Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools will take part in the invasive structural assessment of system-built blocks approved in September 2022; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department is working with the sector to establish a research study of several system-built frame types to identify potential future issues.
The department is working with schools, responsible bodies, and potential contractors to enable these assessments to be carried out at 100 schools with a minimum of disruption and to provide research that will be widely applicable.
In establishing this research project the department considered the implications of disturbing hazardous materials, including asbestos. The department is taking time to ensure that safety measures are in place to continue to keep all students, staff, and the general public safe during these investigations, which has delayed the procurement timetable slightly.
The department expects that procurement will take place over the coming months and that the majority of the initial assessments will be undertaken over the easter and summer holiday periods of the 2023/24 academic year.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of schools that will have completed the system-built block assessment by the end of 2023.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department is working with the sector to establish a research study of several system-built frame types to identify potential future issues.
The department is working with schools, responsible bodies, and potential contractors to enable these assessments to be carried out at 100 schools with a minimum of disruption and to provide research that will be widely applicable.
In establishing this research project the department considered the implications of disturbing hazardous materials, including asbestos. The department is taking time to ensure that safety measures are in place to continue to keep all students, staff, and the general public safe during these investigations, which has delayed the procurement timetable slightly.
The department expects that procurement will take place over the coming months and that the majority of the initial assessments will be undertaken over the easter and summer holiday periods of the 2023/24 academic year.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what (a) guidance and (b) other support her Department provides to teachers who qualified in other countries to begin teaching in the UK.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The Department provides comprehensive guidance for overseas qualified teachers about teaching in England, including the requirements and support available, through the Get Into Teaching website.
Since February 2023, highly qualified teachers with qualifications from an increased number of countries and regions have been able to use the Department’s new digital service, Apply for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) in England, to apply for QTS. QTS is a legal requirement to teach in many English schools and is considered desirable for teachers in the majority of schools in England.
The Department is piloting the international relocation payment (IRP). This is a small scale pilot offering a single one off payment of £10,000 to non-UK trainees and teachers of languages and physics in the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years. The payment is a contribution towards the costs they face in moving to England to teach or train, which include visas, the immigration health surcharge and other relocation expenses. The payment is only payable once someone has started their job or training course in England.
Overseas qualified teachers with QTS are also eligible for support through the Department’s Return to Teaching advisor service. This provides one to one support with finding jobs, the application process and preparing for interviews.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much was spent on supply teachers in each (a) region, (b) local authority and (c) parliamentary constituency in the 2021-22 academic year.
Answered by Robert Halfon
A key principle behind the Government's plan for education is to give teachers and school leaders the freedom to use their professional judgement to decide the structure of their schools’ workforce that best meets the needs of their pupils.
Financial information on Local Authority maintained schools, including spending on supply teachers, is collected in Consistent Financial Reporting returns. The information is published on the School Financial Benchmarking website and in the annual official statistic ‘LA and school expenditure’, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/la-and-school-expenditure.
The spend on these categories for Local Authority maintained schools in each region for the 2021/22 financial year is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/22a37aed-9bf8-489a-4884-08dbdfb23d99. The spend on these categories for Local Authority maintained schools in each Local Authority for the 2021/22 financial year is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/beb72a02-b53a-41b2-4883-08dbdfb23d99. Information relating to individual schools is published on the School Financial Benchmarking website, available at: https://schools-financial-benchmarking.service.gov.uk/Help/DataSources.
School level information published on the Schools Financial Benchmarking website has been linked to information from the Get Information About Schools website to provide the attached constituency level information. This includes supply teaching staff, supply teacher insurance and agency supply staff expenditure, plus net expenditure which is expenditure offset against income on supply teacher insurance claims.
Information on the expenditure by academies is not published on the same basis as Local Authority maintained schools. Academy level data on expenditure is available on the Schools Financial website. Information at regional and Local Authority level is not published.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department is taking steps to ensure that every school pupil with a medical condition has an individual healthcare plan.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Current guidance is clear that governing bodies should ensure that a school’s policy covers individual healthcare plans, and who is responsible for their development, to support pupils at school with medical conditions. The governing body should also ensure that plans are reviewed at least annually, or earlier if evidence is presented that the child’s needs have changed. Healthcare plans should be developed with the child’s best interests in mind; they should be developed to ensure that the school assesses and manages risks to the child’s education, health and social wellbeing, as well as ensuring that disruption is minimised.
In the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan, which was published in March 2023 in response to the Green Paper, the department outlined its ambition to build a consistent national SEND and AP system that enables children, young people, and their families to access the support they need consistently.
The consultation on the Green Paper received a very small number of specific responses related to medical conditions in schools. The department will factor these into further policy development and will consider updating the statutory guidance when making decisions on wider reforms.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to issue updated guidance to schools on supporting pupils with medical conditions.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Current guidance is clear that governing bodies should ensure that a school’s policy covers individual healthcare plans, and who is responsible for their development, to support pupils at school with medical conditions. The governing body should also ensure that plans are reviewed at least annually, or earlier if evidence is presented that the child’s needs have changed. Healthcare plans should be developed with the child’s best interests in mind; they should be developed to ensure that the school assesses and manages risks to the child’s education, health and social wellbeing, as well as ensuring that disruption is minimised.
In the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan, which was published in March 2023 in response to the Green Paper, the department outlined its ambition to build a consistent national SEND and AP system that enables children, young people, and their families to access the support they need consistently.
The consultation on the Green Paper received a very small number of specific responses related to medical conditions in schools. The department will factor these into further policy development and will consider updating the statutory guidance when making decisions on wider reforms.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the spreadsheet Education settings with confirmed RAAC and mitigations in place as of 14 September 2023, published by her Department on 19 September 2023, how many state-funded education settings where reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete is confirmed to be present are providing face-to-face education (a) by sending pupils to other school sites and (b) teaching pupils in (i) church and village halls and (ii) other non-educational premises as of 14 September 2023.
Answered by Nick Gibb
An updated list of schools and colleges with confirmed cases of RAAC was published on 19 October, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-raac-management-information.
The Department is providing significant support to schools and colleges to ensure children remain in face to face education or are returned to it as soon as possible. This includes providing all schools and colleges where RAAC is confirmed with a dedicated caseworker to work with them to assess what support is needed and implement mitigations plans that are right for them. Mitigation plans could include other spaces on the school site, or in nearby schools or elsewhere in the local area, until structural works are carried out or temporary buildings are installed. A bespoke plan is put in place to ensure that each school and college receives the support that suits their circumstances with a clear focus on getting children back to full time face to face education as quickly as possible. These arrangements change quite quickly and so any figure about the number of children not in school settings will soon be out of date.
Project delivery teams are on site to support schools and colleges to minimise the disruption to children and young people’s education, whether that is finding short term accommodation options or designing and putting in place structural solutions for affected spaces.
The Department is also funding emergency mitigation work needed to make buildings safe, including installing alternative classroom space where necessary. Where schools and colleges need additional help with revenue costs, like transport to locations or temporarily renting a local hall, this should be discussed with their caseworker. The Department expects that all reasonable requests will be approved.
Where a school or college has insufficient on site accommodation once the areas with RAAC are taken out of use and alternative off site emergency or longer term temporary accommodation is required, the Local Authority and school or college is responsible for making alternative arrangements and should agree this with parents of affected pupils and students. In many cases, pupils and students will be able to remain on the roll of their existing education setting, even if they are in emergency or longer term temporary accommodation on a different school site.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 21 February 2023 to Question 140337 on Schools: Closures, how many additional state-funded schools have (a) temporarily or (b) permanently closed (i) all or (ii) part of their school site since the answer to that question was provided because one or more buildings were deemed unsafe; and if she will publish a list of those schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to (a) introduce a national register of children education at home and (b) provide (i) Ofsted with additional powers to investigate suspected illegal settings and (ii) prosecutors the power to shut settings down where appropriate; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government remains committed to introducing statutory Local Authority registers for children not in school, as well as a duty for Local Authorities to provide support to home educating families. The Department will legislate for these at a future suitable opportunity, to support Local Authorities to undertake their existing duties to ensure that all children receive a suitable education and are safe, regardless of where they are educated.
Since 2016, the Department and Ofsted have worked successfully with the Crown Prosecution Services to secure criminal convictions against those responsible for five settings that were operating illegally as schools. The Government has recognised the need to improve powers to investigate and act against such settings. The Department remains committed to legislating for these powers at a future suitable opportunity.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children identified as having special educational needs and disabilities have been out of school for one year or longer as a result of not having been able to find a setting that meets their needs.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department collects data about children who are not in a school but being taught in another setting, such as pupil referral units or at home, through the Alternative Provision census and the Elective Home Education collection. The latest data on children in Alternative Provision, including those with Special Educational Needs (SEN), is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics. The latest data about children in Elective Home Education, including those with SEN, is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-missing-education.
The Department also collects data about children missing education, who are not registered at school or otherwise receiving suitable education, from Local Authorities on a voluntary basis. The latest published figures, which include the proportion of children with SEN, can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-missing-education.
Data is not available on how long children have spent in these arrangements.