Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has oversight of work on school buildings that is subcontracted by its contractors.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Departmental project managers oversee work on school building projects that are procured centrally by the Department. These projects are managed and monitored on a day to day basis by appointed Technical Advisors, who oversee project delivery including the performance of subcontractors. On site, the Technical Advisor’s Clerk of Works performs site based assurance over construction works, with oversight of work that is undertaken by sub-contractors.
Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department holds on the number of (a) nurseries, (b) primary schools, (c) secondary schools, (d) sixth form colleges and (e) all-through schools that have experienced construction delays that have postponed the planned opening date in each of the last five years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department aims to minimise the time that any free school spends in pre-opening. Officials work closely with schools and trusts to ensure they receive the support they need, as projects progress.
If the Department is not confident that a free school will be viable, sustainable, and successful, it will not hesitate to defer or cancel a project at any point during the pre-opening phase.
The Department monitors opening dates across all free school projects but does not record whether changes to the original expected year of opening are due to site issues or other concerns around viability and readiness to open.
Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department holds on the number of school rebuilding programme projects that have experienced construction delays of more than one month in each of the last five years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is transforming buildings at 500 schools over the next decade as part of its School Rebuilding Programme. The construction programmes of building projects in all Department programmes is monitored by the Department through programme management and project delivery teams.
In the four school rebuilding projects which have been completed, three were delayed more than a month against initial forecasts. These initial programme forecasts were made ahead of the impact of significant events that could not have been reasonably predicted and that affected the global market.
The Department has continuously improved its approach to building schools since the Sebastian James’ review. This identified that the Building Schools for the Future programme, introduced under the last Government in 2004, was overly bureaucratic and not designed to target poor condition, did not support high and consistent quality, did not use standardised specifications that work for education, and did not deliver value for money and economies of scale from central procurement and delivery, which are all things that are now prioritised when building schools.
Under the Priority School Building Programme (PSBP) this Government launched in 2014, whole schools were built one third cheaper per square metre on average than schools built under the Building Schools for the Future Programme. The Department has further built on this success in its School Rebuilding Programme, which is exceeding delivery timescales compared to PSBP, while delivering schools that will be net zero in operation. The Infrastructure and Project Authority has highlighted that our progress is very good.
Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 22 June 2022 to Question 18885 on Schools: Platinum Jubilee 2022, if he will hold discussions with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on applying the lessons learned from the roll out of covid-19 vaccinations to the distribution of the Platinum Jubilee book to schools.
Answered by Robin Walker
The department is working hard to distribute ‘Queen Elizabeth: A Platinum Jubilee Celebration’ to schools as quickly as possible. The distribution of the books is being managed by DK, as per their contract with the department. The majority of deliveries to schools in England have now been completed with 3,053,000 copies delivered as of 24 June 2022, including all books delivered to schools in Northern Ireland. The delivery process is on course to be completed by 11 July 2022 at the latest.
As we are nearing the final stages of the delivery process, a discussion with my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, is not needed.
Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many of his Department's ministers have been exempted from quarantine in a hotel after returning to the UK from a covid-19 red list country to which they have travelled for the purposes of conducting official business.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Ministers from the Department for Education have not claimed any exemptions from the requirement to quarantine in a managed quarantine facility that is required after returning from a red list country.
Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans the Government has to develop a national languages strategy.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department have a number of initiatives in place to promote the uptake of languages and to improve attainment. The English Baccalaureate (EBacc) performance measure, which includes languages, has seen the proportion of GCSE entries from pupils in state funded schools in a modern foreign language (MFL) increase from 40% in 2010 to 46% in 2018. The reformed National Curriculum now makes it compulsory for pupils in maintained schools to be taught a foreign language in Key Stage 2.
The £4.8 million MFL Pedagogy Pilot commenced in December 2018. It is managed by the newly appointed MFL Centre for Excellence and is run through nine school led hubs, to improve uptake and attainment in languages at Key Stages 3 and 4. We have also launched a pilot project in MFL undergraduate mentoring for secondary school pupils to drive up participation in the subject, specifically targeting areas of high disadvantage to extend access to languages for all pupils.
Recruiting MFL teachers is a priority for the government. The Department offers generous financial incentives for languages teaching, including scholarships in modern foreign languages worth £28,000, and tax-free bursaries typically worth up to £26,000. The Department is also working in partnership with Spain’s Ministry of Education and Vocational Training to deliver Spain’s Visiting Teachers Programme to provide schools with access to a pool of qualified teachers from Spain who are able to teach MFL. For the 2019/20 academic year, the programme will be open to secondary schools and also (as a pilot) to primary schools. In addition to this, the Teacher Subject Specialism Training programme aims to improve the subject knowledge of non-specialist teachers and returning teachers in MFL and to increase the number of hours taught.
The Department also launched the new Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy, which will attract new teachers to all subjects, including MFL.
The Department continues to promote the value of language qualifications to students who are choosing their GCSEs. The Department recently published and promoted a guidance leaflet[1] for parents, which explains why studying a language, as part of the EBacc, broadens opportunities in both education and employment. In February, the Department drew attention to the benefits of studying a language among 13-14 year olds through a social media campaign.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/english-baccalaureate-ebacc.
Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the potential long-term economic benefits of ensuring that children are protected from the effects of (a) abuse and (b) neglect.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The educational outcomes for children who experience abuse and neglect are markedly worse than for all children and these children face long term challenges in education and beyond. Three fifths (61%) of children starting to be looked-after during the year ending 31 March 2018 were identified as having a primary need of abuse or neglect[1]. The average Attainment 8 score for all looked-after children was 19.3 in 2017 compared to 44.5 for non-looked after children[2]. In addition, two fifths (39%) of all care leavers aged 19 to 21 were not in education, employment or training during the year ending 31 March 2018 compared to around 12% of young people of a similar age[3].
Research evidence suggests that the care system generally provides a protective factor for vulnerable children with early admission to care being associated with better educational outcomes than later entry[4]. This is why we have increased spending on the most vulnerable children by over £1.5 billion since 2010 and at the budget we announced an extra £410 million next year for social care, including children – alongside £84 million over the next five years to keep more children safely at home with their families.
[1] Children looked-after in England including adoption: 2017 to 2018: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2017-to-2018.
[2] Outcomes for children looked-after by local authorities: 31 March 2017: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/outcomes-for-children-looked-after-by-las-31-march-2017.
[3] Not in education, employment or training statistics quarterly brief: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-neet.
[4] The Educational Progress of Looked-After Children in England: Linking Care and Educational Data, Rees Centre Oxford, 2015.
Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information his Department holds on how much local authorities overspent on children’s services last year; and how much additional investment for children’s services was announced in Budget 2018.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Local authorities are required under Section 251 of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 to submit education and children’s social care budget and expenditure statements. This data is published in statistical releases annually. The most recent release shows a difference of approximately £1 billion in 2017-18 when their planned spend is compared to their actual spend.
At Autumn Budget, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced an extra £410 million to address pressures on adult and children social care services, along with £84 million over five years to support up to 20 local authorities to improve their social work practice and decision-making, enabling them to work more effectively with the most vulnerable children and their families. This builds on the £200 billion the government has already made available to councils up to 2020 to provide services in the best interests of local residents, including those for children and young people.
Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that local authorities have sufficient resources to deliver services to children and families.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Funding for local government services, including children’s services, is set initially in the Spending Review. My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, has announced that the next Spending Review will be in 2019 and that decisions about the future funding of children’s services will be taken in the round.
We are working with the sector both to develop a thorough understanding of children’s services costs and pressures and to help local authorities to innovate and reform services to achieve better quality and efficiency.
The government has listened to the sector, which requested additional funding for social care. That is why we have provided flexibility for £410 million in grant funding for social care in the period of 2019 to 2020 to be directed according to what local authorities consider to be their top social care priorities, including children’s social care.
In preparation for the Spending Review, and as part of the government’s review of relative needs and resources, new up-to-date formulas are being developed to ensure that funding distribution to councils is based on the best available evidence. The department and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government have commissioned an ambitious data research project from independent contractors to inform this work.
Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding local government receives to deliver children’s services.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Funding for local government services, including children’s services, is set initially in the Spending Review. My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, has announced that the next Spending Review will be in 2019 and that decisions about the future funding of children’s services will be taken in the round.
We are working with the sector both to develop a thorough understanding of children’s services costs and pressures and to help local authorities to innovate and reform services to achieve better quality and efficiency.
The government has listened to the sector, which requested additional funding for social care. That is why we have provided flexibility for £410 million in grant funding for social care in the period of 2019 to 2020 to be directed according to what local authorities consider to be their top social care priorities, including children’s social care.
In preparation for the Spending Review, and as part of the government’s review of relative needs and resources, new up-to-date formulas are being developed to ensure that funding distribution to councils is based on the best available evidence. The department and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government have commissioned an ambitious data research project from independent contractors to inform this work.