Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of people who took an English for Speakers of Other Languages class claimed Universal Credit in the last 12 months; and what the cost to the public purse was of the provision of those classes in the same period.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The information requested is not held centrally and is therefore not readily available.
The department does hold data on the number of people who took an English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) qualification, but this only includes learners funded through the adult skills fund (ASF), therefore excluding learners in devolved areas and those who studied ESOL courses funded through tailored learning. In 2023/24 145,730 people studied an ESOL qualification funded through the ASF.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many teachers have formally raised concern about the age of irregular migrant students in each of the last five years.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Concerns of this nature would be raised with the individual local authority children’s services team which has responsibility for the unaccompanied asylum-seeking child, therefore the department does not hold data on this.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the total amount of fines collected for taking children out of school during term time was in each of the last five years, broken down by local authority.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department collects information from local authorities on penalty notices issued for unauthorised absence, including numbers of penalty notices issued, paid within 21 days, paid within 28 days, and other outcomes. This is published in the statistical release ‘parental responsibility measures’ and can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/parental-responsibility-measures.
The amount payable was £60 if paid within 21 days of receipt, rising to £120 if paid between 22 and 28 days. From August 2024, the fine for school absences is £80 if paid within 21 days, or £160 if paid within 28 days. In the case of repeated fines, if a parent receives a second fine for the same child within any three-year period, this will be charged at the higher rate of £160.
The number of penalty notices issued, paid within 21 days, paid within 28 days, and other outcomes, by local authorities and for England, can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/3d370ede-53eb-454f-f8ae-08dd0adc50ad.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what consultations her Department is holding with public schools in relation to the removal of VAT exemptions.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government carried out a technical consultation from 29 July to 15 September 2024 and published a response alongside a tax information and impact note on 30 October. The documents are published on GOV.UK and are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-on-private-school-fees-removing-the-charitable-rates-relief-for-private-schools.
The government received over 17,000 written responses during the consultation period, all of which were carefully considered.
During the consultation period, the government also held a series of meetings with stakeholders who represent private schools. As the regulator of private schools, the department will continue to have regular meetings with representatives of private schools.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in the care system are from non-UK citizenship families; and what the total cost to the public purse is of their care.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The information on the nationality of children looked after by local authorities in England is not held centrally by the department. Therefore, we are not able to provide the figures requested.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many school days were lost due to school closures during the Covid lockdowns.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department does not hold information on total school days lost due to school closures during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
However, during the COVID-19 pandemic the department did collect and publish information on attendance in education and early years settings. This information can be found in the following statistical release: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 6 November 2024 to Question 11711 on Students: Loans, for what reason there was an increase in the amount of debt written off between 2022-23 and 2023-24.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The table below shows the amount that has been cancelled or written off in the 2022/23 and 2023/24 financial years, broken down by reason.
Reason | Amount cancelled or written off during the financial year (£m) | |
| 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
Because of death | 35.5 | 73.8 |
Because of age | 20.1 | 24.0 |
Because of disability | 2.9 | 2.8 |
Because of bankruptcy | - | - |
On completion of Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) | - | - |
Trivial balances | - | - |
Losses through fraud (including phishing) | 0.2 | 0.4 |
Other | - | - |
Total | 58.6 | 101.1 |
In the 2023/24 financial year, the department approved the Student Loans Company (SLC) to close or write off accounts confirmed as deceased by HMRC. Previously, when notifications were received from HMRC, SLC would be required to obtain the death certificate copy which would result in delays in closing the account formally (the account would sit at 'Deceased Notified'). The SLC are working through a backlog of cases, hence increased numbers of such write-offs in the 2023/24 financial year.
Write-offs do not include trivial balance write-offs. Trivial balance write-offs occur if there is a positive or negative balance on an account of £25 or less and no contact can be established with the borrower (customers can request for this to be reversed). In the context of these figures, these borrowers are considered fully repaid and are therefore not included. Cancellations involve the clearance of the remaining debt in line with the terms of the loan, for example, when reaching a specific age or becoming permanently disabled. Write-offs for bankruptcy, Individual Voluntary Arrangement or trust deed are no longer allowed against student loans balances. Any figures arise from retrospective clear up exercises.
These figures have been taken from SLC’s student loans in England publication which is updated in June each year. The publication, Student loans in England: 2023 to 2024 can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/student-loans-in-england-2023-to-2024.
The figures were published in ‘Table 1A’ here: https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.publishing.service.gov.uk%2Fmedia%2F6672d0e2f92bc4be25da7e13%2Fslcsp012024.xlsx&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data his Department holds on the average class size at (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in (i) Great Yarmouth constituency and (ii) England in each of the last twenty years.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department holds data on average class sizes in the ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ publication, which is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics. This publication holds average class size at national level, local authority and school level. School level data from before 2010 is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/schools-pupil-and-their-characteristics-2002-to-2009-data.
Parliamentary constituencies are based on their boundaries at the time of the January school census each year. Therefore, the 2024 parliamentary boundaries do not reflect the changes made in the summer of 2024.
Where statistics were published prior to the changes in parliamentary constituency boundaries, they will be updated to reflect the new boundaries in the next publication of statistics. This is expected to be in June 2025 for the ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ publication.
Class size data is published at school level. This can be combined with information from the Get Information About Schools (GIAS) website to identify parliamentary constituency, which is available here: https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/. GIAS currently reflects the changes made following the general election parliamentary constituency changes. Updates to geographical data are made on a quarterly basis using data published by the Office for National Statistics.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many apprentices there were in her Department in each of the last five years.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The table below is a breakdown of apprentices in the department for the last five financial years:
Date | Number of Apprentices |
31 March 2020 | 324 |
31 March 2021 | 468 |
31 March 2022 | 451 |
31 March 2023 | 540 |
31 March 2024 | 515 |
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing parents to take their children out of school during term time for up to five days per year.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Tackling absence is at the heart of this government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity. If children are not in school, it does not matter how effective or well-supported teaching and learning is, they will not benefit. The government recognises school absence as a key barrier to learning.
Parents have a legal responsibility to ensure that their child of compulsory school age attends school regularly. Regular school attendance is vital for children’s attainment, mental wellbeing and long-term development.
Taking children out of school during term time can damage their education and cause unnecessary disruption for teachers and other pupils. There are 175 days per year when pupils are not expected to be in school which gives families various opportunities to enjoy holidays.
Thanks to the sector's efforts, more students are attending school this year compared to last. However, 1.6 million children remain persistently absent, missing 10% or more of lessons.