Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the provision of financial education at a primary level; and if he will make a statement on Talk Money week.
Answered by Robin Walker
Education on financial matters helps to ensure that young people are prepared to manage their money well, make sound financial decisions and know where to seek further information when needed.
The department has introduced a rigorous mathematics curriculum, which provides young people with the knowledge and financial skills to make important financial decisions. In the primary mathematics curriculum, there is a strong emphasis on the essential arithmetic knowledge that pupils should be taught. This knowledge is vital, as a strong grasp of numeracy and numbers will underpin pupils’ ability to manage budgets and money, including, for example, using percentages. There is also some more specific content about financial education, such as calculations with money.
In 2014, financial literacy was made statutory within the national curriculum as part of the citizenship curriculum for 11 to 16 year-olds. To enable schools to plan their whole curriculum, we also published a non-statutory citizenship curriculum for key stage 1 and key stage 2. This curriculum is clear that, by the end of primary education, pupils should be taught how to look after their money and realise that future wants and needs may be met through saving.
Primary schools are free to include additional content on financial management in their curricula, including working with external experts. However, the department does not monitor this and trusts schools to use their professional judgement and understanding of their pupils to develop the right teaching approach for their particular context.
The Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) published financial education guidance for primary and secondary schools in England on 11 November 2021, during Talk Money week. Further information on this can be found at: https://maps.org.uk/2021/11/11/financial-education-guidance-for-primary-and-secondary-schools-in-england/.
The department provided a supportive foreword for the guidance, which is aimed at encouraging conversations about money in the classroom by setting out ten steps schools can take to boost the delivery of financial education. The guidance was developed in consultation with financial education experts and is designed to support school leaders and education decision makers to enhance the financial education currently delivered in their schools to make it memorable and impactful. The department supported MaPS with their communications activities during Talk Money week and is looking for future appropriate opportunities to promote the guidance.
The department will continue to work closely with the MaPS and other organisations such as Her Majesty's Treasury, to consider learning from other sector initiatives and whether there is scope to provide further support for the teaching of financial education in schools.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the per pupil funding is in Harlow compared to 2018-19.
Answered by Robin Walker
This year, 2021-22, schools in Harlow are attracting £5,153 per pupil (including additional pay and pensions funding) through the schools national funding formula (NFF). Next year, 2022-23, this NFF funding will increase to £5,291 per pupil. In 2018-19, schools in Harlow attracted £4,513 per pupil.
The 2021-22 and 2022-23 figures cannot be directly compared to the 2018-19 figures due to the introduction of the teacher’s pay and pension grant that was rolled into the NFF in 2021-22. The figures for 2021-22 and 2022-23 include this additional funding.
In the recent Spending Review, a further increase in the Core Schools Budget, nationally, of £1.6 billion in 2022-23 was announced. This increase is not included in the figures above; we will be announcing its distribution shortly.
These figures are based on notional school-level NFF allocations. Constituency figures based on actual school-level Dedicated Schools Grant allocations are available here: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/constituency-data-schools-funding/.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much the pupil premium is set to rise over the next 12 months in Harlow.
Answered by Robin Walker
The department will confirm pupil premium allocations for the 2022-23 financial year in March 2022. This will provide the public with information on the specific amounts that regions, local authorities and schools are receiving through the pupil premium for 2022-23.
The Department publishes information on pupil premium allocations and the number of pupils eligible annually. The most recent publicly available figures can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-allocations-and-conditions-of-grant-2021-to-2022.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much capital investment has been made into schools in Harlow through the Condition Improvement Fund in each year since 2010.
Answered by Robin Walker
Schools and those responsible for school buildings receive condition funding through different routes depending on their size and type. Local authorities, larger multi-academy trusts and large voluntary aided school bodies, such as dioceses, receive a School Condition Allocation (SCA) to invest in priorities across the schools for which they are responsible. Smaller or stand-alone academy trusts, other voluntary aided schools and sixth-form colleges can bid to the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) which launched its first annual round for the 2015-16 financial year. Schools are either eligible to apply for CIF or receive condition funding through the SCA made to their responsible body, and all schools are also allocated devolved formula capital (DFC) to spend on small projects that meet their own priorities. An overview of school capital funding is available on GOV.uk along with published lists of SCA and DFC allocations at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-capital-funding.
Eligible schools in Harlow have been granted the following funding through CIF:
Application round | CIF funding provided to Harlow schools |
2015-16 | £2,897,605 |
2016-17 | £2,368,748 |
2017-18 | £2,787,638 |
2018-19 | £2,199,129 |
2019-20 | £3,765,627 |
2020-21 | £2,328,752 |
2021-22 | £6,588,755 |
The department publishes final funding amounts on individual projects once all projects in an annual round have completed. Funding for projects in the CIF rounds for financial years 2015-16 and 2016-17 are available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/condition-improvement-fund-2015-to-2016-outcome.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/condition-improvement-fund-2016-to-2017-outcome.
Funding figures for following rounds will be published in due course.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to help ensure equal accessibility in education for children from all backgrounds.
Answered by Will Quince
Our ambition is for every child, no matter what challenges they face, to have access to a world-class education that sets them up for life.
The government places mandatory requirements on school admission authorities through the School Admissions Code. Its purpose is to ensure that all school places for maintained schools and academies are allocated and offered in an open and fair way. The School Admissions Code requires that admission arrangements do not unfairly disadvantage children from a particular social group. On 1 September 2021, the department introduced a new School Admissions Code which aims to improve the in-year admission of vulnerable children and help reduce to a minimum any time spent out of school.
Looked after and previously looked after children are among the most vulnerable in our society and so all schools are required to give highest priority in their admissions criteria to them. The School Admissions Code also gives admission authorities the freedom to choose to prioritise children eligible for the pupil premium or who have a social or medical need, according to their local circumstances.
Where a pupil is identified as having special educational needs, schools should take action to remove barriers to learning and put effective special educational provision in place. Schools also have a legal duty to produce an accessibility plan that sets out how, over time, they are going to increase access to the curriculum for disabled pupils, improve the physical environment of the school to increase access for disabled pupils, and make written information more accessible to disabled pupils by providing information in a range of different ways.
The department is investing £300 million in the 2021-22 financial year to support local authorities to deliver new places and improve existing provision for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities or who require alternative provision. It is for local authorities to determine how to best use this funding to address their local priorities, such as investment in accessibility to improve or broaden access to existing provision.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to help ensure that school leavers have the necessary financial educational skills when entering the world of employment.
Answered by Robin Walker
Education on financial matters helps to ensure that young people are prepared to manage their money well, make sound financial decisions and know where to seek further information when needed.
Finance education forms part of the citizenship national curriculum which can be taught at all Key Stages and is compulsory at key stages 3 and 4: https://www.gov.uk/national-curriculum. Financial education ensures that pupils are taught the functions and uses of money, the importance of personal budgeting, money management and managing financial risk. At secondary school, pupils are taught about income and expenditure, credit and debt, insurance, savings and pensions, financial products and services, and how public money is raised and spent.
The department has introduced a rigorous mathematics curriculum, which provides young people with the knowledge and financial skills to make important financial decisions. In the primary mathematics curriculum, there is a strong emphasis on the essential arithmetic knowledge that pupils should be taught. This knowledge is vital, as a strong grasp of numeracy and numbers will underpin pupils’ ability to manage budgets and money, including, for example, using percentages. There is also some specific content about financial education, such as calculations with money.
The secondary mathematics curriculum develops pupils’ understanding and skills in relation to more complex personal finance issues such as calculating loan repayments, interest rates and compound interest.
The department works closely with the Money and Pensions Service and other stakeholders such as Her Majesty’s Treasury, to consider what can be discovered from other sector initiatives and whether there is scope to provide further support for the teaching of financial education in schools.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of placing financial education on the national curriculum for primary schools.
Answered by Robin Walker
Education on financial matters helps to ensure that young people are prepared to manage their money well, make sound financial decisions and know where to seek further information when needed.
Finance education forms part of the citizenship national curriculum which can be taught at all Key Stages and is compulsory at key stages 3 and 4: https://www.gov.uk/national-curriculum. Financial education ensures that pupils are taught the functions and uses of money, the importance of personal budgeting, money management and managing financial risk. At secondary school, pupils are taught about income and expenditure, credit and debt, insurance, savings and pensions, financial products and services, and how public money is raised and spent.
The department has introduced a rigorous mathematics curriculum, which provides young people with the knowledge and financial skills to make important financial decisions. In the primary mathematics curriculum, there is a strong emphasis on the essential arithmetic knowledge that pupils should be taught. This knowledge is vital, as a strong grasp of numeracy and numbers will underpin pupils’ ability to manage budgets and money, including, for example, using percentages. There is also some specific content about financial education, such as calculations with money.
The secondary mathematics curriculum develops pupils’ understanding and skills in relation to more complex personal finance issues such as calculating loan repayments, interest rates and compound interest.
The department works closely with the Money and Pensions Service and other stakeholders such as Her Majesty’s Treasury, to consider what can be discovered from other sector initiatives and whether there is scope to provide further support for the teaching of financial education in schools.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what processes his Department has established to monitor levels of child hunger in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in England and Wales.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Schools are now fully open, and all children should be able to access a nutritious meal at school, free to those that are eligible for free school meals (FSM), helping to ensure they are well-nourished, develop healthy eating habits, and can concentrate and learn.
FSM eligibility is monitored through school census data. Currently, under the benefits-related criteria, 1.7 million of the most disadvantaged pupils are eligible for and claiming a FSM. An additional 1.3 million infants enjoy a free, healthy and nutritious meal at lunchtime following the introduction of the Universal Infant FSM policy in 2014.
Where pupils eligible for benefits-related FSM are required to stay at home due to COVID-19, schools should continue to work with their school catering team or food provider to offer good quality lunch parcels.
During 2021 the department is investing up to £220 million in our Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme. Taking place in schools and community venues across the country, delivery began at Easter, has run across the summer and will run in the Christmas holidays. This programme supports disadvantaged pupils and their families with enriching activities, providing them with healthy food, helping them to learn new things and improving socialisation and well-being.
Beyond this, the Covid Local Support Grant continues to be available until the 30 September. This is being run by local authorities in England to support the hardest hit families and individuals with food and essential utility costs.
Since June 2020, the department has announced more than £3 billion to support education recovery, including over £950 million in flexible funding to schools and £1.5 billion for a national tutoring revolution. This will have a material impact in closing gaps that have emerged.
Recovery programmes have been designed to allow early years, school and college leaders the flexibility to support those pupils most in need, including the most disadvantaged and expand our reforms in two areas where the evidence is clear our investment will have a significant impact for disadvantaged children - high quality tutoring and great teaching.
Education is devolved, and it will be for the Welsh administration to respond regarding the position in Wales.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support his Department is providing to schools to (a) understand and (b) tackle child hunger.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Schools are now fully open, and all children should be able to access a nutritious meal at school, free to those that are eligible for free school meals (FSM), helping to ensure they are well-nourished, develop healthy eating habits, and can concentrate and learn.
FSM eligibility is monitored through school census data. Currently, under the benefits-related criteria, 1.7 million of the most disadvantaged pupils are eligible for and claiming a FSM. An additional 1.3 million infants enjoy a free, healthy and nutritious meal at lunchtime following the introduction of the Universal Infant FSM policy in 2014.
Where pupils eligible for benefits-related FSM are required to stay at home due to COVID-19, schools should continue to work with their school catering team or food provider to offer good quality lunch parcels.
During 2021 the department is investing up to £220 million in our Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme. Taking place in schools and community venues across the country, delivery began at Easter, has run across the summer and will run in the Christmas holidays. This programme supports disadvantaged pupils and their families with enriching activities, providing them with healthy food, helping them to learn new things and improving socialisation and well-being.
Beyond this, the Covid Local Support Grant continues to be available until the 30 September. This is being run by local authorities in England to support the hardest hit families and individuals with food and essential utility costs.
Since June 2020, the department has announced more than £3 billion to support education recovery, including over £950 million in flexible funding to schools and £1.5 billion for a national tutoring revolution. This will have a material impact in closing gaps that have emerged.
Recovery programmes have been designed to allow early years, school and college leaders the flexibility to support those pupils most in need, including the most disadvantaged and expand our reforms in two areas where the evidence is clear our investment will have a significant impact for disadvantaged children - high quality tutoring and great teaching.
Education is devolved, and it will be for the Welsh administration to respond regarding the position in Wales.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the disruption caused to learning by child hunger on the return to school.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Schools are now fully open, and all children should be able to access a nutritious meal at school, free to those that are eligible for free school meals (FSM), helping to ensure they are well-nourished, develop healthy eating habits, and can concentrate and learn.
FSM eligibility is monitored through school census data. Currently, under the benefits-related criteria, 1.7 million of the most disadvantaged pupils are eligible for and claiming a FSM. An additional 1.3 million infants enjoy a free, healthy and nutritious meal at lunchtime following the introduction of the Universal Infant FSM policy in 2014.
Where pupils eligible for benefits-related FSM are required to stay at home due to COVID-19, schools should continue to work with their school catering team or food provider to offer good quality lunch parcels.
During 2021 the department is investing up to £220 million in our Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme. Taking place in schools and community venues across the country, delivery began at Easter, has run across the summer and will run in the Christmas holidays. This programme supports disadvantaged pupils and their families with enriching activities, providing them with healthy food, helping them to learn new things and improving socialisation and well-being.
Beyond this, the Covid Local Support Grant continues to be available until the 30 September. This is being run by local authorities in England to support the hardest hit families and individuals with food and essential utility costs.
Since June 2020, the department has announced more than £3 billion to support education recovery, including over £950 million in flexible funding to schools and £1.5 billion for a national tutoring revolution. This will have a material impact in closing gaps that have emerged.
Recovery programmes have been designed to allow early years, school and college leaders the flexibility to support those pupils most in need, including the most disadvantaged and expand our reforms in two areas where the evidence is clear our investment will have a significant impact for disadvantaged children - high quality tutoring and great teaching.
Education is devolved, and it will be for the Welsh administration to respond regarding the position in Wales.