Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students received funding under the Music and Dance Scheme at each of the (a) eight schools and (b) 20 centres for advanced training in academic year (i) 2023-24 (ii) 2024-25.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The Music and Dance Scheme (MDS) operates on an academic year basis. Information is available for the number of pupils supported at each provider approximately a year after the end of the academic year, in order to account for in-year starters.
The provisional data for the 2023/24 academic year is below. Provisional data on the number of students supported for the 2024/25 academic year will not be available until 2025.
Table: Number of MDS pupils for the 2023/24 academic year (provisional)
Education providers | Number of students |
Music schools | |
Chetham’s School of Music | 263 |
The Purcell School | 139 |
Wells Cathedral School | 78 |
Yehudi Menuhin School | 56 |
Dance schools | |
Elmhurst Ballet School | 108 |
The Hammond | 56 |
The Royal Ballet School | 130 |
Tring Park School for the Performing Arts | 46 |
Music Centres for Advanced Training | |
Aldeburgh Young Musicians | 18 |
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (junior department) | 45 |
Centre for Young Musicians | 75 |
Guildhall School of Music and Drama (junior department) | 35 |
Royal Academy of Music (junior department) | 31 |
Royal College of Music (junior department) | 36 |
Trinity Laban (music - junior department) | 36 |
The Glasshouse | 48 |
Sheffield Music Academy | 75 |
South West Music School | 72 |
Royal Northern College of Music (junior department) | 39 |
Yorkshire Young Musicians | 78 |
Dance Centres for Advanced Training | |
FABRIC | 61 |
Dance City | 76 |
DanceEast | 67 |
London Contemporary Dance School | 96 |
The Lowry | 43 |
Swindon Dance | 73 |
Trinity Laban (dance - junior department) | 76 |
Yorkshire Young Dancers (Northern Ballet and Northern School of Contemporary Dance) | 88 |
Total | 2,044 |
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many pupils were supported via the Music and Dance Scheme in academic year (a) 2023-24 and (b) 2024-25.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The Music and Dance Scheme (MDS) operates on an academic year basis. Information is available for the number of pupils supported at each provider approximately a year after the end of the academic year, in order to account for in-year starters.
The provisional data for the 2023/24 academic year is below. Provisional data on the number of students supported for the 2024/25 academic year will not be available until 2025.
Table: Number of MDS pupils for the 2023/24 academic year (provisional)
Education providers | Number of students |
Music schools | |
Chetham’s School of Music | 263 |
The Purcell School | 139 |
Wells Cathedral School | 78 |
Yehudi Menuhin School | 56 |
Dance schools | |
Elmhurst Ballet School | 108 |
The Hammond | 56 |
The Royal Ballet School | 130 |
Tring Park School for the Performing Arts | 46 |
Music Centres for Advanced Training | |
Aldeburgh Young Musicians | 18 |
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (junior department) | 45 |
Centre for Young Musicians | 75 |
Guildhall School of Music and Drama (junior department) | 35 |
Royal Academy of Music (junior department) | 31 |
Royal College of Music (junior department) | 36 |
Trinity Laban (music - junior department) | 36 |
The Glasshouse | 48 |
Sheffield Music Academy | 75 |
South West Music School | 72 |
Royal Northern College of Music (junior department) | 39 |
Yorkshire Young Musicians | 78 |
Dance Centres for Advanced Training | |
FABRIC | 61 |
Dance City | 76 |
DanceEast | 67 |
London Contemporary Dance School | 96 |
The Lowry | 43 |
Swindon Dance | 73 |
Trinity Laban (dance - junior department) | 76 |
Yorkshire Young Dancers (Northern Ballet and Northern School of Contemporary Dance) | 88 |
Total | 2,044 |
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Written Statement of 26 July 2024 on Higher Education Regulation Update, HCWS26, when she plans to confirm her long term plans for the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government took the decision to pause the implementation of further parts of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act to ensure that it is workable in practice and that the impacts of the Act on providers, staff, students’ unions and minority groups are fully considered.
The department is continuing to meet with a full range of stakeholders, including groups of academics supporting provisions of the Act, minority groups and unions representing staff and students. This will feed into decision making on the future of the Act and this government’s longer-term policy on protecting freedom of speech across the higher education (HE) sector.
The department will confirm, as soon as possible, plans for the Act and long-term plans for continuing to secure freedom of speech in HE.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to change the eligibility criteria for funding for secondary school breakfast clubs.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The National School Breakfast Club Programme (NSPB) currently provides breakfast clubs in up to 2,700 participating schools, including secondary, in disadvantaged areas, supporting pupils’ attainment, wellbeing, and readiness to learn.
The department is making no changes to the existing eligibility criteria for secondary schools participating in the NSBP which runs until July. Future spending commitments, including on the Breakfast Club programme, will be set out as part of the Spending Review process.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of (a) primary, (b) secondary, (c) special schools and (d) alternative provision with 40% or more pupils in bands A-F of the income deprivation affecting children index took up the National School Breakfast Club programme in 2023-24.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The National School Breakfast Programme (NSBP) currently supports up to 2,700 participating schools in disadvantaged areas, meaning that thousands of children from low-income families are being offered free nutritious breakfasts to better support their attainment, wellbeing, and readiness to learn.
Information on the number and types of schools, when accounting only for schools with 40% or more pupils in the income deprivation affecting children index (IDACI) A to F areas, will be available in due course.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has plans to review and amend the Supporting Families programme.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The new government is committed to improving outcomes for children and families and to continuing to consider reforms to include Early Help and Family Help.
The Supporting Families programme is funded until March 2025. Any future funding will be determined, as is normal, by the Budget and Spending Review process.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many full-time equivalent staff will be allocated to the Supporting Families programme in the 2025-26 financial year; and what grades those staff are.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to improving outcomes for children and families, and to continuing to work on the reform agenda of which Early Help and Family help are a part. The Supporting Families programme is funded until March 2025. Any future funding will be determined, as is normal, by the Budget and Spending Review process. Any decisions on staffing will be made through the department’s business planning following the Spending Review.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of her Department's spending on (a) activities and (b) provision of food during school holidays in (i) 2009-10 and (ii) 2023-24.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
All 153 local authorities are participating in the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme supported by over £200 million a year. The HAF programme provides free childcare places, enriching activities and heathy meals to children from low-income families, benefiting their heath, wellbeing and learning.
The department knows that the longer school holidays can be particular pressure points for some families because of increased costs, in particular childcare, and reduced incomes. For some children that can lead to a holiday experience gap. Children from disadvantaged families are less likely to access organised out-of-school activities and are more likely to experience ‘unhealthy holidays’ in terms of nutrition and physical health, as well as increased likelihood of experiencing social isolation.
The HAF programme can offer these children stability, structure and support alongside fun, food and physical activities during the longer school holidays, and can help children to return to school feeling engaged and ready to learn.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of primary and secondary schools which (a) were offering a free breakfast club at the end of the 2023-2024 academic year and (b) are projected to be offering a free breakfast club at the end of the 2024-2025 academic year.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
To date, the department has not regularly collected data on the total number of schools that operate breakfast clubs, and, as a result, the department is unable to project the anticipated numbers for this academic year.
The National School Breakfast Club Programme currently supports up to 2,700 participating schools in disadvantaged areas, but this is not enough. The department understands the significant impact breakfast clubs can have in ensuring that children arrive at school ready to learn. Therefore, the department will be inviting 750 schools to participate in an early adopter scheme in April 2025, designed to test and identify effective strategies before a national rollout.
The department is collaborating closely with the sector to ensure that appropriate support, including funding, guidance and resources, is established.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of which secondary planning areas will have a ratio of pupil numbers forecast to estimated capacity of (a) greater than one, (b) one, (c) at or above 0.97 and below one and (d) at or above 0.95 and below 0.97 for the 2025-26 academic year; and what steps she (i) has taken and (ii) plans to take to increase capacity in each area.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Information on school place planning estimates for the 2025/26 academic year, including pupil forecasts and estimated capacity, are published at planning area level in the annual School Capacity statistics publication. This can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-capacity.
The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places sits with local authorities. The department provides capital funding through the Basic Need grant to support local authorities to provide school places, based on their own pupil forecasts and school capacity data. We have already announced allocations up to 2025/26, for places needed by September 2026. Allocations can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/basic-need-allocations.