Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
What steps he is taking to ensure that the attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their peers does not widen during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The government has already committed over £100 million to boost remote education, including by providing devices and internet access to vulnerable children who need it most.
Schools also continue to receive the pupil premium – worth around £2.4 billion annually – to help them support their disadvantaged pupils.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to provide financial support to protect the viability of after school clubs in the event of school closures in England.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Schools and all childcare providers are closed, except for a limited number of children - children who are vulnerable and children whose parents are critical to the COVID-19 response and cannot be safely cared for at home.
In his speech of 20 March 2020, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a range of measures to support businesses, including:
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that vulnerable children are safeguarded in the event of school closures in England.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Supporting vulnerable children is a priority at this time. On Wednesday 18 March, my right hon. Friends, the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Education announced that schools would remain open for vulnerable children, alongside the children of critical workers. Vulnerable children include those who have a social worker and those with education, health and care (EHC) plans.
We know that for many children who have a social worker, being in school can be a protective factor helping to keep them safe from harm. There is an expectation that vulnerable children who have a social worker will attend school, so long as they do not have underlying health conditions that put them at severe risk.
Guidance for schools on supporting vulnerable children at this time is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-vulnerable-children-and-young-people.
We recognise that local authorities and other safeguarding partners are under increased pressure during this period and are considering all options to ensure that they can continue to keep children safe. HM Treasury has created a £5 billion emergency response fund, which includes £1.6 billion of additional funding to help local authorities address any pressures they are facing in response the Covid-19 pandemic across all service areas, including children’s social care. Through the Coronavirus Act, we are seeking powers to bring additional social workers onto the register of social workers held by the regulator, Social Work England, to give local authorities flexibility to meet the challenges of dealing with Covid-19.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that children on free school meals are provided with a hot meal at home in the event of school closures in England.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Schools will be able to provide meals or vouchers for supermarkets or local shops. The total value of vouchers offered to each eligible child per week will exceed the rate paid to schools for free school meals. The department recognises that these families will not be buying food in bulk and may therefore incur higher costs. These can be sent directly to families who are either self-isolating at home or whose schools are closed on government advice.
Full guidance for schools is available at the link below: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-free-school-meals-guidance/covid-19-free-school-meals-guidance-for-schools.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, on how many occasions and for how long the (a) headteacher and (b) other members of the Senior Leadership team based at the original school site at the Weald of Kent grammar school have visited the annex site in Sevenoaks.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The information requested is not held centrally. The Department does not hold operational information at this level. However, given the uniqueness of this particular case, the Department has assured itself that the Weald of Kent does indeed continue to operate as one school across two sites.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of funding was allocated from the Selective Schools Expansion Fund since that fund has been established; and how much such funding each school has received from that fund.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Selective Schools Expansion Fund (SSEF) 2018-19 has provided funding of £49.3 million for 16 expansion projects to date. The Department has not published the amount of funding allocated to each school as this is commercially sensitive information.
The Department estimates that SSEF funding will create over 2,700 more good school places. The number of school places created at individual schools will be announced as part of each school’s published admission numbers following completion of the expansion project.
All of the 16 successful projects have planned to build capacity on their existing sites. There are no expansion projects on satellite sites.
Details of the Selective Schools Expansion Fund for 2019-20 is due to be announced during the autumn. Information will be available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/selective-schools-expansion-fund.
The factors taken into account when assessing whether a proposal to expand onto a satellite site is a genuine expansion are provided in our guidance “Making significant changes to an open academy and closure by mutual agreement,” available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/751304/Making_significant_changes_and_closure_academy.pdf.
The former Secretary of State for Education (Nicky Morgan), my right hon. Friend the Secretary for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport made a statement in the house in October 2015, outlining the reasons for the decision to approve the expansion of the Weald of Kent Grammar school. The statement is available here: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2015-10-19/debates/15101917000002/SchoolExpansion#contribution-15101917000003.
The Department has no plans to publish any further information about the decision to approve the expansion of the Weald of Kent grammar school.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria his Department uses to assess whether expansion to a satellite site is part of an existing school; and if he will publish his Department's assessment of the bid from Weald of Kent grammar for its satellite site in Sevenoaks which was granted permission in 2015.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Selective Schools Expansion Fund (SSEF) 2018-19 has provided funding of £49.3 million for 16 expansion projects to date. The Department has not published the amount of funding allocated to each school as this is commercially sensitive information.
The Department estimates that SSEF funding will create over 2,700 more good school places. The number of school places created at individual schools will be announced as part of each school’s published admission numbers following completion of the expansion project.
All of the 16 successful projects have planned to build capacity on their existing sites. There are no expansion projects on satellite sites.
Details of the Selective Schools Expansion Fund for 2019-20 is due to be announced during the autumn. Information will be available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/selective-schools-expansion-fund.
The factors taken into account when assessing whether a proposal to expand onto a satellite site is a genuine expansion are provided in our guidance “Making significant changes to an open academy and closure by mutual agreement,” available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/751304/Making_significant_changes_and_closure_academy.pdf.
The former Secretary of State for Education (Nicky Morgan), my right hon. Friend the Secretary for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport made a statement in the house in October 2015, outlining the reasons for the decision to approve the expansion of the Weald of Kent Grammar school. The statement is available here: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2015-10-19/debates/15101917000002/SchoolExpansion#contribution-15101917000003.
The Department has no plans to publish any further information about the decision to approve the expansion of the Weald of Kent grammar school.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many of the grammar schools that have been awarded funding from the Selective Schools Expansion have planned to build capacity on (a) their existing site and (b) a satellite site.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Selective Schools Expansion Fund (SSEF) 2018-19 has provided funding of £49.3 million for 16 expansion projects to date. The Department has not published the amount of funding allocated to each school as this is commercially sensitive information.
The Department estimates that SSEF funding will create over 2,700 more good school places. The number of school places created at individual schools will be announced as part of each school’s published admission numbers following completion of the expansion project.
All of the 16 successful projects have planned to build capacity on their existing sites. There are no expansion projects on satellite sites.
Details of the Selective Schools Expansion Fund for 2019-20 is due to be announced during the autumn. Information will be available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/selective-schools-expansion-fund.
The factors taken into account when assessing whether a proposal to expand onto a satellite site is a genuine expansion are provided in our guidance “Making significant changes to an open academy and closure by mutual agreement,” available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/751304/Making_significant_changes_and_closure_academy.pdf.
The former Secretary of State for Education (Nicky Morgan), my right hon. Friend the Secretary for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport made a statement in the house in October 2015, outlining the reasons for the decision to approve the expansion of the Weald of Kent Grammar school. The statement is available here: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2015-10-19/debates/15101917000002/SchoolExpansion#contribution-15101917000003.
The Department has no plans to publish any further information about the decision to approve the expansion of the Weald of Kent grammar school.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many school places his Department has estimated will be created through the Selective Schools Expansion Fund (a) in total and (b) at each of those schools awarded such funding.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Selective Schools Expansion Fund (SSEF) 2018-19 has provided funding of £49.3 million for 16 expansion projects to date. The Department has not published the amount of funding allocated to each school as this is commercially sensitive information.
The Department estimates that SSEF funding will create over 2,700 more good school places. The number of school places created at individual schools will be announced as part of each school’s published admission numbers following completion of the expansion project.
All of the 16 successful projects have planned to build capacity on their existing sites. There are no expansion projects on satellite sites.
Details of the Selective Schools Expansion Fund for 2019-20 is due to be announced during the autumn. Information will be available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/selective-schools-expansion-fund.
The factors taken into account when assessing whether a proposal to expand onto a satellite site is a genuine expansion are provided in our guidance “Making significant changes to an open academy and closure by mutual agreement,” available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/751304/Making_significant_changes_and_closure_academy.pdf.
The former Secretary of State for Education (Nicky Morgan), my right hon. Friend the Secretary for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport made a statement in the house in October 2015, outlining the reasons for the decision to approve the expansion of the Weald of Kent Grammar school. The statement is available here: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2015-10-19/debates/15101917000002/SchoolExpansion#contribution-15101917000003.
The Department has no plans to publish any further information about the decision to approve the expansion of the Weald of Kent grammar school.