Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what research they have carried out or commissioned to investigate the reported increase in absenteeism by pupils from schools.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what will be the total additional cost of the 6.5 per cent pay rise agreed for teachers.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government has accepted the School Teachers’ Review Body’s (STRB) recommendations for the 2023/24 teacher pay award in full. This means that teachers and head teachers in maintained schools in England will receive an award of 6.5%, the highest STRB award in three decades. The 2023/24 pay award completes the delivery of our manifesto commitment to raise starting salaries to £30,000. This will raise the status of the teaching profession and provide a pay offer that helps attract and retain the best teachers in the profession.
Back in March, the department set out its calculation that schools, on average, could afford a pay award of 4% from within existing funding. The department decided to fund the 2023 pay award from a lower affordability figure than that calculation: funding the costs of the pay award above 3.5%, on average, rather than above our 4% national affordability calculation. That matches the earlier figure in our written evidence to the STRB, which many schools used in their budget assumptions. Unions have confirmed that this ensures the pay award is properly funded.
The department is therefore providing additional funding equivalent to 3% of the pay award, or £525 million in the 2023/24 financial year and £900 million in the 2024/25 financial year. The estimated full cost of the 6.5% award, for all state-funded schools in England, would be £1.14 billion in the 2023/24 and £1.95 billion in 2024/25 financial years respectively.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the process by which a pupil becomes eligible for an Education, Health and Care Plan.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Education is a devolved matter and there are different systems for supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
In England, a child or young person is eligible for an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan if it is necessary for a local authority to make ‘special educational provision’ in accordance with such a plan. This test and other aspects of the decision-making process are set out in the Children and Families Act 2014. The statutory criteria for eligibility for EHC plans in England are not replicated in the other parts of the United Kingdom.
Departmental officials have regular dialogue with counterparts in the Devolved Administrations.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Barran on 30 March (HL6589), whether the expenditure outlined is additional expenditure to that already previously committed and budgeted.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Further to the response of 30 March, the department will substantially uplift the hourly rate paid to local authorities to increase hourly rates paid to childcare providers to deliver existing free entitlements offers. The department is providing £204 million of additional funding in 2023/24 and £288 million in 2024/25.
This funding is in addition to the £4.1 billion that the government expects to provide by 2027/28 to facilitate the expansion of the new free hours, and also sits on top of funding already announced for 2023/24.
This is new money, on top of the 2021 Spending Review announcement of additional funding of £180 million in 2023/24 and £170 million in 2024/25, compared to the 2021/22 financial year, and the further £20 million for 2023/24 announced on 16 December 2022.
The department is continuing to explore how we can support the sector to deliver the additional places that will be required. We will work closely with local authorities and providers to identify what needs to be in place to support this significant expansion in childcare provision, including capital requirements as well as workforce.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of how eligibility for an Education, Health and Care Plan compares to eligibility for Statementing for Special Educational Needs in devolved regions of the United Kingdom.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Education is a devolved matter and there are different systems for supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
In England, a child or young person is eligible for an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan if it is necessary for a local authority to make ‘special educational provision’ in accordance with such a plan. This test and other aspects of the decision-making process are set out in the Children and Families Act 2014. The statutory criteria for eligibility for EHC plans in England are not replicated in the other parts of the United Kingdom.
Departmental officials have regular dialogue with counterparts in the Devolved Administrations.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their latest assessment of additional resources required to enable all pupils to study mathematics up to the age of 18.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In April, the Department set out the first steps the Government will take towards building an education system in which all young people study mathematics up to age 18. This included the appointment of an expert advisory group made up of experts from academia, industry and frontline provision to build the evidence on what mathematics knowledge and skills it is most important for young people to possess, and to advise the Prime Minister and the Department on the appropriate next steps.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many state schools in the last ten years had grounds that were used for playing cricket; and what steps they are taking to increase access for state schools for participation in cricket.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not collect data about which sports pupils participate in on school premises during the school day.
Schools can organise and deliver a diverse and challenging PE and school sport activities which best suits the needs of their pupils. Factors influencing that decision include the spaces available along with the available equipment.
Where schools provide specific sports such as cricket, the department encourages them to draw on support from the relevant national governing body. The England and Wales Cricket Board offer a wide range of resources and age appropriate guidance and advice for delivering cricket in schools.
On 8 March 2023, the department announced over £600 million across the next two academic years for the Primary PE and Sport Premium, and £57 million up to March 2025 for the Opening School Facilities programme. Schools in England can use funding from these programmes to increase provision and raise the quality of sports such as cricket.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what support is available for families to meet the costs of school uniforms; and what information they collect on the cost and uptake of such support.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Rather than subsiding expensive uniform policies with financial assistance, the department published statutory guidance on the cost of school uniform to ensure uniform is affordable for all families. The guidance came into force in September 2022 and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cost-of-school-uniforms/cost-of-school-uniforms.
Schools must have regard to this guidance when designing and implementing their uniform policy. The guidance requires schools to ensure that their uniform is affordable and secures best value for money for parents.
There is no specific funding for schools to support families to meet the costs of school uniform, but schools may offer additional support in cases of financial hardship where they choose to do so.
The department does not collect information on the cost and uptake of support for families to meet the costs of school uniform.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with their counterparts in the devolved governments regarding the threat of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete to the safety of school buildings throughout the UK.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This Government has taken more proactive action on RAAC than any other in the UK. We have acted decisively and proactively to tackle this issue.
The Department regularly engages with the Devolved Administrations at both an official and Ministerial level. The Department offered Ministerial meetings with counterparts in the Scottish and Welsh administrations, and with officials in the Northern Irish administration on 31st August. The meeting was accepted by the Scottish Minister for Education, and by officials in Wales and Northern Ireland.
Since then, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has offered meetings with all Devolved Administrations to offer support and further discussions should they wish to introduce a similar approach to tackling RAAC in their school estates, such as a programme similar to the Department’s questionnaire and survey programme which has been running since 2022.
All the relevant case information has been shared with the Devolved Administrations. Most recently the Department held a meeting at official level on 13 September 2023.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the Full Time Equivalent number of teachers employed in state schools in England in each of the last five years; and what is the corresponding pupil teacher ratio for each of these years.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
Recent data shows that there are now over 468,000 full time equivalent (FTE) teachers in state funded schools in England. This is an increase of 27,000 (6%) since 2010. This makes the highest number of FTE teachers since the School Workforce Census began in 2010.
Information on the state funded school workforce in England, including the number of teachers and pupil to teacher ratios, is published in the annual ‘School Workforce in England’ national statistics release, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.