Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what has been the total cost of student loans to students from EU 27 countries in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Shadow Minister (Work and Pensions)
Information showing student loans paid to English higher education providers on behalf of EU domiciled students (UK/EU nationals, resident in the European Economic Area or Switzerland prior to studying) can be found in the Table 1, attached.
Statistics covering English loans paid to students on higher education courses are published annually by the Student Loans Company (SLC) in the Statistical First Release ‘Student Support for Higher Education in England’:
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which academy trusts manage more than five schools; and how many schools are managed by each of those trusts.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
As at 1 November 2017, there are 282 multi-academy trusts (MATs) that manage more than five schools.
Please find attached the list of MATs with the number of academies managed by each trust.
This information was sourced from the “Get Information About Schools” website on 1 November 2017. Further information can be found here: https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the total cost of establishing free schools in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The total cost of establishing a Free School includes the capital cost of acquiring a suitable site and construction or refurbishment of that site and pre and post opening grants to the school. The Department’s total capital costs of establishing Free Schools in each of the last five financial years are:
Financial year | Total capital costs |
2012-13 | £275m |
2013-14 | £704m |
2014-15 | £761m |
2015-16 | £931m |
2016-17 | £965m |
On average, the construction costs of newly built free schools are 29% lower (per square metre) than schools built under Building Schools for the Future and similar to schools built under the Priority Schools Building Programme. The department has reduced costs by taking advantage of central economies of scale and standardised building specifications.
We are in the process of making a routine update to the data that we hold on pre and post-opening grant allocations for Free Schools, University Technical Colleges and Studio Schools, following the opening of new schools in September. We will be publishing the latest data on the GOV.UK website in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action, if any, they have taken during the last 12 months in relation to the fraud allegations at the Haberdashers' Aske's Federation academy chain.
Answered by Lord Nash
During the last 12 months, the fraud allegations at the Haberdashers’ Aske’s Federation academy trust chain have been reviewed as a criminal investigation since first reported to the police in October 2012 by this multi-academy trust. The criminal case against the perpetrator of the fraud began week commencing 6 June at Woolwich Crown Court.
The Education Funding Agency (EFA) has engaged with the Trust from the outset and immediately requested that the Trust assess financial systems and risks. The Trust carried out an independent and thorough review of its internal control procedures and reported on this to the EFA. The Trust has taken all the appropriate action since the issue was first identified and the remaining key actions now rest with the Police and the Crown Prosecution Service.
Academies and free schools face tighter financial scrutiny than local authority maintained schools. They must publish annual, independently-audited accounts, of which there is no equivalent requirement on maintained schools. We take swift action whenever we identify financial irregularities.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they have taken during the last 12 months in respect of the Perry Beeches academy chain.
Answered by Lord Nash
During the last 12 months the Education Funding Agency (EFA) has investigated Perry Beeches The Academy Trust and found serious weaknesses in financial management and governance. The investigations resulted in the EFA issuing the trust with a Financial Notice to Improve (FNtI) on 8 March 2016, which is attached and can be found on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/financial-notice-to-improve-perry-beeches-the-academy-trust
The EFA also published two investigation reports into the trust which are published on GOV.UK. The first report, ‘Financial management and governance review: Perry Beeches The Academy Trust’ is attached and can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/financial-management-and-governance-review-perry-beeches-the-academy-trust.
The second report, ‘Investigation report: Perry Beeches The Academy Trust.’ is attached and can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/investigation-report-perry-beeches-the-academy-trust
We will continue to monitor the trust’s progress towards meeting the requirements set out in the FNtI and if we do not see significant improvement we will not hesitate to take further action. This is one of the key strengths of free schools and academies – when we spot failure we can take far swifter action than would happen in other schools.
Perry Beeches IV (a secondary free school, for children aged 11-19 years, which opened in September 2014) and Perry Beeches V (an all through free school, for children aged 4-19 years, which opened in September 2015) have received routine visits from Department for Education advisers to monitor educational performance and provide support. Perry Beeches III (a secondary free school, for children aged 11-19 years, which opened in September 2013) has received more extensive education adviser support because it was placed in special measures in May 2015.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Nash on 10 May (HL8227), how many allegations of fraud in respect of academies and free schools there were in (1) 2013–14, and (2) 2014–15.
Answered by Lord Nash
As stated in the answer to PQ HL8227, the Education Funding Agency does not classify allegations into fraud or other forms of irregularity until they have been investigated. The number of fraud allegations cannot therefore be isolated from other allegations of irregularity.