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Written Question
Pupils: Coronavirus
Tuesday 13th July 2021

Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of days of in-person education lost by school pupils in England and Wales as a result of isolating after coming into to contact with a fellow pupil who has tested positive for COVID-19.

Answered by Baroness Berridge

The department’s goal is to support pupils to attend face to face education, and to reverse the long-term impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on their education.

The department collects information from schools through the daily education setting survey. Schools record and submit data on the following categories:

  • pupils with a suspected case of COVID-19
  • pupils with a confirmed case of COVID-19
  • pupils self-isolating due to potential contact with a case of COVID-19 from inside the school
  • pupils self-isolating due to potential contact with a case of COVID-19 from outside the school
  • pupils absent as a result of school closures due to COVID-related reasons

Full school attendance data is published weekly and includes information on the number of pupils absent due to potential contact with COVID-19 in schools. The latest week’s data can be accessed through the following link, along with each previous week: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak#dataDownloads-1.

Education is a devolved power and the Department does not collect data on Welsh schools. Please contact the Welsh Government (https://gov.wales).


Written Question
National Curriculum Tests
Monday 11th July 2016

Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to publish additional sample test material ahead of the 2017 SATs.

Answered by Nick Gibb

The Standards and Testing Agency will not be producing any additional sample tests prior to the 2017 tests. We produced sample tests prior to the 2016 National Curriculum tests to provide exemplification of the new tests. As there will be no further changes to the tests in 2017, schools can now refer to the 2015 sample tests and the 2016 live tests for exemplification of the tests in 2017 and any future tests.


Written Question
National Curriculum Tests
Monday 11th July 2016

Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to modify the level of difficulty in the SATs tests for 2017.

Answered by Nick Gibb

There are no plans to modify the difficulty of the National Curriculum tests for 2017. The tests are constructed to meet the test specification outlined in the test frameworks.


Written Question
Mobile Phones
Monday 10th November 2014

Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department spent on iPhones in each year since 2010.

Answered by Nick Gibb

The Department for Education has spent the following amounts on iPhones in each year since 2010:

Year

Costs (£)

2010

0

2011

1,188

2012

1,836

2013

0

2014

31,038

In 2011 and 2012 a total of six iPhones were purchased for staff with accessibility requirements where the standard departmental mobile device (Blackberry) would not meet their needs. There was no requirement to purchase any further devices in 2013.

The significant increase in 2014 was due to the implementation of a new mobile working pilot utilising ‘GOOD’ Technology (a secure IT mobility solution) where iPhones were the preferred device and 57 devices were purchased as part of the pilot. Following an evaluation, the pilot has now been discontinued, and the Department is in discussions with Vodafone regarding the return of these devices and recuperation of costs. The above costs include the purchase of an Apple iPhone device with live SIM card. The models purchased were a combination of iPhone 4, 5 and 5S.


Written Question
Pay
Monday 10th November 2014

Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many Instant Rewards of what value were given to her Department's officials in (a) 2013 and (b) 2014 to date.

Answered by Nick Gibb

In 2013, 3,954 instant rewards were issued to officials of the Department for Education. The total value of such rewards was £132,140, giving an average value of £33.42.

In 2014 to date (4 November), 4,825 instant rewards have been issued. The total value of instant rewards this year has been £200,245, giving an average value of £41.50.

The instant reward scheme is funded from the staff pay bill (not in addition to it). Each year 0.1% of the pay budget is set aside to pay for instant reward vouchers and any associated tax and National Insurance.


Written Question
Public Appointments
Monday 10th November 2014

Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, on how many occasions her Department has had requests for appointments by exception to the Senior Civil Service turned down by the Civil Service Commission since 2010; and who was appointed for each such post.

Answered by Nick Gibb

Since 2010, the Civil Service Commission has not turned down any requests made by the Department for Education to appoint a Senior Civil Servant by exception.


Written Question
Freedom of Information
Monday 10th November 2014

Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department has spent on legal fees over prevention of release of information requested by Freedom of Information requests since 2010.

Answered by Sam Gyimah

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children and Families on 21 July 2014 to Question 206217.


Written Question
Freedom of Information
Monday 10th November 2014

Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many Freedom of Information requests her Department has declined to answer in full since 2010.

Answered by Sam Gyimah

Quarterly and annual statistics on Freedom of Information requests received by the Department for Education, including the number of requests in which all requested information was released in full, is set out in the table below. This information is published online at:

www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics

Year

Requests received

Resolvable requests [1]

Resolvable requests granted in full

2010

880

733

549 (75%)

2011

1,149

937

590 (63%)

2012

1,309

1,038

686 (66%)

2013

1,759

1,354

931 (69%)

2014 (Q1 and Q2)

961

710

399 (56%)

[1] Resolvable – requests in which it was possible to give a substantive decision on whether to release the information being sought; for example, excluding requests where the information sought was not held or further clarification was necessary.


Written Question
Public Appointments
Monday 10th November 2014

Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, on how many occasions her Department has made appointments by exception since 2010; and who was appointed for each such post.

Answered by Nick Gibb

Since 1 April 2010, the Department for Education has made 1,722 appointments by exception. The numbers of appointments are set out in the table below:

Financial Year

Exceptions

2010/11

32

2011/12

216

2012/13

1353

2013/14

62

1/04/14 to date

59

Of these exceptions, 1,565 were the result of a programme to reform the Department’s Arm’s Length Bodies (ALBs) which gave staff the right of transfer into the Department and its new Executive Agencies.


Written Question
Training: Young People
Tuesday 22nd July 2014

Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of the core target group of 16 to 19 year olds have (a) applied for and (b) been accepted onto a traineeship to date.

Answered by Nick Boles

Only young people who meet the eligibility criteria set out in the Traineeships Framework for Delivery can take up a traineeship. For 2013/14, the core target group for traineeships are young people aged 16-23 who:

1. are not currently in a job and have little work experience, but who are focused on work or the prospect of it;

2. are 16-19 and qualified below Level 3 or 19-23 and have not yet achieved a full Level 2; and whom

3. providers and employers believe have a reasonable chance of being ready for employment or an apprenticeship within six months of engaging in a traineeship.

The Department for Education does not collect information centrally on traineeship applications in the same way that the Department does not collect data on applications for other pre-employment training provision.

In June we published data showing that there were 7,400 traineeships starting between August 2013 and April 2014 – the first nine months of the programme. We do not yet have reliable data to break this down by age-range and we do not collect information on the number of unsuccessful applications.

Further information on traineeships data is published online at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-other-statistics-and-research