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1662060

registered interest
date	19/09/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pupil Premium
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of trends in the level of per-pupil funding on educational outcomes for pupils in areas with deprived neighbourhoods outside London.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	200306
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/10/2023 answer text <p>The National Funding Formula (NFF) continues to distribute funding fairly based on schools’ and pupils’ needs and characteristics. In 2023/24, the Department has targeted a greater proportion of schools NFF funding towards deprived pupils than ever before. Over £4 billion (9.8%) of the formula has been allocated according to deprivation, while over £7 billion (17.4%), has been allocated to additional needs overall. As a result, schools with the highest levels of deprivation, on average, attract the largest per pupil funding increases. This additional funding is provided on the same basis for disadvantaged pupils wherever they are in the country, both inside and outside of London.</p><p>On top of this core funding, Pupil Premium funding rates have increased by 5% in the 2023/24 financial year to a total of almost £2.9 billion. This increase in funding is on top of £1 billion of recovery premium funding in the 2022/23 and 2023/24 academic years, which was allocated to deliver evidence based approaches to support educational recovery for disadvantaged pupils, and over £300 million delivered in 2021/22. Both Pupil Premium and recovery premium funding is distributed at the same rates to pupils in and outside London.</p><p>Alongside the NFF, the National Tutoring Programme (NTP) funds schools based on rates of disadvantage. Since the launch of the NTP in November 2020, more than £1 billion has been made available to support tutoring. From November 2020 to July 2023 nearly 4 million tutoring courses have been started. Over 1.3 million courses were started during the 2022/23 academic year up to May. Around 208,000 (16%) of those courses took place in London, while a third of those courses took place in the North of England (the North West, North East, and Yorkshire and The Humber).</p><p>In addition, at a regional level, the Department has identified 55 Education Investment Areas (EIAs) with the lowest attainment outcomes. There are 55 Education Investment areas and 24 Priority Education Investment Areas, all of which are located outside of London. The Department is targeting its intensive investment at areas where there is the highest need and most entrenched barriers to school improvement. In these areas, the Department is providing £86 million for Trust Capacity funding, up to £150 million for Connect the Classroom, and extra funding for Levelling Up Premium retention payments.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 17/10/2023 11:19:00 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1662065

registered interest
date	19/09/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	National Tutoring Programme: Finance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much and what proportion of the (a) National Tutoring Programme and (b) recovery premium funding per eligible pupil went to pupils in (i) the North East and (ii) England in each year of which the funding has been available.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	200307
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/10/2023 answer text <p>The proportions of the total allocations for the 2021 to 2023 academic years for the Recovery Premium (RP) and National Tutoring Programme (NTP) (school led) for Local Authorities in the North East can be found in the table below, as well as the proportion of the school age population.</p><p>Allocations for the 2023/24 academic year are due to be published shortly.</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>School Age Population</p></td><td><p>2021/22 NTP</p></td><td><p>2021/22 RP</p></td><td><p>2022/23 NTP</p></td><td><p>2022/23 RP</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>North East proportion</p></td><td><p>4.6%</p></td><td><p>6.1%</p></td><td><p>6.1%</p></td><td><p>6.1%</p></td><td><p>5.9%</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 17/10/2023 11:32:23 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1660872

registered interest
date	14/09/2023
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 her Department plans to take to help schools support children in disadvantaged circumstances in the North of England.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	199591
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/09/2023 answer text <p>Closing the attainment gap between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils has been a Departmental priority underpinning all the Department’s education reforms since 2010. The attainment gap narrowed by 9% at secondary school level and by 13% at primary school level between 2011 and 2019.</p><p>For over a decade, the Department has consistently taken a range of steps to give priority support and deliver programmes that help disadvantaged pupils, including improving the quality of teaching and curriculum resources, strengthening the school system, and providing targeted support where needed. The Department knows that disadvantaged children have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The widened gap is not acceptable, and the Department is working to reduce this.</p><p>At a national level, the Department delivers a number of core policies to support disadvantaged pupils, such as free school meals (FSM) that support 1.9 million children, the Holiday Activities and Food Programme where the Department is investing over £200 million a year for the next 2 years and support for 2,500 breakfast clubs and family hubs. Additionally, the Department is also ensuring better targeting of deprivation factors through the National Funding Formula (over 9% of all funding), as well as record amounts of pupil premium funding, £2.6 billion in the 2022/23 financial year and £2.9 billion in 2023/24.</p><p>The National Tutoring Programme (NTP) funds schools based on rates of disadvantage. Since the launch of the NTP in November 2020, more than £1 billion has been made available to support tutoring. From November 2020 to the 2023/24 academic year nearly 4 million tutoring courses have been started (up to July 2023). By 2024, the Department will have embedded tutoring across schools in England. The Department expects tutoring to continue to be a staple offer from schools, with schools using their core budgets, including the Pupil Premium, to fund targeted support for those pupils who will benefit.</p><p>At a regional level, the Department has identified 55 Education Investment Areas (EIAs) with the lowest attainment outcomes, 27 of which are in the North. In these areas, the Department is providing £86 million for Trust Capacity funding, up to £150 million for Connect the Classroom, and extra funding for Levelling Up Premium retention payments and to support schools with two or more Requires Improvement inspection reports.</p><p>Furthermore, 24 EIAs have been identified as Priority Education Investment Areas, 13 of which are in the North. These areas face low attainment at Key Stage 2 and entrenched disadvantage. They receive additional investment including £42 million of Local Needs Funding, £86 million for Connect the Classroom and over £2 million for attendance mentoring pilots.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 26/09/2023 15:45:03 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1660873

registered interest
date	14/09/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Schools: Absenteeism
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to tackle potential regional disparities in school absence rates.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	199592
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/09/2023 answer text <p>The Government understands how important regular school attendance is for pupils' education, wellbeing and life chances. The Department has a national strategy for tackling absence and is providing targeted support to reduce regional disparities.</p><p>In 2022, the Department published stronger expectations of schools, trusts, governing bodies and Local Authorities in the ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance. Schools are now expected to publish an attendance policy, appoint an attendance champion, and use data to identify and then support pupils at risk of becoming persistently absent. This guidance will ensure there is greater consistency for managing attendance across all schools and different Local Authority areas. The Department has deployed 10 expert attendance advisers to work with all 155 English Local Authorities to review practices, develop plans to improve and meet expectations set out in the guidance. The aim of this work is to improve the quality of attendance support in all areas across the country.</p><p>The Secretary of State and I co chair the ‘Attendance Action Alliance’ of system leaders to work to remove barriers to attendance and reduce absence through delivering pledges of specific actions to tackle the problem. The Department has also made available £5 billion nationally for education recovery, helping pupils to recover from the disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic. This funding includes up to £1.5 billion on tutoring and nearly £2 billion of direct funding to schools so they can deliver evidence based interventions based on pupil needs.</p><p>The Department is also providing direct support and funding in specific areas. The Department announced 24 Priority Education Investment Areas (PEIAs) who will receive up to £42 million to fund bespoke interventions to improve attainment at Key Stages 2 and 4. Where poor attendance has been identified as a key issue in an area, specific attendance initiatives are also being funded to address this.</p><p>The Department has also launched a £2.32 million attendance mentor pilot which aims to deliver intensive one to one support to persistently and severely absent pupils in 5 PEIAs. This is alongside our 10 new attendance hubs who are sharing their effective practice for attendance with up to 600 partner schools, reaching hundreds of thousands of pupils. Schools in PEIAs also have priority access to support from hubs.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 26/09/2023 15:45:22 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1658117

registered interest
date	05/09/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Education: Finance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding her Department has provided to the (a) National Centre for Computing Education (b) Isaac Physics programme, (c) Stimulating Physics Network, (d) Advanced Mathematics Support Programme, (e) SUMS (Steps to University for Mathematical Students) Enrichment Day, (f) T-Level Ambassador Network and (g) Inclusion in Schools project in each year for which data is available.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	197715
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/09/2023 answer text <p>Funding details for the National Centre for Computing Education, the Isaac Physics programme, the Stimulating Physics Network, the Advanced Mathematics Support Programme (AMSP) and the Inclusion in Schools project are in the table below. <br> <br> With regard to SUMS (Steps to University for Mathematical Students) Enrichment Day, this is funded as part of the AMSP programme, therefore the Department does not record a separate breakdown of funding for that.</p><p>On the T Level Ambassador Network, in the 2022/23 financial year, the Department spent £66,000 establishing and supporting the T Level Ambassador Network to promote and advocate T Levels with employers.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>National Centre for Computing Education</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>2018-19</p></td><td><p>2019-20</p></td><td><p>2020-21</p></td><td><p>2021-22</p></td><td><p>2022-23</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>a) National Centre for Computing Education</p></td><td><p>£7.6m</p></td><td><p>£17.7m</p></td><td><p>£15.6m</p></td><td><p>£17.1m</p></td><td><p>£13.4m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Maths Programme</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>2018-19</p></td><td><p>2019-20</p></td><td><p>2020-21</p></td><td><p>2021-22</p></td><td><p>2022-23</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>d) AMSP</p></td><td><p>£6.3m</p></td><td><p>£8.5m</p></td><td><p>£7.1m</p></td><td><p>£7.6m</p></td><td><p>£8.4m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Science Programmes</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>2020-21</p></td><td><p>2021-22</p></td><td><p>2022-23</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>c) Stimulating Physics Network (SPN)*</p></td><td><p>£2.15m</p></td><td><p>£2.46m</p></td><td><p>£2.11m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>b) Isaac Physics</p></td><td><p>£0.695m</p></td><td><p>£0.62m</p></td><td><p>£0.86m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>g) Inclusion in Schools project</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p>£0.59m</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="4"><p>*SPN includes Inclusion in Schools</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 11/09/2023 16:38:28 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1652432

registered interest
date	12/07/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Schools: Buildings
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an estimate of the number of schools at risk of closure due to disrepair or unsafe building materials in (a) Newcastle central constituency, (b) the North East and (c) the UK.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	193647
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/07/2023 answer text <p>Education is a devolved matter. This response covers the approach in England only.</p><p>Nothing is more important than the safety of pupils and teachers. This is why the Department has been putting significant funding into maintaining schools across the country. Where there are serious safety issues with a building, the Department takes immediate and swift action to ensure the safety of pupils and school staff. There are no open areas within schools or college buildings where the Department knows of an imminent risk to life.</p><p>It is the responsibility of those who run schools and who work with their schools day to day to manage the safety and maintenance of their buildings. This includes academy trusts, Local Authorities and voluntary aided school bodies. The Department provides support on a case by case basis if it is alerted to a serious safety issue which responsible bodies cannot manage independently.</p><p>The Department is currently working with responsible bodies, schools, and colleges to identify the presence of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) in their buildings. Once this work is complete, the Department will have a fuller idea of the presence of RAAC in the estate. Where RAAC is suspected, the Department’s professional surveyors carry out assessments to verify its presence. Over 200 surveys have been undertaken and by autumn 2023 we will have surveyed over 600 schools. If RAAC is confirmed, the Department provides rapid support to schools based on the advice of structural engineers. This could include funding capital works to remove any immediate risk and, where necessary, the provision of temporary buildings. Longer term remediation of RAAC is supported by capital funding provided to the sector, the Department’s rebuilding programme, and urgent capital support.</p><p>The Department has allocated over £15 billion since 2015 for keeping school buildings safe and in good working order, including £1.8 billion committed for 2023/24. In addition, the School Rebuilding Programme will transform buildings at 500 schools, prioritising poor condition and potential safety issues.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 28/07/2023 15:46:41 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1612250

registered interest
date	19/04/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Special Educational Needs: Teachers
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to take steps to improve the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of STEM teachers; and whether she has made an assessment of the adequacy of existing schemes at attracting and retaining staff.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	181541
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/04/2023 answer text <p>The Department’s recruitment and retention reforms aim to ensure effective teacher supply across all subjects. The Department recognises that recruitment and retention in some subjects, including STEM subjects, remains more challenging and the Department has put in place additional targeted initiatives.</p><p>In October 2022, the Department announced an Initial Teacher Training (ITT) financial incentives package worth up to £181 million for those starting ITT in 2023/24, which is a £52 million increase on 2022/23. The package includes bursaries worth £27,000 tax free and scholarships worth £29,000 tax free to encourage talented trainees to teach in key subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing. More information on the financial incentives package can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/funding-initial-teacher-training-itt/funding-initial-teacher-training-itt-academic-year-2023-to-2024" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/funding-initial-teacher-training-itt/funding-initial-teacher-training-itt-academic-year-2023-to-2024</a>. For the 2023/24 academic year, the Department has also extended bursary and scholarship eligibility to all non-UK national trainees in physics.</p><p>There is strong evidence that increasing bursaries increases ITT recruitment. The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) have recently published independent research which corroborates the Department’s analysis which finds that a £1,000 increase in bursary value results in approximately a 3% increase in applicants on average, all other things being equal. The NFER research can be found here: <a href="https://www.nfer.ac.uk/media/4957/assessing_the_impact_of_pay_and_financial_incentives_in_improving_shortage_of_subject_teacher_supply.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.nfer.ac.uk/media/4957/assessing_the_impact_of_pay_and_financial_incentives_in_improving_shortage_of_subject_teacher_supply.pdf</a>.</p><p>The Department also pays a Levelling Up Premium worth up to £3,000 tax-free for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers, who choose to work in disadvantaged schools, including in Education Investment Areas. More information is available at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/levelling-up-premium-payments-for-teachers" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/guidance/levelling-up-premium-payments-for-teachers</a>.</p><p>In spring 2022, the Department launched ‘Engineers teach physics’ (ETP), an ITT course which was piloted as a step to encourage engineering graduates and career changers with an engineering background to consider a career as a physics teacher. Following the pilot year, the Department has now rolled ETP out nationally, with 18 providers currently offering this course.</p><p>The Department reviews the existing schemes on offer each year and considers the introduction of specific targeted initiatives where there is evidence that they could contribute to the recruitment and retention of excellent teachers.</p><p>To support retention across all subjects, the Department has published a range of resources to help address staff workload and wellbeing. This includes the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter, which the Department is encouraging schools to sign up to as a shared commitment to promote staff wellbeing. The Charter can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/education-staff-wellbeing-charter" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/guidance/education-staff-wellbeing-charter</a>. The Department will be reviewing progress made against the Charter later this year.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 27/04/2023 14:41:09 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1604976

registered interest
date	16/03/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Academies: Admissions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 30 January 2023 to Question 132392 on Admissions: Academies, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of granting local authorities the power to direct academies to admit pupils in periods of (a) short term and (b) acute demand for school places.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	167100
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/03/2023 answer text <p>The Department is not currently considering giving Local Authorities a power to direct academies to admit pupils in periods of demand for school places.</p><p>While it is for academies, as their own admission authority, to determine the numbers of places they provide, the Department does expect academy trusts along with other schools to collaborate with Local Authorities to provide additional places where these are needed, particularly where an academy has spare capacity that can be brought into use.</p><p>The Department supports Local Authorities with capital funding through the Basic Need Grant to meet their statutory duty to provide sufficient school places. The Department provides revenue funding as part of the Designated Schools Grant that Local Authorities can use to support schools to manage a significant growth in pupil numbers.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 21/03/2023 17:49:58 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1604977

registered interest
date	16/03/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Academies: Admissions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 30 January 2023 to Question 132392 on Admissions: Academies, whether her Department has provided (a) additional support and (b) guidance to local authorities to help them meet their statutory duty to provide sufficient school places for all children living in their area.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	167101
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/03/2023 answer text <p>The Department supports Local Authorities with capital funding for additional school places provided through the Basic Need Grant. Based on Local Authorities’ forecasted pupil numbers, the Department has provided £535 million to create school places needed for September 2023, a further £745 million for places needed by September 2024 and £195 million for places needed by September 2025. At a national level, births have been dropping since 2013. There will continue to be a need for new school places, particularly if areas have a higher birth rate, new housing developments or increased migration from the UK and overseas.</p><p>Local Authorities can use the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) to manage significant growth in pupils’ numbers. As part of the DSG, the Department has allocated £259 million in Growth and Falling Rolls funding to Local Authorities in 2023/24. This is an increase of £13 million on funding allocated for 2022/23.</p><p>The Department also provides funding to Local Authorities for children who have arrived due to humanitarian and resettlement schemes. In 2022/23 the Department has so far allocated £160 million funding for children who have arrived via the Homes for Ukraine scheme and will allocate a further £30 million at the end of March 2023 for children from Afghanistan in bridging hotels.</p><p>Guidance on the process to create a free school, where a Local Authority has identified the need for a new school, can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/establishing-a-new-school-free-school-presumption" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/establishing-a-new-school-free-school-presumption</a>.</p><p>Guidance for Local Authorities on the prescribed alterations process to increase places at existing maintained schools can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-organisation-maintained-schools" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-organisation-maintained-schools</a>.</p><p>The Department engages with Local Authorities on a regular basis to review their plans for creating additional places and to consider alternatives where necessary. When Local Authorities are experiencing difficulties, the Department provides additional support and advice to help them find solutions as quickly as possible, including when there are sudden population influxes.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 24/03/2023 14:29:12 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1580912

registered interest
date	25/01/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Academies: Admissions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the impact of academy trusts admissions policies and oversubscription criteria on the ability of local authorities to ensure school places for all children following periods of population growth.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	132392
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/01/2023 answer text <p>In 2022, the Government published research by Isos Partnership looking at how Local Authorities are ensuring sufficient places and supporting vulnerable children. This is available at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authority-provision-for-school-places-and-support-for-vulnerable-children" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authority-provision-for-school-places-and-support-for-vulnerable-children</a>.</p><p>Local Authorities have a statutory duty, under Section 14 of the Education Act 1996, to ensure that there are sufficient primary and secondary school places for all children living in their area. The Department provides capital funding through the Basic Need grant to support Local Authorities to meet their statutory duty to provide sufficient school places, based on their own forecast data. They can use this funding to provide places in new schools or through expansions of existing schools, and can work with any school in their local area, including academies and free schools.</p><p>Trusts are expected to work collaboratively with Local Authorities, dioceses and other schools in the area, to ensure that there is a co-ordinated approach to place planning and delivery and support Local authorities to meet their legal duty by providing additional places where they are needed. The Department engages with Local Authorities on a regular basis to review their plans for creating additional places and to consider alternatives where necessary. When Local Authorities are experiencing difficulties, the Department will provide support and advice.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 30/01/2023 13:57:33 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah