Asked by: Bob Seely (Conservative - Isle of Wight)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the average spend per pupil in schools on the Isle of Wight; how that average spending compares to the national average school spend per pupil; and what assessment his Department has made of the impact of designating the Isle of Wight an education investment area will have on school spend per pupil.
Answered by Robin Walker
Funding for schools in the Isle of Wight, through the dedicated schools grant (DSG) and the indicative figures for the schools’ supplementary grant for mainstream schools combined, is forecast to rise by £4 million in the 2022-23 financial year, an increase of 6.0% per pupil. This per pupil funding increase excludes ‘growth’ funding, which is additional funding, provided for schools seeing significant increases in pupil numbers. This takes total funding for the 2022-23 financial year in the Isle of Wight to over £83.2 million.
On top of this funding, over £100 million of funding will be made available to support Education Investment Areas, including the Isle of Wight.
The table below shows the funding per pupil in the Isle of Wight, compared to the national average:
Year | Funding per pupil in the Isle of Wight | National average funding per pupil |
2017-18 | £4,526 | £4,619 |
2018-19 | £4,542 | £4,630 |
2019-20 | £4,561 | £4,650 |
2020-21 | £4,740 | £4,845 |
2021-22 | £5,097 | £5,228 |
2022-23 | £5,401 | £5,531 |
The funding per pupil from the financial years 2017-18 to 2022-23 is through the DSG (actual funding received) but from the 2019-20 financial year onwards, excludes growth funding. To note, in the 2021-22 financial year, the funding per pupil includes the teachers’ pay and pensions grant that was rolled into the national funding formula (NFF) and for the 2022-23 financial year, additional funding from the supplementary grant is included into the funding per pupil figure.
Funding per pupil for the Isle of Wight has been lower than the national average because the NFF directs resources to schools with more pupils with additional needs, such as those indicated by measures of deprivation, low prior attainment, or English as an additional language, to help them meet the needs of all their pupils. In addition, schools in more expensive areas, like London, attract higher funding per pupil than other parts of the country to reflect the higher costs they face. This also affects the national average funding per pupil figures in the table above.
Asked by: Bob Seely (Conservative - Isle of Wight)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Centre for Social Justice’s report entitled Lost but not forgotten: the reality of severe absence in schools post-lockdown published in January 2022, what estimate he has made of the number of children who are absent from schools (a) by education authority and (b) who are eligible for schooling on the Isle of Wight as of 31 January 2022.
Answered by Robin Walker
Overall absence data is collected in the termly school census collection and figures for January 2022 are not yet available at this time. Full year figures for the 2020/21 academic year will be available from 24 March 2022, including by amount of absence.
The department currently publishes on-site attendance and COVID-19-related absence data at a national level on a fortnightly basis and at a local authority level on a half-termly basis. Data covering 31 January 2022 will be published routinely, on this basis.
The latest published local authority level data ends in Week 50 2021. During the 2021 autumn term, at a national level, on average 89.8% of pupils were in attendance on-site and 2.3% were absent for COVID-19-related reasons. Over the same period, on the Isle of Wight, 88.5% of pupils were in attendance on-site and 2.9% were absent for COVID-19-related reasons.
The full most recent national, regional and local authority data can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.
National level pupil data can be found in Table 1B of the underlying data files, whilst local authority data can be found in Table 1C.
Asked by: Bob Seely (Conservative - Isle of Wight)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of recent trends in pupil absences at schools in England.
Answered by Robin Walker
The daily education settings survey asks schools and colleges to report data such as on-site attendance and COVID-19 absence.
The most recent published data at national level is 20 January 2022 and can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.
Asked by: Bob Seely (Conservative - Isle of Wight)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department has to expand the provision of higher education in (a) the Isle of Wight and (b) other isolated areas and island communities.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
It is more crucial than ever before that we tap into the brilliant talent that our country has to offer, and make sure that university places are available to all who are qualified by ability and attainment to pursue them, and who wish to do so.
It was announced in December 2021 that a proposal led by Solent University, in collaboration with the Isle of Wight College amongst others, has been successful in the government’s £120 million competition to establish the next wave of innovative new Institutes of Technology across the country, offering higher technical STEM education and training mainly at levels 4 and 5.
Although there are no immediate plans to expand the provision of higher education to other isolated areas and island communities, this government is committed to a sustainable funding model that supports high-quality provision, which meets the skills needs of the country and maintains the world-class reputation of UK higher education.