Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to increase the number of qualified teachers for deaf children in schools.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
I refer the hon. Member for Ealing Central to the answer I gave on 23 February 2023 to Question 143709.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 20 July 2022 to Question 37614 on Schools: Buildings, which schools in Ealing Central and Acton constituency had at least one construction element in (a) condition grade C and (b) condition grade D, when that data was collated; and which of those schools (i) have already received funding from the School Rebuilding Programme and (ii) are expected to receive funding from the School Rebuilding Programme in the next two years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Condition Data Collection (CDC) is one of the largest and most comprehensive data collection programmes in the UK’s public sector. It collected data on the building condition of government funded schools in England. It provides a robust evidence base to enable the Department to target capital funding for maintaining and rebuilding school buildings.
The key, high level findings of the CDC programme were published in May 2021 in the ‘Condition of School Buildings Survey: Key Findings’ report. This is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/989912/Condition_of_School_Buildings_Survey_CDC1_-_key_findings_report.pdf.
Individual CDC reports have been shared with every school and their responsible body to use alongside their existing condition surveys to plan maintenance schedules and investment plans. The Department plans to publish detailed school level CDC data. The Department is still preparing the data and will publish it as soon as possible.
Well maintained, safe school buildings are a priority for the Department. Our funding is directed both to maintaining the condition of the school estate and rebuilding schools. The Department has allocated over £13 billion for improving the condition of schools since 2015, including £1.8 billion committed this financial year.
The ten year School Rebuilding Programme (SRP) is condition led. 400 of the 500 available places on the programme have been provisionally allocated. A list of these schools and the methodology used to select them is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme-schools-in-the-programme.
Of the 400 so far selected, none are in Ealing Central and Acton constituency.
The 239 schools announced in December 2022 will enter delivery at a rate of approximately 50 per year, over a five year period from 2023. The Department is currently undertaking due diligence on these schools prior to scheduling them, with schools prioritised according to the condition of their buildings, readiness to proceed, and efficiency of delivery. The scope and funding for each project will be confirmed following detailed feasibility studies and condition surveys of buildings.
Where a school identifies significant safety issues with a building, that cannot be managed within local resources, the Department considers additional support on a case-by-case basis. This includes applications for Urgent Capital Support (UCS) from eligible institutions. Schools eligible for Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) can apply for UCS where there are urgent health and safety issues that threaten school closure and cannot wait until the next CIF bidding round.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the National Food Strategy Report published in July 2021, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of updating the School Food Standards to remove the mandatory servings of (a) meat including fish and (b) dairy as suggested in that report.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department believes that the current standards provide a robust yet flexible framework to ensure that pupils continue to receive high quality and nutritious food that builds healthy eating habits for life.
The Department’s current focus is on promoting compliance with the School Food Standards, and it will keep this under review. In February 2022, the Levelling Up White Paper outlined what the Department is doing to strengthen adherence. This includes piloting work with the Foods Standards Agency, funding of up to £200,000 in a pilot Governor Training Scheme and encouraging schools to complete a statement on their websites setting out their whole school approach to food.
The Department will consider the National Food Strategy Report’s recommendations in future updates.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of increasing the flexibility of the apprenticeship levy on the level of (a) staff and (b) skill shortages in the hospitality sector.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The apprenticeship levy supports employers in all sectors, including those in hospitality, to invest in high-quality apprenticeship training. Employers in the catering and hospitality sector have developed 10 apprenticeship standards to help them to develop their workforces, including Level 2 Hospitality Team Member, Level 3 Chef De Partie and Level 4 Senior Culinary Chef. In the 2020/21 academic year, there were 8,870 starts in the hospitality sector.
The department is committed to enhancing the quality of apprenticeships and improving the system, so that apprenticeships continue to meet the needs of employers in all sectors.
The department is also supporting employers to make greater use of their levy funds by helping them choose more flexible training models, such as portable, flexi-job and accelerated apprenticeships. Improvements have been made to the levy transfer system, to enable larger employers to more easily support apprenticeship starts in other employers in their own or different sectors. In addition, employers can also access a range of other government-funded skills programmes, including T-levels, Skills Bootcamps, and our free Level 3 courses for jobs, which can help people gain the skills that employers value.
There are no current plans to reform the apprenticeship levy, and as such, no assessment has been made of changes to the levy and the impact on the level of staff or skill shortages in the hospitality sector.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing sensory food play as a part of the Early Years Foundation Stage for early years nutrition.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework sets the standards that all early years providers must meet for the learning, development and care of children from birth to age five.
The department has published an article promoting sensory food education on the ‘Help for early years providers’ online platform, which is a resource for childminders, nursery leaders and pre-school practitioners. This supports practitioners to look at incorporating sensory food education into their practice, while delivering the statutory EYFS requirements. The sensory food education article can be found here: https://help-for-early-years-providers.education.gov.uk/get-help-to-improve-your-practice/sensory-food-education.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support students with the cost-of-living crisis.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The government recognises the additional cost of living pressures that have arisen this year and that have impacted students. Many higher education providers have hardship funds that students can apply to for assistance.
There is £261 million of student premium funding available this academic year to support disadvantaged students who need additional help. The department is with the Office for Students to ensure universities support students in hardship using both hardship funds and drawing on the student premium.
In addition, all households will save on their energy bills through the Energy Price Guarantee and the £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme discount. Students who buy their energy from a domestic supplier are eligible for the energy bills discount. The Energy Prices Bill introduced on 12 October 2022 includes the provision to require landlords to pass benefits they receive from energy price support, as appropriate, onto end users. Further details of the requirements under this legislation will be set out in regulations.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of allocating additional funding for education providers to deliver hardship funds, in the context of the cost-of-living crisis.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The government recognises the additional cost of living pressures that have arisen this year and that have impacted students. Many higher education providers have hardship funds that students can apply to for assistance.
There is £261 million of student premium funding available this academic year to support disadvantaged students who need additional help. The department is with the Office for Students to ensure universities support students in hardship using both hardship funds and drawing on the student premium.
In addition, all households will save on their energy bills through the Energy Price Guarantee and the £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme discount. Students who buy their energy from a domestic supplier are eligible for the energy bills discount. The Energy Prices Bill introduced on 12 October 2022 includes the provision to require landlords to pass benefits they receive from energy price support, as appropriate, onto end users. Further details of the requirements under this legislation will be set out in regulations.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to increase the affordability of childcare.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The department has spent over £3.5 billion in each of the past three years on early education entitlements, and continues to support families with the cost of childcare through Tax-Free Childcare and Universal Credit.
At the Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021, the department also announced additional funding of £160 million in 2022/23, £180 million in 2023/24, and £170 million in 2024/25, compared to the 2021/22 financial year, for local authorities to increase hourly rates paid to childcare providers.
In July 2022, the department announced measures to increase take-up of childcare support and to reduce the costs and bureaucracy facing providers. These plans aim to give providers more flexibility and autonomy, and attract more people to childminding, while encouraging the growth of childminder agencies, enabling greater access to this flexible affordable form of care.
The department also has a campaign underway via the Childcare Choices website to ensure that every parent knows about the government-funded support they are eligible for to save money on their childcare bills. Childcare Choices is accessible here: https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of making suicide prevention a compulsory part of the school curriculum.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
All pupils in schools are taught about mental health as part of the relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) curriculum, which the department made mandatory in 2020 to ensure that all pupils are taught about important topics.
Schools can teach older pupils about suicide in an age-appropriate and sensitive way. The RSHE statutory guidance advises that schools should approach teaching about self-harm and suicide carefully and should be aware of the risks to pupils from exposure to materials that are instructive rather than preventative. This includes websites or videos that provide instructions or methods of self-harm or suicide. The guidance is clear that if teachers have concerns about a specific pupil in relation to self-harm or suicidal thoughts, they must follow safeguarding procedures immediately.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, in the context of the rising cost of (a) food and (b) domestic bills, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of implementing a temporary moratorium on the wearing of school uniforms in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools.
Answered by Jonathan Gullis
The Department is not making such an assessment.