Third Report - COVID-19: Support for children’s education

Select Committee
Public Accounts Committee HC 240 26 May 2021
Report Status Government responded
Conclusions & Recommendations 34 items (12 recs)
Source View on Parliament website
Government Response (AI assessment · 33 of 34 classified)
Accepted 19
Acknowledged 6
Not Addressed 2
Rejected 6
Government response
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Third report from Session 2021-22 · published 2 Sep 2021
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Recommendations & Conclusions

7 results
8 Conclusion Acknowledged
The Department recognised that continued school attendance was an important way of safeguarding and supporting...
Conclusion
The Department recognised that continued school attendance was an important way of safeguarding and supporting vulnerable children while schools were closed to most pupils. However, the proportion of children defined as in need under the Children Act 1989, or with … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the concern about low attendance of vulnerable children and describes ongoing work with local authorities on data collection for social care referrals, and highlights the £24 million Children’s Social Care recovery fund and interventions in inadequate local authorities.
HM Treasury
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11 Conclusion Acknowledged
The number of referrals to children’s social care services, during the weeks surveyed between 27...
Conclusion
The number of referrals to children’s social care services, during the weeks surveyed between 27 April and 16 August 2020, was around 15% lower than the average for the same period over the previous three years.17 In its written evidence, … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the concern about reduced social care referrals and lack of national accountability, describing ongoing efforts with local authorities to collect and interpret referral data, support safeguarding, and provide £24 million through the Children’s Social Care recovery fund.
HM Treasury
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14 Conclusion Acknowledged
On 1 May 2020, the Department temporarily changed aspects of the law on EHC needs...
Conclusion
On 1 May 2020, the Department temporarily changed aspects of the law on EHC needs assessments and plans, to give local authorities, health commissioning bodies, education providers and other bodies more flexibility in the context of the pandemic. These changes … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the committee's concerns regarding the impact of temporary EHC law changes, stating it is working with health departments to assess the pandemic's impact on therapy access and highlighting existing investments in mental health support and services for individuals with learning disabilities and autistic people.
HM Treasury
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15 Conclusion Acknowledged
Children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) who had an EHC plan were eligible...
Conclusion
Children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) who had an EHC plan were eligible to continue attending school throughout the pandemic, provided a risk assessment had determined that they would be at least as safe in school as at … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the committee's concerns about the adequacy and implementation of risk assessments for SEND children, stating it is assessing the pandemic's impact on therapy access and highlighting existing investments in mental health and support for learning disabilities and autistic people.
HM Treasury
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17 Conclusion Acknowledged
Written evidence we received made it clear that some children with SEND struggled to learn...
Conclusion
Written evidence we received made it clear that some children with SEND struggled to learn remotely. SENSE told us that home learning resources were not always appropriate or tailored to the needs of children with complex disabilities, and that many … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the committee's concerns regarding the difficulties SEND children faced with remote learning and lack of appropriate resources, stating it is assessing the pandemic's impact on therapy access and highlighting existing investments in mental health support and services for individuals with learning disabilities and autistic people.
HM Treasury
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27 Conclusion
We challenged the Department on why it had not set basic expectations for schools’ provision...
Conclusion
We challenged the Department on why it had not set basic expectations for schools’ provision during the 2019/20 summer term. It highlighted that the circumstances had been unprecedented, and that schools had been asked to work in entirely new ways, … Read more
HM Treasury
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30 Recommendation Acknowledged
We asked the Department how it would know that the catch-up programme was working.
Recommendation
We asked the Department how it would know that the catch-up programme was working. It said that evaluation would be a central part of the development of the NTP, and that success would be achieved if the schemes reached large … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the recommendation but describes its ongoing monitoring, target setting for providers, and evaluations without specifically committing to provide the requested precise indicators to the committee.
HM Treasury
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