Asked by: Luke Hall (Conservative - Thornbury and Yate)
Question to the Department for Education:
What steps his Department has taken to raise educational standards in schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Since 2010, we have reformed the national curriculum, GCSEs and A levels to set world-class standards across all subjects.
We have also committed to 75% of pupils in state-funded mainstream schools studying the EBacc combination of core academic subjects by September 2022 and 90% by September 2025.
The attainment gap between those from disadvantaged backgrounds and other pupils has fallen by 13% in primary schools and 9.5% at Key Stage 4 since 2011.
Asked by: Luke Hall (Conservative - Thornbury and Yate)
Question to the Department for Education:
What steps his Department has taken to raise educational standards in schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Since 2010, we have reformed the national curriculum, GCSEs and A levels to set world-class standards across all subjects.
We have also committed to 75% of pupils in state-funded mainstream schools studying the EBacc combination of core academic subjects by September 2022 and 90% by September 2025.
The attainment gap between those from disadvantaged backgrounds and other pupils has fallen by 13% in primary schools and 9.5% at Key Stage 4 since 2011.
Asked by: Luke Hall (Conservative - Thornbury and Yate)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding his Department has allocated through the National Funding Formula to schools in South Gloucestershire in (a) 2017-18, (b) 2018-19 and (c)2019-20.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The table below sets out the funding allocated to South Gloucestershire to fund schools in the years requested. It also sets out the high needs funding given to the local authority, which is for pupils with complex special educational needs and disabilities. Some of this funding goes to mainstream schools to help them meet the needs of these pupils.
Year | Schools block allocation | High needs allocation |
2017-18[1] | £151.15 million | £29.66 million |
2018-19[1] | £151.19 million | £31.04 million |
2019-20 (illustrative)[2] | £154.76 million | £31.33 million |
In addition to the funding allocated through the national funding formula, schools will receive funding from specific grants - for example, through the pupil premium, or the PE and sports premium.
Local authorities remain responsible for setting school budgets at a local level, and individual schools may see their funding change due to changing pupil numbers or characteristics, or changes in how the local authority distributes funding.
[1] Figures are from the Schools Block of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) for 2017-18 and 2018-19. In addition, the national funding formula (NFF) came into force in April 2018 for the 2018-19 financial year, so South Gloucestershire’s 2017-18 allocation was not calculated using the national funding formula.
[2] Figures are from the NFF allocations published in July 2018 for 2019-20. DSG figures for 2019-20 as these are not yet published. 2019-20 NFF figures are illustrative because they will be updated to reflect the latest pupil numbers when the 2019-20 DSG allocations are confirmed.
Asked by: Luke Hall (Conservative - Thornbury and Yate)
Question to the Department for Education:
What steps he has taken to reduce teacher workload.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Workload Challenge identified three key areas driving excess workload: dialogic marking policies; excessive data collection; and lesson planning approaches.
We have taken steps to address each of these, as well as making a commitment for stability in assessment, qualifications and curriculum reform. This gives our education reforms - that are rasing standards in our schools - time to bed in.
Asked by: Luke Hall (Conservative - Thornbury and Yate)
Question to the Department for Education:
What steps his Department is taking to improve support for children with special educational needs and disabilities.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
We have been strengthening the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities system through the biggest programme of reforms in a generation. We have legislated to improve the system and have invested £341 million since 2014 to help ensure the reforms make a real difference. We will continue to build on this, so that every child has the chance to fulfil their potential.