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1714842

registered interest
date	30/04/2024
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Education: Standards
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the requirement for Academy schools to provide parents with an annual report of their child's progress.
tabling member constituency	Linlithgow and East Falkirk
tabling member printed	Martyn Day
uin	24264
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/05/2024 answer text <p>Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.</p><p>The department has not made any recent assessment of this requirement. The requirements on academies in relation to reporting on pupils’ progress to parents are set out in <ins class="ministerial">paragraph 32(1)(f) of the Schedule to The Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014</ins> <del class="ministerial">paragraph 24 of Schedule 1 to The Education (Independent School Standards) (England) Regulations 2010.</del> These regulations can be accessed here: <ins class="ministerial"><a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/3283/made" target="_blank">https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/3283/made</a>.</ins> <del class="ministerial"><a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/1997/contents/made" target="_blank">https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/1997/contents/made</a>.</del></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds question first answered 08/05/2024 14:52:16 question first ministerially corrected 14/05/2024 13:49:14 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds previous answer version 32234 answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds
tabling member	4488 label Biography information for Martyn Day

1672378

registered interest
date	22/11/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Special Educational Needs: Standards
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 ensure equitable standards of SEND provision in (a) urban and (b) rural communities.
tabling member constituency	West Lancashire
tabling member printed	Ashley Dalton
uin	3387
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/11/2023 answer text <p>In the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan, published in March 2023, the department set out plans to build a consistent national SEND and AP system which parents and carers can trust, easily navigate, and have confidence in, whether they live in an urban or rural area.</p><p>The foundation for the new nationally consistent SEND and AP system will be new evidenced-based National Standards for early and accurate identification of need, and timely access to support to meet those needs. The standards will include clarifying the types of support that should be ordinarily available in mainstream settings and who is responsible for securing the support.</p><p>This will help families, practitioners and providers understand what support every child or young person should be receiving from early years through to further education, no matter where they live or what their needs are. By the end of 2025 the department will publish a significant proportion of the National Standards.</p><p>New local SEND and AP partnerships will support this work by bringing together Education, Health and Care partners with local government to produce evidence-based Local Area Inclusion Plans setting out how to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND and in AP in the local area, in line with National Standards.</p><p>The department is testing and refining reforms through the £70 million Change Programme to collect evidence about what works for children and young people with SEND and their families at a local level. The department is working with 32 local authorities and their local areas in each of the nine regions. To form a <ins class="ministerial">Change Programme Partnership</ins><del class="ministerial">Child Protection Plan</del>, in the majority of cases, a lead local authority will work in partnership with up to three neighbouring local authorities which will ensure impact is spread across a range of local areas, with differing levels of performance and demographics.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston question first answered 27/11/2023 17:55:06 question first ministerially corrected 26/03/2024 16:40:15 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston previous answer version 3062 answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
tabling member	4981 label Biography information for Ashley Dalton

1669210

registered interest
date	10/11/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Schools: Central Bedfordshire
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to support Central Bedfordshire Council with the transition from a three-tier to a two-tier school system.
tabling member constituency	Mid Bedfordshire
tabling member printed	Alistair Strathern
uin	1410
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/11/2023 answer text <p>Local Authorities can decide to transition from a three-tier to a two-tier school system. It is a Local Authority’s responsibility to manage such a transition. The Secretary of State is aware of some of the challenges faced, and recently met with parents, staff as well as representatives from the local community to discuss their concerns around delivering Central Bedfordshire Council’s transitional arrangements. The department’s role is to approve or decline changes to age ranges for schools that are academies. To date, the department has approved seven applications to support academies to become either primary or secondary schools.</p><p>The department provides capital funding through the Basic Need grant to support Local Authorities to meet their statutory duty to provide sufficient school places. While this funding is not designed to fund transitions from a three-tier to a two-tier system, the funding is not ringfenced, <del class="ministerial">therefore it is not subject to published conditions</del> <ins class="ministerial">subject to published conditions, </ins>and Local Authorities are free to use this funding to best meet their local priorities. Central Bedfordshire Council will receive just under £36.1 million for places needed between May 2022 and September 2026, paid across the five financial years from 2021/22 to 2025/26. This takes their total funding allocated between 2011 and 2026 to just under £121.3 million.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds question first answered 23/11/2023 12:45:44 question first ministerially corrected 12/12/2023 15:12:43 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds previous answer version 796 answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds
tabling member	5000 label Biography information for Alistair Strathern

1667850

registered interest
date	07/11/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Supply Teachers
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much was spent on supply teachers in each (a) region, (b) local authority and (c) parliamentary constituency in the 2021-22 academic year.
tabling member constituency	Twickenham
tabling member printed	Munira Wilson
uin	514
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/11/2023 answer text <p>A key principle behind the Government's plan for education is to give teachers and school leaders the freedom to use their professional judgement to decide the structure of their schools’ workforce that best meets the needs of their pupils.</p><p> </p><p>Financial information on Local Authority maintained schools, including spending on supply teachers, is collected in Consistent Financial Reporting returns. The information is published on the School Financial Benchmarking website and in the annual official statistic ‘LA and school expenditure’, available at: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/la-and-school-expenditure" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/la-and-school-expenditure</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The spend on these categories for Local Authority maintained schools in each region for the 2021/22 financial year is available at: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/22a37aed-9bf8-489a-4884-08dbdfb23d99" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/22a37aed-9bf8-489a-4884-08dbdfb23d99</a>. The spend on these categories for Local Authority maintained schools in each Local Authority for the 2021/22 financial year is available at: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/beb72a02-b53a-41b2-4883-08dbdfb23d99" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/beb72a02-b53a-41b2-4883-08dbdfb23d99</a>. Information relating to individual schools is published on the School Financial Benchmarking website, available at: <a href="https://schools-financial-benchmarking.service.gov.uk/Help/DataSources" target="_blank">https://schools-financial-benchmarking.service.gov.uk/Help/DataSources</a>.</p><p> </p><p>School level information published on the Schools Financial Benchmarking website has been linked to information from the Get Information About Schools website to provide the attached constituency level information. This includes supply teaching staff, supply teacher insurance and agency supply staff expenditure, plus net expenditure which is expenditure offset against income on supply teacher insurance claims.</p><p> </p><p>Information on the expenditure by academies is not published on the same basis as Local Authority maintained schools. Academy level data on expenditure is available on the Schools Financial website. Information at regional and Local Authority level is not published.</p> answering member constituency Harlow answering member printed Robert Halfon question first answered 15/11/2023 17:48:01 question first ministerially corrected 05/12/2023 16:35:33 answering member 3985 label Biography information for Robert Halfon attachment 1 file name 514_table.xlsx title 514_constituency_table previous answer version 572 answering member constituency Harlow answering member printed Robert Halfon answering member 3985 label Biography information for Robert Halfon
tabling member	4776 label Biography information for Munira Wilson

1658153

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	Nurseries: Buildings
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has plans to assess maintained nurseries for risks associated with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.
tabling member constituency	York Central
tabling member printed	Rachael Maskell
uin	197808
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/09/2023 answer text <p><ins class="ministerial">Nothing is more important than the safety of children and staff, and it has always been the case that where the Department is made aware a building may pose an immediate risk, immediate action is taken. The Department knows how important it is for young people to be in classrooms with their friends and teachers, but their safety must come first. </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The Department has been talking to schools about the potential risks of RAAC since 2018 when it first published a warning note with the Local Government Association. The Office of Government Property wrote to all Government Property Leaders in 2019, and again in September 2022, highlighting safety alerts on RAAC and signposting guidance on identification and remediation. The Government also created a cross-Government working group on RAAC this year to collectively address the issue. Since then, Departments have been surveying properties and depending on the assessment of the RAAC, decided to either continue or monitor the structure, reinforce it, or replace it. This is in line with the approach recommended by the Institution of Structural Engineers. </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The Department discovered details of three new cases over the summer, where RAAC that would have been graded as non-critical had failed. The first of these was in a commercial setting. The second was in a school in a different educational jurisdiction. It was right to carefully consider the cases and scrutinise the technical details from these. Departmental technical officials were able to investigate the situation in one case where the plank that had failed was fully intact as it was resting on a steel beam after it failed. They concluded that it would previously been rated non-critical. Ministers were carefully considering the first two cases and advice from officials when a third failure of a panel occurred, at a school in late August. The Department’s technical officials also visited this school to investigate the failure.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">In light of all three cases, it was right to make the difficult decision to change our guidance for education settings and take a more cautious approach within the education estate in England. </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Following careful analysis of these recent cases, a precautionary and proactive step has been taken to change the approach to RAAC in education settings ahead of the start of the academic year, as outlined in our guidance. </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Maintained nursery schools are treated the same as schools and FE colleges. In 2022, the Department’s questionnaire to all responsible bodies, including those who run maintained nursery schools, asked them to provide information on RAAC.</ins></p><p><del class="ministerial">The UK higher education (HE) system is amongst the best in the world. Attracting the brightest students internationally is good for our universities and delivers growth at home.</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">Domestic students continue to make up the vast majority of overall undergraduate students within UK universities. The proportion of international acceptances on results day this year was 12.3%, having been 14.7% at the same point in 2019.</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">This year on A level and T level Results Day, 186,710 English-domiciled 18-year-olds were accepted to HE providers in England compared to 162,680 in 2019.</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">Ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to access a world class education remains a top priority and is fundamental to the department’s ambition to level-up skills, growth, and economic opportunity across the country.</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">As autonomous bodies independent from the government, universities are responsible for their own recruitment decisions. Most universities have separate home and international student recruitment targets, set before the admissions cycle even begins. Universities plan their student numbers very carefully, not least because there are important implications for the provision of student support and wellbeing services, accommodation, and everything else needed to deliver the best student experience.</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">The department and I regularly engage with the HE sector to support policy making and delivery and did so throughout the 2023 cycle.</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">Most recently, on 7 September 2023, I attended the Universities UK annual conference and discussed how the government is supporting universities to maximise their immense economic and social impact. Key topics discussed included degree apprenticeships, the Lifelong Loan Entitlement and Horizon.</del></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 19/09/2023 15:09:59 question first ministerially corrected 16/10/2023 13:42:11 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb previous answer version 95935 answering member constituency Harlow answering member printed Robert Halfon answering member 3985 label Biography information for Robert Halfon
tabling member	4471 label Biography information for Rachael Maskell

1645655

registered interest
date	19/06/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	School Rebuilding Programme
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department holds on the number of school rebuilding programme projects that have experienced construction delays of more than one month in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Exeter
tabling member printed	Mr Ben Bradshaw
uin	190025
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/06/2023 answer text <p>The Department is transforming buildings at 500 schools over the next decade as part of its School Rebuilding Programme. The construction programmes of building projects in all Department programmes is monitored by the Department through programme management and project delivery teams.</p><p>In the four school rebuilding projects which have been completed, three were delayed more than a month against initial forecasts. These initial programme forecasts were made ahead of the impact of significant events that could not have been reasonably predicted and that affected the global market.</p><p>The Department has continuously improved its approach to building schools since the Sebastian James’ review. This identified that the Building Schools for the Future programme, introduced under the last Government in 2004, was overly bureaucratic and not designed to target poor condition, did not support high and consistent quality, did not use standardised specifications that work for education, and did not deliver value for money and economies of scale from central procurement and delivery, which are all things that are now prioritised when building schools.</p><p>Under the Priority School Building Programme (PSBP) this Government launched in 2014, whole schools were built<del class="ministerial"> at</del> one third <ins class="ministerial">cheaper</ins><del class="ministerial"> of the cost</del> per square metre on average than schools built under the Building Schools for the Future Programme. The Department has further built on this success in its School Rebuilding Programme, which is exceeding delivery timescales compared to PSBP, while delivering schools that will be net zero in operation. The Infrastructure and Project Authority has highlighted that our progress is very good.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 27/06/2023 16:39:14 question first ministerially corrected 10/07/2023 11:59:26 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb previous answer version 83604 answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	230 label Biography information for Mr Ben Bradshaw

1550079

registered interest
date	08/12/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Overseas Students: Ukraine
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on supporting Ukrainian students studying full-time at Ukrainian institutions remotely from the UK.
tabling member constituency	Wirral West
tabling member printed	Margaret Greenwood
uin	106534
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/12/2022 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">The department has worked alongside colleagues at the Home Office to explore what support can be made available for both Ukrainian students continuing their study remotely from the UK, and those studying at UK institutions.</del></p><p>Universities in Ukraine are striving to maintain the education of their students under extremely challenging conditions. This includes through the provision of online distance learning for students enrolled at Ukrainian universities who now live in another country, including in the UK. The department encourages these students to speak with their education provider in Ukraine to understand what support is available for them to continue their studies at their Ukrainian provider. This includes those studying through the UK twinning programme, of which the government announced funding to support in June 2022. Information about this can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-uk-package-offers-a-lifeline-to-ukrainian-researchers-and-entrepreneurs" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-uk-package-offers-a-lifeline-to-ukrainian-researchers-and-entrepreneurs</a>. The programme provides support to Ukrainian universities by establishing partnerships with those in the UK.</p><p>Student finance is available only for eligible students studying a course provided predominantly in the UK by a UK higher education provider, including Ukrainian students who have enrolled at UK universities. In England, those studying via distance learning are, in general, not eligible to receive student loans to cover maintenance costs. This is also the case for Ukrainian students in England, who are studying via distance learning.</p><p>The department does not hold data on the number of Ukrainians who are studying online at Ukrainian institutions via distance learning in the UK.</p> answering member constituency Harlow answering member printed Robert Halfon question first answered 19/12/2022 12:35:35 question first ministerially corrected 30/12/2022 10:27:41 answering member 3985 label Biography information for Robert Halfon previous answer version 41109 answering member constituency Harlow answering member printed Robert Halfon answering member 3985 label Biography information for Robert Halfon
tabling member	4400 label Biography information for Margaret Greenwood

1544421

registered interest
date	22/11/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Teachers: Workplace Pensions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) independent and (b) state schools have left the Teachers' Pension Scheme in the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Brent North
tabling member printed	Barry Gardiner
uin	93408
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/11/2022 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">324 independent schools have left the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) between August 2019, when this information started to be compiled, and November 2022. 22 independent schools have joined the Scheme between January 2018 and November 2022.</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">State schools and academies cannot choose to leave the TPS. The records show that 1,008 academies have ceased to be registered as scheme employers and 4,383 new academy employers have been registered in the TPS between January 2018 and November 2022. This is a result of state schools converting to academies and some single academy trusts joining multi-academy trusts.</del></p><p><ins class="ministerial">463 independent schools have left the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) between January 2018 and November 2022. 37 independent schools have joined the Scheme between January 2018 and November 2022. </ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">State schools and academies cannot choose to leave the TPS. The records show that 814 state schools have closed and so have ceased to be registered as scheme employers since January 2018. This is largely as a result of state schools converting to academies. 79 new state schools have been registered in the TPS since January 2018.</ins></p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 28/11/2022 18:14:08 question first ministerially corrected 20/12/2022 19:15:23 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb previous answer version 37093 answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	146 label Biography information for Barry Gardiner

1542429

registered interest
date	15/11/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Confucius Institutes: Higher Education
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 Confucius Institutes on UK universities.
tabling member constituency	Bermondsey and Old Southwark
tabling member printed	Neil Coyle
uin	87856
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/11/2022 answer text <p>Like all similar bodies, Confucius Institutes should operate transparently and with a full commitment to the department’s values of openness and freedom of expression. Universities have a responsibility to ensure that any partnership with a Confucius Institute is managed appropriately and that the right due diligence is in place. We encourage any providers with concerns to contact the department.</p><p><ins class="ministerial">The government will continue to review its measures as appropriate.</ins></p><p>The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill will address concerns about the possible influence of overseas money in higher education (HE) in <ins class="ministerial">England</ins><del class="ministerial">the UK</del>, without reducing the ability of our world-class universities to work with global partners.</p><p>The Bill will empower the Office for Students (OfS) to require registered HE providers to report certain overseas funding, including of educational partnerships, such as arrangements with Confucius Institutes. The Bill will also allow the OfS to take appropriate action, including issuing penalties, if there is evidence that an HE provider has breached its freedom of speech duties.</p><p><del class="ministerial">The department will continue to review its measures as appropriate.</del></p> answering member constituency East Surrey answering member printed Claire Coutinho question first answered 22/11/2022 13:45:13 question first ministerially corrected 12/12/2022 17:48:02 answering member 4806 label Biography information for Claire Coutinho previous answer version 35041 answering member constituency East Surrey answering member printed Claire Coutinho answering member 4806 label Biography information for Claire Coutinho
tabling member	4368 label Biography information for Neil Coyle

1505553

registered interest
date	06/09/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Languages: Education
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much his Department spent on teaching (a) Punjabi, (b) Bengali, (c) Hindi, (d) Gujarati, (e) Urdu, (f) Sinhalese, (g) Tamil, (h) Pashto and (i) Dari in schools in England in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Harrow West
tabling member printed	Gareth Thomas
uin	48198
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/09/2022 answer text <p>Awarding organisations offering GCSEs and A levels are independent, <ins class="ministerial">and mostly</ins> not-for-profit organisations<ins class="ministerial">, with the exception of Pearson Edexcel which is profit making</ins>. They are not contracted to provide assessments for pupils in particular subjects. AQA offer a GCSE and A level qualification in Punjabi and Bengali, as well as a GCSE in Urdu. Pearson Edexcel offer a GCSE and A level qualification in Gujarati and Urdu and International GCSEs (IGCSEs) in Bengali, Hindi, Sinhalese, and Tamil. Cambridge International offer an A level in Hindi, Urdu, and Tamil. There are no qualifications available in Pashto or Dari. Awarding organisations are free to introduce qualifications in any GCSE or A level subject where they consider there to be a case to do so.</p><p>It is up to schools to decide which languages are taught as part of their curriculum, both at primary and secondary school, and the government does not specify which languages should be taught or how to teach them.</p><p>There has been no funding provided directly for the teaching of Punjabi, Bengali, Hindi, Gujarati, Urdu, Sinhalese, Tamil, Pashto and Dari within the previous five years. However, the department has committed to establishing a network of language hubs, as per the Schools White Paper, and are considering ways in which we can support home, heritage and community languages as part of this.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 21/09/2022 17:23:22 question first ministerially corrected 17/10/2022 09:03:46 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst previous answer version 18097 answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
tabling member	177 label Biography information for Gareth Thomas