Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking in addition to the Holiday Activities and Food programme for safeguarding children's access to food during the summer holidays 2020.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Responsibility for this policy area is devolved.
In England, the Holiday Activities and Food scheme is integral to our approach to provide healthy food to children over the summer and in 2019, our coordinators supported around 50,000 children. We are working with our 2020 coordinators to explore how support can be delivered in light of COVID-19.
In addition, the government continues to invest significantly each year on welfare benefits for people of working age, supporting people when they need it, including those who are out of work or on a low income. During the COVID-19 outbreak, the government has announced a package of temporary welfare measures. Taken together, these measures provide over £6.5bn of additional support through the welfare system for people affected by COVID-19
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he plans to provide guidance to schools on good practice in relation to the roll-over of unspent free school meal allowances.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Responsibility for free school meals and disadvantage policy is devolved and is therefore the responsibility of the devolved administrations.
Free school meals are intended as a benefit in kind, rather than a cash benefit, and our primary interest is that schools meet their legal duties to provide nutritious free lunches to eligible children. It is important that all pupils have access to healthy and nutritious meals at school and we would encourage all eligible children and parents to claim their free meals.
The department does not collect any information on the total or proportion of unspent funds at school or child level. We trust school leaders to make the best decisions in the interests of their pupils and it is right that they have flexibility around how they deliver free school meals. We know that some schools will allow pupils to carry over their benefit, however, we would not want to instruct schools to follow any specific approach nationally. We will consider how we can share the very best practice around the delivery of free school meals.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much and what proportion of the funds on the cards of children entitled to free school meals was unspent in the latest period for which figures are available; and how much of those unspent funds were (a) rolled over, (b) allocated to the school budget, (b) allocated to caterers and (c) allocated to local authorities.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Responsibility for free school meals and disadvantage policy is devolved and is therefore the responsibility of the devolved administrations.
Free school meals are intended as a benefit in kind, rather than a cash benefit, and our primary interest is that schools meet their legal duties to provide nutritious free lunches to eligible children. It is important that all pupils have access to healthy and nutritious meals at school and we would encourage all eligible children and parents to claim their free meals.
The department does not collect any information on the total or proportion of unspent funds at school or child level. We trust school leaders to make the best decisions in the interests of their pupils and it is right that they have flexibility around how they deliver free school meals. We know that some schools will allow pupils to carry over their benefit, however, we would not want to instruct schools to follow any specific approach nationally. We will consider how we can share the very best practice around the delivery of free school meals.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the value of (a) free school meals and (b) Pupil Premium that has not been claimed by eligible children in the most recent year for which figures are available.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Responsibility for free school meals and disadvantage policy is devolved and is therefore the responsibility of the devolved administrations.
In England, free school meal eligibility is used as a proxy measure for allocating the pupil premium. This remains the best available measure at an individual pupil level and the most reliable predictor of academic underperformance. Focusing pupil premium on pupils who have claimed free school meals in the past 6 years ensures schools have additional resources to tackle the educational impact of household economic deprivation.
The continuing provision of free school meals to children from out of work families or those on low incomes is of the utmost importance to this government. Take-up of free school meals is strong, estimated at 89% of eligible pupils.
We want to make sure as many eligible pupils as possible are claiming their free school meals, and to make it as simple as possible for schools and local authorities to determine eligibility. To support this, we provide an Eligibility Checking System to make the checking process as quick and straightforward as possible for schools and local authorities. We have developed a model registration form to help schools encourage parents to sign up for free school meals. We also 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 free school meals.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children eligible for free school meals are not registered to receive them.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Responsibility for free school meals and disadvantage policy is devolved and is therefore the responsibility of the devolved administrations.
In England, free school meal eligibility is used as a proxy measure for allocating the pupil premium. This remains the best available measure at an individual pupil level and the most reliable predictor of academic underperformance. Focusing pupil premium on pupils who have claimed free school meals in the past 6 years ensures schools have additional resources to tackle the educational impact of household economic deprivation.
The continuing provision of free school meals to children from out of work families or those on low incomes is of the utmost importance to this government. Take-up of free school meals is strong, estimated at 89% of eligible pupils.
We want to make sure as many eligible pupils as possible are claiming their free school meals, and to make it as simple as possible for schools and local authorities to determine eligibility. To support this, we provide an Eligibility Checking System to make the checking process as quick and straightforward as possible for schools and local authorities. We have developed a model registration form to help schools encourage parents to sign up for free school meals. We also 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 free school meals.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that all refugees who come to the UK are provided with English language education at the earliest opportunity.
Answered by Anne Milton
The government recognises that learning English is essential in enabling refugees to rebuild their lives. We are working across government to develop a new strategy for English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) in 2019, which will provide a shared vision for all publicly funded English language provision, including addressing the needs of refugees.
The department funds ESOL through the Adult Education Budget (AEB), which is allocated to providers on an annual basis. Colleges and adult learning providers have the freedom and flexibility to determine how they use their AEB allocation to meet the needs of their communities and this includes planning, with local partners, the ESOL courses that they will deliver locally. The AEB also provides additional support for learners who face specific financial hardship, which is preventing them from taking part or continuing in learning.
The Home Office and the Department for Education have also provided £10 million to enable refugees resettled through the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme to access additional classes.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the additional staff required by his Department in the event that the UK leaves the EU (a) with and (b) without a deal.
Answered by Anne Milton
The Cabinet Office and the Department for Exiting the European Union are coordinating planning across government for EU exit. Members of staff across the Department for Education work on EU exit issues, including preparations for leaving the EU without a deal, across a range of policy areas as required.
In addition to a central coordinating team, EU exit work is embedded and prioritised as necessary across the department’s policy responsibilities. It is therefore not possible to give an accurate figure specifically for work on EU exit issues, including on planning for leaving the EU without a deal.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many staff were employed in his Department on (a) 20 December 2018 and (b) 23 June 2016.
Answered by Anne Milton
Staffing data are produced for the department monthly. The table below shows the number of staff employed in the department at the end of November 2018 and at the end of June 2016:
Date | Headcount | Full-time equivalent |
a) November 2018 | 6308 | 6074.8 |
b) June 2016 | 3531 | 3395.6 |
During this period, there have been Machinery of Government changes. This included the department taking responsibility for higher and further education and for the Skills Funding Agency, which merged with the Education Funding Agency to create the Education and Skills Funding Agency.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of staff employed by his Department in receipt of universal credit; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Anne Milton
The department and its executive agencies do not hold the relevant information to be able to estimate the number and proportion of its staff in receipt of universal credit. Universal credit is dependent on an individual’s circumstances. This includes their housing arrangement, caring responsibilities and dependent children. This information is not held by the department.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many equality impact assessments have been carried out in the last three years on public service reforms which impact on (a) departmental staff and (b) members of the public; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Over the last three years the Department for Education has had and continues to have due regard, as necessary, to the public sector equality duty in exercising its functions. The Equality Act does not require this due regard to take the form of an equality impact assessment, nor does it define an equality impact assessment, and the Department does not maintain a record of such assessments.