Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 7 January 2020 to Question 134 on Pupil Premium, when his Department plans to publish funding rates for the pupil premium in the financial year 2020-21.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department plans to confirm the funding rates for the pupil premium in the financial year 2020-21 shortly.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that teachers have the training necessary to teach the new Relationships and Sex Education curriculum from September 2020.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is investing in a central programme of support for schools to help teachers introduce the new subjects of relationships education (for primary aged pupils), relationships and sex education (for secondary aged pupils) and health education (for all pupils in state-funded schools). This programme will include a new online service, featuring an implementation guide, training materials, and resources that teachers need to teach the new subjects. We are working with expert organisations, schools and teachers to develop this support. There will also be training available for teachers through regional networks, offering opportunities to improve subject knowledge and build confidence.
We have also been working closely with over 1,600 schools who are acting on a voluntary basis as early adopters of the new subjects, so that we can support their journey, learn lessons and share good practice amongst all schools.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many 3-4 year old children are ineligible for 30 hours of free childcare as a result of (a) one parent and (b) both parents not meeting the minimum earnings threshold.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department aims to ensure parents have access to a range of affordable childcare, giving them increased flexibility in their working hours and helping children thrive in the crucial early years. The Department is planning to spend more than £3.6 billion to support our early education entitlements in 2020-21.
All 3-4-year-old children in England are eligible for the universal entitlement to 15 hours a week of early education. The additional 15 hours of early education a week, known as ’30 hours’, is available to families where both parents are working, or the sole parent is working in a lone parent family. To be eligible, each parent in a two-parent family, or the sole parent, must earn less than £100,000 a year and more than the equivalent to 16 hours a week at national minimum wage or national living wage (currently £6,800 a year). This also includes self-employed parents and parents on zero-hour contracts.
All children aged 4 at 31 August in England are entitled to a place in a reception class at school starting that September.
The Department for Education estimates that in January 2019, 530,000 3-4-year-olds were ineligible for the additional 15 hours due to one or both of their parents earning below the lower income threshold. This is estimated as follows (figures rounded to nearest 10,000):
The Department does not hold information on these estimated 530,000 children separated out as requested in parts a and b of the question.
There is support available for parents with childcare costs outside of the free early education entitlements. Eligible families can get help with 85% of their childcare costs through Universal Credit, subject to a monthly limit of £646 for one child or £1108 for two or more children. Further information can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit/what-youll-get. Families can receive help with the costs of childcare from the Tax-Free Childcare scheme.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what was the base rate of funding was for 16-18 year olds in 2020-21 prices, in 2009-10.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
The current 16 to 19 funding system, including the base rate arrangement, was introduced in 2013. The 16 to 19 base rate did not exist before this so it is not possible to provide a 2009-10 base rate at 2020-21 prices.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to his Department's press release, Raising expectations of children and parents, high standards for teachers and tackling bad behaviour: how schools in left behind areas can improve, published on 8 January 2020, whether he plans to fund Ofsted to trial a longer, deeper inspection approach with some of those schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is committed to tackling entrenched underperformance in schools wherever it exists.
Last September, following confirmation of the biggest funding boost for schools in a decade, totaling an additional £14 billion over three years, the Department announced that we will provide more support for persistently underperforming schools from high-performing, experienced school leaders. These mechanisms are now being put in place.
We also confirmed that we would work with Ofsted so that it can provide more detailed analysis on areas of improvement for these schools. We have been doing so and will be confirming details in due course. This announcement can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-drive-to-continue-boosting-standards-in-schools.
On 10 January, the Department also launched a public consultation on removing the exemption from routine inspection for schools previously rated outstanding by Ofsted. The aim is to lift the exemption from September 2020, subject to the consultation outcome and parliamentary approval. Ending the exemption will mean all parents have up to date information about every school and can be confident that their children’s schools are continuing to deliver the best education. The Department will provide additional funding for these inspections for 2020-21, and funding for subsequent years will be determined through the forthcoming Spending Review.
The press release can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/raising-expectations-of-children-and-parents-high-standards-for-teachers-and-tackling-bad-behaviour-how-schools-in-left-behind-areas-can-improve.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to his Department's news story of 4 January 2020, Free meals and summer holiday activities for children, what estimate he has made of the number of children who will be eligible for a free school breakfast as a result of the additional Government funding of up to £11.8 million to support disadvantaged families.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
The department is investing up to a further £11.8 million into the National School Breakfast Programme using funds from the Soft Drinks Industry Levy revenues. This additional funding will kick-start or improve sustainable breakfast clubs in up to a further 650 schools. The total investment into this programme over 2018-2021 will be up to £35 million which will benefit up to 2,450 schools.
A contract was awarded to Family Action in March 2018 and will run until March 2021. This contract is based on recruiting schools in the most disadvantaged areas of the country, including the department’s Opportunity Areas, to help ensure every child gets the best start in life. Our targets are therefore based on the number of schools we support, rather than targeting a specific number of children. Family Action have reported in the Food for Thought Progress Report 2019 that there are already more than 1,800 schools benefitting from the programme and estimate 280,000 pupils receiving a breakfast meal per day.
We will provide further information on the impact of the programme once the contract has concluded.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to his Department's news story of 4 January 2020, Free meals and summer holiday activities for children, what estimate he has made of the number of children who will receive a free school breakfast as a result of the additional Government funding of up to £11.8 million to support disadvantaged families.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
The department is investing up to a further £11.8 million into the National School Breakfast Programme using funds from the Soft Drinks Industry Levy revenues. This additional funding will kick-start or improve sustainable breakfast clubs in up to a further 650 schools. The total investment into this programme over 2018-2021 will be up to £35 million which will benefit up to 2,450 schools.
A contract was awarded to Family Action in March 2018 and will run until March 2021. This contract is based on recruiting schools in the most disadvantaged areas of the country, including the department’s Opportunity Areas, to help ensure every child gets the best start in life. Our targets are therefore based on the number of schools we support, rather than targeting a specific number of children. Family Action have reported in the Food for Thought Progress Report 2019 that there are already more than 1,800 schools benefitting from the programme and estimate 280,000 pupils receiving a breakfast meal per day.
We will provide further information on the impact of the programme once the contract has concluded.