Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve support for children with special educational needs in (a) Enfield North constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield and (c) London.
Answered by David Johnston
The department is committed to ensuring that children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) get the support they need wherever they live.
The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan outlines the government’s mission to create a single, national SEND and AP system; the proposal to develop National Standards is a fundamental part of this. The Standards will set out what support should be available and who is responsible for providing it to give families confidence and clarity on how the needs of children and young people will be met. These Standards will apply nationally, including London.
The SEND and AP Improvement Plan also sets out proposals to improve the Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan assessment and planning process, by introducing standardised forms and processes, as well as supporting guidance to provide greater consistency.
In addition, the department’s Delivering Better Value programme aims to improve outcomes for children and young people and put the SEND system on a more sustainable footing by funding high needs system transformation in up to 55 local authorities, including the London Borough of Enfield, with significant Dedicated Schools Grant deficits. It does so by providing diagnostic support to the local authority, identifying opportunities to improve services and meeting children’s needs better, and then grant funding the local authority’s plan.
Furthermore, high needs funding to support children and young people with complex SEND is rising to £10.1 billion in the 2023/24 financial year, which is an increase of over 50% compared to 2019/20. Of this, the London Borough of Enfield’s high needs funding allocation for 2023/24 is £76 million, which is an 11.5% per head increase compared to the amount of high needs funding allocated in the 2022/23 financial year.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children with SEND are not in formal education in (a) Enfield North constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield and (c) London as of 7 November 2023.
Answered by David Johnston
The department holds data on the number of children and young people with an Education, Health and Care plan, including the setting in which the child or young person is typically educated or where they are not in education or training for any reason. The information is available in the National Statistics publication at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans.
The data can be broken down by region and local authority. Data is not available at parliamentary constituency level.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of educational psychologists providing services to children in (a) Enfield North constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield and (c) London.
Answered by David Johnston
Over the past five years, the department has funded a total of 304 educational psychologist (EP) training places across four London-based institutions. This figure includes a total of 56 funded training places per academic year starting in 2018 and 2019, increasing to a total of 64 funded training places per academic year starting in 2020, 2021 and 2022. A further cohort of 64 trainees is due to take up their funded training places at London-based institutions as of this autumn. As training places are allocated to institutions, the requested figures by parliamentary constituency and borough are not available. Additionally, the number employed in the private sector is not collected centrally.
Information on the state-funded school workforce in England, including the number of EPs that were reported as being directly employed by local authorities in England, is published in the annual ‘School workforce in England’ national statistics release, which is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
According to the School Workforce Census, in November 2022 there were 2,325 EPs directly employed by local authorities in England, including 646 directly employed by local authorities in London, and 17 by the London Borough of Enfield. The figure provided also excludes local authorities who did not submit a return, or where EP provision has been outsourced or the provision has been shared with other local authorities.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many educational psychologist training places were funded by her Department in (a) Enfield North constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield and (c) London in each of the last five years.
Answered by David Johnston
Over the past five years, the department has funded a total of 304 educational psychologist (EP) training places across four London-based institutions. This figure includes a total of 56 funded training places per academic year starting in 2018 and 2019, increasing to a total of 64 funded training places per academic year starting in 2020, 2021 and 2022. A further cohort of 64 trainees is due to take up their funded training places at London-based institutions as of this autumn. As training places are allocated to institutions, the requested figures by parliamentary constituency and borough are not available. Additionally, the number employed in the private sector is not collected centrally.
Information on the state-funded school workforce in England, including the number of EPs that were reported as being directly employed by local authorities in England, is published in the annual ‘School workforce in England’ national statistics release, which is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
According to the School Workforce Census, in November 2022 there were 2,325 EPs directly employed by local authorities in England, including 646 directly employed by local authorities in London, and 17 by the London Borough of Enfield. The figure provided also excludes local authorities who did not submit a return, or where EP provision has been outsourced or the provision has been shared with other local authorities.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of extending the eligibility criteria for free school meals on the educational outcomes of children in Enfield North constituency.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Since 2010, the number of pupils receiving a free school meal (FSM) has increased by more than two million. This increase in provision is due to the introduction of Universal Infant Free School Meals and protections put in place as benefit recipients move across to Universal Credit. Over a third of pupils in England now receive FSM, compared with one in six in 2010.
The Department believes that the current eligibility threshold level, which enables pupils in low income households to benefit from FSM, while remaining affordable and deliverable for schools, is the right one. The Department does not have plans to change the current eligibility conditions for FSM. The Department continues to keep eligibility under review to ensure that these meals are supporting those who most need them. The Department also continues to monitor the consequences of the rising cost of living and is working with other Government Departments to provide support to disadvantaged families.
The Department monitors the educational outcomes of disadvantaged pupils. The latest published statistics on the attainment gap are available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/key-stage-2-attainment (see attainment by pupil characteristics), and: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/key-stage-4-performance-revised/2021-22 (see attainment by disadvantage status).
The attainment gap narrowed by 9% at secondary school level and by 13% at primary school level between 2011 and 2019. For over a decade, the Department has consistently taken a range of steps to give priority support and deliver programmes that help disadvantaged pupils, including improving the quality of teaching and curriculum resources, strengthening the school system, and providing targeted support where needed. The Department understands that disadvantaged children have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic.
At a national level, the Department delivers a number of core policies to support disadvantaged pupils including FSM, the holiday activities and food programme, where we are investing over £200m a year for the next two years, and support for 2,500 breakfast clubs and family hubs. Additionally, the Department is also ensuring better targeting of deprivation factors through the National Funding Formula (over 9% of all funding), as well as record amounts of Pupil Premium funding, £2.6 billion in 2022/23 financial year and £2.9 billion this financial year.
The National Tutoring Programme (NTP) funds schools based on rates of disadvantage. Since the launch of the NTP in November 2020, more than £1 billion has been made available to support tutoring. From November 2020 to academic year 2023/24, nearly four million tutoring courses have been started, up to July 2023. By 2024, the Department will have embedded tutoring across schools in England. The Department expects tutoring to continue to be a staple offer from schools, with schools using their core budgets, including Pupil Premium, to fund targeted support for those children who will benefit.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of classes exceed 30 pupils in (a) primary and (b) secondary state schools in Enfield North constituency; and what information her Department holds on those figures for private schools in that constituency.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The department publishes figures on class sizes for state-funded primary and secondary schools in England. The most recent figures are for January 2023 and can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics.
Despite an increase of more than a million pupils in state-funded primary and secondary schools since 2010, at secondary level, average class sizes remain low at only 22.4 pupils, whilst the average primary class has remained broadly stable at 26.7 pupils.
The average class size in Enfield North constituency is 27.1 in state-funded primary schools, and 22.9 in state-funded secondary schools.
5.8% of state-funded primary school classes and 12.4% of state-funded secondary school classes in Enfield North constituency had more than thirty pupils in them, compared to 10.4% and 10.2% in England. Nationally, the vast majority of pupils in classes over 30 are in classes of 31 or 32.
The department does not collect information on class sizes in independent schools
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps her Department has taken to improve children's oracy skills in Enfield North constituency.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department recognises the importance of oracy, which is why spoken language is already part of the National Curriculum for English for 5 to 16 year olds. In the early years, the Department are providing up to £17 million of funding in the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI), improving the language skills of reception age pupils who need it most following the pandemic. In addition, the Department has secured over £28 million to support the speech and language of young children worst affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, delivered to 3 and 4 year olds through the new family hubs network.
In secondary schools, the GCSE English Language qualification ensures that students are able to listen to and understand spoken language and use spoken standard English effectively. Provisional 2023 data published by Ofqual shows that overall entries to GCSE English Language increased by 4.9% between summer 2022 and summer 2023. This data can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/provisional-entries-for-gcse-as-and-a-level-summer-2023-exam-series/provisional-entries-for-gcse-as-and-a-level-summer-2023-exam-series#gcse-entries.
The Department funds the national poetry recitation competition. This encourages both primary and secondary schools to participate to improve pupils’ knowledge and enjoyment of poetry, and to improve oracy through poetry recitation and recall. The competition provides an opportunity for pupils to enjoy sharing poems aloud.
The £67 million English hubs programme, launched in 2018, is dedicated to improving the teaching of reading, with a focus on phonics, early language development and reading for pleasure. Since its launch, the programme has provided appropriate and targeted support to several thousands of schools across England.
Enfield North’s local English hub, New Wave, is working to engage and support primary schools across the region to improve the teaching of phonics, including offering showcase events especially for local schools. 10 schools in Enfield have received intensive support from the New Wave English hub, excluding new partner schools who have joined the programme this year. A further five schools received resource funding from the hub in the 2022/23 academic year.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential role of (a) further education colleges and (b) universities in tackling the level of inequality of educational outcomes for children in Enfield North constituency.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Spreading opportunity is a top priority for this government. In education, ability is evenly spread but opportunity is not. We need to reduce the dependency of people’s education and skills outcomes on where they live by ensuring that in every area, children can access excellent schools, progress to high quality technical and higher education, and go into good jobs.
This government is focused on levelling up opportunities so that every young person, regardless of their background or geographic location, can get the skills and training needed to secure rewarding, well-paid jobs and move up the ladder of opportunity.
To help improve people’s lives and boost the economy, the government’s skills mission sets out an ambition for 200,000 more people to complete high quality training in England each year by 2030. This includes 80,000 more people completing courses in areas of England with the lowest skills levels.
We want to make sure we are raising skill levels in the places where they are the lowest, so that more people have the skills they need to get good jobs.
Skills are a crucial driver of economic disparities between people and places. Boosting skills improves human capital and is a clear way to improve the earnings potential and life chances of people who have already left school.
This government has built a new skills system from the ground up as we recognise that skills are crucial in driving long-term economic growth and is taking forward major reforms set out in the Skills for Jobs White Paper: delivering T Levels, boosting apprenticeships, approving Higher Technical Qualifications, rolling out Skills Bootcamps, and introducing the Lifelong Learning Entitlement from 2025.
In November 2021, we issued guidance to the Office for Students, asking it to refocus the access and participation regime to create a system that supports young people from disadvantaged backgrounds throughout their education.
Prior attainment is a key determinant of successful participation in HE. That is why we have asked universities to take on a more direct role in driving up the standards in schools. The department wants universities to:
The department is funding Uni Connect through the Strategic Priorities Grant at £30 million for 2023/24. Uni Connect delivers targeted interventions and support aimed at increasing the number of young people from under-represented areas going into FE and HE by bringing together universities, colleges and local partners.
There are three Uni Connect partnerships in London; Access HE works with under-represented young people in North London, including those from Enfield.
So far over one million young people from underrepresented groups have engaged with the Uni Connect programme.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding her Department has allocated to Enfield North constituency for the remediation of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).
Answered by Nick Gibb
Nothing is more important than the safety of children and staff. It has always been the case that where we are made aware of a building that may pose an immediate risk, the Department takes immediate action.
It is the responsibility of those who run schools – academy trusts, Local Authorities, and voluntary-aided school bodies – who work with their schools on a day-to-day basis, to manage the safety and maintenance of their schools and to alert us if there is a concern with a building.
The Department has acted decisively and proactively to tackle this issue. This Government has taken more proactive action on RAAC than any other in the UK. The Department issued comprehensive guidance in 2018, and subsequent years, to all responsible bodies highlighting the potential risks associated with RAAC and supporting them to identify this within their buildings, as well as to take appropriate steps in meeting their obligations to keep buildings safe. The most recent guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-estates-guidance.
There are over 22,000 schools and colleges in England, and the vast majority are unaffected. A significant proportion of the estate was built outside the period where RAAC was used, with around one third of the estate built since 2001, therefore, the Department has focused efforts on buildings built in the post-war decades.
The Department issued a questionnaire in March 2022, asking responsible bodies to inform the Department of any suspected RAAC identified in their estates. Responsible bodies have submitted questionnaires for over 98% of schools with blocks built in the target era, of which there are 14,900. We are pressing all remaining schools to get checks completed, to determine which schools require surveys.
The Department is contacting responsible bodies to help them respond to this request and to advise on what needs to be done, so that they can establish whether they believe they have RAAC. This work will continue until we have a response for all target era schools.
Schools and colleges where RAAC is suspected are being fast tracked for surveying, which is used to confirm whether RAAC is actually present. All schools and colleges that have already told us they suspect they might have RAAC will be surveyed within a matter of weeks, in many cases in a matter of days.
All schools where RAAC is confirmed are provided with a dedicated caseworker to support them and help implement a mitigation plan and minimise the disruption to children’s learning.
Across Government, Departments have been asked to report on the current picture of suspected and confirmed RAAC in their estates as soon as possible. This will be updated on a regular basis as new buildings are identified and surveying and remediation are carried out. The Department for Education published lists of education settings confirmed as having RAAC on Wednesday 6 September, and committed to providing further updates.
Schools will contact parents where RAAC is identified and inform them of any impacts on their child. The vast majority of schools are unaffected. Any parents that are unsure if their child’s school is affected should contact their school directly.
While some short term disruption is inevitable, all available measures will be taken to minimise disruption to pupil learning and ensure that pupils continue to receive face-to-face teaching. Where there is any disturbance to face-to-face education, schools will prioritise attendance for vulnerable children and young people and children of key workers. The guidance published by the Department in August also includes guidance on provision for pupils with SEND and sets out expectations that schools continue to provide free school meals to eligible pupils.
The Department will fund emergency mitigation work needed to make buildings safe, including installing alternative classroom space where necessary. Where schools and colleges need additional help with revenue costs, like transport to locations or temporarily renting a local hall or office, the department will provide that support for all reasonable requests. The Department will also fund longer term refurbishment projects, or rebuilding projects where these are needed, to rectify the RAAC issue in the long term.
All previously confirmed Schol Rebuilding Programme projects announced in 2021 and 2022 will continue to go ahead. A full list of confirmed projects can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme-schools-in-the-programme.
Further information on RAAC in education settings is available on the Education Hub: https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2023/09/06/new-guidance-on-raac-in-education-settings/.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has (a) contacted every school in Enfield North constituency that may be affected by the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, (b) assigned a caseworker to each affected school and (c) informed the relevant local authority of their (i) findings and (ii) actions.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Nothing is more important than the safety of children and staff. It has always been the case that where we are made aware of a building that may pose an immediate risk, the Department takes immediate action.
It is the responsibility of those who run schools – academy trusts, Local Authorities, and voluntary-aided school bodies – who work with their schools on a day-to-day basis, to manage the safety and maintenance of their schools and to alert us if there is a concern with a building.
The Department has acted decisively and proactively to tackle this issue. This Government has taken more proactive action on RAAC than any other in the UK. The Department issued comprehensive guidance in 2018, and subsequent years, to all responsible bodies highlighting the potential risks associated with RAAC and supporting them to identify this within their buildings, as well as to take appropriate steps in meeting their obligations to keep buildings safe. The most recent guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-estates-guidance.
There are over 22,000 schools and colleges in England, and the vast majority are unaffected. A significant proportion of the estate was built outside the period where RAAC was used, with around one third of the estate built since 2001, therefore, the Department has focused efforts on buildings built in the post-war decades.
The Department issued a questionnaire in March 2022, asking responsible bodies to inform the Department of any suspected RAAC identified in their estates. Responsible bodies have submitted questionnaires for over 98% of schools with blocks built in the target era, of which there are 14,900. We are pressing all remaining schools to get checks completed, to determine which schools require surveys.
The Department is contacting responsible bodies to help them respond to this request and to advise on what needs to be done, so that they can establish whether they believe they have RAAC. This work will continue until we have a response for all target era schools.
Schools and colleges where RAAC is suspected are being fast tracked for surveying, which is used to confirm whether RAAC is actually present. All schools and colleges that have already told us they suspect they might have RAAC will be surveyed within a matter of weeks, in many cases in a matter of days.
All schools where RAAC is confirmed are provided with a dedicated caseworker to support them and help implement a mitigation plan and minimise the disruption to children’s learning.
Across Government, Departments have been asked to report on the current picture of suspected and confirmed RAAC in their estates as soon as possible. This will be updated on a regular basis as new buildings are identified and surveying and remediation are carried out. The Department for Education published lists of education settings confirmed as having RAAC on Wednesday 6 September, and committed to providing further updates.
Schools will contact parents where RAAC is identified and inform them of any impacts on their child. The vast majority of schools are unaffected. Any parents that are unsure if their child’s school is affected should contact their school directly.
While some short term disruption is inevitable, all available measures will be taken to minimise disruption to pupil learning and ensure that pupils continue to receive face-to-face teaching. Where there is any disturbance to face-to-face education, schools will prioritise attendance for vulnerable children and young people and children of key workers. The guidance published by the Department in August also includes guidance on provision for pupils with SEND and sets out expectations that schools continue to provide free school meals to eligible pupils.
The Department will fund emergency mitigation work needed to make buildings safe, including installing alternative classroom space where necessary. Where schools and colleges need additional help with revenue costs, like transport to locations or temporarily renting a local hall or office, the department will provide that support for all reasonable requests. The Department will also fund longer term refurbishment projects, or rebuilding projects where these are needed, to rectify the RAAC issue in the long term.
All previously confirmed Schol Rebuilding Programme projects announced in 2021 and 2022 will continue to go ahead. A full list of confirmed projects can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme-schools-in-the-programme.
Further information on RAAC in education settings is available on the Education Hub: https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2023/09/06/new-guidance-on-raac-in-education-settings/.