Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what representations she has made to the US Administration about (a) the strategic importance of the Fulbright programme to the special relationship and (b) the need to preserve funding for the programme in the years ahead.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Fulbright programme provides important opportunities for education exchanges between the UK and the US. We have received no communication from the US government to inform us of any proposal to cut funding of the Fulbright Programme.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to preserve the anonymity of witnesses who provided evidence to the Clarke inquiry into Birmingham schools.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
We take the issue of witness anonymity extremely seriously.
The independent panel overseeing the teacher misconduct case of some of the individuals involved in the events related to Trojan Horse recently ordered the full disclosure of transcripts of interviews given to Peter Clarke. As a result of the independent panel’s direction, lawyers acting on behalf of NCTL wrote to witnesses to inform them of that decision, and stated that in the event that they had any comments or concerns in relation to the disclosure of their transcripts they should contact them. Since the direction, where we have written to witnesses and we have either not yet heard back from them or they have raised concerns, no disclosures have been made. We have informed the independent panel that a number of witnesses have raised concerns, and the panel has indicated that it wishes to consider the issue at a further hearing.
These issues are part of a set of complex legal proceedings and it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her letter of 9 October 2015, when she will provide a substantive answer to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill on concerns raised in that letter on behalf of Mr M. Ikhlaq.
Answered by Nick Gibb
In her letter of 30 November 2015, my Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Education stated that we would provide a full response as soon as further consideration of Mr Ikhlaq’s case is complete. She will write to the Rt Hon Member shortly.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to promote character education in schools; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Edward Timpson
All schools should develop character traits like self-confidence, motivation and resilience in their students. These traits support academic attainment, are valued by employers, and encourage young people to make a positive contribution to British society.
At the Character Symposium in January 2016, the Secretary of State for Education outlined her vision for character education. She announced that the Department intends to promote character education through the building and strengthening of our evidence base. We will facilitate this via an online digital platform which will share evidence, innovation, and examples of best practice in character education. We will also promote character education to schools and organisations through a new round of character awards.
To support schools in this, we are already investing £5 million in character education. This figure includes £3.5m of grants for 14 projects and £1m to the Education Endowment Foundation to build research the most effective ways that character can be developed.
Of course, many schools and organisations are already supporting children to develop their character, through programmes such as National Citizen Service. We will be investing over a billion pounds over the next four years to make NCS a rite of passage and toensure that 60% of 16 year olds can take part by 2021.
In addition, school sport can help children and young people develop positive character traits such as fair play, leadership and resilience. It can teach them how to bounce back from defeat, how to respect others and how to work together in teams to achieve a goal. PE remains a compulsory subject at all four key stages in the new national curriculum which came into force in September 2014.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of (a) secondary and (b) primary schools are academies.
Answered by Edward Timpson
As of January 2016, 18% of primary schools and 65% of secondary schools are academies, including free schools, studio schools or Universal Technical Colleges.