Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether (a) pupil premium funding and (b) physical education and sport funding for schools will be (i) maintained at the level and (ii) paid on the dates agreed prior to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The pupil premium for financial year 2020-2021 will be paid using the per pupil rates and on the dates set out in the conditions of grant published in February 2020 on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-allocations-and-conditions-of-grant-2020-to-2021.
Primary PE and sport premium payments were made to local authorities for their maintained schools in April 2020 and to academies in May 2020 on the dates and at the level announced in October 2019 on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pe-and-sport-premium-conditions-of-grant-2019-to-2020.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 29 of his Department's document entitled, Teacher recruitment and retention strategy published on 28 January 2019, what progress his Department has made on establishing pilot schemes for teacher sabbaticals.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The recruitment and retention of teachers remains a priority for the Government. We want to ensure that all pupils in England are taught by high-quality teachers.
The Department has a significant programme of work in place to improve recruitment, retention, and the quality of teaching, much of which is set out in our Recruitment and Retention Strategy, published in January 2019. As part of this, we intend to work closely with the sector and potential delivery partners to consider how to design an effective sabbaticals pilot that works for teachers and school leaders. We are not yet at the stage where we can launch the scheme.
The Department will provide further information on any pilot in due course.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will take steps to ensure that vulnerable people, in the event that they are advised to self-isolate are not penalised if they have to remove their dependents from school in order to do so.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Parents will not be penalised for absence that results from following government guidance on self-isolation.
Where a pupil is in self-isolation, in accordance with the latest advice from Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England, schools have been advised to record the pupil as being unable to attend due to exceptional circumstances in the attendance register.
Schools have also been advised that where a pupil does not attend school and is not self-isolating, the pupil will be recorded as absent but we expect headteachers will authorise absence where a pupil is not able to attend because of an underlying health condition that means they, or a family member in their household, are particularly vulnerable to the virus.
Recording a pupil as unable to attend due to exceptional circumstances and authorising absence will not lead to enforcement action being taken.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of climate change on the work of his Department; and what steps he is taking in response to that effect.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department of Education is supporting sustainability both through the content taught to students, and through supporting our schools to become more sustainable institutions.
It is important that young people are taught about climate change and sustainability. Topics related to this are included in both the science and geography curriculum and qualifications. For example, in primary science pupils are taught about how environments can change as a result of human actions. In secondary science, pupils are taught about the production of carbon dioxide by human activity and the effect this has on the climate. This is expanded on in GCSE science where pupils will consider the evidence for additional anthropogenic causes of climate change. As part of GCSE geography pupils will look at the causes, consequences of and responses to extreme weather conditions and natural weather hazards. In 2017, we also introduced a new environmental science A level. This will enable students to study topics that will support their understanding of climate change and how it can be tackled.
In addition, sustainability content will be included in T levels, new post-16 technical study programs. In setting outline content, the T level panels of employers and industry experts must consider the inclusion of sustainability as relevant to their sector. For example, in Construction, T level students will be required to learn about renewable energy and emerging technologies to support energy efficiency.
The Department support sustainability through our capital funding and programmes, both to reduce carbon and save schools money on energy. Schools can use their condition funding to invest in improving energy efficiency. Furthermore, interest free loans for energy efficiency projects in maintained schools are available through the Government backed Salix finance scheme. Salix loans have also been made available to academies through an annual application process. More broadly, we are working with colleagues across the Government on carbon reduction and energy efficiency and developing thinking on how future capital programmes can contribute further.
During procurements, Department for Education considers how this might improve the economic, social and environmental well-being of the area, where this is relevant to the subject matter of the contract.
From April, the Department will begin implementation of new government guidance on Social Value, which requires central Government Departments to take account of social impact as part of the award criteria where this is linked to the subject matter of the contract and proportionate. This may include reducing environmental impacts.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will publish his plans for the baseline assessment testing of four year olds to be undertaken within six weeks of such children joining a reception class.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Standards and Testing Agency (STA) will be overseeing a national voluntary pilot of the reception baseline assessment (RBA) starting this September. The pilot registration window is currently open to state-funded schools with a reception cohort, and will close on April 5 2019.
On February 27 2019, the STA published the RBA framework and a supporting document. The assessment framework provides details about the assessment for the pilot year, including information about the content of the assessment and its design. The supporting document provides further information on the development process, content and format of the assessment. These documents can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reception-baseline-assessment-framework.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Government will meet the costs of changes associated with employer contributions to the Teachers' Pensions Schemes for maintained nursery schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department’s public consultation to gather evidence on the impact of increased contributions to the Teachers' Pension Scheme (TPS) for all TPS employers, which included the initial proposal to fund Maintained Nursery Schools for 2019/20, closed on 12 February 2019. Final funding decisions will be made in due course, once consultation evidence has been reviewed.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance his Department provides to primary schools seeking to achieve the goals set out for the PE and Sports Premium who wish to use that premium to buy equipment.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Department for Education’s full guidance for the use of PE and Sport Premium can be viewed online at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pe-and-sport-premium-for-primary-schools.
The guidance is clear that primary schools have considerable freedom to use the PE and Sport Premium in the way which will best meet the needs of their pupils. It cannot be used to fund capital expenditure, but the department does not set the capitalisation policy for each school. School business managers, school accountants and their auditors are best placed to advise on school’s agreed capitalisation policy, and how it relates to the purchase of sport equipment.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what funding the Government provides to support the siblings of children with palliative care needs who meet the definition of being young carers.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The government is committed to supporting young carers - to improve their health and wellbeing, and to protect them from excessive or inappropriate caring responsibilities. Since April 2015, all young carers are entitled to an assessment of their needs for support, under Section 17 of the Children Act (1989).
The ‘carers action plan’, a two-year programme of tailored work to support unpaid carers of all ages, aims to improve the identification of young carers; improving their educational opportunities and outcomes; providing support to young carers, particularly to vulnerable children; and improving access to services. The plan can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/carers-action-plan-2018-to-2020.
In December 2016 the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published the guidelines ‘End of life care for infants, children and young people with life-limiting conditions: planning and management’. The guidance emphasises the need to be aware that siblings will need support to cope with: their brother's or sister's condition and death, and the effects of their parents' or carers' grieving. This may include social, practical, psychological and spiritual support. The guidance can be viewed here: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng61.
The Department for Education provides schools with £2.4 billion each year in additional funding through the pupil premium to support disadvantaged pupils; each eligible pupil attracts £1,320 to primary schools and £935 to secondary schools. Eligibility for the pupil premium is based largely on current or past claims for free school meals. Some research with young carers aged 14 to 16 suggested that around 60% already attract the pupil premium through their eligibility for free school meals.
We expect schools to make effective use of their pupil premium and do not tell them how to use it - schools know their pupils best and will spend the grant to meet pupil needs, which may include needs arising from a caring role. Schools are held to account for their pupil premium use through school inspection and information in performance tables, and most schools are required to publish details about their pupil premium strategy and its impact.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that the siblings of children with life threatening and terminal conditions are identified as young carers.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The government is committed to supporting young carers - to improve their health and wellbeing, and to protect them from excessive or inappropriate caring responsibilities. Since April 2015, all young carers are entitled to an assessment of their needs for support, under Section 17 of the Children Act (1989).
The ‘carers action plan’, a two-year programme of tailored work to support unpaid carers of all ages, aims to improve the identification of young carers; improving their educational opportunities and outcomes; providing support to young carers, particularly to vulnerable children; and improving access to services. The plan can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/carers-action-plan-2018-to-2020.
In December 2016 the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published the guidelines ‘End of life care for infants, children and young people with life-limiting conditions: planning and management’. The guidance emphasises the need to be aware that siblings will need support to cope with: their brother's or sister's condition and death, and the effects of their parents' or carers' grieving. This may include social, practical, psychological and spiritual support. The guidance can be viewed here: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng61.
The Department for Education provides schools with £2.4 billion each year in additional funding through the pupil premium to support disadvantaged pupils; each eligible pupil attracts £1,320 to primary schools and £935 to secondary schools. Eligibility for the pupil premium is based largely on current or past claims for free school meals. Some research with young carers aged 14 to 16 suggested that around 60% already attract the pupil premium through their eligibility for free school meals.
We expect schools to make effective use of their pupil premium and do not tell them how to use it - schools know their pupils best and will spend the grant to meet pupil needs, which may include needs arising from a caring role. Schools are held to account for their pupil premium use through school inspection and information in performance tables, and most schools are required to publish details about their pupil premium strategy and its impact.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has made an assessment of (a) the cost to the public purse of increasing free childcare provision to all two year old and younger children, and (b) the economic effect of increasing free childcare provision.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The government has no plans to extend the early learning for two-year-olds programme. However, the government does have a range of offers available to support parents with care for children under the age of 12 (or children with disabilities until the age of 17). The government is already supporting working parents of two-year-olds with middle or higher incomes. We have also introduced Tax-Free Childcare, which will be available to around 1.5 million households to help pay for childcare costs. Parents can also claim up to 85% of their childcare costs through Universal Credit.
In September 2017, the government introduced 30 hours free childcare for working parents, which gave parents who qualified an additional 15 hours a week of free childcare.
In September 2018, the department published an independent year one evaluation of 30 hours[1]. The evaluation showed that 30 hours is making a real difference to family finances with the majority of parents reporting that they had more money to spend (78%).
Over a quarter of mothers said, they had increased their hours and more than one in ten (15%) stated they would not be working without the extended hours. These effects were stronger for lower income families.
The study also showed that over half (51%) of providers increased staff hours or number of staff to deliver extended hours.