Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department employs in-house photographers to capture images of Ministers undertaking their official duties.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department’s communications team includes a Digital Engagement and Creative Content team who create content to help communicate key messages to the public via social media feeds belonging to the Department. This content includes: photos, videos, graphics and animations. In addition, this can include occasional photography for Education Ministers undertaking their official duties.
Information about separate digital image files in the Department per minister is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many separate digital image files her Department holds per Minister in her Department undertaking official duties; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department’s communications team includes a Digital Engagement and Creative Content team who create content to help communicate key messages to the public via social media feeds belonging to the Department. This content includes: photos, videos, graphics and animations. In addition, this can include occasional photography for Education Ministers undertaking their official duties.
Information about separate digital image files in the Department per minister is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of specialist schools are approved (a) 1, (b) 2-3, (c) 4-5 and (d) more than 6 months after their first registration.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Specialist Schools Programme ended in 2011. Archive information on the programme is available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20100106023420/http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/specialistschools/.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the current waiting time is for the registration of new specialist schools; and what recent steps she is taking to speed up the process.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Specialist Schools Programme ended in 2011. Archive information on the programme is available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20100106023420/http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/specialistschools/.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will meet with providers of specialist schools to discuss the registration process for new specialist schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Specialist Schools Programme ended in 2011. Archive information on the programme is available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20100106023420/http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/specialistschools/.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many teachers in Lancaster and Fleetwood constituency have left the profession in the last (a) one, (b) two and (c) five years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
As at November 2022, the latest data available, record numbers of teachers entered the profession now totalling 468,400 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) teachers, of which 63,200 were in the North West and 9,800 were in Lancashire. Since 2010, England has seen over 27,000 more teachers in our schools.
Information on the school workforce, including the number of teachers leaving service nationally, is published in the ‘School workforce in England’ statistical publication here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
It is not possible to provide figures by parliamentary constituency. Over this period there has been a net increase in FTE teachers in both Lancashire Local Authority (from 9,179 to 9,788) and in the North West (from 60,926 to 63,247).
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the publication date of the School Teacher Review Body report on the ability of head teachers to plan their school budgets.
Answered by Nick Gibb
As part of the normal pay round process, the independent School Teachers’ Review Body has submitted its report and recommendations to Government on teacher pay for the 2023/24 academic year. The Department is considering the recommendations and will publish its response and the report in due course.
Funding for both mainstream schools and high needs, including the additional funding announced in the Autumn Statement, is £3.5 billion higher in the 2023/24 financial year, compared to the 2022/23 financial year. The Department provides these increases to school revenue budgets so that schools can cover cost increases in the year ahead, including to teacher pay.
Schools should plan for how teacher pay awards could be managed within this existing funding. It would be sensible for schools to consider the range of possible scenarios on pay that might materialise, and what the implications would be for their individual school.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average staff-to-student ratio was in secondary schools (a) nationally and (b) in Lancaster and Fleetwood constituency in (i) 2019, (ii) 2020, (iii) 2021 and (iv) 2022.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Information on the school workforce, including pupil to adult and pupil to teacher ratios at national, regional and Local Authority level, is published in the ‘School workforce in England’ statistical publication, which is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
The table below provides the pupil to adult ratio and the pupil to teacher ratio for all state funded schools in Lancaster and Fleetwood constituency for academic years 2019/20 to 2022/23.
Pupil to adult and pupil to teacher ratios for schools in Lancaster and Fleetwood constituency, by academic year 2019/20 to 2022/231
Academic year | Pupil to adult ratio2,4 | Pupil to teacher ratio3,4 |
2019/20 | 11.7 | 18.9 |
2020/21 | 11.7 | 18.9 |
2021/22 | 11.5 | 18.7 |
2022/23 | 11.1 | 18.4 |
Source: School Workforce Census.
1. Workforce data as at November and pupils data as at the following January. For instance, 2019/20 relates to November 2019 workforce and January 2020 pupils.
2. Pupil to adult ratio includes teachers and support staff (excluding administrative and auxiliary staff).
3. Pupil to teacher ratio includes all teachers.
4. The ratios are calculated using pupil numbers taken from the publication, ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’, which is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to help ensure that children who qualify for free school meals but (a) cannot physically attend school due to long-term medical conditions and (b) cannot eat meals provided by schools because of dietary requirements are able to receive free meals.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Schools have a duty to provide nutritious, free meals to pupils who meet the eligibility criteria. This includes registered pupils of state funded schools. Free school meal (FSM) provision should be made to eligible pupils either on the school premises or at any other place where education is being provided.
The Department expects schools to act reasonably in ensuring that their food provision accounts for medical, dietary, and cultural needs. The Department has published statutory guidance describing steps school may take, including the establishment of individual healthcare plans which may include special diets. This guidance is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/803956/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions.pdf#:~:text=On%201%20September%202014%20a%20new%20duty%20came,life%2C%20remain%20healthy%20and%20achieve%20their%20academic%20potential.
Local Authorities are funded to support children with special educational needs and disabilities, including those who are unable to attend school on a long term basis. The Department’s guidance on this can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/illness-child-education.
The Department does not plan to expand FSM to include pupils who are home or privately educated. The Department will continue to keep eligibility under review to ensure that these meals are supporting those who most need them.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will make an assessment of the affordability of (a) transport to school and (b) school uniform for families that are not eligible for support for those costs.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government understands that many people are worried about the impact of rising prices, with many households struggling to make their incomes stretch to cover the basics. The Government cannot insulate people from rising costs completely, but it is offering support to help people with costs such as childcare, bills and transport. The Government’s dedicated website provides more information about support with the cost of living. The information is available here: https://helpforhouseholds.campaign.gov.uk/.
The Department’s school transport policy aims to ensure that no child of compulsory school age is unable to access education because of a lack of transport. Local Authorities must arrange free travel to school for children aged 5 to 16 who attend their nearest school and cannot walk there due to the distance, route safety, or as a result of special educational needs, disability or mobility problems. There are additional rights to free travel for low income families aimed at helping them to exercise school choice. There are no plans to extend free home to school travel to all children.
Local Authorities spent more than £1.6 billion on home to school travel in the 2021/22 financial year. The majority of central Government funding for home to school travel is made available to Local Authorities through the Local Government Finance Settlement (LGFS), which is administered by the Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC). The Department for Education provides grant funding to Local Authorities as a contribution towards the cost of extended rights travel. This is just under £45.8 million in the 2023/24 financial year.
The Department has published statutory guidance on the ‘Cost of School Uniform’ to ensure that the cost of school uniform is reasonable and secures best value for money for all parents. The guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cost-of-school-uniforms. It is for the governing board of a school to decide whether there should be a school uniform policy and, if so, what that should be.
The guidance requires schools to ensure that their uniform is affordable and sets a number of requirements to help ensure that. These requirements include assessing the cost implications of their uniform policy and engaging with parents and pupils on cost issues.