Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the National Tutoring Programme's aim to reduce the attainment gap that arises as a result of social disadvantage, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on tackling the sources of social disadvantage.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The government is committed to tackling the gap in attainment between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils, especially in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak and the time in school that many pupils have lost.
There are several measures in place to help schools support the academic progress and attainment of their disadvantaged pupils. These include the provision of additional funding through the pupil premium, the inclusion of a disadvantage factor within the national funding formula for schools, and the provision of heavily subsidised tuition and in-school support for disadvantaged pupils through the National Tutoring Programme. While these initiatives use proxy measures of economic disadvantage (notably pupil eligibility for free school meals) to allocate funding and support to schools, school leaders have flexibility to tailor the help that they provide to disadvantaged pupils in order to address the particular needs that arise from their specific social and financial family circumstances.
The measures for which the department is responsible form an important part of a wider cross-government commitment to addressing the effects of social and economic disadvantage and levelling up opportunity across the country. The department’s significant investment in schools and early years goes hand in hand with raising wages and increasing work incentives for the lowest-paid families, and a range of other national and regional actions to improve the infrastructure and promote growth.
Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the optimum amount of learning time that pupils should spend on (a) the Internet and (b) screen-based devices daily according to age.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Whilst the Department is continuing to assess the impact of school closure on all children and young people, we have not undertaken any formal assessment of the optimum amount of educational time that pupils should spend on the internet and screen-based devices daily according to age.
We recognise that the issue raised is an important one. The Department has referred schools to the Chief Medical Officers’ commentary on screen-based activity for children and young people’s mental health and psychological wellbeing, published February 2019: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-cmo-commentary-on-screen-time-and-social-media-map-of-reviews.
The Department published guidance on 2 July that sets out what is expected from schools if they are required to provide remote education: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools#section-3-curriculum-behaviour-and-pastoral-support.
Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the number of organisations with the level of expertise required to specify assistive technologies for pupils who require such assistance.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The department does not hold data in relation to the number of pupils needing assistive technology to access online material, or on the adequacy of the number of organisations with the level of expertise required to specify it for pupils who require such assistance.
The department trusts schools and local authorities to decide and provide the necessary equipment and assistive technology to meet the needs of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
The department has ordered over 200,000 devices and allocated these to local authorities and academy trusts based on estimates of the number of eligible children that do not have access to a device through other means, such as a private device or through school. The scheme is an injection of support, alongside many excellent local initiatives, and local authorities and schools are best placed to identify eligible children who do not already have access to a device.
Beyond the device and connectivity support, 40 teachers have come together to develop the brand-new Oak National Academy, launched at the start of the summer term. Oak Academy provides 180 video lessons for free each week, across a broad range of subjects, for every year group from reception through to year 10. Education resources are also available offline. Children are able to draw on support from the BBC which is broadcasting lessons on television, and may choose to access the many hard copy resources offers which have been produced by publishers across the country.
Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of pupils who require assistive technologies to access online material.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The department does not hold data in relation to the number of pupils needing assistive technology to access online material, or on the adequacy of the number of organisations with the level of expertise required to specify it for pupils who require such assistance.
The department trusts schools and local authorities to decide and provide the necessary equipment and assistive technology to meet the needs of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
The department has ordered over 200,000 devices and allocated these to local authorities and academy trusts based on estimates of the number of eligible children that do not have access to a device through other means, such as a private device or through school. The scheme is an injection of support, alongside many excellent local initiatives, and local authorities and schools are best placed to identify eligible children who do not already have access to a device.
Beyond the device and connectivity support, 40 teachers have come together to develop the brand-new Oak National Academy, launched at the start of the summer term. Oak Academy provides 180 video lessons for free each week, across a broad range of subjects, for every year group from reception through to year 10. Education resources are also available offline. Children are able to draw on support from the BBC which is broadcasting lessons on television, and may choose to access the many hard copy resources offers which have been produced by publishers across the country.
Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the financial costs are, aside from pensions and National Insurance contributions for employees, for schools seeking to take part in the National Tutoring Programme.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The National Tutoring Programme (NTP) will provide targeted support for disadvantaged and vulnerable children and young people who need the most help as a result of the disruption to their education caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.
The programme consists of two main parts and is heavily subsidised by the Government. One part is the provision of Academic Mentors. Our most disadvantaged schools will be able to access a full-time Academic Mentor to join their staff to support tutoring. The Government will pay the salary costs in full, with schools only required to pay on-costs, for example, pension contributions.
A second part is support through Tutoring Partners. Schools will be able to access tutoring support from approved organisations to provide small group or individual tutoring. This is subsidised at 75%, meaning schools need only provide 25% of costs which can be met through additional catch-up premium funding provided by the Government.
We are providing a £650 million universal catch-up premium for all schools. This funding can be spent by schools in any way that best meets the needs of their pupils, including to support any additional costs that may occur from participating in the NTP.
In addition, schools will continue to receive their Pupil Premium funding, meaning that schools with a larger proportion of Pupil Premium pupils will receive larger amounts of funding which can also be used to provide tutoring and other support for those that need it the most.
Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the ability of schools with an above national average proportion of disadvantaged pupils to pay for the costs of the National Tutoring Programme.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The National Tutoring Programme (NTP) will provide targeted support for disadvantaged and vulnerable children and young people who need the most help as a result of the disruption to their education caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.
The programme consists of two main parts and is heavily subsidised by the Government. One part is the provision of Academic Mentors. Our most disadvantaged schools will be able to access a full-time Academic Mentor to join their staff to support tutoring. The Government will pay the salary costs in full, with schools only required to pay on-costs, for example, pension contributions.
A second part is support through Tutoring Partners. Schools will be able to access tutoring support from approved organisations to provide small group or individual tutoring. This is subsidised at 75%, meaning schools need only provide 25% of costs which can be met through additional catch-up premium funding provided by the Government.
We are providing a £650 million universal catch-up premium for all schools. This funding can be spent by schools in any way that best meets the needs of their pupils, including to support any additional costs that may occur from participating in the NTP.
In addition, schools will continue to receive their Pupil Premium funding, meaning that schools with a larger proportion of Pupil Premium pupils will receive larger amounts of funding which can also be used to provide tutoring and other support for those that need it the most.
Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the cost of reducing average primary school class sizes from 27 to the European average of 20.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The majority of funding that schools receive comes from the schools block of the national funding formula (NFF). The NFF ensures that funding is based on schools’ and pupils’ needs and characteristics. Next year, every primary school is receiving at least £4,000 per pupil through the national minimum per pupil funding levels.
In 2020 the average primary class has remained stable at 27.0 pupils despite an increase of almost 800,000 pupils since 2010. The number of infant classes containing more than 30 pupils has decreased for the fifth year in a row.
We have not made an estimate of the cost of reducing the average primary school class size as this would require a wide range of assumptions, including how this would impact teachers’ non-contact time and the use of teaching assistants in schools. Any changes to school class structures in maintained schools would also have to adhere to the statutory regulations as set out in the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document.
Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools originally chose to be early adopters of the Early Years Foundation Stage reforms when first invited on 20 January 2020; how many of those schools have since decided not to be early adopters; and how many schools will be early adopters in September 2020.
Answered by Nick Gibb
In January, approximately 3,400 schools signed up to participate as early adopters of the Early Years Foundation Stage reforms in the 2020/21 academic year.
On 6 July, the Department wrote to these schools to ask whether they still felt able to participate in light of the COVID-19 outbreak, following which 236 schools confirmed their withdrawal. Following data verification of all early adopter registrations, as of 25 August the final confirmed number of early adopter schools was 2,795.
These early adopter schools will begin to benefit from new, strengthened early years policy and practice from this September, a year ahead of statutory implementation in 2021/22.
Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Government’s Guidance for full opening: schools, what assessment he has made of the additional cost to parents of equipment such as pencils and pens identified in the guidance that individual pupils should have when schools open in full.
Answered by Nick Gibb
All pupils, in all year groups, will return to school full-time from the beginning of the autumn term. On 2 July the Government published guidance to help schools prepare for this. The guidance can be viewed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools.
The published guidance provides advice to schools on the sharing and cleaning of resources and equipment. Whilst there is no expectation for parents to fund significant additional equipment, for individual and very frequently used equipment such as pencils and pens, it is recommended that staff and pupils have their own items that are not shared.
For those most in need, the Government have injected around £9 billion into the welfare system to support those on low incomes to cope with the financial impact of COVID-19. This includes increases to Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit, worth up to £1,040 this financial year, and increasing Local Housing Allowance rates - putting an average of £600 into people’s pockets. This is in addition to the around £5 billion increase to the 2020/21 benefit rates uprating, including around £400 million more on children’s benefits.
Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Government’s Guidance for full opening: schools, how many covid-19 home testing kits will be provided to (a) primary and (b) secondary schools; and by what date those testing kits will be provided.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Anyone who displays symptoms of COVID-19 has access to a test, and is strongly encouraged to get tested. If a child or staff member in any education setting becomes symptomatic, they should be advised to get a test through existing channels.
Between 26 August and 3 September all schools and further education colleges will receive an initial supply of 10 home test kits. These should only be offered to individuals who have developed symptoms while at school or college (or to their parent/carer if under 18) in the exceptional circumstance that they may have barriers to accessing a test elsewhere and that giving them a home test kit directly will therefore significantly increase the likelihood of them getting tested. This will help schools and colleges to take swift action to protect students and staff in the event of a positive test result. Arrangements for ordering additional test kits will be confirmed in due course.
Guidance on the provision of home testing kits is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-home-test-kits-for-schools-and-fe-providers.