Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will make an estimate of the total number of years' experience held by all state (a) primary, and (b) secondary teachers in each year since 2010.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Information on the school workforce in England is collected as part of the annual School Workforce Census each November. Information is published in the ‘School Workforce in England’ statistical publication, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
This publication includes information on teacher retention by length in service. Information on the total number of years of experience of teachers is not currently available. This information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the median level of student debt.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The median amount that full time undergraduate higher education students starting their studies in the 2021/22 academic year are expected to borrow over the course of their studies is £ 41,300. For part time students the corresponding median amount is £6,300.
This forecast covers borrowers who received loans as English domiciled students studying in the UK, or as EU domiciled students studying in England. Students who do not receive a student loan are not included in the median calculation. The forecast is based on Student Loan Company actual loan outlay data from August 2021 to April 2022. The median contains forecasted loan amounts from April 2022 to July 2028.
Students will accrue interest on their loans that is not included in the median figure. Repayments are made based on a borrower’s monthly or weekly earnings, not the interest rate or amount borrowed. If a borrower’s income is below the relevant repayment threshold, or a borrower is not earning, repayments will stop. Any outstanding debt, including interest accrued, is written off at the end of the loan term with no detriment to the borrower.
Full details on the median amount coverage can be found in the table below. Previous forecasts for the mean average total loan amount can be found in Table 1.3 of the ’Student Loan Forecast for England’ publication, which is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/student-loan-forecasts-for-england. These forecasts will be updated to use the same data as described above at the end of June 2023.
| Median Loan Outlay Amount |
Full time Undergraduate | £41,300 |
Part time Undergraduate | £6,300 |
Foot notes:
1. Tuition fee cap has been frozen up to and including academic year 2024/25 in these forecasts
2. Coverage: Borrowers who received loans as English domiciled students studying in the UK or as EU domiciled students studying in England
3. Students who do not receive a student loan are not included in the median calculation
4. The forecast is based on actual Student Loan Company loan outlay data from August 2021 to April 2022. The median contains forecasted loan outlay from April 2022 to July 2028.
5. These figures are restricted to higher education undergraduate loans and do not include Advanced Learner Loans
6. Figures have been rounded to the nearest £100.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 20 July 2022 to Question 37614 on Schools: Buildings, which schools in Leeds East constituency had at least one construction element in (a) condition grade C and (b) condition grade D when that data was collated; and which of those schools (a) have already received funding from the School Rebuilding Programme and (b) are expected to receive funding from the School Rebuilding Programme in the next two years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Condition Data Collection (CDC) is one of the largest and most comprehensive data collection programmes in the UK’s public sector. It collected data on the building condition of government funded schools in England. It provides a robust evidence base to enable the Department to target capital funding for maintaining and rebuilding school buildings.
The key, high level findings of the CDC programme were published in May 2021 in the ‘Condition of School Buildings Survey: Key Findings’ report. This is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/989912/Condition_of_School_Buildings_Survey_CDC1_-_key_findings_report.pdf.
Individual CDC reports have been shared with every school and their responsible body to use alongside their existing condition surveys to plan maintenance schedules and investment plans. The Department plans to publish detailed school level CDC data. The Department is still preparing the data and will publish it as soon as possible.
Well maintained, safe school buildings are a priority for the Department. Our funding is directed both to maintaining the condition of the school estate and rebuilding schools. The Department has allocated over £13 billion for improving the condition of schools since 2015, including £1.8 billion committed this financial year.
The ten year School Rebuilding Programme (SRP) is condition led. 400 of the 500 available places on the programme have been provisionally allocated. A list of these schools and the methodology used to select them is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme-schools-in-the-programme.
The following table shows the constituencies specified that have schools or colleges selected for the SRP:
Parliamentary constituency | Schools selected for SRP |
Huddersfield | Greenhead College, announced February 2021 |
Rochdale | Kingsway Park High School, announced February 2021 Littleborough Community Primary School, announced February 2021 |
The 239 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 prior to scheduling them, with schools prioritised according to the condition of their buildings, readiness to proceed, and efficiency of delivery. The scope and funding for each project will be confirmed following detailed feasibility studies and condition surveys of buildings.
Where a school identifies significant safety issues with a building, that cannot be managed within local resources, the Department considers additional support on a case-by-case basis. This includes applications for Urgent Capital Support (UCS) from eligible institutions. Schools eligible for Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) can apply for UCS where there are urgent health and safety issues that threaten school closure and cannot wait until the next CIF bidding round.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the annual cost of free school meals.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The core allocations that schools attract through the National Funding Formula (NFF) include funding in respect of free school meals (FSM). The FSM factor is worth £470 per eligible pupil in 2022/23. This will increase to £480 in 2023/24. The factor values for each year are published on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-funding-formula-for-schools-and-high-needs.
The Department spends over £1 billion each year on FSM. This includes around £600 million on Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM), where the per meal rate has been increased from £2.34 to £2.41, and backdated to 1 April 2022, in recognition of increased costs.
The Department continues to keep FSM eligibility under review to ensure that these meals are supporting those who most need them.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to support schools in distributing period products to pupils who are learning from home during the covid-19 lockdown.
Answered by Vicky Ford
On 20 January 2020, the department launched a new scheme which makes free period products available for state-funded primary schools, secondary schools, and colleges in England. In December 2020, we announced that this scheme was extended for 2021.
This scheme is in place to ensure that no learner misses out on education due to their period. Schools and colleges should have period products available, should learners need them. They may choose to order products through this scheme or through an alternative route.
The scheme has remained in operation during partial school and college closures, and these organisations are still able to order a range of period products and distribute them to learners who need them.
We continue to work with our delivery partner, Personnel Hygiene Services Limited, to encourage engagement with the scheme. We have engaged with schools and colleges on social media, and via direct communication in email and newsletter form.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will allocate at least 50 per cent of the income from the Soft Drinks Industry Levy to food-related projects in schools.
Answered by Vicky Ford
In 2016, the government announced investments in several children’s health initiatives alongside the introduction of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy, including doubling the primary sports premium to £320 million a year from September 2017, and introducing the National Schools Breakfast Programme from March 2018.
The Spending Review 2020 has now concluded and confirmed the Department for Education’s overall budget for the 2021/22 financial year. In due course, the department will confirm how much funding from within that settlement has been allocated to these schools programmes for 2021/22.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of students of secondary school age who would be, due to lack of access to technology, unable to engage in remote learning in (a) Leeds East constituency, (b) Leeds (c) Yorkshire and the Humber and (d) nationwide.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government wants to do everything it can to support schools to deliver remote education. The Department has invested over £195 million to support remote education and access to online social care, delivering over 220,000 laptops and tablets during the summer term for disadvantaged children who would not otherwise have access to a digital device.
The Department is adding to this support by making over 340,000 additional laptops and tablets available to support children that might face disruption to their education. Since September 2020, over 100,000 of these have been delivered to schools.
The Department allocated a number of devices to each school based on how many devices they would need if the school closed fully. To arrive at this allocation, the Department used data on the number of pupils eligible for free school meals in each school along with an estimate of the number of devices the school already owns.
Attendance data suggests most schools are not closing fully, and are instead supporting small groups of children that are not able to attend school because they are self-isolating. The Department changed the number of devices allocated to each school to reflect this, because original allocations were based on a school’s total need should they fully close.
This more targeted approach to allocations mean as many schools and disadvantaged children as possible benefit from receiving a device in the event that their face-to-face education is disrupted.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of students of primary school age who, due to lack of access to technology, would be unable to engage in remote learning in (a) Leeds East constituency, (b) Leeds (c) Yorkshire and the Humber and (d) nationwide.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government wants to do everything it can to support schools to deliver remote education. The Department has invested over £195 million to support remote education and access to online social care, delivering over 220,000 laptops and tablets during the summer term for disadvantaged children who would not otherwise have access to a digital device.
The Department is adding to this support by making over 340,000 additional laptops and tablets available to support children that might face disruption to their education. Since September 2020, over 100,000 of these have been delivered to schools.
The Department allocated a number of devices to each school based on how many devices they would need if the school closed fully. To arrive at this allocation, the Department used data on the number of pupils eligible for free school meals in each school along with an estimate of the number of devices the school already owns.
Attendance data suggests most schools are not closing fully, and are instead supporting small groups of children that are not able to attend school because they are self-isolating. The Department changed the number of devices allocated to each school to reflect this, because original allocations were based on a school’s total need should they fully close.
This more targeted approach to allocations mean as many schools and disadvantaged children as possible benefit from receiving a device in the event that their face-to-face education is disrupted.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 20 May 2020 to Question 47377 on Children: Coronavirus, if he will publish the estimates referred to in that Answer of the number of eligible children that do not have access to a device.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is providing laptops and tablets to support disadvantaged children who would otherwise not have access and are preparing for examination in Year 10, receiving support from a social worker or are a care leaver.
The Department has allocated devices to local authorities and academy trusts based on its estimates of the number of eligible children that do not have access to a device. The Department estimated there were up to 220,000 eligible children without access to a device. These estimates were based on the proportion of children in receipt of Free School Meals, an estimate of private devices ownership and an estimate of existing devices held by schools which could be loaned out to meet the needs of these children.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 4 May 2020 to Question 41551, how many pupils who have been supplied with a computer or laptop for use at home during the covid-19 outbreak are (a) preparing for examinations in Year 10, (b) receiving support from a social worker, (c) a care leaver and (d) in pre-school.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government has committed over £100 million to support vulnerable and disadvantaged children in England to access remote education, including by providing laptops, tablets and 4G routers.
The Department is providing laptops and tablets to disadvantaged children who would otherwise not have access and are preparing for examinations in Year 10, receiving support from a social worker or are a care leaver. Where care leavers, children with a social worker at secondary school and disadvantaged children in Year 10 do not have internet connections, we are also providing 4G routers.
Local authorities and academy trusts are best place to identify and prioritise children and young people who need devices. The Department is agreeing the number of devices allocated to each local authority and academy trust based on its estimates of the number of eligible children that do not have access to a device.