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1308611

	registered interest
	date	13/04/2021
	answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
	hansard heading	Levelling Up Fund: Appeals
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the process is for local authorities to appeal the tier that they have been allocated for the Levelling Up Fund.
	tabling member constituency	Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
	tabling member printed	Jamie Stone
	uin	180579
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/04/2021 answer text <p>The £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund will invest in infrastructure that improves everyday life across the UK, including regenerating town centres and high streets, upgrading local transport, and investing in cultural and heritage assets. It is open to all local areas and will be allocated competitively</p><p><br> As set out in the prospectus published at Budget, the index used for the Levelling Up Fund places areas into category one, two or three based on the local area’s need for economic recovery and growth, improved transport connectivity, and regeneration. <br> <br> We have published further details of the methodology used to calculate the index of<br> places on GOV.UK.</p> answering member constituency Thornbury and Yate answering member printed Luke Hall grouped question UIN 180580 question first answered 19/04/2021 16:42:32 answering member 4450 label Biography information for Luke Hall
	tabling member	4612 label Biography information for Jamie Stone

1308618

	registered interest
	date	13/04/2021
	answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
	hansard heading	Levelling Up Fund: Highlands of Scotland
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will publish his Department's criteria for putting the Highlands local authority in tier 3 for the Levelling Up Fund.
	tabling member constituency	Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
	tabling member printed	Jamie Stone
	uin	180580
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/04/2021 answer text <p>The £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund will invest in infrastructure that improves everyday life across the UK, including regenerating town centres and high streets, upgrading local transport, and investing in cultural and heritage assets. It is open to all local areas and will be allocated competitively</p><p><br> As set out in the prospectus published at Budget, the index used for the Levelling Up Fund places areas into category one, two or three based on the local area’s need for economic recovery and growth, improved transport connectivity, and regeneration. <br> <br> We have published further details of the methodology used to calculate the index of<br> places on GOV.UK.</p> answering member constituency Thornbury and Yate answering member printed Luke Hall grouped question UIN 180579 question first answered 19/04/2021 16:42:33 answering member 4450 label Biography information for Luke Hall
	tabling member	4612 label Biography information for Jamie Stone

1192936

	registered interest
	date	05/05/2020
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Remote Education: ICT
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	What assessment he has made of the adequacy of children’s access to (a) laptops, (b) a reliable internet connection and (c) other remote learning equipment during the covid-19 outbreak.
	tabling member constituency	Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
	tabling member printed	Jamie Stone
	uin	902251
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/05/2020 answer text <p>We want to do everything we can to support schools and families to continue children’s education while they are at home. We have committed over £100 million to boost remote education, including providing laptops, tablets and internet access for those who need it most.</p><p>On Friday 24 April, the Department wrote to local authorities, trusts and other relevant organisations overseeing schools and children’s social care outlining the process for requesting devices.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb grouped question UIN 902258 question first answered 06/05/2020 12:17:20 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
	tabling member	4612 label Biography information for Jamie Stone

1274141

	registered interest
	date	06/01/2021
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Teachers: Coronavirus
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many primary and secondary school teachers have died as a result of covid-19.
	tabling member constituency	Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
	tabling member printed	Jamie Stone
	uin	134055
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2021 answer text <p>The Department does not hold data on how many deaths there have been due to COVID-19 in the teaching profession, nor information on how many teachers have contracted COVID-19 in the workplace.</p><p> </p><p>Current scientific evidence is that children are at very low risk of serious illness from COVID-19, and there is also no current evidence that staff are at higher risk of infection than those working in other sectors.</p><p> </p><p>The safety and wellbeing of staff and pupils is always our priority. The Government is doing all it can to minimise the risks to those working and studying in our registered nurseries, schools, colleges, and universities in this unprecedented situation, while mitigating the impact on education.</p><p> </p><p>On 7 January the Department published guidance “Actions for schools during the coronavirus outbreak”, which sets out what all schools will need to do during the COVID-19 outbreak from January 2021: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The Department will continue to keep its plans under review and ensure our position is informed by the latest evidence.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb grouped question UIN 134056 134057 question first answered 11/01/2021 17:44:01 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
	tabling member	4612 label Biography information for Jamie Stone

1274143

	registered interest
	date	06/01/2021
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Teachers: Coronavirus
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many primary and secondary school teachers have contracted covid-19 in the workplace.
	tabling member constituency	Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
	tabling member printed	Jamie Stone
	uin	134056
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2021 answer text <p>The Department does not hold data on how many deaths there have been due to COVID-19 in the teaching profession, nor information on how many teachers have contracted COVID-19 in the workplace.</p><p> </p><p>Current scientific evidence is that children are at very low risk of serious illness from COVID-19, and there is also no current evidence that staff are at higher risk of infection than those working in other sectors.</p><p> </p><p>The safety and wellbeing of staff and pupils is always our priority. The Government is doing all it can to minimise the risks to those working and studying in our registered nurseries, schools, colleges, and universities in this unprecedented situation, while mitigating the impact on education.</p><p> </p><p>On 7 January the Department published guidance “Actions for schools during the coronavirus outbreak”, which sets out what all schools will need to do during the COVID-19 outbreak from January 2021: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The Department will continue to keep its plans under review and ensure our position is informed by the latest evidence.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb grouped question UIN 134055 134057 question first answered 11/01/2021 17:44:01 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
	tabling member	4612 label Biography information for Jamie Stone

1274146

	registered interest
	date	06/01/2021
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Teachers: Coronavirus
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if the Government will publish statistics on the number of teachers who have died of covid-19.
	tabling member constituency	Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
	tabling member printed	Jamie Stone
	uin	134057
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2021 answer text <p>The Department does not hold data on how many deaths there have been due to COVID-19 in the teaching profession, nor information on how many teachers have contracted COVID-19 in the workplace.</p><p> </p><p>Current scientific evidence is that children are at very low risk of serious illness from COVID-19, and there is also no current evidence that staff are at higher risk of infection than those working in other sectors.</p><p> </p><p>The safety and wellbeing of staff and pupils is always our priority. The Government is doing all it can to minimise the risks to those working and studying in our registered nurseries, schools, colleges, and universities in this unprecedented situation, while mitigating the impact on education.</p><p> </p><p>On 7 January the Department published guidance “Actions for schools during the coronavirus outbreak”, which sets out what all schools will need to do during the COVID-19 outbreak from January 2021: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The Department will continue to keep its plans under review and ensure our position is informed by the latest evidence.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb grouped question UIN 134055 134056 question first answered 11/01/2021 17:44:01 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
	tabling member	4612 label Biography information for Jamie Stone

1274151

	registered interest
	date	06/01/2021
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Teachers: Absenteeism and Sick Leave
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will publish the data his Department holds on the rates of (a) sick leave and (b) absence of (i) primary and (ii) secondary school teachers from the workplace for the periods from (A) 1 September 2018 to 4 January 2019, (B) 1 September 2019 to 4 January 2020 and (C) 1 September 2020 to 4 January 2021.
	tabling member constituency	Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
	tabling member printed	Jamie Stone
	uin	134058
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2021 answer text <p>The information requested is not available in the format requested.</p><p>For the 2018/19 academic year, the Department collects information on teacher sickness absence from all state funded schools via the School Workforce Census, held in November each year since 2010. Each census collects data for absence from the previous academic year. The latest data available cover the academic year September 2018 to August 2019.</p><p>Information on the number and rates of teacher sickness absence are published in the ‘School Workforce in England’ statistical publication at the following link: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england</a>.</p><p>The table below shows teacher sickness absence data during the 2018/19 academic year in state funded schools in England:</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Teacher sickness absence data<strong>[1]</strong><strong>[2]</strong></strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2018/19</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Average number of Days - all teachers</p></td><td><p>4.1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Average number of days taken</p></td><td><p>7.5</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Percentage taking absence</p></td><td><p>54.0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Total Number of Days lost</p></td><td><p>2,133,253</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Total teachers taking absence</p></td><td><p>284,146</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>For the 2019/20 academic year, to reduce burdens on schools during the COVID-19 outbreak, the return of absence data for the 2019/20 academic year was not required in the ongoing 2020 School Workforce Census. Schools will not be asked to submit 2020 census absence data retrospectively in future censuses.</p><p>For the 2020/21 academic year, the Department intends to publish detailed school workforce absence data from 19 January 2021. This data will be included as part of the publication ‘Attendance in education and early years settings during the coronavirus (COVID- 19) outbreak’.  The data shall be drawn from the educational setting status form, which was set up to help the government monitor the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on schools, nurseries and colleges, focus support more effectively and keep children safe.</p><p>The Department plans to return to collecting information on teacher sickness absence in the 2020/21 academic year from all state funded schools via the School Workforce Census, held in November 2021. This data shall be released, as per the usual timings, in the summer of 2022.</p><p> </p><p>[1] The total teachers taking sickness absence and total days taken are estimates based on the schools that were able to make a full absence return. They are only available for England as a whole and not by region, local authority or school. For further details please see the methodology document.</p><p> </p><p>[2] Before using this data, please check the methodology section for important information such as definitions, limitations and caveats. This is available here: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/891b274b-8080-433d-897f-5e39f2082379" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/891b274b-8080-433d-897f-5e39f2082379</a>.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 11/01/2021 18:11:25 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
	tabling member	4612 label Biography information for Jamie Stone

1274155

	registered interest
	date	06/01/2021
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Schools: Coronavirus
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether (a) primary and (b) secondary schools provide his Department with regular updates on covid-19 cases within their education facility.
	tabling member constituency	Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
	tabling member printed	Jamie Stone
	uin	134059
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/01/2021 answer text <p>Primary and secondary schools are required to supply daily COVID-19 attendance data to the Department for both pupils and staff. This information is collected on electronic forms and submitted to the Department through an online portal.</p><p>Schools provide the numbers of pupils unable to attend face to face education or undertake remote learning according to the categories below:</p><ul><li>Suspected cases of COVID-19</li><li>Confirmed cases of COVID-19</li><li>Pupils who have been asked to remain at home due to potential contact with a case of COVID-19 within their setting</li><li>Pupils who have been asked to remain at home due to potential contact with a case of COVID-19 outside of their setting, including self isolation.</li></ul><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 15/01/2021 12:11:36 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
	tabling member	4612 label Biography information for Jamie Stone

1285651

	registered interest
	date	10/02/2021
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children: Literacy and Reading
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of covid-19 on children’s (a) reading for pleasure and (b) literacy levels.
	tabling member constituency	Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
	tabling member printed	Jamie Stone
	uin	152610
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/02/2021 answer text <p>The Government is committed to continuing to raise literacy standards by ensuring all children, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, can read fluently and with understanding. The Department is aware that reading for pleasure brings a range of benefits, including reading attainment, writing ability, text comprehension and grammar, breadth of vocabulary, and pleasure in reading in later life.</p><p>In 2018, the Department launched a £26.3 million English Hubs Programme dedicated to improving the teaching of reading, particularly for disadvantaged children. Since its launch, the Government has provided a further £17 million in funding for this improvement programme, which focusses on systematic synthetic phonics, early language, and reading for pleasure. The programme has provided targeted support to several thousands of schools across England, and in the 2020-21 academic year, is providing intensive support to over 850 partner schools.</p><p>To provide support to schools in developing the ability to switch from classroom teaching to remote provision, the Department has made £4.84 million available to Oak National Academy to provide video lessons in a broad range of subjects for Reception up to Year 11. Oak National Academy’s video lessons include coverage of literacy, reading for pleasure and English as appropriate from Early Years Foundation Stage up to Key Stage 4.</p><p>To support schools in making up for lost classroom time, the Government has announced a £1 billion catch-up package, including a universal catch-up premium worth £650 million. Our expectation is that this funding will be spent on the additional measures required to support children and young people to catch up after a period of disruption to their education. This can include support in reading through systematic synthetic phonics and reading for pleasure initiatives.</p><p>The catch-up package includes a £350 million National Tutoring Programme for disadvantaged pupils. The programme comprises three elements: a tuition programme for five to 16 year olds, with tuition partners and academic mentors specialising in English available to schools; a 16 to 19 tuition fund, including support for small group tuition in English, and a targeted early language support programme for Reception aged children to support early literacy.</p><p>The Department is regularly conducting evidence reviews to understand the effect of COVID-19 on reading comprehension, as well as other subjects. As expected, published studies show that primary pupils faced considerable loss in overall reading comprehension, as well as other subjects, based on studies that assessed pupils in the autumn 2020 term, although there are some methodological limitations, which mean that the exact estimates are uncertain.</p><p>The Department has not yet published data on the effect of the COVID-19 outbreak on reading for pleasure. Recognising the importance of reading during the disruption to education caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, the Department held a Reading Together Day on 16 July 2020 to celebrate the benefits of reading. As part of this, we published 10 top tips to help parents support their children to read and this information can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/10-top-tips-to-encourage-children-to-read" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/10-top-tips-to-encourage-children-to-read</a>.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb grouped question UIN 152611 152614 question first answered 22/02/2021 16:28:31 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
	tabling member	4612 label Biography information for Jamie Stone

1285652

	registered interest
	date	10/02/2021
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children: Literacy and Reading
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to improve (a) reading for pleasure and (b) literacy levels among children.
	tabling member constituency	Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
	tabling member printed	Jamie Stone
	uin	152611
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/02/2021 answer text <p>The Government is committed to continuing to raise literacy standards by ensuring all children, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, can read fluently and with understanding. The Department is aware that reading for pleasure brings a range of benefits, including reading attainment, writing ability, text comprehension and grammar, breadth of vocabulary, and pleasure in reading in later life.</p><p>In 2018, the Department launched a £26.3 million English Hubs Programme dedicated to improving the teaching of reading, particularly for disadvantaged children. Since its launch, the Government has provided a further £17 million in funding for this improvement programme, which focusses on systematic synthetic phonics, early language, and reading for pleasure. The programme has provided targeted support to several thousands of schools across England, and in the 2020-21 academic year, is providing intensive support to over 850 partner schools.</p><p>To provide support to schools in developing the ability to switch from classroom teaching to remote provision, the Department has made £4.84 million available to Oak National Academy to provide video lessons in a broad range of subjects for Reception up to Year 11. Oak National Academy’s video lessons include coverage of literacy, reading for pleasure and English as appropriate from Early Years Foundation Stage up to Key Stage 4.</p><p>To support schools in making up for lost classroom time, the Government has announced a £1 billion catch-up package, including a universal catch-up premium worth £650 million. Our expectation is that this funding will be spent on the additional measures required to support children and young people to catch up after a period of disruption to their education. This can include support in reading through systematic synthetic phonics and reading for pleasure initiatives.</p><p>The catch-up package includes a £350 million National Tutoring Programme for disadvantaged pupils. The programme comprises three elements: a tuition programme for five to 16 year olds, with tuition partners and academic mentors specialising in English available to schools; a 16 to 19 tuition fund, including support for small group tuition in English, and a targeted early language support programme for Reception aged children to support early literacy.</p><p>The Department is regularly conducting evidence reviews to understand the effect of COVID-19 on reading comprehension, as well as other subjects. As expected, published studies show that primary pupils faced considerable loss in overall reading comprehension, as well as other subjects, based on studies that assessed pupils in the autumn 2020 term, although there are some methodological limitations, which mean that the exact estimates are uncertain.</p><p>The Department has not yet published data on the effect of the COVID-19 outbreak on reading for pleasure. Recognising the importance of reading during the disruption to education caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, the Department held a Reading Together Day on 16 July 2020 to celebrate the benefits of reading. As part of this, we published 10 top tips to help parents support their children to read and this information can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/10-top-tips-to-encourage-children-to-read" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/10-top-tips-to-encourage-children-to-read</a>.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb grouped question UIN 152610 152614 question first answered 22/02/2021 16:28:31 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
	tabling member	4612 label Biography information for Jamie Stone