Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria his Department is using to determine where Government provided air purifiers are distributed to primary and secondary schools in England.
Answered by Robin Walker
The department has provided CO2 monitors to state-funded education providers, including early years, schools, and further education (FE) colleges, backed by £25 million in government funding.
Over 99% of eligible maintained schools, FE colleges, and the majority of early years providers have now received a CO2 monitor, with over 353,000 delivered. Special schools and alternative provision were prioritised to receive their monitors first, given their higher-than-average numbers of vulnerable pupils. Final deliveries are due to made during February.
Applications for air cleaning units from all providers were assessed based on need, using the eligibility criteria we have set out in guidance. Please note that applications are now closed.
In total, 1,265 settings that applied for Department for Education funded air cleaning units were eligible for air cleaning units. This mirrors published summary findings from the department’s survey of the use of CO2 monitors, which show that only 3% of providers using CO2 monitors reported sustained high carbon dioxide readings that could not otherwise be addressed. These findings are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/co2-monitor-survey-and-applications-for-air-cleaning-units.
The total number of air cleaning units that providers have applied for was just over 8,000. Up to an additional 1,000 units have now been ordered, bringing the total number of units available up to 9,000, allowing all eligible applications to be fulfilled. Those providers who applied but will not receive units did not meet the eligibility criteria set out in our guidance.
The eligibility criteria included:
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many CO2 monitors have been provided to publicly-funded education settings, as recommended in the Government’s Schools Covid-19 Operational Guidance, as of 18 January 2022.
Answered by Robin Walker
The department has provided CO2 monitors to state-funded education providers, including early years, schools, and further education (FE) colleges, backed by £25 million in government funding.
Over 99% of eligible maintained schools, FE colleges, and the majority of early years providers have now received a CO2 monitor, with over 353,000 delivered. Special schools and alternative provision were prioritised to receive their monitors first, given their higher-than-average numbers of vulnerable pupils. Final deliveries are due to made during February.
Applications for air cleaning units from all providers were assessed based on need, using the eligibility criteria we have set out in guidance. Please note that applications are now closed.
In total, 1,265 settings that applied for Department for Education funded air cleaning units were eligible for air cleaning units. This mirrors published summary findings from the department’s survey of the use of CO2 monitors, which show that only 3% of providers using CO2 monitors reported sustained high carbon dioxide readings that could not otherwise be addressed. These findings are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/co2-monitor-survey-and-applications-for-air-cleaning-units.
The total number of air cleaning units that providers have applied for was just over 8,000. Up to an additional 1,000 units have now been ordered, bringing the total number of units available up to 9,000, allowing all eligible applications to be fulfilled. Those providers who applied but will not receive units did not meet the eligibility criteria set out in our guidance.
The eligibility criteria included:
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many primary school (a) children and (b) teachers and staff have been diagnosed with covid-19 in each month in (i) 2020 and (ii) 2021.
Answered by Robin Walker
The department does not hold the primary data source of COVID-19 cases. This is accessible from the ‘Coronavirus in the UK’ dashboard. COVID-19 case data can be found here: https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/?_ga=2.91108568.335840232.1603021384-1347302696.1578321854.
The department publishes daily school attendance data on a fortnightly basis. This helps with the monitoring of the COVID-19 impact on school attendance. Absence due to suspected and confirmed cases of COVID-19 is available from the 23 May 2020 to 6 January 2022 and information can be found on Explore Education Statistics. The most recent national, regional and local authority data can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic-23-march-2020-to-6-january-2022.
National level pupil data can be found in Table 1B of the underlying data files, whilst teacher data can be found in Table 1D. For dates where any local authority is on half term, a holiday methodology is applied and the national data for both pupil and teachers can be found in Table 1A.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the reasons for poorer pupils having missed more school days in autumn 2020 compared with their better off counterparts; and what plans his Department has to tackle that discrepancy.
Answered by Robin Walker
Regular attendance is vital for children’s education, mental health and long-term development.
The national statistics release on pupil absence in schools in England during the autumn term includes information on absence by free school meals (FSM) and is published here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england-autumn-term. For pupils eligible for FSM, the overall absence rate was 7.8% and for pupils not eligible, the overall absence rate was 3.8%.
From the autumn term 2020 data, for pupils eligible for FSM, the three biggest reasons by percentage of sessions missed were illness (43.4%), unauthorised absence for no specified reason (34.9%) and authorised absence for no specified reason (10.4%).
Ensuring that the most disadvantaged children and young people regularly attend school to be able to catch-up on any lost education is a top priority for the department. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has established an alliance of national leaders from education, children’s, and allied services to work together to raise school attendance. The Attendance Action Alliance, which includes amongst others Dame Rachel De Souza, the Children’s Commissioner, Isabelle Trowler, the Chief Social Worker for Children and Families and Amanda Spielman, Ofsted Chief Inspector, have pledged to take a range of actions to remove barriers preventing children attending school. This also includes work by Rob Tarn, CEO of the Northern Education Trust, a multi academy trust serving areas with high levels of disadvantage, who will work with other trust leaders to identify and disseminate best practice across schools. A webinar on the Northern Education Trust’s approach to attendance took take place on 14 December and has been recorded for all schools to view.
The department recognises that the COVID-19 outbreak has affected all students, but especially disadvantaged students. That is why we are investing nearly £5 billion in education recovery, which will be targeted at those that need help most. This includes an additional £1.8 billion of funding announced in the recent Spending Review to support young people to catch up on lost education. This is on top of a strong core funding settlement, which will see funding rise by £4.7 billion by the 2024-25 financial year compared to existing plans.
The department continues to make clear that schools can and should use their additional recovery and pupil premium funding to support strong improved attendance for disadvantaged children where this is identified as an issue.
The Government’s Supporting Families programme continues to work closely with families where absence is an issue, to support better attendance. More information on this programme is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/supporting-families.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in local authority care are EU citizens that were born in the UK; and what proportion have applied to the EU Settlement Scheme.
Answered by Will Quince
The information requested relating to children looked after by English local authorities is not held centrally. Information for Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland is a matter for the devolved administrations.
From 4 October to 30 November 2021, the Home Office undertook the most recent in a series of surveys of local authorities in England, Wales and Scotland and of Health and Social Care Trusts in Northern Ireland to provide an update on the estimated number of looked after children and care leavers eligible to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme. The figures were published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/eu-settlement-scheme-home-office-looked-after-children-and-care-leavers-survey-2020/eu-settlement-scheme-home-office-looked-after-children-and-care-leavers-survey-november-2021.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of including CPR as a compulsory part of secondary education.
Answered by Nick Gibb
All state-funded schools in England are required to teach first aid, including CPR, as part of Health Education, which is statutory alongside Relationships Education for primary school aged pupils and Relationships and Sex Education for secondary school aged pupils.
The statutory requirements, which came into force in September 2020, include basic first aid for primary school children, for example dealing with common injuries such as head injuries. Pupils in secondary schools are taught further first aid, for example how to administer CPR and the purpose of defibrillators.
The statutory guidance can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education.
To support schools further, the Department’s teacher training modules cover all the teaching requirements in the statutory guidance. This includes online modules for primary and secondary teachers, containing key knowledge and facts to help teachers understand what they must teach in relation to basic first aid. The Teaching Basic First Aid training module for secondary school teachers aims to increase teachers’ knowledge and skills, develop strategies to deal with questions, and help them feel more confident teaching about basic first aid. More information about the training module is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teacher-training-basic-first-aid.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of home schooling and social distancing during the covid-19 outbreak on children's language skills.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government recognises that extended school and college restrictions have had a substantial impact on children and young people’s education. On 4 June updated findings based on assessments taken in the autumn and spring terms were published. These show that primary pupils were, on average, behind expectations on their return to the classroom in the spring, by a similar amount as they were in September 2020. For reading, this is around 2 months behind.
The Government believes that spoken language underpins the development of reading and writing. The quality and variety of language that pupils hear and speak is vital for developing their vocabulary, grammar, reading, and writing. Attaining proficient standards in language development and the reading and writing of standard English are key to unlocking the rest of the curriculum. They are also key indicators for future success in further education, higher education, and employment.
Research findings from the Social Distancing and Development Study show that babies and toddlers from disadvantaged backgrounds have been missing out on activities to support their development. Programmes to support language development include:
The Department launched a £26.3 million English Hubs programme in 2018, dedicated to improving the teaching of reading. The 34 English Hubs in the programme are primary schools which are excellent at teaching early reading. The Department has since provided a further £17 million for this school to school improvement programme, which focuses on systematic synthetic phonics, early language, and reading for pleasure. Since its launch, the English Hubs programme has provided appropriate and targeted support to several thousands of schools across England. Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, English Hubs have continued to offer support and training to schools across the country by bringing much of their offer online. This has involved opening up virtual training and professional development events to a wider pool of schools and distributing materials targeted specifically at remote education and recovery.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of including the climate emergency and ecological crisis in teaching training courses.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It is vital that young people are taught about climate change, which is why it is covered in the science and geography National Curricula at Key Stages 1 to 4 and 1 to 3 respectively. This National Curriculum is mandatory in all state maintained schools, whilst academies are required to follow a broad and balanced curriculum as exemplified by the National Curriculum.
Trainee teachers starting their training from September 2020 onwards will benefit from at least three years of evidence based professional development and support. This starts with initial teacher training (ITT), based on the new ITT Core Content Framework (CCF), followed by a new two year induction supported by the Early Career Framework reforms which are being rolled out nationally from September 2021.
The CCF sets out a mandatory minimum entitlement for trainees on ITT courses. The CCF describes the fundamental knowledge and skills that all new entrants to the profession need to effectively teach and support all children. It is not intended to be a full curriculum for ITT courses and it remains for individual institutions to design a coherent and well sequenced curricula appropriate for the subject, phase, age range and needs of the children that trainees will be teaching. These will include, where appropriate, content on climate change. Courses must be designed so that trainee teachers can demonstrate that they meet all the Teachers' Standards at the appropriate level including Standard 3 ‘Demonstrate good subject and curriculum knowledge’. Standard 3 is also clear that teachers should be able to ‘demonstrate a critical understanding of developments in the subject and curriculum area’, which may include, where appropriate, content on climate change.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of home schooling and social distancing during the covid-19 outbreak on children's language skills.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of adding media literacy to the school curriculum in England.
Answered by Nick Gibb
All state-funded schools are required to offer a broad and balanced curriculum which promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development, and prepares them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of life.
The National Curriculum, which focuses on the key knowledge that schools should teach, enables children to acquire a secure understanding of core concepts and provide them with the understanding they need to participate fully in society.
Media literacy can be taught through the compulsory computing and citizenship curriculum and in the statutory relationships and health education curriculum.