Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if his Department will introduce a dedicated technology budget for state schools for the purposes of tackling the digital divide.
Answered by Robin Walker
Schools’ technology is managed from their central budgets, and they have the autonomy to decide how this resource is spent so that they can prioritise their individual needs. The department has provided over 1.95 million laptops and tablets during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those devices are in the hands of schools who can decide how and when children should have access to them.
The department is setting standards so that school and trust leaders know what they need to do to get their technology estate in good shape. The department is also working with commercial providers to accelerate gigabit capable broadband rollout to schools, to enable all schools to have access to a high-speed connection by 2025. Additionally, up to £150 million will be invested to upgrade schools that fall below our Wi-Fi connectivity standards in priority areas.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make it his policy to suspend Ofsted inspections in schools to minimise disruption during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Robin Walker
Ofsted inspections continue to play an important role in providing independent assurance as providers respond to COVID-19. It is right though that these arrangements are kept under review, and adjustments made where appropriate.
On 2 January 2022, the government announced that Ofsted will not ask inspectors who are also school leaders to undertake inspections, so they can focus on their leadership responsibilities at this critical time. Ofsted will also encourage schools that are significantly impacted by COVID-19 related staff absence to ask for their inspection to be deferred. Ofsted will look sensitively at each deferral request and judge each case on its merits. It is right that decisions about whether an inspection should go ahead is made by the independent inspectorate.
Taken together, these measures will both reduce the overall number of inspections for a temporary period, and lead to the deferral of inspections planned for institutions managing high levels of staff absence.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many air purifiers are currently installed in school classrooms in the Wansbeck constituency; and how many air purifiers are planned to be fitted in school classrooms in that constituency and by what date.
Answered by Robin Walker
During the autumn term, we provided over 353,000 CO2 monitors to all state-funded education providers, including early years, schools and further education colleges, backed by £25 million in government funding. Feedback suggests that schools are finding the monitors helpful to manage ventilation and, in the majority of schools, colleges and nurseries, existing ventilation measures are sufficient.
Maintaining adequate ventilation remains the responsibility of individual providers. Where an area of poor ventilation has been identified that cannot be resolved through simple measures such as opening doors and windows, schools are advised to explore what remedial works may be required to improve ventilation. Where it is not possible to maintain adequate ventilation, it may be appropriate to consider the use of an air cleaning unit while the underlying ventilation issue is addressed.
When used properly, air cleaning units can help reduce airborne contaminants in a poorly ventilated space, including viruses like COVID-19. Air cleaning units are not a substitute for ventilation and should never be used as a reason to reduce ventilation. They are not necessary in spaces that are adequately ventilated.
The department will also make up to 8000 air cleaning units available for poorly ventilated teaching spaces in state-funded education providers, where quick fixes to improve ventilation are not possible.
Deliveries of air cleaning units will start from this week to special educational needs and disabilities and alternative provision providers. These were allocated in the first application round announced in November 2021. The second round of applications is open until 9am on 17 January. All state funded schools, colleges and nurseries can apply. Special and alternative provision providers that were not successful or did not apply in the first round are also eligible to apply in this round. Once applications have closed, all applications will be assessed against strict criteria and allocated to providers based on need. Providers with successful applications will be contacted individually to arrange delivery, with deliveries expected from February 2022.
For those providers that are not eligible for funded units, the online marketplace provides a route to purchasing air cleaning units directly from suppliers at a suitable specification and competitive price. The marketplace is available to view here: https://s107t01-webapp-v2-01.azurewebsites.net/list/air-cleaning.
Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, we have emphasised the importance of ventilation and provided guidance to providers on ventilation requirements. In addition to our existing guidance on ventilation we have provided schools, colleges and nurseries with guidance on how to use the air cleaning units as well as how to order a unit via the marketplace. The application process has been communicated to settings via our Daily Bulletin and we continue to support providers with their queries via the Coronavirus Helpline.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has been made of the potential merits of suspending SATs in May 2022 for Year 6 pupils due to continuing high absence rates and ongoing disruption in schools due to the outbreak of covid-19.
Answered by Robin Walker
We are continuing to plan for a full programme of primary assessments to take place in summer 2022. The assessments will be crucial in helping parents, schools and the department gauge the impact of education lost and will enable us to better understand the effectiveness of education recovery initiatives.
The results from the 2022 assessments will not be published in Key Stage 2 performance tables. We will ensure that any data shared with Ofsted, regional schools’ commissioners and others is caveated with clear messages about the uneven impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on pupils and schools, and to advise caution when drawing conclusions from the data.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children and young people in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools have been confirmed with covid-19 in Wansbeck constituency since September 2021.
Answered by Robin Walker
The department collects data on the total number of pupils that are absent each day from school with confirmed COVID-19, as opposed to the total number of positive test results in an area. As we collect the total number of pupils absent from school, we are unable to determine if the same pupil is absent on consecutive days, so are unable to provide a total for the number of pupils absent in this period.
The proportion of pupils in state-funded primary and secondary schools absent due to COVID-19, since the start of the academic year, can be found on Explore Education Statistics. The lowest geographical level the data is split to is local authority level. Published data for Northumberland is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/3d84bca3-0d0c-4c10-9163-a37d888dc624.
The latest set of published data is from 11 January, available at this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/announcements/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic--6.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many teachers working in schools in Wansbeck constituency have been confirmed with covid-19 since September 2021.
Answered by Robin Walker
The department collects data on the total number of teachers that are absent each day from school with confirmed COVID-19, as opposed to the total number of positive test results of teachers in an area. As we collect the total number of teachers absent from school, we are unable to determine if the same teacher is absent on consecutive days, so are unable to provide a total for the number of teachers absent in this period.
The proportion of teachers in state-funded schools absent due to COVID-19, since the start of the academic year, can be found on Explore Education Statistics. The lowest geographical level the data is split to is local authority level. Published data for Northumberland is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/df96718b-b549-42cb-98f4-4e34afd9ee77.
The latest set of published data is from 11 January, available at this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/announcements/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic--6.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children who required a laptop in Wansbeck to carry out online learning have received one.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government is investing over £300 million to support access to remote education and online social care services, including securing over one million laptops and tablets for disadvantaged children and young people. This includes over 560,000 laptops and tablets that have already been delivered to schools, trusts and local authorities in 2020.
Laptops and tablets are owned by schools, trusts or local authorities who can lend these to children and young people who need them most, during the current COVID-19 restrictions.
As of 18 December 2020, 455 devices had been delivered to Northumberland local authority. Devices have also been allocated to academy trusts in Northumberland which are not included in this figure. Constituencies can be spread over numerous local authorities and, as laptops have been distributed by local authority region or school, the Department does not have the data on the number of devices delivered within the Wansbeck constituency.
More information on the number of laptops delivered has been published here: www.gov.uk/government/publications/laptops-tablets-and-4g-wireless-routers-progress-data.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he made of the safety of nursery settings remaining open during the January 2021 national lockdown.
Answered by Vicky Ford
My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced on 4 January 2021 that early years settings remain open for all children during the national lockdown. Details can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/national-lockdown-stay-at-home.
Schools have been restricted because additional measures are needed to contain the spread of the virus. The wider significant restrictions in place as part of the national lockdown to contain the spread of the virus in the community enable us to continue prioritising keeping nurseries and childminders open, supporting parents and delivering the crucial care and education needed for our youngest children.
Early years settings remain low risk environments for children and staff. Current evidence suggests that pre-school children (0 to 5 years) are less susceptible to infection and are unlikely to be playing a driving role in transmission. There is no evidence the new strain of the virus causes more serious illness in either children or adults and there is no evidence that the new variant of coronavirus disproportionately affects young children.
PHE advice remains that the risk of transmission and infection is low if early years settings follow the system of controls, which reduce risks and create inherently safer environments.
Early years settings have been open to all children since 1 June 2020 and there is no evidence that the early years sector has contributed to a rise in virus cases within the community. Early modelling evidence from SAGE showed that early years provision had a smaller relative impact on transmission rate when modelled with both primary schools and secondary schools.
Early years childcare providers were one of the first sectors to have restrictions lifted last summer, in recognition of the key role they play in society. Childminders and nursery staff across the country have worked hard to keep settings open through the COVID-19 outbreak so that young children can be educated, and parents can work. The earliest years are the most crucial point of child development and attending early education lays the foundation for lifelong learning and supports children’s social and emotional development. We continue to prioritise keeping early years settings open in full because of the clear benefits to children’s education and wellbeing and to support working parents. Caring for the youngest age group is not something that can be done remotely.
These plans are being kept under review in the light of emerging scientific evidence. We are working with the scientific community to understand the properties and dynamics of the new variant VUI-202012/01 in relation to children and young people.
The department has been working closely with local authorities to assess the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, setting up dedicated regional teams that are in frequent contact. Bringing together expertise from across the department, these teams monitor the challenges local authorities are facing. Our London regional team is in close contact with Havering and will be assessing the situation for early years settings in the authority.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if the Government will allocate funding to support the reintroduction of the Anti-bullying grant scheme.
Answered by Vicky Ford
On 7 June 2020, the department announced an additional £750,000 in funding to 3 organisations (the Diana Award, the Anti-Bullying Alliance and the Anne Frank Trust) to continue to support schools in their efforts to tackle bullying. This includes projects targeting bullying of particular groups, such as pupils with special educational needs and disabilities, pupils who are victims of hate-related bullying and pupils who identify as LGBT. These grants are due to end in March 2021.
The department will confirm what funding is available for 2021-22 in the light of the Spending Review outcome. We will also consider what more the department can do to ensure that schools have the right support to prevent bullying of pupils with protected characteristics.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many laptops, iPads and 4G routers were provided to children in Wansbeck constituency (a) in total and (b) by school.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government has invested over £160 million to support remote education and access to online social care.
As part of this, the Department for Education has delivered over 220,000 laptops and tablets and over 50,000 4G wireless routers, during the summer term, for disadvantaged children in Year 10, children receiving support from a social worker and care leavers. A breakdown of how many devices were delivered to each local authority or academy trust, including in Wansbeck, which is covered by Northumberland County Council, can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/912888/Devices_and_4G_wireless_routers_progress_data_as_of_27_August_2020.pdf.
The laptops and tablets delivered in the summer term were an injection of support to help local authorities and academy trusts to provide access to education and social care during the COVID-19 restriction period. Local authorities and academy trusts were responsible for distributing the devices. The Department does not hold data on which schools the devices were distributed to.
The Department is now supplementing this support by making available 250,000 additional laptops and tablets in the event that face-to-face schooling is disrupted as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak and children become reliant on remote education.