Asked by: Baroness Morris of Yardley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, of the 15 per cent of schools in England who excluded at least one child in 2016–17, what percentage of those schools were (1) maintained schools, and (2) academies.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Data from the National Statistics release on ‘Permanent and fixed-period exclusions in England 2016 to 2017’ shows that 3,063 (14%) of state funded primary, secondary and special schools had at least one permanent exclusion in 2016/17. The table below shows the proportion of these that are maintained schools and academies by school type. The data in the table below is also available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/permanent-and-fixed-period-exclusions-in-england-2016-to-2017.
| Number of schools with one or more permanent exclusion | % that are academies | % that are maintained schools |
State funded primary | 1,022 | 31% | 69% |
State funded secondary | 1,981 | 66% | 34% |
Special | 60 | 25% | 75% |
All schools | 3,063 | 53% | 47% |
Asked by: Baroness Morris of Yardley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to implement the recommendation in the Timpson review of school exclusion to establish "a practice fund of sufficient value, longevity and reach".
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
In its response to Edward Timpson’s review of school exclusion, the government set out its intention to establish a practice programme to build on the excellent practice identified by Edward Timpson.
This programme will embed effective partnership working between local authorities, schools, alternative provision, and other partners to better equip schools to intervene early for children at risk of exclusion and to ensure that the most effective provision is put in place for those who are excluded.
Asked by: Baroness Morris of Yardley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that sector experts are regularly consulted on the implementation of the recommendations of the Timpson review of school exclusion.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The department will take a collaborative and consultative approach in delivering the recommendations of Edward Timpson’s review.
Over the summer, we will work with education leaders to design a consultation on how to reform school accountability for children who are excluded, and how we can enable schools to fulfil new accountabilities through reform to commissioning and funding arrangements for alternative provision. This consultation will launch in the autumn.
The department will also consult widely in responding to several of Edward Timpson’s other recommendations, including the revision of guidance relating to behaviour and exclusions, on improvements to the national data on exclusion, and on possible changes to the arrangements for fixed term exclusion.
Asked by: Baroness Morris of Yardley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support local authorities in fulfilling their duties under section 436A of the Education Act 1996, in respect of children attending unregistered schools.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
In January 2016, we announced funding for Ofsted to establish a dedicated team of specialist inspectors to identify and inspect those suspected of operating unlawfully and take action to bring them into compliance with the law, including closing the school, or working with the police and Crown Prosecution Service as necessary.
Local councils have overarching responsibility for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children and young people, and, together with local safeguarding children board partners, they should be assessing any risks to children wherever they are educated. Statutory guidance outlining the responsibilities of local councils is attached and can be accessed at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/children-missing-education.
The government has been working with Directors of Children’s Services on the issue of unregistered schools, and in collaboration with them and with Ofsted have drawn up guidance on joint working between Ofsted, the department and local councils on tackling unregistered schools. We intend to publish the guidance in the near future. Where an unregistered school is identified, Ofsted take steps to share this information with the department and the local council. The department supports councils to use their powers under safeguarding or health and safety legislation to disrupt and tackle unregistered independent schools. Local councils have a duty to investigate where they suspect that a child in their area is suffering, or likely to suffer, harm. Where unregistered independent schools are identified, it is likely to be in the children’s best interests, in terms of both education and safety, for them to move as quickly as possible into properly regulated schools.
Asked by: Baroness Morris of Yardley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking to identify the number of unregistered schools.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
In January 2016, we announced funding for Ofsted to establish a dedicated team of specialist inspectors to identify and inspect those suspected of operating unlawfully and take action to bring them into compliance with the law, including closing the school, or working with the police and Crown Prosecution Service as necessary.
Local councils have overarching responsibility for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children and young people, and, together with local safeguarding children board partners, they should be assessing any risks to children wherever they are educated. Statutory guidance outlining the responsibilities of local councils is attached and can be accessed at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/children-missing-education.
The government has been working with Directors of Children’s Services on the issue of unregistered schools, and in collaboration with them and with Ofsted have drawn up guidance on joint working between Ofsted, the department and local councils on tackling unregistered schools. We intend to publish the guidance in the near future. Where an unregistered school is identified, Ofsted take steps to share this information with the department and the local council. The department supports councils to use their powers under safeguarding or health and safety legislation to disrupt and tackle unregistered independent schools. Local councils have a duty to investigate where they suspect that a child in their area is suffering, or likely to suffer, harm. Where unregistered independent schools are identified, it is likely to be in the children’s best interests, in terms of both education and safety, for them to move as quickly as possible into properly regulated schools.
Asked by: Baroness Morris of Yardley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they have taken to safeguard children in premises that have been confirmed by Ofsted as unregistered schools.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
In January 2016, we announced funding for Ofsted to establish a dedicated team of specialist inspectors to identify and inspect those suspected of operating unlawfully and take action to bring them into compliance with the law, including closing the school, or working with the police and Crown Prosecution Service as necessary.
Local councils have overarching responsibility for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children and young people, and, together with local safeguarding children board partners, they should be assessing any risks to children wherever they are educated. Statutory guidance outlining the responsibilities of local councils is attached and can be accessed at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/children-missing-education.
The government has been working with Directors of Children’s Services on the issue of unregistered schools, and in collaboration with them and with Ofsted have drawn up guidance on joint working between Ofsted, the department and local councils on tackling unregistered schools. We intend to publish the guidance in the near future. Where an unregistered school is identified, Ofsted take steps to share this information with the department and the local council. The department supports councils to use their powers under safeguarding or health and safety legislation to disrupt and tackle unregistered independent schools. Local councils have a duty to investigate where they suspect that a child in their area is suffering, or likely to suffer, harm. Where unregistered independent schools are identified, it is likely to be in the children’s best interests, in terms of both education and safety, for them to move as quickly as possible into properly regulated schools.
Asked by: Baroness Morris of Yardley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what checks are carried out on teachers working in unregistered schools to ensure that those teachers are suitable people to work with children.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Anyone who teaches, trains, instructs, cares for, or supervises children should have appropriate background checks undertaken by employers as part of their recruitment process, and would be eligible for a criminal records check. An unsupervised person undertaking these activities on a regular basis would also be eligible for a barred list check, as part of this process; and it is an offence for an employer to knowingly employ someone in such a role if they have been barred. It is equally an offence for that individual to undertake such activities.
In addition to a criminal records check, consideration of other available information, such as references from previous employers, would be considered good practice as part of any organisation’s recruitment decision and as part of their broader safeguarding policies.
Asked by: Baroness Morris of Yardley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the (1) shortest, (2) longest, and (3) average, time taken to determine an application to register a school.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The department’s guidance advises applicants that the process of registering an independent school can take around six months. The department does not hold records of the time taken to determine an application to register an independent school for all historical cases. However, for schools where the department has made a final decision on registration in 2017, the shortest timeframe was 10 weeks, the longest was 143 weeks, and the median average was 23 weeks. Applications can only be taken forward once they contain all the required information and can only be approved if the independent school standards are likely to be met once the school opens.
By law, free schools (both ‘presumption’ free schools and central free schools) must also be named on the independent schools’ register before they can open. In order to be added to the independent schools’ register, the Secretary of State must decide whether or not the school is likely to meet the relevant independent schools’ standards once it is open. To enable the Secretary of State to make this decision, Ofsted carries out a “pre-registration inspection” two or three months before the opening date. Schools cannot legally open unless they are registered.
Asked by: Baroness Morris of Yardley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many stand-alone academies have been placed by Ofsted into the requiring improvement or special measures categories.
Answered by Lord Nash
279 stand-alone academies have been judged to require improvement (including those judged to be satisfactory – the equivalent grade - under the pre-2012 inspection framework) or in special measures at their most recent Ofsted inspection. This is 14% of the stand-alone academies inspected. 1705 stand-alone academies (86%) have been judged by Ofsted to be outstanding or good. By way of comparison, 3178 maintained schools were graded as requiring improvement (including those graded as satisfactory under the pre-2012 inspection framework) or special measures (19% of the maintained schools inspected) and 13,565 (81%) were judged to be outstanding or good.
The strong accountability regime for academies allows the Department to tackle underperformance swiftly. In 2014 the Department introduced eight Regional Schools Commissioners (RSCs) to strengthen the oversight of academies and free schools. These RSCs, acting on behalf of the Secretary of State, can intervene by: bringing in additional expertise; challenging the academy trust to make changes to its leadership team; and issuing pre-warning notices and warning notices to drive improvement.
Asked by: Baroness Morris of Yardley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many sponsored academies have changed sponsor since 2010.
Answered by Lord Nash
30 academies have transferred to new sponsors since 2010 out of over 4500 academies, either at the request of the sponsor or due to fundamental concerns about the academy and/or sponsor performance.