Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding his Department allocated from the apprenticeship budget to (a) apprenticeship levy paying employers, (b) top up payments to apprenticeship levy paying employers, (c) non-apprenticeship levy paying employers, (d) ongoing costs of apprenticeships already in training prior to 1 April 2017, (e) English and maths qualifications, (f) incentive payments for 16- to 18-year-old apprentices and (g) additional support for apprentices that are care leavers or have special needs in financial year (i) 2017-2018 and (ii) 2018-19.
Answered by Anne Milton
The balance that levy payers see in their apprenticeship service accounts is distinct from the department’s ring-fenced apprenticeships budget. The balance in employers’ accounts is based on their total levy contributions and how many of their employees live in England. The department also tops up these funds by 10% after this English portion has been calculated.
Levy-paying employers can use the funds in their accounts to place orders for the training and assessment of their apprentices. The department then pays the relevant providers and end-point assessment organisations directly from its ring-fenced apprenticeships budget. An amount equal to the value of this provider payment is also deducted from the levy payer’s account balance.
The department’s ring-fenced apprenticeship budget is set in advance by Her Majesty’s Treasury to fund apprenticeships in England only. The expenditure on various parts of the apprenticeship programme is calculated based on the cash payments made from this ring-fenced budget.
It should be noted that aggregated information on spending by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) and the department for 2017-18 is held by the ESFA and included here, but information for 2018-19 will be published in the audited annual reports and accounts later this year. Annual data on levy collected in 2018-19 will be published by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.
In 2017-18, spending on apprentices employed with levy payers, and who started training after the levy was introduced, was £268 million.
In making employers’ levy contributions available as funds in their apprenticeship service accounts, the government applies a 10-per-cent top-up to these contributions. However, the balances in these accounts are distinct from the department’s ring-fenced budget for apprenticeships. Where employers are using some or all of this top-up to fund new apprenticeships, this spend is reflected in the answer to (A) above.
£189 million was spent on training for apprentices who started on or after 1 May 2017 with employers who do not pay the levy. In 2017/18, £1,065 million was spent on ongoing costs of training apprentices who started before the levy was introduced in May 2017.
Of the £457 million spent on new starts in 2017-18 (£268 million on levy payers and £189 million on non-levy payers), £38 million was spent on English and Maths teaching. £72 million was spent on additional provider payments and employer payments for apprentices aged 16 to 18 and apprentices aged up to 24 years old who have either an education, health and care plan or who have been in local authority care. £27 million was spent on other smaller elements of funding policy, such as learning support.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the increase in the number of looked after children, child protection plans and children in need throughout (a) Salford and (b) Greater Manchester in the last five years.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The department publishes information on looked after children, child protection plans and children in need in local authorities, including those within the Greater Manchester area, in the Local Authority Interactive Tool. This can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authority-interactive-tool-lait.
There are a range of factors that contribute to trends in demand for children’s social care including deprivation in different local authorities. The most deprived local authorities have more looked after children (per 10,000 0-17 year olds), and these rates have grown faster, than the least deprived local authorities. The most common factors that present themselves in children’s social care assessments are domestic abuse and mental health. Data on this is available in Table C3 of statistical release ‘Characteristics of children in need 2017-18’ at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/characteristics-of-children-in-need-2017-to-2018.
In preparation for the Spending Review, to help ensure decisions are based on the best available evidence, the government is working with the sector to develop a sharper and more granular picture of demand for children’s services.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with Directors of Children’s Services in Greater Manchester on their ability to deliver their statutory duties to children and families.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Along with my right hon. Friend the Secretary for Education, I regularly meet key stakeholders, including Directors of Children’s Services (DCSs) to discuss policy issues relating to the department’s agenda.
I recently met with DCSs and local authority chief executives at the National Children and Adult Services Conference, have held recent roundtables in the department with groups of both DCSs and chief executives, and attended induction events for new DCSs. In addition, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education spoke at the Association of Directors of Children’s Services Conference in Manchester and we have both very recently met with a number of children in care to hear their views and experiences.
The department recognises how important it is to speak directly with those who are on the front-line delivering services for children and families.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the correlation between deprivation and demand for children’s services.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Demand for children’s services is associated with a number of factors including deprivation. The most deprived local authorities have more looked-after children (per 10,000 0-17 year olds) and these rates have grown faster than the least deprived local authorities. In preparation for the Spending Review, to help ensure decisions are based on the best available evidence, the government is working with the sector to develop a sharper and more granular picture of demand for children’s services.
We are also working with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government as part of the government’s review of relative needs and resources, where new, up-to-date formulae are being developed to ensure funding distribution to councils is based on the best available evidence.
We welcome the contributions from the sector in this area including Newton Europe’s ‘Making sense’ (2018) report and the Association of Directors of Children’s Services continuing research reports, ‘Safeguarding pressures’ (2018).
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information his Department holds on the amount local authorities in (a) Greater Manchester and (b) the North West overspent on children’s services in 2017-18; and whether he plans to provide additional funding for local authority run children's services.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Local authorities are required under Section 251 of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act (2009) to submit education and children’s social care budget and expenditure statements. This data is published in statistical releases annually:
This data is published for all local authorities in statistical releases annually.
At Autumn Budget, my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced an extra £410 million next year for social care, including children’s services, along with £84 million over 5 years to support up to 20 local authorities to improve their social work practice. This builds on the £200 billion government has already made available to councils up to 2020 to provide services in the best interests of local residents, including those for children and young people.
The government will continue to work closely with the sector to consider long-term children’s services funding as part of the 2019 Spending Review, when the government will set out its long-term spending approach.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many social workers have volunteered to participate in the National Assessment and Accreditation Scheme for Social Workers.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Between December 2015 and December 2018, 35 local authorities participated in the National Assessment and Accreditation Scheme (NAAS) for child and family social workers. 22 of these participated in the proof of concept stage, 15 participated in Phase 1 and 2 participated in both.
This programme is live and ongoing, and local authority participation numbers will continue to increase.
Between December 2015 and December 2018, 1,252 child and family social workers participated in the NAAS. 954 social workers participated in the proof of concept stage, 278 social workers volunteered to participate in the current system to undertake the assessment. 200 social workers were involved in creating the assessment itself.
This programme is live and ongoing, and child and family social worker participation numbers will continue to increase.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many local authorities have participated in the National Assessment and Accreditation Scheme for Social Workers.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Between December 2015 and December 2018, 35 local authorities participated in the National Assessment and Accreditation Scheme (NAAS) for child and family social workers. 22 of these participated in the proof of concept stage, 15 participated in Phase 1 and 2 participated in both.
This programme is live and ongoing, and local authority participation numbers will continue to increase.
Between December 2015 and December 2018, 1,252 child and family social workers participated in the NAAS. 954 social workers participated in the proof of concept stage, 278 social workers volunteered to participate in the current system to undertake the assessment. 200 social workers were involved in creating the assessment itself.
This programme is live and ongoing, and child and family social worker participation numbers will continue to increase.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what additional financial provision local authorities have received to help implement the Government’s commitment for 30 hours free childcare for working parents.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The department is committed to supporting local authorities (LAs) in the delivery of the childcare entitlements, including the new 30 hours free childcare entitlement, and has made significant investment into the offer. We will be spending around £6 billion on childcare support in 2019-20 – a record amount. That will include funding for our free early years education entitlements, on which we plan to spend £3.5 billion this year alone.
Since 30 hours free childcare was announced, the department has also invested heavily in specific projects to support delivery of the offer at a local level.
In 2016, the department made available £100 million in capital funding for which LAs, in partnership with providers, were invited to submit bids. Over 350 projects across 123 LAs were successful in this bid round.
Following this, in 2017 the department allocated £2.15 million as part of the Digital Accelerate grant, supporting LAs in the development of their IT systems.
And in 2018, £7.7 million in grant funding was allocated to LAs through our Delivery Support Fund. This funding was intending to support LAs during the first year of delivery of 30 hours and allowed LAs to undertake projects that directly benefit 30 hours’ delivery and created (directly or indirectly) 30 hours places.
In addition to specific funding, LAs continue to receive support directly from departmental officials and through our delivery partners, Childcare Works, who provide a package of universal and targeted support to ensure LAs are best placed to deliver the government’s childcare offers.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many local authority run nurseries there were in (a) 2010 and (b) the latest period for which figures are available.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The department collects data on all providers offering funded early education via the schools and early years census data collections. Local authority run nurseries would be most likely to be listed in the ‘local authority day nurseries’ category. In January 2010 there were 463 local authority day nurseries with children in receipt of funded early education, and 428 local authority day nurseries with children in receipt of funded early education in January 2018. Local authority day nurseries with no funded children will be omitted from these numbers.
The provision for children under 5 years of age national statistics release shows the number of local authority day nurseries separately for 2 year-olds (table 12) and 3 and 4 year-olds (table 13): https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/education-provision-children-under-5-years-of-age-january-2018. Where children received funded early education at more than one private, voluntary or independent (PVI) provider they have been counted only once. The PVI provider where the child took the majority of their funded hours is the provider reported in the statistical release figures therefore, if the local authority day nursery was not providing the majority of a child’s hours, they will not have been counted in tables 12 and 13.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what meetings (a) he and (b) Ministers of his Department have held with (a) local authority leaders, (b) staff and (c) parents on the future funding of maintained nursery schools in (i) Salford and (ii) England; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Since my appointment, I have held the following meetings and visits involving local authority leaders, staff and parents regarding maintained nursery schools (MNS) and local authority maintained nurseries.
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State has visited and met with staff at Rothesay Nursery School in Luton and Martenscroft Nursery school in Manchester. My right hon. Friend, the Minister for School Standards held a roundtable with a group of headteachers to discuss school funding, which was attended by the headteacher of Castle Vale Nursery School.
We recognise that MNS are an important part of the early years sector and make a valuable contribution to improving the lives of some of our most disadvantaged children. We are providing around £60 million a year to local authorities to enable them to maintain funding levels until at least 2020 and have commissioned new research that will help us establish an evidence-base to inform long-term policy for maintained nursery schools.