Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 20 July 2022 to Question 37614 on Schools: Buildings, which schools in Leeds West constituency had at least one construction element in (a) condition grade C and (b) condition grade D when that data was collated; and which of those schools (a) have already received funding from the School Rebuilding Programme and (b) are expected to receive funding from the School Rebuilding Programme in the next two years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Condition Data Collection (CDC) is one of the largest and most comprehensive data collection programmes in the UK’s public sector. It collected data on the building condition of government funded schools in England. It provides a robust evidence base to enable the Department to target capital funding for maintaining and rebuilding school buildings.
The key, high level findings of the CDC programme were published in May 2021 in the ‘Condition of School Buildings Survey: Key Findings’ report. This is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/989912/Condition_of_School_Buildings_Survey_CDC1_-_key_findings_report.pdf.
Individual CDC reports have been shared with every school and their responsible body to use alongside their existing condition surveys to plan maintenance schedules and investment plans. The Department plans to publish detailed school level CDC data. The Department is still preparing the data and will publish it as soon as possible.
Well maintained, safe school buildings are a priority for the Department. Our funding is directed both to maintaining the condition of the school estate and rebuilding schools. The Department has allocated over £13 billion for improving the condition of schools since 2015, including £1.8 billion committed this financial year.
The ten year School Rebuilding Programme (SRP) is condition led. 400 of the 500 available places on the programme have been provisionally allocated. A list of these schools and the methodology used to select them is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme-schools-in-the-programme.
The following table shows the constituencies specified that have schools or colleges selected for the SRP:
Parliamentary constituency | Schools selected for SRP |
Wakefield | Ossett Academy and Sixth Form College, announced December 2022 |
Stockton North | St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, announced July 2021 St Paul's Catholic Primary School, announced July 2021 |
The 239 schools announced in December 2022 will enter delivery at a rate of approximately 50 per year, over a five year period from 2023. The Department is currently undertaking due diligence on these schools prior to scheduling them, with schools prioritised according to the condition of their buildings, readiness to proceed, and efficiency of delivery. The scope and funding for each project will be confirmed following detailed feasibility studies and condition surveys of buildings.
Where a school identifies significant safety issues with a building, that cannot be managed within local resources, the Department considers additional support on a case-by-case basis. This includes applications for Urgent Capital Support (UCS) from eligible institutions. Schools eligible for Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) can apply for UCS where there are urgent health and safety issues that threaten school closure and cannot wait until the next CIF bidding round.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has assessed the asbestos management plans for academies for which Carillion was previously responsible; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department takes the issue of asbestos in schools seriously and is committed to supporting schools, local authorities and academy trusts to fulfil their duty to manage asbestos safely.
It is the duty holder’s responsibility to ensure that any asbestos in their schools is safely managed in compliance with the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012. For maintained schools, the duty holder is typically a governing body or local authority. For academies, the duty holder is typically an academy trust. Duty holders are already required to have an asbestos management plan in place where asbestos is present or is likely to be present. Management plans must be reviewed and revised at regular intervals, and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the relevant regulator.
On any occasions where Carillion has provided support services to schools, local authorities and academy trusts would have to continue to be the duty holder for asbestos management. Local authorities and trusts are responsible for their own support contracts. The Department contacted affected local authorities and academy trusts ahead of Carillion’s failure to ensure that they had appropriate contingency plans in place for services provided by Carillion. The Department is continuing to work with local authorities and trusts who still have contracts with Carillion to ensure that any disruption is minimised. The Government is supporting the Official Receiver so that services to schools can continue until alternative arrangements are put in place.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) women and (b) men his Department has appointed to each of his Department's non-Departmental Public Bodies in each of the last five years.
Answered by Anne Milton
The department holds information on the number of men and women appointed in the last five years for its three executive agencies, whose staff are employed by the department. This data is shown in the table attached. The School Teachers’ Review Body and the Social Mobility Commission are advisory NDPBs and have no staff. The department does not hold information for its remaining NDPBs.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which academy trusts have had schools removed and rebrokered to other trusts; which schools were so removed and rebrokered; and how many schools each academy trust that received a financial notice to improve ran prior to receiving such a notice in (a) 2016 and (b) 2017.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
A list of academies that have moved trust was published in September 2017 in an ad-hoc statistical release “Academy transfers and Funding”. The publication includes information on the new trust and previous trust for each financial year between 2013/14 to 2016/17 and is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/academy-trust-transfers-and-grant-funding.
Information on trusts which have received a financial notice to improve in 2016 and 2017 can be found in the attached table. This table also includes the names of those academies that were within that trust at the time they were given such a notice.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to address the fact that self-employed workers are less likely to get onto apprenticeships as they are not on the payroll for PAYE and therefore not part of the levy calculation.
Answered by Anne Milton
Apprenticeships are paid jobs and availability is determined by employers, both small and large, choosing to offer apprenticeships and recruit apprentices.
The UK-wide Apprenticeship Levy will enable us to fund the step change needed to achieve 3 million quality apprenticeship starts in England by 2020, benefitting employers and learners alike.
Supporting and growing apprenticeships amongst smaller employers who won’t be asked to pay the levy is critical to us. The government will pay 90% of the apprenticeship training and assessment costs (up to the maximum amount of government funding available for that apprenticeship) and the employer will only pay a 10% contribution. We will extend government support to 100% for the smallest employers taking on younger apprentices.
We are undertaking a wide range of activity to ensure employers of all sizes are aware of how they can make the most of the opportunities presented by apprenticeship reforms.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to raise awareness of Inflammatory bowel disease and its effect on students' attainment.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
We know how important it is that children with medical conditions are supported to enjoy a full education. That is why we introduced a new duty to require governing bodies to make arrangements to support pupils with medical conditions, such as inflammatory bowel disease, and have provided statutory guidance outlining schools’ responsibilities in this area.
We continue to work with Ofsted, and organisations such as the Health Conditions in Schools Alliance who have experience in supporting children with medical conditions, to help raise awareness of the duty.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department plans to take to prevent school pupils and staff being exposed to asbestos in schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department takes the issue of asbestos in schools seriously, and we are committed to supporting schools, local authorities and academy trusts to fulfil their responsibility to manage asbestos safely. The Health and Safety Executive advise that as long as asbestos-containing materials are undamaged, encapsulated and not in locations where they are vulnerable to damage, they should be managed in situ.
We published updated guidance in March 2017, which provides information on how those responsible for asbestos management in schools - normally local authorities, governing bodies and academy trusts - should manage asbestos in order to prevent pupils and staff being exposed to asbestos. This includes new supplementary guidance to help schools understand where asbestos is commonly found, so that they can work with qualified professionals to assess and manage the risks.
We have made it clear that the removal of asbestos should take place when it has been identified that asbestos containing materials are in poor condition in a school building. This is why we have allocated £4.2bn to schools, local authorities and academy trusts since 2015 to maintain and improve the condition of the school estate and they are able to use the funding that is available to them to remove asbestos where that is appropriate.
We intend to enhance our understanding of how effectively asbestos is being managed in schools, by asking all responsible bodies to provide a report on their schools’ compliance with associated legislation and guidance. Through this assurance process, responsible bodies can confirm that they have the necessary processes and procedures in place, in relation to the management of asbestos, to ensure the safety of pupils, staff and visitors to their schools.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many school attendance orders have been issued in England since 2000.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Department does not collect data on school attendance orders.