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Written Question
Schools: Greater Manchester
Tuesday 10th November 2020

Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason the Regional Schools Commissioner did not engage in the Q1 Serious Case Review conducted by the Manchester Safeguarding Partnership; and whether that decision was based on the policy of his Department.

Answered by Nick Gibb

Regional School Commissioners do not have a direct role in handling safeguarding cases and are not expected to act themselves.


Written Question
Education: Oldham
Monday 14th September 2020

Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of attainment of (a) early years, (a) primary and (c) secondary pupils in Oldham as a result of its status as an Opportunity Area compared with those levels in other areas.

Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology

Evidence is at the heart of the Opportunity Areas programme. We are working closely with the ‘What Works Centres’ (including the Education Endowment Foundation) to identify and implement evidence-based interventions in Opportunity Areas that offer the best value for money and the potential to drive real change.

We continue to track progress in all of the Opportunity Areas to determine whether improvements have been realised against the priorities identified at the outset of the programme. The priorities identified in the Oldham Opportunity Area can be found in the delivery plan published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/social-mobility-and-opportunity-areas. An evaluation of the programme is underway and will be published in due course.

In 2017, the percentage of children in early years education achieving a good level of development by age 5 in Oldham was 63.6%. In 2019, this percentage had increased to 68.1%, which is an increase of 4.5 percentage points.

The increase in all children in England achieving a good level of development by age 5 between 2017 and 2019 was 1.1 percentage point. In comparison, Oldham’s attainment in early years has increased faster than the England increase. With 68.1% of children achieving a good level of development by age 5, Oldham remains below 2019’s England average of 71.8%.

In Oldham, the percentage of pupils in primary school reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths at the end of key stage 2 increased from 57.2% in 2017 to 62.7% in 2019. This is a 5.5 percentage point increase. This is higher than the increase in England of 3.7 percentage points. At 62.7% of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths at the end of KS2 in 2019, Oldham remains below the 2019 England average of 65.3%.

In Oldham, the average Attainment 8 scores of pupils in secondary school at the end of key stage 4 had decreased by 1.5 percentage points between 2017 and 2019: it decreased from 43.6% in 2017 to 42.1% in 2019. This decrease was larger than the decrease in England of 0.4 percentage points, from 46.4% in 2017 to 46.8% on 2019. In 2019, Oldham’s Attainment 8 scores of pupils at the end of key stage 4 were 4.7 points lower than the England average.

For comparison to other areas, the department’s published data for early years can be found at this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-early-years-foundation-stage-profile, data on primary school pupils can be found at this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-key-stage-2, and data on secondary school pupils can be found at this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-gcses-key-stage-4.


Written Question
Pupils: Coronavirus
Monday 7th September 2020

Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will publish the advice which informed the decision not to make the wearing of face coverings by pupils aged 12 and over a requirement in schools in England.

Answered by Nick Gibb

The Department’s priority is for pupils to safely return to schools and colleges and we have taken the latest medical and scientific advice into account at each stage of responding to the COVID-19 outbreak.

On 21 August 2020, the World Health Organisation published a new statement (https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/q-a-children-and-masks-related-to-covid-19) advising that children aged 12 and over should wear face coverings under the same condition as adults, in particular when they cannot guarantee at least a 1 metre distance from others and there is widespread transmission in the area. As a result, the Department has revised its guidance on face coverings in schools and colleges. The guidance for schools can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools.

It is reasonable to assume that staff and young people will now have access to face coverings due to their increasing use in wider society, and Public Health England has made available resources on how to make a simple face covering.


Written Question
Pupils: Digital Technology
Thursday 3rd September 2020

Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of the 200,000 devices and 4G wireless routers distributed from May to July 2020 to disadvantaged school children were (a) allocated and (b) distributed to children in each local authority in Greater Manchester.

Answered by Nick Gibb

The Department has delivered over 220,000 laptops and tablets and over 50,000 4G wireless routers to local authorities and academy trusts for children who would not otherwise have access, as part of over £100 million invested to support remote education and access to online social care.

The devices were an injection of support to help local authorities and academy trusts to provide access to education and social care during the COVID-19 outbreak. Local authorities and academy trusts are responsible for distributing the devices and are best placed to know which children and young people need access to a device.

On 27 August, the Department published information on which local authorities and academy trusts had received devices through the programme, including each local authority in Greater Manchester. This information can be viewed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/laptops-tablets-and-4g-wireless-routers-progress-data.

The Department is now supplementing this support by making an initial 150,000 additional devices available this academic year in the event face-to-face schooling is disrupted as a result of local COVID-19 restrictions and children become reliant on remote education.

This scheme will enable schools to support disadvantaged children in years 3 to 11 who do not have access to a device. Devices will also be able to be ordered for disadvantaged children across all year groups who are shielding as a result of official advice, all year groups who attend hospital schools and those completing their Key Stage 4 at a further education college.


Written Question
Collective Spirit Free School Oldham: Pensions
Monday 29th October 2018

Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether all employee and employer pension contributions for former staff of the Collective Spirit Free School are up to date.

Answered by Nadhim Zahawi

Employee and employer pension contributions for former staff of the Collective Spirit Free School are a matter for the Trust.


Written Question
Schools: Finance
Friday 26th October 2018

Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many referrals were made to the police in relation to the finances of (a) academies and (b) free schools.

Answered by Nadhim Zahawi

Since the establishment of the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) on 1 April 2012, the ESFA has taken action to refer:

a) 16 academies to the police, of which

b) 2 are free schools,

in relation to their finances.

The ESFA does not hold data regarding local authority maintained schools referred to the police in relation to their finances. This data is managed by local authorities.


Written Question
Collective Spirit Free School Oldham
Wednesday 24th October 2018

Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether there is a timetable to return the former Collective Spirit Free School site to Oldham Council.

Answered by Nadhim Zahawi

We are currently assessing a number of options for the future use of the Collective Spirit Free School site in Oldham. We continue to work towards a solution with local partners and intend to resolve the future use of the site early in the New Year.


Written Question
Education: Finance
Tuesday 3rd July 2018

Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of education funding for 16 to 18 year olds.

Answered by Anne Milton

We recognise that every young person should have access to an excellent education. This is why we announced in the last spending review that we will continue to protect the base rate of funding for all 16 to 19-year olds until 2020. We are also providing disadvantage funding (over £500 million in 2017/18), and other uplifts in addition to the base rate of funding for programmes that are more expensive to deliver, such as large academic and technical programmes and those with higher costs.

We have announced funding increases to strengthen education for 16 to 18-year olds in key respects. The department is providing extra funding to support institutions to grow participation in level 3 mathematics (an extra £600 for every additional student), and to pilot additional support for post-16 basic mathematics. Our commitment to the 16 to 19 sector has contributed to the current record high proportion of 16 to 17-year olds who are participating in education or apprenticeships since consistent records began. Furthermore, a substantial investment was announced in technical education for 16 to 19-year olds, rising eventually to an extra £500 million a year when T Levels are fully rolled out.

We are considering the efficiency and resilience of the further education sector, and will be assessing how far existing and forecast funding and regulatory structures meet the costs for a high quality provision. This work will align closely with the Post-18 Funding Review to ensure a coherent vision for further and higher education.


Written Question
Apprentices: Greater Manchester
Thursday 17th May 2018

Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what comparative estimate he has made of the apprenticeship uptake in Greater Manchester in (a) the last twelve months and (b) the previous three years.

Answered by Anne Milton

We publish the number of apprenticeship starts by academic year and local authority in the ‘FE data library’: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fe-data-library.

The table attached shows the figures for the local authorities within Greater Manchester from 2013/14.


Written Question
Collective Spirit Free School Oldham
Tuesday 19th December 2017

Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department has for the former Collective Spirit Free school site in Chadderton, Oldham.

Answered by Nick Gibb

We have not yet made a decision on the future of the Collective Spirit Free School site in Oldham. We are currently working with local partners and assessing a number of options for the future use of the site.