Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many children in England (1) never attend school, and (2) do not regularly attend school.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
The department collects data on children missing education from local authorities on a voluntary basis. This includes compulsory school aged children not registered at school or otherwise receiving suitable education. The latest figures are available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-missing-education. In autumn 2023/24, there were an estimated 33,000 children missing education, which includes adjustments made for non-response and is based on a figure of 30,400 reported by 94% of local authorities.
The Children’s Wellbeing Bill will legislate for local authority registers of children not in school. This will include a duty on parents to provide the necessary information for these registers if their child is eligible, which would improve the accuracy of data and ensure that fewer children slip under the radar when they are not in school.
Pupil absence is collected in the school census. The latest figures are available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england.
The department publishes figures on the number of pupils who are persistently absent, which means missing 10% or more of possible sessions, and severely absent, which means missing 50% or more of possible sessions. In autumn 2023/24, 19.4% of pupil enrolments were persistently absent (1.4 million pupil enrolments) and 2.0% of pupil enrolments were severely absent (142,000 pupil enrolments).
It should be noted that ‘regular attendance’ is defined as having no absence, apart from absence due to attendance at a dual-registration or approved educational activity. This information is not readily available.
School level information also forms part of the pupil absence publication. Absence rates for all schools in England in autumn 2023/24 is attached. The data requested is available in the attached table.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government which are the 10 schools in England with the lowest rates of pupil attendance.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
The department collects data on children missing education from local authorities on a voluntary basis. This includes compulsory school aged children not registered at school or otherwise receiving suitable education. The latest figures are available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-missing-education. In autumn 2023/24, there were an estimated 33,000 children missing education, which includes adjustments made for non-response and is based on a figure of 30,400 reported by 94% of local authorities.
The Children’s Wellbeing Bill will legislate for local authority registers of children not in school. This will include a duty on parents to provide the necessary information for these registers if their child is eligible, which would improve the accuracy of data and ensure that fewer children slip under the radar when they are not in school.
Pupil absence is collected in the school census. The latest figures are available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england.
The department publishes figures on the number of pupils who are persistently absent, which means missing 10% or more of possible sessions, and severely absent, which means missing 50% or more of possible sessions. In autumn 2023/24, 19.4% of pupil enrolments were persistently absent (1.4 million pupil enrolments) and 2.0% of pupil enrolments were severely absent (142,000 pupil enrolments).
It should be noted that ‘regular attendance’ is defined as having no absence, apart from absence due to attendance at a dual-registration or approved educational activity. This information is not readily available.
School level information also forms part of the pupil absence publication. Absence rates for all schools in England in autumn 2023/24 is attached. The data requested is available in the attached table.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many 14–18 year-olds received training in construction skills in England in the academic year 2023–24.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
Provisional in-year data on further education and skills in England reported for the academic year 2023/24 shows 134,600 aim (course) enrolments in Construction, Planning and the Built Environment for learners aged under 19. This data can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/further-education-and-skills. This includes provision returned via the Individualised Learner Record administrative data only. Any provision within schools reported solely in the School Census data is not included in this figure.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many newly settled children from overseas have not been able to immediately take up allocated school places due to pressures on school numbers in the past year.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
Individual local authorities are under a duty to ensure that children in their areas are receiving a suitable education. We do not routinely collect data on the nationality of children whose parents are seeking school places. However, because of the high levels of migration from the beginning of 2022, the department did conduct a monthly survey of school placements for children from outside the UK between May and September 2022 to obtain better data on school place pressures. The data is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-placements-for-children-from-outside-of-the-uk.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many school children in England have had an unauthorised school absence in each of the past five years.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
Schools are required to record in the register once in the morning session and once in the afternoon session whether or not a pupil is absent.
The attached table below shows the number of pupil enrolments in England with one or more sessions of unauthorised absence by academic year.
In the 2021/22 academic year, 366,042 pupil enrolments missed 10% or more of possible sessions due to unauthorised absence. This figure covers state-funded primary, state-funded secondary and special schools in England.
Unauthorised absence includes pupils who arrived late (after registration has closed), unauthorised holidays, reason for absence not yet provided, and other unauthorised absence.
The data used in this answer are published in the National Statistics release on pupil absence in schools in England, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many children in England are currently not attending school regularly due to unauthorised absences.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
Schools are required to record in the register once in the morning session and once in the afternoon session whether or not a pupil is absent.
The attached table below shows the number of pupil enrolments in England with one or more sessions of unauthorised absence by academic year.
In the 2021/22 academic year, 366,042 pupil enrolments missed 10% or more of possible sessions due to unauthorised absence. This figure covers state-funded primary, state-funded secondary and special schools in England.
Unauthorised absence includes pupils who arrived late (after registration has closed), unauthorised holidays, reason for absence not yet provided, and other unauthorised absence.
The data used in this answer are published in the National Statistics release on pupil absence in schools in England, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker how many members of the House of Lords did not attend any proceedings between 12 December 2019 and 20 December 2020.
Answered by Lord McFall of Alcluith
29. The answer is based on the total number of members who were members on 6 January 2021 (817). The figure of 29 includes 10 members on leave of absence, 2 disqualified as members of the judiciary and 6 members who were yet to be introduced including two who joined the House after 20 December 2020.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of university tuition fees on the finances of graduates.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The government is considering how graduates contribute to the cost of their studies. This includes the level, terms and duration of their contribution as part of the review of Post-18 Education and Funding. We want to make sure that funding arrangements across post-18 education and training are transparent, do not act as barriers to choice and offer value for money for students and taxpayers.
The independent panel’s report to the government, published on 30 May, forms an important step in the review. The government will consider the panel’s recommendations carefully and will conclude the review at the Spending Review. The government has not yet taken decisions with regards to the recommendations put forward.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the underspend against his Department's adult education budget in the academic year 2016-17.
Answered by Anne Milton
The underspend against the mainstream participation element of the Adult Education Budget for the 2016 to 2017 academic year was £63 million. This was less than 5 per cent of the total contracted value.
A portion of the underspend was reallocated within the further education sector, providing the opportunity for providers to expand provision through growth bids, funding over delivery in providers who exceeded their delivery aims, and support other provision.
This excludes growth deals and other funding support because these programmes are managed on a financial year basis.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has assessed the feasibility of maintaining services provided by Carillion plc to schools by offering directly to employ former Carillion staff at schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Our priority is to ensure schools can continue to operate as usual. Government is supporting the official receiver, so that services to schools and other public services can continue to be delivered. Decisions about the future of individual services will be addressed in due course and schools and other customers will be kept informed.
Local authorities and academy trusts are responsible for their contracts. The Department has, however, worked with local authorities and academy trusts to make sure they have robust contingency plans in place and that these have been actioned. In some cases, the Department understands that planning has included the option of bringing services in-house. Information available to the department indicates that the number of local authority and academy trust schools, covered by catering, facilities management or other service contracts is relatively low.
The Department is continuing to monitor the situation and will work with schools to help minimise any disruption for pupils.