Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps to help increase awareness of school schemes that facilitate parents purchasing uniforms from other parents; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
In November 2021, the Department published statutory guidance to ensure that the cost of school uniform is reasonable and secures best value for money for parents. Schools and their governing boards must have regard to this guidance when developing and implementing their school and trust uniform policies. It is available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/cost-of-school-uniforms.
The guidance states that schools should ensure that second hand uniform is available for parents to acquire, and to make these arrangements clear on their website.
The Department has sought to raise parental awareness of this requirement through the Education Hub, which can be found at: https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2022/09/01/back-to-school-week-school-uniform-what-you-need-to-know/.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when project delivery at the Milestone School in Tewkesbury under the school rebuilding programme will commence; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The 239 schools that were announced in December 2022 as part of the School Rebuilding Programme, including The Milestone School, will enter delivery at a rate of approximately 50 per year, over a five-year period, from 2023.
The Department is currently undertaking due diligence on these schools prior to scheduling them, with schools prioritised for delivery according to the condition need of their buildings, readiness to proceed, and efficiency of delivery. The Department plans to write to all Responsible Bodies before the end of January 2023 to update on timescales and set out next steps.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria are being used to determine when project delivery will begin for schools as part of the school rebuilding programme; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The 239 schools that were announced in December 2022 as part of the School Rebuilding Programme, including The Milestone School, will enter delivery at a rate of approximately 50 per year, over a five-year period, from 2023.
The Department is currently undertaking due diligence on these schools prior to scheduling them, with schools prioritised for delivery according to the condition need of their buildings, readiness to proceed, and efficiency of delivery. The Department plans to write to all Responsible Bodies before the end of January 2023 to update on timescales and set out next steps.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what percentage of schools teach Domestic Science; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The subject of domestic science is not a part of the current curriculum. Aspects of the subject have been incorporated into the food technology part of the design and technology curriculum, and the healthy lifestyles topic within the personal, social and health education (PSHE) curriculum.
Information on the school workforce in England, including the number of subject teachers in state-funded secondary schools, is collected as part of the annual School Workforce Census each November. Information is published in the ‘School Workforce in England’ statistical publication at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
As of November 2021, of the 2,915 state-funded secondary schools that supplied data on the subjects taught by teachers, there were 1,472 schools that reported at least one teacher teaching food technology within the design and technology curriculum at Key Stages 3, 4 and 5. This equates to 51% of schools that supplied data.
There were 1,961 schools that reported at least one teacher teaching PSHE at Key Stages 3, 4 and 5. This equates to 67% of schools that supplied data.
There were 2,347 schools that reported at least one teacher teaching either food technology as part of the design and technology curriculum and/or PSHE at Key Stages 3, 4 and 5. This equates to 81% of schools that supplied data.
Subject teachers are any teacher timetabled to teach the subject for any period in a typical week in November and do not necessarily have a specific post-A level qualification. This timetabling does not cover an entire year of teaching. If there are variations in timetabling across the year, this is not covered in the data available to the Department.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her planned timetable is for starting work on schools that have been selected for the School Rebuilding Programme; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
161 of the 400 projects selected for the School Rebuilding Programme are in delivery. Buildings at the most advanced projects will be completed early this year. The schools announced in December 2022 will enter delivery at a rate of approximately 50 per year, over a five-year period from 2023.
The Department is currently undertaking due diligence on these schools. The Department will be writing to all Responsible Bodies with an update on timescales this month.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help encourage the take up of T-levels by schools; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Over 200 schools are either already offering T Levels, or plan to start delivery over the next two years. The department wants as many young people as possible to benefit from T Levels and are working with the Careers and Enterprise Company, Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge programme, academy trusts and other representative bodies to ensure that schools are aware of these high-quality technical education courses. Resources have been developed for teachers and careers advisers to help them understand T Levels, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/t-levels-resources-for-teachers-and-careers-advisers. The department has also strengthened Provider Access Legislation to specify that schools must provide at least six encounters with providers of technical education and apprenticeships for all pupils during school years 8-13, helping learners to understand and take up technical education options, such as T Levels.
There is extensive support available for providers. The department has made over £400 million capital funding available for high quality facilities and equipment, invested £240 million over the past 4 years to help providers prepare to deliver high quality placements, and invested £23 million since 2019 to help upskill the workforce. The department has published the process for registering to deliver T Levels from 2024. Information about how to register can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-register-to-deliver-t-levels-from-2024-to-2025-academic-year.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to increase the number of school places available for pupils with special educational needs; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The department is investing £2.6 billion between 2022 and 2025 to support local authorities to deliver new places and improve existing provision for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or who require alternative provision (AP). This represents a significant, transformational investment in new high needs provision. This funding will support local authorities to deliver new places in mainstream and special schools, as well as other specialist settings, and will also be used to improve the suitability and accessibility of existing buildings.
As part of this commitment, in March 2022 the department announced High Needs Provision Capital Allocations amounting to over £1.4 billion of new investment, focused on the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years. It is ultimately up to local authorities to determine how to best prioritise their funding to address their local priorities.
The £2.6 billion capital investment in high needs provision announced in October 2021 will also help to deliver up to 60 new special and alternative provision free schools. This is in addition to the 48 special free schools already in the pipeline and 90 special free schools already opened.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the number of children with special educational needs who do not attend school; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
Between 6 October and 4 November 2022, the department requested that local authorities aggregate data on electively home educated children and children missing education. This is to improve our understanding of these cohorts, including the number of these children who are on Education, Health and Care plans or who require special educational needs (SEN) support. This data is currently being analysed and will be published in due course. The department wants to give all children and young people, including those with SEN, the opportunity to thrive, with access to the right support in the right place and at the right time, to fulfil their potential and lead happy, healthy and productive adult lives.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will increase the amount of funding paid to mainstream schools for each pupil they have with special educational needs; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
Children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are supported in mainstream schools from the allocations of funding mainstream schools receive for all their pupils. These allocations are calculated under funding formulae that reflect the characteristics of the pupils in the school, including those with SEND.
Core schools' funding is £4 billion higher this year than last year. The additional funding announced in the 2022 Autumn Statement means it will rise by another £3.5 billion, on top of that, next year. Taken together, that means a 15% increase in funding in two years. The department will set out plans for the allocation of the additional £2 billion of funding shortly.
This extra funding, on top of significant increases already announced, demonstrates that schools are a key priority for the government, especially in the context of wider fiscal challenges.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the attendance record of pupils with special educational needs; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The overall absence rate for pupils with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan was 12.1% for the 2021/22 autumn and spring terms. For those with special education need (SEN) support, the overall absence rate was 9.7% for the 2021/22 autumn and spring terms, compared to 6.8% for pupils with no identified SEN. A further breakdown of the autumn and spring term attendance statistics for 2021/22 can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england-autumn-and-spring-terms.
Looking forward, the department has a comprehensive attendance strategy that has been implemented since the beginning of this academic year, to ensure that absence is minimised. The department recognises attendance improvement does not happen in isolation and we are making significant investment in the special education needs and disabilities (SEND) system.
Annual statistics on the absence of pupils with SEN are available on Explore Education Statistics, which can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england.
The table found here provides absence rates by SEN provision from 2018/19 and 2020/21: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/dbdff1dd-64aa-4742-6e80-08dac7adbea1.
Data for 2019/20 is not available due to the COVID-19 pandemic.