Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the quality of provision of physical education and school sport in secondary schools.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The government is providing primary schools with over £150 million per year of ring-fenced funding, paid directly to head teachers to improve PE and sport.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has launched a public consultation to inform the development of a new sports strategy and solicit views on how the government can ensure the continued engagement and participation of primary school pupils as they progress to secondary level. The consultation closes on Friday 2 October and can be found at www.gov.uk/government/consultations/a-new-strategy-for-sport-consultation.
In January 2015, the Department for Education published revised content for PE GCSEs and A levels. We have reformed the qualifications to ensure they are high-quality, demanding and academically rigorous and prepare students for further and higher education, and employment. The new qualifications will be taught from 2016.
Over 4,000 secondary schools across the country are taking part in the Sainsbury’s School Games - the government’s framework for competitive sport. Over three quarters of children aged 11-15 years old (77.6%) played sport against other people in PE or games lessons. Half (49.8%) played sport in their school in organised competitions. There are currently 6,890 satellite clubs on education sites. These are community sports clubs based predominantly on school or college sites which provide new opportunities for young people. They aim to increase participation as students progress through education. Young people aged over 11 can also take part in Sportivate which offers six to eight weeks of free or subsidised coaching in a range of sports. A total of 518,860 young people aged 11-25 have been engaged in Sportivate to date.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to publish the Small Schools Taskforce report.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
No decision has yet been made on the publication of the taskforce report.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effect of Primary School Sport Partnerships on participation in sport.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Department for Education does not collect information on the effect of primary school sport partnerships on sport participation. The last school sport survey was published in September 2010 and is available online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/pe-and-sport-survey-academic-year-2009-to-2010.
The report measured take-up of PE and sport by young people in schools and colleges over the period in which school sport partnerships were centrally funded. The survey contained a number of key findings which included information across years 1-11, and found that 84% of pupils were spending at least 120 minutes a week taking part in curriculum PE. Since we introduced the Primary PE and Sport premium, time spent on curricular PE at primary level has increased by 13 minutes from 109 to 122 minutes, from 2012/13 to 2013/14.
Funding for school sports partnerships ceased in 2011 as too little money reached the school directly and the programme did not have the intended impact on participation in sport.
It is for this reason that the government is committed to supporting primary school sport with £150 million a year, paid directly to headteachers. Through the primary PE and sport premium, over £300 million of ring-fenced funding was paid direct to schools across academic years 2013/14 and 2014/15. The government has committed to continuing to support this until 2020.
We know from the interim findings of our independent research of the Primary PE and sport premium that it is having a positive impact on PE and school sport. A research brief was published in September 2014 and can be found online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pe-and-sport-premium-an-investigation-in-primary-schools.
The final report will be published in the autumn. 91% of schools reported an increase in the quality of PE teaching thanks to the funding and 96% of schools reported improvements in pupils’ physical fitness. Schools reported wider improvements in behaviour, healthier lifestyles for their pupils, increased pupil engagement with PE during school time and an increase in participation in after school clubs. A third of schools used the premium to reduce the costs of after school clubs, while a fifth made some clubs completely free to attend.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many primary schools are engaged in Primary School Sport Partnerships.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Department for Education does not collect information on the number of school sport partnerships in each local authority. Schools are free to work in partnership with each other to deliver PE and sport for their pupils.
The government has committed to continuing to support primary school sport with £150 million a year, paid directly to headteachers, until 2020. This builds on the funding that we provided since 2010 to improve the quality of PE and sport provision.
Our vision is for a measurable and sustained improvement in school PE and sport, underpinned by high-quality teaching that increases participation levels in physical activity, and leads to healthier pupils who are more engaged across the whole curriculum. In order to achieve this we have given schools the autonomy to make decisions on how they spend the primary PE and sport premium that will secure sustainable benefits for schools. The primary PE and sport premium is given directly to primary schools to spend on what they think will most benefit their pupils.
We know from the interim findings of our independent research of the Primary PE and sport premium that it is having a positive impact on PE and school sport. A research brief was published in September 2014 and can be found online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pe-and-sport-premium-an-investigation-in-primary-schools.
The final report will be published in the autumn. Since the funding was introduced, time spent on curricular PE at primary level has increased by 13 minutes from 109 to 122 minutes, from 2012/13 to 2013/14. 91% of schools reported an increase in the quality of PE teaching thanks to the funding and 96% of schools reported improvements in pupils’ physical fitness. Schools reported wider improvements in behaviour, healthier lifestyles for their pupils, increased pupil engagement with PE during school time and an increase in participation in after school clubs. A third of schools used the premium to reduce the costs of after school clubs, while a fifth made some clubs completely free to attend.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many Primary School Sport Partnerships there are in each local authority.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Department for Education does not collect information on the number of school sport partnerships in each local authority. Schools are free to work in partnership with each other to deliver PE and sport for their pupils.
The government has committed to continuing to support primary school sport with £150 million a year, paid directly to headteachers, until 2020. This builds on the funding that we provided since 2010 to improve the quality of PE and sport provision.
Our vision is for a measurable and sustained improvement in school PE and sport, underpinned by high-quality teaching that increases participation levels in physical activity, and leads to healthier pupils who are more engaged across the whole curriculum. In order to achieve this we have given schools the autonomy to make decisions on how they spend the primary PE and sport premium that will secure sustainable benefits for schools. The primary PE and sport premium is given directly to primary schools to spend on what they think will most benefit their pupils.
We know from the interim findings of our independent research of the Primary PE and sport premium that it is having a positive impact on PE and school sport. A research brief was published in September 2014 and can be found online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pe-and-sport-premium-an-investigation-in-primary-schools.
The final report will be published in the autumn. Since the funding was introduced, time spent on curricular PE at primary level has increased by 13 minutes from 109 to 122 minutes, from 2012/13 to 2013/14. 91% of schools reported an increase in the quality of PE teaching thanks to the funding and 96% of schools reported improvements in pupils’ physical fitness. Schools reported wider improvements in behaviour, healthier lifestyles for their pupils, increased pupil engagement with PE during school time and an increase in participation in after school clubs. A third of schools used the premium to reduce the costs of after school clubs, while a fifth made some clubs completely free to attend.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the change in the number of teachers that will be required in each subject by 2020 as a result of making the Ebacc compulsory.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Each time a teaching or curriculum-related policy change is announced, the Department for Education considers the resulting change in teacher demand.
The department does this, in part, by adding policy assumptions into the Teacher Supply Model (TSM), which informs the initial teacher training targets each year. We will factor the compulsory Ebacc commitment into future TSMs as required, and publish on GOV.UK in line with our usual approach to forecasting teacher supply requirements.
More details as to how the policy assumption process is managed within the TSM itself, along with some previous examples, can be found in both the 2015/16 TSM and the accompanying user guide, which are published online at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/teacher-supply-model
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish in one place on gov.uk where each school is located, each school's unique reference number and local authority establishment number, the URL for each such school's page on her Department's school and college performance tables website, the URL for each such page on Ofsted's Inspection Report website, the name of the company which has an academy funding agreement, and the Companies House registration number of each of those companies.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Most of this information is already available in the one place. Since 2011, as part of the government’s transparency agenda, the performance website expanded greatly. The location of each school and its unique reference number are shown on each school’s entry on the School Performance Tables website. This page also provides PDF versions of academy funding agreements, annual reports and financial statements which contain the name of the company with whom the Secretary of State has a funding agreement and its Companies House registration number. The Ofsted inspection reports website provides a direct link to each school’s performance tables entry under ‘further links’.
We regularly review the content and functionality of our website and will consider whether it would be helpful to add each school’s local authority establishment number to the website.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the expectation that all students should take Ebacc subjects applies to university technical college and studio school students.
Answered by Nick Gibb
We want all pupils to study rigorous academic subjects which give them the best start in life and help to keep their options open. We acknowledge that the EBacc will be inappropriate for a small minority of pupils, and we will work with the sector to identify them and consider what is expected for them. We plan to consult on detailed proposals in the autumn.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which functions she has delegated to each regional schools commissioner.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Regional Schools Commissioners carry out the following functions on behalf of the Secretary of State:
And from July 2015:
The Secretary of State continues to be accountable for these areas and for all decision-making on her behalf.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many of the regional schools commissioners (a) are employed under a contract of employment as part of the establishment of her Department, (b) are employed under a contract of employment to an Academy Trust, (c) are employed under a contract of employment to another third party and (d) use a personal service company.
Answered by Nick Gibb
All regional schools commissioners are employed under a contract of employment with the Department for Education.
None of the regional schools commissioners are employed under a contract of employment to an Academy Trust. None of the regional schools commissioners uses a personal service company.
Pank Patel has a third party contract to deliver leadership training services abroad for the British Council. The contract expires in August this year. No other regional schools commissioner has a contract of employment to a third party.