Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he plans to increase funding for (a) children’s centres, (b) youth workers and (c) other early intervention services during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The government has provided £3.7 billion of funding to support local authorities in meeting COVID-19 related pressures. This funding is un-ringfenced, recognising local authorities are best placed to decide how to meet the major COVID-19 service pressures in their local area, including on children’s centres, youth work and other early intervention services. We will keep this under very close review.
This funding is in addition to the £2.9 billion core spending power available to local authorities this financial year. This includes £1 billion of grant funding that can be used flexibly by local authorities to deliver adult and children’s services.
Longer term funding considerations are a matter for the next Spending Review.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what additional funding from the public purse he plans to make available to schools to enable them to hire more staff so that pupils can work in smaller groups during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nick Gibb
On 2 July we published guidance to help schools prepare for all pupils, in all year groups, to return to school full-time from the beginning of the autumn term. The guidance can be viewed at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools.
The above guidance sets out a ‘system of controls’ which provides a framework for school leaders to put in place a range of proportionate protective measures for children and staff, which also ensure that all pupils receive a high quality education that enables them to thrive and progress. Measures include minimising contacts between groups and maintaining distance where possible, encouraging regular handwashing, and enhanced cleaning.
The guidance sets out that the use of small groups can restrict the normal operations of schools, presenting both educational and logistical challenges, so class sizes can return to normal. The overarching principle that schools have been asked to apply is reducing the number of contacts between children and staff. This can be achieved through keeping groups separate in class or year group sized ‘bubbles’ and through maintaining distance between individuals. These are not alternative options and both measures will help, but the balance between them will change depending on children’s ability to distance, the lay out of the school and the feasibility of keeping distinct groups separate while offering a broad curriculum.
To implement the required protective measures, schools may also need to alter the way in which they deploy their staff and use existing staff more flexibly. Managers should discuss and agree any changes to staff roles with individuals. Schools should use their existing resources to make arrangements to welcome all children back.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what research is being done on younger students spreading covid-19 into the wider community.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department regularly reviews advice from Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) and Public Health England (PHE) to ensure our policies are guided by the most up to date scientific evidence.
Public Health England have published preliminary results of the COVID-19 testing and antibody prevalence surveillance in schools programme (sKIDs), available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/914700/sKIDs_Phase1Report_01sep2020.pdf.
The report concluded that there was no evidence of an increased risk of COVID-19 infection in students or staff attending school during the summer half term in England, with no secondary cases identified among household or school contacts.
The SAGE sub-group, the Children’s Task and Finish Working group, has provided advice that focusses specifically on the transmission of COVID-19 in children and within schools. This has included data from a meta-analysis looking at the susceptibility to and transmission of COVID-19 amongst children and adolescents, available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/903377/S0604_Annex_A_-_Update_on_susceptibility_and_transmission_of_SARS-CoV-2_by_children_and_adolescents.pdf.
SAGE have also considered principles for managing COVID-19 transmission associated with both schools and colleges.
The Rapid Response and the Rapid Rolling Calls, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) are funding studies that aim to make a significant contribution to the understanding, prevention, and management of COVID-19. Two prominent examples include the Coronavirus STORY (Serum Testing of Representative Youngsters) project led by the University of Oxford and in collaboration with Public Health England will study the presence of antibodies against COVID-19 in children and teenagers 0 to 19 years old. The COVID-19 Mapping and Mitigation in Schools (CoMMinS) project led by Bristol University will, over a six-month period, test for infection in schools and test whether staff and pupils have current or past COVID-19 infection.
The UK Chief Medical Officers have also been clear that school attendance is very important for children and young people.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether maintained nurseries are able to access Catch Up Grant funding.
Answered by Vicky Ford
We are investing £1 billion in the COVID catch up fund. £650 million will be shared across state primary and secondary schools to support all pupils over the 2020-21 academic year and a National Tutoring Programme, worth £350 million, will increase access to high-quality tuition for the most disadvantaged young people over the same period. This includes £9 million to expand the Nuffield Early Language Intervention to support reception-aged children with poor language skills.
This funding is being focused on primary and secondary schools so they can help pupils catch up on time spent out of school. Early education is also vital, and we have prioritised getting the youngest children back into their childcare settings as quickly as possible. They have been able to return to nurseries and childminders since 1 June, so they have missed out on less education.
We will continue to support children’s early language and literacy skills through the Hungry Little Minds campaign.
Furthermore, the sector has benefitted from continued early years entitlement funding during the COVID-19 outbreak, on which we are planning to spend over £3.6 billion in 2020-21. On 20 July, we announced our commitment to continue funding local authorities for childcare this autumn term at the same levels as seen prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, regardless of whether fewer children are attending. If providers are open but caring for fewer children as a result of low demand, either from parents or due to public health reasons, they can continue to be funded for the autumn term at broadly the levels that they would have expected to see had there been no COVID-19 outbreak.
For maintained nursery schools, we also recently announced that they will continue to receive supplementary funding for the whole the 2020-21 academic year.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether daily testing will be provided for professionals working in schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Testing for COVID-19 is most effective for those who are experiencing symptoms. Anyone who develops symptoms should get tested.
The latest clinical advice is that testing of individuals without symptoms should only be used where clinically appropriate, predominantly for further investigation of outbreaks and infection control. This risk-based approach is essential to ensure testing is targeted where it is most effective.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that school children adhere to social distancing guidance.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Returning to school is vital for children’s education and for their wellbeing. Time out of school is detrimental for children’s cognitive and academic development, particularly for disadvantaged children. This impact can affect both current levels of education and children’s future ability to learn, which is why we need to ensure all pupils can return to school sooner rather than later.
On 2 July, the Department published guidance for schools to help them prepare for the autumn term. The guidance can be found here:
The guidance sets out the Public Health England-endorsed system of controls which schools should implement to reduce risks. This includes advice on minimising contacts and mixing between people, which can be achieved through keeping groups separate and through maintaining distance between individuals. Schools must do everything possible to minimise contacts and mixing while delivering a broad and balanced curriculum.
Schools should consider updating their behaviour policies with any new rules or policies, and consider how to communicate rules and policies clearly and consistently to staff, pupils and parents. Schools should set out the consequences for poor behaviour and deliberately breaking the rules and how they will enforce those rules, including any sanctions. This is particularly the case when considering restrictions on movement within school and new hygiene rules. Further guidance about behaviour and discipline in schools is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/behaviour-and-discipline-in-schools.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what additional support he plans to provide to schools to ensure that children receive additional emotional and mental wellbeing support on returning to school during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Vicky Ford
We know that, across society, the COVID-19 outbreak has had an impact on wellbeing and mental health, but it has had a particular impact on children and young people. That is why, as a government, we have made children’s wellbeing and mental health a central part of our response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Getting children and young people back into education, with settings devoting time to supporting wellbeing, will play a fundamental part in supporting children and young people’s mental health. The return to school will allow social interaction with peers, carers and teachers, which benefits wellbeing. The department has now published detailed plans for all children and young people to return to full-time education from September. The guidance for schools is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools.
We have been working hard to ensure that all pupils and learners will return to a full high-quality education programme in September. Our £1 billion Covid catch-up package, with £650 million shared across schools over the 2020-21 academic year, will support education settings to put the right catch-up and pastoral support in place. More information is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/billion-pound-covid-catch-up-plan-to-tackle-impact-of-lost-teaching-time.
As pupils return to school, staff need to be equipped to understand that some children and young people may be experiencing feelings in such as anxiety, stress or low mood as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, and that these are normal responses to an abnormal situation. Our Mental Health and Behaviour in Schools Advice includes information about what to look for in terms of underlying mental health issues, linked to the graduated response and the support that might be suitable. More information is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mental-health-and-behaviour-in-schools--2.
The department has also published detailed plans for all children and young people to return to full-time education from September. The guidance highlights the particular need to focus on pastoral support and mental wellbeing as a central part of what schools provide, in order to re-engage them and rebuild social interaction with their friends and teachers. This will involve curriculum provision as well as extra-curricular and pastoral support, and our recently published relationships, sex and health education training module will support teachers with preparation to deliver content on mental health and wellbeing. More information is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-mental-wellbeing.
We also remain committed to our joint green paper delivery programme with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England, including introducing new mental health support teams and testing approaches to deliver four week waiting times for access to NHS support.
Access to mental health support is more important than ever during the COVID-19 outbreak. NHS services remain open. Leading mental health charities are being supported to deliver additional services through the £5 million Coronavirus Mental Health Response Fund. During Mental Health Awareness Week, the government also announced that a further £4.2 million will be awarded to mental health charities, including the Samaritans, Young Minds, and Bipolar UK.
The department in collaboration with Public Health England and NHS England, delivered two webinars in July to provide further mental health support. The first webinar was for schools and colleges to support teachers in promoting and supporting the mental wellbeing of children and young people during the COVID-19 outbreak. The second event was for stakeholders across the local system to support strengthening of local partnerships to further support children and young people’s mental health as they return to school. We had around 10,000 sign up to the first webinar and around 1,300 to the second, and they are now available online for wider use.
All NHS mental health trusts have been asked to ensure that there are 24/7 open access telephone lines to support people of all ages. Public Health England and Health Education England have also developed advice and guidance for parents and professionals on supporting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-on-supporting-children-and-young-peoples-mental-health-and-wellbeing.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to tackle the educational attainment gap in (a) Wansbeck and (b) other local education authorities when compared with higher educational attainment in London.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Standards are rising in England’s schools, to the benefit of all pupils. Compared with 2010, more pupils are taking core academic GCSEs - those subjects considered essential for many degrees that also provide a sound basis for a variety of careers. More children are reading fluently and most pupils now attend good or outstanding schools. Disadvantaged children are performing better relative to their peers; the attainment gap has narrowed at every stage from the early years to age 16 since 2011. Our widespread reforms have supported these improvements.
We are committed to maintaining these high standards and continuing to tackle the attainment gap as the country recovers from the COVID-19 outbreak. On 19 June we announced a £1 billion COVID “catch-up” package to directly tackle the impact of lost teaching time.
£650 million will be shared across state primary, secondary and special schools over the 2020/21 academic year. This one-off grant to support pupils recognises that all young people have lost time in education as a result of the outbreak, regardless of their location or background.? School leaders will have discretion over how to use the funding but we expect it to focus on the most effective approaches. The Education Endowment Foundation has published guidance to help schools make good decisions about how to use the money effectively.
Separately, a National Tutoring Programme worth £350 million will increase access to high-quality tuition for the most disadvantaged children and young people. This will help to accelerate their academic progress and tackle the attainment gap between them and their peers.
This £1 billion package is on top of the £14.4 billion core funding increase over three years announced last year, and the £2.4 billion pupil premium schools continue to receive on top of core funding to support their disadvantaged pupils. Schools in the Wansbeck constituency are sharing pupil premium funding of more than £4.4 million this year.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will commit to further funding increases to schools for (a) building improvements and (b) teacher recruitment.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Both building improvements for schools and teacher recruitment are key priorities for the Department.
The Government is providing an additional £560 million in capital funding this year to maintain and improve school buildings, on top of over £1.4 billion already allocated in 2020-21. My right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister has also announced plans for a transformative ten-year school rebuilding programme that will benefit schools across England, starting with over £1 billion for the first 50 schools. Further details will be confirmed following the conclusion of the comprehensive spending review.
Last year, we published the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy which set out our priorities for reform and investment to ensure we continue to attract and retain recruits in the teaching profession. We have pledged to raise starting salaries for new teachers to £30,000 by September 2022, beginning with a 5.5% pay rise for new teachers in the next academic year as announced this week. Alongside investment in pay, we provide a package of financial incentives, including scholarships worth up to £28,000 and bursaries worth up to £26,000 in key secondary subjects, alongside early career retention payments totaling £6,000 in the second, third and fourth year of teaching. Additional uplifts worth up to £9,000 are available for teachers in 39 high-need local authorities.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support he plans to make available to children who live with elderly or vulnerable people in the Autumn in the event that there is a second wave of covid-19.
Answered by Vicky Ford
We now know much more about COVID-19 and so in future, there will be far fewer children and young people advised to shield whenever community transmission rates are high. Therefore, the majority of pupils and students will be able to return to school. Shielding advice for all adults and children will pause on 1 August, subject to a continued decline in the rates of community transmission of COVID-19.
Schools should note that:
Where a pupil is unable to attend their setting because they are complying with clinical or public health advice, we expect settings to be able to immediately offer them access to remote education. Settings should monitor engagement with this activity. For more detail, see the guidance for full opening, which is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools#section-3-curriculum-behaviour-and-pastoral-support.
As part of remote education contingency planning, we are supporting sector-led initiatives such as the Oak National Academy. This new enterprise has been created by 40 teachers from schools across England. It will provide 180 video lessons for free each week, across a broad range of subjects, for every year group from reception through to year 10. By 21 June, 3.9 million unique users had accessed the Oak National Academy website and 13.2 million lessons had been viewed.
Additionally, the BBC has developed resources for families as part of a comprehensive new education package, which is now available on TV and online at BBC Bitesize.
The government has also committed over £100 million to boost remote education, this includes: providing devices and internet access for those who need it most, ensuring every school that wants it has access to free, expert technical support to get set up on Google for Education or Microsoft’s Office 365 Education, and offering peer support from schools and colleges leading the way with the use of education technology.
We have published a comprehensive range of advice and guidance to support schools in providing remote education during this time, which is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/guidance-for-schools-coronavirus-covid-19.
This includes a list of high-quality online resources, which have been assessed with support from some of the country’s leading educational experts, to help pupils learn at home. We also recognise the importance of schools learning from each other’s emerging practice in developing their approach to remote provision. Our guidance includes case studies from schools developing their practice in a variety of different circumstances. The list of online resources is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-online-education-resources.