Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many responses they received to their consultation Review of the Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education statutory guidance, which launched on 16 May and closed on 11 July; and when they intend to publish their response to the consultation and summary of responses.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
The public consultation on the Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education statutory guidance was open for eight weeks and received over 14,300 responses.
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has been clear that children’s wellbeing must be at the heart of this guidance for schools and as such the government will look carefully at the consultation responses and consider the relevant evidence, including through stakeholder conversations, before setting out the next steps to make sure the guidance draws from the best available evidence. This will include plans for responding to the consultation.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect to sign off the proposed Natural History GCSE.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The department announced the introduction of a new natural history GCSE last year. We are committed to developing the GCSE as quickly as possible, provided that it meets the rigorous requirements that apply to all GCSEs. The department is working closely with OCR and other exam boards, and independent experts to develop draft subject content for the GCSE.
The department aims to consult publicly on the draft subject content later this year. Any amendments to subject content will then be made in light of responses to the public consultation.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is Ofsted's policy regarding its expectation of the duties and actions of Local Authority Elective Home Education Officers.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
When inspecting Local Authority children’s social care services, Ofsted looks at the arrangements for children’s welfare and protection while they are being electively home educated.
Ofsted will look at the ways in which Local Authorities identify children who are not receiving suitable education and what steps the Local Authority takes to deal with that, particularly those children who are either on a child protection plan, education, health and care plan, or are a child in need as part of its children’s social care remit. They may also request a report on children for whom the local authority is responsible who are of school age and who are not in receipt of full-time school education at the time of inspection.
The ‘Evaluating the educational progress of children in care and care leavers’ section of the Ofsted framework for inspections states that Her Majesty’s Inspectors will analyse data and information on elective home educated children and children missing education, as part of these inspections.
Inspectors do not have powers to evaluate or comment on the quality of home education, only the way Local Authorities deal with it as part of their statutory responsibilities.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which 50 schools had the highest average Progress 8 scores for (1) boys, and (2) girls, in the summer of 2019; and for those schools, what were the percentage of White British (a) boys, and (b) girls, who received Free School Meals; and for each of these groups, what was their average Progress 8 score.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The attached file contains the top 50 schools with the highest average progress 8 scores for boys and girls in the 2019 academic year. Each of these lists is populated with the closest information currently available. Amongst other variables, each list of schools contains the following information: the adjusted progress 8 score, the adjusted progress 8 score for boys and girls, and the adjusted progress 8 score of disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils.
Disadvantaged status considers whether the pupil has received free school meals in the last six years or were looked after for one day or more.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which schools in England had more than 40 per cent of pupils who (1) identified as White British, and (2) were in receipt of Free School Meals, in the summer of 2019.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The department publishes annual statistics on the number of pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM) and identifying as different ethnicities. The figures are based on January school census data and included in the statistical release ‘Schools, Pupils and their Characteristics’. We do not routinely publish summer term FSM figures and we do not collect ethnicity as part of the summer census. Therefore, figures derived from the spring census 2019 have been provided. Figures for January 2019 can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2019.
The attached tables show schools which had more than 40% of pupils identifying as white British and schools that had more than 40% of pupils eligible for FSM in January 2019.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what regulations regarding the provision of toilets apply to (1) maintained schools, (2) academy schools, and (3) independent schools.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014 states that, in relation to toilets, a room is a space that, “can be secured from the inside and that is intended for use by one pupil at a time”. This is the standard which is applied to school buildings.
The regulations relating to the provision of toilets for mainstream schools are in the School Premises (England) Regulation 2012. The regulations for independents schools and academies are held in the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to Independent School Standards Regulation 23A in the Advice on Standards for School Premises, published by the Department for Education in March 2015, whether an individual cubicle consisting of only a toilet and no washing facilities, that can be secured from the inside, constitutes a "room"; or whether a "room" constitutes an entire washroom space, including the cubicle and washing facilities outside it.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014 states that, in relation to toilets, a room is a space that, “can be secured from the inside and that is intended for use by one pupil at a time”. This is the standard which is applied to school buildings.
The regulations relating to the provision of toilets for mainstream schools are in the School Premises (England) Regulation 2012. The regulations for independents schools and academies are held in the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the number of 17 year-olds in each local authority in England; and what proportion of them are studying for (1) academic, and (2) vocational qualifications, at state schools (a) within, and (b) outside, the local authority.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
Information is not available for the specific breakdowns requested.
There are 2 table attachments for this response. The first table attachment (titled ‘Annex A’), has local authority level data showing the proportion of the population aged 17 in education and training as at March 2020. The proportion of 17 year olds participating will include those studying academic and vocational qualifications, participating on an apprenticeship or in wider training or re-engagement activity that complies with raising the participation age requirements. Activity can take place in schools, general further education colleges, sixth form colleges or private training providers.
The second table attachment for this response (titled ‘Annex B’), has local authority level data giving the proportion of children aged 17 in each local authority who attend state schools within and outside the local authority they reside, as at January 2020.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the new national Behaviour Survey, outlined by the Education Secretary in his speech to the Confederation of School Trusts on 28 April, will set out the connection between the details of pupil behaviour and any sanctions applied; if not, whether the survey will record the details of behaviour that results in exclusions; and whether such information will be linked to the unique pupil number so that related pupil characteristics can be explored.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
This government is committed to improving behaviour and discipline in schools because we know the impact poor pupil behaviour can have on education as well as teacher wellbeing and retention.
On 28 April, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, announced that a new termly national Behaviour Survey will be running during the next academic year to give a regular snapshot of the state of behaviour in our schools. Further details on its scope will be made clear in due course.
Statistics on suspensions and permanent exclusions can be found from the National Statistics release ‘Permanent and fixed-period exclusions in England 2018 to 2019’ across state-funded schools. This includes the reasons schools report for excluding and exclusion by different pupil characteristics. The release is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/permanent-and-fixed-period-exclusions-in-england-2018-to-2019.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for requiring schools that are responsible for their own admissions policies to provide their local education authority with (1) data on the most recent admissions round, and (2) their current admissions policies.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
Local authorities will hold data on the most recent admission round because they receive all applications in the normal admissions round and send out offers of places on the national offer days, which are 1 March for secondary schools and 16 April for primary schools.
All admission arrangements for state-funded schools are also published in the local authority composite admissions prospectus which can be found on each local authority’s website.
Admission authorities are required, by the School Admissions Code and the School Information (England) Regulations 2008, to send their admission arrangements to their local authorities for inclusion in the composite prospectus by 8 August each year.