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1125926

registered interest
date	10/05/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Railways: Concessions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the expenditure by local authorities on the provision of free rail passes for pupils (a) up to the age of 16 to travel to their nearest school and (b) from families on maximum working tax credit or entitlement to free school meals; and how many school pupils benefit from such rail passes.
tabling member constituency	Middlesbrough
tabling member printed	Andy McDonald
uin	252867
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/05/2019 answer text <p>​Local authorities have a statutory duty under section 508B of the Education Act 1996 to make travel arrangements to enable all eligible children of compulsory school age to attend their nearest suitable school. For low income families, there are additional rights to free home to school transport where children are entitled to Free School Meals or whose parents are in receipt of the maximum Working Tax Credit. It is for local authorities to decide how to fulfil that duty. They may, if they wish, provide pupils with rail passes. The information requested is not held centrally, regarding pupil numbers or detailed local authority expenditure.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 15/05/2019 12:11:32 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4269 label Biography information for Andy McDonald

1125933

registered interest
date	10/05/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pupil Exclusions: Ethnic Groups
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of school exclusions for each ethnic group.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	252824
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/05/2019 answer text <p>The rate of exclusion varies by pupil ethnicity, with pupils of some ethnic groups more likely to be excluded and others less.[1]</p><p> </p><p>Last March, the Government commissioned Edward Timpson to explore how head teachers use exclusion and why some groups of pupils are more likely to be excluded than others.</p><p> </p><p>New analysis undertaken for the Timpson Review shows that some ethnic groups are more likely to be excluded after controlling for other observable characteristics. For example, after accounting for other factors, Black Caribbean children are around 1.7 times more likely to be permanently excluded compared to White British children, while Mixed White and Black Caribbean children are around 1.6 times more likely, and Indian and Bangladeshi pupils are around half as likely.</p><p> </p><p>Equally, children in some ethnic groups do not appear to be permanently excluded at a different rate from White British pupils, such as Black African children.</p><p> </p><p>The Timpson review, the analysis technical note, and the Government’s response can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/school-exclusions-review-call-for-evidence" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/school-exclusions-review-call-for-evidence</a>.</p><p> </p><p>[1] <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/permanent-and-fixed-period-exclusions-in-england-2016-to-2017" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/permanent-and-fixed-period-exclusions-in-england-2016-to-2017</a>. National tables, table 8.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 15/05/2019 12:13:50 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1125595

registered interest
date	09/05/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Schools: Health Education
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he has taken to ensure the new Abortion and Abortion Care Fact Sheet for schools is balanced and objective in its use of language.
tabling member constituency	Congleton
tabling member printed	Fiona Bruce
uin	252525
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/05/2019 answer text <p>The Abortion and Abortion Care Factsheet was produced by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare.</p><p>Schools are free to determine which resources they use, including materials to develop professional knowledge. Head teachers and subject specialists are best placed to make those decisions. The Department does not prescribe what must and must not be used.</p><p>Many schools work with specialist subject associations who help schools to access high quality materials, including resources that they have quality assured.</p><p>The Department is clear that in teaching about sensitive issues such as abortion, any teaching must be age-appropriate.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 14/05/2019 15:21:45 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	3958 label Biography information for Fiona Bruce

1125639

registered interest
date	09/05/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Literacy: Essex
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 raise levels of literacy in Essex.
tabling member constituency	Witham
tabling member printed	Priti Patel
uin	252537
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/05/2019 answer text <p>The Government is committed to continuing to raise literacy standards, ensuring all children can read fluently and with understanding. Building on the success of our phonics partnerships and phonics roadshows programmes, in 2018 the Department launched a £26.3 million English Hubs Programme. The Department has appointed 34 primary schools across England as English Hubs. Hub schools are taking a leading role in improving the teaching of early reading through systematic synthetic phonics, early language development, and reading for pleasure.</p><p>There is a substantial body of evidence that shows that systematic phonics is the most effective method for teaching early reading. Reflecting this, the Department introduced the light touch phonics screening check for year 1 pupils in 2012. Phonics performance is improving: in 2018, there were 163,000 more six-year-olds on track to become fluent readers compared to 2012. This represented 82% of pupils meeting the expected standard in the phonics screening check, compared to just 58% when the check was introduced in 2012.</p><p>The Department have appointed Myland Community Primary school as an English Hub in Colchester, and Elmhurst Primary School in Newham. Both of these hubs will work with schools in Essex to improve the teaching of early reading.</p><p> </p><p>In 2016, new tests and frameworks for teacher assessment were brought in at Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, following the introduction of a new, more challenging National Curriculum that set higher expected standards for reading, writing and mathematics. These changes mean that the expected standard from 2016 is higher and not comparable with the expected levels used in previous years' statistics. It is not possible to make direct comparisons between the results before and after the changes in 2016.</p><p> </p><p>The number and percentage of state-funded pupils, at the end of Key Stage 1, 2 and 4, who did not achieve the expected level of literacy[1] in Witham, Essex and England are in the attached tables. Figures relate to academic years 2013/14 to 2017/18. The Department does not produce statistics for Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, or the UK as a whole, and therefore these figures relate to England only.</p><p> </p><p>[1] There is not a definitive definition of ‘expected level of literacy’ for each key stage. Figures have been provided for achievement in English, or English subjects, in the headline or additional measures that were used for that key stage, in each academic year.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb grouped question UIN 252538 question first answered 16/05/2019 14:43:04 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb attachment 1 file name 252537_252538_Literacy_Attainment_KS1_KS2_KS4.xls title 252537_252538_Tables
tabling member	4066 label Biography information for Priti Patel

1125640

registered interest
date	09/05/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pupils: Literacy
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many pupils at the end of (a) Key Stage 1, (b) Key Stage 2 and (c) Key Stage 4 did not meet the expected level of literacy in (i) Witham constituency, (ii) Essex, and (iii) the UK in the last five years for which data is available.
tabling member constituency	Witham
tabling member printed	Priti Patel
uin	252538
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/05/2019 answer text <p>The Government is committed to continuing to raise literacy standards, ensuring all children can read fluently and with understanding. Building on the success of our phonics partnerships and phonics roadshows programmes, in 2018 the Department launched a £26.3 million English Hubs Programme. The Department has appointed 34 primary schools across England as English Hubs. Hub schools are taking a leading role in improving the teaching of early reading through systematic synthetic phonics, early language development, and reading for pleasure.</p><p>There is a substantial body of evidence that shows that systematic phonics is the most effective method for teaching early reading. Reflecting this, the Department introduced the light touch phonics screening check for year 1 pupils in 2012. Phonics performance is improving: in 2018, there were 163,000 more six-year-olds on track to become fluent readers compared to 2012. This represented 82% of pupils meeting the expected standard in the phonics screening check, compared to just 58% when the check was introduced in 2012.</p><p>The Department have appointed Myland Community Primary school as an English Hub in Colchester, and Elmhurst Primary School in Newham. Both of these hubs will work with schools in Essex to improve the teaching of early reading.</p><p> </p><p>In 2016, new tests and frameworks for teacher assessment were brought in at Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, following the introduction of a new, more challenging National Curriculum that set higher expected standards for reading, writing and mathematics. These changes mean that the expected standard from 2016 is higher and not comparable with the expected levels used in previous years' statistics. It is not possible to make direct comparisons between the results before and after the changes in 2016.</p><p> </p><p>The number and percentage of state-funded pupils, at the end of Key Stage 1, 2 and 4, who did not achieve the expected level of literacy[1] in Witham, Essex and England are in the attached tables. Figures relate to academic years 2013/14 to 2017/18. The Department does not produce statistics for Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, or the UK as a whole, and therefore these figures relate to England only.</p><p> </p><p>[1] There is not a definitive definition of ‘expected level of literacy’ for each key stage. Figures have been provided for achievement in English, or English subjects, in the headline or additional measures that were used for that key stage, in each academic year.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb grouped question UIN 252537 question first answered 16/05/2019 14:43:04 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb attachment 1 file name 252537_252538_Literacy_Attainment_KS1_KS2_KS4.xls title 252537_252538_Tables
tabling member	4066 label Biography information for Priti Patel

1125642

registered interest
date	09/05/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pupils: Absenteeism
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of unauthorised school absences in (a) Witham constituency, (b) Essex and c) the UK in the last three years for which data is available.
tabling member constituency	Witham
tabling member printed	Priti Patel
uin	252540
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/05/2019 answer text <p>It is a priority to reduce overall school absence as part of the Government’s ambition to create a world-class education system.</p><p>Data on the number of unauthorised absences are published in the termly “Pupil absence in schools in England” statistical releases, and can be found here:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-pupil-absence" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-pupil-absence</a>.</p><p>Information for each school, local authority and England is provided in the underlying data. Information by local authority and England is also provided in the “National and local authority” tables.</p><p>The Department has already taken a number of steps to reduce the number of unauthorised absence and tackle persistent absence. In 2013, the Government amended legislation to make it clear that leave of absence could be authorised by maintained schools only in exceptional circumstances. It is up to individual schools to decide what constitutes exceptional circumstances.</p><p>Overall school attendance is improving, and absence rates have followed a general downward trend since 2006-7. The Department recognises that persistent absence is hard to tackle. Children may be persistently absent from school for a number of reasons including long term sickness.</p><p>To enable schools to act earlier in dealing with patterns of poor attendance, the Department has tightened up the definition of persistent absence in national statistics and equipped schools and local authorities with a range of sanctions they can use to tackle poor attendance. This includes penalty notices, parenting orders, fast track programmes, parenting contracts, and ultimately prosecution.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb grouped question UIN 252541 question first answered 15/05/2019 13:21:24 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4066 label Biography information for Priti Patel

1125643

registered interest
date	09/05/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pupils: Absenteeism
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 reduce the number of (a) unauthorised and (b) persistent absences of students from school.
tabling member constituency	Witham
tabling member printed	Priti Patel
uin	252541
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/05/2019 answer text <p>It is a priority to reduce overall school absence as part of the Government’s ambition to create a world-class education system.</p><p>Data on the number of unauthorised absences are published in the termly “Pupil absence in schools in England” statistical releases, and can be found here:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-pupil-absence" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-pupil-absence</a>.</p><p>Information for each school, local authority and England is provided in the underlying data. Information by local authority and England is also provided in the “National and local authority” tables.</p><p>The Department has already taken a number of steps to reduce the number of unauthorised absence and tackle persistent absence. In 2013, the Government amended legislation to make it clear that leave of absence could be authorised by maintained schools only in exceptional circumstances. It is up to individual schools to decide what constitutes exceptional circumstances.</p><p>Overall school attendance is improving, and absence rates have followed a general downward trend since 2006-7. The Department recognises that persistent absence is hard to tackle. Children may be persistently absent from school for a number of reasons including long term sickness.</p><p>To enable schools to act earlier in dealing with patterns of poor attendance, the Department has tightened up the definition of persistent absence in national statistics and equipped schools and local authorities with a range of sanctions they can use to tackle poor attendance. This includes penalty notices, parenting orders, fast track programmes, parenting contracts, and ultimately prosecution.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb grouped question UIN 252540 question first answered 15/05/2019 13:21:24 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4066 label Biography information for Priti Patel

1125671

registered interest
date	09/05/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Teachers: Harassment
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 tackle abuse directed at teachers from parents (a) online and (b) in person.
tabling member constituency	South Antrim
tabling member printed	Paul Girvan
uin	252620
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/05/2019 answer text <p>The majority of schools and colleges provide safe and secure working environments for teaching staff.</p><p> </p><p>All staff should be able to work in an environment in which pupils can develop, and staff can have fulfilling careers free from harassment and bullying. Schools and colleges have a duty and a responsibility to protect both pupils and staff. Any bullying of staff, including cyberbullying, is unacceptable and it is important that schools and colleges take measures to prevent and tackle this.</p><p> </p><p>The Department provides specific guidance for headteachers and staff on how to protect themselves from cyberbullying and how to tackle it if it happens. The guidance is available here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/preventing-and-tackling-bullying" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/preventing-and-tackling-bullying</a>.</p><p> </p><p>My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has recently announced that this guidance will be reviewed and updated.</p><p> </p><p>The Department’s guidance “keeping children safe in education” also makes it clear that online safety training for staff should be integral to a school's safeguarding approach, and that appropriate filters and monitoring systems should be in place to help to safeguard the whole school community. This guidance is available here: <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/741314/Keeping_Children_Safe_in_Education__3_September_2018_14.09.18.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/741314/Keeping_Children_Safe_in_Education__3_September_2018_14.09.18.pdf</a>.</p><p> </p><p>To prevent abusive behaviour in schools, the Department’s guidance on controlling access to premises also makes it clear that it is a criminal offence for a person who is on school premises without lawful authority to cause or permit a nuisance or disturbance. The guidance makes it clear that a school may consider that aggressive, abusive or insulting behaviour, or language from a parent presents a risk to staff or pupils. This guidance can be found at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/controlling-access-to-school-premises" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/controlling-access-to-school-premises</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The Department is currently developing new school and college security guidance which will be published later this year. This will include references to help deal with violent crime, and encourage the development of policies and culture to help reduce and address any violence-related incidents.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 16/05/2019 13:01:03 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4633 label Biography information for Paul Girvan

1125672

registered interest
date	09/05/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Academies: Land
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the total loss of former public land to academy trusts.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Edgbaston
tabling member printed	Preet Kaur Gill
uin	252621
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/05/2019 answer text <p>When schools convert to academy status, in the vast majority of cases there is no loss of publicly funded land. Most school sites are owned by a local authority (LA). When such schools convert, the LA retains ownership of the land and leases it to the academy trust. Only where a school already owns their own land prior to conversion, and even then only in some instances, will the freehold transfer to the new academy trust. Further information on these land arrangements are available here:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/academy-land-transfer-advice" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/academy-land-transfer-advice</a>.</p><p>Where publicly funded land is legally held by an academy trust, it remains ‘publicly funded’ and therefore protected by legislation. No one can dispose or change the use of publicly funded school land without first getting consent from my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education. Should an academy close, or part of the land become surplus, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State has powers to return it to the LA, to transfer it to another academy, or to return the proceeds of any sale to the local authority.</p><p>As a further safeguard, all academy funding agreements since at least 2014 should contain an option for my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State to acquire the academy trust’s legal interest in its land for nil consideration on the termination of the funding agreement. A version of this option was also in common use prior to 2014, but we do not have any central record of the rare instances in which it may have been absent.</p><p>The Department has not estimated the financial value of land without such an option in place. This is because even where this may be the case, all publicly funded land at academies remains subject to Schedule 1 of the Academies Act 2010. This allows the Secretary of State to direct the transfer of the land back to the local authority, or another academy trust, should the school cease to be an academy or seek to dispose of the land.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb grouped question UIN 252623 question first answered 14/05/2019 15:24:11 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4603 label Biography information for Preet Kaur Gill

1125674

registered interest
date	09/05/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Academies: Land
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the financial value of public land which academy trusts own under contracts which do not contain the right of his Department to acquire the land at no cost upon termination of the funding agreement.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Edgbaston
tabling member printed	Preet Kaur Gill
uin	252623
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/05/2019 answer text <p>When schools convert to academy status, in the vast majority of cases there is no loss of publicly funded land. Most school sites are owned by a local authority (LA). When such schools convert, the LA retains ownership of the land and leases it to the academy trust. Only where a school already owns their own land prior to conversion, and even then only in some instances, will the freehold transfer to the new academy trust. Further information on these land arrangements are available here:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/academy-land-transfer-advice" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/academy-land-transfer-advice</a>.</p><p>Where publicly funded land is legally held by an academy trust, it remains ‘publicly funded’ and therefore protected by legislation. No one can dispose or change the use of publicly funded school land without first getting consent from my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education. Should an academy close, or part of the land become surplus, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State has powers to return it to the LA, to transfer it to another academy, or to return the proceeds of any sale to the local authority.</p><p>As a further safeguard, all academy funding agreements since at least 2014 should contain an option for my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State to acquire the academy trust’s legal interest in its land for nil consideration on the termination of the funding agreement. A version of this option was also in common use prior to 2014, but we do not have any central record of the rare instances in which it may have been absent.</p><p>The Department has not estimated the financial value of land without such an option in place. This is because even where this may be the case, all publicly funded land at academies remains subject to Schedule 1 of the Academies Act 2010. This allows the Secretary of State to direct the transfer of the land back to the local authority, or another academy trust, should the school cease to be an academy or seek to dispose of the land.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb grouped question UIN 252621 question first answered 14/05/2019 15:24:11 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4603 label Biography information for Preet Kaur Gill