Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to ensure that qualified teachers employed by private agencies to provide supply cover in schools have access to the Teachers' Pension Scheme.
Answered by David Laws
Supply teachers have access to the Teachers’ Pensions Scheme (TPS) where they have a contract of employment directly with the school or local authority in which they are working. Decisions about the precise employer/employee relationship are determined locally between the school and the agency.
Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will provide guidance to supply teachers on the tax and unemployment implications of working for an umbrella company.
Answered by David Laws
Schools and local authorities are responsible for the recruitment of their supply teachers and deciding whether they use private agencies to recruit and employ them. If a supply teacher is employed by a private agency or their umbrella company, this is a private commercial arrangement between the school and agency.
The Department for Education does not provide guidance on tax and unemployment matters. These are matters for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and the Department for Work and Pensions, respectively.
Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department took to ensure that primary and secondary schools in England marked anti-bullying week; and what steps her Department is taking to tackle homophobic bullying in schools.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Government has sent a clear message to all schools that bullying is unacceptable and that they should take steps to prevent it from happening and to tackle it when it does.
While it was a matter for schools to determine whether to mark anti-bullying week, the Department for Education supported activities held as part of anti-bullying week. Nick Gibb, Minister of State for School Reform, attended an event hosted by the Diana Award to celebrate the work of its anti-bullying ambassadors. Edward Timpson, Minister of State for Children and Families, attended an event hosted by the Anti-Bullying Alliance, which focused on the bullying of children with special educational needs and disabilities. He also attended an anti-bullying assembly at the Ark Global Academy in London which featured WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment, which champions anti-bullying in the USA) as part of the lead-in to anti-bullying week.
As well as raising the profile of the occasion via the Department’s twitter account, we also published two pieces of advice at the beginning of anti-bullying week. The first is to on help teachers to guard themselves against cyberbullying and what to do if it happens. This information is published online at:
The second piece of advice is for parents on how to help keep their children safe from cyberbullying, the signs to look for that they might be being cyberbullied and how to respond if they are. This information is published online at:
The Department is providing just under £4 million to anti-bullying organisations over two years (2013-15) and it has recently launched two grant programmes: a £25 million voluntary and community sector grant which includes work to address all bullying in schools; and a £2 million grant in conjunction with the Government Equalities office to support projects that specifically tackle homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying in schools.
Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to prevent and reduce Islamophobia in primary and secondary schools.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Department for Education is committed to tackling Islamophobia and all other forms of prejudice in our schools. We want every school to promote fundamental British values, including mutual respect and tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs. Citizenship education, as part of the new national curriculum, should cover the diverse national, regional, religious and ethnic identities in the United Kingdom and the need for mutual respect and understanding. We have also strengthened teachers’ powers and provided additional funding to deal with bullying, including racist bullying. Ofsted inspections include consideration of how well schools prevent bullying and tackle harassment and discrimination, as required by the Equality Act 2010.
Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to encourage increased female representation in (a) science and technology and (b) other traditionally male-dominated sectors; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Boles
My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has confirmed that she wants to see improvements to the quality of careers advice and guidance available to young people. We have issued revised statutory guidance for schools, which strengthens the requirement to build links with employers to inspire and mentor students. Schools are free to determine the most appropriate forms of engagement but might consider mentoring, workplace visits, work experience and employer talks. This will be particularly helpful in addressing stereotypes about specific career paths and providing young people with inspirational role models in a range of careers.
We have made significant progress in attracting more students to study science and maths at A level. Compared to 2010, we now have a thousand more girls studying physics every year and two thousand more girls studying maths. Our most recent A level results show that for the first time maths is now the most popular A level subject. The proportion of students entering A levels in biology, chemistry and physics has all increased too.
However, we need to go further. The Government has reformed the national curriculum and qualifications, to ensure that they enable young people to acquire the necessary knowledge and understanding to progress to further study and employment; we are recruiting top graduates into teaching by providing bursaries and scholarships in mathematics and the sciences of up to £25,000; and we are supporting schools through professional development and enrichment programmes, such as the Stimulating Physics Network and the establishment of 32 Maths Hubs.
The Government is also supporting Your Life, a three-year industry-led campaign, to ensure the UK has the maths and science skills it needs to succeed in a competitive global economy. The Your Life campaign will help to inspire young people to study A level maths and physics as a gateway to exciting and wide-ranging careers, and help employers recruit and retain talent, particularly women.
Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many black and minority ethnic teachers there are in state (a) primary and (b) secondary schools; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by David Laws
Figures from the School Workforce Census of November 2013 show there were 12,800 black and minority ethnic teachers in publicly funded primary schools and 18,600 in publicly funded secondary schools in England; a total of 31,400 teachers (an increase from 25,900 in November 2010). This represents 6% of primary school teachers and 9% of all secondary school teachers. 7% of all teachers in primary and secondary schools in England come from black and other ethnic minority groups.
Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the current provision for sex and relationship education in schools in England; if she will update her Department's sex education guidance to reflect the effects of children being exposed to pornography over the internet; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Sex and relationship education (SRE) is compulsory in maintained secondary schools. Academies are expected to provide SRE as part of a broad and balanced curriculum. Following the Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education review, which concluded in March 2013, the Government decided that the current Sex and Relationship Education Guidance (2000) offers a framework for schools to build upon the delivery of high quality SRE.
The SRE guidance makes clear that teachers should refer to expert organisations for well-informed advice and resources. The PSHE Association, the Sex Education Forum and Brook published supplementary advice in 2014 addressing changes in technology and legislation since 2000. This equips teachers to help protect children and young people from inappropriate online content, and from online bullying, harassment and exploitation. The Government encourages schools to make use of this guidance.
Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to improve the quality and increase the uptake of foreign language training in schools; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The new national curriculum introduces the teaching of a foreign language to key stage 2 (ages 7 to 11) from September 2014, which will increase the uptake of foreign languages in both primary and, over time, secondary schools. By starting languages earlier, pupils will have longer to develop their skills to a high level before continuing with language learning in secondary school. The English Baccalaureate is already encouraging more young people to take a language at GCSE level. Take up by key stage 4 pupils in England of a modern foreign language increased by over 20% between 2012 and 2013.
The Department for Education believes it is important to give teachers the flexibility to decide how to teach. We expect schools to identify the support that they need to prepare for the new curriculum, recognising that different schools will face different challenges.
We are allocating £350,000 this year to fund training on the new national curriculum for teachers of modern foreign languages in primary and secondary schools. We have also allocated some £1.9m to teaching schools to lead curriculum change across and within their teaching school alliances. 46 of the projects being supported involve languages.
The independent Expert Group, chaired by a leading primary headteacher, has published links to useful resources, which are hosted on the website of the Association for Language Learning. This is specifically to support the introduction of a compulsory foreign language at key stage 2. We are also making extensive use of social networking, including using high profile headteachers and others to raise the profile of the new curriculum, including for languages, through podcasts, webchats and blogs.
Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will take steps to ensure that school lunches in academies and free schools meet the nutritional standards of those in the state sector; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by David Laws
The revised school food standards will apply to single mainstream academies and free schools opening from July 2014, other mainstream academies and free schools opening from autumn 2014 and non-mainstream academies opening later in 2014. Academies set up prior to 2010 already have to comply.
During their review of school food, the authors of the School Food Plan approached several academy chains, including the Harris Federation, the Oasis Community Learning Multi-Academy Trust, and the School Partnership Trust. All agreed in principle to comply with the standards and the Leon Foundation are encouraging as many academies and free schools as possible to sign up formally to the new standards.
99% of those academies which responded to a survey by the School Food Trust in 2012 said they were committed to following the new food standards.