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Written Question
Theatre: Children
Tuesday 14th November 2023

Asked by: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate of the proportion of (a) all children, (b) children educated in state schools and (c) children educated in private schools who have attended a live theatre performance by the end of (i) primary and (ii) secondary education.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The Department does not collect data on the number or proportion of children who have attended live theatre by the end of primary and secondary education.

Arts subjects, including drama, are an important part of a pupil’s school experience, with drama forming part of the National Curriculum for English.

As set out in the programmes of study for Key Stages 1 to 3, pupils should gain knowledge, skills and understanding of the artistic practice of drama and should be able to adopt, create and sustain a range of roles. They should also have opportunities to improvise, devise and script drama for one another and a range of audiences, as well as to rehearse, refine, share and respond thoughtfully to drama and theatre performances. Teachers will use their professional judgement as to how and when such opportunities are created.

In addition, all pupils taking GCSE drama or an A level in drama and theatre studies are entitled to experience live theatre. This entitlement reaffirms the Government’s commitment to providing pupils with an enriching arts education. Pupils should not be limited to watching a DVD or a peer performance; they should have the opportunity to sit in the audience and experience a live performance.


Written Question
School Teachers' Review Body
Thursday 29th June 2023

Asked by: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to publish the 2023 report of the School Teachers Review Body.

Answered by Nick Gibb

As part of the normal pay round process, the independent School Teachers’ Review Body has submitted its report and recommendations to the Government on teacher pay for 2023/24. The Department is considering the recommendations and will publish its response and the report in the usual way, in due course.


Written Question
Teachers: Nottingham South
Monday 24th April 2023

Asked by: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many teachers in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in the Nottingham South constituency do not have qualified teacher status.

Answered by Nick Gibb

Information on the school workforce in England is published in the annual ‘School Workforce in England’ national statistics release, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.

The number of teachers without qualified teacher status in all state funded schools in England, including a breakdown by primary and secondary, and by local authority, is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/29d83b82-2aba-44c7-bb82-08db371944c7.

Data relating to schools in individual constituencies can be found in the ‘teacher and support staff numbers by school’ file, within the additional supporting files section, available at: https://content.explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/api/releases/0728fb07-f014-492c-aac9-fd11bb441601/files/2dfcc772-c410-46ac-cb9d-08da713e9200.

There are 24,000 more teachers now than in 2010. The quality of teaching is the most important in school factor in improving outcomes for children, especially for those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Evidence is clear that high quality professional development can lead to improved pupil attainment.

The Department has invested in transforming training for teachers and head teachers. Every teacher and head teacher now has access to high quality, evidence based training and professional development at every stage of their career, starting with initial teacher training (ITT).

By 2024, a reformed ITT provider market will be delivering quality assured training leading to qualified teacher status (QTS) that places a greater emphasis than ever before on embedding structured practice into courses, ensuring trainees are ready to thrive in the classroom.

A new system of higher quality training provider partnerships will be supported by £36 million to introduce new Quality Requirements, including better training for mentors and the delivery of new, cutting edge, intensive training, and practice activity. Every teaching school hub will be involved in ITT to ensure that training places are available across the country.

QTS is considered desirable for teachers in most schools in England. In some schools, including academies, free schools, and independent schools, QTS is not a legal requirement. Academies have a fundamental freedom to employ talented people who do not necessarily have QTS.

Most teachers in all schools, including academies, have QTS and have undertaken initial teacher training. In the 2021/22 academic year, the latest data available, 14,771 teachers (headcount) did not have qualified teacher status, equivalent to 2.9% of teachers.


Written Question
Private Education: East Midlands
Wednesday 8th March 2023

Asked by: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of private schools on social mobility in the East Midlands.

Answered by Nick Gibb

The Government is committed to levelling up and spreading opportunity throughout the country, including in the East Midlands. There are no plans to undertake this specific assessment. The Department does regularly assess the effects of a range of factors on pupil attainment.

The Department encourages independent schools to work in partnership with state funded schools to deliver activities across the areas of governance and leadership, teaching, curriculum and other targeted activities leading to school improvement. The Department has found that the partnerships that work most effectively tend to be based around the principles of sustainability, mutual benefit, and priority for high impact activities.

The Department has a joint understanding with the Independent Schools Council (ISC) that sets out how the independent sector will work in partnership with state schools to help raise attainment and, in particular, help pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. Around 85% of ISC member schools are engaged in almost 7,000 mutually beneficial cross-sector partnerships with state funded schools. These schools share expertise, best practice and facilities to the benefit of children in all the schools involved.

The Department is committed to ensuring that in every area, children are able to attend excellent schools, progress to high quality technical and higher education, and obtain good jobs.

Significant support is also being provided for 55 Education Investment Areas (EIAs), to improve outcomes in those parts of the country where literacy and numeracy are the poorest, including six Local Authorities in the East Midlands region. These are Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, North Northamptonshire, and Lincolnshire.

Over the next three years, up to £86 million in trust capacity funding and £150 million for extending the Connect the Classroom programme are being prioritised in EIAs. The Department is also delivering higher payments of Levelling Up Premium tax-free annually for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers working in EIAs.

Nottingham and Derby are Priority Education Investment Areas. These are 24 areas across the country with the highest rates of disadvantage where the Department is providing significant additional funding, including a share of around £40 million to address local needs and improve outcomes.


Written Question
Higher Education: Nottingham South
Monday 6th March 2023

Asked by: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many places in higher education are guaranteed for disadvantaged students in Nottingham South constituency.

Answered by Robert Halfon

We want to provide a ladder of opportunity so that everyone can get the education and skills they need for job security and prosperity, and to support levelling up across the country, including in Nottingham South constituency

Our access and participation reforms are playing a key role in ensuring that the young people of Nottingham South can get the support they need to make decisions that are right for them, regardless of their socio-economic background, whether that is progressing into higher education (HE), further education, or apprenticeships.

The department wants universities to:

  • Work more with schools and colleges to raise standards so that students have more options and can choose the path that is right for them.
  • Move away from just getting disadvantaged students through the door, and instead tackle dropout rates and support students through university to graduation and into high skilled and high paid jobs.
  • Offer more courses that are linked to skills and flexible learning such as degree apprenticeships, higher technical qualifications, and part-time courses.

Examples of this can already be found in Nottingham, where both local universities offer degree apprenticeships with Nottingham Trent University providing access to alternative routes to higher education at its Mansfield campus.

The majority of providers who submitted requests for variations to their access and participation plans to the Office for Students are carrying out work in line with these priorities.

HE providers are autonomous bodies, independent from government. They are responsible for their own admissions decisions. It is a matter for individual providers to consider whether to use contextual information about applicants, such as their socio-economic background.

Students in Nottingham South, regardless of their background, should feel confident that getting into HE is a fair process. In 2022, a record numbers of students progressed into HE, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds.


Written Question
Higher Education: Nottingham South
Monday 6th March 2023

Asked by: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help improve social mobility in higher education for students in Nottingham South constituency.

Answered by Robert Halfon

We want to provide a ladder of opportunity so that everyone can get the education and skills they need for job security and prosperity, and to support levelling up across the country, including in Nottingham South constituency

Our access and participation reforms are playing a key role in ensuring that the young people of Nottingham South can get the support they need to make decisions that are right for them, regardless of their socio-economic background, whether that is progressing into higher education (HE), further education, or apprenticeships.

The department wants universities to:

  • Work more with schools and colleges to raise standards so that students have more options and can choose the path that is right for them.
  • Move away from just getting disadvantaged students through the door, and instead tackle dropout rates and support students through university to graduation and into high skilled and high paid jobs.
  • Offer more courses that are linked to skills and flexible learning such as degree apprenticeships, higher technical qualifications, and part-time courses.

Examples of this can already be found in Nottingham, where both local universities offer degree apprenticeships with Nottingham Trent University providing access to alternative routes to higher education at its Mansfield campus.

The majority of providers who submitted requests for variations to their access and participation plans to the Office for Students are carrying out work in line with these priorities.

HE providers are autonomous bodies, independent from government. They are responsible for their own admissions decisions. It is a matter for individual providers to consider whether to use contextual information about applicants, such as their socio-economic background.

Students in Nottingham South, regardless of their background, should feel confident that getting into HE is a fair process. In 2022, a record numbers of students progressed into HE, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds.


Written Question
Free School Meals: Nottingham South
Friday 3rd March 2023

Asked by: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students who received free school meals in secondary education in Nottingham South constituency are registered for higher education in each of the last three years.

Answered by Robert Halfon

The department publishes statistics on 15-year-old pupils from state-funded and special schools who entered higher education (HE) by age 19 at national and local authority level.

The number of 15-year-old pupils receiving free school meals in Nottingham local authority who entered higher education (HE) by age 19 are available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/90df849f-44f4-49eb-9506-08db08498a11.

Figures are not available at parliamentary constituency level.


Written Question
Education: East Midlands
Friday 3rd March 2023

Asked by: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve education outcomes in the east Midlands.

Answered by Nick Gibb

The Schools White Paper, published in March 2022, set out a long-term vision for a school system that helps every child to fulfil their potential by ensuring that they receive the right support, in the right place, at the right time, founded on achieving world-class literacy and numeracy. The Department’s ambition remains that by 2030, 90% of all primary school children will achieve the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics, and the percentage of children meeting the expected standard in the worst performing areas will have increased by a third. In secondary schools, the national GCSE average grade in both English language and in mathematics will increase from 4.5 in 2019 to 5.

The White Paper was clear regarding the areas the Department needs to drive improvement in to realise this ambition, to ensure an excellent teacher for every child, high standards of curriculum, behaviour and attendance, targeted support for every child who needs it, and a stronger and fairer schools system.

Significant support is also being provided for 55 Education Investment Areas (EIAs), to improve outcomes in those parts of the country where literacy and numeracy are the poorest including, six Local Authorities in the East Midlands region. These are Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, North Northamptonshire, and Lincolnshire.

Over the next three years, up to £86 million in trust capacity funding and £150 million for extending the Connect the Classroom programme are being prioritised in EIAs. The Department is also offering higher payments of Levelling Up Premium tax-free annually for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers working in EIAs.

Nottingham and Derby are Priority Education Investment Areas, 24 areas across the country with the highest rates of disadvantage where the Department is providing significant additional investment, including a share of around £40 million to address local needs and improve outcomes.


Written Question
Schools: Nottingham South
Tuesday 7th February 2023

Asked by: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 20 July 2022 to Question 37614 on Schools: Buildings, which schools in Nottingham South constituency had at least one construction element in condition grade (a) C and (b) D, when that data was collated; and which of those schools (i) have received funding and (ii) are expected to receive funding from the School Rebuilding Programme in the next two years.

Answered by Nick Gibb

The Condition Data Collection (CDC) is one of the largest and most comprehensive data collection programmes in the UK’s public sector. It collected data on the building condition of government funded schools in England. It provides a robust evidence base to enable the Department to target capital funding for maintaining and rebuilding school buildings.

The key, high level findings of the CDC programme were published in May 2021 in the ‘Condition of School Buildings Survey: Key Findings’ report. This is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/989912/Condition_of_School_Buildings_Survey_CDC1_-_key_findings_report.pdf.

Individual CDC reports have been shared with every school and their responsible body to use alongside their existing condition surveys to plan maintenance schedules and investment plans. The Department plans to publish detailed school level CDC data. The Department is still preparing the data and will publish it as soon as possible.

Well maintained, safe school buildings are a priority for the Department. Our funding is directed both to maintaining the condition of the school estate and rebuilding schools. The Department has allocated over £13 billion for improving the condition of schools since 2015, including £1.8 billion committed this financial year.

The ten year School Rebuilding Programme (SRP) is condition led. 400 of the 500 available places on the programme have been provisionally allocated. A list of these schools and the methodology used to select them is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme-schools-in-the-programme.

The following table shows the constituencies specified that have schools or colleges selected for the SRP:

Parliamentary constituency

Schools selected for SRP

Bolton West

  • St James CofE Primary School, Daisy Hill (announced December 2022)
  • Rowan Tree Primary School (announced December 2022)

City of Durham

  • Framwellgate School Durham (announced July 2022)
  • St Leonard's Catholic School (announced July 2022)
  • Browney Primary Academy (announced December 2022)
  • Durham Community Business College for Technology and Enterprise (announced December 2022)
  • Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Catholic Primary School, Esh Winning (announced December 2022)

The 239 schools announced in December 2022 will enter delivery at a rate of approximately 50 per year, over a five year period from 2023. The Department is currently undertaking due diligence on these schools prior to scheduling them, with schools prioritised according to the condition of their buildings, readiness to proceed, and efficiency of delivery. The scope and funding for each project will be confirmed following detailed feasibility studies and condition surveys of buildings.

Where a school identifies significant safety issues with a building, that cannot be managed within local resources, the Department considers additional support on a case-by-case basis. This includes applications for Urgent Capital Support (UCS) from eligible institutions. Schools eligible for Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) can apply for UCS where there are urgent health and safety issues that threaten school closure and cannot wait until the next CIF bidding round.


Written Question
Forced Marriage
Wednesday 19th October 2022

Asked by: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how his Department is working with the Forced Marriage Unit to safeguard children from early and forced marriage in preparation for the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act 2022 coming into force in March 2023.

Answered by Kelly Tolhurst

The department is working closely with the Ministry of Justice, as sponsor department for the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act 2022. We are also working with the joint Home Office and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) to ensure schools and children’s social care providers are made aware of the change in the law.

Keeping children safe in education statutory guidance sets out the role all school staff play in safeguarding children, including information for staff on what forced marriage is, as well as signposting to further help from the government’s FMU.