Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 19 September 2023 to Question198717 on Free School Meals, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that schools continue to be able to provide healthy meals; and what discussions his Department has had with schools on whether they can provide these meals within the agreed budgets.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The department spends over £1 billion on the provision of free meals. Schools currently attract £480 annually through the free school meals (FSM) factor of the national funding formula, in respect of FSM-eligible pupils. This is increasing to £490 in 2024/25.
In addition to this, schools are currently plaid a meal rate of £2.53 to support the provision of Universal infant FSM.
The department continues to keep funding under review and regularly meet with stakeholders to monitor issues in this sector, including food industry representatives, school leaders and pupils.
Further to this, the department supports the provision of nutritious food in schools through ‘The Requirements for School Food Regulations’ (2014), which require schools to provide children with healthy food and drink options, and to make sure that children get the energy and nutrition they need across the school day. These regulations are available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/1603/contents/made.
The school food standards restrict foods high in fat, salt and sugar, as well as low quality reformed or reconstituted foods. Compliance with the school food standards is mandatory for all maintained schools, academies and free schools.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to instruct Ofqual to give special consideration for students whose schools have been affected by RAAC.
Answered by Damian Hinds
Our focus is on supporting schools and colleges to put in place suitable mitigations to minimise disruption to learning.
Special consideration is given to a candidate who has temporarily experienced illness, injury or some other event outside of their control at the time of the exam or assessment. Decisions on special consideration are made by individual exam boards, following guidance published by the Joint Council for Qualifications.
Officials in the department have been working hard to ensure that any school or college that is struggling to deliver particular assessments due to RAAC receives the support they need for their specific circumstances. Officials have asked awarding organisations to agree extensions to coursework and non-examined assessment deadlines with affected schools and colleges wherever possible, whilst providing as much flexibility as they can within the confines of their processes and regulations.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her Department's timescale is for replacing (a) school buildings and (b) sports facilities affected by RAAC; and what criteria her Department plans to use when judging the suitability of replacement buildings.
Answered by Damian Hinds
An updated list of schools and colleges with confirmed cases of RAAC was published on 6 December, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-raac-management-information.
The department has committed to remove RAAC from the school estate. This will be delivered through capital grants or the School Rebuilding Programme. The department will set out further details in due course.
The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) is providing support to Responsible Bodies with revenue funding to cover a range of RAAC-related costs, including lost income due to cancelled lettings. Affected Responsible Bodies should contact their RAAC caseworker to discuss any revenue needs including lost income, so that support from the ESFA can be sought as soon as possible.
On grading, the department’s focus is on supporting schools and colleges to put in place suitable mitigations to minimise disruption to learning. Officials in the department have also been working hard to ensure that any school or college that is struggling to deliver particular assessments due to RAAC receives the support they need for their specific circumstances. Officials have asked awarding organisations to agree extensions to coursework and non-examined assessment deadlines with affected schools and colleges wherever possible within the confines of their processes and regulations.
Special consideration is only given to a candidate who has temporarily experienced illness, injury or some other event outside of their control at the time of the exam or assessment. Decisions on special consideration are made by exam boards on an individual basis. The Joint Council for Qualifications’ guidance is clear that students would not be eligible for special consideration on the grounds that teaching and learning has been disrupted by building work or a lack of facilities. This is important so that employers and/or further or higher education institutions can rely on the qualification outcomes as evidence of an individual’s abilities against the published content requirements.
The department has a robust offer of support for pupils including extra education support for those who need it. The department has made more than £1 billion available to support tutoring. Since the launch of the National Tutoring Programme in November 2020, nearly four million tutoring courses have been started.
The department is investing record amounts of pupil premium funding with £2.6 billion in 2022/23 and £2.9 billion this financial year. The department also offers wider support for pupils who are disadvantaged and may need more support, such as free school meals that support 1.9 million children and the holiday activities and food programme where the department investing over £200 million a year for the next 2 years and support for 2,500 breakfast clubs.
Ofsted is avoiding scheduling school inspections during this term for schools on the department’s published list of settings affected by RAAC. For schools impacted by RAAC, but not on the list, Ofsted will carefully consider any requests for a deferral of an inspection.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate her Department has made of the number of (a) school buildings and (b) sports facilities affected by RAAC; and whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of compensating schools for lost income due to their inability to rent out such buildings.
Answered by Damian Hinds
An updated list of schools and colleges with confirmed cases of RAAC was published on 6 December, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-raac-management-information.
The department has committed to remove RAAC from the school estate. This will be delivered through capital grants or the School Rebuilding Programme. The department will set out further details in due course.
The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) is providing support to Responsible Bodies with revenue funding to cover a range of RAAC-related costs, including lost income due to cancelled lettings. Affected Responsible Bodies should contact their RAAC caseworker to discuss any revenue needs including lost income, so that support from the ESFA can be sought as soon as possible.
On grading, the department’s focus is on supporting schools and colleges to put in place suitable mitigations to minimise disruption to learning. Officials in the department have also been working hard to ensure that any school or college that is struggling to deliver particular assessments due to RAAC receives the support they need for their specific circumstances. Officials have asked awarding organisations to agree extensions to coursework and non-examined assessment deadlines with affected schools and colleges wherever possible within the confines of their processes and regulations.
Special consideration is only given to a candidate who has temporarily experienced illness, injury or some other event outside of their control at the time of the exam or assessment. Decisions on special consideration are made by exam boards on an individual basis. The Joint Council for Qualifications’ guidance is clear that students would not be eligible for special consideration on the grounds that teaching and learning has been disrupted by building work or a lack of facilities. This is important so that employers and/or further or higher education institutions can rely on the qualification outcomes as evidence of an individual’s abilities against the published content requirements.
The department has a robust offer of support for pupils including extra education support for those who need it. The department has made more than £1 billion available to support tutoring. Since the launch of the National Tutoring Programme in November 2020, nearly four million tutoring courses have been started.
The department is investing record amounts of pupil premium funding with £2.6 billion in 2022/23 and £2.9 billion this financial year. The department also offers wider support for pupils who are disadvantaged and may need more support, such as free school meals that support 1.9 million children and the holiday activities and food programme where the department investing over £200 million a year for the next 2 years and support for 2,500 breakfast clubs.
Ofsted is avoiding scheduling school inspections during this term for schools on the department’s published list of settings affected by RAAC. For schools impacted by RAAC, but not on the list, Ofsted will carefully consider any requests for a deferral of an inspection.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to allow discretion in (a) grading and (b) OFSTED inspections for schools affected by RAAC.
Answered by Damian Hinds
An updated list of schools and colleges with confirmed cases of RAAC was published on 6 December, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-raac-management-information.
The department has committed to remove RAAC from the school estate. This will be delivered through capital grants or the School Rebuilding Programme. The department will set out further details in due course.
The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) is providing support to Responsible Bodies with revenue funding to cover a range of RAAC-related costs, including lost income due to cancelled lettings. Affected Responsible Bodies should contact their RAAC caseworker to discuss any revenue needs including lost income, so that support from the ESFA can be sought as soon as possible.
On grading, the department’s focus is on supporting schools and colleges to put in place suitable mitigations to minimise disruption to learning. Officials in the department have also been working hard to ensure that any school or college that is struggling to deliver particular assessments due to RAAC receives the support they need for their specific circumstances. Officials have asked awarding organisations to agree extensions to coursework and non-examined assessment deadlines with affected schools and colleges wherever possible within the confines of their processes and regulations.
Special consideration is only given to a candidate who has temporarily experienced illness, injury or some other event outside of their control at the time of the exam or assessment. Decisions on special consideration are made by exam boards on an individual basis. The Joint Council for Qualifications’ guidance is clear that students would not be eligible for special consideration on the grounds that teaching and learning has been disrupted by building work or a lack of facilities. This is important so that employers and/or further or higher education institutions can rely on the qualification outcomes as evidence of an individual’s abilities against the published content requirements.
The department has a robust offer of support for pupils including extra education support for those who need it. The department has made more than £1 billion available to support tutoring. Since the launch of the National Tutoring Programme in November 2020, nearly four million tutoring courses have been started.
The department is investing record amounts of pupil premium funding with £2.6 billion in 2022/23 and £2.9 billion this financial year. The department also offers wider support for pupils who are disadvantaged and may need more support, such as free school meals that support 1.9 million children and the holiday activities and food programme where the department investing over £200 million a year for the next 2 years and support for 2,500 breakfast clubs.
Ofsted is avoiding scheduling school inspections during this term for schools on the department’s published list of settings affected by RAAC. For schools impacted by RAAC, but not on the list, Ofsted will carefully consider any requests for a deferral of an inspection.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her planned timetable is for having replacement buildings and sports facilities for schools affected by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete; and what criteria will be used to assess the suitability of replacement buildings.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had discussions with Ofsted on the potential merits of taking into account disruption to schools affected by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete when assessing their delivery of the National Curriculum.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to instruct Ofqual to give special consideration for students whose schools have been affected by RAAC.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to implement a 20% reduction target for Education Health and Care Plans as part of the Delivering Better Value in SEND programme.
Answered by David Johnston
The department’s Delivering Better Value (DBV) programme has no targets to reduce the number of new Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans. Decisions about individual children and young people and whether they require EHC plans must be made on an individual basis, following the processes set out in the Children and Families Act 2014. The department is protecting every parent and family’s existing legal right to an EHC plan when they need one, and that will not change.
The DBV programme is part of the wider reform work set out in detail in the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan. DBV aims to put the SEND system on a more sustainable footing by funding system transformation in up to 55 local authorities with high dedicated schools grant deficits. It does so by providing diagnostic support to each local authority to engage with its stakeholders and identify opportunities to improve services and meet children’s needs at an early stage and with the right level of support.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether there has been a reduction in Education Health Care Plans at any of the Local Authorities in Tranche 1 and 2 of the Delivering Better Value in SEND Programme.
Answered by David Johnston
The department’s Delivering Better Value (DBV) programme has no targets to reduce the number of new Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans. Decisions about individual children and young people and whether they require EHC plans must be made on an individual basis, following the processes set out in the Children and Families Act 2014. The department is protecting every parent and family’s existing legal right to an EHC plan when they need one, and that will not change.
The DBV programme is part of the wider reform work set out in detail in the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan. DBV aims to put the SEND system on a more sustainable footing by funding system transformation in up to 55 local authorities with high dedicated schools grant deficits. It does so by providing diagnostic support to each local authority to engage with its stakeholders and identify opportunities to improve services and meet children’s needs at an early stage and with the right level of support.