Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
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 - Blyth and Ashington)
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 - Blyth and Ashington)
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 - Blyth and Ashington)
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.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with (a) Cabinet colleagues and (b) stakeholders on cancelling examinations for (a) SATS, (b) GCSEs and (c) A Levels in the 2020-21 academic year.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government is committed to GCSE, AS and A level exams taking place next year. We are also preparing for primary assessments to take place in 2021, to allow us to understand the impact of COVID-19 and target ongoing support to those that need it most. The Department has been working closely with Ofqual, the exam boards, groups representing teachers, schools, colleges, students, and teaching unions to consider our approach to exams and other assessments next year.
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, asked Ofqual in June to consider a short delay to the GCSE, A and AS level exam timetable in 2021, to free up additional teaching time. On 12 October, we announced the decision to delay the majority of exams by 3 weeks.
The Department is working with Ofqual to engage with the sector and other primary stakeholders to develop contingencies in the event that disruption as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak affects students’ ability to sit exams. As part of these discussions the Secretary of State for Education has spoken to Ofqual, his counterparts in the devolved administrations, trade unions, to school leaders via our reference groups, as well as to senior multi-academy trust leaders. In addition, the Department has been in regular contact with Ofqual and exam Boards.
The Department also recognises that primary school pupils have missed a critical period of their education due to school closures in the 2019/20 academic year and are planning on the basis that statutory primary assessments will take place in 2020/21 to allow us to understand the impact of COVID-19 and target ongoing support to those that need it most. Those stakeholders noted above have also been consulted on this matter.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect on class sizes of school staff absence as a result of covid-19.
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.
Ensuring that pupils, staff and other adults do not come into the school if they COVID-19 symptoms or have tested positive in at least the last 10 days, and ensuring anyone developing those symptoms during the school day is sent home, are essential actions to reduce the risk in schools and further drive down transmission of COVID-19.
Schools can continue to use supply teachers and other supply staff during this period as required. Schools may also need to alter the way in which they deploy their staff and use existing staff more flexibly.
Legislation in England limits infant class sizes to a maximum of 30 children per school teacher. There is no statutory limit for class sizes for older primary and secondary pupils. The organisation of classes is for the school to decide, based on local needs and circumstances.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure the ongoing needs of SEND pupils are being met in Wansbeck constituency.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The COVID-19 outbreak has been extremely challenging for many families of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The department’s SEND and NHS England advisers continue to work with Northumberland County Council to support young people and families in Wansbeck and across the local area.
Supporting SEND pupils continues to be a priority for this government, and their wellbeing has been central to our response throughout the COVID-19 outbreak.
That is why we:
We have announced a major investment in education, including an additional £730 million into high needs next year, coming on top of the additional £780 million in the 2020-21 financial year, which means high needs budgets will have grown by over £1.5 billion, nearly a quarter, in just two years.
Northumberland’s provisional high needs funding allocation for the 2021-22 financial year will be £40.5 million, an 11.1% per head increase on the amount of high needs funding allocated in the 2020-21 financial year. The provisional high needs funding allocations for every local authority can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-funding-formula-tables-for-schools-and-high-needs-2021-to-2022.
The SEND Review remains a major priority for the government and we are considering improvements to make sure the SEND system is consistent, high quality, and integrated across education, health and care, to establish a sustainable system for the future.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much additional funding schools in Wansbeck constituency have received for additional personal protective equipment and extra cleaning costs since the start of the covid-19 outbreak, by school.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The first window for schools to claim funding back for exceptional costs due to the Covid-19 closed on 21 July 2020. Claims made by schools at that time in the Wansbeck parliamentary constituency for cleaning costs where there had been a case or suspected case of Covid-19 between March and July, are detailed in the attached table.
Claims for personal protective equipment were among those cost categories outside of the published scope of the scheme. An assessment is currently being undertaken to determine which of these other costs can be included, and we expect to write to schools and academies in November to confirm the outcome of that assessment.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the mental wellbeing of school staff; and whether his Department has plans to support the mental health and well being of those staff.
Answered by Nick Gibb
We recognise the pressure that teachers and leaders are under and are enormously grateful to school staff who have gone to great lengths to ensure children can get back into their classes safely this term.
The wellbeing and mental health of our staff in schools is of vital importance to the Department. Last year, the Department set up an Expert Advisory Group (EAG) to advise on the wellbeing of staff in schools and colleges. Their recommendations were accepted by Ministers and published in June 2020. They include a commitment to develop a wellbeing charter for the teaching sector by the end of this year, which will include a range of commitments by the Government, schools and colleges to promote and protect staff wellbeing. The charter will help create an open culture around wellbeing and mental health and start to break down stigma. More information is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/890547/Nick_Gibb_letter_to_EAG.pdf.
We have taken decisive action to respond to the mental health needs of school leaders managing the pressures caused by COVID-19 by funding a pilot led by the Education Support Partnership to provide online peer support and telephone supervision from experts to around 250 school leaders. This service will run until December 2020, and the outcome of the pilot will inform future wellbeing and mental health interventions.
The Government has invested significantly in mental health charities and support for teachers to tackle the impact of COVID-19 on pupils, parents and staff. Through the new £8 million Wellbeing for Education Return training programme, we are supporting staff in schools and colleges to respond to the additional pressures some children and young people may be feeling as a direct result of COVID-19, as well as any negative emotional responses they or their teachers may still be experiencing. More information is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/8m-programme-to-boost-pupil-and-teacher-wellbeing.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate he has made of the number of schools that requested supply teacher cover since 1 September 2020.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department does not hold the data requested centrally.
The Department collects information on teacher numbers from the School Workforce Census but does not hold live information on the use of supply teachers.
The Department has published guidance for schools for reopening which gives advice on how they can meet their workforce challenges, including advice on engaging supply teachers. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools#school-workforce.