Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps he has taken to help retain newly qualified teachers.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It is a top priority of the Government to ensure that we continue to attract, retain, and support the high-quality teachers we need to inspire the next generation. We continue to progress the delivery of the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy that the Government published in January 2019. Our strategy includes commitments to ensuring all teachers receive world-class training and development and are supported to stay and succeed in the profession.
Central to these reforms is the Early Career Framework (ECF) which is the biggest teaching reform in a generation. It will provide newly qualified teachers with a funded, two-year support package, and will be fully rolled out in autumn 2021. Early roll-out began in autumn 2020 and is taking place in selected areas: the North East, Greater Manchester, Bradford, and Doncaster.
The content of the ECF builds on and complements Initial Teacher Training and underpins what all early career teachers should be entitled to learn about and learn how to do, based on expert guidance and the best available research evidence. The ECF has been designed to support early career teacher development in five core areas, including behaviour management, to ensure that new teachers receive high-quality support and development during the first two years of their careers.
The offer for early career teachers includes:
This is designed to ensure teachers feel more confident and in control at the start of their new career, and have the knowledge, skills and support they need for a strong start in the profession.
We are also taking a range of actions to address teacher workload and wellbeing, including improving access to resources, building wellbeing into teacher training and policy making, and the creation of the first ever Education Staff Wellbeing Charter which will be published at the earliest opportunity this year. We continue to assess the impact of policy changes and requests to schools on workload, working to reduce that impact wherever possible, for example, by reviewing data collections, services and requests.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) dongles, (b) MiFi devices, (c) SIM cards and (d) other connectivity devices have been supplied to schools under (i) the Get help with technology programme and (ii) predecessor programmes aimed at supporting schools through the outbreak of covid-19 in each local education authority as at (A) 1 September 2020, (B) 20 December 2020 and (C) 1 April 2021.
Answered by Nick Gibb
As part of the Government’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak, we are investing over £400 million to support access to remote education and online social care services, including securing 1.3 million laptops and tablets for disadvantaged children and young people. To date, over 1.29 million laptops and tablets have been delivered to schools, academy trusts, local authorities and further education colleges.
The Department has also partnered with the UK’s leading mobile operators to provide free data to help disadvantaged children get online as well as delivering 4G wireless routers for pupils without connection at home.
We are building on the foundations of the Department’s significant investment in technology and exploring future options, which we will set out in due course.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, on average how many looked after children have received custodial sentences in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The information held by the department covers children aged 10 years or over, who were looked after for at least 12 months, who were convicted or subject to youth cautions, or youth conditional cautions during each year. The figures are shown in the table below:
Number of children aged 10 years or over who were looked after for at least 12 months who were convicted or subject to youth cautions, or youth conditional cautions during the year in England[1]
Year ending 31 March | Number looked after for at least 12 months aged 10 to 17 at 31 March[2] | Number convicted or subject to youth cautions, or youth conditional cautions during the year[2] |
2020 | 39,620 | 1,160 |
2019 | 38,090 | 1,280 |
2018 | 36,730 | 1,510 |
2017 | 35,090 | 1,590 |
2016 | 33,120 | 1,640 |
2015 | 31,800 | 1,630 |
2014 | 30,650 | 1,690 |
2013 | 29,840 | 1,830 |
2012 | 29,790 | 2,070 |
2011 | 30,280 | 2,200 |
Source: SSDA903
The latest information on children looked after in England is contained in the ‘Children looked after in England’ statistics release, which is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions.
[1] Figures include children aged 10 to 17 years who have been continuously looked after for at least 12 months as at 31 March. Figures exclude children who were looked after under an agreed series of short-term placements.
[2] Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the recent National Education Union polling showing that one in three teachers in the UK plans to leave the profession within five years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It is a top priority of the Government to ensure that we continue to attract, retain and support the great teachers we need to educate the next generation. The Government is moving forward with delivery of the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy that was published in January 2019. This includes commitments to reduce teacher workload, improve continuing professional development, and create greater opportunities for flexible working.
We have started to roll out the Early Career Framework (ECF) – the biggest teaching reform in a generation – providing the foundations for a successful career in teaching, backed by up to £130 million a year in funding when fully rolled out. Early roll-out began in autumn 2020 and is taking place in selected areas: the North East, Greater Manchester, Bradford, and Doncaster.
The new initial teacher training (ITT) Core Content Framework, which was implemented from September 2020, is a mandatory core minimum entitlement for all trainees and will work coherently with the ECF to ensure all new teachers benefit from at least 3 years of evidence-based training, across ITT and into induction.
We are also launching new National Professional Qualifications from September 2021, offering high-quality professional development for teachers and school leaders at all levels, from those who want to develop expertise in specialist areas of teaching practice, to those leading multiple schools across trusts.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many laptops had been supplied to schools under the Get Help with Technology programme and predecessor programmes aimed at supporting schools through the covid-19 outbreak, by each local education authority in the UK as of (a) 1 September 2020, (b) 20 December 2020 and (c) 1 April 2021.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government is investing over £400 million to support access to remote education and online social care services, including making 1.3 million laptops and tablets available for disadvantaged children and young people.
To date, over 1.29 million laptops and tablets have been delivered to schools, academy trusts, local authorities and further education colleges.
The Department has partnered with the UK’s leading mobile operators to provide free data to help over 30,000 disadvantaged children get online as well as delivering over 75,000 4G wireless routers for pupils without connection at home.
Data on the number of laptops, tablets and 4G routers distributed by the Get Help with Technology Programme to local authorities has been published periodically over the duration of the programme and can be found through this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/laptops-and-tablets-progress-data-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many Looked After Children attend (a) university and (b) further education from (i) Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council and (ii) the UK in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The information is not held centrally in the form requested. The department does not collect information on the educational activity of all looked after children. Information is held on the number of care leavers aged 17 to 21 years old who are in higher education or other types of education on or around their birthday.
The number of care leavers (full-time and part-time) aged 17 to 21, who were in higher education in Barnsley local authority and England in the year ending 31 March 2020 or in ‘education other than higher education’ are shown in the table.
Number of care leavers aged 17 to 21 in education12
Care leavers in Barnsley and England
Year ending 31 March 2020
| All care leavers | Higher Education | Other than Higher Education |
Barnsley Local Authority | 90 | C3 | 30 |
England | 42,960 | 2,230 | 11,530 |
The latest information on children looked after in England, including the number of care leavers in education on 31 March 2020, is contained in the Children looked after in England statistics release, which is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions.
Figures on children looked after outside England is a matter for the devolved administrations.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support he is providing to help looked after children secure a place in (a) higher and (b) further education.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Improving the academic attainment of looked after children in school is vital to increasing their subsequent participation in further and higher education. Every local authority in England must appoint a Virtual School Head, who has a statutory duty to promote the educational achievement of all children in their care up to the age of 18. Virtual School Heads have made a significant impact since they were introduced by statute in 2014, bringing expert leadership to the system that has seen a very significant reduction in permanent expulsions and absenteeism and improved educational progress. All looked after children, up to age 18, must also have a personal education plan. This should include careers advice and financial information about further and higher education, training, and employment.
Children in care and care leavers are a priority group for receipt of the 16 to 19 bursary, which provides up to £1,200 a year to help meet the financial costs of participating in further education.
If care leavers attend university, local authorities are required to provide a minimum £2,000 bursary and provide, or meet the costs of, accommodation during non-term times. As with other students, care leavers can request a maintenance loan to cover their living costs and a student loan to cover their course fees. In addition, many universities provide additional support for care leavers. In 2019, the department published the care leaver higher education principles for higher education institutions, which identify the areas where care leavers need extra support to access and succeed in higher education, with examples of best practice from across the sector. Further information on these is available here: https://mycovenant.org.uk/offers/educational/.
We have also launched the Care Leaver Covenant, which provides a way for organisations from the public, private and voluntary sectors to show their commitment to care leavers through providing concrete offers of support. In total, 67 further education colleges and higher education institutions have signed the Care Leaver Covenant and published their offer to care leavers.
At the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, my hon. Friend, the Minister of State for Universities, wrote to universities and other providers of higher education to highlight the vulnerability of care leavers and estranged students and asked them to prioritise these groups for additional support. We have also prioritised care leavers for the receipt of laptops and data packages, distributed to local authorities in summer 2020 to allocate to vulnerable children and young people in their local areas, to help them to access education online and keep in touch with their support networks.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support he is providing to schools during the covid-19 outbreak to support children with an Education, Health and Care Plan.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The COVID-19 outbreak has been extremely challenging for many families of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and schools who support them. Mainstream and special schools, special post 16-providers and alternative provision remained open to vulnerable children and young people throughout the third national lockdown, including those with education, health and care plans. Due to this, many specialist settings continued to offer face-to-face provision for the vast majority of, if not all of, their pupils and students.
To support those settings, we published guidance, which we regularly update, to provide additional information and support for delivering education in these settings.
In June last year, we introduced a COVID-19 catch-up premium worth £650 million to support schools to make up for lost teaching time. Head teachers decide how this premium is spent (for example, on educational psychologists, speech and language therapy and access to technology). Schools can prioritise funding support for SEND.
On 24 February, the government announced a new £700 million package for a range of additional measures to give early years settings, schools, providers of 16-19 education – including specialist settings – the tools they need to target support for all students.
Specific targeted support for children and young people with SEND includes a new one-off Recovery Premium for state primary and secondary schools, building on the Pupil Premium, which will be provided to schools to use as they see best to support disadvantaged students. This funding can be used to lay on additional clubs or activities or for other evidence-based approaches for supporting the most disadvantaged pupils, including those with SEND, from September.
To support schools with delivering remote education, the department made £4.84 million available for the Oak National Academy, both for the summer term of the academic year 2019-20 and the 2020-21 academic year, to provide video lessons in a broad range of subjects. Specialist content for pupils with SEND is available. Additionally, the Oak National Academy offers therapy-based lessons and resources across occupational, physical, sensory and speech and language therapy, which can be accessed at this link: https://classroom.thenational.academy/specialist.
We have also funded the National Star College to launch their SEND Hub, providing advice and guidance on ways to ensure the curriculum is accessible and inclusive for all.
Finally, through our funding of the Whole School SEND consortium in the financial year 2021-22, we have provided resources for families and schools and training for teachers to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak in the last contract year. The funding in the financial year 2021-22 will bring the total funding for this contract to over £8 million.