Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, for each of the postcode areas BN20, BN21, BN22 and BN23, and for the BN postcode area as a whole, for pupils who did their GCSEs in each of the summers of 2022, 2023 and 2024, what number of pupils at state schools progressed to (1) academic sixth forms in independent schools, (2) academic sixth form in state schools, (3) state sixth form colleges and state further education colleges, (4) vocational qualifications at state colleges, (5) apprenticeships, (6) work and (7) unemployment; and, for each of those educational destinations, what was the average distance as the crow flies between home and 16-18 education.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The information requested is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
However, the department publishes annual data on the destinations sustained, rather than progressed to, by pupils in the academic year following the end of key stage 4 study. This information includes detail on the number of pupils who sustained education, apprenticeships and employment destinations, or did not sustain any, by institution. This can be accessed at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/key-stage-4-destination-measures#explore-data-and-files.
The latest available data is for the 2021/22 cohort of school leavers, completing GCSEs in summer 2022, and their sustained activity in the following year. Institution level data is available in the release, however, the geographic indicators in these statistics relate to school location rather than pupil location. All destinations are presented against the institution they completed key stage 4.
The underlying data does not include information on pupils’ home postcodes and distance to institutions. This information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many pupils took examinations in summer 2024; how many GCSEs each pupil took on average; and what was the average grade achieved by the worst-performing 10 per cent of pupils in (1) mainstream schools, (2) special schools, (3) alternative provision and (4) all of the above.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
In 2023/24, there were 629,275 pupils in state-funded schools at the end of key stage 4. Of these pupils, 614,265 took at least one GCSE. The average number of GCSEs taken by pupils at the end of key stage 4 in state-funded schools was 7.3. This figure includes pupils who did not take any GCSEs.
These figures are all publicly available in the key stage 4 performance statistics release and the Compare School and College Performance (CSCP) website, which are available via the following links: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/key-stage-4-performance and https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/.
The table below shows the average score for the lowest performing 10 percent of pupils broken down by school type. This is based on grading from 1 to 9, with grades U and X assigned a score of 0.
| Average score for lowest performing 10% | |
| All pupils at the end of key stage 4 (1) | All pupils with an entry (2) |
All state-funded schools (including Hospital, pupil referral units (PRU), alternative provision (AP)) | 0.62 | 1.12 |
State-funded mainstream schools | 1.04 | 1.18 |
All state-funded special schools | 0.00 | 0.05 |
Hospital schools, PRU and AP | 0.00 | 0.00 |
(1) Includes all pupils at the end of key stage 4. If no examinations were entered a pupil’s total grade is counted as 0.
(2) Includes pupils who have at least one entry which counts towards performance tables.
(3) Includes scores from all qualifications that count towards performance tables, not just GCSEs. All qualifications are assigned scores on the 1 to 9 scale.
(4) State-funded mainstream schools includes community schools, voluntary aided schools, voluntary controlled schools, foundation schools, sponsored academies (mainstream), converter academies (mainstream) and free schools (mainstream).
(5) State-funded special schools includes community special schools, foundation special schools, special sponsor-led academies, special converter academies and special free schools.
(6) Alternative provisions includes pupil referral units, academy alternative provision, community hospital schools, and free school alternative provision.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans, if any, they have to use the powers in clauses 2 and 4 of the Data (Use and Access) Bill to require the Student Loans Company to collect data on the courses its customer attended when incurring their student debt and their subsequent career progression in order (1) to assess the long-term value of those courses, (2) to propose course improvements, and (3) to enable universities to improve the quality of the data they provide to prospective students about likely career destinations and progression for students of each course.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The government has no plans to ask the Student Loans Company for data about its customers for these purposes.
The Office for Students (OfS) uses Graduate Outcomes survey data to monitor providers’ compliance with registration condition B3, which stipulates that at least 60% of a providers’ students must progress into professional employment or further study within 15 months of graduating. Students can see how providers are performing against this target on the OfS's website.
The OfS considers B3 and National Student Survey (NSS) data alongside submissions from providers and students to award ratings of Gold, Silver or Bronze to providers which take part in its Teaching Excellence Framework.
Students can also find information about different courses on the Discover Uni website, which is the official source of information about higher education across the UK and uses the NSS, Graduate Outcomes survey and Longitudinal Education Outcomes data.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which local authorities in England are fulfilling their obligation to publish information on the admissions arrangements for all state schools in their area, including full admissions rules and details of the outcomes of the previous admissions round.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
Local authorities are required to comply with the School Admissions Code, which sets out various requirements to ensure they provide information on local admission arrangements to parents.
This includes a requirement to publish a composite admissions prospectus for parents. This must include information on the admission arrangements for each state-funded school, the number of parental preferences expressed for the school the previous year, and information relating to how to apply for schools in that area. Local authorities must also produce an annual report on admissions for all the state-funded schools in their area, which is published on the authority’s website and sent to the Schools Adjudicator.
Whilst the department does not routinely assess whether the required information is made available, if a parent or other party is unhappy that information is not available they can complain to the local authority through their complaints process. If they remain dissatisfied after exhausting the complaints procedure, they can complain to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. Additionally, if my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, becomes aware of an issue she can, if necessary, use her powers to direct the local authority, where it is failing in its duty.
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 (Minister for Women and Equalities)
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.