Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 3 November 2014 to the hon. Member for Huddersfield to Question 211964, what derogations from the Admissions Code have been allowed in 54 free schools and three academies; and what the demonstrable evidence is that such derogations benefit local children.
Answered by Edward Timpson
All academies and free schools must comply with the School Admissions Code. This ensures their admission arrangements are fair, clear and objective.
It is through the Funding Agreement that the Secretary of State has agreed different arrangements (‘derogations’ from the Code) for academies and free schools, but only in limited circumstances, where there is demonstrable evidence that it will benefit local children.
On opening, all free schools are permitted to allocate places outside of local authority co-ordination in their first year only; while all academy schools that have opened since 2012 can grant admissions priority to pupils eligible for the pupil and service premiums. The revised School Admissions Code currently before the House proposes extending this freedom to all state-funded schools.
In addition, we have granted school specific derogations in the following areas:
In one free school, we have agreed as a transitional measure that children in an annex of a nearby maintained school which closed would be transferred to the new free school without having to apply. This enabled those displaced children to access good quality local provision.
Three school specific derogations have been agreed for academies, as follows:
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to ensure that schools do not use charges for uniform, school trips and other activities as a means of selection.
Answered by David Laws
No child should be discouraged from applying to or attending a state-funded school due to the costs of uniform or school activities. The Department for Education has published clear guidance to schools on school uniform which advises schools to give high priority to ensuring the uniform is affordable for parents. We have also published guidance on charging for school activities which reminds schools of their statutory responsibilities regarding charging for school trips and other school activities.
The school uniform guidance is available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-uniform
The guidance on charging for school activities is available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/charging-for-school-activities
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to prohibit schools from taking a commission on the sale of school uniform to parents.
Answered by David Laws
The Department for Education’s school uniform guidance is clear that schools should not seek to profit from the sale of school uniform. Revisions made in September 2013 emphasise the importance of ensuring that uniform is widely available and affordable for parents. The guidance sets out that governing bodies should be able to demonstrate that they have obtained the best value for money from suppliers, and that any savings negotiated with suppliers should be passed on to parents wherever possible.
The school uniform guidance is published online at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-uniform
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Children's Commission on Poverty report, At What Cost? Exposing the impact of poverty on school life, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that poverty does not prevent children and young people taking full advantage of school life.
Answered by David Laws
The Government is committed to ensuring that all children, regardless of background, benefit from an education which allows them to achieve their full potential.
This is primarily being achieved by additional Government investment to ensure that poor children do not miss out on a good education. For example, through our pupil premium, worth £2.5 billion a year, we are helping schools to transform the way they educate disadvantaged children. We have invested £340 million to support cultural education and announced an additional £18 million funding boost for music education, giving thousands more disadvantaged pupils access to instruments. A recent Ofsted report showed that our policies are working, and the achievement gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers is closing.
From 1 September the Government extended provision of free school meals to all children in reception, year 1, and year 2. As a result, 100,000 more poor children are receiving a hot, healthy and nutritious meal every day, saving low-income families around £400 per year per child.
Together, these policies will help to achieve our goal of breaking the inter-generational cycle of poverty and closing the attainment gap for disadvantaged schoolchildren.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many new school applications have been processed by regional school commissioners; how many such applications were (a) approved and (b) refused; and what the reasons for such approval or refusal were in each case.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The regional schools commissioners (RSCs) have been involved in nine applications for new academies under the academy presumption (section 6A of the Education and Inspections Act 2006). RSCs do not make the decision about whether a new school is needed or not. This decision lies with the relevant local authority, and arises from the basic need for more pupil places. The RSCs’ role is limited to deciding who would be the best proposer to establish the new school.
In six cases the RSC approved the proposer recommended by the local authority. In three cases a different proposer was approved. In each case this decision was taken based on an assessment of the capacity, capability and performance of all proposers.
RSCs do not currently make decisions about free school applications.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many city technology colleges still exist; and how many such colleges have converted to Academy status to date.
Answered by Edward Timpson
There are three open city technology colleges. There are 12 open academies whose predecessor school was a city technology college.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many pupils in schools with city technology college status are looked-after children; and how this figure compares to other schools in their local authority areas.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The latest information on numbers of children looked-after in each school is for 2013. There were three schools with city technology college status for which information was returned on the spring 2013 school census. The information requested is provided in the table below.
Name of city technology college | BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology | Emmanuel College | Thomas Telford School |
Local authority | Croydon | Gateshead | Telford and Wrekin |
Number of looked-after children attending1 | 5 | x | x |
Headcount of children in school2 | 1,090 | 1,245 | 1,290 |
Looked-after children as a percentage of headcount | 0.6 | x | x |
Number of looked-after children attending all state funded secondary schools in local authority1,3 | 210 | 140 | 80 |
Total number of children attending all state funded secondary schools in local authority2 | 22,075 | 12,220 | 10,950 |
Looked-after children as a percentage of all those attending state funded secondary schools in the local authority | 1.0 | 1.1 | 0.7 |
Source: 2013 SSDA903 Children looked after data collection matched to the spring census 2013
Notes:
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to make national guidance on fair admissions which gives priority to looked-after children binding on city technology colleges.
Answered by Edward Timpson
All maintained and academy schools must comply with the School Admissions Code. This requires them to give highest admissions priority to looked-after and previously looked-after children.
The School Admissions Code does not apply, however, to city technology colleges (CTCs), including city colleges for the technology of the arts (CCTAs), which are independent schools set up under provisions originally within the Education Reform Act 1998.
Each of these schools was established prior to the introduction of a mandatory School Admissions Code, so the funding agreements put in place do not require them to give priority to looked-after or previously looked after children.
Any variation in those funding agreements has to be with the CTC or CCTA’s agreement.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many graduates from each Russell Group university applied to the Teach First programme in each year since 2010.
Answered by David Laws
The table below, supplied to the Department for Education by Teach First, sets out how many applications were received for the Teach First initial teacher training programme for each cohort since 2010 from applicants holding first degrees from Russell Group Universities.
Applications To Teach First | ||||
First degree university | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
University of Birmingham | 148 | 164 | 234 | 232 |
University of Bristol | 137 | 145 | 184 | 159 |
University of Cambridge | 222 | 241 | 272 | 236 |
Cardiff University | 65 | 86 | 107 | 141 |
Durham University | 185 | 180 | 263 | 260 |
The University of Edinburgh | 79 | 93 | 177 | 140 |
University of Exeter | 58 | 74 | 109 | 124 |
University of Glasgow | 34 | 22 | 64 | 75 |
Imperial College London | 106 | 90 | 68 | 70 |
King's College London | 68 | 80 | 101 | 136 |
University of Leeds | 172 | 267 | 318 | 358 |
The University of Liverpool | 85 | 123 | 147 | 147 |
London School of Economics (LSE) | 63 | 62 | 73 | 61 |
The University of Manchester | 216 | 248 | 353 | 318 |
Newcastle University | 105 | 90 | 135 | 153 |
The University of Nottingham | 194 | 189 | 244 | 262 |
The University of Oxford | 226 | 282 | 313 | 282 |
Queen Mary, University of London | 80 | 94 | 123 | 143 |
Queen's University Belfast | 17 | 17 | 61 | 65 |
The University of Sheffield | 116 | 124 | 204 | 226 |
University of Southampton | 42 | 55 | 98 | 121 |
University College London | 118 | 131 | 163 | 232 |
The University of Warwick | 122 | 181 | 247 | 256 |
The University of York | 116 | 135 | 210 | 190 |
Total Applications from Russell Group universities | 2774 | 3173 | 4268 | 4387 |