Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of children are home schooled in each local education authority area.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department publishes information on children in elective home education (EHE), which can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/elective-home-education.
The number of children in EHE, at any point in the 2022/23 academic year, by local authority can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/3a87f0ae-7cfd-4b6c-b8de-08dcab23db45.
Please note that approaches to recording of EHE vary across local authorities. This is a new data collection since 2022/23 and, as such, the department expects the quality of the data returns from local authorities to continue to improve over time. In the latest term, data was received from 95% of local authorities. The data is adjusted for non-response and combined with population data for comparable ages to produce the national rate of EHE published in the release, which was 1.1% in autumn 2023.
The Children’s Wellbeing Bill will legislate for local authority registers of children not in school. This will include a duty on parents to provide the necessary information for these registers if their child is eligible, which would improve the accuracy of data and ensure that fewer children slip under the radar when they are not in school.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to implement the recommendations of the Twenty-Seventh Report of the Committee of Public Accounts of Session 2022-23 on Evaluating innovation projects in children’s social care, HC 38, published on 22 November 2022.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The recommendations from the Twenty-Seventh Report of the Committee of Public Accounts rightly highlighted that the innovation projects in children’s social care needed to be fully evaluated and that the subsequent learning from previous innovation work should be sufficiently scaled and spread.
The department is committed to ensuring that evaluation and learning drive how it sets the direction for practice in children’s social care. Whilst the recommendations from the Public Accounts Committee have been enacted, there is more that will be done to work with the sector, key stakeholders and those with lived experience, to ensure that this learning translates into improvements for children, young people and their families.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students (a) began and (b) completed level (i) 3, (ii) 4, (iii) 5, (iv) 6 and (v) 7 apprenticeships in each year between 1997 and 2024.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Apprenticeship starts and achievements are published by level from academic year 2002/03 and can be found in the following links:
2017/18 to 2023/24 (reported to date):
2014/15 to 2016/17:
2002/03 to 2013/14 apprenticeship starts:
2002/03 to 2013/14 apprenticeship achievements:
To note, intermediate apprenticeships are equivalent to level 2, Advanced apprenticeships are equivalent to level 3 and Higher apprenticeships are equivalent to those at level 4 and above. Apprenticeship starts and achievements within an academic year cannot be used to infer the proportion of apprenticeships that are achieved. They are independent performance metrics. Typically, apprenticeships are achieved in a subsequent academic year to the one they started in.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has for the role of trade unions in working with specialist technical excellence colleges.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department will be bringing forward further details on the role of all local partners working with Technical Excellence Colleges in due course. These colleges will work with businesses, trade unions and local government to provide young people and adults high quality training that local economies need.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 22 July 2024 to Question 458 on Private Education: Fees and Charges, whether the Department has made an assessment to date of the impact of the introduction of VAT on schools in the independent sector on class sizes in state schools.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The impact of any tax changes affecting independent schools on the state sector will be carefully considered. The government will complete its analysis once details of the policy changes have been confirmed. The department is supporting HM Treasury which will deliver tax changes. Further details will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her planned timetable is for the creation of an additional 3,000 nurseries.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department knows that high-quality early education and childcare is a crucial opportunity to transform life chances, yet too often it is unavailable or unaffordable.
To tackle this, the department will open an additional 3,000 nurseries through upgrading space in primary schools. The department will start delivering additional places as soon as possible, whilst also driving high and rising standards and better opportunities for every child. The department will work closely with schools, local authorities and private, voluntary and independent providers to help deliver new nursery places and the expansion in childcare entitlements.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of children at (a) key stage one and two, (b) key stage three and four and (c) post-16 education are in (i) state-funded and (ii) privately-funded independent education in each local education authority area.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department publishes figures on schools and pupils, including information on state-funded and independent schools. More information can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics.
Data is collected from independent schools through the school level annual school census. This does not include phase but does include the age of pupils. A table showing the number of pupils by age, school type and local authority can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/f68a2ed7-d308-4e17-b82a-08dcab23a860.
Please note that age does not necessarily directly align to state-funded sector primary, secondary and post-16 schools.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact on (a) class sizes, (b) teacher recruitment and retention and (c) relations with unions in state schools of the introduction of VAT on education provision in the independent sector.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Education matters and is at the heart of the mission to break down barriers to opportunity. The impact of any tax changes affecting independent schools on the state sector will be carefully considered. The government will complete its analysis once details of the policy changes have been confirmed; this will happen in due course.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what is her timeline is for reviewing (a) capital projects relating to RAAC within schools and (b) other capital projects.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
High and rising school standards are at the heart of the mission to break down barriers to opportunity and give every child the best start in life. Ensuring schools have the resources and buildings they need is a key part of that.
There are over 22,000 schools and colleges in England of which around 1% have reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) present in some areas of their buildings.
The department will fix this problem as quickly as possible and permanently remove RAAC either through grant funding or rebuilding. All schools and colleges with RAAC are continuing to receive support from caseworkers where needed and are providing full time face to face education for all pupils.
School buildings should be fit for the future. The department will set out further details on wider spending plans, including for capital funding, in due course.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students were accepted onto higher education courses by each A-level grade combination in England in each of the last three years.
Answered by Andrea Jenkyns
The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service publish data on acceptances to full-time undergraduate higher education by A level grade combination. It can be found here: https://www.ucas.com/data-and-analysis/undergraduate-statistics-and-reports/ucas-undergraduate-sector-level-end-cycle-data-resources-2021.
The table below shows the number of acceptances by A level grade combinations for English 18-year-olds for the three most recent years.
Figures for 2022 are due to published in December.
Table 1 – English 18-year-olds accepted to full-time undergraduate higher education by A level points:
A level points | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
3 points (EEE) | 305 | 105 | 145 |
4 points (DEE) | 1,160 | 400 | 475 |
5 points (DDE) | 2,625 | 945 | 1,015 |
6 points (DDD) | 4,740 | 1,935 | 1,980 |
7 points (CDD) | 7,100 | 3,585 | 3,380 |
8 points (CCD) | 9,665 | 6,155 | 5,100 |
9 points (CCC) | 11,895 | 9,170 | 7,650 |
10 points (BCC) | 13,805 | 11,590 | 10,185 |
11 points (BBC) | 14,390 | 13,710 | 12,400 |
12 points (BBB) | 14,395 | 15,350 | 14,410 |
13 points (ABB) | 13,800 | 15,540 | 15,665 |
14 points (AAB) | 11,860 | 15,090 | 16,160 |
15 points (AAA) | 10,690 | 14,555 | 16,555 |
16 points (A*AA) | 8,365 | 12,755 | 14,905 |
17 points (A*A*A) | 5,285 | 9,880 | 12,860 |
18 points (A*A*A*) | 4,835 | 11,085 | 16,505 |
All | 134,910 | 141,860 | 149,380 |