Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many contracts that are worth (a) between £1 million and £3 million and (b) over £3 million their (i) Department and (ii) Department’s agencies and non-departmental public bodies (A) have agreed since 2010 and (B) are due to agree within the next 12 months; how much their Department has spent on monitoring each contract in each year since 2010; and how many officials have been working on that monitoring in each year since 2010.
Answered by Will Quince
Details of government contracts from 2016 above £10,000, and £25,000 in the wider public sector, are published on the GOV.UK Contracts Finder site which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder. As Contracts Finder was implemented in 2016, not all records before this time are held centrally.
For the July 2022 to June 2023 period, the total anticipated number of contracts for the department only (not including agencies and non-departmental public bodies) worth between £1 and £3 million is currently three. For the same period, the total number of contracts over £3 million is 136. This is the anticipated project pipeline and the department makes no commitment that the annual value of any contract will be as stated, or the timing of any future procurement exercises will be as stated. The sourcing route for any subsequent procurement has not been determined. For example, it could be via frameworks managed by Crown Commercial Services or open competitions. The department cannot therefore guarantee that these opportunities will be available to all suppliers.
We do not hold spend data on contract monitoring or how many officials work on monitoring in each year from 2010.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the total value has been of contracts held by their Department with (a) G4S, (b) Serco and (c) Capita in each year since 2020.
Answered by Will Quince
Following a search of the department’s records, the total value of contracts held by (a) G4S (b) Serco and (c) Capita is as below:
Supplier | Value of contracts 01/01/2020 to 31/12/2020 | Value of contracts 01/01/2021 to 31/12/2021 | Value of contracts 01/01/2022 to 30/06/2022 |
G4S | £0 | £0 | £0 |
Serco | £4,000,000 | £856,375 | £856,375 |
Capita | £28,056,759 | £35,816,679 | £32,690,536 |
To note, the total value of the contract listed above is pro-rata over the length of the contract, using annualised contract values.
Details of government contracts from 2016 above £10,000, and £25,000 in the wider public sector, are published on Contracts Finder available here: https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department and its associated agencies spent on legal disputes in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.
Answered by Will Quince
The department does not hold the total spend information relating to legal disputes, as the financial system does not have a specific structure to extract the data and legal spend is not recorded centrally.
For contract spend, following a search of the department’s special payment register, the department has not made any payments in respect to the settlement of procurement disputes, either in or out of court, during the following three financial years:
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much their Department has spent on air travel for (a) Ministers and (b) officials in (i) 2020, (ii) 2021 and (iii) 2022.
Answered by Will Quince
The amounts spent by the department on air travel in total for the requested financial years are shown below. The department does not have the split for ministers and officials readily available. These are the full amounts for both ministers and officials:
The department always strives to keep costs as low as possible and to get the best out of available funds.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much their Department has spent on advertising in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department for Education uses advertising and publicity to help deliver manifesto commitments and policy objectives. It has spent the following amounts on advertising over the last three financial years.
This includes spending on a range of different types of marketing activity, including advertising.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate he has made of the (a) number of children in care provided by (i) private companies and (ii) local authorities and (b) average cost differential between those two provisions.
Answered by Will Quince
The department does not hold specific data on the number of children in care placed with private providers or local authorities. Ofsted publishes data on the number of places available in children’s homes or foster care that are provided by local authorities or private companies, but not the proportion of places taken up by children.
As of 31 March 2021, private companies ran 83% of children’s homes (2,032) in England, providing 78% (7,555) of places. Local authorities ran 14% (339) of children’s homes, providing 16% (1,643) of places. Twenty-three of these local authority homes were run by organisations that provide the children’s services function of the council, including trusts. Voluntary providers ran 91 homes (4%), providing 501 places (5%).
There were 13 secure children’s homes in England as of 31 March 2021, offering 234 places in total. 12 of these homes are run by local authorities and one by a voluntary organisation.
Local authorities provided 64% (29,500) of foster placements in England as of 31 March 2021, with the remaining 36% (15,800) provided through independent fostering agencies.
The recent children’s social care market study completed by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) considered evidence of cost differentials between private providers and local authority run children’s homes (excluding secure children’s homes) and foster care. Their analysis found that for children’s homes, the cost to local authorities to provide their own placements was no lower than procuring these through private providers. However, the analysis also found indicative evidence that for fostering placements, local authorities could provide some placements more cheaply in-house as opposed to purchasing them through private providers.
The department has welcomed the report and is carefully considering the CMA’s recommendations.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support his Department has provided on education beyond 16 to young people with dyspraxia in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Will Quince
The Children and Families Act 2014 placed duties on early years providers, schools, further education colleges (FE), and some post-16 providers to ensure that children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive the support they need to succeed in their education. Our SEND Code of Practice sets out clear guidance that they should apply a 'graduated approach’, which means identifying a child or young persons’ needs, implementing appropriate support, reviewing it regularly and taking their views into account. The Code of Practice is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25.
The department is committed to supporting the development of teachers' and educational professionals' skills, as well as evidence based and effective practice within nurseries schools and colleges. The department has funded the whole school SEND consortium, through our contract with the National Association for Special Educational Needs, to deliver a programme which supports school staff in identifying and meeting the needs of pupils with SEND, including dyspraxia. In the 2021-22 financial year, the government has provided a further £2 million to this work, bringing the total funding for this contract to over £8 million since 2018.
In the 2021-22 financial year, the government has provided a grant of almost £1.2 million to the Education and Training Foundation. This grant will support the FE workforce in identifying and meeting the needs of learners with SEND, including those with dyspraxia. The department also announced recently that it will offer training bursaries, worth £15,000 each (tax free), for a further academic year (2022/23), to those specialising in SEND teaching in the FE sector.
The department does not differentiate between different types of SEND in the way funding is allocated to schools, colleges and local authorities for the responsibilities they have for supporting children and young people with SEND. Over the last 10 years there have been substantial increases in core schools funding, which includes funding for mainstream schools and high needs funding for children and young people with more complex needs. In financial year 2022/23 alone, core schools funding will increase by £4 billion compared to 2021/22: an increase of 5% in real terms per pupil.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding his Department has provided to schools for support for students with dyspraxia in each year of the last ten years.
Answered by Will Quince
The Children and Families Act 2014 placed duties on early years providers, schools, further education colleges (FE), and some post-16 providers to ensure that children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive the support they need to succeed in their education. Our SEND Code of Practice sets out clear guidance that they should apply a 'graduated approach’, which means identifying a child or young persons’ needs, implementing appropriate support, reviewing it regularly and taking their views into account. The Code of Practice is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25.
The department is committed to supporting the development of teachers' and educational professionals' skills, as well as evidence based and effective practice within nurseries schools and colleges. The department has funded the whole school SEND consortium, through our contract with the National Association for Special Educational Needs, to deliver a programme which supports school staff in identifying and meeting the needs of pupils with SEND, including dyspraxia. In the 2021-22 financial year, the government has provided a further £2 million to this work, bringing the total funding for this contract to over £8 million since 2018.
In the 2021-22 financial year, the government has provided a grant of almost £1.2 million to the Education and Training Foundation. This grant will support the FE workforce in identifying and meeting the needs of learners with SEND, including those with dyspraxia. The department also announced recently that it will offer training bursaries, worth £15,000 each (tax free), for a further academic year (2022/23), to those specialising in SEND teaching in the FE sector.
The department does not differentiate between different types of SEND in the way funding is allocated to schools, colleges and local authorities for the responsibilities they have for supporting children and young people with SEND. Over the last 10 years there have been substantial increases in core schools funding, which includes funding for mainstream schools and high needs funding for children and young people with more complex needs. In financial year 2022/23 alone, core schools funding will increase by £4 billion compared to 2021/22: an increase of 5% in real terms per pupil.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what (a) guidance and (b) support his Department offers to schools and teachers in (i) identifying and (ii) supporting pupils with dyspraxia.
Answered by Will Quince
The Children and Families Act 2014 placed duties on early years providers, schools, further education colleges (FE), and some post-16 providers to ensure that children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive the support they need to succeed in their education. Our SEND Code of Practice sets out clear guidance that they should apply a 'graduated approach’, which means identifying a child or young persons’ needs, implementing appropriate support, reviewing it regularly and taking their views into account. The Code of Practice is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25.
The department is committed to supporting the development of teachers' and educational professionals' skills, as well as evidence based and effective practice within nurseries schools and colleges. The department has funded the whole school SEND consortium, through our contract with the National Association for Special Educational Needs, to deliver a programme which supports school staff in identifying and meeting the needs of pupils with SEND, including dyspraxia. In the 2021-22 financial year, the government has provided a further £2 million to this work, bringing the total funding for this contract to over £8 million since 2018.
In the 2021-22 financial year, the government has provided a grant of almost £1.2 million to the Education and Training Foundation. This grant will support the FE workforce in identifying and meeting the needs of learners with SEND, including those with dyspraxia. The department also announced recently that it will offer training bursaries, worth £15,000 each (tax free), for a further academic year (2022/23), to those specialising in SEND teaching in the FE sector.
The department does not differentiate between different types of SEND in the way funding is allocated to schools, colleges and local authorities for the responsibilities they have for supporting children and young people with SEND. Over the last 10 years there have been substantial increases in core schools funding, which includes funding for mainstream schools and high needs funding for children and young people with more complex needs. In financial year 2022/23 alone, core schools funding will increase by £4 billion compared to 2021/22: an increase of 5% in real terms per pupil.