Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether materials from religious organisations are permitted in schools under the Plan your relationships, sex and health curriculum guidance published by his Department on 24 September 2020.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is committed to supporting all schools to deliver the content of the new subjects of Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE). When teaching the new RSHE subjects, schools should take into account the age of pupils and their religious background.
Our support package, published on 24 September, is aimed at helping all schools increase their confidence and quality of their teaching practice. This package includes teacher training modules, non-statutory implementation guidance and training led by Teaching Schools.
The Department has made clear that it is important that schools take full responsibility for ensuring lessons and materials they intend to use are age appropriate, suitable and politically impartial, particularly when using materials produced by external organisations. We are aware that there are many resources in circulation to support schools to deliver these subjects.
The Department’s ‘Plan your relationships, sex and health curriculum’ implementation guidance includes advice on working with external agencies. It builds on the content of the statutory RSHE guidance and it includes clear advice on choosing resources. It states that schools should assess each resource that they propose to use to ensure it is appropriate for the age and maturity of their pupils and sensitive to their needs, where relevant. This guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/plan-your-relationships-sex-and-health-curriculum.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that women do not face unfair financial hardship as a result of the requirement to continue paying student loan repayments during maternity leave.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The repayment of student loans is governed by the Education (Student Loans) (Repayment) Regulations (2009) (as amended).
The current system protects borrowers, including people on maternity and other forms of parental leave, if they see a reduction in their income. Repayments are made based on a borrower’s monthly or weekly income, not the interest rate or amount borrowed, and no repayments are made for earnings below the repayment threshold. Repayments are calculated as a fixed percentage of earnings above the relevant repayment threshold – if income drops, so do the repayments made. Any outstanding debt is written off at the end of the loan term with no detriment to the borrower.
If at the end of the year, the borrower’s total income is below the relevant annual threshold, they may reclaim any repayments from the Student Loans Company made during that year.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) laptops and (b) tablets have been distributed to children in Walthamstow through the Government's scheme to ensure disadvantaged children and young people can remote education during the covid-9 outbreak.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government has committed over £100 million to support vulnerable and disadvantaged children in England to access remote education and social care services, including by providing laptops, tablets and 4G wireless routers.
We are providing laptops and tablets to disadvantaged children who would otherwise not have access and are preparing for examinations in Year 10, receiving support from a social worker or are a care leaver. Where care leavers, children with a social worker at secondary school and children in Year 10 do not have internet connections, we are providing 4G wireless routers.
The Department has ordered over 200,000 laptops and tablets and allocated devices to local authorities and academy trusts based on its estimates of the number of eligible children that do not have access to a device. Local authorities and academy trusts are best place to identify and prioritise children and young people who need devices. The Department is working to provide these devices in the shortest possible timeframe; deliveries to schools and local authorities began in May and have continued throughout June.
The Department has published information about how many laptops, tablets and 4G wireless routers we have delivered or dispatched to local authorities and academy trusts as of 14 June, which can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/laptops-tablets-and-4g-wireless-routers-progress-data.
This includes 785 devices to Waltham Forest for children with a social worker and care leavers.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department (a) has made and (b) plans to make of the effectiveness of the free sanitary products in all primary schools scheme (i) while all pupils are not attending school due to the covid-19 outbreak and (ii) over the summer holidays.
Answered by Vicky Ford
On 20 January 2020, the department launched a new scheme which makes free period products available for state-funded primary schools, secondary schools and colleges in England.
This is an important step to ensure that menstruation does not present a barrier to learning and that no-one is held back from reaching their potential.
We are continuing to monitor schools’ engagement with the scheme during the COVID-19 outbreak. All schools and colleges continue to be able to order period products and distribute them to learners according to their own local arrangements.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools have opted in to period product provision; and whether his Department has plans to extend the scheme to (a) primary schools, (b) NHS facilities and (c) public spaces.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Through the period product scheme, state-maintained schools and 16 to 19 education organisations in England can access free period products. This includes state-maintained primary and secondary schools, including academies and free schools, state-maintained middle and all through schools, general hospital schools, special schools, academies and free schools, alternative provision organisations, including pupil referral units, and university technical colleges and studio schools. The scheme launched in January 2020 and we continue to monitor uptake closely. We will publish further information in due course.
NHS facilities and other public spaces do not fall within the department’s remit. NHS England announced in March 2019 that it will offer period products to every hospital patient who needs them, including long-term in-patients.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to support supply teachers when the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is withdrawn.
Answered by Nick Gibb
As both my right hon. Friends the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer have made clear, the government will do whatever it takes to support people affected by Covid-19.
There is comprehensive support available for supply teachers during the Covid-19 outbreak, and the Department has provided detailed guidance to help schools, agencies and staff identify the right support available for each individual, available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-school-closures/guidance-for-schools-about-temporarily-closing#what-should-schools-do-if-they-have-already-ended-contracts-with-contingent-workers-that-they-directly-employ. This will depend on supply teachers’ individual circumstances and, for some, may include access to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme#agency-workers-including-those-employed-by-umbrella-companies.
On 12 May, my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme would continue until the end of October. This means that any supply teachers who have been furloughed by their employment agency will continue to receive 80% of their salary.
Schools will continue to receive their budgets, which ensures that they are able to continue to pay for staff that they employ directly and meet their other regular financial commitments, including paying their suppliers, such as employment agencies, as per Cabinet Office guidance, available at this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/procurement-policy-note-0220-supplier-relief-due-to-covid-19.
These are rapidly developing circumstances. We will continue to keep the situation under review and to keep Parliament updated accordingly.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that supply teachers working for umbrella companies are furloughed at 80 per cent of their average wage during the covid-19 oubreak.
Answered by Nick Gibb
As both my right hon. Friends, the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer have made clear, the government will do whatever it takes to support people affected by COVID-19.
The duration of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme – https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme#agency-workers-including-those-employed-by-umbrella-companies - has been extended this week by my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, providing financial reassurance to many people in these unprecedented times.
The scheme is not sector-specific and its terms and conditions must be met by all employers, including umbrella companies.
Employers can claim for any regular payments they are obliged to pay their employees. This includes wages, past overtime, fees and compulsory commission payments. However, discretionary bonus (including tips) and commission payments and non-cash payments should be excluded.
Full guidance on how to calculate 80% of employee’s wages can be found at: www.gov.uk/guidance/work-out-80-of-your-employees-wages-to-claim-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment his Department has made of the reasons for which employment businesses on the Crown Commercial Services framework (a) and (b) have not furloughed supply teachers.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department does not collect data on the employment practices of private businesses. All businesses, including employment businesses, should make assessments of the work available for their employees before making decisions on using the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
Businesses supplying services and/or labour to the public sector should also take into consideration the service continuity payments they are receiving and should not furlough staff where payments continue, as per the Cabinet Office Procurement Policy Note 02/20.
Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/procurement-policy-note-0220-supplier-relief-due-to-covid-19.
Further information for schools on supply teachers is available here:
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of (a) schools and (b) employment businesses that have continued paying contingent labour in the public sector during the covid-19 outbreak in line with the Cabinet Office guidance.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department has published detailed guidance on the support available for supply teachers and other contingent workers during the Covid-19 pandemic. Schools, agencies, and staff should refer to section 11 of this guidance which sets out the approach we expect schools and agencies to take in paying contingent staff. This guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-school-closures/guidance-for-schools-about-temporarily-closing#supply-teachers-and-other-contingent-workers.
Schools report their overall financial spending on an annual basis. We are considering how and when such data should next be collected in the context of COVID-19.
As confirmed in our guidance on financial support for schools, schools will continue to receive their core funding allocations for the coming year, as usual, regardless of any periods of partial or complete closure. This will ensure that they are able to continue to pay their staff, and meet their other regular financial commitments, as we move through these extraordinary times.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of long-term contracts for supply teachers as contingent labour that were cancelled in response to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department does not collect data specifically on the number of supply teachers or teachers employed by agencies.
The Department has published guidance for schools and the school workforce which sets out that schools should continue to pay staff that they directly hire. Where schools had contracts with directly hired staff that have been terminated earlier than the original terms set out due to COVID-19, these contracts should be reinstated on the terms previously agreed.
Guidance is available here: