Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if the Government will introduce universal free breakfasts for primary school children.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
We are reflecting on our programmes in relation to school meals and will come forward with proposals in due course.
Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her policy is on the proposal set out in Schools that work for everyone, published in September 2016, on the 50 per cent admissions cap on faith schools.
Answered by Justine Greening
Schools play a vital role in promoting integration and promoting an understanding of different faiths and communities. We will continue to work closely with faith schools to promote and support integration and will set out further details in due course.
Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the proposals relating to universities in the Schools that Work for Everyone consultation document will be taken forward.
Answered by Justine Greening
As part of the Government's commitment to create more good school places, last September we published the consultation document: Schools that work for everyone. This asked how we could harness the resources and expertise of those in our higher education sector to work in partnership to lift attainment across the wider school system.
The Government has welcomed the way that our world-class higher education institutions are willing to think afresh about what more they could do to raise attainment in state schools, in recognition of their responsibility to their own local communities.
Universities are currently agreeing Access Agreements with the Office for Fair Access. Earlier this year, his strategic guidance to the sector, the Director for Fair Access set out an expectation that HEIs should set out in their access agreements how they will work with schools and colleges to raise attainment for those from disadvantaged and under-represented groups.
The Government hopes and expects more universities will come forward to be involved in school sponsorship and free schools, including more mathematics schools, although support need not be limited to those means.
Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the proposals relating to independent schools in the Schools that Work for Everyone consultation document will be taken forward.
Answered by Justine Greening
As part of the Government's commitment to create more good school places, last September we published the consultation document: Schools that work for everyone. This asked how we could harness the resources and expertise of those in our independent schools to work in partnership to lift attainment across the wider school system.
The Government has welcomed the way that our independent schools have actively considered and proposed what more they could do to raise attainment in state schools, in recognition of their responsibility to their own local communities. Over this Parliament, we intend to build on the positive and constructive conversations we have had with the sector to agree how they could do more to improve attainment for children from all backgrounds, and increase the number of good school places.
Officials will continue to work with the Independent Schools Council to agree how best to take forward the proposals for more independent schools to support state schools.
Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve rates of teacher recruitment and retention in schools in England.
Answered by Nick Gibb
At a national level we are retaining and recruiting the teachers we need. We recognise, however, that the strengthening economy and growth in pupil numbers have made the situation more challenging, and that this is more acute in certain subjects and particular schools or areas of the country.
We have more teachers in our schools than ever before and the number of teachers has kept pace with changing numbers of pupils. The number of teachers in state-funded schools throughout England is up more than 15,000 since 2010. This year we have recruited more than 27,000 people to postgraduate teacher training programmes and we have exceeded our recruitment targets in a number of key subjects including biology, English, geography and history.
We are spending over £1.3 billion up to 2020 to attract new teachers into the profession. We have funded the expansion of Teach First into every region of England; continued to fund targeted leadership programmes; and we are supporting schools to bring more former teachers back into the classroom.
Latest statistics show that teacher retention one year after qualifying has remained stable at around 90% for the past two decades. We are actively addressing the key issues that evidence suggests cause teachers to consider leaving the profession, for example, by supporting schools to reduce unnecessary workload and improving behaviour management training for new teachers.
Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Education for All Bill will require academies to provide sex and relationships education.
Answered by Edward Timpson
All schools should offer high quality, age-appropriate sex and relationship education, and build a curriculum that meets the needs of all their students. Sex and relationship education is compulsory in all maintained secondary schools. Academies do not have to teach sex and relationship education but many choose to do so as part of their statutory duty to provide a broad and balanced curriculum.
The content of any forthcoming Bill will be announced in due course.
Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what account the Government plans to take of the recommendations of the report from the Terrence Higgins Trust, Shh.No Talking, published in July 2016, in ensuring the adoption of a sex and relationship education curriculum which includes LGBT issues for the purposes of supporting young people's long-term physical and mental health and general wellbeing.
Answered by Edward Timpson
High quality sex and relationship education is a vital part of preparing young people for life in modern Britain. It should also help young people to make informed choices, stay safe and learn to respect themselves and others.
Our statutory Sex and Relationship Guidance is clear that young people, whatever their developing sexuality or identity, should feel that sex and relationship education is relevant to them and sensitive to their needs.
Sex and relationship education is compulsory in all maintained secondary schools and many primary schools also teach it in an age appropriate manner. Decisions relating to resources and teachers’ professional development rest with schools, headteachers, and teachers themselves, as they best know the needs of their staff and pupils.
Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to Terrence Higgins Trust's report Shh.No Talking, published in July 2016, what steps she is taking to ensure that sufficient resources are given to local authorities and schools to ensure that sex and relationships education lessons are properly resourced and teachers are trained.
Answered by Edward Timpson
High quality sex and relationship education is a vital part of preparing young people for life in modern Britain. It should also help young people to make informed choices, stay safe and learn to respect themselves and others.
Our statutory Sex and Relationship Guidance is clear that young people, whatever their developing sexuality or identity, should feel that sex and relationship education is relevant to them and sensitive to their needs.
Sex and relationship education is compulsory in all maintained secondary schools and many primary schools also teach it in an age appropriate manner. Decisions relating to resources and teachers’ professional development rest with schools, headteachers, and teachers themselves, as they best know the needs of their staff and pupils.
Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many primary and secondary academies and free schools teach sex and relationships education.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Department does not hold this information.
Sex and relationship education is compulsory in maintained secondary schools. Academies and free schools do not have to teach sex and relationship education but many choose to do so as part of their statutory duty to provide a broad and balanced curriculum. When academies do teach sex and relationship education they are required through their funding agreement to have regard to the Secretary of State’s Sex and Relationship Education Guidance. The guidance can be accessed at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/sex-and-relationship-education
Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what were the 10 foreign languages most spoken by pupils for whom English is listed as an additional language in the annual school census in (a) 2000 and (b) 2015; and how many pupils were recorded as speaking each of those languages in each of those years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department does not hold pupil level data on languages for the year 2000. In the January 2015 school census, the most common languages to which pupils of compulsory school age and above are exposed outside school and the number and proportion of pupils exposed to them are given in the table below.
Language | Number of Pupils (1) | Percentage of all pupils |
English | 5,634,349 | 82.1 |
Urdu | 123,530 | 1.8 |
Panjabi | 91,406 | 1.3 |
Polish | 90,506 | 1.3 |
Other than English (not specified) | 84,139 | 1.2 |
Bengali | 74,635 | 1.1 |
Somali | 46,361 | 0.7 |
Arabic | 41,951 | 0.6 |
Gujarati | 40,735 | 0.6 |
Portuguese | 29,759 | 0.4 |
Tamil | 29,634 | 0.4 |
Believed to be other than English (not specified) | 29,221 | 0.4 |
French | 26,290 | 0.4 |
Source: School Census January 2015
(1) Includes sole and dual main registered pupils of compulsory school age and above. Includes pupils in all state-funded schools excluding general hospital schools and local authority alternative provision.
The languages recorded in the school census only indicate a pupil’s exposure to a non-English language outside of school. They are not a measure of English speaking proficiency, an indication of the language spoken in school, or a direct measure of immigration.