 recovery plan for children with SEND, which includes close work with DHSC, NHS England, and Public Health England to assess therapy impacts. It highlights £500 million announced by DHSC for mental health, with £31 million …
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HM Treasury
18
Conclusion
Third Report - COVID-19: Support for ch…
Accepted
We asked the Department what actions it had taken to help children with SEND to learn from home. It told us that it recognised many children with SEND faced real difficulties in learning remotely. As examples of actions it had taken, it highlighted: the SEND-specific provision offered by Oak National …
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We asked the Department what actions it had taken to help children with SEND to learn from home. It told us that it recognised many children with SEND faced real difficulties in learning remotely. As examples of actions it had taken, it highlighted: the SEND-specific provision offered by Oak National Academy which had been welcomed because it allowed people to work at their own pace; expertise on SEND remote education 25 COE0014 SENSE submission, page 4 26 C&AG’s Report, para 2.3 27 COE0014 SENSE submission, page 3 28 Q 76 29 Letter to Committee from DfE dated 22 April 2021 30 Q 76 31 COE0014 SENSE submission, pages 5–6 32 COE0022 University of Reading submission, pages 3–4 12 COVID-19: Support for children’s education highlighted by its programme for demonstrating good practice in the use of education technology; and SEND-specific components of online training for remote education it was providing to schools.33
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees with the committee's observation, detailing its 2020-21 recovery plan for children with SEND, which includes close work with DHSC, NHS England, and Public Health England to assess therapy impacts. It highlights £500 million announced by DHSC for mental health, with £31 million …
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HM Treasury
19
Recommendation
Third Report - COVID-19: Support for ch…
Accepted
We asked the Department whether it was evaluating the impact of not being able to attend school on the health of children with SEND. In subsequent written evidence, it told us that it would continue to assess the impact of the pandemic and its COVID-19 recovery plans on all pupils, …
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We asked the Department whether it was evaluating the impact of not being able to attend school on the health of children with SEND. In subsequent written evidence, it told us that it would continue to assess the impact of the pandemic and its COVID-19 recovery plans on all pupils, including those with SEND, to ensure that it targeted its support effectively.34 In addition, during the oral evidence session, the Department said that, in planning for future disruption, it wanted to look at how it had worked jointly with the Department of Health and Social Care—for example, on the identification of clinically extremely vulnerable children.35 Provision of IT equipment
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees, stating it is working closely with DHSC to assess the pandemic's impact on SEND children's access to therapies and detailing significant funding for mental health support teams and services for autistic children and those with learning disabilities.
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HM Treasury
25
Conclusion
Third Report - COVID-19: Support for ch…
Accepted
We received written evidence from a number of research bodies indicating that disadvantaged children had suffered most as a result of the disruption to schooling. A survey by the Institute for Fiscal Studies showed that, on average, students from disadvantaged backgrounds spent less time on remote learning and were less …
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We received written evidence from a number of research bodies indicating that disadvantaged children had suffered most as a result of the disruption to schooling. A survey by the Institute for Fiscal Studies showed that, on average, students from disadvantaged backgrounds spent less time on remote learning and were less likely to have access to online classes, home technology and a quiet study space.45 The Institute for Social and Economic Research also found that children in the most advantaged families, who had their own computer, spent more time on school work than disadvantaged children, who had to share a computer.46
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees with the committee's findings regarding disadvantaged children and is actively implementing an education recovery strategy. It is developing metrics, commissioning studies for baseline assessment and ongoing monitoring of learning loss, and evaluating specific interventions to understand their effectiveness.
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HM Treasury
26
Recommendation
Third Report - COVID-19: Support for ch…
Accepted
Evidence from the National Foundation for Educational Research, based on estimates by teachers in July 2020, indicated that on average the learning gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers had increased by 46%. Teachers in the most deprived schools were also over three times more likely to report that their …
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Evidence from the National Foundation for Educational Research, based on estimates by teachers in July 2020, indicated that on average the learning gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers had increased by 46%. Teachers in the most deprived schools were also over three times more likely to report that their pupils were four months or more behind in their curriculum-related learning, compared with teachers in the least deprived schools.47 Interim findings from the Department’s own research found that pupils in secondary schools with high levels of free school meal eligibility experienced 2.2 months of reading learning loss, compared with 1.5 months in schools with low levels of eligibility.48
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees, committing to developing metrics to monitor and reduce year-on-year lost learning, and detailing several commissioned studies and evaluations to track learning loss and the impact of catch-up interventions, with results to be collated to assess overall programme performance.
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HM Treasury
28
Conclusion
Third Report - COVID-19: Support for ch…
Accepted
In June 2020, to help make up for the learning that children had lost during the disruption to schooling, the Department announced £1 billion of funding for a catch- up learning programme. The programme includes a £650 million universal catch-up premium allocated to schools on a per-pupil basis, and a …
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In June 2020, to help make up for the learning that children had lost during the disruption to schooling, the Department announced £1 billion of funding for a catch- up learning programme. The programme includes a £650 million universal catch-up premium allocated to schools on a per-pupil basis, and a £350 million National Tutoring Programme (NTP) targeted at disadvantaged children.50 The Department set out a further £700 million in February 2021, including: a £302 million ‘recovery premium’ for 45 COE0029 Institute for Fiscal Studies submission, page 2 46 COE0027 Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex submission, page 2 47 COE0025 National Foundation for Educational Research submission, page 5 48 C&AG’s Report, para 3.5 49 Qq 46–48 50 C&AG’s Report, paras 3.7–3.8 COVID-19: Support for children’s education 15 schools; a further £200 million to expand the tutoring programme and support language development in early years settings; and £200 million for secondary schools to provide summer schools for those pupils who need it most.51
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees with the Committee's observation regarding the catch-up learning programme, committing to develop metrics to monitor lost learning, commission evaluations of specific interventions, and provide a detailed update to the Committee in Autumn 2021.
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HM Treasury
29
Conclusion
Third Report - COVID-19: Support for ch…
Accepted
The Department told us that it was determined that the catch-up learning programme should address the widening attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their peers. For example, it explained that its focus for the ‘academic mentors’ scheme was on schools with a high number of pupils eligible for free school …
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The Department told us that it was determined that the catch-up learning programme should address the widening attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their peers. For example, it explained that its focus for the ‘academic mentors’ scheme was on schools with a high number of pupils eligible for free school meals. In addition, it said that, while the 2020/21 catch-up premium was based on overall pupil numbers, the 2021/22 recovery premium funding would be based on numbers of pupils eligible for pupil premium and thereby explicitly targeted at deprivation.52
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees with the committee's observation, stating it is developing metrics to monitor the education recovery strategy and will report to the Committee in Autumn 2021. It has commissioned Renaissance Learning and Ipsos MORI for baseline assessments and studies on learning loss and catch-up …
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HM Treasury
31
Conclusion
Third Report - COVID-19: Support for ch…
Accepted
The Department told us that past evaluations by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) had shown that tutoring programmes could help children make between three and five months’ progress in their learning.54 The Department has provided £80 million for the NTP tuition partners scheme in 2020/21. The scheme is aimed at …
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The Department told us that past evaluations by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) had shown that tutoring programmes could help children make between three and five months’ progress in their learning.54 The Department has provided £80 million for the NTP tuition partners scheme in 2020/21. The scheme is aimed at disadvantaged children and covers 75% of the costs of one-to-one and small group tuition, with schools funding the remainder of the costs. The scheme is being led by EEF and tutoring is provided by 33 tuition partners. The Department expects the scheme to reach between 200,000 and 250,000 children in the 2020/21 school year.55
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees with the committee's observation regarding the National Tutoring Programme (NTP), stating it will continue the NTP in 2021-22 with increased reach and monitor regional spread and engagement. It will set operational targets for providers to ensure minimum reach in low-attainment areas and …
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HM Treasury
32
Conclusion
Third Report - COVID-19: Support for ch…
Accepted
The Department said that tutoring had the potential to be an important and lasting part of the educational landscape.56 However, it acknowledged that the tutoring market was developing, and that securing enough tutors and developing the workforce was a challenge for providers.57 It accepted that it was difficult to get …
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The Department said that tutoring had the potential to be an important and lasting part of the educational landscape.56 However, it acknowledged that the tutoring market was developing, and that securing enough tutors and developing the workforce was a challenge for providers.57 It accepted that it was difficult to get access to good-quality tutoring provision in the places where it was most needed, but it believed that a benefit of establishing a large national programme and therefore a demand for tutors would be the creation of tutoring capacity in places where there might not otherwise be any.58 The Department told us that individuals did not need to have teaching qualifications in order 51 C&AG’s Report, para 3.19 52 Q 72 53 Qq 91–92; C&AG’s Report, paras 3.12 and 3.14 54 Qq 68, 92 55 C&AG’s Report, para 3.15 and Figure 8 56 Q 88 57 Qq 95–96 58 Q 97 16 COVID-19: Support for children’s education to become a tutor, but explained that it wanted there to be a minimum quality standard so that schools had access to good-quality provision. It said that EEF had assessed every tutoring provider that had applied to be part of the scheme.59
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Government response AI summary
The government acknowledges the issues around tutoring market development and quality, detailing how it is continuing and expanding the National Tutoring Programme (NTP) for 2021-22 with increased reach, operational targets for providers, and rigorous quality monitoring to address these challenges.
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HM Treasury
33
Conclusion
Third Report - COVID-19: Support for ch…
Accepted
Although the tuition partners scheme is intended to support disadvantaged children, the Department has not specified what proportion of children accessing the scheme should be eligible for pupil premium. At February 2021, just 44% of children receiving tuition were eligible for pupil premium funding, raising questions over whether the scheme …
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Although the tuition partners scheme is intended to support disadvantaged children, the Department has not specified what proportion of children accessing the scheme should be eligible for pupil premium. At February 2021, just 44% of children receiving tuition were eligible for pupil premium funding, raising questions over whether the scheme would reach the most disadvantaged children.60 We also received written evidence which raised concerns over whether the scheme was large enough to reach potentially between 1.2 million and 2 million children in need of support.61
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees with the committee's observation regarding the National Tutoring Programme (NTP), stating it will continue the NTP in 2021-22 with increased reach and monitor regional spread and engagement. It will set operational targets for providers to ensure minimum reach in low-attainment areas and …
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HM Treasury
34
Conclusion
Third Report - COVID-19: Support for ch…
Accepted
Alongside the NTP tuition partners scheme, the Department is funding an academic mentors scheme led by Teach First, which aims to place between 1,000 and 1,200 mentors in disadvantaged schools in the 2020/21 school year. However, at February 2021, more than 600 schools who had requested a mentor had not …
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Alongside the NTP tuition partners scheme, the Department is funding an academic mentors scheme led by Teach First, which aims to place between 1,000 and 1,200 mentors in disadvantaged schools in the 2020/21 school year. However, at February 2021, more than 600 schools who had requested a mentor had not been given one.62 The Department said that Teach First had done well in recruiting mentors so far, but accepted that schools had made more requests for mentors than the scheme was able to meet. It said that this demonstrated the challenge of recruiting enough mentors, and told us that it wanted to increase the number of mentors in future years.63 59 Qq 98–103 60 C&AG’s Report, para 3.15 61 COE0013 Professor Lee Elliot-Major and Mr Andrew Eyles submission, page 7 62 C&AG’s Report, para 3.16 63 Qq 93–94 COVID-19: Support for children’s education 17
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Government response AI summary
The government acknowledges the academic mentor shortfall and describes its continuation and expansion of the National Tutoring Programme (NTP) for academic year 2021-22, committing to increased reach, operational targets for provider performance, and ongoing quality monitoring, aligning with its earlier stated intention to increase mentor …
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HM Treasury