Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent progress her Department has made on ensuring that schools run by local authorities (a) become an academy and (b) join a multi-academy trust.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is focused on continuing to improve standards in schools, providing the best education for children, including for those from disadvantaged backgrounds and with special educational needs. The best way for this to happen is for all schools to be in strong families of schools, benefitting from the support of the best in the group, and the resilience that comes from being part of a larger group of schools. That is why, over time, the Department would like all schools to be in a strong multi-academy trust (MAT), due to the positive impact it can have on children’s lives. If we get this right then we will see the vast majority of schools in trusts before 2030. The Department is exploring how to further support the growth of strong multi-academy trusts through the Regulation and Commissioning Review.
The current national academisation rate is 47.4%, which includes 10,254 academies and free schools out of a total of 21,630 state funded schools. This has increased from 45.7% in March 2022 when the Schools White Paper was published. Of those, 9,173 are in a MAT.
There are 94 MATs that serve at least 7,500 pupils. These represent 6.9% of the total of 1,345 MATs, and are comprised of 2,341 Academies (22.8% of the total number) and just over 1.24 million pupils (26.2% of the total).
There are 266 MATs serving 10 or more schools, which is 19.7% of the total. These are comprised of 4,872 Academies (47.5%) and 1.94 million pupils (40.8%).
The Department does not issue guidance specifically on the size of MATs.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department issues guidance to multi-academy trusts recommending targets for the number of (a) pupils served and (b) schools run by such trusts.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is focused on continuing to improve standards in schools, providing the best education for children, including for those from disadvantaged backgrounds and with special educational needs. The best way for this to happen is for all schools to be in strong families of schools, benefitting from the support of the best in the group, and the resilience that comes from being part of a larger group of schools. That is why, over time, the Department would like all schools to be in a strong multi-academy trust (MAT), due to the positive impact it can have on children’s lives. If we get this right then we will see the vast majority of schools in trusts before 2030. The Department is exploring how to further support the growth of strong multi-academy trusts through the Regulation and Commissioning Review.
The current national academisation rate is 47.4%, which includes 10,254 academies and free schools out of a total of 21,630 state funded schools. This has increased from 45.7% in March 2022 when the Schools White Paper was published. Of those, 9,173 are in a MAT.
There are 94 MATs that serve at least 7,500 pupils. These represent 6.9% of the total of 1,345 MATs, and are comprised of 2,341 Academies (22.8% of the total number) and just over 1.24 million pupils (26.2% of the total).
There are 266 MATs serving 10 or more schools, which is 19.7% of the total. These are comprised of 4,872 Academies (47.5%) and 1.94 million pupils (40.8%).
The Department does not issue guidance specifically on the size of MATs.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of multi-academy trusts (a) serve a minimum of 7,500 pupils and (b) run at least 10 schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is focused on continuing to improve standards in schools, providing the best education for children, including for those from disadvantaged backgrounds and with special educational needs. The best way for this to happen is for all schools to be in strong families of schools, benefitting from the support of the best in the group, and the resilience that comes from being part of a larger group of schools. That is why, over time, the Department would like all schools to be in a strong multi-academy trust (MAT), due to the positive impact it can have on children’s lives. If we get this right then we will see the vast majority of schools in trusts before 2030. The Department is exploring how to further support the growth of strong multi-academy trusts through the Regulation and Commissioning Review.
The current national academisation rate is 47.4%, which includes 10,254 academies and free schools out of a total of 21,630 state funded schools. This has increased from 45.7% in March 2022 when the Schools White Paper was published. Of those, 9,173 are in a MAT.
There are 94 MATs that serve at least 7,500 pupils. These represent 6.9% of the total of 1,345 MATs, and are comprised of 2,341 Academies (22.8% of the total number) and just over 1.24 million pupils (26.2% of the total).
There are 266 MATs serving 10 or more schools, which is 19.7% of the total. These are comprised of 4,872 Academies (47.5%) and 1.94 million pupils (40.8%).
The Department does not issue guidance specifically on the size of MATs.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent progress her Department has made on ensuring that (a) schools rated as inadequate by Ofsted become an academy and (b) schools rated as requiring improvement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Regional Directors (RDs) take key operational decisions delegated to them by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education.
Maintained schools that have been judged inadequate by Ofsted are required to become sponsored academies in order to secure rapid and sustainable improvement. In these circumstances, the RD matches the school with a suitable sponsor, issues an Academy Order and agrees at which point the funding agreement can be signed.
The below table sets out how many sponsored academies have been opened as a result of an Academy Order being issued to a Local Authority maintained school having been judged inadequate.
Academic Year | Number of Sponsored Academies Opened |
2015/2016 | 2 |
2016/2017 | 98 |
2017/2018 | 139 |
2018/2019 | 151 |
2019/2020 | 90 |
2020/2021 | 96 |
2021/2022 | 41 |
2022/2023 (to date) | 39 |
On 1 September 2022, the Department introduced a new intervention measure for schools that are judged Requires Improvement by Ofsted, and were also judged below Good in their previous full inspection. The Department announced that they would write to all governing bodies and trusts where schools meet the legal scope for intervention, except those where general exemptions apply.
The Department confirmed that most of the initial activity will be prioritised within the 55 education investment areas. In all cases, the Department will be inviting representations from trusts or other appropriate bodies before making an assessment on whether the school has the necessary capacity to achieve rapid and sustained improvement and whether intervention is required. The Department has now begun to communicate decisions to schools, following consideration of the representations made.
In addition, in September 2022, the Department launched a new iteration of the Trust and School Improvement (TSI) offer, offering up to 10 days of improvement support and advice from a system leader to schools (including single academy trusts and multi-academy trusts with only one school) that receive an Ofsted Requires Improvement judgement during the 2022/23 academic year and to Trusts that contain at least two schools for three years and meet at least one of the below criteria:
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent progress her Department has made on implementing the policies in the Schools White Paper.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department remains committed to raising the attainment of all pupils. The Department is committed to its ambitions that by 2030, 90% of children will achieve the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of primary school. Additionally, in secondary schools, the national GCSE average grade in both English language and in mathematics will increase from 4.5 in 2019 to 5.
In the 2022 Autumn Statement, the Government announced an extra £2 billion of funding for schools over each of the next two financial years (2023/24 and 2024/25), over and above totals announced at the Autumn and Budget Spending Review 2021.The additional funding will enable headteachers to continue to concentrate funding in the areas that encourage educational attainment.
Progress to date on implementing the White Paper includes establishing Oak National Academy as an arm’s length body in September 2022 to provide high quality, adaptable and optional support. Oak reduces workload for teachers and enables pupils to access a high quality curriculum. The Department has introduced a fully funded new suite of National Professional Qualifications to support teacher development, based on the best available research and evidence. The Department is also delivering support to the 55 Education Investment Areas and 24 Priority Education Investment Areas.
The White Paper was clear about delivering a vision for a school system that delivers results for pupils, especially for the most vulnerable young people. The pupil premium helps fund evidence based, targeted interventions, as well as broader improvements that will benefit these pupils and help to raise their attainment. Pupil premium rates will increase by 5% for 2023/24, a £180 million increase from 2022/23, taking total pupil premium funding to £2.9 billion. The Department has made almost £5 billion available to support recovery for children and young people, including nearly £2.5 billion in targeted funding towards the most disadvantaged. This funding includes the Recovery Premium and the creation of the National Tutoring Programme (NTP). As of 6 October 2022, nearly 3 million tutoring courses had started through the NTP since November 2020.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to increase funding for schools for children with special educational needs and disabilities.
Answered by Nick Gibb
High needs funding for children and young people with complex special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) will be rising to £10.1 billion in 2023/24, which is an increase of over 50% from the 2019/20 allocations. This extra funding will help Local Authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting them.
Sefton Council’s high needs funding allocation for financial year 2023/24 will be £46 million, which is a 10.9% per head increase compared to the amount of high needs funding allocated in 2022/23. It is not possible to break this funding down to individual constituency level.
The Department does not prescribe in detail how Local Authorities should allocate their high needs funding, but Local Authorities and schools have statutory duties under the Children and Families Act 2014 to support children and young people with SEND.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the impact of funding levels on schools for children with special educational needs and disabilities in Sefton constituency.
Answered by Nick Gibb
High needs funding for children and young people with complex special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) will be rising to £10.1 billion in 2023/24, which is an increase of over 50% from the 2019/20 allocations. This extra funding will help Local Authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting them.
Sefton Council’s high needs funding allocation for financial year 2023/24 will be £46 million, which is a 10.9% per head increase compared to the amount of high needs funding allocated in 2022/23. It is not possible to break this funding down to individual constituency level.
The Department does not prescribe in detail how Local Authorities should allocate their high needs funding, but Local Authorities and schools have statutory duties under the Children and Families Act 2014 to support children and young people with SEND.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the recent industrial action by teachers.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department has made a serious offer to the National Education Union (NEU) to discuss pay and conditions. The only precondition the Department set is that the talks occur in a constructive atmosphere without the distraction of ongoing strikes. The Royal College of Nursing was made the same offer, along with the GMB, Unison, Unite, and CSP, who represent nurses, ambulance workers and physiotherapists, all of whom have agreed to pause strike action and are currently engaged in intensive talks with Government.
It is therefore disappointing that the NEU proceeded with national strike action on 1 February, and regional strike action between 28 February and 2 March. Many parents and pupils will have faced disruption. The Department is hugely grateful to headteachers, teachers, and support staff who continued to work, ensuring over 90% of schools remained open to some or all pupils during the national strikes, with similar levels seen during the regional strikes.
Young people have suffered more disruption to their education than any generation before and it is the work of teachers that is helping them to get back on track. The Department does not want to see anything that risks undoing that progress. That is why the Department is looking to find a reasonable way to address unions’ concerns that does not exacerbate the rise in inflation and minimises any potential impact on Departmental policy.
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has reiterated the offer to the NEU to pause strike action and engage in serious talks with the Government in all areas of their dispute, including pay.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that (a) children with and (b) schools for children with special educational needs and disabilities in seaside towns have an adequate level of support.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
On 2 March 2023, the department published the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan in response to the Green Paper published in March last year. The Improvement Plan outlines the government’s mission for the SEND and AP system to fulfil children’s potential, build parent’s trust, and provide financial sustainability. It is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1139561/SEND_and_alternative_provision_improvement_plan.pdf.
The department will improve ordinarily available mainstream provision with new national SEND and AP standards to ensure we deliver consistent experience regardless of the school a child attends, where they live, or their family background.
The department will reduce bureaucracy through new standardised education health and care plans, using digital technology wherever possible, and provide strengthened accountability across the system. To increase specialist provision locally, the department is investing £2.6 billion in special and AP places, including opening 33 new special schools, with a further 49 in the pipeline. We are also building a confident expert workforce, training up to 5,000 new early years special educational needs co-ordinators. Furthermore, an over 50% increase in high needs funding to over £10 billion by 2023/24, compared to £6.1 billion in 2018/19, will help children and young people with SEND in both special schools and mainstream schools to receive the right support.
The department will test our key reforms by creating up to nine Regional Expert Partnerships through our £70 million Change Programme. Oversight of reform will be driven by a new national SEND and AP Implementation Board, jointly chaired by Education and Health Ministers.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that pupils not in school due to industrial action are supported in catching up on missed learning.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government has made a serious offer to the leaders of the National Education Union (NEU) to pause the planned strikes and to engage with the Government on talks about pay, conditions and reforms.
This same offer has been accepted by unions representing nurses, ambulance workers and physiotherapists, all of whom have agreed to pause their strike action and meet for talks.
The Department is disappointed the NEU has thus far refused this offer and has not called off strikes.
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has been clear that it is in the best interests of parents, children and teachers up and down the country for the NEU to take up the offer, like the health unions, and put an end to this dispute.
The Department knows that the best place for pupils to be for their education, physical, and mental health is in schools with their friends and teachers.
The Secretary of State wrote to every school in January setting out the additional funding each school in England would receive following the £2 billion of additional funding announced for schools in the Autumn Statement 2022. This additional funding will support schools with increased costs and was a request from unions, which the Government delivered. The Secretary of State also wrote to union leaders on 27 January, asking the NEU to encourage their members to inform their head teachers if they intended to strike, and on 21 February, requesting the NEU call off future strikes in order to proceed with formal talks on pay, conditions, and reform.
Alongside engaging with unions, the Department has taken steps to mitigate the effects of any disruptive strike action on pupils’ education and wellbeing. In the Department’s updated guidance on handling strike action in schools, the Department confirmed that if a headteacher needed to restrict attendance as a last resort, they should prioritise school places for vulnerable children, children of critical workers and pupils who are due to take public examinations and other formal assessments. Headteachers have also been asked to do all they can to ensure pupils continue to have access to education on strike days, including through online teaching. The Department has also provided advice to schools through bulletins, and to parents through the Department’s Education Hub. To further support pupils not in school due to industrial action, the Department has updated its remote education guidance.
The Department has also made almost £5 billion available to support pupils’ education recovery from the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Department is funding what it knows works, such as teacher training and evidence based support, including tutoring and extra education opportunities.