Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average amount of per pupil funding in mainstream schools in (a) North West Norfolk constituency, (b) Norfolk and (c) England is (i) in the 2023-24 and (ii) planned for in the 2024-2025 financial year.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Through the schools national funding formula (NFF), the department calculates and publishes notional funding allocations for each mainstream school. These are aggregated up at local authority level and, following an update in pupil numbers, are used to calculate each local authority’s dedicated schools grant (DSG) allocations. Each local authority then determines individual schools’ final funding allocations through their own local formula.
In the 2023/24 financial year, through the DSG and mainstream schools additional grant (MSAG) combined, the national average per-pupil funding for mainstream schools in England is £5,839, a 5.6% increase from the previous year. Norfolk’s average per-pupil funding is £5,723, a 5.7% increase from the previous year. These are actual funding allocations. The department does not calculate the equivalent figures at constituency level as they would depend on each local authority’s own local formula.
The department has not yet published the DSG allocations for the 2024/25 financial year. However, we have published notional school level allocations through the NFF. In 2024/25, through the notional NFF allocations, the national average per-pupil funding for England will be £5,950, a 1.9% increase from this current financial year. Norfolk’s average per-pupil funding will be £5,851, a 2.2% increase from this current financial year.
North West Norfolk’s average per-pupil funding based on the notional NFF allocations will be £5,833, a 2.2% increase from this current financial year. However, final allocations for North West Norfolk will depend on the local authority’s local formula. The department does not have the equivalent per-pupil figure at constituency level for 2023/24 since it would not include the MSAG, which is paid separately from the NFF in 2023/24.
The figures above do not include the additional funding we are providing through the Teachers Pay Additional Grant , which is being provided on top of the DSG and the NFF in both 2023/24 and 2024/25. Nor do they include other grants, such as the pupil premium.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to extend the Nuffield Early Language Intervention programme.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is investing over £17 million on the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI), improving the language skills of reception age children who need it most following the pandemic. In July 2023, the department announced that funded support for the 11,100 schools registered for the NELI programme would continue for the academic year 2023/24.
The programme targets children needing extra support with their speech and language development and is proven to help them make four months of additional progress; this is seven months for those on free school meals.
The department estimates that the programme has screened over 500,000 children in the last three years and supported 160,000 children affected by the pandemic.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of financial support available to kinship carers.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
On 2 February 2023, the department published the children’s social care implementation strategy and consultation ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’, which set out how we will achieve broad, system-wide transformation.
Through this strategy we have made a commitment to implement or explore each of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care recommendations on kinship care.
The department will publish our kinship strategy later this year which will set out a range of policies designed to support kinship families in England.
Financial support is a vital element of enabling children to remain within their family and friends’ network and we are considering how we can further support carers beyond the existing support local authorities provide for kinship carers.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the number of university students whose exam and dissertation grades will be delayed.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department understands that the vast majority of students will remain unaffected by the industrial action and, in most cases, will receive their full results on time, and progress and/or graduate as normal. On 23 June 2023, the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) published research findings which surveyed 49% of higher education (HE) institutions in the New Joint Negotiating Committee for Higher Education Staff. These institutions provided updated feedback on the impact of the marking and assessment boycott on students at their institutions:
A link to these research findings can be found here: https://www.ucea.ac.uk/news-releases/23june23/.
HE institutions are working on minimising the disruption to their students in a variety of ways, including reallocating marking to other staff members and hiring external markers. Moreover, many HE institutions can award degrees when they have enough evidence of a student’s prior attainment to do so. Others will be able to assign provisional grades to students to allow them to progress.
On 12 June 2023, the Office for Students (OfS), the independent regulator of HE in England, wrote to institutions affected by the boycott to reiterate its expectations in relation to its conditions of registration. The OfS will continue to monitor this ongoing situation through their normal regulatory mechanisms and have published guidance for students affected by industrial action.
On 22 June 2023, I met with Universities UK (UUK), the Russell Group and UCEA to better understand the impact that this boycott will have on students and the mitigating actions their members are taking to protect students’ interests.
I have also written to the Russell Group and UUK, encouraging them to continue to do everything within their powers to protect the interests of students during this phase of industrial action. On 27 June 2023, I met with a number of HE representative groups to discuss the marking and assessment boycott, including the mitigating actions HE institutions are taking to protect their students’ interests.
The government believes students should be at the heart of the higher education system. This is why we set up the OfS to regulate the HE sector in England, protect student rights and ensure the sector is delivering real value for money. The OfS has published guidance to students on their rights during industrial action, which is available at: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/for-students/student-rights-and-welfare/student-guide-to-industrial-action/.
Students who have complaints about their HE experience should contact their provider in the first instance. Students in England and Wales may also raise a complaint with the Office of the Independent Adjudicator, which was set up to provide an alternative to the courts and is free of charge to students. Further information can be found here: https://www.oiahe.org.uk/.
My officials and I will continue to engage with the HE sector over the coming weeks to help better understand the boycott’s impact on students and the mitigating actions HE institutions are taking to protect their students’ interests
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions she has had with university vice-chancellors on delays in marking exams and dissertations.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department understands that the vast majority of students will remain unaffected by the industrial action and, in most cases, will receive their full results on time, and progress and/or graduate as normal. On 23 June 2023, the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) published research findings which surveyed 49% of higher education (HE) institutions in the New Joint Negotiating Committee for Higher Education Staff. These institutions provided updated feedback on the impact of the marking and assessment boycott on students at their institutions:
A link to these research findings can be found here: https://www.ucea.ac.uk/news-releases/23june23/.
HE institutions are working on minimising the disruption to their students in a variety of ways, including reallocating marking to other staff members and hiring external markers. Moreover, many HE institutions can award degrees when they have enough evidence of a student’s prior attainment to do so. Others will be able to assign provisional grades to students to allow them to progress.
On 12 June 2023, the Office for Students (OfS), the independent regulator of HE in England, wrote to institutions affected by the boycott to reiterate its expectations in relation to its conditions of registration. The OfS will continue to monitor this ongoing situation through their normal regulatory mechanisms and have published guidance for students affected by industrial action.
On 22 June 2023, I met with Universities UK (UUK), the Russell Group and UCEA to better understand the impact that this boycott will have on students and the mitigating actions their members are taking to protect students’ interests.
I have also written to the Russell Group and UUK, encouraging them to continue to do everything within their powers to protect the interests of students during this phase of industrial action. On 27 June 2023, I met with a number of HE representative groups to discuss the marking and assessment boycott, including the mitigating actions HE institutions are taking to protect their students’ interests.
The government believes students should be at the heart of the higher education system. This is why we set up the OfS to regulate the HE sector in England, protect student rights and ensure the sector is delivering real value for money. The OfS has published guidance to students on their rights during industrial action, which is available at: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/for-students/student-rights-and-welfare/student-guide-to-industrial-action/.
Students who have complaints about their HE experience should contact their provider in the first instance. Students in England and Wales may also raise a complaint with the Office of the Independent Adjudicator, which was set up to provide an alternative to the courts and is free of charge to students. Further information can be found here: https://www.oiahe.org.uk/.
My officials and I will continue to engage with the HE sector over the coming weeks to help better understand the boycott’s impact on students and the mitigating actions HE institutions are taking to protect their students’ interests
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan published on 2 March 2023, what the process will be for selecting Integrated Care Boards to be Early Language and Support For Every Child (ELSEC) pathfinders.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The selection of Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) is dependent on the lead local authority identification process and the subsequent mapping of Regional Expert Partnerships (REPs), based on geographical boundaries.
Lead local authorities and REPs will be testing and refining the system-level reforms set out in the Improvement Plan, including the Early Language Support for Every Child (ELSEC) pilot. Selection of lead local authorities will determine how and where a REP is formed, with the appropriate ICBs then forming part of the local area. Wherever possible, the local authorities forming a REP will sit within a single ICB to ensure close collaboration with health partners.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much the average funding per pupil in mainstream schools was in (a) North West Norfolk constituency, (b) Norfolk and (c) England in each of the last three years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The table below shows the average funding per pupil allocated through the National Funding Formula for North West Norfolk, Norfolk, and England over the past three years. Per pupil funding excludes growth funding and individual schools’ actual allocations are based on local authorities’ local funding formulae.
| 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 |
North West Norfolk (Constituency) | £4,703 | £5,077 | £5,235 |
Norfolk (Local Authority) | £4,726 | £5,097 | £5,419 |
England | £4,828 | £5,212 | £5,534 |
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to encourage schools in North West Norfolk constituency to participate in the Nuffield Early Language Intervention programme.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The department has invested £17 million on the Nuffield Early Language Intervention, improving the language skills of reception-age children who need it most following the COVID-19 pandemic. The programme targets children needing extra support with their speech and language development and is proven to help them make around three months of additional progress. An estimated 90,000 reception-age children will get extra support with their speech and language development from this proven programme.
All state-funded schools in North West Norfolk with a reception class were invited to apply for the programme. To encourage participation, every primary school in North West Norfolk and nationwide has been directly contacted at least twice by a dedicated contact centre team. Additional written communication has been undertaken by the department and its delivery partners to encourage all primary schools to apply.
In total, over 11,100 schools (two thirds of all primary schools) have signed up for the programme. Registered schools are eligible to continue to receive the funded programme during the 2022/23 academic year.
The full list of registered schools is published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/neli-nuffield-early-language-intervention-programme.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect on the number of hours of extra curricular activity that will be provided following the advice issued by his Department that such activities can only take pace in order to support parents to work, seek work, or to undertake education or training, and for the purposes of respite care for vulnerable children.
Answered by Vicky Ford
As outlined in the guidance for education and childcare settings on the new national restrictions from 5 November 2020, providers of out-of-school activities, including wraparound care, can continue to operate for the duration of the period of national restrictions. However, these providers should ensure that parents using them for face-to-face provision are only doing so where such is reasonably necessary, in order to: enable them to work or search for work; undertake training or education; or for the purposes of respite care. Additional information on this guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/education-and-childcare-settings-new-national-restrictions-from-5-november-2020#ooss.
Schools and colleges can, and should, also continue to offer before and after school or college clubs and activities for their pupils, for the same reasons listed above. This includes activities and clubs related to PE and sport, music, dance and drama.
The department does not hold a central register of all wraparound or extracurricular provision, and so does not routinely collect data on attendance at these settings. However, the department has been in close communication with various stakeholders, including several wraparound childcare providers and extra-curricular providers, since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak. We will continue this communication during the period of national restrictions, to understand the impact on attendance and number of hours children and young people are spending at these settings.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the proportion of secondary school pupils that attend before and after school activities (a) in order to support parents to (i) work, (ii) seek work and (iii) undertake education or training and (b) for the purposes of respite care for vulnerable children.
Answered by Vicky Ford
As outlined in the guidance for education and childcare settings on the new national restrictions from 5 November 2020, providers of out-of-school activities, including wraparound care, can continue to operate for the duration of the period of national restrictions. However, these providers should ensure that parents using them for face-to-face provision are only doing so where such is reasonably necessary, in order to: enable them to work or search for work; undertake training or education; or for the purposes of respite care. Additional information on this guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/education-and-childcare-settings-new-national-restrictions-from-5-november-2020#ooss.
Schools and colleges can, and should, also continue to offer before and after school or college clubs and activities for their pupils, for the same reasons listed above. This includes activities and clubs related to PE and sport, music, dance and drama.
The department does not hold a central register of all wraparound or extracurricular provision, and so does not routinely collect data on attendance at these settings. However, the department has been in close communication with various stakeholders, including several wraparound childcare providers and extra-curricular providers, since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak. We will continue this communication during the period of national restrictions, to understand the impact on attendance and number of hours children and young people are spending at these settings.