Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they consider that the plans to criminalise social workers, teachers and councillors and others who fail to act in the cases of child abuse will have an effect on recruitment to the caring profession and to service on local authority committees; and if so, what.
Answered by Lord Nash
The current level of recruitment to children’s social work is strong. Statistics, as of 30 September 2014, show that 26,810 children’s social workers were employed by English local authorities. This is equivalent to 24,620 full-time workers.
This Government prioritises the recruitment of social workers. In 2014-15, the Department for Education has provided bursaries and grants for social work students worth £81 million and funded two accelerated entry programmes: Frontline and Step Up to Social Work. These programmes aim to attract high calibre applicants into social work and applications to both programmes have been heavily over-subscribed. The Department is also incentivising new teaching partnership arrangements through a £2 million fund in 2015-16. This will enable social work employers to work hand in hand with universities to bring talented people into social work, provide them with high quality training and support them in work through continuous professional development.
The recruitment of high quality social workers is essential for providing the best support and care possible for vulnerable children. The Department believes that highly competent individuals will always act in the best interests of children. The Department has agreed to consult on extending the criminal offence of wilful neglect to cover social workers who fail to act in cases of child abuse and neglect. The potential impact on recruitment to caring positions will be considered fully in the light of consultation responses.
Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Nash on 20 January concerning the numbers of male and female teachers in primary and secondary schools (HL4276), in the light of their valuing diversity, what steps they have taken to improve the ratio of male to female teachers in primary and secondary schools; and whether they plan to take any action to redress the disparity.
Answered by Lord Nash
The Government has introduced a series of incentives to attract the very best graduates into teaching, and we are starting to see more top male graduates enter teaching. The proportion of those entering initial teacher training each year who are male has grown since this Government took office: 29% of entrants in 2014/15 are male, which compares favourably with the workforce overall, where 26% are male.
The Government has introduced a range of financial incentives to attract high-quality teachers; from 2012/13, the highest bursaries for initial teacher training (ITT) have been awarded to graduates with first or 2:1 degree classifications and for subjects in which it is traditionally difficult to recruit. In addition, we work in partnership with professional bodies to offer tax-free scholarships of £25,000 to those entering chemistry, computing, maths and physics ITT. The Government also continues to fund Teach First and, for 2015/16 ITT we have increased the number of places by 33%, from 1,500 to 2,000.
Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Nash on 20 January concerning the number of teaching assistants in primary and secondary schools (HL4277), what steps they have taken to improve the gender balance of male and female teaching assistants in primary and secondary schools; and what action they intend to take to correct the current imbalance.
Answered by Lord Nash
We value diversity in the workforce and want to attract high quality teachers. That is why we believe it is right that schools and not the Government should be responsible for the recruitment and appointment of teaching assistants. Schools are well placed to identify the best people with the necessary skills and knowledge regardless of gender. The Department for Education trusts schools to recruit teaching assistants in a fair and open manner and ensure that relevant equalities and employment legislation is adhered to.
Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Nash on 27 January concerning the shortfall of school places by 2023 (HL4305), whether the Department for Education has taken account of the net immigration figures between 1997 and 2014 in its planning for future school provision; and if not, why not.
Answered by Lord Nash
Local authorities are responsible for securing sufficient school places in their area. They are responsible for planning the number of places they will need in the future and they consider a number of factors when planning the number of places needed including rising birth rates, housing development, trends in internal migration and migration to England from elsewhere in the United Kingdom and from overseas. The Department for Education allocates funding to local authorities based on these forecasts.
The Department considers national population estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in its planning assumptions about the number of new school places that will be needed in the years beyond those for which there are local authority level forecasts - these include estimates of net migration. The ONS’s population estimates are available at:
Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of the expected shortfall of school places by 2023 they consider to be due to net migration between 1997 and 2014.
Answered by Lord Nash
The Government does not hold this data.
Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the latest figures available for the number of male and female teaching assistants in primary and secondary schools in England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Nash
The following table provides the full-time equivalent (FTE)[1] and headcount number1 of male and female teaching assistants in service in publicly funded primary and secondary schools in England, November 2013.
Education matters in Wales are a responsibility of the Welsh Government.
FTE | Headcount | |
Primary[2] [3] | 156,240 | 257,330 |
Male | 6,700 | 9,780 |
Female | 149,500 | 247,500 |
Secondary3 | 54,350 | 70,690 |
Male | 9,110 | 11,140 |
Female | 45,200 | 59,500 |
Teaching assistant numbers are published in table 3a of the statistical first release ‘School Workforce in England, November 2013’, published online at:
www.gov.uk/government/statistics/school-workforce-in-england-november-2013
[1] Figures are rounded to the nearest 10 teachers.
[2] Includes local authority maintained nursery schools.
[3] Includes gender unknown.
Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Nash on 16 January (HL4047) concerning numbers of male and female teachers in primary and secondary schools, what action they intend to take to increase the proportion of men to at least 40 per cent of the total number of teachers.
Answered by Lord Nash
We value diversity in the workforce but want the best people in the classroom regardless of their gender. Evidence shows that the quality of teaching is the single most important factor in schools that determines how well pupils achieve. Teaching continues to be a hugely popular career with more teachers in England’s classrooms than ever before and record levels of top graduates entering the profession. We are pleased that the quality of entrants to initial teacher training, as measured by degree class, remains high, with 17% of postgraduate entrants, a new record, holding a first class degree. The Government continues to take decisive action to ensure we have high quality teachers in classrooms across the country.
Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the latest figures available for the number of men and women teachers in primary and secondary schools in England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Nash
The table below provides the full-time equivalent (FTE)[1] and head count numbers[1] of male and female teachers[2] in service in publicly funded primary and secondary schools in England, November 2013.
Education matters in Wales are a responsibility of the Welsh Government.
FTE | Head Count | |
Primary[3] [4] | 209,850 | 242,320 |
Male | 30,580 | 32,430 |
Female | 179,160 | 209,770 |
Secondary[4] | 213,460 | 232,010 |
Male | 81,060 | 84,720 |
Female | 132,230 | 147,100 |
[1] Figures are rounded to the nearest 10 teachers.
[2] Includes qualified and unqualified teachers.
[3] Includes local authority maintained nursery schools.
[4] Includes gender unknown.
Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether their decision to re-introduce school milk resulted from a European Union Directive, regulation or proposal.
Answered by Lord Nash
No. The revised school food standards require schools to make milk available. The decision is not linked to a European Union Directive, regulation or proposal.