Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students have been reached with a free breakfast as part of the National School Breakfast Programme so far in the academic year 2021-22.
Answered by Will Quince
The government is committed to continuing support for school breakfast clubs and we are investing up to £24 million to continue our national programme until July 2023. This funding will support up to 2,500 schools in disadvantaged areas, meaning that thousands of children from low-income families will be offered free nutritious breakfasts to better support their attainment and wellbeing.
The enrolment process is still underway for schools that wish to sign up to the programme. As of 22 December 2021, 1,245 schools had signed up and 847 schools had placed food orders. We will work with our supplier Family Action to monitor the data and consider suitable opportunities to share more information on the programme as it progresses, including in relation to the number of children and young people that are benefiting from the programme.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many school-based support staff are trained to aid children with special educational needs and disabilities.
Answered by Robin Walker
Information on the number of staff, including teaching assistants and other support staff, employed in state-funded schools in England is published in the ‘School Workforce in England’ statistical publication at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
In 2020/21, the full-time equivalent of 271,370 people were working as teaching assistants in state-funded schools in England. This figure is 49,889 (equivalent to 22.5%) higher than in 2011/12.
'Teaching Assistants' comprises those support staff based in the classroom for learning and pupil support, for example higher level teaching assistants, teaching assistants, special needs support staff, nursery officers/assistants, minority ethnic pupils support staff and bilingual support assistants.
Special support assistants are included in the teaching assistant totals and special educational needs coordinator assistants are included in the administrative staff totals.
Information on the number of school-based support staff trained to aid children with special educational needs and disabilities is not collected centrally.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of (a) teaching assistants and (b) other educational focused support staff employed in schools in England in the latest period for which figures are available.
Answered by Robin Walker
Information on the number of staff, including teaching assistants and other support staff, employed in state-funded schools in England is published in the ‘School Workforce in England’ statistical publication at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
In 2020/21, the full-time equivalent of 271,370 people were working as teaching assistants in state-funded schools in England. This figure is 49,889 (equivalent to 22.5%) higher than in 2011/12.
'Teaching Assistants' comprises those support staff based in the classroom for learning and pupil support, for example higher level teaching assistants, teaching assistants, special needs support staff, nursery officers/assistants, minority ethnic pupils support staff and bilingual support assistants.
Special support assistants are included in the teaching assistant totals and special educational needs coordinator assistants are included in the administrative staff totals.
Information on the number of school-based support staff trained to aid children with special educational needs and disabilities is not collected centrally.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has undertaken or commissioned a study or review of the capacity and effectiveness of (a) school based and (b) local authority based educational support staff.
Answered by Robin Walker
In 2019, the department commissioned research about the use and effects of teaching assistants in primary and secondary mainstream schools. The research was published in June 2019 and is available on the government’s website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-deployment-of-teaching-assistants-in-schools.
The research explores models of deployment in a range of primary and secondary mainstream schools in England, including the factors that affect deployment and reasons for changes to deployment.
Schools have the freedom to make decisions about the recruitment, training, use and pay for teaching assistants, according to their own circumstances.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how his Department plans to monitor and evaluate the sufficiency of the additional £1.8 billion allocated to school catch-up in the Autumn Budget 2021.
Answered by Robin Walker
The department is undertaking a range of monitoring and evaluation activities to assess COVID-19 catch-up activity, including for the additional £1.8 billion allocated in the autumn Budget 2021.
The department has commissioned Renaissance Learning, and their subcontractor, the Education Policy Institute, to collect data from a sample of schools. This will provide a baseline assessment of lost education and catch-up needs for pupils in schools in England, and to monitor progress over the course of the academic year 2020/21 and Autumn term 2021. We are seeking commercial agreements for further academic years which will help the department understand the impact of the additional £1.8 billion.
The department has a contract with Ipsos MORI, in consortium with Sheffield Hallam University and the Centre for Education and Youth to undertake a mixed-methods study design (including surveys of school leaders, interviews, and case studies) to examine how schools are tackling the issue of lost education. Results from the study will be used to understand how the catch-up premium funds have been spent and how best to support schools to tackle lost education.
The department is also undertaking evaluations of specific education recovery programmes to understand their effectiveness.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to Scope and the Disabled Children’s Partnership’s report entitled The Gap Widens, published in October 2021, which found that there is a £573 million funding gap in disabled children’s social care, what fiscal steps his Department is planning to take to support all families with a disabled child to access respite care and take short breaks.
Answered by Will Quince
I refer the hon. Member for Stockton North to the answer I gave on 20 October 2021 to Question 56976.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has in the next Comprehensive Spending Review to deliver ring-fenced funding to tackle the disproportionate social isolation affecting families with disabled children.
Answered by Vicky Ford
I refer the hon. Members for the City of Durham, Bath, and Stockton North to the answer I gave on 2 June 2021 to Question 7328.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 3 March 2021 to Question 157325, on the Academic Year and School Day, what progress his Department is making on examining a range of options to help schools use evidence-based interventions to support their pupils to make up lost learning as a result of the covid-19 outbreak; and when he plans to make an announcement on those options.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department appointed Sir Kevan Collins as Education Recovery Commissioner to oversee our long-term recovery plan. Sir Kevan will speak with parents, pupils, and teachers whilst developing this, and will review how evidence-based interventions can be used to address the impact COVID-19 has had on education. We will share further details in due course.
In June 2020, we announced a £1 billion catch-up package including a National Tutoring Programme and a Catch-up Premium for this academic year, and in February 2021 we committed to further funding of £700 million to fund summer schools, the expansion of our tutoring programmes and a Recovery Premium for the next academic year. Funding will support pupils across early years, schools, and colleges.