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.
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 the framework is for assessing quality of education and inspecting standards and safety in settings where children are instructed in madrassas.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Local authorities are responsible for safeguarding children in their areas, regardless of where they are educated. The statutory guidance on the Prevent Duty[1] makes it clear that local authorities should take steps to understand the range of out of school settings, such as supplementary schools and tuition centres, in their area and take appropriate steps to ensure that children attending such settings are properly safeguarded.
The Prime Minister has recently announced that supplementary schools which provide intensive education will need to register themselves for inspection. The government’s counter-extremism strategy[2] sets out our intentions to introduce this system. We will be consulting on this regulatory framework.
Intervention will apply if there are concerns about the safety or welfare of the children attending these supplementary schools. Where institutions are teaching intolerance we will not hesitate to take action. We are consulting on the coverage of this proposed scheme, which is likely to include some madrasa schools.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prevent-duty-guidance
[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/counter-extremism-strategy
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 ensure pupils' names are not removed from school admission registers without an adequate explanation of the child's whereabouts.
Answered by Nick Gibb
As recently announced, we are taking immediate steps to strengthen the regulations about the information schools must collect when a pupil is taken off the admissions register.
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, which qualifications in religious education her Department has approved for teaching in publically-funded schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
A list of the religious education qualifications approved in accordance with section 96 of the Learning and Skills Act 2000 for delivery in publicly-funded schools is attached to this response. The full list of approved qualifications is published online on the section 96 website:
www.education.gov.uk/section96/download.shtml
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, which local spending bodies in the city of Birmingham (a) her Department is responsible for and (b) draw on funds voted to her Department.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Secretary of State has signed funding agreements with 138 academies that fall within the boundaries of Birmingham City Council.