Asked by: Gary Streeter (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the research published by Save the Children on 1 November 2016, what implications the findings of this report that children in nurseries without an early years teacher are almost 10 per cent less likely to meet the expected levels of development when they start school will have on her Department's policies.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
On 3 March the Department for Education published an early years workforce strategy which seeks to remove the barriers to attracting, retaining and developing staff.
For graduates we have begun the process to amend regulations so that early years teachers can lead teaching in nursery and reception classes in maintained schools. Over the longer term, we are going to consider how plans to strengthen QTS could offer positive opportunities for early years teachers. We also want to make sure that all settings serving disadvantaged children can access specialist graduates, so we are commissioning a feasibility study to explore how best to achieve this.
The strategy is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-workforce-strategy
Asked by: Gary Streeter (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what definition of the workforce will be used for the purposes of deciding the percentage of apprentices to be engaged by a school under apprenticeship levy proposals.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The Government is committed to raising the quality and quantity of apprenticeships and achieving 3 million apprenticeship starts by 2020. This includes all aspects of the public sector, from policy makers to frontline services.
Following the consultation on setting apprenticeship targets for public bodies, and wider engagement with representatives from across the public sector, the Government is intending to publish its response to the consultation shortly. That document will detail what definition of the workforce within schools and other public sector bodies will be used when setting the target.
When considering which employers, including schools, will make payments towards the apprenticeship levy we do not base this assessment on the number of staff but rather on those employers with a pay bill of more than £3 million.
Asked by: Gary Streeter (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the workings of the Educational Funding Agency Regional Framework Agreement; and if she will change that Agreement to enable more local construction companies to bid for contracts.
Answered by Edward Timpson
We would not be able to deliver school buildings without the substantial involvement of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the country.
The regional framework is just one of a number of procurement routes used by the Education Funding Agency for the delivery of central programmes, for example the free schools programme uses a wide of variety of procurement routes, including local arrangements. In addition the vast majority of capital funding for schools is distributed directly to academies, local authorities and other responsible bodies who are free to select the procurement method which best suits their needs. The use of Education Funding Agency frameworks is not mandated and it continually reviews those frameworks and procurement methods to ensure SMEs and local businesses are not unduly excluded.
Asked by: Gary Streeter (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how the organisations which will run the proposed new schools in the new town in Sherford, Devon will be selected.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Where a local authority (LA) identifies the need to establish a new school, section 6A of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 (the ‘academy presumption’) requires it to seek proposals, in the first instance, to establish an academy/free school. The LA must publish a new school specification, inviting proposals to establish and run the new school. The LA should assess all proposals received and send the outcome of their assessment to the Secretary of State. The LA may state its preferred proposer or ranking of proposers, which the Secretary of State will take into consideration when deciding whether or not to enter into a funding agreement with any of the proposers. However, the Secretary of State reserves the right to put in place a proposer of her own choice.
Guidance about the process is published online at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/academy-and-free-school-presumption