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1355029

	registered interest
	date	13/09/2021
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Home Education
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate his Department has made of the number of children who are being home-schooled in England.
	tabling member constituency	Hendon
	tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
	uin	48206
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/09/2021 answer text <p>The department does not collect data on children who are home educated. We are aware of the rising number of home-educated children.</p><p>The department supports the right of parents to educate their children at home. Most do so with the best education of their child at the centre of their decision. The rising numbers of home educated children cannot be overlooked. For some parents, the child’s education is not the primary reason behind the decision to home educate, which can mean that some children are not being provided with a suitable education.</p><p>The government remains committed to a form of registration system for children not in school. Further details on this will be in the government response to the ‘Children Not in School’ consultation, which the department will publish in coming months.</p> answering member constituency Worcester answering member printed Mr Robin Walker question first answered 24/09/2021 14:11:08 answering member 4091 label Biography information for Mr Robin Walker
	tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1355284

	registered interest
	date	14/09/2021
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Assessments: Fees and Charges
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a fund for parents and guardians of home-schooled children to receive remuneration for the costs of (a) GCSE and (b) A level examination fees.
	tabling member constituency	Hendon
	tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
	uin	49100
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/09/2021 answer text <p>The department recognises the choice of parents and guardians to home educate their children. For most children, particularly the most vulnerable, we are clear that school is the best place for their education. Our guidance on elective home education highlights that parents/carers who home educate will need to assume full financial responsibility for their child’s education. This includes paying for the cost of entering their child for examinations. Some local authorities may provide financial or other assistance to home-educating families for public examinations, but this is discretionary.</p><p>In 2021, in light of the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, GCSE grades were determined by teachers (Teacher Assessed Grades). To support centres with the additional requirements of assessing private candidates in 2021, the department provided an exceptional grant to centres of £200 per private candidate entry. This funding aimed to avoid these additional costs being passed on to private candidates, so that they could access qualifications at a similar cost to a normal exam year.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Worcester answering member printed Mr Robin Walker question first answered 22/09/2021 16:31:39 answering member 4091 label Biography information for Mr Robin Walker
	tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1355420

	registered interest
	date	14/09/2021
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	National Tutoring Programme
	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 ensure timely approval of tutoring organisations for the National Tutoring Programme in the context of 16 of those organisations having not yet been approved.
	tabling member constituency	Hornsey and Wood Green
	tabling member printed	Catherine West
	uin	49227
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/09/2021 answer text <p>Our delivery partner, Randstad, has approved 38 Tuition Partners to provide high-quality, subsidised tuition to schools in the current academic year: <a href="https://nationaltutoring.org.uk/tuition-partners/approved-tuition-partners/" target="_blank">https://nationaltutoring.org.uk/tuition-partners/approved-tuition-partners/</a>. These organisations were recruited via an open competition to meet the necessary quality standards.</p><p>The programme ensures that additional support has been allocated to regions with the largest numbers of disadvantaged pupils and in regions where access to tutoring has historically been lower. This will cover all the locations across the UK geographically.</p><p>Schools can access high-quality tutoring from an approved list of tutoring providers known as tuition partners. Each tuition partner has been robustly assessed and has passed a set of quality, safeguarding and evaluation standards. Tuition partners offer a range of subjects and provide targeted support for pupils in small group or one-to-one sessions. This offers additional tutoring capacity to schools, especially where this is scarce. It is a flexible service for schools and its selection of providers can tailor their expertise to support pupil needs.</p> answering member constituency Worcester answering member printed Mr Robin Walker question first answered 24/09/2021 14:05:32 answering member 4091 label Biography information for Mr Robin Walker
	tabling member	4523 label Biography information for Catherine West

1355448

	registered interest
	date	14/09/2021
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Schools: Ventilation
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department has taken to improve ventilation in schools to inhibit the spread of covid-19.
	tabling member constituency	Wycombe
	tabling member printed	Mr Steve Baker
	uin	49114
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/09/2021 answer text <p>On 21 August, the department announced that carbon dioxide monitors will be provided to all state-funded nurseries, schools, and colleges from September. Backed by a £25 million government investment, the new monitors will enable staff to act quickly where ventilation is poor and provide reassurance that existing ventilation measures are working.</p><p>The programme will provide nurseries, schools, and colleges with sufficient monitors to take representative readings from across the indoor spaces in their estate, assessing all spaces in a relatively short space of time. On 6 September, the department also provided new information to settings on how to use CO2 monitors to better manage ventilation.</p><p>The department has committed to supplying around 300,000 carbon dioxide monitors across England in the Autumn term. From 6 September, the department started to despatch carbon dioxide monitors to special schools and alternative provision, who have been prioritised to receive their full allocation given their higher-than-average numbers of vulnerable pupils.</p><p>The government has also launched a trial of air purifiers in 30 schools in Bradford, which is designed to assess the technology in schools and whether they could reduce the risk of transmission.</p> answering member constituency Worcester answering member printed Mr Robin Walker question first answered 20/09/2021 16:15:45 answering member 4091 label Biography information for Mr Robin Walker
	tabling member	4064 label Biography information for Mr Steve Baker

1355460

	registered interest
	date	14/09/2021
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Teachers: Training
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Initial teacher training market review report, published in July 2021, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the proposals set out in that report on the numbers of trainee teachers being trained on university-run courses.
	tabling member constituency	Ealing Central and Acton
	tabling member printed	Dr Rupa Huq
	uin	49220
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/09/2021 answer text <p>The review focused on producing recommendations aimed at increasing the quality, consistency and coherence of Initial Teacher Training for trainee teachers. Ensuring there are sufficient teachers in the subjects that schools require is one of the priorities of the review and the department will proceed carefully to ensure this is maintained. We intend to respond to the report and its recommendations this autumn.</p><p>The department has engaged widely with stakeholders and sought opinions through the consultation to help us understand any potential impact of the proposals on the numbers of trainee teachers. If the recommendations are accepted, the department’s priority during the transition period to any new configuration will be ensuring that the capacity continues to offer enough training places to meet the continuing teacher supply needs across the whole education system. The department expects any future landscape to consist of a diverse range of provision and partnerships, including higher education institutions and school-based providers, as it does now.</p> answering member constituency Worcester answering member printed Mr Robin Walker question first answered 20/09/2021 15:32:59 answering member 4091 label Biography information for Mr Robin Walker
	tabling member	4511 label Biography information for Dr Rupa Huq

1355461

	registered interest
	date	14/09/2021
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children: Disadvantaged
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department has taken to tackle educational inequalities for disadvantaged white boys, following the report of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparity published in April 2021 and the Education Select Committee Report entitled The forgotten: how White working-class pupils have been let down, and how to change it, published in June 2021.
	tabling member constituency	Mansfield
	tabling member printed	Ben Bradley
	uin	49257
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/09/2021 answer text <p>The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities was launched to conduct a detailed, data-led examination of inequality across the entire population, and to set out a positive agenda for change. We thank Dr Tony Sewell and each of the commissioners for generously giving their time to lead this important piece of work. It is now right that the government considers their recommendations in detail and assesses the implications for future government policy. The government remains fully committed to building a fairer Britain and taking the action needed to address disparities wherever they exist.</p><p>We also thank the Education Select Committee for its report and have been considering its findings and recommendations carefully. We will publish the government’s response to the report in due course.</p><p>The government is committed to levelling up across the UK and is funding particularly disadvantaged areas through the National Funding Formula, Pupil Premium and our Schools Capital programmes.</p> answering member constituency Worcester answering member printed Mr Robin Walker question first answered 27/09/2021 14:01:57 answering member 4091 label Biography information for Mr Robin Walker
	tabling member	4663 label Biography information for Ben Bradley

1355536

	registered interest
	date	14/09/2021
	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, for what reasons schools continue to be required to complete the daily Educational Setting Status form; and for what purpose these data collected are used..
	tabling member constituency	Bath
	tabling member printed	Wera Hobhouse
	uin	49230
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/09/2021 answer text <p>Information gathered through the educational setting status form is used by the department to monitor attendance in schools, and across government to model the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak. This allows the department to provide support in developing policies to help schools manage, and ensure our ability to target educational recovery support.</p><p>The department is grateful to schools for providing this information. Following the removal of the advice to teach pupils in bubbles, the department has announced that from the beginning of October 2021 schools will only be asked to complete the educational setting status form once a week. This will be kept under review and, should the national situation require, daily reporting may be reinstated.</p> answering member constituency Worcester answering member printed Mr Robin Walker question first answered 22/09/2021 16:27:47 answering member 4091 label Biography information for Mr Robin Walker
	tabling member	4602 label Biography information for Wera Hobhouse

1355554

	registered interest
	date	14/09/2021
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Free School Meals
	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 ensure that schools receiving pupil premium are not adversely affected by the administrative change of calculations based on Free School Meals eligibility in October rather than January.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
	tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
	uin	49130
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/09/2021 answer text <p>Schools receive additional funding through the pupil premium to help them support their disadvantaged pupils. For mainstream and special schools, the department has based pupil premium funding for the 2021/22 financial year on the October 2020 census data, instead of using the January census. Alongside the annual pupil premium publication, we have also published the financial impact of moving to using the October census: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pupil-premium-effective-use-and-accountability" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pupil-premium-effective-use-and-accountability</a>.</p><p>Overall, total pupil premium funding is increasing to more than £2.5 billion in the 2021/22 financial year, up by £60 million from 2020/21. This reflects an increase in funding in approximately two thirds of schools, as more children have become eligible for free school meals.</p><p>Head teachers have the flexibility to prioritise support for specific groups of pupils according to their needs. To ensure schools have the best tools to make a difference for all their pupils, the department founded the Education Endowment Foundation in 2011 to research and promote the most effective ways of accelerating pupil progress. This includes guidance for head teachers recommending how best to use the £2.5 billion pupil premium. All schools should have regard to this high-quality advice when deciding how to tackle the attainment gap.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Worcester answering member printed Mr Robin Walker question first answered 22/09/2021 16:26:16 answering member 4091 label Biography information for Mr Robin Walker
	tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1355557

	registered interest
	date	14/09/2021
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Education: Digital Technology
	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 (a) promote digital education in secondary schools and (b) embed digital skills across all subject areas within formal education.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
	tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
	uin	49132
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/09/2021 answer text <p>The department is committed to increasing the digital expertise of young people.</p><p>The computing curriculum provides important foundational knowledge such as algorithms, programming, e-safety, digital literacy and computational thinking that will enable them to pursue further study or a wide range of digital careers in cyber security, artificial intelligence (AI), data science, robotics and software engineering. The majority of this is taught from year 8 and 9 onwards and forms part of the GCSE subject content.</p><p>The department has invested £84 million to improve the quality of computing teaching, creating a National Centre for Computing Education (NCCE). The NCCE has created 500 hours of free, high quality teacher resources, which include cyber security, digital literacy, and data science at key stage 3. The resources include a unit of learning on AI which is taught to year 8 pupils. In addition, the Isaac Computer Science online platform has been set up to support teachers and pupils through AS and A level. As of the end of August 2021, more than 34,600 teachers have engaged with the NCCE programme.</p><p>The department also supports the government’s popular extra-curricular CyberFirst programme, aimed at 11–17 year olds, which stimulates interest in cybersecurity through hackathons, girls’ competitions and residential courses. We also continue to work closely with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on promoting digital careers in school.</p><p>We also recognise the importance of ensuring schools and teachers can make the best use of digital technology. The department has helped more than 6500 schools get set up on a digital platform, ensuring they have access to both training materials and Classroom Practitioner certification schemes available via Microsoft and Google as well as peer to peer support from the EdTech Demonstrators programme.</p><p>We are investing £500 million in the implementation of the new T Levels. There are three T Levels under the digital route. The first qualification is available now and the remaining two qualifications will be delivered from September 2021 onwards. All three contain core elements of computer science. Additionally, all T Level programmes will require students to develop core English, maths and digital competencies as part of the qualification thus giving employers the confidence graduates have the level of digital proficiency necessary for employment.</p><p>In September 2020, the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education launched the new higher technical qualification approvals process, which will focus exclusively in its first year on supporting the delivery of newly approved, high-quality digital qualifications (to be introduced from September 2022).</p><p>We are also taking forward an ambitious programme of further education reform through the further education white paper. These reforms will raise the quality and capacity of training in further education and will be designed with employers to make sure that courses meet their skills needs. It is clear that digital skills will be a major area of focus.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Worcester answering member printed Mr Robin Walker question first answered 22/09/2021 16:30:25 answering member 4091 label Biography information for Mr Robin Walker
	tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1355704

	registered interest
	date	15/09/2021
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education: Training
	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 the adequacy of training for teachers delivering the new Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education curriculum.
	tabling member constituency	Rotherham
	tabling member printed	Sarah Champion
	uin	50037
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/09/2021 answer text <p>The consultation on the statutory guidance for relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) curriculum revealed that many teachers and subject leads needed training and support to deliver the new content. The department invested in a package of support to develop teacher capability and competence to teach high quality RSHE. The package of support included a training and peer support programme, delivered by teaching schools and based on the department’s training modules which were developed with subject experts and tested with teachers. In the 2020/21 academic year, the programme reached 3,800 schools, and provisional data for the last wave, which ended in July, shows a further 1,000 schools have been supported. This is a cascade model of training whereby those trained are expected to share the training with other teachers in their school and wider school networks. Teaching schools have made their training materials and other resources freely available on their websites. The department’s training modules are also freely available for all schools to download via the following link: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-relationships-sex-and-health" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-relationships-sex-and-health</a>.</p><p>The department is developing plans to monitor national implementation of RSHE over time, including new quantitative and qualitative research, which will seek to understand the quality of implementation, including teacher confidence in teaching the statutory requirements, and identifying training and support needs to inform future policy development.</p> answering member constituency Worcester answering member printed Mr Robin Walker question first answered 20/09/2021 16:22:58 answering member 4091 label Biography information for Mr Robin Walker
	tabling member	4267 label Biography information for Sarah Champion