Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make it his policy to include maintained nursery schools in boroughs which were not included in his Department's supplementary funding for such schools in a long term funding settlement for maintained nursery schools.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Maintained nursery schools (MNS) are an important part of the early years sector and provide valuable services, especially in disadvantaged areas. The government announced on 24 August that up to £23 million of supplementary funding will be provided to local authorities, to enable them to continue protecting the funding of MNS during the summer term in 2021.
This government remains committed to the long-term funding of MNS, and any reform to the way they are funded will be accompanied by appropriate funding protections.
The department has secured a continuation of around £60 million of supplementary funding for MNS in the 2021-22 financial year, as part of this Spending Review. The department continues to consider what is required to ensure a clear, long-term picture of funding for all MNS, including those in Barnet. We will say more about this soon.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether parents who are shielding as a result of serious health problems are permitted to keep their children out of school.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Being in nursery, school and college is vital for the education of children and young people, and for their wellbeing. Time out of nursery, school and college is detrimental to the cognitive and academic development of children.
Children and young people who live with someone who is clinically extremely vulnerable, but who are not clinically extremely vulnerable themselves, should still attend education or childcare during this period of national restrictions.
Education settings have implemented a range of protective measures recommended by the Public Health England endorsed guidance published by the Department for Education, which, when followed, create an inherently safer environment for pupils, staff and families. The guidance can be found through the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools#res.
If parents or carers are anxious about their child attending education, the Department recommends that they discuss this with their school leadership, who will understand their concerns and provide reassurance regarding the protective measures that have been put in place to reduce the risk of transmission in educational settings.
Where children are not able to attend school as they are following clinical or public health advice related to COVID-19, we expect schools to be able to immediately offer them access to remote education. Such absences will not be penalised.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he plans to provide additional financial resources to schools to help cover new costs associated with the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Getting all children and young people back into school for the new academic year has been a national priority. To support schools with this, they have continued to receive their core funding allocations throughout the COVID-19 outbreak. Following last year’s Spending Round, school budgets are rising by £2.6 billion in the 2020-21 financial year, £4.8 billion in 2021-22 and £7.1 billion in 2022-23, compared to 2019-20. On average, schools are attracting 4.2% more per pupil in 2020-21, compared to 2019-20. As stated in our guidance, schools should use these existing resources when making arrangements for this term. The full guidance on the reopening of schools is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools.
Schools have also been able to claim additional funding for exceptional costs incurred due to the COVID-19 outbreak between March and July 2020, such as additional cleaning required due to confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases, and increased premises costs to keep schools open for priority groups during the Easter and summer half-term holidays. The guidance about claiming additional funding for exceptional costs associated with COVID-19 is available through the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-financial-support-for-schools/school-funding-exceptional-costs-associated-with-coronavirus-covid-19-for-the-period-march-to-july-2020.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what advice his Department is providing to schools on parents who wish to keep their children at home in self-isolation because a member of the household has a serious health condition.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Being in nursery, school and college is vital for children and young people’s education and for their wellbeing. Time out of nursery, school and college is detrimental for children’s cognitive and academic development.
Children and young people who live with someone who is confirmed clinically extremely vulnerable, but who are not clinically extremely vulnerable themselves, should still attend education or childcare even during this period of national restrictions.
Nurseries, schools and colleges have implemented a range of protective measures recommended by the Public Health England endorsed guidance published by the Department which, when followed, creates an inherently safer environment for pupils, staff and their families.
The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools#res.
If parents or carers are anxious about their child attending education, we recommend that they discuss this with their school leadership to understand their concerns and provide reassurance regarding the protective measures that have been put in place to reduce the risk of transmission in the setting.
Where children are not able to attend school as they are following clinical or public health advice related to COVID-19, we expect schools to be able to immediately offer them access to remote education. That absence will not be penalised.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department has to provide schools in England with additional funding to fund supply teachers needed to cover for staff who are self-isolating as a result of advice from NHS Test and Trace.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department’s guidance for schools on full opening sets out the options available for schools seeking to manage staffing capacity as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. In addition to using supply teachers and other temporary or peripatetic teachers, schools can also consider using existing staff more flexibly, including support staff and ITT trainees, or volunteers, as would usually be the case. This guidance can be found: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools.
Schools have continued to receive their budgets as usual, which has ensured they have been able to continue to pay for staff and meet their other regular financial commitments. As stated in our guidance, schools should continue to use their existing resources to manage staffing capacity. Where schools do hire agency workers, we recommend they consider using the Department for Education and Crown Commercial Service’s agency supply deal, as this offers a list of preferred suppliers that must be transparent about the rates they charge.
We continue to work with stakeholders and representative bodies to understand the staffing capacity pressures that schools are facing and how we might best support them.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing secondary schools in England to end the autumn 2020 term a week early to help control the spread of covid-19.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It continues to be the Department’s aim that all pupils, in all year groups, remain in school full-time. The Government has taken a national decision to prioritise education during the current period of national restrictions in order to avoid any further reduction in face to face education for children and young people.
Returning to school full time has been vital for children’s education and wellbeing. Time out of school is detrimental for children’s cognitive and academic development, particularly for disadvantaged children. This impact can affect both current attainment and children’s future ability to learn.
The risk to children of becoming severely ill from COVID-19 is low and there are negative health impacts of being out of school. Senior clinicians, including the Chief Medical Officers of all four nations, still advise that school is the very best place for children to be, and so they should continue to go to school.
The Department published ‘Guidance for full opening: schools to support schools’ to welcome back all pupils from the start of the autumn term and schools have implemented a range of protective measures to minimise risk of transmission. The full guidance can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools.
It is important that children are in school, for their education and wellbeing, and to help working parents and guardians. The Department does not currently have plans to ask schools to change their Christmas holidays or close early this term.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether children who have been required to self-isolate at home are allowed to return to school as soon as they have received a negative covid-19 test result.
Answered by Nick Gibb
On 2 July, the Department published guidance to help schools prepare for all pupils, in all year groups, to return to school full-time from the beginning of the autumn term. This includes guidance for how schools should manage cases of COVID-19 amongst the school community. The guidance can be viewed at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools.
Anyone with any of the three main COVID-19 symptoms should self-isolate and access a test as soon as possible. Where a pupil or member of staff receives a test which delivers a negative result, and they feel well and no longer have symptoms similar to COVID-19, they can stop self-isolating. Other members of their household can also stop self-isolating.
If a pupil or member of staff is self-isolating because they have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, including if they are part of a class or group that has been asked to self-isolate, and they develop symptoms themselves within their 14-day isolation period, they should follow guidance for households with possible or confirmed COVID-19 infection and get a test. Where the test delivers a negative result, the individual must remain in isolation for the remainder of the 14-day isolation period as they could still develop COVID-19 within the remaining days.
The guidance for households with possible or confirmed COVID-19 can be viewed at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will ensure that schools support students who were unable to take A-levels in summer 2020 and wish to take those exams in autumn 2020 by (a) offering completion of those A-level syllabuses, (b) offering revision classes and (c) providing access to (i) libraries, (ii) text books, (iii) online and (iv) other resources.
Answered by Nick Gibb
In most cases, students will have received grades in the summer which will enable them to move onto their next step. Students who were unable to receive grades or are not happy with their grades are able to take exams in the autumn if they choose. If a student wants to sit an exam, we expect the school or college that entered them in the summer to enter them in autumn. Schools are able to provide additional support to students sitting their exams in the autumn if they have capacity to do so. The Department is offering an Exam Support Service to help all schools and colleges run the autumn series. Schools and colleges will be able to book fully funded space for the exams if they need it to avoid disruption to teaching. They will also be able to claim funding for autumn exam fees and invigilation costs if these exceed the savings they have made in the summer.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has for the re-opening of before and after school club provision for children of working parents as covid-19 lockdown restrictions are eased.
Answered by Vicky Ford
We recognise that breakfast and after-school provision are important sources of additional childcare for working parents and carers. It is for this reason that, as of 4 July, all providers offering before or after-school care and other out-of-school activities to children have been able to open with protective measures in place.
As outlined in guidance for the full opening of schools, we are encouraging schools to resume offering breakfast and after-school provision, where possible, from the start of the autumn term. Schools should also work closely with any external wraparound providers which their pupils may use, to ensure as far as possible, children can be kept in a group with other children from the same bubble they are in during the school day. The full opening of schools guidance is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools.
We have published further updated guidance for providers who run before and after-school clubs, tuition and other out-of-school settings for children on the protective measures that should be put in place from the start of the autumn term. This is to ensure they are operating as safely as possible when all children return to school. The guidance is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/protective-measures-for-holiday-or-after-school-clubs-and-other-out-of-school-settings-for-children-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak/protective-measures-for-out-of-school-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of postponing autumn A-level exams to the end of November 2020 to give students unable to take their A-levels in summer 2020 additional time to prepare for those exams.
Answered by Nick Gibb
We want students who wish to sit autumn exams to be able to do so at the earliest opportunity following the cancellation of exams in the summer. A level exams will be sat in October so that students receive results before Christmas and can use them to progress to their next step as soon as possible.