Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help Leeds City Council increase its capacity to undertake its education, health and care plan assessments.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Where local authorities are failing to deliver consistent outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including failing to produce timely Education, Health and Care (EHC) assessments, the department works with them using a range of improvement programmes and SEND specialist advisors to address weaknesses. Leeds City Council is receiving support from a specialist SEND advisor and the department will continue to work with the local authority in order to monitor the issuing of completed plans.
High needs funding is increasing to over £10.5 billion this financial year, 2024/25, which is an increase of over 60% from the 2019/20 allocations. Of this, through their 2024/25 dedicated schools grant, Leeds City Council is due to receive a high needs funding allocation of £134.6 million in 2024/25. This is a cumulative increase of 36% per head over the three years from 2021/22. This funding will continue to help with the costs of supporting children and young people with SEND, including those with EHC plans.
The department’s ‘SEND and alternative provision Improvement Plan’ recognised the need to reduce delays in children and young people receiving timely assessments and support and has a clear focus on early intervention. Through the Change Programme, in which Leeds City Council is a supporting partner, the department is testing a range of reforms to improve the EHC plan process, including standardised templates and guidance, the use of multi-agency panels to improve decision-making, digital reforms and strengthened mediation arrangements.
The department is further investing over £21 million to train 400 educational psychologists from September 2024. This is in addition to the £10 million currently being invested in the training of over 200 educational psychologists who began their training last September. Since 2020, the department has increased the number of course places funded, from 160 to over 200 per year. As these cohorts begin to graduate, they will enter the workforce, supporting local authority educational psychology services and contributing to statutory assessments.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the findings of the study funded by the Nuffield Foundation entitled A generation at risk: Rebalancing education in the post-pandemic era, published in April 2024.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Predicting GCSE results is very difficult as there are many drivers that can interact in unforeseen ways. However, as the Nuffield Foundation’s report indicates, the pandemic deprived children of the advantages of studying together within the safety and support of their schools.
The pandemic created a unique challenge for teachers, staff, students and families. Minimising its impact on education and tackling the challenges has been the department’s priority from the start. Almost £5 billion was made available specifically for education recovery, with support focussed on those who needed it most, while giving education providers as much flexibility as possible to tailor-make help for their own circumstances. This includes the National Tutoring Programme (NTP), which focuses on disadvantaged pupils and those who have fallen behind, and has seen nearly five million tutoring courses start since it launched in November 2020.
The department knows that disadvantaged children and pupils with a special educational need or disability were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. The department continues to take a range of steps to give priority support and deliver programmes to help them, including improving the quality of teaching and curriculum resources, strengthening the school system and providing targeted support where needed. The department is also supporting disadvantaged pupils through the pupil premium, which is rising to almost £2.9 billion in 2024/25, which is the highest in cash terms since this funding began.
Further to this, latest results from 2023 show that over 45% of pupils sitting GCSEs achieved a grade 5 or higher in both English and mathematics, which is an increase of more than two percentage points compared with pre-pandemic 2019 levels and almost three percentage points when compared with 2017.
England recently came fourth in primary reading out of 43 countries which tested pupils of the same age in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS). Despite disruption from the pandemic, England’s score remained stable and well above the international and European averages.
Furthermore, the department has committed to making schools safe, calm and supportive environments, which promote and support mental wellbeing alongside delivering an excellent education.
Enrichment activities can deepen children’s in-school experience while supporting them to develop their socio-emotional skills. The department is now delivering the vision set out in its Schools White Paper, which states that every child and young person will have access to high-quality extra-curricular provision, including an entitlement to take part in sport, music and cultural opportunities.
Monitoring and measuring wellbeing in schools strengthens this, which is why the department’s guidance on promoting a whole-school approach to pupil wellbeing includes this as one of its eight key principles. You can find out more here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/614cc965d3bf7f718518029c/Promoting_children_and_young_people_s_mental_health_and_wellbeing.pdf.
The department is supporting all state schools and colleges with a grant to train a senior mental health lead. To date 15,100 settings have claimed a grant so far, including more than 7 in 10 state-funded secondary schools.
Intervening early is critical. To expand access to early mental health support, the department is continuing to roll out Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) to schools and colleges. MHSTs deliver evidence-based interventions for mild to moderate mental health issues, support the senior mental health lead (where established) in each school or college to introduce or develop whole school or college approaches and give timely advice to school and college staff, and liaise with external specialist services, to help children and young people get the right support to stay in education. The department is extending coverage of MHSTs to cover at least 50% by the end of March 2025.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the number of (a) primary and (b) secondary school places.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places sits with local authorities. The department collects pupil forecasts and school capacity data from local authorities annually through the School Capacity (SCAP) survey. The most recent SCAP data shows a need for 30,000 additional primary places and 40,000 additional secondary places between May 2023 and September 2027.
The department provides capital funding through the Basic Need grant to support local authorities to provide school places, based on the data they provide. The department has announced nearly £1.5 billion to support local authorities to create school places needed over the next three academic years, up to and including the academic year starting September 2026. This funding is on top of the department’s investment in the free schools programme and means the department has now committed Basic Need capital funding of over £14 billion to support the creation of new school places between 2011 and 2026.
The department also engages with local authorities on a regular basis to review their plans for creating additional places and to consider alternatives where necessary. When local authorities are experiencing difficulties, the department supports them to find solutions as quickly as possible.
Between 2010 and 2023, the department supported the creation of 722,000 primary and 466,000 secondary places in response to a substantial increase in pupil numbers. This is the largest increase in school capacity in at least two generations, following a fall of 100,000 places between 2004 and 2010. Many more places are in the pipeline.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps her Department has taken to increase the number of places for (a) children with autism and (b) children with special needs in schools.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In March 2024, the department announced trusts to run 30 new special free schools, which included 17 designated to cater for pupils with autism. The Spring Budget announced funding for 15 special free schools. The department will announce the location of these new schools in May.
In March the department also published just under £850 million of High Needs Provision Capital Allocations for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years. This funding forms part of our transformational investment of £2.6 billion in new high needs provision between 2022 and 2025. Local authorities can use the funding to deliver new places in mainstream and special schools, as well as other specialist settings, and to improve the suitability and accessibility of existing buildings.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 25 March 2024 to Question 19580 on Music: Education, when she plans to announce the funding rates and allocations to cover the increase in employer contribution rates for existing non-local authority Music Hubs until August 2024.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
In light of the increase in employer contributions to the Teacher’s Pension Scheme (TPS) from April 2024, the department will take steps to determine the level of employer liability across all the newly appointed Music Hub Lead Organisations from September 2024. This has not been possible until recently, as applicants were informed of the outcome of the Music Hubs Investment Programme on 8 April 2024. The department will then work with Arts Council England in giving due consideration to the additional pension pressures due to the increase in employer contribution to the TPS. The outcome of this assessment will be published in the coming months.
The department has already secured £1.25 billion to support eligible settings with the increased TPS employer contribution rate in the 2024/25 financial year. This will mean additional funding of £9.3 million to local authorities for centrally employed teachers, including those employed in local authority based music hubs. The department has now published the details of the additional funding for mainstream schools, high needs and local authorities with centrally employed teachers.
The department has also committed to providing funding to cover the increase in employer contribution rates for non-local authority hubs for the current academic year to August 2024 and Arts Council England has communicated allocations to the relevant hub lead organisations.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 25 March 2024 to Question 19580 on Music: Education, what assessment her Department has made of the ability of non-local authority Music Hubs to pay for employer contribution rates after August 2024.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
In light of the increase in employer contributions to the Teacher’s Pension Scheme (TPS) from April 2024, the department will take steps to determine the level of employer liability across all the newly appointed Music Hub Lead Organisations from September 2024. This has not been possible until recently, as applicants were informed of the outcome of the Music Hubs Investment Programme on 8 April 2024. The department will then work with Arts Council England in giving due consideration to the additional pension pressures due to the increase in employer contribution to the TPS. The outcome of this assessment will be published in the coming months.
The department has already secured £1.25 billion to support eligible settings with the increased TPS employer contribution rate in the 2024/25 financial year. This will mean additional funding of £9.3 million to local authorities for centrally employed teachers, including those employed in local authority based music hubs. The department has now published the details of the additional funding for mainstream schools, high needs and local authorities with centrally employed teachers.
The department has also committed to providing funding to cover the increase in employer contribution rates for non-local authority hubs for the current academic year to August 2024 and Arts Council England has communicated allocations to the relevant hub lead organisations.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of increases in the cost of living on the accessibility of higher education for students in Greater Manchester.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The government publishes an Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) is each year to analyse the impact of changes to higher education (HE) student support in England on students with protected characteristics and those from low-income families. The EIA for the 2024/25 academic year was published on GOV.UK on 26 January 2024 and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-student-finance-2024-to-2025-equality-analysis.
The department has continued to increase maximum loans and grants for living and other costs for undergraduate and postgraduate students each year with a 2.8% increase for the current academic year, 2023/24, and a further 2.5% increase announced for 2024/25.
In addition, the department has frozen maximum tuition fees for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years. By 2024/25, maximum fees will have been frozen for seven successive years. The department believes that the current fee freeze achieves the best balance between ensuring that the system remains financially sustainable, offering good value for the taxpayer, and reducing debt levels for students in real terms.
The government understands the pressures people have been facing with the cost of living and has taken action to help. The department has already made £276 million of student premium and mental health funding available for the 2023/24 academic year to support successful outcomes for students including disadvantaged students.
The department has also made a further £10 million of one-off support available to support student mental health and hardship funding for 2023/24. This funding will complement the help universities are providing through their own bursary, scholarship and hardship support schemes. For this financial year, 2024/25, the department has increased the Student Premium (full-time, part-time, and disabled premium) by £5 million to reflect high demand for hardship support. Further details of this allocation for the academic year 2024/25 will be announced by the Office for Students (OfS) in the summer.
Overall, support to households to help with the high cost of living is worth £108 billion over 2022/23 to 2024/25, an average of £3,800 per UK household. The government believes this will have eased the pressure on family budgets and so will in turn enable many families to provide additional support to their children in HE to help them meet increased living costs.
English domiciled 18 year olds from the most disadvantaged areas are now 74% more likely to enter HE than they were in 2010, and the department is working to close the disadvantage gap with our access and participation reforms.
The department has tasked the OfS to include support for disadvantaged students before entry to HE in new access and participation plans. Providers should be working meaningfully with schools to ensure that pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds are encouraged and supported to achieve the highest possible grades and follow the path that is best for them, whether that be an apprenticeship or higher technical qualification, or a course at another university.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of not increasing pupil premium funding in line with inflation on disadvantaged students.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Pupil premium funding is rising to over £2.9 billion in 2024/25, an increase of around £90 million from 2023 to 2024. In 2024/25 the pupil premium funding rate for primary pupils is £1,480, and £1,050 for secondary pupils. Looked-after, and previously looked-after, children attract a higher rate of £2,570.
These rates for 2024/25 were an increase of 1.7% on those for 2023/24. This increase was in line with inflation as measured by the GDP deflator forecasts when the rates were announced for 2024/25. As the inflation forecast for 2024/25 has since reduced, the increase in pupil premium rates of 1.7% is now higher than the latest inflation forecast.
This increase ensures that this target funding continues to help schools to support disadvantaged pupils and close attainment gaps.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will provide support to schools and colleges to help prepare minority ethnic young people to transition into work.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
High-quality careers information, advice and guidance is key to helping all young people make informed decisions about their future, including being able to find out about and consider the different options available to them.
The department funds the Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC) to support schools and colleges to deliver high-quality careers programmes, to increase young people’s exposure to the world of work and to smooth the transition into their next step.
The support provided by CEC is universal and provides young people in every part of the country, no matter what their background, with high-quality, tailored advice and guidance. Secondary schools are expected to develop and improve their careers provision for young people in line with the world-class Gatsby Benchmarks, including benchmark 3 which focuses on addressing the individual needs of each pupil.
To support schools to address the individual needs of each pupil, in September 2021 CEC launched the Future Skills Questionnaire (FSQ), which is a student self-completion questionnaire that measures career readiness at points of transition across secondary education. Careers Leaders in secondary schools use FSQ insights to identify those students that require additional support in making their next career learning choice.
Careers Hubs in the 2023/24 academic year are providing additional funding to deliver three distinct strands of activity focused on supporting more disadvantaged pupils:
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to ensure every (a) primary and (b) secondary pupil in England can visit the theatre at least once in their school career.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
All state-funded schools should teach a broad and balanced curriculum that promotes pupils' cultural development. The best schools combine creative subjects with core subjects, and the department is committed to ensuring that all pupils have access to both.
Cultural education is therefore integral to a high-quality education. Alongside drama as part of the English curriculum and dance as part of the physical education curriculum, music and art and design, remain important pillars of the knowledge-rich National Curriculum.
Drama is not an individual subject within the English National Curriculum, but it is an important part of a pupil’s school experience. The main introduction of drama to the primary programmes of study details the type of drama opportunities pupils should be given and acknowledges the artistic practice of drama. Teachers will use their professional judgement as to how and when such opportunities are created.
On 10 February 2017, the department announced an update to the content for the GCSE in drama and the A level in drama and theatre studies to specify that all pupils will now have the entitlement to experience live theatre, reaffirming the government’s commitment to providing pupils with an enriching arts education.
A parent’s income should not be a barrier to a pupil participating in a school trip. Schools may not charge for school trips that take place during school hours, or which take place outside school hours but are part of the National Curriculum, part of religious education, or part of the syllabus for a public exam that the pupil is being prepared for at the school. Parents can be asked for contributions towards the cost of a trip, but schools must make clear that contributions are voluntary. The published advice, ‘Charging for School Activities’, is clear that no pupil should be excluded from an activity simply because their parents are unwilling or unable to pay. The advice can be found at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/706830/Charging_for_school_activities.pdf.
Finally, pupil premium funding will rise to over £2.9 billion in the 2024/25 academic year. The increase will ensure that this targeted funding continues to help schools to support the educational outcomes of disadvantaged pupils. As set out in the menu of approaches, schools are able to use pupil premium to fund extracurricular activities, including school trips to theatres.