Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what public appointments are made directly by the Secretary of State for Education.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Public appointments made by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education are published on the Public Appointment Order in Council; please see the attached document. The appointments are publicly announced on GOV.UK and can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-for-education-non-executive-appointments. The order includes those roles where official sign off by the King and/or the Prime Minister is required.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of secondary schools are now academies.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
In May 2020, there are 2,675 secondary academies, free schools, studio schools and university technical colleges (UTCs), out of a total of 3,453 state-funded secondary schools. This is 77% of all secondary schools. Please note that the number of secondary schools includes middle deemed secondary schools, 16+ schools, all through schools and secondary schools.
Academy trusts may comprise of either one phase of education, or multiple phases of education. The table below provides the number of academies within academy trusts that have at least one secondary academy. The number of academies within these trusts also includes primary, special and alternative provision (AP) academies, free schools, studio schools and UTCs.
Table 1: Number of academy trusts, by size of academy trust, and number of academies within those trusts
Number of academies in a trust | Number of academy trusts with one or more secondary academy | Number of primary, secondary, special and AP academies within these trusts |
1 | 786 | 786 |
2 | 138 | 276 |
3 | 106 | 318 |
4 | 77 | 308 |
5 | 72 | 360 |
More than 5 | 277 | 3574 |
Total | 1456 | 5622 |
Source: Get information about schools, taken from 1 May 2020.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many secondary academy trusts comprise: (1) single academies, (2) two academies, (3) three academies, (4) four academies, and (5) five academies.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
In May 2020, there are 2,675 secondary academies, free schools, studio schools and university technical colleges (UTCs), out of a total of 3,453 state-funded secondary schools. This is 77% of all secondary schools. Please note that the number of secondary schools includes middle deemed secondary schools, 16+ schools, all through schools and secondary schools.
Academy trusts may comprise of either one phase of education, or multiple phases of education. The table below provides the number of academies within academy trusts that have at least one secondary academy. The number of academies within these trusts also includes primary, special and alternative provision (AP) academies, free schools, studio schools and UTCs.
Table 1: Number of academy trusts, by size of academy trust, and number of academies within those trusts
Number of academies in a trust | Number of academy trusts with one or more secondary academy | Number of primary, secondary, special and AP academies within these trusts |
1 | 786 | 786 |
2 | 138 | 276 |
3 | 106 | 318 |
4 | 77 | 308 |
5 | 72 | 360 |
More than 5 | 277 | 3574 |
Total | 1456 | 5622 |
Source: Get information about schools, taken from 1 May 2020.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 3 April (HL14848), whether they will provide in the text of their response to this question a list of the members of (1) the Russell Group, (2) Million+, and (3) University Alliance.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information regarding a list of members of the Russell Group, Million+ and University Alliance is not held centrally. However, information from the members’ websites is reflected in the following table:
1) Russell Group Membership | 2) Million+ | 3) University Alliance |
Birmingham University | Abertay University | UWE Bristol |
University of Bristol | Anglia Ruskin | University of Greenwich |
University of Cambridge | Bath Spa University | University of Central Lancashire |
Cardiff University | University of Bedfordshire | University of Brighton |
Durham University | University of Bolton | The Open University |
University of Edinburgh | Canterbury Christ Church University | Teesside University |
University of Exeter | University of Cumbria | University of South Wales |
University of Glasgow | University of East London | University of Salford |
Imperial College London | Edinburgh Napier University | University of Portsmouth |
King's College London | Glasgow Caledonian University | Oxford Brookes University |
University of Leeds | University of the Highlands and Islands | Nottingham Trent University |
University of Liverpool | Leeds Trinity University | Kingston University |
London School of Economics | London Metropolitan University | University of Hertfordshire |
University of Manchester | London South Bank | Coventry University |
Newcastle University | Middlesex University |
|
University of Nottingham | Southampton Solent University |
|
University of Oxford | University of Sunderland |
|
Queen Mary University of London | University of West London |
|
Queen's University Belfast | University of the West of Scotland |
|
University of Sheffield | University of Staffordshire |
|
University of Southampton | University of Wolverhampton |
|
University College London |
|
|
University of Warwick |
|
|
University of York |
|
|
Notes
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 7 March (HL Deb, col 717), whether they will set out the bodies representing different groups of universities with which they have dealings; and whether they will indicate in each case the membership of the group.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Education (DfE) deals with numerous stakeholders in the higher education (HE) sector. The bodies representing HE providers are set out below.
Universities UK is a membership body that includes the vice chancellors of most UK universities. Its membership can be found at: https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/about/Pages/member-institutions.aspx;
GuildHE represents a number of smaller and specialist HE providers. Its membership can be found at: https://guildhe.ac.uk/our-members/; and
Independent HE (formerly Study UK) is a UK membership organisation and national representative body for independent providers of HE (alternative providers) and professional training and pathway providers. Its membership can be found at: http://independenthe.com/members.
The DfE also deal with the following self-organised mission groups:
The Russell Group is an association of 24 long-established universities. Its membership can be found at: https://russellgroup.ac.uk/about/our-universities/;
Million+ describes itself as a university think-tank, whose members are mainly more recently established universities. Its membership can be found at: http://www.millionplus.ac.uk/who-we-are/members; and
University Alliance represents a number of post92 universities. Its membership can be found at: https://www.unialliance.ac.uk/alliance-universities/.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what has been the total cost of student loans to students from EU 27 countries in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information showing student loans paid to English higher education providers on behalf of EU domiciled students (UK/EU nationals, resident in the European Economic Area or Switzerland prior to studying) can be found in the Table 1, attached.
Statistics covering English loans paid to students on higher education courses are published annually by the Student Loans Company (SLC) in the Statistical First Release ‘Student Support for Higher Education in England’:
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which academy trusts manage more than five schools; and how many schools are managed by each of those trusts.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
As at 1 November 2017, there are 282 multi-academy trusts (MATs) that manage more than five schools.
Please find attached the list of MATs with the number of academies managed by each trust.
This information was sourced from the “Get Information About Schools” website on 1 November 2017. Further information can be found here: https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the total cost of establishing free schools in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The total cost of establishing a Free School includes the capital cost of acquiring a suitable site and construction or refurbishment of that site and pre and post opening grants to the school. The Department’s total capital costs of establishing Free Schools in each of the last five financial years are:
Financial year | Total capital costs |
2012-13 | £275m |
2013-14 | £704m |
2014-15 | £761m |
2015-16 | £931m |
2016-17 | £965m |
On average, the construction costs of newly built free schools are 29% lower (per square metre) than schools built under Building Schools for the Future and similar to schools built under the Priority Schools Building Programme. The department has reduced costs by taking advantage of central economies of scale and standardised building specifications.
We are in the process of making a routine update to the data that we hold on pre and post-opening grant allocations for Free Schools, University Technical Colleges and Studio Schools, following the opening of new schools in September. We will be publishing the latest data on the GOV.UK website in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action, if any, they have taken during the last 12 months in relation to the fraud allegations at the Haberdashers' Aske's Federation academy chain.
Answered by Lord Nash
During the last 12 months, the fraud allegations at the Haberdashers’ Aske’s Federation academy trust chain have been reviewed as a criminal investigation since first reported to the police in October 2012 by this multi-academy trust. The criminal case against the perpetrator of the fraud began week commencing 6 June at Woolwich Crown Court.
The Education Funding Agency (EFA) has engaged with the Trust from the outset and immediately requested that the Trust assess financial systems and risks. The Trust carried out an independent and thorough review of its internal control procedures and reported on this to the EFA. The Trust has taken all the appropriate action since the issue was first identified and the remaining key actions now rest with the Police and the Crown Prosecution Service.
Academies and free schools face tighter financial scrutiny than local authority maintained schools. They must publish annual, independently-audited accounts, of which there is no equivalent requirement on maintained schools. We take swift action whenever we identify financial irregularities.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they have taken during the last 12 months in respect of the Perry Beeches academy chain.
Answered by Lord Nash
During the last 12 months the Education Funding Agency (EFA) has investigated Perry Beeches The Academy Trust and found serious weaknesses in financial management and governance. The investigations resulted in the EFA issuing the trust with a Financial Notice to Improve (FNtI) on 8 March 2016, which is attached and can be found on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/financial-notice-to-improve-perry-beeches-the-academy-trust
The EFA also published two investigation reports into the trust which are published on GOV.UK. The first report, ‘Financial management and governance review: Perry Beeches The Academy Trust’ is attached and can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/financial-management-and-governance-review-perry-beeches-the-academy-trust.
The second report, ‘Investigation report: Perry Beeches The Academy Trust.’ is attached and can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/investigation-report-perry-beeches-the-academy-trust
We will continue to monitor the trust’s progress towards meeting the requirements set out in the FNtI and if we do not see significant improvement we will not hesitate to take further action. This is one of the key strengths of free schools and academies – when we spot failure we can take far swifter action than would happen in other schools.
Perry Beeches IV (a secondary free school, for children aged 11-19 years, which opened in September 2014) and Perry Beeches V (an all through free school, for children aged 4-19 years, which opened in September 2015) have received routine visits from Department for Education advisers to monitor educational performance and provide support. Perry Beeches III (a secondary free school, for children aged 11-19 years, which opened in September 2013) has received more extensive education adviser support because it was placed in special measures in May 2015.