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46239

registered interest
date	01/04/2014
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the incidence of truancy was in schools in the latest period for which figures are available; and what steps he is taking to reduce it and to involve parents in those efforts.
tabling member constituency	Strangford
tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
uin	194633
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/04/2014 answer text <p>Since the report by Charlie Taylor on improving school attendance, the Government's focus has been on reducing absence overall and encouraging schools to address patterns of poor attendance early.</p><p> </p><p>To help schools do this, the Department for Education reduced the threshold at which pupils were classified as persistent absent, from 20% to 15% of sessions missed. In 2012, we increased the level of the school attendance penalty fines, from £50 and £100 to £60 and £120 respectively, and in 2013 reduced the overall timescales for paying fines from 42 to 28 days. The second most common reason for absence is family holiday, so we tightened the law in September 2013 so that headteachers could only grant requests for leave during term time in exceptional circumstances.</p><p> </p><p>Our reforms are working. In 2012/13, 300,895 pupils were persistently absent, down from 433,130 in 2009/10 - a fall of almost a third. 130,000 fewer pupils were missing 15% of school in 2012/13 compared to 2010/11. Overall absence rates are down from 6.3% of possible sessions missed in 2008/09 to 5.2% in 2012/13.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South West Norfolk answering member printed Elizabeth Truss question first answered 07/04/2014 12:00:00 answering member 4097 label Biography information for Elizabeth Truss
tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

45886

registered interest
date	31/03/2014
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in Pendle constituency are home-schooled.
tabling member constituency	Pendle
tabling member printed	Andrew Stephenson
uin	194346
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/04/2014 answer text <p>The information requested is not collected by the Department for Education.</p> answering member constituency South West Norfolk answering member printed Elizabeth Truss question first answered 07/04/2014 12:00:00 answering member 4097 label Biography information for Elizabeth Truss
tabling member	4044 label Biography information for Andrew Stephenson

46083

registered interest
date	31/03/2014
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to increase the involvement of practising teachers in the design of the national curriculum.
tabling member constituency	Torbay
tabling member printed	Mr Adrian Sanders
uin	194571
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/04/2014 answer text <p>The new national curriculum, which was published on 11 September 2013, has been developed with due regard to the views of subject experts, teachers, and the findings of international best practice comparisons. Over 2,470 of the responses to the consultation on the new curriculum were from individual teachers, headteachers and schools. In response to the representations, changes were made to improve clarity, precision and consistency of the content.</p><p> </p><p>We are confident that our reform to the national curriculum will give teachers greater flexibility and freedom than ever before, which will help to raise standards and expectations for all pupils. The national curriculum has been significantly slimmed down and will free up teachers to use their professional judgement to design curricula that meet the needs of their pupils.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South West Norfolk answering member printed Elizabeth Truss question first answered 07/04/2014 12:00:00 answering member 4097 label Biography information for Elizabeth Truss
tabling member	237 label Biography information for Mr Adrian Sanders

45547

registered interest
date	27/03/2014
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of long-term trends in the number of hours of literacy teaching which primary school children receive and how this affects reading and writing attainment.
tabling member constituency	Oxford East
tabling member printed	Mr Andrew Smith
uin	194155
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/04/2014 answer text <p>We do not collect data on the number of hours of literacy teaching primary school children receive.</p><p> </p><p>We are committed to raising standards of literacy in schools and making sure that every child masters the basics of reading and writing at a young age. The new primary national curriculum for English is explicitly designed to make sure that all children leave primary school fully literate and ready to progress at secondary school.</p><p> </p><p>The new national curriculum sets out very clearly what should be taught to pupils. However, it gives school the flexibility to decide how to teach it, including how much time to spend on teaching literacy, because schools are best placed to determine the needs and abilities of their pupils and how to meet them.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South West Norfolk answering member printed Elizabeth Truss question first answered 07/04/2014 12:00:00 answering member 4097 label Biography information for Elizabeth Truss
tabling member	95 label Biography information for Mr Andrew Smith

45655

registered interest
date	27/03/2014
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the (a) 20 highest and (b) 20 lowest value contracts awarded by his Department were in each financial year since 2009-10.
tabling member constituency	Edinburgh East
tabling member printed	Sheila Gilmore
uin	194218
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/04/2014 answer text <p>I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, my right hon. Friend the Member for Horsham (Mr Maude) on 2 April 2014, Official Report, column 721W.</p> answering member constituency South West Norfolk answering member printed Elizabeth Truss question first answered 07/04/2014 12:00:00 answering member 4097 label Biography information for Elizabeth Truss
tabling member	3965 label Biography information for Sheila Gilmore

45658

registered interest
date	27/03/2014
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 4 March 2014, Official Report, columns 787-8W, on pupil exclusions: autism, how his Department deals with allegations that schools are disregarding the statutory guidance on exclusion in respect of students with autistic disorders.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
uin	194185
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/04/2014 answer text <p>As part of their legal duties in relation to exclusion, schools must have regard to the statutory guidance issued by the Department for Education. Parents approaching the Department with concerns about an exclusion are informed about the formal routes of challenge available to them and directed to sources of free and impartial advice. If the Department identifies that a governing body has acted unlawfully or unreasonably in carrying out its legal duties, and it would be expedient to do so, then the Secretary of State could issue a direction. The Department would also pass to Ofsted any relevant evidence that fell within the inspectorate's remit.</p> answering member constituency South West Norfolk answering member printed Elizabeth Truss question first answered 07/04/2014 12:00:00 answering member 4097 label Biography information for Elizabeth Truss
tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe