Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many teachers have taken early retirement and then subsequently taken up temporary teaching posts in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lord Nash
The number of teachers who take early retirement (from state-funded schools in England) in each year from 2012-13 to 2014-15 is provided in the following table:
| ACTUARIALLY REDUCED AND PREMATURE[1][2] | ||
| Men | Women | Men and Women |
Financial year (1 April to 31 March) | |||
2012-13[3] | 2,460 | 5,400 | 7,870 |
2013-143 | 2,260 | 4,950 | 7,220 |
2014-153 | 2,160 | 4,790 | 6,950 |
Source: Pensioner Statistical System (PENSTATS).
The annual School Workforce Census records temporary staff on a contract of less than one month, but it is not possible with the data available in the current form to link retirements to temporary contracts.
[1] Excludes sixth form colleges.
[2] Includes phased retirements and in these cases the teachers may remain in service.
[3] Provisional figures which continue to be subject to slight revision due to the addition of retrospective awards.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what were the costs of teaching English to pupils who do not have English as their first language, broken down by region, in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lord Nash
Under current funding arrangements for schools in England, local authorities devise funding formulae through which to distribute funding to schools in their localities. One of the factors local authorities can include is ‘English as an additional language’ (EAL). In 2014-15, a total of £244 million was allocated through this factor to school budgets. In 2015-16, it was £267 million, and in 2016-17, £282 million. The table below provides these figures by region. These figures do not represent the cost of supporting pupils with EAL. The amounts form part of the school’s core budget and it is then for school leaders to determine how best to use their whole budget so that all pupils can reach their full potential.
We will introduce a national funding formula from 2018-19 so that funding is fair and matched to need. Our first consultation, launched earlier this year, proposed that the formula should include an EAL factor. We will set out the precise detail of the formula in our second consultation, to be published later this autumn.
Table 1: The amount of the schools Dedicated Schools Grant local authorities allocate to the EAL factor in the last three years, by region
Region | Amount allocated to EAL factor 2014-15 | Amount allocated to EAL factor 2015-16 | Amount allocated to EAL factor 2016-17 |
East Midlands | £11m | £13m | £13m |
East of England | £20m | £23m | £24m |
London | £105m | £112m | £115m |
North East | £5m | £5m | £5m |
North West | £27m | £30m | £33m |
South East | £29m | £32m | £35m |
South West | £10m | £12m | £13m |
West Midlands | £17m | £18m | £19m |
Yorkshire and the Humber | £20m | £22m | £24m |
Grand total | £244m | £267m | £282m |
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are currently taking to improve support to children with disabilities in their early years.
Answered by Lord Nash
This Government is committed to ensuring that all families have access to high quality, flexible and affordable childcare. Children with disabilities should have the same opportunities as other children to access high-quality childcare.
Local authorities are required by legislation to secure early education places offering 570 hours a year over no fewer than 38 weeks of the year for all three- and four-year olds, including those with disabilities. The Childcare Bill is delivering extended entitlement to free childcare for working parents of three- and four-year-olds. This will provide eligible parents with a total of 30 hours of free childcare per week, over 38 weeks or the equivalent number of hours across more weeks per year.
Early Implementers of the extended childcare entitlement will focus on key delivery issues, including access for children with SEND, in order to provide critical learning to inform national rollout.
All early years providers are required to have arrangements in place to identify and support children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), and to promote equality of opportunity for children in their care. These requirements are set out in the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework 2014. The SEND Code of Practice, introduced as part of the wide-ranging reforms set out in the Children and Families Act, gives guidance on how children between the ages of 0 and 25 with SEN or disabilities are to be supported and providers are statutorily required to have regard for this Code of Practice.
The Government has invested £5.3 million to voluntary and community sector organisations this year. A number of these programmes are delivering specific SEND training to the early years workforce. In particular, the National Day Nurseries Association’s current SEND Champions grant has proven very popular amongst the workforce.
The Department funds local authorities’ high needs provision in both the early years and schools through the Dedicated Schools Grant; local authorities have reported that they are planning to spend over £90 million from their high needs budgets on children in their early years. The Spending Review provided a generous uplift in the funding early years providers will receive from April 2017 and protection for the majority of high needs funding. We recognise the critical importance of childcare to parents of children with special educational needs and disabilities; we will consider SEN funding for early years as part of wider consultations in 2016 on how we introduce a fairer funding system.
This Government is committed to helping parents with disabled children. For example, from early 2017 working parents with children under the age of 17 who have a disability will be able to access support under Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) worth up to £4,000 per child, per year. This is double that offered for children without disabilities for whom support is offered until the age of 12.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what options and support are available for young people with special educational needs, but who do not have a statement of special needs, during the transition between school and further education.
Answered by Lord Nash
The Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice makes it clear that both schools and further education colleges in England should support all children and young people with SEN through this important transition, whether or not they have a statement of SEN or an Education, Health and Care Plan.
The Code of Practice sets out expectations for this transition. These include a working partnership between schools and colleges; opportunities for young people to familiarise themselves with the new setting; and that the new setting ensure the right provision is in place to meet the young person’s needs and aspirations.
Schools also have a duty to secure independent careers guidance for all Year 8 -13 pupils, including those with SEN. This must include information on the full range of education and training options, including further education and apprenticeships.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of young people considered not to be in education, employment or training (1) have a disability, or (2) are carers, broken down by region.
Answered by Lord Nash
Official data covering young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) in England is regularly published by the Department for Education. This data cannot, however, be broken down by individual characteristics.
Local authorities collect data on the proportion of 16-18 year olds known by their local authority to be NEET, and who have a learning difficulty or disability, or who are carers.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the current pupil to teacher ratio in (1) primary, and (2) post-primary, schools broken down by sector; and how that figure compares with 2011.
Answered by Lord Nash
The information requested is as follows:
Table: Pupil:teacher ratios and pupil:adult ratios in publicly funded schools.
November 2011-2013, England
November | ||||
2011 | 2012 | 2013 | ||
LA MAINTAINED NURSERY | ||||
PTR (Qualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 16.7 | 16.5 | 17.1 |
PTR (Qualified and unqualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 16.2 | 15.9 | 16.7 |
PAR within-schools | 3 | 5.1 | 4.9 | 4.8 |
LA MAINTAINED PRIMARY | ||||
PTR (Qualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 21.0 | 20.9 | 20.8 |
PTR (Qualified and unqualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 20.5 | 20.5 | 20.4 |
PAR within-schools | 3 | 11.7 | 11.5 | 11.3 |
PRIMARY ACADEMIES | ||||
PTR (Qualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 21.9 | 21.4 | 21.9 |
PTR (Qualified and unqualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 21.3 | 20.6 | 21.2 |
PAR within-schools | 3 | 12.5 | 11.7 | 11.8 |
TOTAL PUBLICLY FUNDED NURSERY AND PRIMARY | ||||
PTR (Qualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 21.0 | 20.9 | 20.9 |
PTR (Qualified and unqualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 20.5 | 20.5 | 20.5 |
PAR within-schools | 3 | 11.7 | 11.4 | 11.2 |
LA MAINTAINED SECONDARY | ||||
PTR (Qualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 15.5 | 15.4 | 15.4 |
PTR (Qualified and unqualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 15.0 | 14.9 | 14.8 |
PAR within-schools | 3 | 10.6 | 10.5 | 10.3 |
SECONDARY ACADEMIES | ||||
PTR (Qualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 15.6 | 15.5 | 15.9 |
PTR (Qualified and unqualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 14.8 | 14.8 | 15.1 |
PAR within-schools | 3 | 10.6 | 10.6 | 10.7 |
TOTAL PUBLICLY FUNDED SECONDARY | ||||
PTR (Qualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 15.6 | 15.5 | 15.7 |
PTR (Qualified and unqualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 14.9 | 14.9 | 15.0 |
PAR within-schools | 3 | 10.6 | 10.5 | 10.6 |
PUBLICLY FUNDED SPECIAL | ||||
PTR (Qualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 6.3 | 6.3 | 5.9 |
PTR (Qualified and unqualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 5.9 | 5.8 | 5.4 |
PAR within-schools | 3 | 2.1 | 2.1 | 2.0 |
TOTAL ACADEMIES | ||||
PTR (Qualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 15.9 | 16.1 | 16.8 |
PTR (Qualified and unqualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 15.2 | 15.3 | 15.9 |
PAR within-schools | 3 | 10.7 | 10.6 | 10.7 |
TOTAL PUBLICLY FUNDED | ||||
PTR (Qualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 17.8 | 17.7 | 17.8 |
Overall PTR (Qualified and unqualified teachers) within-schools | 2, 4 | 17.2 | 17.2 | 17.2 |
Overall PAR | 3 | 10.5 | 10.3 | 10.2 |
Source: School Census and School Workforce Census
Notes
Sources used are School Census for pupils and School Workforce Census (for November 2011 to 2013 teachers and overall teachers).
The information requested is also published in table 17 in the statistical first release‘School Workforce in England, November 2013’, which is published online at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-workforce-in-england-november-2013
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken to enable schools to determine their own curriculum.
Answered by Lord Nash
All schools, including academies and free schools, are required to teach a curriculum which is broad and balanced. Within that framework, academies, free schools and other types of independent schools retain the freedom to design and follow their own curriculum. Maintained schools must teach the national curriculum as part of their wider school curriculum. Following the recent review, the Government has slimmed down the national curriculum to give schools greater flexibility to tailor their school curriculum to best meet the needs of their pupils.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to introduce legislation to give headteachers and schools greater autonomy over teachers' pay and to allow them to reward, recruit, and retain the best teachers.
Answered by Lord Nash
This Government has recently reformed the statutory framework for teachers’ pay to give maintained schools greater autonomy. New statutory arrangements came into effect in September 2013 that give schools more freedom to decide how much they pay a teacher and how quickly pay progresses. This increased flexibility, which academies already enjoyed, supports headteachers in attracting and recruiting the teachers that they need to deliver outstanding education.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what legislation is currently in place and what further steps they are taking to protect children from cyber-bullying through the internet.
Answered by Lord Nash
Current Acts that can be used to prosecute cyberbullying-related offences are: The Protection from Harassment Act 1997, The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, The Malicious Communications Act 1998, The Communications Act 2003 and The Defamation Act 2013.
The Government thinks that schools, parents and internet providers all have a role to play in keeping children and young people safe online.
Through the Education Act 2011 we have given teachers greater powers to tackle cyber-bullying - via text message or the internet - by providing a specific power to search for and, if necessary, delete inappropriate images or files on electronic devices, including mobile phones
All schools must have a behaviour policy that includes measures to prevent all forms of bullying, including cyber-bullying. Schools have the flexibility to develop their own measures to prevent and tackle bullying, but are held to account by Ofsted.
Educating children and young people about online safety is key to tackling cyber-bullying. From September 2014, e-safety will be taught at all four key stages of the curriculum, covering primary-age children for the first time. This will empower young people to tackle cyber-bullying through responsible, respectful and secure use of technology, as well as ensuring that pupils understand age-appropriate ways of reporting any concerns they may have about what they see or encounter online.
The Department for Education is providing £4 million of funding over two years from 2013 to four anti-bullying organisations: Beatbullying, the Diana Award, Kidscape and the National Children’s Bureau consortium. While this funding has been awarded to specific projects to reduce bullying in general, this can, and does, include work to tackle cyber-bullying.
The Department has produced case studies showing good practice in how to manage behaviour and bullying. These include a case study about how a school deals with cyber-bullying. Through funding provided by the Department, the Anti-Bullying Alliance has also produced specific advice on cyber-bullying for children and young people with special educational needs and or disabilities. We provide a link to this in our own advice on preventing and tackling bullying.
Ministers from the Department for Education, Home Office and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport co-chair the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS), which brings together a range of experts across government, law enforcement, industry, academia and charities to consider the best ways to minimise the risk of harm to children when online.
We are pleased to see that internet service providers (ISPs) have rolled out whole home filters to their customers which will help parents to keep their children safe online. The ISPs have also launched ‘Internet Matters’, a new £75 million internet safety campaign which will run over three years and will reach out to millions of parents on how best to protect their children and make good use of filters.