Asked by: David Evennett (Conservative - Bexleyheath and Crayford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether any schools in Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency will be supported by the new National School Breakfast Programme in the next academic year.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The government is committed to continuing support for school breakfast clubs and we are investing up to £24 million to continue our national programme for the next two years. This funding will support around 2,500 schools in disadvantaged areas meaning that thousands of children from low-income families will be offered free nutritious breakfasts to better support their attainment, wellbeing and readiness to learn.
The focus of the programme is to target the most disadvantaged areas of the country, including the Department for Education’s Opportunity Areas. Schools’ eligibility for the programme is based on the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI) deprivation scale – a nationally recognised indicator of need – to ensure provision is directed where it is most needed. Schools will be eligible for the programme if they have 50% or more pupils within bands A-F of the IDACI scale.
The enrolment process for schools joining the programme is currently ongoing, and we have seen a strong interest so far from eligible schools since we invited the expressions of interest. Schools are currently still able to apply to join the programme. As we are still registering schools for the programme, it is too early to publish a list of participating schools. However, we will of course consider the best opportunities to share information on the programme as it progresses.
Asked by: David Evennett (Conservative - Bexleyheath and Crayford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to help reduce the covid-19 infection rate among secondary school children.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department has worked closely with Public Health England to develop and refresh the system of controls, which are available to view here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/schools-coronavirus-covid-19-operational-guidance#system-of-controls. These include cleaning hands thoroughly more often than usual, minimising contact between individuals, and keeping occupied spaces well ventilated to reduce the risk of transmission in schools. Testing regimes and the system of controls, when implemented in line with schools’ own workplace risk assessment, create an inherently safer environment for children and staff where the risk of transmission of infection is substantially reduced. The way to control the COVID-19 outbreak is the same, even with the current new variants.
On 8 June the Government announced an enhanced support package for any areas affected by local outbreaks. The package includes specialist rapid response teams, surge testing and enhanced contact tracing, military support, specialist communication, supervised in school testing, and discretion to reintroduce face coverings in communal areas in schools if directors of public health decide it is appropriate.
Asked by: David Evennett (Conservative - Bexleyheath and Crayford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding is allocated per pupil in (a) high and (b) primary schools in Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Schools in the Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency are receiving £82.8 million in 2021/22 through the National Funding Formula (NFF) – a 2.4% cash increase. This reflects an increase of 3.4% in pupil-led funding compared to 2020/21. In Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency, primary schools are attracting an average of £4,471, while secondary schools are attracting an average of £6,218 per pupil funding via the NFF. We do not provide final allocations at the constituency level. The amount that Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency attracts for schools will depend on Bexley’s local funding formula and up to date pupil numbers and characteristics from the October 2020 census.
Asked by: David Evennett (Conservative - Bexleyheath and Crayford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department has taken to encourage the uptake of apprenticeships in (a) the London Borough of Bexley and (b) Greater London.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
Apprenticeships provide people with the opportunity to earn and learn the skills needed to start an exciting career in a wide range of industries, including artificial intelligence, archaeology, data science, business management, and banking. We want more people to benefit from high-quality apprenticeships. Since May 2010, there have been 7,190 apprenticeship starts in Bexleyheath and Crayford (constituency).
We are supporting employers to offer new apprenticeship opportunities by increasing the incentive payment to £3,000 for every new apprentice hired between 1 April and 30 September 2021 as part of the government's Plan for Jobs. We continue to work with the Department for Work and Pensions to enable Kickstart placements to turn into apprenticeships where that is the right thing for the employer and the young person.
In addition, we are supporting the largest-ever expansion of traineeships and are working with employers to develop new occupational traineeships in rail, construction and engineering which will create a pathway for young people to progress into apprenticeships or other employment. The government confirmed an additional £126 million at Budget to fund a further 43,000 traineeship places in the 2021/22 academic year, and we have extended the £1,000 incentive payments for employers who offer traineeship work placement opportunities to July 2022.
To encourage more young people to consider apprenticeships, we are promoting apprenticeships in schools across the country through our Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge programme. This free service provides schools and teachers with resources and interventions to help better educate young people about apprenticeships. In the Skills for Jobs white paper, published in January 2021, we announced that we will be introducing a 3-point-plan to enforce the Baker Clause, our requirement that all maintained schools and academies provide opportunities for providers of technical education and apprenticeships to visit schools to talk to all year 8 to 13 pupils. This includes creating clear minimum legal requirements, specifying who is to be given access to which pupils and when. This is an important step towards real choice for every pupil.
Asked by: David Evennett (Conservative - Bexleyheath and Crayford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many laptops have been requested by schools in (a) Greater London, (b) the London Borough of Bexley and (c) Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency during the January 2021 covid-19 lockdown to date.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government is investing over £400 million to support access to remote education and online social care services, by securing 1.3 million laptops and tablets for disadvantaged children and young people. This includes over 920,000 laptops and tablets that were delivered to schools, academy trusts, local authorities and Further Education providers by 1 February 2021, who are responsible for distributing them onward to disadvantaged children and families.
All schools, trusts and local authorities have now been given the opportunity to order devices. Laptops and tablets are owned by schools, trusts or local authorities to lend to children and young people who need them most during the current COVID-19 restrictions.
Figures on the number of devices delivered, broken down by local authority and academy trust are available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/laptops-and-tablets-data/2021-week-5. This includes 39,374 delivered to Greater London local authorities, 742 of which delivered were to Bexley. Regional figures for delivery of devices are currently not available for the period requested and figures by Parliamentary constituency are also not available.
Where schools need additional devices, above their allocations, they should contact the Department’s service team at covid.technology@education.gov.uk. They should include the number of disadvantaged children in Years 3 to 11 who require support and an explanation of how they have gathered this evidence.
Asked by: David Evennett (Conservative - Bexleyheath and Crayford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of school closures during the covid-19 outbreak on social mobility.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The government is committed to the levelling up agenda and spreading opportunity throughout the country – every child should have the same opportunity to express their talents and make the most of their lives.
We know that receiving face-to-face education is best for children’s mental health and for their educational achievement. We have resisted restrictions on attendance at schools since the first lockdown but, in the face of the rapidly rising numbers of cases across the country, and intense pressure on the NHS, we now need to reduce all our social contacts wherever possible. Limiting attendance during the national lockdown is about supporting the reduction of the overall number of social contacts in our communities.
Since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak we have expected schools to remain open for vulnerable children and the children of critical workers, whilst limiting attendance for the majority of children to help slow the spread of the virus. Schools have also been offering wraparound provision, such as breakfast and afterschool clubs, for those children eligible to attend. Resuming this provision is important to ensure that parents and carers who are critical workers can continue to work, as well as to provide enriching activities for vulnerable children that improve their wellbeing or support their education. We know this has been a challenging time for pupils and their families.
For children who are not attending education settings in person we expect schools to provide remote education. We have updated the remote education guidance to clarify and strengthen expectations while on-site attendance is restricted. The guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/remote-education-good-practice/remote-education-good-practice.
To make up for lost teaching time and stop pupils and students falling behind, our £1 billion catch up package remains in place, including the £650 million catch-up premium and in-school support through the National Tutoring Programme for the most disadvantaged.