Asked by: Andrew Stephenson (Conservative - Pendle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to extend funding for maintained nursery schools beyond the two years indicated in the consultation on the Early Years National Funding Formula, published in August 2016.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Maintained nursery schools make a very important contribution to social mobility. That is why, as we introduce new funding arrangements in the early years, we are providing local authorities with supplementary funding of £55m a year for maintained nursery schools for at least two years. This will provide stability by maintaining their current funding, and is part of our record investment in childcare – £6 billion per year by 2020.
We will say more about the funding of maintained nursery schools later in the autumn in our response to the consultation on an Early Years National Funding Formula. And we will consult the sector on the future of maintained nursery schools in further detail, including on what happens after this two year period, in due course.
Asked by: Andrew Stephenson (Conservative - Pendle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has considered funding maintained nursery schools under the School National Funding Formula instead of the Early Years National Funding Formula.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Maintained nursery schools make a very important contribution to social mobility. That is why, as we introduce new funding arrangements in the early years, we are providing local authorities with supplementary funding of £55m a year for maintained nursery schools for at least two years. This will provide stability by maintaining their current funding, and is part of our record investment in childcare – £6 billion per year by 2020.
We will say more about the funding of maintained nursery schools later in the autumn in our response to the consultation on an Early Years National Funding Formula. And we will consult the sector on the future of maintained nursery schools in further detail, including on what happens after this two year period, in due course.
Asked by: Andrew Stephenson (Conservative - Pendle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the total value of the repayments issued by the Student Loans Company to people who had overpaid their student loan was in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Student Loans Company (SLC) administers student loans for each of the UK Government Administrations. It collected £1.79 billion in the 2015-16 financial year in repayments on loans made in England. Statistics covering English loan borrowers are published annually by the SLC in the Statistical First Release (SFR) ‘Student Loans in England’: http://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/full-catalogue-of-official-statistics/student-loans-debt-and-repayment.aspx
Information on the value of English loan over-repayments that have been refunded by the SLC in each financial year can be found in Table 1 of the SFR.
Latest management information (as at April 2016) from the SLC shows that, in the tax year 2014-15, there were 66,100 English domiciled borrowers who had over-repaid their loans through PAYE tax collection.
The SLC informs borrowers who are within two years of completing repaying their loans that they may opt to make loan repayments by direct debit, rather than through the tax system.
Borrowers who take up the option to repay by direct debit will not over-repay their loans. If borrowers choose not to repay by direct debit, it is possible that they may over repay, as the SLC receives details of repayments made by borrowers from HMRC on an annual basis. We would encourage more borrowers to take up the direct debit option when they are near to the end of their loans.
Where borrowers have over-repaid, the SLC will contact them to tell them that they have a refund due and make arrangements to pay the money back to them. Any borrower who has over repaid can also contact the SLC at any point to have the money refunded to them.
Asked by: Andrew Stephenson (Conservative - Pendle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people who have already repaid their student loan in full are having loan repayments deducted from their pay.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Student Loans Company (SLC) administers student loans for each of the UK Government Administrations. It collected £1.79 billion in the 2015-16 financial year in repayments on loans made in England. Statistics covering English loan borrowers are published annually by the SLC in the Statistical First Release (SFR) ‘Student Loans in England’: http://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/full-catalogue-of-official-statistics/student-loans-debt-and-repayment.aspx
Information on the value of English loan over-repayments that have been refunded by the SLC in each financial year can be found in Table 1 of the SFR.
Latest management information (as at April 2016) from the SLC shows that, in the tax year 2014-15, there were 66,100 English domiciled borrowers who had over-repaid their loans through PAYE tax collection.
The SLC informs borrowers who are within two years of completing repaying their loans that they may opt to make loan repayments by direct debit, rather than through the tax system.
Borrowers who take up the option to repay by direct debit will not over-repay their loans. If borrowers choose not to repay by direct debit, it is possible that they may over repay, as the SLC receives details of repayments made by borrowers from HMRC on an annual basis. We would encourage more borrowers to take up the direct debit option when they are near to the end of their loans.
Where borrowers have over-repaid, the SLC will contact them to tell them that they have a refund due and make arrangements to pay the money back to them. Any borrower who has over repaid can also contact the SLC at any point to have the money refunded to them.
Asked by: Andrew Stephenson (Conservative - Pendle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support to find school places is available for British families with school-age children returning to the UK after a long period of time.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Any British national has the right to apply for a school place irrespective of where they live and any state-funded school must admit their child if they have space. Local authorities must provide information about all schools and available places in their area.
Asked by: Andrew Stephenson (Conservative - Pendle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what mental health support systems are in place in schools to tackle eating disorders and anorexia.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Education professionals have a vital role to play in raising concerns about eating disorders and anorexia, and other mental health issues, as well as providing support when such issues have been identified.
Schools should consider how to provide appropriate support to their pupils and they are able to decide on the most appropriate way to do this, based on their individual circumstances. One of the best ways is as part of a ‘whole-school’ approach and we have taken a range of actions to support them to do this, including being informed about eating disorders and anorexia.
We have funded guidance and age-appropriate lesson plans on teaching mental health in PSHE – which covers teaching about eating disorders and anorexia. Training for teachers on eating disorders and anorexia is available through MindEd, a free online portal which has been developed to enable all adults working with children and young people learn more about specific mental health problems and how to support them. We have also revised and updated our blueprint for effective school-based counselling.
However teachers are not mental health specialists, and can need specialist help to support pupils with eating disorders and anorexia. We have contributed to a £3m joint pilot between schools and specialist mental health services, to help schools draw on specialist support for their pupils, where needed.
To improve the specialist support available, the Government made available £150m in April 2015 for 5 years to enable specific improvements in the support available to young people with eating disorders. In 2016 -17, £30m of this funding has been allocated by NHS England to Clinical Commissioning Groups to improve community based eating disorder services.
Asked by: Andrew Stephenson (Conservative - Pendle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support sexual assault awareness education and training in schools.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Keeping children safe is a top priority for the government. All school and college staff have a responsibility to provide a safe environment in which children can learn, and they should be aware of the various forms of abuse so they are able to identify cases of children in need of help and support.
We have recently updated the statutory Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance. Schools and colleges must have regard to this guidance when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. The revised guidance requires schools to ensure their child protection policy covers peer on peer abuse, how the school minimises the risks of it occurring and what to do to deal with any incidents. The guidance also makes it clear that all forms of harassment must be dealt with and must not be dismissed as a joke or a normal part of growing up.
The revised guidance will come into force on 5 September 2016, for the start of the new school year (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education--2).
We are also clear that bullying, for whatever reason, is absolutely unacceptable. All schools are required by law to have a behaviour policy with measures to prevent all forms of bullying. Ofsted holds schools to account for how well they safeguard children and prevent bullying. As well as looking at schools records of bullying inspectors take into account:
o the views of pupils about the prevention of bullying, including online bullying and how the school deals with discrimination.
o the views expressed formally and informally by different groups of pupils, of their experiences of others’ behaviour and attitudes towards them and their understanding of the importance of such attributes in school and adult life.
Sex and relationships education (SRE) is compulsory in all maintained secondary schools and academies are expected to provide SRE as part of a broad and balanced curriculum.
Any school teaching SRE must have regard to Secretary of State’s Sex and Relationship Education Guidance (2000). The guidance makes clear that all sex and relationship education should be age-appropriate and that schools should ensure young people develop positive values and a moral framework that will guide their decisions, judgments and behaviour.
To support teaching about healthy relationships, the PSHE Association has developed non-statutory guidance for schools about the topic of consent, which was published in March 2015 and can be found at www.pshe-association.org.uk. We strongly welcome this guidance. The PSHE Association’s guidance will help teachers clearly establish the legal framework around consent and supports the government’s ‘This is Abuse’ campaign, which helps educate young people about damaging behaviours within relationships. ‘This is abuse’ was followed up this year by the £3.85 million “Disrespect NoBody” campaign, supported by Government Equalities Office and Home Office. The campaign aims to prevent the onset of domestic violence in adults by challenging attitudes and behaviours amongst teenage boys and girls that abuse in relationships is acceptable.
Asked by: Andrew Stephenson (Conservative - Pendle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to prevent sexual harassment in schools.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Keeping children safe is a top priority for the government. All school and college staff have a responsibility to provide a safe environment in which children can learn, and they should be aware of the various forms of abuse so they are able to identify cases of children in need of help and support.
We have recently updated the statutory Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance. Schools and colleges must have regard to this guidance when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. The revised guidance requires schools to ensure their child protection policy covers peer on peer abuse, how the school minimises the risks of it occurring and what to do to deal with any incidents. The guidance also makes it clear that all forms of harassment must be dealt with and must not be dismissed as a joke or a normal part of growing up.
The revised guidance will come into force on 5 September 2016, for the start of the new school year (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education--2).
We are also clear that bullying, for whatever reason, is absolutely unacceptable. All schools are required by law to have a behaviour policy with measures to prevent all forms of bullying. Ofsted holds schools to account for how well they safeguard children and prevent bullying. As well as looking at schools records of bullying inspectors take into account:
o the views of pupils about the prevention of bullying, including online bullying and how the school deals with discrimination.
o the views expressed formally and informally by different groups of pupils, of their experiences of others’ behaviour and attitudes towards them and their understanding of the importance of such attributes in school and adult life.
Sex and relationships education (SRE) is compulsory in all maintained secondary schools and academies are expected to provide SRE as part of a broad and balanced curriculum.
Any school teaching SRE must have regard to Secretary of State’s Sex and Relationship Education Guidance (2000). The guidance makes clear that all sex and relationship education should be age-appropriate and that schools should ensure young people develop positive values and a moral framework that will guide their decisions, judgments and behaviour.
To support teaching about healthy relationships, the PSHE Association has developed non-statutory guidance for schools about the topic of consent, which was published in March 2015 and can be found at www.pshe-association.org.uk. We strongly welcome this guidance. The PSHE Association’s guidance will help teachers clearly establish the legal framework around consent and supports the government’s ‘This is Abuse’ campaign, which helps educate young people about damaging behaviours within relationships. ‘This is abuse’ was followed up this year by the £3.85 million “Disrespect NoBody” campaign, supported by Government Equalities Office and Home Office. The campaign aims to prevent the onset of domestic violence in adults by challenging attitudes and behaviours amongst teenage boys and girls that abuse in relationships is acceptable.