Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, to list the 44 free school applications accepted by her Department but placed on hold since 22 October 2024.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is reviewing 44 projects as part of the mainstream free school pipeline review, to ensure they continue to meet localised need for places, consider whether they provide a unique educational offer and are not to the detriment of the other schools locally. These projects would provide approximately 30,000 additional places at capacity.
The National Audit Office set out in 2017 that planned free schools would lead to an estimated 57,500 spare places, and that there is a cost both to the taxpayer and to other local schools via impact on pupil numbers at existing schools.
Since the review was launched, the department has paused development of the sites. Any funding has been in line with managing public money. The department will publicly communicate the outcomes of the review as soon as possible.
We have engaged with trusts, local authorities and other stakeholders in relation to individual projects in scope of the review, including reviewing the evidence they have provided.
As would be expected from a review of this scale, there have been a significant number of meetings, including meetings between ministers and MPs, where local MPs have requested them.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will set out whether (a) primary, (b) secondary, and (c) post-16 schools are required to conduct immigration checks when adding new children to their admissions register.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The law requires children of compulsory school age living in England, including foreign nationals, to receive a suitable full-time education.
If a school has concerns about an individual’s age and lack documentation, they should refer this to the local authority, which may conduct an assessment. Age assessment is the responsibility of local authorities and the Home Office. The local authority may liaise with the Home Office age dispute team and may also seek support from the National Age Assessment Board.
The department does not hold the data requested.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many child refugees have attended (a) primary, (b) secondary, and (c) post-16 schools in England since 2015, broken down by (i) local authority, and (ii) year.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The law requires children of compulsory school age living in England, including foreign nationals, to receive a suitable full-time education.
If a school has concerns about an individual’s age and lack documentation, they should refer this to the local authority, which may conduct an assessment. Age assessment is the responsibility of local authorities and the Home Office. The local authority may liaise with the Home Office age dispute team and may also seek support from the National Age Assessment Board.
The department does not hold the data requested.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what reporting mechanism is in place for (a) primary, (b) secondary, and (c) post-16 schools when they find an adult asylum seeker impersonating a child.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The law requires children of compulsory school age living in England, including foreign nationals, to receive a suitable full-time education.
If a school has concerns about an individual’s age and lack documentation, they should refer this to the local authority, which may conduct an assessment. Age assessment is the responsibility of local authorities and the Home Office. The local authority may liaise with the Home Office age dispute team and may also seek support from the National Age Assessment Board.
The department does not hold the data requested.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many adult asylum seekers have been found attending (a) primary, (b) secondary, and (c) post-16 schools by local authority annually since 2015.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The law requires children of compulsory school age living in England, including foreign nationals, to receive a suitable full-time education.
If a school has concerns about an individual’s age and lack documentation, they should refer this to the local authority, which may conduct an assessment. Age assessment is the responsibility of local authorities and the Home Office. The local authority may liaise with the Home Office age dispute team and may also seek support from the National Age Assessment Board.
The department does not hold the data requested.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to prevent adult asylum seekers from impersonating children in (a) primary, (b) secondary, and (c) post-16 schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The law requires children of compulsory school age living in England, including foreign nationals, to receive a suitable full-time education.
If a school has concerns about an individual’s age and lack documentation, they should refer this to the local authority, which may conduct an assessment. Age assessment is the responsibility of local authorities and the Home Office. The local authority may liaise with the Home Office age dispute team and may also seek support from the National Age Assessment Board.
The department does not hold the data requested.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions (a) Ministers and (b) officials in her Department have had with trust chief executives on the (i) recruitment and (ii) role of regional improvement for standards and excellence advisors.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Regional improvement for standards excellence (RISE) teams have already paired over 350 schools with RISE advisers and supporting organisations, including some of our strongest trusts with a record of turning around struggling schools, to share expertise and boost standards.
Departmental officials engaged with trust chief executives during the autumn 2024 term, ahead of launching recruitment for RISE advisers in November. The department also sought views from key stakeholder groups, including representative bodies and unions.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the performance of Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence (RISE) advisors will be measured against specific metrics set by her department.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The performance of regional improvement for standards and excellence advisers will be measured against agreed Programme-level Key Performance Indicators.