Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure schools in deprived areas have adequate money in their budgets to take children on school trips connected to the curriculum.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
At the last Spending Review, the Chancellor announced that the Government would meet its manifesto commitment to protect the core schools budget throughout this Parliament. We have also protected the pupil premium at its current rates, worth £2.5 billion annually. Additionally, all local authorities must include a deprivation factor in their local funding formulae, through which they distribute funding to schools in their locality. It is for individual schools to decide how best to use their funding to raise the attainment of pupils, including those from deprived backgrounds, which can include visits in support of the curriculum.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of pupils achieved five A* to C GCSEs in (a) community schools and (b) state-funded academy converter mainstream and foundation schools in (i) 2013 and (ii) 2015.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The figures for pupils achieving five or more A* to C GCSE grades in converter academies are published in the following GCSE and equivalent statistical first releases for the years 2012/13[1] and 2014/15[2]. The lower level breakdown of local authority maintained schools are not published.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/gcse-and-equivalent-results-in-england-2012-to-2013-revised (Table 3a)
[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/provisional-gcse-and-equivalent-results-in-england-2014-to-2015 (Table 3a)
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many staff are employed in her Department's headquarter buildings.
Answered by Nick Gibb
As of 30 November 2014, the number of staff employed in each of the Department’s headquarter buildings is as follows:
Headcount | ||
Site | London | 1621 |
Sheffield | 483 | |
Darlington | 427 | |
Coventry | 370 | |
Manchester | 358 | |
Nottingham | 191 | |
Bristol | 33 | |
Cambridge | 8 |
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many desks are in her Department's main building; how many such desks are (a) owned and (b) leased by her Department; and what the cost is per desk of leasing.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department for Education has 1,493 desks in its main building, Sanctuary Buildings. The desks are owned by the Department.
The Department has significantly reduced the number of desks it uses in Sanctuary Buildings and across its wider estate, through sub-letting desk space to others and by employing a 7:10 desk ratio (7 desks for every 10 members of staff).
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure that children and adoptive parents receive support beyond the initial stages of the adoption process.
Answered by Edward Timpson
People who adopt are making a life changing decision, both for themselves and the children they adopt.
Research indicates a high level of need among adoptive families for therapeutic services often many years after the adoption process has ended.
It is for this reason that we have committed £19.3 million into an Adoption Support Fund to make therapeutic support much more widely accessible, timely and of high quality for adoptive families.