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Written Question
Academies: Assessments
Monday 7th October 2019

Asked by: Sandy Martin (Labour - Ipswich)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department will take to ensure the timely publication of (a) GCSE and (b) other test results by multi-academy-trust run schools.

Answered by Nick Gibb

Results for academies in multi-academy trusts (MATs) are published in the same way as other schools via the school and college performance tables. Results can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/school-performance-tables.

Key stage 4 results – which include GCSEs – will be published in October 2019 (provisional) and January 2020 (revised). Key stage 2 results will be published in December 2019, and 16-18 in October 2019 (provisional), January 2020 (revised) and March 2020 (additional measures).

The Department also publishes MAT performance measures alongside school-level performance measures. MATs must have at least three schools that have been with the MAT for at least three years to be included in the measures. Key stage 2 MAT measures will be published in December 2019, KS4 in January 2020, and 16-18 in March 2020.


Written Question
Sixth Form Colleges: Assessments
Monday 7th October 2019

Asked by: Sandy Martin (Labour - Ipswich)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance his Department has issued to teachers at 6th-form colleges on gaining timely access to pupils' previous school's test results in order to set meaningful targets for pupil improvement.

Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology

The government’s response to the Workload Advisory Group report ‘Making Data Work’ provides advice about proportionate use of data for pupil improvement including target setting. The report can be found at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/754349/Workload_Advisory_Group-report.pdf.

The department already provides digital systems that enable schools and colleges to access pupils’ prior attainment data.


Written Question
Primary Education: Free School Meals
Tuesday 16th July 2019

Asked by: Sandy Martin (Labour - Ipswich)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that the provision of free school meals to all infant school aged children does not adversely affect (a) the allocation of and (b) level of registration for pupil premium funding.

Answered by Nadhim Zahawi

We are determined to give every child, regardless of their background, the very best start in life. Free school meals are key to this and we want all parents whose children are entitled to them to apply for them. The continuing provision of free school meals to children from out of work families or those on low incomes is of the utmost importance to this government. We want to make sure as many eligible pupils as possible are claiming their free school meals, and to make it as simple as possible for schools and local authorities to determine eligibility.

To support this, we provide an Eligibility Checking System to make the checking process as quick and straightforward as possible for schools and local authorities. We have developed a model registration form to help schools encourage parents to sign up for free school meals. We also provide guidance to Jobcentre Plus advisers so that they can make Universal Credit recipients aware that they may also be entitled to wider benefits, including free school meals.

We understand there are some concerns that schools could be missing out on valuable pupil premium funding due to under registration for free school meals. However, school census data shows that the introduction of Universal Infant Free School Meals has not adversely affected infant registration rates.


Written Question
Children's Centres
Thursday 25th April 2019

Asked by: Sandy Martin (Labour - Ipswich)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of a reduction in the number of children’s centre places in local authorities on the number of children being taken into care in that area.

Answered by Nadhim Zahawi

​The information requested is not held centrally because no such assessment has been made. However, the National Audit Office’s recent report on children’s social care found no support for the hypothesis that a reduction in the number of children’s centre buildings would increase the use of child protection plans. The report can be accessed at: https://www.nao.org.uk/report/pressures-on-childrens-social-care/.


Written Question
Children's Centres
Thursday 25th April 2019

Asked by: Sandy Martin (Labour - Ipswich)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussion he has had with representatives of local authorities on the educational value to children of children’s centres.

Answered by Nadhim Zahawi

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education meets regularly with representatives of local authorities to discuss various matters related to the Department for Education agenda.


Written Question
Children's Centres
Thursday 25th April 2019

Asked by: Sandy Martin (Labour - Ipswich)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of Children’s Centre places provided in (a) 2018-19 and (b) 2019-20.

Answered by Nadhim Zahawi

Information on the number of funded entitlement childcare places provided in Sure Start Children’s Centres in 2018 is available in table 12 and 14 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/education-provision-children-under-5-years-of-age-january-2018.

Data for 2019 is not yet available.

Since 18 September 2017, data on Sure Start children’s centres has been supplied by local authorities via the department’s 'Get information about schools' database portal at: https://www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/.

Based on information supplied by local authorities as at 31 March 2019, there were 2,353 main Children's Centres and a further 700 additional sites (giving a total of 3,053 children’s centre sites) open to families and children providing children's centre services as part of a network.


Written Question
Bright Tribe Multi-academy Trust
Thursday 11th October 2018

Asked by: Sandy Martin (Labour - Ipswich)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the efficacy of the financial management of Bright Tribe Academy Trust.

Answered by Nadhim Zahawi

Bright Tribe Trust, along with all academy trusts, is subject to a rigorous system of oversight and accountability, allowing us to take action to deal with under-performance, including transferring schools to new trusts when necessary. The Education and Skills Funding Agency has worked with Bright Tribe Trust since 2015 to ensure the best outcomes for their pupils and academies.

More broadly, it is important to place the Bright Tribe case into context and emphasise that the financial health of the academies sector is strong; and in the most recent published financial statements, we found that more than 95% of trusts had no issues.


Written Question
Pupils: Per Capita Costs
Monday 14th May 2018

Asked by: Sandy Martin (Labour - Ipswich)

Question to the Department for Education:

How many schools will not receive a cash terms increase in their budget per pupil in 2018-19.

Answered by Nick Gibb

The Department are spending record sums on school funding, rising from £41 billion to £42.4 billion this year and £43.5 billion next year.

The national funding formula (NFF) gives every local authority more money for every pupil in every school in 2018-19 and 2019-20. To help in transition to the NFF, local authorities have flexibility on how this funding is distributed in their local area.


Written Question
Children: Day Care
Monday 19th March 2018

Asked by: Sandy Martin (Labour - Ipswich)

Question to the Department for Education:

What assessment he has made of the effect of the Government’s policy on funded childcare on the financial viability of childcare settings.

Answered by Anne Milton

By 2019-20, we will be spending approximately £6 billion a year on childcare support, including £1 billion to deliver 30 hours of free childcare and pay the higher funding rates that were introduced in April 2017.

These rates were based on our ‘Review of Childcare Costs’, which was described as thorough and wide ranging by the National Audit Office.

We are providing tailored support to providers on business sustainability and continue to monitor the implementation of 30 hours of free childcare.


Written Question
Pupils: Health
Friday 26th January 2018

Asked by: Sandy Martin (Labour - Ipswich)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department has to require all maintained schools to have a medical conditions policy and to display such a policy publicly on their school website; and if he will make statement.

Answered by Nadhim Zahawi

The government recognises the importance of supporting pupils at school with medical conditions. Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 introduced a duty that requires governing boards to make arrangements to support pupils with medical conditions. Most schools manage these issues well and take their responsibilities towards pupils with such conditions seriously, making sure that the medical needs of their pupils are being met.

The department works with organisations such as the Health Conditions in Schools Alliance to raise awareness of the duty, and recently promoted it through the department’s social media channels.

Governing boards should ensure that schools develop a policy for supporting pupils with medical conditions that is reviewed regularly and is readily accessible to parents and school staff. We keep the guidance under review, including in the context of school awareness, and the role it plays in securing accessibility of school policies.

This guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.