Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many early years childcare providers have closed in each of the last five years; and what estimate he has made of the number of such providers that will close in the next 12 months.
Answered by Vicky Ford
This is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to tackle funding deficit between the hourly costs of delivering a funded childcare place for a two-year-old and the rate paid to providers compared to places for three and four-year-olds.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The government continues to support families with their childcare costs. My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced on 25 November a further £44 million investment in 2021-22.
We can now also confirm that in 2021-22 we will increase the hourly funding rates for all local authorities by 8p an hour for the 2 year old entitlement and, for the vast majority of areas, by 6p an hour for the 3 and 4 year old entitlement. This will pay for a rate increase that is higher than the costs nurseries may face from the uplift to the national living wage in April.
We are also increasing the minimum funding floor - meaning no council can receive less than £4.44 per hour for the 3 and 4 year old entitlements.
The small number of local authorities who have been protected from large drops to their funding rate as a result of the ‘loss cap’ will have their 2020-21 hourly funding rates for 3 and 4 year olds maintained in 2021-22. 2 of these authorities will see an increase to their hourly rate as they come off the loss cap in 2021-22.
In 2021-22, the average hourly funding rate for a 3-4 year old for the 15 hours universal entitlement in England will be £4.91 and the average hourly funding rate for a 2 year old in England will be £5.56.
Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, we have monitored the health of the early years market through continual contact with early years sector organisations through regular meetings and working groups. We have ensured that early years providers have been able to access all the support available by continuing to fund the free childcare entitlements and via the package of additional support provided by the government, which includes Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS,) business rates relief, income support and job retention schemes.
We have also updated the CJRS guidance, so that all providers who have seen a drop in their overall income are able to furlough any staff, so long as they were on payroll on or before 30 October, and aren’t required for delivering the government’s funded entitlements. Providers should consult the full guidance on the CJRS scheme before submitting a claim. Childminders may use the Self Employment Income Support Scheme. The sector has also benefitted from business rates holidays and business loans.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made the financial losses sustained by childcare providers due to the covid-19 outbreak; and what plans he has to prevent mass closures in that sector.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The government continues to support families with their childcare costs. My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced on 25 November a further £44 million investment in 2021-22.
We can now also confirm that in 2021-22 we will increase the hourly funding rates for all local authorities by 8p an hour for the 2 year old entitlement and, for the vast majority of areas, by 6p an hour for the 3 and 4 year old entitlement. This will pay for a rate increase that is higher than the costs nurseries may face from the uplift to the national living wage in April.
We are also increasing the minimum funding floor - meaning no council can receive less than £4.44 per hour for the 3 and 4 year old entitlements.
The small number of local authorities who have been protected from large drops to their funding rate as a result of the ‘loss cap’ will have their 2020-21 hourly funding rates for 3 and 4 year olds maintained in 2021-22. 2 of these authorities will see an increase to their hourly rate as they come off the loss cap in 2021-22.
In 2021-22, the average hourly funding rate for a 3-4 year old for the 15 hours universal entitlement in England will be £4.91 and the average hourly funding rate for a 2 year old in England will be £5.56.
Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, we have monitored the health of the early years market through continual contact with early years sector organisations through regular meetings and working groups. We have ensured that early years providers have been able to access all the support available by continuing to fund the free childcare entitlements and via the package of additional support provided by the government, which includes Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS,) business rates relief, income support and job retention schemes.
We have also updated the CJRS guidance, so that all providers who have seen a drop in their overall income are able to furlough any staff, so long as they were on payroll on or before 30 October, and aren’t required for delivering the government’s funded entitlements. Providers should consult the full guidance on the CJRS scheme before submitting a claim. Childminders may use the Self Employment Income Support Scheme. The sector has also benefitted from business rates holidays and business loans.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of the minimum wage increase on the childcare sector; and if he will make it his policy to increase the per child funding rate for the (a) 16 and (b) 30 hours childcare entitlement.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The government continues to support families with their childcare costs. My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced on 25 November a further £44 million investment in 2021-22.
We can now also confirm that in 2021-22 we will increase the hourly funding rates for all local authorities by 8p an hour for the 2 year old entitlement and, for the vast majority of areas, by 6p an hour for the 3 and 4 year old entitlement. This will pay for a rate increase that is higher than the costs nurseries may face from the uplift to the national living wage in April.
We are also increasing the minimum funding floor - meaning no council can receive less than £4.44 per hour for the 3 and 4 year old entitlements.
The small number of local authorities who have been protected from large drops to their funding rate as a result of the ‘loss cap’ will have their 2020-21 hourly funding rates for 3 and 4 year olds maintained in 2021-22. 2 of these authorities will see an increase to their hourly rate as they come off the loss cap in 2021-22.
In 2021-22, the average hourly funding rate for a 3-4 year old for the 15 hours universal entitlement in England will be £4.91 and the average hourly funding rate for a 2 year old in England will be £5.56.
Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, we have monitored the health of the early years market through continual contact with early years sector organisations through regular meetings and working groups. We have ensured that early years providers have been able to access all the support available by continuing to fund the free childcare entitlements and via the package of additional support provided by the government, which includes Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS,) business rates relief, income support and job retention schemes.
We have also updated the CJRS guidance, so that all providers who have seen a drop in their overall income are able to furlough any staff, so long as they were on payroll on or before 30 October, and aren’t required for delivering the government’s funded entitlements. Providers should consult the full guidance on the CJRS scheme before submitting a claim. Childminders may use the Self Employment Income Support Scheme. The sector has also benefitted from business rates holidays and business loans.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what specific steps he is taking to allocate funds to improve the affordability of childcare.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The government continues to support families with their childcare costs. My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced on 25 November a further £44 million investment in 2021-22.
We can now also confirm that in 2021-22 we will increase the hourly funding rates for all local authorities by 8p an hour for the 2 year old entitlement and, for the vast majority of areas, by 6p an hour for the 3 and 4 year old entitlement. This will pay for a rate increase that is higher than the costs nurseries may face from the uplift to the national living wage in April.
We are also increasing the minimum funding floor - meaning no council can receive less than £4.44 per hour for the 3 and 4 year old entitlements.
The small number of local authorities who have been protected from large drops to their funding rate as a result of the ‘loss cap’ will have their 2020-21 hourly funding rates for 3 and 4 year olds maintained in 2021-22. 2 of these authorities will see an increase to their hourly rate as they come off the loss cap in 2021-22.
In 2021-22, the average hourly funding rate for a 3-4 year old for the 15 hours universal entitlement in England will be £4.91 and the average hourly funding rate for a 2 year old in England will be £5.56.
Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, we have monitored the health of the early years market through continual contact with early years sector organisations through regular meetings and working groups. We have ensured that early years providers have been able to access all the support available by continuing to fund the free childcare entitlements and via the package of additional support provided by the government, which includes Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS,) business rates relief, income support and job retention schemes.
We have also updated the CJRS guidance, so that all providers who have seen a drop in their overall income are able to furlough any staff, so long as they were on payroll on or before 30 October, and aren’t required for delivering the government’s funded entitlements. Providers should consult the full guidance on the CJRS scheme before submitting a claim. Childminders may use the Self Employment Income Support Scheme. The sector has also benefitted from business rates holidays and business loans.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Department for Education:
What steps he is taking to close the gap in (a) educational outcomes and (b) levels of wellbeing between disadvantaged children and their peers.
Answered by Gavin Williamson
All children have had their education disrupted by the the COVID-19 outbreak. The government has announced a catch up package worth £1 billion, including a ‘Catch up Premium’ worth a total of £650m to support schools to make up for lost teaching time.
To help schools make the best use of this funding, the Education Endowment Foundation has published a support guide for schools with evidence-based approaches to catch up for all students and a further school planning guide: 2020 to 2021.
Alongside this universal grant, a National Tutoring Programme worth £350 million will deliver proven, successful interventions to the most disadvantaged young people. Research shows high quality individual and small group tuition can add up to 5 months of progress for disadvantaged pupils.
Schools continue to receive the pupil premium each quarter. As schools’ original pupil premium strategies will not have been delivered since March, and the pupils’ needs will have changed or intensified, we recommend that, as part of the planning for needs-based universal catch up, school leaders review their pupil premium strategy and amend it to reflect the new situation from this term.
We have put in place an unprecedented range of action to help schools to develop whole school approaches to mental health and wellbeing, including our £8 million Wellbeing for Education Return training; and trials of approaches to promote positive mental wellbeing in schools, which aim to provide evidence on what works in a school setting to support children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing.
We recognise that disadvantaged children may not have access to the resources to undertake remote education. That’s why we’ve invested over £195 million to support access to remote education and online social care.
As part of this, we’re making over 340,000 laptops and tablets available this term to support disadvantaged children in year 3 to 11 whose face-to-face education may be disrupted. This supplements over 220,000 laptops and tablets and over 50,000 4G wireless routers, which have already been delivered during the summer term. This represents an injection of over half-a-million laptops and tablets by the end of the year.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what (a) financial support and (b) guidance he has issued to (i) educational providers and (ii) others on the safe return of SEND pupils to school.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The department is providing financial support through providing additional funding to schools, on top of existing budgets, to cover unavoidable costs incurred due to the COVID-19 outbreak that cannot be met from their existing resources. This would include any costs incurred supporting the safe return of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to school. Details of this can be found in the ‘School funding: exceptional costs associated with COVID-19 for the period March to July 2020’ guidance, which is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-financial-support-for-schools/school-funding-exceptional-costs-associated-with-coronavirus-covid-19-for-the-period-march-to-july-2020.
On the 26 May 2020, the department published its ‘Supporting children and young people with SEND [special educational needs and disabilities] as schools and colleges prepare for wider opening’ guidance, which was written with help from SEND sector organisations. It outlines pragmatic approaches that local authorities, educational settings, and parents or carers may wish to take to support children and young people with SEND as schools and colleges prepare for wider opening. The guidance is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-send-risk-assessment-guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-send-risk-assessment-guidance.
This guidance builds upon the department’s wider guidance for ‘Safe working in education, childcare and children’s social care settings’, ‘Implementing protective measures in education and childcare settings’, and ‘Opening schools and educational settings to more pupils from 1 June 2020’.
This was supplemented by an open letter from myself to children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, their parents, carers and families, and others who support them, about the wider opening of schools, colleges and other educational settings from 1 June 2020.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans are in place to establish track and trace systems in schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The new NHS Test and Trace service was launched on 28 May across England. Anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 will be contacted by NHS Test and Trace and will need to share information about their recent interactions. The Government has recruited 25,000 contact tracers, able to track 10,000 new cases a day.
If a child or young person in school develops symptoms compatible with COVID-19, they should be sent home and advised to self-isolate for 7 days and arrange to have a test. Where the child or young person tests positive, traced close contacts, including the rest of their small group, should be sent home and advised to self-isolate for 14 days.
As part of the national test and trace programme, if further positive test results arise among the child’s class or school, Public Health England’s local Health Protection Teams will conduct a rapid investigation into the outbreak and will advise schools and other settings on the most appropriate action to take. In some cases, a larger number of other children may be asked to self-isolate at home as a precautionary measure.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the (a) adequacy and (b) effectiveness of consultation periods used by schools to consult parents on proposals to establish feeder arrangements.
Answered by Nick Gibb
School admission arrangements must comply with the School Admissions Code. The Code permits admission arrangements which give priority to children who attend named feeder schools. It also requires that the selection of feeder schools is transparent and made on reasonable grounds. In addition, the Code requires that admission arrangements are fair.
The School Admissions Code requires admission authorities to consult locally before making changes to their admission arrangements. They must consult for a minimum of 6 weeks between 1 October and 31 January in the school year before the arrangements come into effect. The Code specifies the people and organisations that the admission authority must consult. This includes local parents, other local schools and the local authority.
The admission authority must then determine its admission arrangements by 28 February and publish them on its website. Anyone who considers the determined admission arrangements are unlawful or unfair may complain to the Schools Adjudicator. Where the Adjudicator upholds a complaint, the admission authority is required to amend their admission arrangements.
In the Office of the Schools Adjudicator’s annual report for the 2016-17 school year, the Adjudicator stated, ‘If the giving of priority by a secondary school to children from certain feeder primaries means that other children will face a significantly longer or more difficult journey to different schools as a result, then the arrangements are likely to be found to be unfair.’ The report is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/osa-annual-report.
The Department collects pupil forecasts from each local authority through the annual school capacity survey. The latest published data relates to the position in the 2017-18 school year. Secondary pupil numbers in Bromley local authority are forecast to increase by 3,214 (12%) from 23,618 in 2019-20 to 26,832 in 2024-25, as seen in the table below.
Table 1: Secondary pupil forecasts for Bromley local authority
School year | Bromley local authority secondary pupil total |
2019-20 | 23,618 |
2020-21 | 24,415 |
2021-22 | 25,281 |
2022-23 | 25,991 |
2023-24 | 26,561 |
2024-25 | 26,832 |
Further information can be found in the place planning tables at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/school-capacity-academic-year-2017-to-2018.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the increase in the number of secondary school places in Bromley in each of the next five years; and what assessment he has made of the potential effect of feeder school arrangements on that increase.
Answered by Nick Gibb
School admission arrangements must comply with the School Admissions Code. The Code permits admission arrangements which give priority to children who attend named feeder schools. It also requires that the selection of feeder schools is transparent and made on reasonable grounds. In addition, the Code requires that admission arrangements are fair.
The School Admissions Code requires admission authorities to consult locally before making changes to their admission arrangements. They must consult for a minimum of 6 weeks between 1 October and 31 January in the school year before the arrangements come into effect. The Code specifies the people and organisations that the admission authority must consult. This includes local parents, other local schools and the local authority.
The admission authority must then determine its admission arrangements by 28 February and publish them on its website. Anyone who considers the determined admission arrangements are unlawful or unfair may complain to the Schools Adjudicator. Where the Adjudicator upholds a complaint, the admission authority is required to amend their admission arrangements.
In the Office of the Schools Adjudicator’s annual report for the 2016-17 school year, the Adjudicator stated, ‘If the giving of priority by a secondary school to children from certain feeder primaries means that other children will face a significantly longer or more difficult journey to different schools as a result, then the arrangements are likely to be found to be unfair.’ The report is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/osa-annual-report.
The Department collects pupil forecasts from each local authority through the annual school capacity survey. The latest published data relates to the position in the 2017-18 school year. Secondary pupil numbers in Bromley local authority are forecast to increase by 3,214 (12%) from 23,618 in 2019-20 to 26,832 in 2024-25, as seen in the table below.
Table 1: Secondary pupil forecasts for Bromley local authority
School year | Bromley local authority secondary pupil total |
2019-20 | 23,618 |
2020-21 | 24,415 |
2021-22 | 25,281 |
2022-23 | 25,991 |
2023-24 | 26,561 |
2024-25 | 26,832 |
Further information can be found in the place planning tables at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/school-capacity-academic-year-2017-to-2018.