The Department for Education is responsible for children’s services and education, including early years, schools, higher and further education policy, apprenticeships and wider skills in England.
Oral Answers to Questions is a regularly scheduled appearance where the Secretary of State and junior minister will answer at the Dispatch Box questions from backbench MPs
Other Commons Chamber appearances can be:Westminster Hall debates are performed in response to backbench MPs or e-petitions asking for a Minister to address a detailed issue
Written Statements are made when a current event is not sufficiently significant to require an Oral Statement, but the House is required to be informed.
| Date | Type | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Mar. 02 | Oral Questions | Oral Answers to Questions |
| Mar. 02 | Topical Questions | Topical Questions |
| Jul. 16 | Urgent Questions | Relationship Education in Schools |
| Feb. 12 | Written Statements | Children’s Social Care |
| Mar. 12 | Westminster Hall | Self-defence Training in Schools |
| Mar. 04 | Adjournment Debate | Children in the Care System: Sibling Contact |
| Current Signatures | Final Signatures | Title | Petition Deadline |
|---|---|---|---|
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187,902 Petition Closed |
School should start at 10am as teenagers are too tired Gov Responded - 22 Mar 2019 Debated on - 11 Feb 2019 |
4 Apr 2019 closed 1 year ago |
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Teenagers are so tired due to having to wake up very early to get to school. The Government should require secondary schools to start later, which will lead to increased productivity at school. |
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165,932 Petition Closed |
Change the GCSE English Literature exam from closed book to open book. Gov Responded - 6 Feb 2018 Debated on - 26 Mar 2018 |
18 Mar 2018 closed 2 years ago |
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Last year, lots of students struggled with GCSE English Literature as it was a closed book exam. Because of this many failed. How can they expect us to remember quotes from 15 poems, plus how to analyse them, plus remembering the whole plot, themes, characters and quotes from another book. |
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118,050 Petition Closed |
Give parents the right to opt their child out of Relationship and Sex Education Gov Responded - 9 Jan 2019 Debated on - 25 Feb 2019 |
18 Jun 2019 closed 9 months, 3 weeks ago |
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We believe it is the parent’s fundamental right to teach their child RSE topics or to at least decide who teaches them and when and how they are taught. We want the right to opt our children out of RSE when it becomes mandatory in Sept 2020. |
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Department for Education Select Committee Home Page
Select Committees are a formally established cross-party group of backbench MPs tasked with holding a Government department to account.
At any time there will be number of ongoing investigations into the work of the Department, or issues which fall within the oversight of the Department. Witnesses can be summoned from within the Government and outside to assist in these inquiries, and the Select Committee will occasionally publish formal reports of their findings.
| Date | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Apr. 03 | Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance for children's social care services | Guidance and Regulation |
| Apr. 03 | Direction issued to the Chief Regulator of Ofqual | News and Communications |
| Apr. 01 | Induction for newly qualified teachers (NQTs) | Guidance and Regulation |
Written Questions are submitted by Members of Parliament and the House of Lords to receive information or updates from a Department.
Departments are required to respond in a timely fashion and provide a response or requested information. Written Questions can compel detailed and specific information to be produced, and are frequently used as the source of news stories about the work of a Department.
| Date | Title | Questioner |
|---|---|---|
| 6 Apr 2020, 3:44 p.m. | Nurseries: Coronavirus | Daniel Zeichner |
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Question To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what financial assistance is being provided to nurseries advised to close due to the covid-19 outbreak; and what assurances he has received from insurers on providing cover to nurseries despite that infection not being a named disease at the time of cover. Answer (Vicky Ford) We are working hard to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 on all parts of our society, including individuals and businesses. Whilst individual insurance arrangements are a matter for providers to discuss with their insurers and we are unable to give legal advice on insurance cover, we understand that in many cases, the insurance that early years providers have will not cover them for income lost during COVID-19 related closures. That is one of the reasons why we announced on 17 March that we will continue to pay funding to local authorities for the early years entitlements for 2, 3 and 4-year-olds and that funding would not be clawed back from local authorities when children are unable to attend due to COVID-19. We expect local authorities to follow the Department for Education’s position and to continue paying all childminders, schools and nurseries, for the early years entitlements – even if providers have suspended delivery of those entitlements due to COVID-19. This protects a significant proportion of early years providers’ income. The government also announced a 12 month business rates holiday for private nurseries and set out a range of wider support for businesses and workers to reduce the impact of COVID-19, which many early years providers will benefit from. We will be keeping under close review what further support businesses and workers may require. Guidance on closures of early years settings, including support for workers and businesses, is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-early-years-and-childcare-closures/coronavirus-covid-19-early-years-and-childcare-closures#funding. |
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