Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of responsible bodies that have completed reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) surveys have responded that they do not know whether RAAC is present within school buildings for which they are responsible.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her Department's planned timetable is for completing the necessary rebuilding work for schools that require steel props or timber ceilings as a result of the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish the (a) capital support, (b) revenue support and (c) support for (i) portacabins and (ii) other temporary accommodation provided by her Department for each school affected by RAAC .
Answered by Nick Gibb
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish a list of the (a) number of portacabins currently (i) on-site and (ii) in-use and (b) dates on which each portacabin will be removed for every school affected by RAAC; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 27 April 2023 to question HL7130 on Teachers: Workplace Pensions, if she will publish a table of the dates on which Teacher Pension Scheme contribution rates for employers involved in the provision of private education have changed since 2003 including what the new rate was after each change.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The information is readily available at: https://www.local.gov.uk/our-support/workforce-and-hr-support/local-government-pensions/teachers-pension-scheme/historic-2.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 27 April 2023 to question HL7130 on Teachers: Workplace Pensions, if she will publish a table of the number of employers involved in the provision of private education which have (a) partially and (b) wholly withdrawn from the Teachers' Pension Scheme in each year since 2010.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The attached table lists the number of employers involved in the provision of private education which have (a) partially and (b) wholly withdrawn from the Teachers’ Pension Scheme in each year since 2010.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 27 April 2023 to Question HL7130 on Teachers: Workplace Pensions, if she will publish a list of employers involved in the provision of private education which (a) are or (b) have been since 11 May 2010 participants in the Teachers’ Pension Scheme.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The information is not readily available or held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what were the savings to the public purse of unspent free school meal allowances in the (a) 2020-21, (b) 2021-22 and (c) 2022-23 financial years; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department allocates funding to schools to support free school meals (FSM) provision, through their core budgets. In 2023/24, the funding rate for each pupil who is eligible for FSM stands at £480. In total, the Department spends over £1 billion each year on free meals, which now support over one third of pupils in England.
FSM are intended as a benefit in kind, rather than a cash benefit, and the Department’s primary interest is that schools meet their legal duties to provide nutritious free lunches to eligible pupils.
Schools have considerable freedom in how they deliver FSM, and it is important that pupils are claiming their free lunch each day. Schools and colleges should ensure pupils are not building up significant cash reserves on their accounts or regularly spending their allowances at other times of day without receiving their healthy lunch.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of allowing pupils who are eligible for free school meals to use an unspent daily allowance on a future day.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department allocates funding to schools to support free school meals (FSM) provision, through their core budgets. In 2023/24, the funding rate for each pupil who is eligible for FSM stands at £480. In total, the Department spends over £1 billion each year on free meals, which now support over one third of pupils in England.
FSM are intended as a benefit in kind, rather than a cash benefit, and the Department’s primary interest is that schools meet their legal duties to provide nutritious free lunches to eligible pupils.
Schools have considerable freedom in how they deliver FSM, and it is important that pupils are claiming their free lunch each day. Schools and colleges should ensure pupils are not building up significant cash reserves on their accounts or regularly spending their allowances at other times of day without receiving their healthy lunch.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate her Department has made of the amount of debt owed by families for school meals for the latest period for which data is available; what recent discussions she has held with (a) local authorities and (b) schools on this issue; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The latest published statistics show that over 2 million pupils are claiming free school meals (FSM). This equates to 23.8% of all pupils, up from 22.5% in 2022. Together with almost 1.3 million infants supported through the Universal Infant Free School Meal (UIFSM) policy, over one third of pupils receive a free meal in school.
The Department does not routinely collect information on the proportion of pupils that may be entitled to a FSM but do not make a claim.
The Department’s primary interest is ensuring that all pupils who are entitled to free meals take this offer up. We also want to make it as simple as possible for schools and Local Authorities to determine eligibility. The Department provides an Eligibility Checking System to make the checking process as quick and straightforward as possible for schools and Local Authorities. The Department has also developed a model registration form to help schools encourage parents to sign up for FSM and provide guidance to Jobcentre Plus advisers so that they can make Universal Credit recipients aware that they may also be entitled to wider benefits, including FSM.
The take-up rate of UIFSM currently stands at 85%. The Department has not formally assessed the proportion of infant pupils who are entitled to, but not registered for FSM. The Department encourages all families who meet the eligibility criteria to apply for FSM.
The Department also has not estimated the amount of lunch debt owed by families for school meals. The Government continues to monitor cost-of-living issues that are affecting families.