Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Baroness Berridge on 21 June (HL Deb, col 14), what is the average annual cost of a place in a (1) children’s home, and (2) boarding school.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
A summary of a project commissioned by the department to understand fees paid by local authorities for children’s homes in England was published in November 2020. It can be found at this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/analytical-associate-pool-summary-of-projects.
This reports a mean average fee for children’s homes of £3,962 per week.
The department does not collect data on the cost of boarding schools for children in care.
Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what restrictions will apply to camps for schoolchildren this summer under COVID-19 regulations.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
Since 17 May, all out of school settings, which includes youth residentials and summer camps, have been able to undertake residential visits for children. From 21 June, these settings have been able to do so in groups of 30 children, in line with the position for school residential visits. The Department has provided updated guidance on ‘Protective measures for holiday or after-school clubs and other out-of-school settings for children’, which sets out how providers can conduct residential visits safely. The guidance can be found here: 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.
Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, the Government has listened carefully to the views of the scientific community, in particular from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) and its subgroups, when taking decisions on the best way to tackle the COVID-19 outbreak. Gathering in larger groups, including as part of residential visits, does increase the risk of transmission. COVID-19 spreads more easily indoors, especially over prolonged periods, for example in shared sleeping arrangements, which increases the risk of residential visits. The Department continues to keep these restrictions under constant review and will ensure they remain proportionate to the threat to public health posed by COVID-19.
It is important that education and childcare settings continue to be supported with appropriate guidance on safety measures. The Department remains committed to ensuring that schools and colleges can effectively manage risks, create an inherently safer environment, and that we can maximise face-to-face education wherever possible. As new evidence or data emerges, the Government will act accordingly to ensure that all settings have the right safety measures in place.
The advice on residential visits will be reviewed again in advance of Step 4.
Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to give schools in the Crown Dependencies access to the Department for Education's Barred List Checking Service Sign-in portal.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The regulations that are used to determine the eligibility for access to the Department for Education's Barred List Checking Service apply to England only.
The School Staffing (England) Regulations 2009 are for maintained schools and can be accessed here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2009/2680/regulation/24/made.
The Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014 are for academies, free schools and alternative provision academies, and can be accessed here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/3283/pdfs/uksi_20143283_en.pdf.
The Non-Maintained Special Schools (England) Regulations 2015 and The Further Education (Providers of Education) (England) Regulations 2006 can be accessed here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/728/contents/made and https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2006/3199/contents/made.
The Department has no plans to give schools in the Crown Dependencies access to the replacement service for Teacher’s Pension Online, the Children’s Barred List Status Check. Teacher’s Pensions Online hosted the standalone barred list check service until 31 March 2021. The replacement service transferred to the Teaching Regulation Agency on 1 April 2021. Schools in the Crown Dependencies should contact the Disclosure and Barring Service directly to obtain an Enhanced plus Barred List information check for those employed in regulated activity.
Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Berridge on 1 March (HL Deb, col 1002), how the education recovery schemes they are designing will operate; and what opportunities independent schools will have to contribute to any such schemes.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The government is committed to helping all children and young people make up learning lost as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.
This is why the government has invested £1.7 billion to give education settings support to help pupils get back on track, including additional funding, tutoring, early language support and summer schools. We will provide further guidance to schools on the operation of new education recovery programmes shortly.
In January 2021, my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, committed to work with parents, teachers and pupils to develop a long-term plan to help pupils make up their learning over the course of this parliament. We have appointed Sir Kevan Collins as the Education Recovery Commissioner to advise on this broader plan. The objectives of the Education Recovery Commissioner, as outlined in the Terms of Reference, are to advise on the design and implementation of potential interventions that will help students catch up learning lost due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Education Recovery Commissioner will be expected to engage with a range of education experts and settings to improve implementation and refine proposals to improve the effectiveness of the delivery of outcomes.
Independent schools have been actively involved in cross-sector partnerships, forming impactful and mutually beneficial partnerships with state school colleagues across several areas including curriculum development, quality of teaching, school leadership, and other school improvement initiatives. Independent schools are also involved in the Broadening Educational Pathways programme aimed at increasing the support of the sector for vulnerable children. All of this is consistent with the department’s joint understanding with the Independent Schools Council, which outlines how independent schools can work in partnership with state schools to help raise attainment and, in particular, help pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. I would very much like to see this spirit of collaboration extended to our COVID-19 recovery efforts.
The terms of reference for the Education Recovery Commissioner is published here (and can be viewed in the attached document):
Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Independent Schools Council’s Partnership Week 2020.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
We are delighted to celebrate the success of cross-sector partnerships and welcome the hard work that has gone into promoting this work across our country by the Independent Schools Council (ISC) and others such as the Schools Together Group.
The department continues to encourage and support new partnerships between independent and state-funded schools. In line with the department’s joint understanding with the ISC, we want to see more schools forming impactful and mutually beneficial collaborations across the areas of curriculum development, teaching quality, governance and leadership, and other targeted forms of school improvement.
As disruptive as COVID-19 has been, we hope that more schools will see the opportunity to work together to find solutions to common problems and to build a more collaborative system. Partnerships Week and other forms of promotion, such as the ISC’s recently published Celebrating Partnerships booklet, are key to ensuring that more schools hear about the good work already happening in this field and encourage more to join.
Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reciprocal benefits that independent schools and schools maintained by their local authority have derived from working together during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The department continues to encourage and support new partnerships between independent and state-funded schools, in line with the department’s joint understanding with the Independent Schools Council. The department wants to see more schools forming impactful and mutually beneficial collaborations across the areas of curriculum development, teaching quality, governance and leadership, and other targeted forms of school improvement. As we move forward from the disruption caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, we hope that more schools will see the opportunity to work together to find solutions to common problems and to build a more collaborative system.
Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of teachers recruited by maintained schools after participating in school-centred initial teacher training programmes in independent schools.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The information requested is not held centrally on the number of teachers recruited by maintained schools after participating in school-centred initial teacher training programmes in independent schools.Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to amend the terms of reference of the National Tutoring Programme so that independent schools can participate fully in it.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), our delivery partner on the Tuition Partner strand of the National Tutoring Programme (NTP), launched the funding criteria on 31 August. Organisations will be selected to become NTP Tuition Partners through an open competition. The process is set out on the EEF’s website, together with information on criteria and expectations of tuition partners: https://nationaltutoring.org.uk/ntp-tuition-partners/for-tuition-partners.
EEF are seeking high quality tutoring organisations who can manage delivery in line with robust quality, capacity and evaluation requirements. As this is a competitive process, we have no plans to change those terms. However, as well as existing tutoring providers, EEF are happy to accept applications from other organisations, such as associations of independent schools, charities or universities, who are able to meet the necessary criteria. Applications will also be welcome from partnerships made up of a number of organisations with differing, but relevant experience.
Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many school playing fields have been sold in each year since 2010; and what steps they will take to reduce the number of applications for further sales being given consent by the Secretary of State for Education.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The department records and publishes details of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education’s consents for schools to dispose of areas of publicly funded playing field land. Disposals may take the form of freehold sales, long and short-term leases and grant of rights regarding access and use of land.
The definition of “playing field land”, as set out in the Schools Standards and Framework Act 1998 (SSFA 1998), is “land in the open air which is provided for the purposes of physical education or recreation”. This is a wide definition and it does not matter if the land is not currently in use for sport or recreation or is not laid out for formal team games. Disposals of any size require consent so the listed transactions do not necessarily represent the loss of whole pitches, courts or playgrounds.
Year | Number of Secretary of State consents given to disposal of areas of playing field land |
2001 – Apr 2010 | 242 |
May 2010 – Dec 2010 | 11 |
2011 | 9 |
2012 | 11 |
2013 | 37 |
2014 | 23 |
2015 | 22 |
2016 | 25 |
2017 | 49 |
2018 | 12 |
2019 | 11 |
2020 (up to July) | 13 |
Undated | 12 |
Under existing legislation, no-one may dispose of publicly funded playing field land without reference to the Secretary of State. The current departmental advice to local authorities, maintained schools, special schools, academies and free schools regarding disposal or change of use of playing field and school land (May 2015) clearly states that “all maintained schools and academies must provide suitable outdoor space to enable physical education in accordance with the school curriculum and to enable pupils to play outside” and that “there is a very strong policy presumption against the disposal of school playing field land”.
Further disposals that meet specific criteria can be made under a General Consent Order (GCO). Details can be found in Annexes E to H of the department’s current guidance: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/430705/Disposal_or_change_of_use_of_playing_field_and_school_land.pdf.
In summary, GCOs can be used for transactions that represent no net loss of playing field land to the school estate or where the loss is temporary. Disposals made under a general consent order are not published by the department and are not included in the figures above.
Examination of the decisions where the Secretary of State has given consent for the disposal of playing field land demonstrate that the majority of cases fall into two categories:
1) the disposal of land at closed school sites where these closures may be the result of school relocation, school merger or lack of demand for school places due to demographic changes. The Secretary of State will seek evidence that the site is no longer needed for the purpose of running a school, that pupils previously attending the closed school have access to equivalent or better sport and recreational facilities and that proceeds from the sale contribute to betterment of sporting and recreation facilities across the wider school estate; and
2) the disposal which results in the betterment of recreational and sports facilities at the school site e.g. where sports clubs or community groups fund investment in enhanced facilities, protect their investment by taking a lease from the school (which is a disposal of playing field land) and the facilities are subject to joint use agreements allowing the school to use the facilities during school operating hours and other users outside these hours.
There are a minority of instances where a disposal of playing field is required with little or no betterment in sporting or recreational facilities e.g. a boundary rectification; compulsory purchase; provision of sub stations or other utilities. In these instances, the Secretary of State requires applicants to demonstrate a benefit and that any loss has been minimised both in quantum and quality of the land disposed of.
The government therefore does not have any plans to change its policy position. The department does have plans to refresh the published guidance with respect to the application process which with reiterate the presumption against a loss.
Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to allow boarding houses at residential schools to provide accommodation for students to self-isolate to comply with COVID-19 public health advice; and whether, and if so, when they will issue guidance about this to residential schools.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
Our latest guidance on isolation for residential educational settings is available here:
It contains advice on managing isolation for individuals or groups in the event that a child, young person or staff member in a residential setting either shows symptoms of COVID-19 or is confirmed as having the disease.
This guidance applies to mainstream boarding schools as well as to all other residential educational settings.