The Education Committee has today published the Government’s response to its report which made recommendations to improve the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
The Committee’s report recommended that all children who are eligible for free school meals should be automatically enrolled, after hearing evidence that one in 10 eligible children miss out due to factors such as language barriers or difficulty with the admin process. The Department for Education’s (DfE) said it is making it “quicker and easier” to get children signed up for free meals with an upgraded Eligibility Checking System.
The report also urged the Government to strengthen local authorities’ requirement to assess the mental health and wellbeing of children in the care system. The response says that statutory guidance in this area is being reviewed and updated, and that the Government “will consider what changes are needed”.
Regarding the rollout of breakfast clubs, the Committee recommended the explicit inclusion of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in the Bill’s provisions on breakfast clubs. This would place the onus on the Government to take account of this requirement when allocating funds to schools in the national rollout of the policy. DfE said the inclusion of children with SEND is implicit in the wording of the Bill, that “all” children should have access, and that local authorities should work with schools to meet children’s specific needs.
The response rejects the recommendation to develop a ‘national care offer’ of support for young people leaving care, instead arguing that “to impose a framework centrally would be unnecessarily bureaucratic”.
The Committee will continue to take a close interest in the Bill as it progresses through its further Parliamentary stages and in its impact once it becomes law.
