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1195471

	registered interest
	date	13/05/2020
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Schools: Trade Unions
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many meetings he has had since 16 March 2020 with school (a) leadership unions, (b) teaching unions and (c) support staff unions.
	tabling member constituency	Warrington North
	tabling member printed	Charlotte Nichols
	uin	46816
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/05/2020 answer text <p>The Department has been engaging widely with a wide range of stakeholders at both official and ministerial level, including headteacher, teacher and support staff unions, including through meetings listed below.</p><p>Details of weekly engagement are set out below:</p><ul><li>Weekly meetings with senior policy officials and key stakeholders along with other main teaching unions, governance, social care, school trusts and local government;</li><li>A weekly meeting with wider stakeholders including support staff, further education and school business organisations;</li><li>Weekly calls for evidence from key stakeholders on key policy questions to inform decision making on reopening;</li><li>Weekly meetings between my right hon. Friend, my right hon. Friend, Secretary of State for Education and the main teaching unions and stakeholder groups; and</li><li>Ad hoc additional stakeholder meetings to address key issues as and when they arise.</li></ul><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 22/05/2020 12:55:08 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
	tabling member	4799 label Biography information for Charlotte Nichols

1199038

	registered interest
	date	01/06/2020
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Private Education: Coronavirus
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance his Department has issued to private schools on a timeline for reopening schools following the covid-19 outbreak.
	tabling member constituency	Warrington North
	tabling member printed	Charlotte Nichols
	uin	52582
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/06/2020 answer text <p>Guidance on the wider opening of all schools applies to all schools in England, including independent schools, can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/closure-of-educational-settings-information-for-parents-and-carers/reopening-schools-and-other-educational-settings-from-1-june" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/closure-of-educational-settings-information-for-parents-and-carers/reopening-schools-and-other-educational-settings-from-1-june</a>. It includes detailed guidance on how schools can manage and minimise risks to children, teachers, and their families as they reopen.</p><p>We encourage all independent schools to follow the timelines we have outlined for wider opening and welcome the constructive and supportive approach taken by the sector throughout the COVID-19 outbreak.</p><p>At this point, we have asked primary schools to welcome back children in Reception, year 1 and year 6, alongside the priority groups (vulnerable children and children of critical workers) that could already attend. While we will be unable to welcome all primary children back for a month before the summer, we continue to work with all parts of the education sector on the next steps. We would like to see wider opening to enable schools that have capacity to do so to bring back more children in the smaller class sizes before the summer holidays.</p><p>As outlined by my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister on 24 May, secondary schools should prepare to invite year 10 and 12 pupils back into school for some face-to-face support with their teachers from 15 June.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 12/06/2020 15:18:21 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
	tabling member	4799 label Biography information for Charlotte Nichols

1236603

	registered interest
	date	22/09/2020
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Assessments
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to ensure exam fairness in the 2020-21academic year.
	tabling member constituency	Warrington North
	tabling member printed	Charlotte Nichols
	uin	93701
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/09/2020 answer text <p>Ensuring fairness in exams in academic year 2020-21 is the priority. It is for this reason that we have said we expect the summer 2021 exam series to go ahead.</p><p>The Department has worked closely with the qualifications regulator, Ofqual, on ways to ensure the 2021 exam series supports catch up as well as complies with public health restrictions. Ofqual has consulted on measures to free up teaching time, as well as to include optionality in some of the most content heavy subjects at GCSE. These adaptations have been developed to maximise teaching time without compromising the validity of the qualifications. We are also engaging with relevant stakeholders on the timing of examinations and the grading approach with fairness to students and upholding public confidence in qualifications as the overarching drivers. We are also working closely with Ofqual and the exam boards on contingency plans so all students have the opportunity to take exams and to receive a grade. There will be further announcements made before October half term.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 30/09/2020 16:20:02 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
	tabling member	4799 label Biography information for Charlotte Nichols

1276774

	registered interest
	date	14/01/2021
	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, what plans he has to reduce the number of pupils in school during the covid-19 lockdown that began in January 2021.
	tabling member constituency	Warrington North
	tabling member printed	Charlotte Nichols
	uin	138094
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/01/2021 answer text <p>During this period of national lockdown, schools should only allow vulnerable children and the children of critical workers to attend face-to-face education. The Department has resisted restrictions on attendance at schools since the first lockdown but, given the rapidly rising numbers of cases across the country and the intense pressure on the NHS, we have needed to do more to reduce all our social contacts wherever possible. Limiting attendance at this time is about reducing the number of contacts that people have with other households.</p><p>The Department publishes weekly national-level data on pupil attendance. The latest data, published 19 January, shows that attendance in state primary schools in England was at 21% and at 5% in state secondaries. The data is available to view here: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak</a>.</p><p>On 7 January the Department published further guidance, ‘Restricting attendance during the national lockdown: schools’, which sets out what all schools need to do during the COVID-19 outbreak from January 2021. This includes the system of controls which schools must continue to implement, to the fullest extent possible, to reduce risks in their school and create an inherently safer environment. The guidance is available to view here: <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/950510/School_national_restrictions_guidance.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/950510/School_national_restrictions_guidance.pdf</a>.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 22/01/2021 14:13:58 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
	tabling member	4799 label Biography information for Charlotte Nichols

1279255

	registered interest
	date	21/01/2021
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Remote Education
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to help school pupils catch up with the curriculum who did not have access to a computer device during school closures in spring 2020 due to the covid-19 outbreak.
	tabling member constituency	Warrington North
	tabling member printed	Charlotte Nichols
	uin	141621
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/01/2021 answer text <p>To support pupils catch up, last year the Government announced a £650 million catch up premium which aims to support schools to make up for the impact of time outside of the classroom. The Department’s expectation is that this funding will be spent on the additional activities required to support children and young people to catch up after a period of disruption to their education.</p><p>Schools will receive £80 per head for mainstream schools and £240 per head for special schools and alternative provision. We have applied additional weighting to specialist schools, recognising the significantly higher per pupil costs they face. Schools should use this as a single total and schools should prioritise spending based on need.</p><p>To help schools make the best use of this funding, the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) has published a support guide for schools with evidence based approaches to catch up: <a href="https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/covid-19-resources/national-tutoring-programme/covid-19-support-guide-for-schools/#nav-covid-19-support-guide-for-schools1" target="_blank">https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/covid-19-resources/national-tutoring-programme/covid-19-support-guide-for-schools/#nav-covid-19-support-guide-for-schools1</a>.</p><p>The EEF has also published a further school planning guide for 2021: <a href="https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/covid-19-resources/guide-to-supporting-schools-planning/" target="_blank">https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/covid-19-resources/guide-to-supporting-schools-planning/</a>.</p><p>Alongside this, the £1 billion catch up package includes a new £350 million National Tutoring Programme for disadvantaged pupils. This will increase access to high quality tuition for the most disadvantaged young people, helping to accelerate their academic progress and tackle the attainment gap between them and their peers.</p><p>The Government is investing over £400 million to support access to remote education and online social care services, including securing 1.3 million laptops and tablets for disadvantaged children and young people. As of Monday 25 January 2021, over 870,000 laptops and tablets had been delivered to schools, academy trusts and local authorities. We are providing this significant injection of devices on top of an estimated 2.9 million laptops and tablets already owned by schools before the start of the COVID-19 outbreak.</p><p>Where pupils continue to experience barriers to digital remote education, we expect schools to work to overcome these barriers. This could include supplementing digital provision with different forms of remote education such as printed resources or textbooks. This should be supplemented with other forms of communication to keep pupils and students on track or answer questions about work.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 29/01/2021 12:50:15 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
	tabling member	4799 label Biography information for Charlotte Nichols

1284907

	registered interest
	date	08/02/2021
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Pupils: Coronavirus
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will update the guidance entitled Children of critical workers and vulnerable children who can access schools or educational settings, to provide a list of specific critical worker roles.
	tabling member constituency	Warrington North
	tabling member printed	Charlotte Nichols
	uin	150965
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/02/2021 answer text <p>The Department has made guidance available on Children of critical workers and vulnerable children who can access schools or educational settings: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision</a>. This sets out the high-level role types which can be considered critical to the COVID-19 outbreak or EU transition response. The list in the guidance is not exhaustive, but it should offer sufficient information to help parents and carers to identify if their work falls under one of the umbrella groups.</p><p> </p><p>Parents whose work is critical to the COVID-19 outbreak and EU transition response include those who work in health and social care and in other key sectors. Children with at least one parent or carer who is a critical worker can go to school if required. Schools should speak to parents and carers to identify who needs to go to school, and parents and carers who are critical workers should keep their children at home if they can.</p><p> </p><p>The Department knows that every school will have a different number of children of critical workers who need to attend. It is important that on-site provision is provided for these pupils. There is no limit to the numbers of these pupils who may attend, and schools should not limit attendance of these groups. We expect schools to work with critical worker parents to ensure their child is given access to a place if it is required, so that parents can continue providing vital services. This is because we are reducing overall social contact across areas and the country rather than individually by each institution.</p><p> </p><p>The Department publishes weekly national-level data on pupil attendance. The latest published data (for 4 February) shows that attendance in state primary schools in England was at 23% and at 5% in state secondaries: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak</a>. In aggregate, attendance so far this term has been much lower than full attendance – on average only 5% of secondary pupils and 20% of primary schools pupils have been attending face-to-face, and so we are seeing the desired reduction in social contacts.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 16/02/2021 10:59:59 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
	tabling member	4799 label Biography information for Charlotte Nichols

1315311

	registered interest
	date	17/05/2021
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Climate Change: Curriculum
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to increase the time spent in the curriculum on teaching primary and secondary school pupils about climate change.
	tabling member constituency	Warrington North
	tabling member printed	Charlotte Nichols
	uin	2470
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/05/2021 answer text <p>The Department believes it important that all children and young people are taught about climate change. All schools in the country are required to follow a broad and balanced curriculum, as exemplified by the National Curriculum which is mandatory in all state-maintained schools. The National Curriculum already includes content which allows for teaching on environmental and sustainability issues such as climate change in both the science and geography curricula from Key Stage 1 onwards. Additionally, in 2017, we introduced a new environmental science A level. This will enable pupils to study topics that will support their understanding of climate change and how it can be tackled.</p><p>The Department does not, however, set the amount of time schools spend on teaching topics within the curriculum. Teachers have the flexibility and freedom to determine how they deliver the content in the way that best meets the needs of their pupils and can choose to cover particular subjects or topics in greater depth if they wish.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 25/05/2021 15:17:00 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
	tabling member	4799 label Biography information for Charlotte Nichols

1329816

	registered interest
	date	04/06/2021
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Schools: Finance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessments he has made of the potential merits of spending £50 per pupil per year to help school children catch up with the curriculum following the covid-19 outbreak.
	tabling member constituency	Warrington North
	tabling member printed	Charlotte Nichols
	uin	10690
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/06/2021 answer text <p>The Department is committed to supporting all children and young people to catch up after the disruption caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. The £1.4 billion package announced in June 2021 to support children aged 2-19 across nurseries, schools and colleges is the next step and builds on the £1.7 billion already committed. This brings the total investment announced for education recovery over the past year to over £3 billion.</p><p>The £50 per pupil figure does not account for our previous recovery packages or for our broader response to the COVID-19 outbreak, such as investing over £400 million to provide access to the internet, and over 1.3 million laptops and tablets for disadvantaged children and young people.</p><p>The next stage of the Government’s long-term education recovery plan will include a review of time spent in school and college and the impact this could have on helping children and young people to catch up. The findings of the review will be set out later in the year to inform the spending review.</p><p>In addition, as part of the three-year increase to core funding, schools have received a £2.6 billion increase in funding in the 2020/21 financial year and will receive a further £4.8 billion increase in 2021/22, compared to 2019/20.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 14/06/2021 16:49:07 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
	tabling member	4799 label Biography information for Charlotte Nichols

1342319

	registered interest
	date	30/06/2021
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Pupils: Coronavirus
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will review the rule which requires school children in a bubble to isolate for 10 days in the event that one child in that bubble tests positive for covid-19.
	tabling member constituency	Warrington North
	tabling member printed	Charlotte Nichols
	uin	25170
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/07/2021 answer text <p>From Step 4 of the roadmap, it will no longer be necessary to keep children and young people in consistent groups (‘bubbles’). This means that bubbles will not be required for any summer provision, for example summer schools, or in schools from the autumn term.</p><p>From Step 4, nurseries, schools and colleges will not routinely be required to undertake contact tracing for children and young people. Instead, pupils who test positive will be subject to the normal test and trace process, which will identify close contacts. This will be limited to very close contacts.</p><p>Unless they test positive, children and those who are double vaccinated will not be required to isolate from 16 August if they are identified as a close contact. Self-isolation continues for those who have tested positive for COVID-19.</p><p>The Department for Education has worked closely with the Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England to develop guidance for schools.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 09/07/2021 16:30:36 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
	tabling member	4799 label Biography information for Charlotte Nichols

1567553

	registered interest
	date	17/01/2023
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Teachers: Trade Unions
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had since her appointment with (a) the NEU and (b) other teaching unions about pay and working conditions.
	tabling member constituency	Warrington North
	tabling member printed	Charlotte Nichols
	uin	125508
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/01/2023 answer text <p>Since her appointment, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has met with the National Education Union (NEU) and other unions and representative bodies to discuss a wide range of school and college policy issues, including pay and working conditions. The Department appreciates the work of the teaching profession to build a world class education system, and the Secretary of State will continue to engage in constructive dialogue on a broad range of issues.</p><p>Since 25 October, the Secretary of State for Education has met with unions and other representative bodies on 27 October, 1 November, 15 December, 13 and 18 January. Other Ministers from the Department have also met with unions on 9, 14, 15, 16 and 29 November.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 25/01/2023 11:39:47 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
	tabling member	4799 label Biography information for Charlotte Nichols