The M25 between Godstone and Sevenoaks is currently subject to a 50mph speed limit whilst new stopped vehicle detection (SVD) technology is tested. Normal operations (variable mandatory speed limits up to the national speed limit) will be reinstated once the tests are complete. National Highways expects this to be before the end of May 2025 but is working hard to improve on this.

On 29 July, the Government announced that, as of 1 January 2025, all education services and vocational training provided by a private school, including independent special schools, in the UK for a charge will be subject to VAT at the standard rate of 20 per cent. This will also apply to boarding services provided by private schools.

This change will not impact pupils with the most acute additional needs, where these can only be met in private schools. Where a Local Authority (LAs) funds a pupil’s place in a private school because their needs can only be met in a private school, LAs will be able to reclaim the VAT on the fees from HMRC. In Northern Ireland, it will be the Education Authority who fund placements in private schools and will be able to reclaim the VAT.

DVSA has already taken a range of measures to restrict abuse of driving test booking services.

The DVSA is continuing to take steps to block cancellation services from accessing the booking system. These applications, however, are constantly evolving and changing, and the DVSA’s work on this is ongoing.

It is not possible for a school in a multi academy trust to opt by resolution of its local governing board to become a stand-alone academy

It is possible, however, for an academy to leave a multi academy trust with the mutual agreement of the governing board of the trust and the Secretary of State for Education. Before agreeing to such a move, the Secretary of State for Education would need assurance that it would be in the best interest of all pupils within the trust. However, there have been no recorded instances of this happening during the last 3 years.

My Lords, the cadet forces are following the overarching UK Government and, where applicable, devolved Administration rules and guidance on Covid matters. Throughout the pandemic, cadet headquarters have accelerated virtual training programmes, through innovative IT solutions. There

will be a cautious but progressive return to face-to-face cadet activity. Based on previous experience and the development of Covid-safe practices, the cadet forces are well placed to return to normal activity as soon as conditions permit.

NHS England and NHS Improvement have ensured that stroke services across England continue to provide rehabilitation and post-acute services to stroke survivors and their families and carers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

NHS England and NHS Improvement have funded the Stroke Association over the last six months to provide Stroke Connect, which was developed in direct response to COVID-19 to ensure stroke survivors and their carers have support when discharged from hospital.

The department has announced the approval of 5 new maths schools into the pre-opening stage: Cambridge Mathematics School, Durham Mathematics School, Imperial College London Mathematics School, Lancaster University School of Mathematics and Surrey Mathematics School. These are in addition to King’s Maths School and Exeter Maths School, which are already open, and the University of Liverpool Mathematics School, which opened in September 2020.

The department is working with the proposers to obtain sites and prepare these schools for opening, subject to funding agreements. We are also in discussion with other potential maths school proposers, in order to have a 16-19 maths school in every region. Successful proposals will be announced in due course.

NHS England and NHS Improvement continue to focus on the detection and management of risk factors including high blood pressure, raised cholesterol, atrial fibrillation and diabetes to improve diagnosis of silent strokes.

The NHS Long Term Plan highlighted that stroke community rehabilitation as an area with significant scope for improvement. NHS England and NHS Improvement are developing a service specification for an integrated community rehabilitation service in order to reduce variation in the provision of stroke rehabilitation across England.

Stroke rehabilitation pilot schemes from 2020 to 2022 will develop a best practice model for high intensity rehabilitation, to be rolled out nationally. Both the specification and the pilot schemes will incorporate learning and innovation within community stroke teams as a response to COVID-19, including virtual rehabilitation.

NHS England and NHS Improvement continue to focus on the detection and management of risk factors including high blood pressure, raised cholesterol, atrial fibrillation and diabetes to improve diagnosis of silent strokes.

The NHS Long Term Plan highlighted that stroke community rehabilitation as an area with significant scope for improvement. NHS England and NHS Improvement are developing a service specification for an integrated community rehabilitation service in order to reduce variation in the provision of stroke rehabilitation across England.

Stroke rehabilitation pilot schemes from 2020 to 2022 will develop a best practice model for high intensity rehabilitation, to be rolled out nationally. Both the specification and the pilot schemes will incorporate learning and innovation within community stroke teams as a response to COVID-19, including virtual rehabilitation.

To provide a more comprehensive response to a number of outstanding Written Questions, this has been answered by an information factsheet Testing – note for House of Lords which is attached, due to the size of the data. A copy has also been placed in the Library

Our vision for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) is the same as that for all children and young people, namely that they are taught a broad and ambitious curriculum.

The department funds a national network of 120 Music Education Hubs who work with the majority of schools to deliver 4 core roles, one of which is to enable children from all backgrounds and every part of England to have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument. This includes children with SEND.

In addition, one of the programmes that the department partially funds with Arts Council England is Music for Youth. Working with the Music Education Hubs, this provides over 60,000 young people each year with free opportunities to perform and experience live music through nationwide festivals, concerts and tailored projects. This includes giving pupils with SEND opportunities to both perform and access performances they would not otherwise be able to.

The government believes all pupils should have access to an excellent, well-rounded education and the arts and music are central to this.

The government does not hold information on individual school music tuition. However, music is included in the national curriculum and is compulsory in all maintained schools from the age of 5 to 14. Post-14, all pupils in maintained schools must be offered the opportunity to study at least one subject in the arts.

All pupils should have access to an excellent, well-rounded education, and music education is central to this.

The government invested over £300 million of ring-fenced funding in music hubs in 2016-20, to ensure all children, whatever their background, have access to a high-quality music education, including learning to play musical instruments and having the opportunity to play and sing in ensembles.

On 3 January 2020, we announced a further £80 million investment in music hubs for 2020-21. Alongside this investment, charities that help young people learn about different styles of music are also set to receive a further £1 million to support the next generation of musicians. These programmes are In Harmony, National Youth Music Organisations (NYMOs) and Music for Youth.

When carrying out duties to safeguard children and young people, schools must have due regard to the statutory guidance, ‘Keeping children safe in education’, which defines safeguarding and promotes the welfare of children. The guidance is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education--2.

Governing bodies of maintained schools, academies (except 16–19 academies) and pupil referral units are also subject to a duty to support pupils with medical conditions. In meeting the duty, schools must follow statutory guidance, which is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.

The department’s mental health and behaviour advice includes information about how to identify pupils whose behaviour may be a result of an underlying mental health difficulty, linked to the SEND graduated response process, and provides guidance on how they can adapt their approaches to support these pupils with their individual needs.

It is vital that children and young people with eating disorders have access to effective specialist support. Through the NHS Long Term Plan, we are investing £2.3 billion a year into mental health services by 2023-24, which will see spending for children and young people’s mental health services growing faster than the overall spend on mental health, which will itself be growing faster than the overall NHS budget. The NHS Long Term Plan also makes a specific commitment to boost investment in children and young people’s eating disorder services over the five years of the plan.

Inpatient treatment should be a last resort, which is why the government announced in 2014 that it would invest £150 million to expand eating disorder community-based care. We are making good progress on this promise, and as a result 70 dedicated new or extended community services are now either open or in development.

The government is committed to supporting local authorities and their partners to ensure children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) continue their education during the COVID-19 outbreak.

We have published a range of guidance for education settings, local authorities, health commissioning bodies and families, and are monitoring the effectiveness of measures through:

• carrying out briefings with all local authorities through regional events, setting out the government expectations regarding meeting the needs of children and young people with SEND (these briefings were also attended by a number of parent and carer representatives and health bodies);
• undertaking structured conversations with SEND leaders in all local authorities to probe the detail of their response to the measures in the guidance;
• drawing on wider feedback from our team of professional SEND advisers, delivery support partners and a range of stakeholders, including representative bodies for local authorities and parents of children with SEND, and several specialist SEND organisations; and
• through Regional Education and Children’s Teams, the department is bringing together up-to-date intelligence to provide ongoing support to local authorities to deliver their responsibilities, working with Ofsted to bring all support into one coherent offer to best support them in their response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

We will continue to work with education settings, local authorities, health commissioning bodies and a range of stakeholders to keep the effectiveness of measures in our guidance under close review.

The Cadet Expansion Programme aimed to have 500 cadet units parading in schools by March 2020. This target was met five months early in November 2019. The Government’s ambition is to now grow the number of cadets attending these units to 60,000 by 2024.

COVID-19 caused the closure of all secondary schools and the suspension of all face-to-face cadet activity from 17 March. Restarting activity in school cadet units will be at the Headteachers’ discretion, subject to Government guidance and will be secondary to efforts to return schools to normal service.

Cadet training personnel from the Services will be available to support school cadet units in returning to activity when Headteachers decide the time is right.

Face-to-face cadet activity has been suspended since 17 March but a significant effort by adult volunteers to engage cadets in virtual activities has resulted in around 70% of units participating online. This important action is being taken to retain the engagement of young people and adult volunteers and to prepare for when normal cadet activities recommence.

Planning is currently underway across the cadet forces for a gradual step-by-step return to face-to-face cadet activity in line with Government guidance on easing COVID-19 restrictions. The Service cadet organisations are ready to support cadet units returning to normal cadet activity when it is right to do so.

This information is not centrally held.

Whilst the Short and Long Term Services (SALT) collection contains information on the number of requests for support relating to transferring to the care of adult social care services, we do not collect data around delays, needs or exact age.

The SALT collection relates to the social care activity of councils with adult social services responsibilities in England.

The Government is developing a new test and trace programme. This will bring together an app, expanded web and phone-based contact tracing, and swab testing for those with potential COVID-19 symptoms. This programme will play an important role in helping to minimise the spread of COVID-19 in the future, including for school-aged children.

The programme will include more traditional methods of contact tracing if a child, parent or guardian test positive. This could include, for example, direct discussion with parents and schools on recent contacts. The Government has recruited 21,000 contact tracers to support contact tracing and will recruit more if needed. They will play an important part in tracing the contacts of those with COVID-19, including school-aged children.

We are monitoring closely the risk that construction delays caused by COVID-19 might impact on our capacity to deliver free schools, including special free schools, planning to open in September 2020.

Where delays are putting at risk completion of sites by September, we are agreeing appropriate mitigations, including alternative temporary accommodation.

We remain committed to opening all free schools due to open this September, as planned.