Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what representations she has made to her EU counterparts on the UK continuing to participate in the Erasmus programme after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Department recognises the value of international exchange and collaboration in education, as part of our vision for the UK as a global nation. There may be European programmes in which we might want to participate. We will consider this as part of the negotiation.
Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to equalise survivors' benefits from the Teachers' Pension Scheme for widowers, civil partners and same sex married couples with those for widows.
Answered by Nick Gibb
There are no plans to review survivors’ benefits from the Teachers’ Pension Scheme. It has been the policy of successive Governments that any changes or improvements to public service pension schemes are not normally applied retrospectively. This policy protects the current membership and taxpayers from having to meet unforeseen additional costs that were not previously taken into account, and to which those who would benefit have not contributed towards.
Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department issues guidance on the proportion of a school's annual budget it considers prudent for a school to hold as a cash balance.
Answered by Nick Gibb
For maintained schools, local authorities have devolved responsibility for their funding and determine locally their balance control mechanisms. For academies, the Trustees determine the appropriate level of reserves that the Trust should hold in accordance with their responsibilities under Charity Law. The Department monitors the overall level of balances across the sector and keeps this under review.
Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her policy is on expanding the Troops to Teachers scheme.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The September 2016 cohort of Troops to Teachers is the last to be delivered under the current contract by the University of Brighton. Future options for Service leavers to train as teachers are currently being considered.
Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average cash balance held by schools in England as a percentage of their annual budget was on 31 March (a) 2015 and (b) 2016.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The latest available revenue balances for Local Authority (LA) maintained schools are given in the table below. They are on an accruals rather than cash accounting basis. Equivalent figures for academies are not available as they report on academic years ending 31 August.
Total revenue balance1 as a % of total revenue income2 in LA maintained schools
Date | % |
31 March 2014 | 6.7 |
31 March 2015 | 8.2 |
Source: Consistent Financial Reporting survey
1. A school's total revenue balance is calculated from the combination of any unspent allocations and the cumulative balance of income minus expenditure from revenue funding sources during the financial year and any balances carried forward from previous years.
2. A school's total revenue income for the year includes all revenue funding available in the year as well as any additional income generated by the school. This does not include any revenue balances carried forward from previous years.
These data are published annually, most recently in the Department’s Statistical Release LA and school expenditure: 2014 to 2015 financial year, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-education-and-childrens-services-spending-2014-to-2015
Figures for 31 March 2016 will be published in December 2016.