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222453

registered interest
date	20/02/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Young People: Nottingham
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will undertake an assessment of the costs and benefits to the community in Nottingham of re-establishing a motor project on the Wheelbase site in Sneinton.
tabling member constituency	Nottingham East
tabling member printed	Chris Leslie
uin	224634
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/02/2015 answer text <p>Assessing the costs and benefits to the community is a local issue. Funding for alternative provision is delegated to local authorities within their high needs budgets so that they can determine the provision needed for children and young people in their area.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Local authorities also have duties to secure sufficient suitable education and training provision for all 16-19 year olds, and to support them to participate. Where gaps in provision are identified, the Education Funding Agency will either fill those places through negotiation with existing providers or run a competitive tender.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Mr Nick Gibb question first answered 25/02/2015 17:11:34 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	422 label Biography information for Mr Chris Leslie

222466

registered interest
date	20/02/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Grandparents
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 ensure that recent findings of the Local Government Ombudsman relating to grandparents and their grandchildren following family breakup are acted on by local authorities.
tabling member constituency	Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough
tabling member printed	Mr David Blunkett
uin	224631
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/02/2015 answer text <p>We issued ‘Family and Friends Care: Statutory Guidance for Local Authorities’ in 2011. This guidance is clear that children and young people unable to live with their parents who are brought up by family and friends should receive the support they and their carers need to safeguard and promote their welfare, whether or not they are looked after.</p><p> </p><p>The guidance requires local authorities to develop and publish clear, easily accessible policies to explain how they will provide assessment and support to children in the care of family and friends. In July 2013 I wrote to all local authorities to remind them of this requirement and to request they notify the Department of their policy. To date, 144 of 152 (94%) of local authorities have sent us links to their policies.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>To aid transparency, we have agreed that the Family Rights Group (FRG), one of the leading voluntary organisations supporting family and friends carers, will publish the links to these policies on its website. FRG are now reviewing the content and quality of these policies and we are planning to provide feedback to local authorities on findings from this work.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Crewe and Nantwich answering member printed Mr Edward Timpson question first answered 25/02/2015 17:03:07 answering member 1605 label Biography information for Edward Timpson
tabling member	395 label Biography information for Lord Blunkett

222467

registered interest
date	20/02/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Teachers: Training
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2015 to Question 223692, if she will extend all bursaries to all students focusing on core curriculum on the Initial Teacher Training programme.
tabling member constituency	Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough
tabling member printed	Mr David Blunkett
uin	224632
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/02/2015 answer text <p>The Government provides bursaries in order to incentivise application to initial teacher training (ITT) courses from the best graduates. As such, bursary rates are set based on recruitment performance over recent years by phase and subject. Generally, higher bursaries are provided where a phase or subject has struggled to attract sufficient applicants in recent years. We review the financial incentives for ITT each year in order to respond to recruitment patterns across these phases, subjects and routes. Therefore, we have no current plans to extend bursary eligibility, but we will review this again before announcing bursaries for those starting ITT in 2016/17.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The bursaries for those starting ITT in 2015/16 are published online at:</p><p><a href="http://www.gov.uk/funding-initial-teacher-training-itt-academic-year-2015-to-16" target="_blank">www.gov.uk/funding-initial-teacher-training-itt-academic-year-2015-to-16</a></p> answering member constituency Yeovil answering member printed Mr David Laws question first answered 25/02/2015 17:17:17 answering member 1473 label Biography information for Mr David Laws
tabling member	395 label Biography information for Lord Blunkett

222474

registered interest
date	20/02/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Adoption
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children of Chinese origin have been adopted by people resident in the UK in the last five years.
tabling member constituency	South Suffolk
tabling member printed	Mr Tim Yeo
uin	224642
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/02/2015 answer text <p>Between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2014, the Department for Education has processed a total of 73 inter-country adoptions where China is the child’s country of origin.</p><p>This figure relates to inter-country adoption cases in which the adopters are habitually resident in England only, as adoption is a devolved matter.</p> answering member constituency Crewe and Nantwich answering member printed Mr Edward Timpson question first answered 25/02/2015 17:04:33 answering member 1605 label Biography information for Edward Timpson
tabling member	136 label Biography information for Mr Tim Yeo

222475

registered interest
date	20/02/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children's Centres: Lancashire
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many Sure Start children's centres there are in (a) Preston and (b) Lancashire.
tabling member constituency	Preston
tabling member printed	Mark Hendrick
uin	224694
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/02/2015 answer text <p>a) The Department of Education does not hold data at constituency level. However, there are 8 children’s centres shown within the Preston District Council area according to the Lancashire Family Information Service website: <a href="https://fisonline.lancashire.gov.uk/earlyyears/publicenquiry/Search.aspx?searchID=231" target="_blank">https://fisonline.lancashire.gov.uk/earlyyears/publicenquiry/Search.aspx?searchID=231</a></p><p> </p><p>b) Local authorities are responsible for listing their open children’s centre records on the Department’s children’s centre database which is available online at <a href="http://childrenscentresfinder.direct.gov.uk/snapshot-childrens-centre/" target="_blank">http://childrenscentresfinder.direct.gov.uk/snapshot-childrens-centre/</a>. On this, Lancashire local authority lists 64 main children’s centres and 15 additional sites open to families and children providing services as part of a network of children’s centres.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Surrey answering member printed Mr Sam Gyimah question first answered 25/02/2015 17:27:16 answering member 3980 label Biography information for Mr Sam Gyimah
tabling member	473 label Biography information for Sir Mark Hendrick

222476

registered interest
date	20/02/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Special Educational Needs
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 9 September 2014 to Question 207080, what information her Department collects on the use of the pupil premium allocated to children with special educational needs.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
uin	224793
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/02/2015 answer text <p>The Department for Education does not collect statistics from schools about their use of pupil premium funding allocated to disadvantaged pupils, including those disadvantaged pupils with special educational needs (SEN).</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In 2012, the Department commissioned an independent evaluation of the pupil premium to look at how schools were using the funding and their plans for the future. The study involved a survey and case study research in a sample of schools, including special schools. The report, which was published in July 2013 and is available at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/evaluation-of-pupil-premium" target="_blank">www.gov.uk/government/publications/evaluation-of-pupil-premium</a>, includes evidence on use of the pupil premium by special schools and also by mainstream schools to support pupils with SEN.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In late 2014, the Department commissioned the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) to undertake research into effective practice in raising the attainment of disadvantaged pupils. The research aims to understand what it is that successful schools do differently to make the difference. Case studies to demonstrate this will be gathered, and the analysis will include a focus on SEN. The research is due to be published later this year.</p><p> </p><p>The Department also gathers information on effective practice in use of the pupil premium through the annual Pupil Premium Awards. This scheme identifies and rewards those schools which have made innovative use of the pupil premium and can demonstrate the biggest sustained improvement in the performance of disadvantaged pupils. The 2015 Awards includes a separate category for special schools and pupil referral units, with a national award of £100,000 and up to four regional awards of £50,000 for the most outstanding schools. The winners of the 2015 Awards will be announced on 25 March. Case studies of award-winning schools from the 2013 and 2014 Awards are available online at <a href="http://www.pupilpremiumawards.co.uk/" target="_blank">www.pupilpremiumawards.co.uk</a>.</p> answering member constituency Crewe and Nantwich answering member printed Mr Edward Timpson question first answered 25/02/2015 17:09:21 answering member 1605 label Biography information for Edward Timpson
tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe

179563

registered interest
date	12/02/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Training
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department spent on training in each of the last three financial years.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	224511
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/02/2015 answer text <p>The Department for Education holds a central training and development budget covering core education and training undertaken through Civil Service Learning. This includes development in core Civil Service skills including leadership and management, financial management and analysis. The table below shows the centrally managed budget for each of the past three financial years.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Financial Year</p></td><td><p>Budget</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>12/13</p></td><td><p>£700,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>13/14</p></td><td><p>£700,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>14/15</p></td><td><p>£600,000</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Additionally, directorates across the Department spend an element of their budgets on training and development which varies dependant on in-year development needs. The table below shows both central training and development spend and Directorate spend for each last 3 financial years.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Financial Year</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Total spend</strong></p></td><td><p>Average number of staff (based on Full Time Equivalents)</p></td><td><p>Average spend per member of staff (based on Full Time Equivalents)</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014/15 (covering the period April to December only)</p></td><td><p>£1.3m</p></td><td><p>3353.7</p></td><td><p>£390</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013/14</p></td><td><p>£2.2m</p></td><td><p>3539.4</p></td><td><p>£620</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012/13</p></td><td><p>£3.2m</p></td><td><p>3801.1</p></td><td><p>£840</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In addition to formal training, the Department for Education encourages staff to take advantage of a variety of different professional development opportunities not captured by this expenditure, including job shadowing, on-the-job training and peer mentoring.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Mr Nick Gibb grouped question UIN 224492 question first answered 23/02/2015 09:20:05 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

179564

registered interest
date	12/02/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Training
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her Department's training budget was in each of the last three financial years.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	224492
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/02/2015 answer text <p>The Department for Education holds a central training and development budget covering core education and training undertaken through Civil Service Learning. This includes development in core Civil Service skills including leadership and management, financial management and analysis. The table below shows the centrally managed budget for each of the past three financial years.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Financial Year</p></td><td><p>Budget</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>12/13</p></td><td><p>£700,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>13/14</p></td><td><p>£700,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>14/15</p></td><td><p>£600,000</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Additionally, directorates across the Department spend an element of their budgets on training and development which varies dependant on in-year development needs. The table below shows both central training and development spend and Directorate spend for each last 3 financial years.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Financial Year</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Total spend</strong></p></td><td><p>Average number of staff (based on Full Time Equivalents)</p></td><td><p>Average spend per member of staff (based on Full Time Equivalents)</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014/15 (covering the period April to December only)</p></td><td><p>£1.3m</p></td><td><p>3353.7</p></td><td><p>£390</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013/14</p></td><td><p>£2.2m</p></td><td><p>3539.4</p></td><td><p>£620</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012/13</p></td><td><p>£3.2m</p></td><td><p>3801.1</p></td><td><p>£840</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In addition to formal training, the Department for Education encourages staff to take advantage of a variety of different professional development opportunities not captured by this expenditure, including job shadowing, on-the-job training and peer mentoring.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Mr Nick Gibb grouped question UIN 224511 question first answered 23/02/2015 09:20:05 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

179565

registered interest
date	12/02/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Training
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average number of days training of full-time equivalent staff employed in her Department was in each of the last three financial years.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	224473
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/02/2015 answer text <p>The civil service aspiration is for five days’ training and development for each member of staff every year.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The majority of training and development is not formal training but is carried out within teams and groups and includes: research; on the job training; shadowing; mentoring; and coaching. Staff record their own personal development in line with the Department for Education’s Capability Review which is on an individual and local basis.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Information on the amount of time spent undertaking informal training is not collated centrally.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Mr Nick Gibb question first answered 23/02/2015 09:26:52 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

179566

registered interest
date	12/02/2015
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Training
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department provides to its managers on how many days training should be made available to staff.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	224424
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/02/2015 answer text <p>In line with the Capabilities Plan as part of the Civil Service Reform, the Department for Education recommends that all staff undertake at least five days of training and development every year. This could include formal training courses but may also be made up of other professional development opportunities, for example job shadowing and on the job training. This is not a maximum or minimum target, but a benchmark of expectations. This guidance is available to all managers and staff through the Department’s intranet pages.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Mr Nick Gibb question first answered 23/02/2015 09:30:13 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah