Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much (a) covid-19 catch-up premium and (b) National Tutoring Programme funding has been allocated to schools in North West Durham constituency.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The National Tutoring Programme (NTP) for 5-16 year olds is an ambitious scheme that will provide additional, targeted support for disadvantaged and vulnerable pupils who need the most help to catch up. The NTP has two pillars which can be accessed by schools. Firstly, schools will be able to access high quality, subsidised tuition from a selection of approved Tuition Partners. The partners will offer a variety of tuition models for schools to choose from, including online and face-to-face, and the cost of tutoring will be subsidised by the Department by 75%. The NTP went live on 2 November 2020 and we will have further information about participating schools as they begin to request tutoring support over the coming weeks. Schools can access Tuition Partner support here: https://nationaltutoring.org.uk/ntp-tuition-partners.
The second pillar of the NTP supports schools in the most disadvantaged areas to employ in-house academic mentors who can provide small group and one-to-one tuition to selected pupils. Eligible schools can request academic mentors. The first cohort saw 188 mentors start in schools on 2 November 2020, and a further two cohorts will follow in January and February 2021. If schools in North West Durham would like to register interest for a mentor, they can do so here: https://www.teachfirst.org.uk/hire-academic-mentors.
Alongside the NTP, the catch-up premium, worth £650 million, provides universal funding to support schools to help all pupils make up for lost teaching time during the 2020/21 academic year. Schools should use their catch-up premium funding as a single total from which to prioritise support for all pupils, guided by the level of individual need. The attached table shows that £916,880 worth of catch-up premium funding has been provisionally allocated to the North West Durham parliamentary constituency for the 2020/21 academic year. These allocations are based on the published rates and school census data from October 2019. The final allocations will be re-calculated once the October 2020 school census data is available.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding schools in North West Durham constituency have received as part of the (a) National Tutoring Programme and (b) universal catch-up premium for schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The attached table shows the allocations and payments to schools in the North West Durham parliamentary constituency for the COVID-19 catch-up premium.
The values represented in the attached table are the initial payments made in the autumn based on a proportion of a provisional allocation calculated using the published rates and school census data from October 2019. The final allocations will be re-calculated once the October 2020 school census data is available and a further payment made in early 2021. The remaining allocation will then be paid in a final instalment later in 2021.
There is no data currently available for the National Tutoring Programme (NTP). The NTP is not yet live and so we do not have any information about participants. We expect our first group of tutors to be working with schools from November with provision ramping up into the Spring Term. Next month, we will announce a list of approved Tuition Partners. Schools will be able to approach these partners to access subsidised tuition. We will also be appointing our first wave of academic mentors, matching suitable candidates to schools that have expressed an interest in working with a mentor.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for how long the age at which students have been able to obtain public funding for their first Level 3 qualification has been capped at 23.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
Grant funding for learners aged 24 and over studying a first full level 3 qualification was replaced with support through Advanced Learner Loans and the loans Bursary Fund in 2013/14.
My right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, recently announced a targeted expansion of the level 3 entitlement, through the National Skills Fund. We are now extending the offer eligibility for a first full level 3 so that adults who are above the age of 23 can also benefit from courses that have the best possible returns for individuals, employers, and the nation.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the proportion of people aged (a) over 18 and (b) over 23 who do not have a level 3 qualification, by (i) local authority and (ii) Parliamentary constituency.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
The attached document contains local authority and parliamentary constituency level data showing the proportion of the population aged 16-64 without an A level or equivalent qualification, according to Annual Population Survey estimates.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he is providing additional (a) financial and (b) other support to supply teachers who have been adversely affected by the closure of schools as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nick Gibb
State funded schools continued to receive their budgets as usual last academic year, regardless of any periods of partial or complete closure. This ensured that they were able to continue to pay their staff and meet their other regular financial commitments.
During the COVID-19 outbreak, the guidance made clear that schools should continue to pay any directly hired staff, including supply staff, as normal.
Schools were also advised to support financially at-risk employment agencies, with whom they had existing agreements, to ensure these agencies could continue to pay their workers where assignments had been curtailed. Supply teachers employed by private agencies who were not on a live assignment, or who were unable to source new assignments, were able to access financial support through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
Now that schools are?fully reopen?for?all pupils, we?anticipate the demand for supply teachers?to?return to normal.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance the Government provides to local authorities required to provide support for children who live in their authority but attend school in a different local authority.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Local authorities have a statutory duty to provide free home to school transport for eligible children. A child is eligible if they are of compulsory school age, attend their nearest suitable school and it is more than the statutory walking distance from their home. The statutory walking distance is 2 miles for children under the age of 8 and 3 miles for children aged 8 and over. A child is also eligible if they live within the statutory walking distance but could not reasonably be expected to walk to school because of their special educational needs, disability or mobility problems, or because the nature of the route means it would be unsafe for them to do so. There are additional entitlements to free home to school transport for those children who are eligible for free school meals, or if a parent they live with receives the maximum amount of Working Tax Credit.
The duty applies even if the school an eligible child attends is in the area of another local authority.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what additional funds he is making available for (a) schools, (b) childcare facilities and (c) universities for deep cleaning after cases of covid-19.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is providing additional funding to schools, on top of existing budgets, to cover unavoidable costs incurred between March and July due to the COVID-19 outbreak that cannot be met from their existing resources.
Schools have been eligible to claim for: increased premises related costs associated with keeping schools open over the Easter and summer half term holidays; support for free school meals for eligible children who are not in school, where schools are not using the national voucher scheme; and additional cleaning costs required due to confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases, over and above the cost of existing cleaning arrangements. We have published detailed guidance on the fund at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-financial-support-for-schools.
As explained in the guidance, schools can claim for reimbursement of their costs, up to a maximum amount that will depend on their size, and will be no more than £75,000 per school. We expect the funding limits which have been set by the size of the school are sufficient to cover additional costs in most cases. The Department understands that there may be exceptional circumstances which mean that costs are higher than this, so schools have been able to submit claims that are more than the funding limit.
The first claims window for the fund closed on 21 July. All claims for funding within the specified cost categories and maximum limit have already been paid. The Department is assessing all other claims, which will be paid later in the autumn if approved.
There will also be a further opportunity in autumn for schools to claim for exceptional costs they faced between March and July. This second claims window will be for available for schools who were unable to claim in the summer, and will be for the same eligible cost categories.
Nurseries and childminders cannot claim for specific costs incurred due to increased premises costs needed to keep schools open during school holidays, or over and above the cost of existing cleaning arrangements as a result of confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases. The Department continues to look at the costs associated with COVID-19 and to secure the best and most appropriate support for nurseries and childminders.
The Department also expects universities and other higher education providers to prioritise the health and safety of their staff and students and put in place measures that apply to their individual circumstances. To help universities make informed decisions about their provision, we have updated our guidance on reopening university buildings and campuses to reflect the latest public health advice, including on face coverings, local lockdowns and test and trace. Everyone should be following basic guidance on COVID-19, including social distancing and maintaining good hand and respiratory hygiene.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what change there has been in the level of per pupil funding for pupils in special schools in County Durham in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Special schools are funded through a combination of place funding and top-up funding from a local authority’s high needs budget. The high needs budget is allocated to each local authority who determine funding for special schools in their area. Local authorities also use their high needs budgets to pay top-up funding for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities in mainstream schools, and to fund alternative provision. Consequently, the department does not hold data on the level of per pupil funding for pupils in special schools in Durham.
The total high needs allocations for Durham for the past 3 years are as follows:
Year | High needs funding amount (total) |
2021-22 (provisional allocation) | £69,364,424 |
2020-21 | £61,157,652 |
2019-20 | £52,502,760 |
2018-19 | £50,003,532 |
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the additional funding allocated to primary and secondary aged pupils also applies to special and alternative provision providers.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Special and alternative provision providers are funded through the high needs block of the Dedicated Schools Grant. We will provide an additional £730 million of high needs funding next year, coming on top of the additional £780 million in 2020-21, which means high needs budgets will have grown by over £1.5 billion, or 24%, in just 2 years.
We have also announced an additional package worth £1 billion to ensure that schools have the resources they need to help all pupils make up for lost teaching time, with extra support for those who need it most. £650 million will be spent on ensuring all pupils have the chance to catch up and supporting schools to rise to the challenge. This funding will be paid as a one-off grant to all state-funded primary, secondary and special schools in the 2020-21 academic year. Mainstream schools will receive £80 per place, while each special, alternative provision and hospital school will receive £240 for each place, across the 2020-21 academic year. We have applied this additional weighting to specialist settings in recognition of the significantly higher per-pupil costs they face. Further information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-catch-up-premium.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking in response to the situation of students planning to undertake a year abroad but who may be prevented from doing so as such travel is not classified as essential, thereby making insurance for universities invalid.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FDCO) do not make a judgement on whether any travel is essential. Their guidance is that: “Whether travel is essential or not is your own decision”. This guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/about-foreign-commonwealth-development-office-travel-advice.
Before starting a placement, students, including Erasmus+ participants, should consult with their provider to confirm details and check the living in country guide
(https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/overseas-living-in-guides) and travel advice for the country they will be visiting, being conscious that their placement may not be able to continue as originally planned. To undertake a placement, participants should seek the agreement of their home provider and their host. There may be opportunities for it to start at a later date if the situation changes and this is feasible. Participants should be ready to comply with local isolation, testing or quarantine requirements, and will need to rely on the local health system.
We expect all higher education providers to explore alternative options for mobilities and study, whether blended or fully virtual, if appropriate, and to be flexible in their approach and be conscious of the potentially rapidly changing situation on a country by country basis. They should be ready to make quick changes to projects and mobilities, consider delaying mobilities and amending start and end dates, if feasible, as restrictions may change over time. We expect all universities, colleges, schools and other organisers managing international educational mobilities, to follow the relevant FDCO travel advice for the destination country and highlight this to their participants, being aware the situation can change rapidly.
While the government is in continual dialogue with the insurance sector, on its response to COVID-19, and is encouraging insurers to do all they can to support customers during this period, the position on the provision of COVID-19 insurance is that it is largely a commercial judgement for insurers. Cover for COVID-19 related cancellation is unlikely to be included in travel insurance policies bought or renewed after the pandemic was declared, e.g. in the event of the FCDO travel advice changing, as it is a known risk. This is in contrast to policies sold before the outbreak of COVID-19, which typically covered changes in FCDO advice.