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<p>My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State welcomed the Northern Powerhouse Partnership’s
report, ‘Educating the North’. In response to it, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary
of State wrote to my right hon. Friend, the Member for Harlow and Chair of the Education
Committee, on 13 June 2018, detailing the government’s clear plan for improving education
and skills in the North. A copy of that letter is available here: <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/education-committee/inquiries/parliament-2017/education-in-the-north-inquiry-17-19/publications/"
target="_blank">https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/education-committee/inquiries/parliament-2017/education-in-the-north-inquiry-17-19/publications/</a>.</p><p>I
refer the hon. Member for Barnsley Central to the answer I gave on 11 June 2018 to
Questions <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2018-05-02/140737/"
target="_blank">140737, 140738, 140739</a> and to the answer I gave on 18 July 2018
to Questions <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2018-07-10/162577/"
target="_blank">162577, 162578</a>. These responses set out further details of the
initiatives referred to in that letter.</p><p>We have launched a school improvement
support offer which means schools eligible for support have access to up to 3 days
free advice from a national leader of education (NLE). A subset of these schools,
judged as 'requires improvement' in their last 2 Ofsted inspections, will have access
of up to £16,000 of funded support to address the needs identified by the NLE. In
the Sheffield City Region and across the North, a first cohort of schools is currently
being offered school improvement support with further eligible schools to be identified
later in 2019. In addition, there are 10 projects funded through the Strategic School
Improvement Fund (SSIF) where the lead applicant is based in the Sheffield City Region.
In total these projects have been awarded over £3 million. These are among the 57
SSIF projects where the lead applicant is based in the Northern Powerhouse area. In
total, these projects have been awarded just over £20 million. The complete list of
successful applicants is available here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/strategic-school-improvement-fund-successful-applicants/strategic-school-improvement-fund-ssif-successful-applicants"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/strategic-school-improvement-fund-successful-applicants/strategic-school-improvement-fund-ssif-successful-applicants</a>.</p><p>A
further cohort of schools in the Sheffield City Region and across the North, identified
as facing significant challenges with teacher recruitment and retention, is receiving
funded support to address those issues.</p><p>The department is working closely with
the social mobility partnership South Yorkshire Futures, on our shared aims of improving
educational outcomes across the Sheffield City Region and has seconded 3 members of
staff to support their programme. A link to the programme can be found here: <a href="https://southyorkshirefutures.co.uk/syf/?doing_wp_cron=1550062482.9984350204467773437500"
target="_blank">https://southyorkshirefutures.co.uk/syf/?doing_wp_cron=1550062482.9984350204467773437500</a>.</p><p>5
of the 12 Department for Education-funded Opportunity Areas are in areas of low social
mobility across the North, with the aim of improving educational outcomes and life
chances for children and young people. Doncaster Opportunity Area is one of those
areas and is working closely with South Yorkshire Futures on a number of their interventions.
This includes work to improve teacher recruitment and retention in the county through
funding newly qualified teacher mentoring and collaborating with the Sheffield City
Region on our newly-launched Careers Hub, which aims to improve the quality of careers
information, advice and guidance given to young people in the borough.</p><p>‘Educating
the North’ recommended that the Opportunity Areas programme be extended to the North
East. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State announced Opportunity North East
in October 2018. The programme brings together North East leaders from education,
local government and business to work together to improve outcomes for young people
in the region. Through Opportunity North East the department will make a substantial
investment in the region, including £12 million for the early roll-out of national
reforms to improve support for new teachers, and a further £12 million to tackle the
5 key educational challenges identified for the area. Details of this announcement
can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/education-secretary-launches-24-million-programme-for-north-east"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/news/education-secretary-launches-24-million-programme-for-north-east</a>.</p>
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