Asked by: Chris Leslie (The Independent Group for Change - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what records his Department holds on the number of child contact services contracts entered into by local authorities in England and Wales on an annual basis; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Regarding the number of child contact services contracts entered into by local authorities in England and Wales, this information is not held centrally.
Asked by: Chris Leslie (The Independent Group for Change - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what investigations (a) her Department and (b) the Further Education Commissioner has undertaken into the educational impact and value for money of the Gazelle Colleges Group, and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The Gazelle College Group is an independent organisation, not funded by Government. Decisions taken by Colleges to join or fund independent sector bodies are for their Corporations as charitable trustees, who should ensure they receive value for money for any expenditure incurred.
Asked by: Chris Leslie (The Independent Group for Change - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how existing schools embedded in hospitals for pupils with medical needs will be supported financially if planned changes to the commissioning of alternative provision proceed; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Edward Timpson
We will announce more detail on the funding for alternative provision under the new commissioning arrangements in due course. We are mindful of the diverse range of provision which comes under the banner of alternative provision, and the particular logistical and geographical issues related to hospital schools.
Asked by: Chris Leslie (The Independent Group for Change - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will undertake an assessment of the costs and benefits to the community in Nottingham of re-establishing a motor project on the Wheelbase site in Sneinton.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Assessing the costs and benefits to the community is a local issue. Funding for alternative provision is delegated to local authorities within their high needs budgets so that they can determine the provision needed for children and young people in their area.
Local authorities also have duties to secure sufficient suitable education and training provision for all 16-19 year olds, and to support them to participate. Where gaps in provision are identified, the Education Funding Agency will either fill those places through negotiation with existing providers or run a competitive tender.
Asked by: Chris Leslie (The Independent Group for Change - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 128 of her Department's Annual Report and Accounts 2013-14, HC 745, what the reasons are for the £466.7 million expenditure listed under other expenditure.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Academies provide the Department with an annual return which reports their expenditure in various categories, such as staff salaries, utilities or catering. Some expenditure is incurred that is difficult to categorise, and is therefore collated as ‘other expenditure’. Examples include some insurance costs, and PFI charges.
For the 2013-14 Department for Education Group Annual Report and Accounts, this ‘other expenditure’ was £466.7 million.
We are working to improve our sector reporting to reduce this figure and improve transparency. It should be noted that this year we reduced our reliance on the ‘other expenditure’ classification from £783.2m in 12-13 to £466.7m in 13-14, despite the significant increase in the number of academies.
Asked by: Chris Leslie (The Independent Group for Change - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 128 of her Department's Annual Report and Accounts 2013-14, HC 745, what the reasons are for the increace in consultancy costs compared to the previous financial year.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Auditors’ and educational consultancy remunerations have increased in 2013-14 to reflect the increasing number of academies consolidated into the Department for Education’s accounts. In 2013-14, 2,585 Academy Trusts were consolidated into the Department’s accounts (2012-13: 2,108 Academy Trusts).
Audit fees are costs incurred by Academy Trusts in fulfilling their statutory duty of ensuring that their financial statements are audited whilst non-audit fees may include fees for preparing statutory accounts and management accounts, internal audit and systems check and payroll preparation.
Asked by: Chris Leslie (The Independent Group for Change - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 128 of her Department's Annual Report and Accounts 2013-14, HC 745, what the reasons are for the increase in auditors' remuneration compared to the previous financial year.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Auditors’ and educational consultancy remunerations have increased in 2013-14 to reflect the increasing number of academies consolidated into the Department for Education’s accounts. In 2013-14, 2,585 Academy Trusts were consolidated into the Department’s accounts (2012-13: 2,108 Academy Trusts).
Audit fees are costs incurred by Academy Trusts in fulfilling their statutory duty of ensuring that their financial statements are audited whilst non-audit fees may include fees for preparing statutory accounts and management accounts, internal audit and systems check and payroll preparation.
Asked by: Chris Leslie (The Independent Group for Change - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 128 of her Department's Annual Report and Accounts 2013-14, HC 745, what the reasons are for the increase in the cost of other office services since the previous financial year.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department for Education reported £1,179 million for ‘other office expenditure’ in its 2013-14 accounts, an increase of £672.6 million compared to 2012-13. The expenditure disclosed relates exclusively to the Department’s academy trusts and is sourced from the academy trusts’ own accounts.
The increase arises for two reasons, the first being the growth in academy numbers since 2012-13 (an increase of 1082 academies since March 2013 to 3905 in March 2014).
Secondly, academy trust costs are reported slightly differently in the Department’s 2012-13 and 2013-14 accounts. This is not unusual; we have only consolidated accounts for two years and we are working at improving the transparency of expenditure. For example, some costs reported under the caption ‘other expenditure’ in 2012-13 have now been included under the heading ‘other office expenditure’ in 2013-14.
Asked by: Chris Leslie (The Independent Group for Change - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the reasons were for the cash losses, fruitless payments and write-offs worth more than £100,000 referred to on page 156 of her Department's Annual Report and Accounts, 2013-14, HC 745.
Answered by Nick Gibb
There are three instances of individual losses over £100,000:
St. Aldhelm’s Academy, £1.21 million: as disclosed in the Department’s accounts, the academy trust suffered a loss as a result of a misdirection of a payment into the wrong bank account. The loss has not been recovered and a police investigation is in hand.
Oasis Community School Walthamstow, £138,000: the free school project was stopped before opening, but had already incurred unrecoverable costs.
Chorley Career and Sixth Form Academy, £129,554: another free school project, was also stopped before opening, but had already incurred unrecoverable costs.
Asked by: Chris Leslie (The Independent Group for Change - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when her Department's Annual Report and Accounts for 2013-14 will be published; and what the reasons are for the time taken to publish that report.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department for Education’s 2013-14 Annual Report and Accounts is due to be laid in Parliament on 19 January 2015 and published on 20 January 2015. The accounts cover three executive agencies (Education Funding Agency, Standards Testing Agency and National College of Teaching Leadership), and two executive non-departmental public bodies (Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service and the Office of the Children’s Commissioner). In addition they also consolidate the accounts of 2,585 Academy Trusts, operating 3,905 schools. As the accounts will explain in more detail, this consolidation is a significant piece of work, involving a number of technical accounting challenges, and it is not possible to complete it in time to enable publication within the usual Parliamentary pre-summer recess timeframe.