Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what representations her Department has received on the effect of Progress 8 on schools in white working class areas with high levels of deprivation.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department recently received correspondence from the Principal of a secondary school in Wythenshawe and Sale East on the perceived local effects of Progress 8. Officials will ensure the honourable member receives a copy of the Department’s response to the Principal.
Progress 8 is designed to recognise the progress made by all pupils across the ability range, compared to pupils nationally with similar starting points. By taking prior attainment into account, it encourages schools to focus on lower attaining pupils as much as their higher attaining peers and means that schools with a challenging intake can demonstrate that their pupils are making positive progress.
The Department understands concerns that schools with challenging intakes can have lower progress scores. That is why a range of additional contextual information is available on the performance tables website, including performance for different characteristic groups, such as disadvantaged pupils. Schools should not be judged solely on their performance data. Ofsted, the Regional Schools Commissioners and local authorities take a wide range of factors into account when considering school performance more broadly, including the make-up of a school’s cohort. There are therefore no plans at present to amend the Progress 8 methodology in the way proposed by the hon. Member for Wythenshawe and Sale East.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department plans to carry out an updated property data survey.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department have invested £5.6 billion since 2015 to maintain and improve school facilities, and rebuild or replace buildings in the worst condition. In addition, the £4.4 billion Priority School Building Programme is rebuilding or refurbishing school buildings in the very worst condition across the country. Local authorities, academy trusts and others responsible for school buildings conduct their own assessments of condition so that they can prioritise investment of capital funding to meet local needs.
The Department is undertaking the Condition Data Collection (CDC) programme, the successor to the Property Data Survey (PDS) programme, which is expected to be completed in autumn 2019. CDC will provide a high-level assessment of the building condition of all state-funded schools and will inform our approach to capital funding. Until then, the PDS remains the most up to date national dataset.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the National Audit Office report, Capital funding for schools, published in February 2017, what recent estimate his Department has made of the cost of returning all school buildings to satisfactory or better condition.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department have invested £5.6 billion since 2015 to maintain and improve school facilities, and rebuild or replace buildings in the worst condition. In addition, the £4.4 billion Priority School Building Programme is rebuilding or refurbishing school buildings in the very worst condition across the country. Local authorities, academy trusts and others responsible for school buildings conduct their own assessments of condition so that they can prioritise investment of capital funding to meet local needs.
The Department is undertaking the Condition Data Collection (CDC) programme, the successor to the Property Data Survey (PDS) programme, which is expected to be completed in autumn 2019. CDC will provide a high-level assessment of the building condition of all state-funded schools and will inform our approach to capital funding. Until then, the PDS remains the most up to date national dataset.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 26 March 2018 to Question 133410 on Schools: Finance, what criteria his Department uses for decisions to (a) allow, (b) refuse and (c) partially allow funding transfers.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
For the funding year 2018 to 2019, the schools block of the Dedicated Schools Grant is ring-fenced and local authorities can only transfer up to 0.5 per cent of their schools block funding to another block, if they have the approval of their schools forum. Local authorities were only required to submit a request to my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State if they wished to transfer more than 0.5 per cent out of the schools block, and/or if they did not receive support from the schools forum.
Decisions have been made on 27 requests, the attached table details the outcome of each request, categorised by the percentage transfer. There are no outstanding requests to transfer funding from the schools block to the high needs block.
Each request was assessed against the factors published in paragraph 122 of the schools revenue funding 2018 to 2019 operational guide available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pre-16-schools-funding-guidance-for-2018-to-2019. Decisions were made based on the evidence provided by the local authority for each element of their disapplication request.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which local authorities have (a) been granted permission to move (i) up to 0.5%, or (ii) in excess of 0.5% of Schools Block funding to High Needs Block funding, (b) been denied permission to move Schools Block funding to High Needs Block funding and (c) made a request to move Schools Block funding to High Needs Block funding but no decision has yet been made; and what criteria his Department uses to determine those applications.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
For the funding year 2018 to 2019, the schools block of the Dedicated Schools Grant is ring-fenced and local authorities can only transfer up to 0.5 per cent of their schools block funding to another block, if they have the approval of their schools forum. Local authorities were only required to submit a request to my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State if they wished to transfer more than 0.5 per cent out of the schools block, and/or if they did not receive support from the schools forum.
Decisions have been made on 27 requests, the attached table details the outcome of each request, categorised by the percentage transfer. There are no outstanding requests to transfer funding from the schools block to the high needs block.
Each request was assessed against the factors published in paragraph 122 of the schools revenue funding 2018 to 2019 operational guide available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pre-16-schools-funding-guidance-for-2018-to-2019. Decisions were made based on the evidence provided by the local authority for each element of their disapplication request.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of the removal of asbestos from the schools estate.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department takes the issue of asbestos in schools very seriously, and is committed to supporting schools, local authorities and academy trusts to fulfil their duty to manage asbestos safely.
The Department carried out a voluntary asbestos data collection of schools in 2016, and of the 5,592 schools that responded, 83.1% reported that asbestos was present.
The Department is following expert advice from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) that, as long as asbestos containing materials are undamaged, and not in locations where they are vulnerable to damage, they should be managed in situ.
The blanket and accelerated removal of asbestos in schools is potentially more dangerous and greater risk to pupils and staff. Asbestos will be removed over time as refurbishment works take place, and as school buildings are replaced though programmes like Priority Schools Building Programme.
The Department is currently running the Asbestos Management Assurance Process (AMAP) and expects Responsible Bodies for State-Funded Schools and Academies to participate in the AMAP. The Department intends to develop a fuller understanding of how asbestos in managed in the education estate through the AMAP.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment his Department has made of the prevalence of asbestos in school buildings; what steps his Department is taking to (a) manage the presence of asbestos in school buildings and (b) assess the suitability and safety of school buildings that contain asbestos.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department takes the issue of asbestos in schools very seriously, and is committed to supporting schools, local authorities and academy trusts to fulfil their duty to manage asbestos safely.
The Department carried out a voluntary asbestos data collection of schools in 2016, and of the 5,592 schools that responded, 83.1% reported that asbestos was present.
The Department is following expert advice from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) that, as long as asbestos containing materials are undamaged, and not in locations where they are vulnerable to damage, they should be managed in situ.
The blanket and accelerated removal of asbestos in schools is potentially more dangerous and greater risk to pupils and staff. Asbestos will be removed over time as refurbishment works take place, and as school buildings are replaced though programmes like Priority Schools Building Programme.
The Department is currently running the Asbestos Management Assurance Process (AMAP) and expects Responsible Bodies for State-Funded Schools and Academies to participate in the AMAP. The Department intends to develop a fuller understanding of how asbestos in managed in the education estate through the AMAP.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of proposals for school closures in West Northumberland on the provision of schooling in that area.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Local authorities (LAs) are under a statutory duty to ensure that there are sufficient schools in their area to meet the needs of the local population. This includes reviewing provision where populations have grown or declined. Where LAs have identified surplus capacity and/or the need to reorganise schools in their area, they have the power to close all categories of maintained school.
The LA must follow a well established statutory process when considering the closure of a school. This process includes a consultation period to allow those affected by the proposal to submit their views and comments.
Northumberland County Council is currently carrying out an informal consultation to seek views on a number of proposed options for the reorganisation of education provision in the west of the county.
Ultimately, it is the LA who makes the decision about whether or not to close a school, and the department has no direct role in the decision-making process.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the outcome has been of each application that local authorities have made to his Department to move funds from the schools block to the high needs block in 2018-19.
Answered by Nick Gibb
For the funding year 2018/19, the Department received 44 requests from local authorities to move funding from the schools block to the high needs block. A number of these requests were subsequently withdrawn by the local authorities and decisions were made on 27 requests. The list below details the 27 local authorities who have made this request and the outcome of each decision.
Local Authority | Outcome |
Barnsley | Full request not allowed, partial approval provided |
Bath and North East Somerset | Not allowed |
Bolton | Allowed |
Bournemouth | Revised request allowed |
Bristol | Allowed |
Bromley | Allowed |
Derby | Not allowed |
Dorset | Not allowed |
Hackney | Not allowed |
Hammersmith and Fulham | Not allowed |
Hartlepool | Allowed |
Hillingdon | Not allowed |
Kingston upon Hull | Not allowed |
Kingston upon Thames | Full request not allowed, partial approval provided |
Lambeth | Not allowed |
Middlesbrough | Allowed |
North Somerset | Allowed |
Northumberland | Allowed |
Oldham | Revised request allowed |
Poole | Allowed |
Rotherham | Not allowed |
South Gloucestershire | Allowed |
Southwark | Allowed |
Thurrock | Allowed |
Trafford | Allowed |
West Sussex | Allowed |
Wokingham | Not allowed |
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which local authorities have made an application to his Department to move funds from the schools block to the high needs block in 2018-19.
Answered by Nick Gibb
For the funding year 2018/19, the Department received 44 requests from local authorities to move funding from the schools block to the high needs block. A number of these requests were subsequently withdrawn by the local authorities and decisions were made on 27 requests. The list below details the 27 local authorities who have made this request and the outcome of each decision.
Local Authority | Outcome |
Barnsley | Full request not allowed, partial approval provided |
Bath and North East Somerset | Not allowed |
Bolton | Allowed |
Bournemouth | Revised request allowed |
Bristol | Allowed |
Bromley | Allowed |
Derby | Not allowed |
Dorset | Not allowed |
Hackney | Not allowed |
Hammersmith and Fulham | Not allowed |
Hartlepool | Allowed |
Hillingdon | Not allowed |
Kingston upon Hull | Not allowed |
Kingston upon Thames | Full request not allowed, partial approval provided |
Lambeth | Not allowed |
Middlesbrough | Allowed |
North Somerset | Allowed |
Northumberland | Allowed |
Oldham | Revised request allowed |
Poole | Allowed |
Rotherham | Not allowed |
South Gloucestershire | Allowed |
Southwark | Allowed |
Thurrock | Allowed |
Trafford | Allowed |
West Sussex | Allowed |
Wokingham | Not allowed |