Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has had discussions with Girls' Day School Trust on planned industrial action by members of the NASUWT and NEU over the Trust's plan to withdraw from the Teachers’ Pension Scheme.
Answered by Robin Walker
The department has not had discussions with the Girls' Day School Trust about its proposal to withdraw from the teachers’ pension scheme (TPS).
Independent schools participate in the TPS voluntarily and are therefore free to leave the scheme, following appropriate consultation with their staff and provision of alternative pension arrangements, if they wish to do so.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, on what date all university students will be able to return to campus and resume in-person teaching.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Following the review into when the remaining higher education students can return to in-person teaching and learning, the government has announced that the remaining students should return to in-person teaching no earlier than 17 May 2021, alongside Step 3 of the roadmap. Students and institutions will be given at least a week’s notice of any further return in accordance with the timing of Step 3 of the roadmap.
The government roadmap is designed to maintain a cautious approach to the easing of restrictions to reduce public health risks and ensure that we can maintain progress towards full reopening. However, the government recognises the difficulties and disruption that this may cause for many students and their families and that is why the government is making a further £15 million of additional student hardship funding available for this academic year 2020/21. In total we have made an additional £85 million of funding available for student hardship.
We are supporting universities to provide regular twice weekly asymptomatic testing for all students and staff on-site and, from May, at home. This will help break chains of transmission of the virus.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 20 January 2021 to Question 137247, whether the use of £256 million of existing funds by providers is ringfenced for hardship support; and how much new funding is ringfenced for student hardship support in relation to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
On the 2 February 2021 we announced that we are making available a further £50 million of hardship funding for this financial year, for higher education providers to use to support students in greatest need.
This funding can be distributed to a wide population of students, including international students impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak.
This funding is in addition to the £20 million of hardship funding made available in December 2020 and to the £256 million of Student Premium funding which higher education providers are also able draw on this academic year towards student hardship funds.
We shall continue to monitor the situation going forward to look at what impact this funding is having.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much additional funding has been allocated to schools in (a) Norfolk and (b) Norwich South constituency for health and safety adaptations during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Following last year’s Spending Round, school budgets are rising by £2.6 billion in the 2020-21 financial year, £4.8 billion in 2021-22 and £7.1 billion in 2022-23, compared to the 2019-20 financial year. This increase in funding will help schools with costs associated with the COVID-19 outbreak. As stated in our guidance, schools should use their existing resources when making arrangements for the autumn term. This guidance can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools.
This year, Norfolk is receiving an extra £25 million for schools, an increase of 3.8% per pupil. This takes total funding for the 2020-21 financial year in the local authority to over £507 million. Norwich South is receiving an extra £1.5 million for schools this year, an increase of 3.0% per pupil. This takes total funding for the 2020-21 financial year in the constituency to over £55 million.
Keeping schools, nurseries and colleges open is a national priority. The Department has announced a new COVID-19 workforce fund for schools and colleges to help them to remain open. It will fund the cost of teacher absences over a certain threshold for those schools and colleges facing high staff absences and significant financial pressures. Guidance on the claims process will be published shortly.
On Friday 4 December the Department updated the guidance for exceptional costs associated with the COVID-19 outbreak. These instructions are to help schools claim exceptional costs that were not claimed for during the first window, which closed on 21 July 2020. Guidance on exceptional costs is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/claiming-exceptional-costs-associated-with-coronavirus-covid-19/exceptional-costs-associated-with-coronavirus-covid-19--2.
Over 9 million items of personal protective equipment have been delivered to schools, colleges and universities as part of 50,000 one-off deliveries distributed by the Department of Health and Social Care to build resilience across the education sector to respond to any suspected cases of COVID-19 on-site. This was a one-off delivery with no cost to schools.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much additional funding has been allocated to schools in (a) Norfolk and (b) Norwich South constituency for the provision of personal protective equipment to keyworkers in schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Following last year’s Spending Round, school budgets are rising by £2.6 billion in the 2020-21 financial year, £4.8 billion in 2021-22 and £7.1 billion in 2022-23, compared to the 2019-20 financial year. This increase in funding will help schools with costs associated with the COVID-19 outbreak. As stated in our guidance, schools should use their existing resources when making arrangements for the autumn term. This guidance can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools.
This year, Norfolk is receiving an extra £25 million for schools, an increase of 3.8% per pupil. This takes total funding for the 2020-21 financial year in the local authority to over £507 million. Norwich South is receiving an extra £1.5 million for schools this year, an increase of 3.0% per pupil. This takes total funding for the 2020-21 financial year in the constituency to over £55 million.
Keeping schools, nurseries and colleges open is a national priority. The Department has announced a new COVID-19 workforce fund for schools and colleges to help them to remain open. It will fund the cost of teacher absences over a certain threshold for those schools and colleges facing high staff absences and significant financial pressures. Guidance on the claims process will be published shortly.
On Friday 4 December the Department updated the guidance for exceptional costs associated with the COVID-19 outbreak. These instructions are to help schools claim exceptional costs that were not claimed for during the first window, which closed on 21 July 2020. Guidance on exceptional costs is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/claiming-exceptional-costs-associated-with-coronavirus-covid-19/exceptional-costs-associated-with-coronavirus-covid-19--2.
Over 9 million items of personal protective equipment have been delivered to schools, colleges and universities as part of 50,000 one-off deliveries distributed by the Department of Health and Social Care to build resilience across the education sector to respond to any suspected cases of COVID-19 on-site. This was a one-off delivery with no cost to schools.