Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of expanding his Department's review of education outcomes for children in need to consider (a) employment outcomes, (b) training outcomes, (c) housing outcomes and (d) health outcomes.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The department is committed to ensuring that all children, regardless of background, have the opportunity to fulfil their potential. To this end we have undertaken a broad programme of evidence gathering to review the outcomes of and support for Children in Need.
The scope of the review is focussed on educational outcomes, and we have no plans to extend this – however we recognise that the factors affecting these children and young people’s educational outcomes, such as the support they receive, may also lead to other poorer outcomes. That is why our March data publication set out our intention to understand the lifetime outcomes of Children in Need, including exploring the feasibility of matching the Department for Education’s Children in Need data with data from other government departments.
Children’s social care and schools have a central role in supporting Children in Need – it is therefore important for us to focus the review on what we can do now whilst making progress and working across government to understand more about other outcomes over the longer-term.
We recognise that there are times when children and families need additional support when experiencing difficulties in their day to day lives. Our new data shows that many families have received help from children’s services at times of difficulty over the three year period. In many cases these families have received the support they need to move on without further contact with children’s services.
We will spend the final part of the review considering what more we can do, in policy and practice, to support the change that is needed.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has carried out an assessment of the effect of (a) endometriosis and (b) other menstrual condition on the performance of children and young people in school; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
In 2014, the government introduced a new duty on schools to support pupils with medical conditions and published statutory guidance on this for schools and others to follow. The guidance can be found here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.
The guidance is clear that schools, local authorities, health professionals, commissioners and other support services should work together to ensure that children with medical conditions receive a full education. I met with the Health Conditions in Schools Alliance last week to discuss this. The guidance does not specify individual medical conditions schools should support and the department has not assessed endometriosis or menstrual conditions specifically.
For any child whose illness will prevent them from attending school, local authorities are responsible for arranging suitable full-time education.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools are in receipt of the Service Pupil Premium; and how much each such school receives.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
In the financial year 2017-18 there are 10,742 schools which are in receipt of Service Pupil Premium funding – totalling £22,515,000.
The Department for Education does not publish details of Service Pupil Premium allocations to individual schools, as doing so would risk making those pupils who are eligible for the funding individually identifiable.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much was spent from the public purse on the Service Pupil Premium in each year from 2011 to 2017.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The table below shows the total Service Pupil Premium funding allocated to schools by the Department for Education in each financial year from 2011 to 2017.
Financial year | Total Service Pupil Premium funding allocated to schools | Number of eligible pupils |
2011-12 [1] | £9,014,000 | 45,070 |
2012-13 [2] | £13,093,000 | 52,370 |
2013-14 [3] | £17,381,000 | 57,940 |
2014-15 [4] | £19,317,000 | 64,390 |
2015-16 [5] | £20,668,700 | 68,896 |
2016-17 [6] | £22,040,775 | 73,469 |
2017-18 [7] | £22,580,400 | 75,268 |
It should be noted that the rate of funding increased from £200 per pupil in 2011-12 to £250 per pupil in 2012-13; and then to £300 per pupil in 2013-14 and all subsequent years.
Eligibility for the Service Pupil Premium has also been extended since the funding was introduced. In 2011-12, only those pupils who were identified in the January 2011 school census as currently being Service children attracted the funding. In subsequent years, pupils have also been eligible for the Service Premium if they were recorded as Service children in any school census since January 2011 but no longer have this status (e.g. because their parent has left the armed forces); or if they are in receipt of a pension under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme or the War Pensions Scheme.
[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-2013-to-2014-final-allocation-tables
[4] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-2014-to-2015-final-allocations
[5] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-2015-to-2016-allocations
[6] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-conditions-of-grant-2016-to-2017
[7] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-conditions-of-grant-2017-to-2018
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the proportion of the schools budget spent on supply teachers in (a) Redcar and Cleveland local authority area (b) the North East and (c) England in the last 12 months for which figures are available.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The below data has been taken from ‘income and expenditure in academies in England 2015/16’ and ‘consistent financial returns 2015-16 data’ for maintained schools. It covers directly employed supply teachers, agency supply teachers and supply teacher insurance.
Academies
Area | School count | Total expenditure (£) | Total supply spend percentage |
Redcar and Cleveland | 19 | 53,618,000 | 3.05% |
North East | 222 | 742,382,000 | 2.52% |
England | 5,266 | 17,095,395,000 | 2.28% |
Maintained schools
Area | School count | Total expenditure (£) | Total supply spend percentage |
Redcar and Cleveland | 41 | 70,969,936 | 3.43% |
North East | 953 | 1,410,755,499 | 3.18% |
England | 16,774 | 27,728,910,048 | 3.26% |
In July 2017 we announced an additional £1.3 billion for schools and high needs across 2018-19 and 2019-20, in addition to the schools budget set at Spending Review 2015. This means funding per pupil for schools and high needs will be maintained in real terms for the next two years.
Alongside our substantial investment, we are committed to helping schools improve outcomes for pupils and promote social mobility by getting the best value from all of their resources. This includes providing support to schools – on issues like managing teacher workload, implementing flexible working, the recruitment of supply staff and the effective deployment of support staff – so that as much resource as possible is focused on enabling teachers to improve outcomes for pupils.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of parliamentary constituencies in England that have no further education institution that provides A-Levels.
Answered by Anne Milton
We do not hold data for further education (FE) institutions not providing A Levels by parliamentary constituency.
From the Single Individualised Learner Record for the 2015/16 academic year, there were 280 parliamentary constituencies where there were no learners participating in A Level courses in FE institutions based on the delivery location.
It is important to note that this does not include A level provision in school sixth forms. There are significantly more school sixth forms than FE institutions providing A levels.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what financial support her Department provides to students who travel to attend a further education institution that provides A-Levels where there is no such provision in their home parliamentary constituency.
Answered by Anne Milton
The department provides financial support through the 16-19 Bursary Fund to support young people who need financial help to participate in education.
The majority of the fund, approximately £130 million in the 2017/18 academic year, is allocated to education and training providers, who make awards to students to cover the costs of transport, books, food, equipment or any other education-related costs. It is up to institutions to set their own eligibility criteria for discretionary bursaries, based upon local barriers to participation and individual circumstances; and to decide how much each student will receive.
Students in defined vulnerable groups (in broad terms, young people who are most affected by disability; or who live independently and do not receive financial support from their families) may receive bursaries of £1,200 per year dependent on their circumstances and receipt of benefits. These can be used to support travel costs. Further details can be found at:
www.gov.uk/1619-bursary-fund and www.gov.uk/guidance/advice-for-young-people-16-to-19-bursary-fund-guide.
We also provide financial support via the Residential Support Scheme to the small number of students, aged 16 to 18, that require help with the costs of living away from home to participate in a study programme if the same or similar substantial Level 2 or Level 3 qualification is not available locally. In order to receive support students must meet the eligibility criteria (which includes an income assessment) and the course must be outside a reasonable daily travelling distance which is defined as more than 15 miles or a 2-hour return journey. Further details can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/residential-support-scheme.
For learners aged 19 and above, Learner Support is available to help those with a specific financial hardship that prevents them from taking part in learning. Providers have discretion to help learners meet costs such as transport, accommodation, books, equipment and childcare.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the cost to local authorities in England of using independent fostering agencies in each of the last five years.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Local council expenditure on independent (including private and voluntary) fostering service providers has been between 45 and 47 per cent of the total expenditure on fostering services between 2011 and 2016. This information can be found in the attached table. The 2016-17 data will be published in December.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of hours taken as long-term sickness leave by social workers in (a) Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, (b) the North East and (c) England in each of the last five years.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The department has not made an estimate for the number of hours of long-term sickness absence taken by social workers.
Information on the sickness absence rate for children’s social workers in local councils in England has been collected on a comparable basis as of 30 September each year since 2013. The most recent data for 30 September 2016 was published by the department on 16 February 2017 and is available online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-childrens-social-care-workforce.
The available data is shown below:
As at 30 September | Redcar and Cleveland | North East | England |
2013 | - | - | 4% |
2014 | 3% | 5% | 4% |
2015 | 3% | 4% | 4% |
2016 | 4% | 5% | 4% |
Note: Absence rates at 30 September 2013 have not been disseminated below national level due to concerns with data quality.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the employee turnover rate for social workers in (a) Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, (b) the North East and (c) England in each of the last five years.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Information on the turnover of children’s social workers in local authorities in England has been collected on a comparable basis as of 30 September each year since 2013. The most recent data was published by the department on 16 February 2017 and is available online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-childrens-social-care-workforce.
The requested data is shown below:
As at 30 September | Redcar and Cleveland | North East | England |
2013 | 19% | 14% | 15% |
2014 | 9% | 12% | 17% |
2015 | 18% | 13% | 16% |
2016 | 16% | 16% | 15% |
Note: turnover rates have been calculated using the number of leavers during the year ending 30 September as a percentage of the number of children’s social workers at 30 September.