Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many laptops have been distributed to children learning from home in each local authority; and what the average time taken was to distribute those laptops.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government has provided laptops and tablets to disadvantaged children who would otherwise not have access and are preparing for examinations in year 10, receiving support from a social worker, or are a care leaver. Where care leavers, children with a social worker at secondary school and children in year 10 do not have internet connections, the Government has also provided 4G wireless routers.
The Department has delivered laptops, tablets and 4G wireless routers to local authorities and academy trusts based on the Department’s estimates of the number of eligible children that do not have access to a device. Local authorities and academy trusts are best placed to identify children and young people who need devices and prioritise their needs.
The Department has published information about how many laptops, tablets and 4G wireless routers have been delivered to local authorities and academy trusts in total, which can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/laptops-tablets-and-4g-wireless-routers-progress-data. As of the end of June, over 202,000 laptops and tablets and over 47,000 4G wireless routers had been delivered to local authorities and academy trusts. It is taking, on average, 1.3 days from receipt of an order to the devices being dispatched to a local authority or academy trust.
The Department will be publishing data on devices delivered to each local authority and academy trust shortly.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 1 July 2020 to Question 60654 on Renewable energy, what plans his Department has to install solar panels and wind turbines on its buildings in the next five years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government Property Agency (GPA) does not currently have funded plans for the installation of solar panels and wind turbines on Department for Education buildings.
However, GPA has a Net Zero Programme in development to support the following UK Government targets:
GPA has committed to the following objectives for the Government Office Portfolio:
In order to meet objective 3, GPA is currently assessing opportunities for the local generation and storage of green energy on Government Office Portfolio buildings, which may include solar panels and wind turbines.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will allocate additional funding to 16-19 education providers as part of the covid-19 catch-up plan for students.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
My right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, announced a £1 billion support package for schools to help pupils catch up on lost teaching time.
We also announced on 20 July that we will be providing a one-off, ring-fenced grant of up to £96 million for colleges, sixth forms and all 16 to 19 providers, to provide small group tutoring activity for disadvantaged 16 to 19 students whose studies have been disrupted.
Many further education providers are already open for some learners, including those who are 16 to 19 and adults, subject to the required safety measures being met. From autumn 2020, all learners, including those who are 16 to 19 and adults will return to a full high-quality education programme delivered by their college or post-16 learning provider.
Colleges should plan on the basis that, from September 2020, all learners will return to a full high-quality education programme.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department taken to ensure greater accessibility to support and guidance for parents with children under five years old.
Answered by Vicky Ford
It is vitally important that we do all we can to help parents to support their children’s learning at home during the COVID-19 outbreak.
We know that the Home Learning Environment is crucial for child development. There are a wealth of resources available for parents which can be accessed through the government’s Hungry Little Minds website which can be found at:
https://hungrylittleminds.campaign.gov.uk/.
We are working with our partners to ensure that we give parents the best support we can to help their children’s learning at home. We have also published guidance for parents about how to support their child’s development at home during the COVID-19 outbreak which can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/help-children-aged-2-to-4-to-learn-at-home-during-coronavirus-covid-19.
Guidance for parents and carers on the opening of early years settings is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/what-parents-and-carers-need-to-know-about-early-years-providers-schools-and-colleges-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many private hire cars his Department has used since 2015; how long each journey was; and what the cost of those journeys were to the public purse.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The table below provides the information requested relating to the use of private hire cars by the Department since 2015.
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | Totals |
No. of Private Hire Cars | 3568 | 3313 | 3525 | 4576 | 3576 | 959 | 19,517 |
Rental Days | 5416 | 4870 | 5094 | 6817 | 5160 | 1373 | 28,730 |
Total Annual Mileage | 1,217,012 | 1,156,713 | 1,373,307 | 2,249,283 | 1,702,628 | 683,244 | 8,382,187 |
Total Cost | £208,766 | £189,879 | £205,389 | £263,760 | £198,893 | £52,110 | £1,118,797 |
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with supply teaching agencies on (a) furlough and (b) income support for supply teachers over the 2020 summer holidays.
Answered by Nick Gibb
As both my right hon. Friends, the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer have made clear, the Government will do whatever it takes to support people affected by COVID-19.
The Government has provided clear guidance on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme in relation to agencies and agency workers. This guidance can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-which-employees-you-can-put-on-furlough-to-use-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme#agency-workers-including-those-employed-by-umbrella-companies.
Schools are under no obligation to continue to pay supply teachers that they directly hire or hire via agencies once the supply teacher’s contract has ended. Typically, supply teachers are not contracted to work over the summer holidays when schools are closed.
Supply teachers employed via an agency who had previously been furloughed via the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme for at least 3 consecutive weeks, taking place any time between 1 March 2020 and 30 June, can continue to be furloughed until the scheme ends on 31 October, so long as their employer chooses to continue to furlough them.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the risk from schools fully reopening of a small chain of covid-19 infection in schools leading to a wider outbreak; and if he will publish the advice he has received from SAGE on that matter.
Answered by Nick Gibb
We want to get more children back to school because it is vital for their education and their wellbeing. As such the Government has announced that all children will return to school from September.
On 2 July we published guidance to help schools plan for a full return of all pupils in the Autumn term:
The measures set out in this guidance provide a framework for head teachers to put in place proportionate protective measures for children and staff, which also ensure that all pupils receive a high quality education that enables them to thrive and progress. In welcoming all children back this Autumn, schools will be asked to minimise the number of contacts that a pupil has during the school day as part of implementing the system of controls outlined in the guidance to reduce the risk of transmission. If schools follow the guidance set out, they can be confident they are managing risk effectively.
The guidance also includes the process that should be followed if anyone develops COVID-19 symptoms while at school. This guidance has been developed with advice from, and is endorsed by, Public Health England.
SAGE publish papers from their meetings on a regular basis on the SAGE website. The list of papers released to date is available by following the link below, including several schools-related papers. This list will be updated to reflect papers considered at future meetings:
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 4 May 2020 to Question 41160 on Assessments: Coronavirus, if he will publish the feedback from stakeholders on the range of options available to his Department on the Reception Baseline Assessment.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department has listened to the feedback from stakeholders about the difficult circumstances faced by schools in the context of COVID-19 and the particular impact this has had on schools preparedness for the implementation of the Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA) in September 2020.
Taking into account that feedback, the Department has confirmed that the statutory implementation of the RBA will be postponed until autumn 2021. Instead, schools have the option of taking part in the RBA early adopter year and can sign up to participate via a survey sent to all eligible schools. The Department remains committed to implementing the RBA.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when he plans to publish updated guidance on enabling regulated childcare settings which operate outside school hours to reopen for (a) children of key workers and (b) all children.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The department has published guidance for providers who run community activities, holiday clubs, after-school clubs, tuition and other out-of-school provision for children over the age of 5. It sets out the safety measures that must be in place to ensure they can operate over the summer holiday. The guidance is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/protective-measures-for-holiday-or-after-school-clubs-and-other-out-of-school-settings-for-children-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.
This follows confirmation from my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, that from Saturday 4 July, these providers can operate over the summer holiday, with safety measures in place.
While schools are open in a provider’s local area, providers of these settings should follow the same protective measures as schools to limit different groups of children mixing. This means that if a setting opens before the end of the 2020 summer term, they should ensure they are:
When state schools in a local area have closed for the summer term, out-of-school settings must operate in line with the published guidance and children of all ages and mixed schools may attend out-of-school settings in that area.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many days teachers have taken off work for mental health reasons in each year since 2015.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The information requested is not held centrally.