Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of schools in have a dedicated (a) library and (b) librarian in (i) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (ii) Lincolnshire.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department believes that all pupils deserve to be taught a knowledge-rich curriculum that promotes the extensive reading of books and other texts, both in and out of school. School libraries complement public libraries in allowing pupils to do this.
It is for individual schools to decide how best to provide and maintain a library service for their pupils, including whether to employ a qualified librarian. Overall school funding is increasing by more than £2.9 billion in the 2024/25 academic year compared to the 2023/24 academic year, taking the total to £60.7 billion, which is the highest ever level in real terms per pupil. Many headteachers recognise the important role school libraries play in improving literacy and encouraging pupils to read for pleasure and ensure that suitable library facilities are provided. School libraries can take many forms, with some schools preferring to make books a focus in other ways, including housing them within classrooms.
The department’s Reading Framework, updated in July 2023, offers non-statutory guidance for teachers and school leaders, including helpful guidance for schools on how to organise their school library, book corner or book stock to make reading accessible and attractive to readers. Given this autonomy, the department does not collect information on the number of school libraries.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many universities have adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
As of 10 May 2024, 245 higher education (HE) providers in England, including all but six universities, have adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism.
While the decision to adopt the definition rests with individual HE providers, the government will continue to encourage all to adopt the definition. Adopting this widely recognised educative tool is a signal that providers take these issues seriously.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the cost to her Department was of (a) events, (b) activities, (c) merchandise and (d) other associated costs relating to Pride Month 2023.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
No costs were incurred by the department connected to any events, activities, merchandise or other associated costs in relation to Pride Month 2023.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much the Education and Skills Funding Agency has spent on external consultants in each of the last five years.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Over the last five years, the Education and Skills Funding Agency has spent the following on external consultants:
The majority of the external consultancy expenditure relates to Schools Resource Management Advisers who provide resource management advice to school leaders.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of people who started teacher training courses did not finish the course in each of the last five years.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Trainees not awarded qualified teacher status (QTS) includes those who ended their training during the year and either left the course before the end (excluding those who left the course within 90 days of the start) or did not meet the teacher standards.
These statistics refer to the academic year in which trainees finished or withdrew from their initial teacher training (ITT) courses, rather than the year in which they began their courses. At this time, statistics on ITT trainee outcomes based on the year of entry are not available.
Academic Year | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 |
Trainees not awarded QTS | 1,304 | 1,348 | 1,172 | 1,597 | 2,236 |
Percentage of all trainees with course outcomes | 5% | 5% | 4% | 5% | 7% |
Source: DfE ITT Performance Profiles statistical publications
Footnote: Academic year refers to the year in which the trainee had a course outcome.
The ITT Performance Profiles publication is published here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/initial-teacher-training-performance-profiles/2021-22#releaseHeadlines-tables.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help increase childcare provision in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In the government’s Spring Budget, the Chancellor of Exchequer announced transformative reforms to childcare for parents, children and the economy. By 2027/28, this government will expect to be spending in excess of £8 billion every year on free hours and early education, helping working families with their childcare costs.
A commitment has been made to ensure that 30 hours of funded childcare is available for every child over the age of nine months with working parents by September 2025.
More parents are going to be able to return to work while balancing childcare commitments, thanks to the government’s £4 billion per year expansion of childcare in England. This is the largest expansion of funded childcare ever and will remove barriers to work for nearly half a million parents with a child under three in England.
South Holland and the Deepings constituency is within the area covered by Lincolnshire County Council.
Local authorities have received £12 million of local authority delivery support funding for this financial year to support with meeting programme and delivery costs associated with rolling out the expanded early year entitlements, from which Lincolnshire County Council received £125,423.
Local authorities have also received a £100 million allocation for local areas to use to make sure childcare settings in their areas have enough physical space, which is anticipated to add thousands of new childcare places across the country. Lincolnshire County Council received £1,461,094 from this fund.
Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. Part B of the ‘Early education and childcare’ statutory guidance for local authorities highlights that local authorities are required to report annually to elected council members on how they are meeting their duty to secure sufficient childcare, and to make this report available and accessible to parents.
If Lincolnshire County Council report any sufficiency challenges, the department discusses what action the local authority is taking to address those issues, and where needed, supports them with any specific requirements through its childcare sufficiency support contract.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the transparency data entitled School rebuilding programme: schools in the programme, how much funding her Department has (a) allocated and (b) disbursed to each school selected in South Holland and the Deepings constituency in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
There are two schools selected for the School Rebuilding Programme (SRP) in South Holland and The Deepings constituency. These are University Academy Long Sutton and Tulip Academy.
The SRP is a centrally delivered programme. Therefore, no funding is allocated or distributed directly to schools. Once contracts are awarded for building works, they are published on the Contracts Finder within 30 calendar days. The Contracts Finder can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help increase the number of foster care placements in (a) South Holland district and (b) Lincolnshire.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Lincolnshire County Council is participating in the £45 million Families First for Children Pathfinder, which came out of the department’s children’s social care implementation strategy Stable Homes, Built on Love. The pathfinder aims to rebalance children’s social care away from costly crisis intervention to more meaningful and effective early support.
As part of the pathfinder, the department is working with a select number of local areas to test significant changes to how local areas help children and young people. This includes increasing support at the earlier end of the system, with the aim of keeping children with birth parents or wider family where safe to do so. This will help to reduce the number of children looked after and therefore drive down demand for foster care or other placements.
There is support available from the department where children are unable to stay with their birth families and foster care placements are sought. Lincolnshire County Council are being supported by the Fosterlink support service. Fosterlink provides support for local authorities to improve the way they recruit foster carers by reviewing current processes to identify areas for service and practice improvements, as well as creating a national network in which to share best practice.
More broadly, the department is investing over £36 million this parliament to deliver a fostering recruitment and retention programme, so foster care is available for more children who need it. This will boost approvals of foster carers, as well as taking steps to retain the foster carers we have.
Greater financial support for foster carers will help improve the experiences of all children in care. For the second year running, the department is uplifting the National Minimum Allowance (NMA) above the rate of inflation. For 2024/2025, the NMA will increase by 6.88%. This is on top of a 12.43% NMA increase in 2023/24.
In addition, the department estimates that changes to tax and benefit allowances will give the average foster carer an additional £450 per year as well as simplifying the process for self-assessment returns for most foster carers.
The department will also build on this investment since 2014 of over £8 million to help embed the Mockingbird programme, an innovative model of peer support for foster parents and the children in their care where children benefit from an extended family environment.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support (a) early years learning and (b) primary education for children with Down's Syndrome.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is committed to improving the life outcomes and opportunities for children with Down syndrome, including through follow-up to the Down Syndrome Act 2022. From 2025, the department will begin collecting data on the numbers of children and young people with Down syndrome in schools and colleges. This will help inform the planning locally of long term services.
The special educational needs and disability (SEND) system in education settings provides support for all children with SEND. The system focuses on removing barriers to education and putting the right support in place to meet need, regardless of the specific condition a child may have. The department set out its mission for more children and young people with SEND to have their needs met effectively in mainstream settings in the SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan in March 2023. The SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-and-alternative-provision-improvement-plan.
In the Improvement Plan, the department confirmed that frontline professionals, such as teachers and early years practitioners, would be equipped with the skills and expertise to make best use of provision and to identify needs early, accurately and consistently. The department is developing a suite of practitioner standards to help early years staff, teachers and teaching assistants to identify and support the needs of children and young people they work with, prioritising areas such as speech and language development. The department is funding up to 7,000 early years staff to gain an accredited Level 3 early years special educational needs co-ordinator qualification.
Additionally, the department is investing £2.6 billion in new specialist places to increase the number of places for those children who need specialist support in mainstream and special schools, and alternative provision. These developments will help children with Down syndrome in early years settings and primary schools reach their full potential.
Specifically on early years learning, the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) sets the standards and requirements that all early years providers must follow, including learning and development requirements. The EYFS includes specific requirements for supporting children with SEND, including those with Down syndrome. All early years providers must have arrangements in place to support children with SEND and all providers who are funded by the local authority to deliver early education places must have regard to the SEND Code of Practice.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help increase the number of foster care placements in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Lincolnshire County Council is participating in the £45 million Families First for Children Pathfinder, which came out of the department’s children’s social care implementation strategy Stable Homes, Built on Love. The pathfinder aims to rebalance children’s social care away from costly crisis intervention to more meaningful and effective early support.
As part of the pathfinder, the department is working with a select number of local areas to test significant changes to how local areas help children and young people. This includes increasing support at the earlier end of the system, with the aim of keeping children with birth parents or wider family where safe to do so. This will help to reduce the number of children looked after and therefore drive down demand for foster care or other placements.
There is support available from the department where children are unable to stay with their birth families and foster care placements are sought. Lincolnshire County Council are being supported by the Fosterlink support service. Fosterlink provides support for local authorities to improve the way they recruit foster carers by reviewing current processes to identify areas for service and practice improvements, as well as creating a national network in which to share best practice.
More broadly, the department is investing over £36 million this parliament to deliver a fostering recruitment and retention programme, so foster care is available for more children who need it. This will boost approvals of foster carers, as well as taking steps to retain the foster carers we have.
Greater financial support for foster carers will help improve the experiences of all children in care. For the second year running, the department is uplifting the National Minimum Allowance (NMA) above the rate of inflation. For 2024/2025, the NMA will increase by 6.88%. This is on top of a 12.43% NMA increase in 2023/24.
In addition, the department estimates that changes to tax and benefit allowances will give the average foster carer an additional £450 per year as well as simplifying the process for self-assessment returns for most foster carers.
The department will also build on this investment since 2014 of over £8 million to help embed the Mockingbird programme, an innovative model of peer support for foster parents and the children in their care where children benefit from an extended family environment.