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1674401

registered interest
date	30/11/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Schools: Concrete
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the potential merits of providing additional funding to remove the presence of RAAC in schools.
tabling member constituency	Belfast South
tabling member printed	Claire Hanna
uin	4754
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/12/2023 answer text <p>Education is a devolved matter; and the response outlines the information for England only and not Northern Ireland.</p><p>The department will always put the safety and wellbeing of children and staff in education settings at the heart of its policy decisions.</p><p>The department will spend whatever it takes to keep pupils safe and is funding the emergency work needed to mitigate the presence of RAAC in school and college buildings in England, including installing alternative classroom space where necessary. Where schools and colleges in England need additional help with revenue costs, all reasonable requests are being approved.</p><p>The department will also fund the removal of RAAC from the school and college estate in England. Schools and colleges in England will either be offered capital grants, or rebuilding projects where these are needed, including through the School Rebuilding Programme. The department will set out further details for affected schools and colleges in due course.</p><p>Ministers and officials have regular discussions with colleagues from His Majesty’s Treasury on a range of issues. The department’s immediate support will be managed from unallocated departmental budgets. This will not have an impact on existing programmes. The department will provide further information about funding at relevant points in due course.</p><p>The government has taken more proactive action to identify and mitigate RAAC in education settings than the devolved administrations in the UK, or indeed, governments overseas.</p> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds question first answered 05/12/2023 17:50:56 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds
tabling member	4827 label Biography information for Claire Hanna

1674446

registered interest
date	30/11/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Special Educational Needs: Wellingborough
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of children with SEND who are (i) persistently absent and (ii) severely absent from school in Wellingborough constituency.
tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
tabling member printed	Helen Hayes
uin	4698
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/12/2023 answer text <p>Information on pupil absence, including breakdowns by pupil characteristics, is published in the ‘Pupil absence in schools in England’ national statistic. The latest release, covering the autumn and spring terms of the 2022/23 academic year is available at: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england</a>. Data from the latest full academic year, 2021/22, is available at: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england/2021-22" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england/2021-22</a>.</p><p>A pupil is classified as persistently absent if they miss 10% or more of their possible sessions. A pupil is classified as severely absent if they miss 50% or more of their possible sessions.</p><p>The table below shows the numbers and rates of persistently absent and severely absent pupils in Wellingborough parliamentary constituency by special educational need status for the latest full academic year available, 2021/22.</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>Persistent absentees</p></td><td><p>Persistent absentee %</p></td><td><p>Severe absentees</p></td><td><p>Severe absentee %</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>No identified SEN<sup>1</sup></p></td><td><p>2,754</p></td><td><p>21.6</p></td><td><p>179</p></td><td><p>1.4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>SEN Support</p></td><td><p>548</p></td><td><p>30.1</p></td><td><p>71</p></td><td><p>3.9</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Statement or EHCP<sup>2</sup></p></td><td><p>167</p></td><td><p>29.9</p></td><td><p>22</p></td><td><p>3.9</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Source: School Census.</p><p><sup>1</sup> Special Educational Need</p><p><sup>2</sup> Education, Health and Care Plan.</p><p>This table excludes a small number of pupils with unclassified SEN status.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds question first answered 05/12/2023 17:46:43 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds
tabling member	4510 label Biography information for Helen Hayes

1673902

registered interest
date	29/11/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Uniforms: Low Incomes
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 support families on low incomes with the cost of school uniforms.
tabling member constituency	Strangford
tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
uin	4427
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/12/2023 answer text <p>Education is a devolved matter; the response outlines the information for England only, not Northern Ireland.</p><p>Rather than subsiding expensive uniform policies with financial assistance, the department published statutory guidance on the cost of school uniform to ensure uniform is affordable for all families. Schools needed to start being compliant with the guidance from September 2022. The guidance is available at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cost-of-school-uniforms/cost-of-school-uniforms" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cost-of-school-uniforms/cost-of-school-uniforms</a>.</p><p>​Schools must have regard to this guidance when designing and implementing their uniform policy. The guidance requires schools to ensure that their uniform is affordable and secures best value for money for parents.</p><p>There is no specific funding for schools to support families to meet the costs of school uniform, but schools may offer additional support in cases of financial hardship where they choose to do so.</p> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds question first answered 06/12/2023 17:20:37 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds
tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1673918

registered interest
date	29/11/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Schools: Concrete
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 a recent estimate of the total amount of funding that will be required to support schools affected by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.
tabling member constituency	East Londonderry
tabling member printed	Mr Gregory Campbell
uin	4354
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/12/2023 answer text <p>The department will always put the safety and wellbeing of children and staff in education settings at the heart of its policy decisions.</p><p>The department will spend what it takes to keep pupils safe and is funding the emergency work needed to mitigate the presence of RAAC in school and college buildings in England, including installing alternative classroom space where necessary. Where schools and colleges in England need additional help with revenue costs, all reasonable requests are being approved.</p><p>The department will also fund the removal of RAAC from the school and college estate in England. Schools and colleges in England will either be offered capital grants to fund refurbishment work to permanently remove RAAC, or rebuilding projects where these are needed, including through the school rebuilding programme. The department will set out further details for affected schools and colleges in due course.</p><p>The department’s immediate support will be managed from unallocated departmental budgets. This will not have an impact on existing programmes. The department will provide further information about funding at relevant points in due course.</p><p>This government has taken more proactive action to identify and mitigate RAAC in education settings than the devolved administrations in the UK, or indeed, governments overseas.</p> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds question first answered 05/12/2023 15:42:23 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds
tabling member	1409 label Biography information for Mr Gregory Campbell

1673978

registered interest
date	29/11/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Teachers: Parents
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to retain teachers when they become parents.
tabling member constituency	Twickenham
tabling member printed	Munira Wilson
uin	4577
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/12/2023 answer text <p>Great teaching is transformational for children’s life chances, but the department cannot achieve its ambitions unless there are sufficient teachers. The department recognises there is more to do to ensure teaching remains an attractive, high-status profession, and to recruit and retain the best teachers. The department wants teaching to be an inclusive profession where all teachers, regardless of background or circumstance, are supported throughout their career journeys.</p><p>The department’s ‘Teacher Recruitment and Retention’ strategy, published in 2019, outlines the department’s approach to improving teacher retention, including activities which contribute to supporting teachers returning from parental leave or those with caring responsibilities.</p><p>Well-designed flexible working can enable individuals to reconcile work and caring responsibilities. The department is taking action to promote flexible working in schools, including by publishing non-statutory guidance and case studies on GOV.UK, a flexible working toolkit, and funding a programme focused on embedding flexible working in schools and Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs).</p><p>This programme includes the delivery of supportive webinars and peer support provided by flexible working ambassador schools and MATs. This funded programme offers practical support with combining flexible working life as a parent, including how flexible working can be navigated alongside career progression.</p><p>The department is also clear about the importance of efforts to reduce unnecessary workload and an improved wellbeing offer for all teachers. Workload is often cited as an important reason why teachers leave the profession. The department is supporting schools to act and remove unhelpful practice that creates unnecessary workload. The department’s school workload reduction toolkit, developed alongside school leaders, is a helpful resource for schools to review and reduce workload.</p><p>In September 2023, the department launched a workload reduction taskforce. The taskforce is made up of union representatives, experts and experienced practitioners. The taskforce will make recommendations to government, Ofsted and school and trust leaders by the end of March 2024.</p><p>Staff wellbeing is also crucial to the department’s commitment to recruit and retain more teachers and support teacher quality. The department has worked in partnership with the education sector and mental health experts to co-create the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter and is encouraging schools to sign up as a shared commitment to promote staff wellbeing. Over 3,000 schools and colleges have signed up to the charter since it was launched for sign-up in November 2021.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds question first answered 06/12/2023 17:12:00 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds
tabling member	4776 label Biography information for Munira Wilson

1674144

registered interest
date	29/11/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Free School Meals: Mid Bedfordshire
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many families are (a) eligible for and (b) receive free school meals in Mid Bedfordshire constituency.
tabling member constituency	Mid Bedfordshire
tabling member printed	Alistair Strathern
uin	4598
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/12/2023 answer text <p>The department publishes figures on the proportion of pupils who are eligible for free school meals (FSM) in England. The most recently published figures are available at: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics</a>. In January 2023, 1,056 (11%) state-funded primary school pupils and 1,377 (11%) secondary school pupils were known to be eligible for FSM in the Mid Bedfordshire constituency. Of these eligible pupils, 852 primary school pupils and 919 secondary school pupils took a FSM on census day.</p> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds question first answered 04/12/2023 16:03:19 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds
tabling member	5000 label Biography information for Alistair Strathern

1673498

registered interest
date	28/11/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Music: Education
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has (a) commissioned and (b) undertaken an outcomes-based evaluation of the effectiveness of music education hubs.
tabling member constituency	Worsley and Eccles South
tabling member printed	Barbara Keeley
uin	4115
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/12/2023 answer text <p>The existing Music Hubs programme is monitored by Arts Council England and they publish a Hub Data Dashboard that contains annual survey data from 2012/13 onwards. The Dashboard can be found at: <a href="https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/MusicEducationHubs/music-education-hubs-survey-and-data#t-in-page-nav-3" target="_blank">https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/MusicEducationHubs/music-education-hubs-survey-and-data#t-in-page-nav-3</a>. As set out in June 2023, as part of the Music Hubs Investment Programme, the department plans to commission an independent evaluation to measure and assess the impact of the Music Hub programme against the key aims, to track how the programme meets the overall aims and objectives, as set out in the National Plan for Music Education published in June 2022. This will inform how to improve delivery over the life of the programme.</p> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds question first answered 04/12/2023 16:01:13 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds
tabling member	1588 label Biography information for Barbara Keeley

1673502

registered interest
date	28/11/2023
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 assessment she has made of trends in absence rates of children with pathological demand avoidance.
tabling member constituency	Carshalton and Wallington
tabling member printed	Elliot Colburn
uin	4279
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/12/2023 answer text <p>The department does not collect data for pupils with pathological demand avoidance (PDA), a profile of autism. Therefore, we cannot accurately assess their current trends in absence rates. However, the department recognises the increase in absence generally for pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). For pupils receiving Special Educational Needs (SEN) support, overall absence increased from 6.5% in 2018/19 to 10.0% in 2021/22. For pupils with a SEN provision statement or Education, Health and Care Plan, overall absence increased from 8.7% in 2018/19 to 12.1% in 2021/22.</p><p>On 22 November 2023, the department announced the Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools programme. This new programme, backed by £13 million of investment, will bring together Integrated Care Boards (ICB), local authorities and schools, working in partnership with parents and carers, to support schools to better meet the needs of neurodiverse children. The programme will deploy specialists from both health and education workforces to upskill schools and build their capacity to identify and meet the needs of children with autism and other neurodiverse needs. One of the key programme metrics will be attendance, as the department recognises that addressing unmet needs and making school more inclusive supports good attendance. The programme will be evaluated, and the learning will inform future policy development around how schools support neurodiverse children.</p><p>In 2022, the department published the ‘Working together to improve school attendance guidance’ to ensure greater consistency in the attendance support offered to pupils and families across the country. The guidance emphasises the importance of providing attendance support early and targeted to pupils’ individual needs. The guidance is available at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance</a>.</p><p>For pupils with SEND, schools are expected to have sensitive conversations with pupils about their needs and work with families to develop specific support approaches. This includes establishing strategies for removing in-school barriers to attendance, ensuring attendance data for pupils with SEND is regularly monitored to spot patterns and provide support earlier, ensuring joined-up pastoral care is in place, and referring pupils to other services and partners where necessary. These expectations, alongside the expectations placed on academy trust boards, governing bodies, and local authorities to work in conjunction with school staff to provide joined-up support for all pupils and families, is intended to ensure that pupils with SEND are supported to attend school regularly.</p><p>Statistics on pupil absence, including breakdowns of absence by characteristics, are available at: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england/2021-22" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england/2021-22</a>.</p> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds question first answered 06/12/2023 12:58:49 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds
tabling member	4775 label Biography information for Elliot Colburn

1673515

registered interest
date	28/11/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Education and Skills Funding Agency: Wellingborough
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding has been allocated by the Education and Skills Funding Agency in Wellingborough constituency in each year since 2017.
tabling member constituency	Feltham and Heston
tabling member printed	Seema Malhotra
uin	4172
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/12/2023 answer text <p>The department is able to provide the schools national funding formula (NFF) allocations for schools in the Wellingborough constituency from the 2020/21 financial year. This covers mainstream schools funding only. The schools NFF determines school revenue funding for all mainstream schools in England, although schools’ actual allocations are based on local authorities’ local funding formulae. Constituency figures are based on an aggregate of schools’ NFF allocations.</p><p>Funding through the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG), which includes revenue funding for schools, high needs, early years, and central school services since 2018/19, is available at local authority level only. Wellingborough was within Northamptonshire for the 2017/18 to 2020/21 financial years. On 1 April 2021, Northamptonshire split into two unitary authorities (North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire) with Wellingborough residing within North Northamptonshire.</p><p>Pupil Premium provides additional funding to support disadvantaged pupils. Allocations are calculated based on the number of eligible pupils in each school. Wellingborough’s NFF and Pupil Premium allocations, alongside Northamptonshire’s DSG allocations, can be found in the attached tables.</p><p>In addition to this core revenue funding, schools receive funding through a number of separate streams, including: Universal Infant Free School Meals funding; PE and sport premium funding; and the recovery premium and the National Tutoring Programme to support education recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic. The department also has a capital budget, which funds a range of programmes for schools such as the Schools Rebuilding Programme. Information about this programme is available at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme</a>.</p><p>The department also provides funding via the 16 to 19 funding formula for:</p><ul><li>Students aged 16 to 19</li><li>Students up to the age of 25 when they have an Education, Health and Care plan</li><li>Fourteen to sixteen year-olds who are directly enrolled into eligible further education (FE) institutions</li><li>Home educated students of compulsory school age at any FE college</li></ul><p>This is allocated via a variety of institutions including sixth-form and FE colleges, school and academy sixth-forms, independent learning providers, local authorities, special post-16 institutions (SPIs) and some higher education institutions.</p><p>The funding amounts allocated to institutions between 2017/18 and 2023/24 is available at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/16-to-19-education-funding-allocations#published-allocations" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/guidance/16-to-19-education-funding-allocations#published-allocations</a>.</p><p>The department is also continuing to invest in education and skills training for adults through the Adult Education Budget (AEB). This funding totalled £1.34 billion in 2022/23.</p><p>The AEB fully funds or co-funds skills provision for eligible adults aged nineteen and above from pre-entry to Level 3, to help them gain the skills they need for work, an apprenticeship or further learning.</p><p>AEB allocations to training providers are available at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/funding-allocations-to-training-providers-2022-to-2023" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/funding-allocations-to-training-providers-2022-to-2023</a>.</p> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds question first answered 06/12/2023 15:27:56 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds attachment 1 file name 4172_table.xlsx title 4172_table
tabling member	4253 label Biography information for Seema Malhotra

1673601

registered interest
date	28/11/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Out-of-school Education
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many unregistered schools there are in England.
tabling member constituency	Twickenham
tabling member printed	Munira Wilson
uin	4282
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/12/2023 answer text <p>An unregistered school is defined as a setting that is operating as an independent school without having registered with the department. It is a criminal offence under section 96 of the Education and Skills Act 2008 for a person to operate an unregistered independent school. The department does not therefore retain data about unregistered schools.</p><p>The department funds a joint team with Ofsted to target unregistered schools. Ofsted has powers under section 97 of the Education and Skills Act 2008 that allows for unannounced inspections of settings believed to be operating in breach of registration requirements. A team of inspectors are employed to identify, investigate and inspect any setting where there is evidence to suggest that an unregistered independent school is operating.</p> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds question first answered 06/12/2023 15:10:24 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds
tabling member	4776 label Biography information for Munira Wilson