Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the 2018-2020 LRS Data Breach by Trustopia, what steps her Department has taken since that incident to improve their data protection practices.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department does not use the Learning Records Service (LRS) information for age verification, although it does include dates of birth for identification purposes. The dates of birth on the service was misused by Trustopia to search for individuals that it had already acquired data to confirm the age given to Trustopia matched what was held on the LRS by the department.
UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) states that if a breach is likely to result in a high risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals, the Department must inform those concerned directly and without undue delay. As no additional personal data of pupils past and present was compromised by the breach, whilst the breach itself remained serious, it did not pose a high risk to individuals.
Once aware, the Department took immediate action and referred the incident to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). At the time of the breach, the Department was already working closely with the ICO in relation to the audit already in progress.
Procedures for monitoring unusual activity have been strengthened, along with additional improvements. These improvements include a more robust application process, better in-application audit processes that have been used to monitor and remove users who may not be using the system in accordance with their agreement, and the ability to remove or suspend accounts quickly in the event of possible misuse.
The Department has made significant progress in improving processes and has completed 97% of the ICO recommendations to date, with plans to complete the remaining recommendations by the end of March 2023. All actions relating to the LRS data breach have been completed.
The Department continues to work closely with the ICO. No further controls from the ICO have been placed upon the Department.
The Office of the Data Protection Officer leads on ensuring compliance with Data Protection Legislation for the Department, led by the Departmental Data Protection Officer. The team continues to work with the Department and the ICO to make further improvements in the Department’s data protection practices.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the 2018-2020 LRS Data Breach by Trustopia, who within her Department is accountable for improving its data protection practices.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department does not use the Learning Records Service (LRS) information for age verification, although it does include dates of birth for identification purposes. The dates of birth on the service was misused by Trustopia to search for individuals that it had already acquired data to confirm the age given to Trustopia matched what was held on the LRS by the department.
UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) states that if a breach is likely to result in a high risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals, the Department must inform those concerned directly and without undue delay. As no additional personal data of pupils past and present was compromised by the breach, whilst the breach itself remained serious, it did not pose a high risk to individuals.
Once aware, the Department took immediate action and referred the incident to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). At the time of the breach, the Department was already working closely with the ICO in relation to the audit already in progress.
Procedures for monitoring unusual activity have been strengthened, along with additional improvements. These improvements include a more robust application process, better in-application audit processes that have been used to monitor and remove users who may not be using the system in accordance with their agreement, and the ability to remove or suspend accounts quickly in the event of possible misuse.
The Department has made significant progress in improving processes and has completed 97% of the ICO recommendations to date, with plans to complete the remaining recommendations by the end of March 2023. All actions relating to the LRS data breach have been completed.
The Department continues to work closely with the ICO. No further controls from the ICO have been placed upon the Department.
The Office of the Data Protection Officer leads on ensuring compliance with Data Protection Legislation for the Department, led by the Departmental Data Protection Officer. The team continues to work with the Department and the ICO to make further improvements in the Department’s data protection practices.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he is taking steps to (a) issue guidance and (b) provide support for teachers where their pupils schooling has been impacted by the financial situation of their families, in the context of the cost of living crisis; and what assessment he has made of the impact of rising energy costs on school's budgets to provide support for low-income pupils.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department continues to assess and monitor the effects of inflationary pressures on schools’ budgets. This includes working with schools to understand the effects on low-income pupils.
The 2022 Autumn Statement has provided an additional net increase in the core schools budget of £2 billion in 2023/24, and a further £2 billion in 2024/25, over and above totals announced at the Autumn and Budget Spending Review 2021. This brings the core schools budget to a total of £58.8 billion in 2024/25. This will enable head teachers to continue to concentrate funding in the areas that positively support educational attainment. The 2022 Autumn Statement brings school funding for both mainstream and high needs to £4 billion higher than last year and will rise by a further £3.5 billion next year.
There will be targeted support for disadvantaged pupils through the pupil premium and the National Funding Formula (NFF). In the 2022/23 financial year, the Department is allocating approximately £2,000 per pupil, for all pupils who have been eligible for free school meals (FSM) at any point in the last six years. In total, this is an increase of 15% funding in two years.
From October 2022 to 31 March 2023, schools will benefit from the Energy Bill Relief Scheme. This will provide a price reduction to protect them from high energy bills over the winter period.
The Department’s schools resource management (SRM) guidance includes Department approved frameworks for energy costs and ancillary services relating to energy. Schools can obtain free procurement support on energy and all other buying needs via the Get Help Buying for Schools service.
The Government is offering support to help families with the costs of childcare, housing, transport, and bills. The ‘Help for Households’ guidance lists Government cost of living support available to families.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding primary schools in Barnsley East constituency have received each academic year since 2010.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Allocations are calculated by Local Authority area, not by constituency. Maintained school allocations are calculated for a financial year that runs from April to March, while academies are funded on a financial year that matches the academic year. The figures provided show the total for the financial year across primary and secondary schools.
The revenue funding figures shown below are for 2013 to 2022. Before 2013/14, funding allocated by the Department through the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) was allocated to Local Authorities as a single amount that was intended to fund school budget shares (including academies), local authority central services for schools, additional support for high needs pupils, and provision for early years education.
In 2013/14 the DSG was divided into funding blocks for a schools block, central services schools block, high needs block and early years block. The schools block is allocated based on the number of pupils in schools within each Local Authority. The amounts allocated by Barnsley Metropolitan Council from their schools block to primary and secondary schools and academies for each year since 2013/14 to 2021/22 are shown in the following table:
Financial year | Schools classed as primary schools (£) | Schools classed as secondary schools (£) | Total (£) |
2013/14 | 27,852,000 | 23,767,000 | 51,619,000 |
2014/15 | 29,310,000 | 22,598,000 | 51,908,000 |
2015/16 | 30,049,000 | 21,617,000 | 51,666,000 |
2016/17 | 30,582,000 | 21,092,000 | 51,674,000 |
2017/18 | 31,268,000 | 21,256,000 | 52,524,000 |
2018/19 | 31,979,000 | 21,783,000 | 53,762,000 |
2019/20 | 37,875,000 | 25,593,000 | 63,468,000 |
2020/21 | 40,933,000 | 29,271,000 | 70,204,000 |
2021/22 | 41,989,000 | 31,237,000 | 73,226,000 |
*From 2019/20 onwards Pupil Premium, PE/Sport, and Universal Infant School Meals Grants are included
*Information for 2022/23 is due for publication at the end of January 2023.
This funding is allocated using the Local Authority’s own formulae based upon nationally agreed factors and the attached table shows the allocations for each school, rounded to the nearest £1,000.
Figures showing funding for each school in the Barnsley Metropolitan Council and relevant links to where these figures are published are provided in the attached table.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding secondary schools in Barnsley East constituency have received each academic year since 2010.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Allocations are calculated by Local Authority area, not by constituency. Maintained school allocations are calculated for a financial year that runs from April to March, while academies are funded on a financial year that matches the academic year. The figures provided show the total for the financial year across primary and secondary schools.
The revenue funding figures shown below are for 2013 to 2022. Before 2013/14, funding allocated by the Department through the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) was allocated to Local Authorities as a single amount that was intended to fund school budget shares (including academies), local authority central services for schools, additional support for high needs pupils, and provision for early years education.
In 2013/14 the DSG was divided into funding blocks for a schools block, central services schools block, high needs block and early years block. The schools block is allocated based on the number of pupils in schools within each Local Authority. The amounts allocated by Barnsley Metropolitan Council from their schools block to primary and secondary schools and academies for each year since 2013/14 to 2021/22 are shown in the following table:
Financial year | Schools classed as primary schools (£) | Schools classed as secondary schools (£) | Total (£) |
2013/14 | 27,852,000 | 23,767,000 | 51,619,000 |
2014/15 | 29,310,000 | 22,598,000 | 51,908,000 |
2015/16 | 30,049,000 | 21,617,000 | 51,666,000 |
2016/17 | 30,582,000 | 21,092,000 | 51,674,000 |
2017/18 | 31,268,000 | 21,256,000 | 52,524,000 |
2018/19 | 31,979,000 | 21,783,000 | 53,762,000 |
2019/20 | 37,875,000 | 25,593,000 | 63,468,000 |
2020/21 | 40,933,000 | 29,271,000 | 70,204,000 |
2021/22 | 41,989,000 | 31,237,000 | 73,226,000 |
*From 2019/20 onwards Pupil Premium, PE/Sport, and Universal Infant School Meals Grants are included
*Information for 2022/23 is due for publication at the end of January 2023.
This funding is allocated using the Local Authority’s own formulae based upon nationally agreed factors and the attached table shows the allocations for each school, rounded to the nearest £1,000.
Figures showing funding for each school in the Barnsley Metropolitan Council and relevant links to where these figures are published are provided in the attached table.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what financial support the Government is providing to schools to help address the cost of living crisis.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Overall, core schools funding, including funding for both mainstream schools and high needs, increased by £4 billion in the 2022/23 financial year compared to the previous financial year, which equates to a 7% cash increase in funding per pupil.
Schools will also benefit from the Energy Bill Relief Scheme. This will reduce how much schools need to spend on their energy, and give schools greater certainty over their budgets over the winter months. The details of the scheme can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/energy-bill-relief-scheme-help-for-businesses-and-other-non-domestic-customers.
The Department is also supporting schools with the school resource management (SRM) advice, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/schools-financial-health-and-efficiency. This includes a free range of practical tools and information to help all schools unlock efficiencies, which they can then reinvest based on their own priorities.
The SRM advice includes recommended deals for energy costs and ancillary services. The Department is also updating and strengthening guidance on a regular basis to inform schools of the market and commercial position, with practical advice on new and exiting existing contracts. More information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/get-help-buying-for-schools.
The Department knows that every school’s circumstances are different, and where schools are in serious financial difficulty, they should contact their Local Authority or the Education and Skills Funding Agency, who can provide advice and, in exceptional circumstances, financial support.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in Barnsley East constituency have been in receipt of free school meals each month since May 2021.
Answered by Will Quince
Data on the number of pupils eligible for free school meals is published annually in the ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ National Statistics release, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics.
In January 2022, there were 4,084 pupils eligible for free school meals in Barnsley East constituency. In January 2021, there were 3,792 pupils eligible for free school meals in Barnsley East constituency.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to plans outlined in the Veterans’ Strategy Action Plan 2022-24 to promote opportunities for service leavers to get into teaching, how his Department plans to measure and evaluate the success of those plans.
Answered by Robin Walker
The department is committed to further promoting opportunities for service leavers to get into teaching. Many veterans already use our services to support service leavers into Initial Teacher Training (ITT) each year.
Through collaboration with the science, technology, engineering and maths communities and the Office for Veterans’ Affairs, and in partnership with the Careers Transition Partnership in the Ministry of Defence, we are working to further develop this offer. This will include increased signposting, tailored communications, hosting webinars, careers fairs, and information sessions for service leavers.
The department plans to track several data points through all these activities to determine the success of, and engagement with, the offer, and over the longer term track the wider journey through to ITT. All of this will help us develop and evolve our offer to ensure it meets the needs of service leavers wishing to enter the profession.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what funding has been allocated to promote opportunities for veterans to go into teaching.
Answered by Robin Walker
For veterans who do not already hold a degree, the department offers a Troops to Teachers undergraduate bursary worth £40,000. This is paid over two years to veterans who undertake an undergraduate initial teacher training (ITT) course in secondary biology, chemistry, computing, languages, mathematics or physics. Veterans who hold a degree can access the postgraduate ITT bursaries and scholarships of up to £26,000 that we offer for secondary biology, chemistry, computing, design and technology, geography, languages, mathematics and physics courses.
Regardless of the subject or phase they train in, veterans can also access student finance to complete undergraduate and postgraduate ITT courses. This includes a tuition fee loan, maintenance loan and additional means-tested funding for trainees in particular circumstances, including those with children, adult dependants, or a disability.
All of the above funding is allocated on a demand-led basis so there is no limit to the number of veterans who can access this funding to enter teaching.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether Ofsted inspections for schools previously rated outstanding are taking priority over inspections on other schools.
Answered by Robin Walker
There are no longer any schools exempt from inspection as a result of having been rated Outstanding. The exemption from routine inspection, which applied to 3,446 outstanding schools at the time, was removed in November 2020. The removal took place at a time when Ofsted’s routine inspections were suspended due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
In September 2021, Ofsted resumed its programme of routine inspections and will aim to inspect every state funded school, including previously exempt outstanding schools, by the end of summer 2025. Ofsted will continue to prioritise schools most in need of inspection, particularly those with the lowest Ofsted grades and outstanding schools that have gone the longest without a visit.