Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which local authorities have (a) been granted permission to move (i) up to 0.5 per cent, (ii) between 0.51 and 1 per cent and (iii) over 1 per cent of schools block funding to high needs block funding, (b) been denied permission to move schools block funding to high needs block funding and (c) made a request to move schools block funding to high needs block funding but no decision has yet been made; and what criteria his Department uses to determine those requests.
Answered by Nick Gibb
In total, 25 local authorities submitted a request to my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, to move schools block funding to high needs block funding. All schools block movement requests are reviewed against the criteria set out in paragraphs 261-286 of the ‘Schools revenue funding operational guide: 2020 to 2021’, which is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pre-16-schools-funding-local-authority-guidance-for-2020-to-2021.
Of these 25 requests, the following were granted permission to move funding from the schools block to the high needs block:
The remaining 22 requests to move funding away from the schools block were denied.
All decisions have been made as advised in Table A.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if the Government will bring forward legislative proposals to amend the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 to introduce mandatory reporting of incidents of restraint in schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department does not collect or record information about schools’ use of restraint or restrictive practices, and does not intend to introduce mandatory reporting at this time. We trust schools to use their judgement in recording incidents involving force and, when serious incidents occur, we would expect schools to record the incident and let the parents know.
Schools need to be safe and calm environments with effective behaviour management policies and approaches that meet the needs of all pupils, including those with mental health difficulties, special educational needs or disabilities.
At times, it may be necessary to use reasonable force to restrain a pupil – for example, to break up a fight in order to protect teachers and other pupils. Wherever possible, restraint and restrictive intervention should be avoided; and proactive, preventative, non-restrictive approaches adopted in respect of behaviour that challenges.
In June 2019, the Department for Health & Social Care and Department for Education jointly published non-statutory guidance on reducing restraint and restrictive intervention in health and social care services and special education settings. This guidance aims to help settings adopt a preventative approach to supporting children and young people with learning disabilities, autistic spectrum conditions and mental health difficulties.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children were subjected to the use of physical restraint in schools in each of the academic years (a) 2017-18, (b) 2016-17 and (c) 2015-16.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department does not collect or record information about schools’ use of restraint or restrictive practices, and does not intend to introduce mandatory reporting at this time. We trust schools to use their judgement in recording incidents involving force and, when serious incidents occur, we would expect schools to record the incident and let the parents know.
Schools need to be safe and calm environments with effective behaviour management policies and approaches that meet the needs of all pupils, including those with mental health difficulties, special educational needs or disabilities.
At times, it may be necessary to use reasonable force to restrain a pupil – for example, to break up a fight in order to protect teachers and other pupils. Wherever possible, restraint and restrictive intervention should be avoided; and proactive, preventative, non-restrictive approaches adopted in respect of behaviour that challenges.
In June 2019, the Department for Health & Social Care and Department for Education jointly published non-statutory guidance on reducing restraint and restrictive intervention in health and social care services and special education settings. This guidance aims to help settings adopt a preventative approach to supporting children and young people with learning disabilities, autistic spectrum conditions and mental health difficulties.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when he plans to publish the block allocations for (a) individual maintained schools and (b) academies for 2019-20; and for what reason the allocations will be published later in the school year than in previous years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
In previous years, school-level allocations for local authority maintained schools and academies have been published as transparency statistics in late autumn, but not to a fixed schedule.
This year we will be publishing the individual school-level school’s block allocations, covering allocations for 2019-20, in the Department’s new school funding official statistics report on 30 January 2020.
The Department already publishes detailed information on school funding, including full details of individual grant funding allocations issued to schools and local authorities, but we recognise that this information can be hard to understand and navigate. The aim of this new official statistics report is to help users’ understanding of this issue, and we are including the 2019-20 school-level allocations in that report.
This dataset will include details of more grants than in previous years, giving a fuller picture of school-level funding for the year.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many applications were made under the first round of the new voluntary-aided schools capital scheme which closed in February 2019.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department received 14 bids in the first round of the voluntary-aided schools capital scheme; one bid (Runnymede St Edward's Catholic Primary School) was deemed ineligible and one bid (Archbishop Romero School) subsequently withdrew.
A full list of applicant information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/voluntary-aided-schools-capital-scheme-applicant-information/voluntary-aided-schools-applicant-information.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when he plans to announce a second round of the new voluntary-aided schools capital scheme; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is currently developing the second round of the voluntary-aided capital scheme and expect to launch it shortly.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what representations have been received by his Department on the provision of RE teaching in schools as part of a broad and balanced curriculum; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department receives regular representation on the matter of religious education (RE). For example, I attended a panel discussion at the All Party Parliamentary Group on RE on 16 July.
All state funded schools are required by legislation or by their funding agreements to teach RE to all registered pupils aged 5 to 18 years. Teaching RE is also central to the duty on state schools to teach a broad and balanced curriculum that promotes the spiritual, moral and cultural development of pupils.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department have made of the quality of training for primary teachers in religious education; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Providing the best possible initial teacher training (ITT) is the focus of the Department’s drive to improve teaching standards. In order to be awarded qualified teacher status (QTS), trainees must demonstrate that they have met the Teachers’ Standards, which includes a requirement that they demonstrate good subject and curriculum knowledge. Ofsted is responsible for testing the quality of teacher training and at their most recent inspection, 99% of all teacher training providers were rated good or outstanding.
The amount of time that primary trainees spend in training on each of the subjects in the national curriculum is not specified by the Government. It is for ITT providers to use their professional judgement to determine the content and structure of courses, but they must be designed so that trainees can demonstrate that they meet all the required standards at the appropriate level by the end of their training. This includes religious education.
In July 2016, the Department published a ‘framework of core content for initial teacher training’, further guidance which states that ‘trainees must be conversant with a range of effective subject-specific pedagogical approaches’. The framework also outlines providers’ responsibility to audit trainees’ subject knowledge early in their training and make provision to ensure that trainees have sufficient subject knowledge to satisfy the standard by the end of their training.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that all schools provide pupils with opportunities to develop specific and age-appropriate knowledge and understanding of religions as part of promoting mutual respect and tolerance of people with different faiths and beliefs; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
All state funded schools are required by legislation or by their funding agreements to teach religious education (RE) to all registered pupils aged 5 to 18 years. Teaching RE is also part of schools’ activity to meet their legal duty to promote young people’s spiritual, moral and cultural development.
Each area is required to have a locally agreed syllabus for RE that maintained schools without a religious designation must follow. This is monitored by each area’s Standing Advisory Council for RE (SACRE). As part of school inspections from September 2019, as set out in Ofsted’s published School Inspection Handbook, inspectors will take account of the religious education taught as part of assessing the quality of education provided by the school. It is not Ofsted’s role to inspect denominational religious education in faith schools as part of its inspections. This provision is inspected separately under section 48 of the Education Act 2005.
The requirement for state funded schools to teach RE did not change with the introduction of the English Baccalaureate (EBacc).
Many schools choose to teach RE in key stage 4 through offering Religious Studies GCSEs, which are not included in the EBacc. Information on entries to the RE GCSE can be found at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/key-stage-4-and-multi-academy-trust-performance-2018-revised.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the EBacc on the opportunity pupils have to study religious education.
Answered by Nick Gibb
All state funded schools are required by legislation or by their funding agreements to teach religious education (RE) to all registered pupils aged 5 to 18 years. Teaching RE is also part of schools’ activity to meet their legal duty to promote young people’s spiritual, moral and cultural development.
Each area is required to have a locally agreed syllabus for RE that maintained schools without a religious designation must follow. This is monitored by each area’s Standing Advisory Council for RE (SACRE). As part of school inspections from September 2019, as set out in Ofsted’s published School Inspection Handbook, inspectors will take account of the religious education taught as part of assessing the quality of education provided by the school. It is not Ofsted’s role to inspect denominational religious education in faith schools as part of its inspections. This provision is inspected separately under section 48 of the Education Act 2005.
The requirement for state funded schools to teach RE did not change with the introduction of the English Baccalaureate (EBacc).
Many schools choose to teach RE in key stage 4 through offering Religious Studies GCSEs, which are not included in the EBacc. Information on entries to the RE GCSE can be found at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/key-stage-4-and-multi-academy-trust-performance-2018-revised.