Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) primary state-funded schools, (b) secondary state-funded schools, (c) sixth-form colleges, (d) 16-18 state-funded vocational colleges and (e) state-funded nursery schools closed in the last 12 months (i) in total and (ii) by region.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
Information on closures of state-funded schools, sixth form colleges, vocational colleges and nursery schools is available on the Get Information about Schools (GIAS) website, which can be found here:
https://www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/Search?SelectedTab=Establishments.
GIAS records a number of different reasons for closure, including closure as a result of amalgamation, closure where a school has been replaced by a successor institution (including academy conversions), as well as outright closure of provision.
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 27 November 2024 to Question 15145 on Teachers: Workplace Pensions, what recent progress she has made on reducing the backlog of people waiting for cash equivalent transfer value details from teachers' pensions.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The scheme administrator has made significant progress to reduce the backlog of cash equivalent transfer value (CETV) figures that had built up whilst the necessary guidance was developed following the transitional protection legislation taking effect.
CETVs that could be automated have been prioritised, alongside the most sensitive cases, to reduce the backlog from 3,062 at the end of October 2024 to 499 as of 4 April. The current outstanding figure includes recent applications.
The scheme administrator is now working through the more complex cases for members who have not retired and have scheme flexibilities to take account of, which must be processed clerically as a result.
Guidance to provide CETV calculations for members who have retired has recently been received and is being assessed by the scheme administrator. Where possible, the scheme administrator has issued Remediable Service Statements (RSS) to retired members, as once their RSS choice has been implemented, no further guidance is required.
Addressing the remainder of the backlog remains a key priority for both the department and the scheme administrator, and all available resource continues to be used, including the use of ongoing overtime.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding her Department has provided through the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund in each years since 2015; and how many individual children have accessed support through the Fund in each year since 2015.
Answered by Janet Daby
The information requested is available in the following table:
Financial year | Numbers of individual children who have accessed support through the Fund | Overall funding (£ million) |
2015/16 | 2876 | 19 |
2016/17 | 5712 | 23.93 |
2017/18 | 8797 | 29 |
2018/19 | 11531 | 37 |
2019/20 | 11823 | 42 |
2020/21 | 11261 | 45* |
2021/22 | 13663 | 46 |
2022/23 | 14862 | 47 |
2023/24 | 16333 | 48 |
End of year data is not yet available for 2024/25
*In 2020/21, £8 million was repurposed for the adoption support fund COVID-19 scheme.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of renewing her Department's contract with Now Teach, in the context of meeting teacher recruitment targets.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
Career changers make a valuable contribution to the teaching profession and the department remains committed to recruiting and supporting them into initial teacher training, including as part of our efforts to recruit an additional 6,500 new expert teachers across our schools and our colleges over the course of this Parliament.
Our wider offer to all potential teachers, including career changers, supports them through their journey to apply for teacher training and during the critical early years of teaching. This includes the Get Into Teaching service, which offers one-to-one support and advice to all candidates, including career changers.
The current contract for the career changers programme will come to its natural end in autumn 2026, with no option to directly renew the contract with Now Teach. The department is currently working with Now Teach to support their exit planning and ensure that the final cohort of trainees complete the programme successfully. We have no plans to reprocure the contract at this stage.
The department has contracts with many organisations in support of teacher recruitment and training and continues to fund and support those organisations in line with the terms of the agreed contracts.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, on what evidential basis she does not plan to renew her Department's contract with Now Teach, in the context of meeting teacher recruitment targets.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
Career changers make a valuable contribution to the teaching profession and the department remains committed to recruiting and supporting them into initial teacher training, including as part of our efforts to recruit an additional 6,500 new expert teachers across our schools and our colleges over the course of this Parliament.
Our wider offer to all potential teachers, including career changers, supports them through their journey to apply for teacher training and during the critical early years of teaching. This includes the Get Into Teaching service, which offers one-to-one support and advice to all candidates, including career changers.
The current contract for the career changers programme will come to its natural end in autumn 2026, with no option to directly renew the contract with Now Teach. The department is currently working with Now Teach to support their exit planning and ensure that the final cohort of trainees complete the programme successfully. We have no plans to reprocure the contract at this stage.
The department has contracts with many organisations in support of teacher recruitment and training and continues to fund and support those organisations in line with the terms of the agreed contracts.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) three and (b) four year olds were recorded as eligible for the additional 15 hours of free childcare in the academic year 2024-25; and how many were unable to take up those hours due to shortage of nursery places.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Information on 15 hours free childcare entitlements is published in the education provision: children under 5 years of age statistical publication. The publication is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-provision-children-under-5/2024.
Data on the number of two-year-olds eligible for the 15 hours free childcare entitlement for working parents is expected to be published in July 2025. An estimated 154,957 disadvantaged 2-year-old were eligible for 15-hours of free childcare in January 2024. Based on analyses of data from various surveys, an estimated 427,000 three and four-year-olds were eligible for the 30-hour entitlement in January 2024.
Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. Part B of the early education and childcare statutory guidance for local authorities highlights that local authorities are required to report annually to elected council members on how they are meeting their duty to secure sufficient childcare, and to make this report available and accessible to parents.
The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing. No local authority is currently reporting a sufficiency concern.
Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, the department will discuss what action the local authority is taking to address those issues and where needed, we support the local authority with any specific requirements through our childcare sufficiency support contract.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many two year olds were recorded as eligible for 15 hours of free childcare in the academic year 2024-25; and how many were unable to take up those hours due to shortage of nursery places.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Information on 15 hours free childcare entitlements is published in the education provision: children under 5 years of age statistical publication. The publication is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-provision-children-under-5/2024.
Data on the number of two-year-olds eligible for the 15 hours free childcare entitlement for working parents is expected to be published in July 2025. An estimated 154,957 disadvantaged 2-year-old were eligible for 15-hours of free childcare in January 2024. Based on analyses of data from various surveys, an estimated 427,000 three and four-year-olds were eligible for the 30-hour entitlement in January 2024.
Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. Part B of the early education and childcare statutory guidance for local authorities highlights that local authorities are required to report annually to elected council members on how they are meeting their duty to secure sufficient childcare, and to make this report available and accessible to parents.
The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing. No local authority is currently reporting a sufficiency concern.
Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, the department will discuss what action the local authority is taking to address those issues and where needed, we support the local authority with any specific requirements through our childcare sufficiency support contract.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how her Department is measuring its progress on recruiting 6,500 new teachers; and whether this measurement will account for teachers that leave the profession over the remainder of the Parliament.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The factor in schools and colleges that makes the biggest difference to a young person’s educational outcomes is high-quality teaching. Ensuring a high-quality teaching workforce is therefore critical to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and boost life chances for every child. However, this government inherited shortages of qualified teachers across the country as the number of teachers has not kept pace with demographic change. That is why the department is committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers across our schools, both mainstream and specialist, and our colleges over the course of this Parliament.
The department has already made good early progress towards this key pledge, including providing a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools, announcing a £233 million initial teacher training financial incentives package for the 2025/26 recruitment cycle, and confirming targeted retention incentives for shortage subjects worth up to £6,000 after tax.
We have also taken steps to improve teachers’ workload and wellbeing, to support retention and help reestablish teaching as an attractive profession. This includes opportunities for greater flexible working, such as allowing planning, preparation and assessment time (PPA) to be undertaken remotely, and making key resources to support wellbeing, developed with school leaders, available to teachers.
Career changers make a valuable contribution to the teaching profession and the department remains committed to recruiting and supporting them into initial teacher training, including as part of our efforts to recruit an additional 6,500 new expert teachers. Our wider offer to all potential teachers, including career changers, supports them through their journey to apply for teacher training and during the critical early years of teaching. This includes the Get Into Teaching service which offers one-to-one support and advice to all candidates, including targeted support for career changers.
We are working with the sector to develop our approach as part of the spending review.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent progress she has made on recruiting 6,500 new teachers.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The factor in schools and colleges that makes the biggest difference to a young person’s educational outcomes is high-quality teaching. Ensuring a high-quality teaching workforce is therefore critical to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and boost life chances for every child. However, this government inherited shortages of qualified teachers across the country as the number of teachers has not kept pace with demographic change. That is why the department is committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers across our schools, both mainstream and specialist, and our colleges over the course of this Parliament.
The department has already made good early progress towards this key pledge, including providing a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools, announcing a £233 million initial teacher training financial incentives package for the 2025/26 recruitment cycle, and confirming targeted retention incentives for shortage subjects worth up to £6,000 after tax.
We have also taken steps to improve teachers’ workload and wellbeing, to support retention and help reestablish teaching as an attractive profession. This includes opportunities for greater flexible working, such as allowing planning, preparation and assessment time (PPA) to be undertaken remotely, and making key resources to support wellbeing, developed with school leaders, available to teachers.
Career changers make a valuable contribution to the teaching profession and the department remains committed to recruiting and supporting them into initial teacher training, including as part of our efforts to recruit an additional 6,500 new expert teachers. Our wider offer to all potential teachers, including career changers, supports them through their journey to apply for teacher training and during the critical early years of teaching. This includes the Get Into Teaching service which offers one-to-one support and advice to all candidates, including targeted support for career changers.
We are working with the sector to develop our approach as part of the spending review.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of career changers on meeting her target of recruiting 6,500 new teachers.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The factor in schools and colleges that makes the biggest difference to a young person’s educational outcomes is high-quality teaching. Ensuring a high-quality teaching workforce is therefore critical to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and boost life chances for every child. However, this government inherited shortages of qualified teachers across the country as the number of teachers has not kept pace with demographic change. That is why the department is committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers across our schools, both mainstream and specialist, and our colleges over the course of this Parliament.
The department has already made good early progress towards this key pledge, including providing a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools, announcing a £233 million initial teacher training financial incentives package for the 2025/26 recruitment cycle, and confirming targeted retention incentives for shortage subjects worth up to £6,000 after tax.
We have also taken steps to improve teachers’ workload and wellbeing, to support retention and help reestablish teaching as an attractive profession. This includes opportunities for greater flexible working, such as allowing planning, preparation and assessment time (PPA) to be undertaken remotely, and making key resources to support wellbeing, developed with school leaders, available to teachers.
Career changers make a valuable contribution to the teaching profession and the department remains committed to recruiting and supporting them into initial teacher training, including as part of our efforts to recruit an additional 6,500 new expert teachers. Our wider offer to all potential teachers, including career changers, supports them through their journey to apply for teacher training and during the critical early years of teaching. This includes the Get Into Teaching service which offers one-to-one support and advice to all candidates, including targeted support for career changers.
We are working with the sector to develop our approach as part of the spending review.