Asked by: Naz Shah (Labour - Bradford West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many staff in his Department reported their religion as Islam in the latest period for which figures are available; what the reported ethnicity of those staff was; and how many of those staff were employed at each grade.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
As at 30 September 2019, 304 employees reported their religion as Islam.
The reported ethnicity of these employees is included in table a, which has been attached. The reported grade of these employees is included in table b. To prevent the identification of individuals, totals have been rounded to the nearest 10.
Asked by: Naz Shah (Labour - Bradford West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of recent changes to pay levels in further education colleges on the ability of such institutions to recruit and retain staff.
Answered by Anne Milton
Further education (FE) colleges are independent of government and are responsible for setting the pay and conditions of their staff, commensurate with their local workforce planning needs. We recognise that the FE sector faces cost pressures, which is why we are looking closely at funding to make sure that the system can support the delivery of sustainable, high-quality education. We have also been actively engaging with FE providers and representative bodies to understand the specific challenges and opportunities for FE teacher recruitment and retention, to see if there is more support we can offer. The forthcoming Spending Review will present an opportunity for us to make the case for investment in the sector.
Asked by: Naz Shah (Labour - Bradford West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate he has made of the level of bullying in schools; and whether there has been an increase in the level of bullying of BAME children in schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Harassment or bullying of any kind is completely unacceptable and abhorrent in any setting including schools. All schools are legally required to have a behaviour policy with measures to prevent all forms of bullying. Schools have a role in promoting community cohesion and integration and are required to support pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and to promote fundamental British values. This is a priority for the Government and the Department working with the sector to support them in this role, including, for example, encouraging social mixing across schools.
Earlier this year an extension was announced to the Department’s anti-bullying grant programme, which is now providing over £2.8 million of funding between September 2016 and March 2020, to four anti-bullying organisations that support schools to tackle bullying. This includes projects targeting bullying of particular groups such as those with special educational need and disabilities and those who are victims of hate related to bullying, along with a project to report bullying online.
Whilst there is no legal requirement on schools to record and report incidents of bullying the department uses evidence from surveys as an indicator of the prevalence of bullying.
This includes the Department’s omnibus survey of pupils and their parents/carers. The latest report (September 2018[1]) shows an overall reduction in reports of bullying compared to the previous year, with 37% of pupils surveyed reporting being a victim of bullying at least once in the last year, compared to 45% of pupils the previous year.
There was an increase in the proportion of pupils who reported being bullied at least once a month in the last year because of their race, nationality or ethnicity (3%, compared to 1% the previous year).
Other surveys used by the department include Bullying in England - a report based on analysis of the ONS crime survey for England and Wales (published November 2018);[2] and the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE) 2 (wave 3 published June 2018).[3]
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupils-and-their-parents-or-carers-omnibus-wave-1-survey.
[2].https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bullying-in-england-april-2013-to-march-2018.
Asked by: Naz Shah (Labour - Bradford West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether nurseries receive funding for breakfast clubs as part of the same funding arrangements as (a) infant, (b) junior and (c) secondary schools.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Department for Education are investing up to £26 million in a breakfast club programme, using funds from Soft Drinks Industry Levy revenues. The funding is for setting up or improving breakfast clubs in primary, secondary, special schools and pupil referral units. Such schools that have a nursery may receive funding for a breakfast club.