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 timescale of the proposed roll-out of additional defibrillators for primary and special needs schools in England.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government announced on 17 July 2022 that it would be providing defibrillators to all state funded schools in England that did not already have them. The government committed to providing eligible schools with these devices by the end of the 2022/23 academic year.
The department created a new budget in 2022/23 and 2023/24 to fund the provision of defibrillators. This budget was created from a reprioritisation of departmental underspend. Deliveries to all eligible secondary schools is now complete with approximately 11,000 defibrillators delivered to over 8,500 eligible schools.
The department is on track to complete deliveries of defibrillators to the remaining primary and special educational needs and disabilities schools by the end of the academic year.
In addition, the government has agreed to provide funding of £1 million to design a grant scheme for the expansion of automatic electronic defibrillator provision, that increases the number and accessibility of publicly supported access to defibrillators.
It is estimated that 1,000 new defibrillators will be provided by the fund, with the potential for this number to increase, as successful grant applicants will be asked to match the funding they receive, either partially or fully.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government from which department's budget the roll-out of defibrillators for schools across England will be funded.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government announced on 17 July 2022 that it would be providing defibrillators to all state funded schools in England that did not already have them. The government committed to providing eligible schools with these devices by the end of the 2022/23 academic year.
The department created a new budget in 2022/23 and 2023/24 to fund the provision of defibrillators. This budget was created from a reprioritisation of departmental underspend. Deliveries to all eligible secondary schools is now complete with approximately 11,000 defibrillators delivered to over 8,500 eligible schools.
The department is on track to complete deliveries of defibrillators to the remaining primary and special educational needs and disabilities schools by the end of the academic year.
In addition, the government has agreed to provide funding of £1 million to design a grant scheme for the expansion of automatic electronic defibrillator provision, that increases the number and accessibility of publicly supported access to defibrillators.
It is estimated that 1,000 new defibrillators will be provided by the fund, with the potential for this number to increase, as successful grant applicants will be asked to match the funding they receive, either partially or fully.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to expand eligibility for the Sure Start programme.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government does not set budgets or eligibility criteria for Sure Start children’s centres in England. English local authorities have a duty under section 5A of the Childcare Act 2006 to ensure there are sufficient children’s centres to meet the needs of local families. More information can be found here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/21/section/5A.
Decisions on how best to meet the needs of the local population, including which children and families receive support, are for the council concerned.
Funding for children's services, including children's centres, gives local authorities the freedom to decide how best to target their resources and respond flexibly to local need. Local authorities must meet their children’s centre statutory duties through the funding made available via the local government finance settlement. Local authorities report actual and planned expenditure on children’s services, including children’s centres, through annual returns, which can be found here:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-local-authority-school-finance-data#local-authority-and-school-finance. In addition, other government funding, such as that for public health, adult skills training and the Supporting Families programme may also be used locally to support services delivered wholly, or in part, though children’s centres.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the budget for Sure Start in England in each of the past three years; and to detail (1) the budget for this year, and (2) any projected funding for future years.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government does not set budgets or eligibility criteria for Sure Start children’s centres in England. English local authorities have a duty under section 5A of the Childcare Act 2006 to ensure there are sufficient children’s centres to meet the needs of local families. More information can be found here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/21/section/5A.
Decisions on how best to meet the needs of the local population, including which children and families receive support, are for the council concerned.
Funding for children's services, including children's centres, gives local authorities the freedom to decide how best to target their resources and respond flexibly to local need. Local authorities must meet their children’s centre statutory duties through the funding made available via the local government finance settlement. Local authorities report actual and planned expenditure on children’s services, including children’s centres, through annual returns, which can be found here:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-local-authority-school-finance-data#local-authority-and-school-finance. In addition, other government funding, such as that for public health, adult skills training and the Supporting Families programme may also be used locally to support services delivered wholly, or in part, though children’s centres.
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 children in England are eligible to receive support from the Sure Start programme; and what percentage this represents of the relevant age cohort.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government does not set budgets or eligibility criteria for Sure Start children’s centres in England. English local authorities have a duty under section 5A of the Childcare Act 2006 to ensure there are sufficient children’s centres to meet the needs of local families. More information can be found here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/21/section/5A.
Decisions on how best to meet the needs of the local population, including which children and families receive support, are for the council concerned.
Funding for children's services, including children's centres, gives local authorities the freedom to decide how best to target their resources and respond flexibly to local need. Local authorities must meet their children’s centre statutory duties through the funding made available via the local government finance settlement. Local authorities report actual and planned expenditure on children’s services, including children’s centres, through annual returns, which can be found here:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-local-authority-school-finance-data#local-authority-and-school-finance. In addition, other government funding, such as that for public health, adult skills training and the Supporting Families programme may also be used locally to support services delivered wholly, or in part, though children’s centres.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address instances of child hunger during school holidays in the light of high food price inflation.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Free school meals (FSM) is an educational entitlement, and intended to support children while they are at school. Pupils do not receive FSM when they are not receiving education, including during the school holidays.
The department is funding over £200 million per year in the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme, which provides food and activities for disadvantaged children in England for four weeks over summer and one week each at Christmas and Easter. The Programme provides heathy meals, enriching activities, and free childcare places to children from low-income families, benefiting their health, wellbeing and education.
For those who require extra support, the government is providing an additional £1 billion of funding, including Barnett impact, to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund in England in the next financial year. This is on top of what we have already provided since October 2021, bringing total funding to £2.5 billion. In England this will be delivered through an extension to the Household Support Fund backed by £842 million, running from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, which local authorities use to help households with the cost of essentials.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address instances of child hunger during school holidays for those children who are entitled to free school meals.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Free school meals (FSM) is an educational entitlement, and intended to support children while they are at school. Pupils do not receive FSM when they are not receiving education, including during the school holidays.
The department is funding over £200 million per year in the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme, which provides food and activities for disadvantaged children in England for four weeks over summer and one week each at Christmas and Easter. The Programme provides heathy meals, enriching activities, and free childcare places to children from low-income families, benefiting their health, wellbeing and education.
For those who require extra support, the government is providing an additional £1 billion of funding, including Barnett impact, to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund in England in the next financial year. This is on top of what we have already provided since October 2021, bringing total funding to £2.5 billion. In England this will be delivered through an extension to the Household Support Fund backed by £842 million, running from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, which local authorities use to help households with the cost of essentials.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to bring forward any successor programmes to the National Tutoring Programme to enable pupils to catch up academically as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
Since the National Tutoring Programme began in 2020, over three million courses have been started. The department has invested more than £1 billion so that pupils can catch up through accessing high quality tuition.
The department has committed that tutoring will be embedded across schools in England by 2024. Tutoring will be a staple offer from schools to provide targeted support, using core budgets including the Pupil Premium, to ensure tutoring reaches pupils who will benefit the most.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to encourage schools to take part in the National Tutoring Programme so far; and what further steps they will take to increase this uptake.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
In the 2021/22 academic year, 87% of schools participated in the National Tutoring Programme (NTP). In the 2022/23 academic year, up to 19 January 2023, 66% of schools have participated so far. The department anticipates that the number of schools taking part will continue to increase throughout the year, as it did during the 2021/22 academic year.
The department has delivered a range of activities to raise awareness of NTP and encourage non-engaged schools to take part. This has included emails to schools, webinars, in person events and social media engagement. Practical guidance has been provided to support head teachers to implement tutoring and share best practice in case studies and blogs. The department offers a dedicated customer support desk to respond to queries on tutoring.
An outbound call campaign is underway, targeting schools that are not yet engaged. The purpose of the calls is to offer personalised support to senior leaders to understand what barriers they may be facing and advise how to overcome them. The department is using the insight gained from these phone calls to inform improvements to the wider NTP messaging strategy.
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 whether there are enough teachers to expand teaching of maths to all pupils up to the age of 18; and what steps they will take to rectify any gap.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
My right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, has set a new mission for all young people in England to study mathematics to age 18, equipping them with the skills they need for the modern economy. The department’s driving principle is to ensure that all young people are equipped with the right mathematics knowledge and skills to thrive, whatever their chosen pathway.
The department knows teachers already work tirelessly to deliver high-quality mathematics education. Rolling out mathematics to a substantially larger post-16 cohort will require a larger workforce, trained and equipped to teach young people the mathematics skills they need for their future careers. We will work closely with schools and colleges to deliver this.