Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 28 February 2018 to Question 128697, who is responsible for recruiting self-employed school efficiency advisers; what the criteria for employment are; where those posts have been advertised; how many candidates have applied to date; and how many of those applicants have been accepted.
Answered by Nick Gibb
During the pilot being operated in this academic year, the funding for payments for School Efficiency Advisers (SEAs) comes from within the Department’s existing budget and has been allocated by the Department for this purpose.
SEAs are helping to share effective practice by extending the expertise they have already shown in their existing employment across the sector.
All the SEAs recruited to date are Institute of School Business Leadership (ISBL) Fellows that have applied in response to ISBL advertising the opportunity to its Fellows. The criteria for selection are having skills in school financial management and passing an accreditation process, demonstrating their ability to provide tailored advice to schools. The Department is still in the process of SEA recruitment and continue to receive expressions of interest for the role in the pilot phase.
The Department is currently carrying out the accreditation panels for the potential SEAs in the pilot phase. Of those who have been accredited as SEAs so far, 19 per cent are currently self-employed; and 81 per cent are employed as a school business professional.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 28 February 2018 to Question 128697, what additional advice or service the Department considers that schools’ existing school business professional may be able to provide in their role as a school efficiency adviser that they have not already provided in the course of their existing employment.
Answered by Nick Gibb
During the pilot being operated in this academic year, the funding for payments for School Efficiency Advisers (SEAs) comes from within the Department’s existing budget and has been allocated by the Department for this purpose.
SEAs are helping to share effective practice by extending the expertise they have already shown in their existing employment across the sector.
All the SEAs recruited to date are Institute of School Business Leadership (ISBL) Fellows that have applied in response to ISBL advertising the opportunity to its Fellows. The criteria for selection are having skills in school financial management and passing an accreditation process, demonstrating their ability to provide tailored advice to schools. The Department is still in the process of SEA recruitment and continue to receive expressions of interest for the role in the pilot phase.
The Department is currently carrying out the accreditation panels for the potential SEAs in the pilot phase. Of those who have been accredited as SEAs so far, 19 per cent are currently self-employed; and 81 per cent are employed as a school business professional.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 28 February 2018 to Question 128697, whether payments made to school efficiency advisers by his Department will come from existing budgets or whether additional funding has been granted to the Department for that purpose.
Answered by Nick Gibb
During the pilot being operated in this academic year, the funding for payments for School Efficiency Advisers (SEAs) comes from within the Department’s existing budget and has been allocated by the Department for this purpose.
SEAs are helping to share effective practice by extending the expertise they have already shown in their existing employment across the sector.
All the SEAs recruited to date are Institute of School Business Leadership (ISBL) Fellows that have applied in response to ISBL advertising the opportunity to its Fellows. The criteria for selection are having skills in school financial management and passing an accreditation process, demonstrating their ability to provide tailored advice to schools. The Department is still in the process of SEA recruitment and continue to receive expressions of interest for the role in the pilot phase.
The Department is currently carrying out the accreditation panels for the potential SEAs in the pilot phase. Of those who have been accredited as SEAs so far, 19 per cent are currently self-employed; and 81 per cent are employed as a school business professional.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department plans to introduce a tapered income for entitlement to free school meals under universal credit in order to incentivise being in employment.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Our new criteria for free school meals eligibility will set an annual earned income threshold of £7,400 for families in receipt of Universal Credit. This will, depending on a family’s exact circumstances, typically equate to an annual household income of between £18,000 and £24,000 when benefits are taken into account.
Establishing an earnings threshold for free school meals eligibility gives us a clear and practical system for schools and local authorities to deliver, and our Eligibility Checking System will make the checks simple and straightforward. We do not have any plans to introduce tapered eligibility criteria for free school meals. Such an option would add complexity for families and increase the administrative burden on schools and local authorities.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 26 February 2018 to Question 128396, on Schools: Admissions, for what reason the Department exceeded the 12-week guideline on responding to consultations in the case of the Schools that work for everyone consultation; whether the Government plans to update that 12-week guideline; and for what reason the Department did not provide complete answers to the questions on (a) when the Department plans to respond to that consultation and (b) for what reason the Department has not yet responded to that consultation.
Answered by Nick Gibb
As set out in the response to the hon. Member for Birmingham Hall Green’s question of 19 February, the department has been considering the responses to the proposals set out in the ‘Schools that Work for Everyone’ consultation, and we will be responding to the consultation in due course.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 25 January 2018 to Question 123349, by whom the £500 per day to be paid to school efficiency advisors is to be paid.
Answered by Nick Gibb
School Efficiency Advisers (SEA) are experts working with schools as part of our initial pilot to support school leaders to optimise their use of resources and to deliver educational outcomes and contribute to whole-school improvement.
The daily rate for an SEA will be £400, and up to £100 in travel expenses. This will be paid by the Department. Payment will either go directly to the school for releasing their school business professional for deployment, in the case of SEAs who are self-employed – payment will go directly to the SEA.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to his Department's consultation on Analysing family circumstance and education, which closed in July 2017, when his Department plans to respond to that consultation; and for what reason his Department has not yet responded.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Department for Education has been considering the representations made in this consultation and will be publishing shortly.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how his Department monitors the requirement that schools must consult on their admissions arrangements at least once every seven years; and what information his Department collects on such consultations.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The School Admissions Code (the Code) places a statutory duty on school admission authorities to consult locally before making any changes to their admission arrangements. Where no changes are proposed, they must consult at least once every seven years to ensure that the admission arrangements continue to meet local needs.
The Department does not collect information on the consultation process of individual admission authorities.
Admission authorities are responsible for ensuring that they comply with the requirements of the Code, including those around consultation.
Anyone who believes that an admission authority has not complied with the Code, may make an objection to the Office of the Schools Adjudicator. The decision reached by the Schools Adjudicator is binding and enforceable by the Secretary of State.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to his Department's consultation on Schools that work for everyone, which closed in December 2016; when his Department plans to respond to that consultation; for what reason the Department has not yet responded to that consultation; and whether the Government has any plans to amend the guidance on consultation principles which state a response should be issued within 12 weeks of a consultation.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department has been considering the responses to the proposals set out in the ‘Schools that Work for Everyone’ consultation, and plans to respond in due course.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding has been provided to the Institute of School Business Leadership (ISBL) for the school efficiency adviser programme for the 2017-18 financial year; by what process the ISBL was chosen as the provider of that programme; and whether there was an open tendering process.
Answered by Nick Gibb
We are currently conducting a pilot on the use of school efficiency advisers (SEAs). We have contracted the Institute of School Business Leadership (ISBL) for administrative and accreditation support as an interim measure during the pilot phase, in order that we can deliver this scheme as quickly as possible for the benefit of schools and trusts with the greatest need. ISBL offers a skilled, established, group of professionals who are currently practising in the sector.
To date, we have spent approximately £33,000 on the contract with ISBL to support the pilot. Once the pilot concludes, and assuming a decision is made to proceed to roll out the approach, we intend to conduct an open procurement process which would be launched later this year.