Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to answer Question 54886, tabled on 24 November 2016 by the hon. Member for Copeland.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Parliamentary question 54886 was answered on 08 December 2016.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will provide funding for the rebuilding of the Whitehaven Academy.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The replacement of the buildings at Whitehaven Academy has previously been considered through capital bids to the Priority Schools Building Programme (PSBP), which were unsuccessful.
The £4.4 billion PSBP programme is intended to replace or refurbish those school blocks in the worst condition across the country. By focusing on those individual buildings in the worst condition, we are targeting limited funding in the most effective way possible and securing best value for money for the taxpayer.
DfE officials visited the school in April and October 2016 to help identify priority condition issues and gave advice to the Bright Tribe Trust as to how they should focus investment using funding from the annual school condition allocation that the Bright Tribe Trust receives.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools have been judged by Ofsted to not provide the necessary level of support to children with medical conditions in each of the last five years.
Answered by Edward Timpson
We do not hold this information. Ofsted inspectors make graded judgements on the effectiveness of leadership and management; the quality of teaching, learning and assessment; pupils’ personal development, behaviour and welfare; and pupils’ outcomes.
In making these judgements, inspectors will evaluate the experience of particular individuals and groups, including those with medical needs, and this will inform the overall judgment of the school. These evaluations may not always be visible in the report, as Ofsted inspectors will be careful not to identify individual pupils.
We know how important it is that children with medical conditions are supported to enjoy a full education. That is why in 2014 we introduced a new duty to require governing bodies to make arrangements to support pupils with medical conditions and have provided statutory guidance outlining schools’ responsibilities in this area.
We continue to work with organisations with experience in supporting children with medical conditions to help raise awareness of the duty.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will take steps to encourage schools to teach Japanese as a foreign language.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Since September 2014, maintained primary schools in England must teach a modern or ancient foreign language to pupils at Key Stage 2 (ages 7 to 11). Maintained secondary schools must teach a modern foreign language to pupils at Key Stage 3
(ages 11 to 14). Schools can choose which languages to teach.
The Government is committed to increasing the proportion of the population gaining language qualifications at Key Stages 4 and 5, including Japanese. As a result of the English Baccalaureate (EBacc), the number of students in state-funded mainstream schools studying a language at GCSE has increased from 40% in 2010 to 49% in 2016.
In August we confirmed that EBacc entry would become a headline measure in school performance tables from this year, alongside EBacc achievement. This will encourage schools to enter more pupils for the EBacc and for languages in future, which should increase the pool of potential people studying languages at A level and beyond.
The Government also supports the efforts of the Japan Foundation to help schools teach Japanese. The Japan Foundation encourages and offers support to schools by providing teacher training, resources and financial assistance of up to £3,000 for schools wanting to develop Japanese teaching.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the Children and Families Act 2014 statutory duty on schools to make arrangements to support pupils with medical conditions is being implemented effectively.
Answered by Edward Timpson
I refer the Hon member to the answer given to PQ 51753.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the Children and Families Act statutory duty on schools to make arrangements to support pupils with medical conditions is being implemented effectively.
Answered by Edward Timpson
We know how important it is that children with medical conditions are supported to enjoy a full education. That is why we introduced a new duty to require governing bodies to make arrangements to support pupils with medical conditions and have provided statutory guidance outlining schools’ responsibilities in this area.
Ofsted’s Common Inspection Framework requires inspectors, in making judgements, to pay particular attention to the outcomes of a range of groups of pupils, including those with medical needs.
In addition, we are working with organisations with experience in supporting children with medical conditions to help raise awareness of the duty.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to limit increases in the cost of student accommodation.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
Higher education institutions (HEIs) in England are independent and autonomous bodies. They are responsible for the management of their own internal affairs, including the provision and administration of student residential accommodation.
This Department plays no direct role in the provision of student residential accommodation whether the accommodation is managed by universities or private sector organisations.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support her Department provides to students with refugee status.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Government is wholly committed to ensuring that refugees who are resettled in the UK receive appropriate support and have a positive experience while they remain in the UK. Children with refugee or humanitarian protection status have access to the education system in the same way as citizen children.
Many pupils with refugee status will be classed as having English as an additional language (EAL). Current school funding arrangements enable local authorities to allocate a proportion of their funding to schools on the basis of the number of pupils in each school who have EAL, and who have been in the school system for a maximum of three years. Local authorities, in agreement with their schools forum, have the freedom to set the pupil rate for this, based on local circumstances.
Furthermore, pupils who have been registered for free school meals at any point in the last six years attract additional funding to the schools they attend in the form of the Pupil Premium. This is worth £1,320 per annum for each eligible pupil in primary school, and £935 per annum for those in secondary school. Pupils who are looked after by the local authority, including unaccompanied refugee children, and those who have left care through adoption or other specified routes also attract the Pupil Premium Plus, at the higher rate of £1,900 per annum. Schools have flexibility over how they use the funding to improve the educational outcomes of their pupil premium-eligible pupils, and are held to account through the focus in Ofsted inspections and the school performance tables on the progress and attainment of disadvantaged pupils.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people with refugee status have undertaken study at the level of higher education in the UK in each of the last six years.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Government has a longstanding and proud tradition of providing a safe haven to those who have no choice but to leave their home country because of endangerment to their lives or those of their families.
Student support is available to those recognised as refugees (and their spouses, civil partners and children named on the initial application for asylum), provided they have been ordinarily resident in the British Islands since being recognised by the Government as a refugee and are ordinarily resident in England on the first day of the first academic year of the course. They are exempt from the three year residence requirement.
Asylum seekers who are recognised as refugees after the start of their course may qualify for support for the remainder of their studies as follows:
living cost support in any subsequent years of the course (and in the quarters following the award in the year of the award); and
fee assistance in any subsequent years of the course (and in the year of the award if the award is made within three months of the first day of the academic year of the course).
Information on the total number of students with a refugee status undertaking Higher Education courses in the UK is not available.
Information is available from the Student Loans Company (SLC) on applicants with refugee status awarded student finance. Management information from the SLC showing the number of refugee applicants awarded loans in England in each of the last six years can be found in the table below:
English Domiciled applicants with a refugee status awarded student loans
Academic years 2009/10 to 2014/15 (data effective as at the end of each academic year)
Academic Year | Number of refugees awarded loans |
2009/10 | 2,000 |
2010/11 | 2,500 |
2011/12 | 3,000 |
2012/13 | 3,700 |
2013/14 | 3,800 |
2014/15 | 3,900 |
Source: SLC, Management Information
Note: Awards do not necessarily translate into payments. An awarded applicant will only receive payments once SLC has received confirmation from the student’s provider at the start of the academic year that the student has been registered on the course.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to reassure university students that the outcome of the EU referendum will not prevent those students from studying abroad in Europe.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
There are no immediate changes following the EU Referendum, including in the circumstances of British citizens studying, or planning to study, in the EU. Future arrangements for studying abroad will need to be considered as part of wider discussions about the UK’s relationship with the EU.