Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of (a) teaching assistants and (b) other educational focused support staff employed in schools in England in the latest period for which figures are available.
Answered by Robin Walker
Information on the number of staff, including teaching assistants and other support staff, employed in state-funded schools in England is published in the ‘School Workforce in England’ statistical publication at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
In 2020/21, the full-time equivalent of 271,370 people were working as teaching assistants in state-funded schools in England. This figure is 49,889 (equivalent to 22.5%) higher than in 2011/12.
'Teaching Assistants' comprises those support staff based in the classroom for learning and pupil support, for example higher level teaching assistants, teaching assistants, special needs support staff, nursery officers/assistants, minority ethnic pupils support staff and bilingual support assistants.
Special support assistants are included in the teaching assistant totals and special educational needs coordinator assistants are included in the administrative staff totals.
Information on the number of school-based support staff trained to aid children with special educational needs and disabilities is not collected centrally.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has undertaken or commissioned a study or review of the capacity and effectiveness of (a) school based and (b) local authority based educational support staff.
Answered by Robin Walker
In 2019, the department commissioned research about the use and effects of teaching assistants in primary and secondary mainstream schools. The research was published in June 2019 and is available on the government’s website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-deployment-of-teaching-assistants-in-schools.
The research explores models of deployment in a range of primary and secondary mainstream schools in England, including the factors that affect deployment and reasons for changes to deployment.
Schools have the freedom to make decisions about the recruitment, training, use and pay for teaching assistants, according to their own circumstances.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how his Department plans to monitor and evaluate the sufficiency of the additional £1.8 billion allocated to school catch-up in the Autumn Budget 2021.
Answered by Robin Walker
The department is undertaking a range of monitoring and evaluation activities to assess COVID-19 catch-up activity, including for the additional £1.8 billion allocated in the autumn Budget 2021.
The department has commissioned Renaissance Learning, and their subcontractor, the Education Policy Institute, to collect data from a sample of schools. This will provide a baseline assessment of lost education and catch-up needs for pupils in schools in England, and to monitor progress over the course of the academic year 2020/21 and Autumn term 2021. We are seeking commercial agreements for further academic years which will help the department understand the impact of the additional £1.8 billion.
The department has a contract with Ipsos MORI, in consortium with Sheffield Hallam University and the Centre for Education and Youth to undertake a mixed-methods study design (including surveys of school leaders, interviews, and case studies) to examine how schools are tackling the issue of lost education. Results from the study will be used to understand how the catch-up premium funds have been spent and how best to support schools to tackle lost education.
The department is also undertaking evaluations of specific education recovery programmes to understand their effectiveness.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to Scope and the Disabled Children’s Partnership’s report entitled The Gap Widens, published in October 2021, which found that there is a £573 million funding gap in disabled children’s social care, what fiscal steps his Department is planning to take to support all families with a disabled child to access respite care and take short breaks.
Answered by Will Quince
I refer the hon. Member for Stockton North to the answer I gave on 20 October 2021 to Question 56976.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has in the next Comprehensive Spending Review to deliver ring-fenced funding to tackle the disproportionate social isolation affecting families with disabled children.
Answered by Vicky Ford
I refer the hon. Members for the City of Durham, Bath, and Stockton North to the answer I gave on 2 June 2021 to Question 7328.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 3 March 2021 to Question 157325, on the Academic Year and School Day, what progress his Department is making on examining a range of options to help schools use evidence-based interventions to support their pupils to make up lost learning as a result of the covid-19 outbreak; and when he plans to make an announcement on those options.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department appointed Sir Kevan Collins as Education Recovery Commissioner to oversee our long-term recovery plan. Sir Kevan will speak with parents, pupils, and teachers whilst developing this, and will review how evidence-based interventions can be used to address the impact COVID-19 has had on education. We will share further details in due course.
In June 2020, we announced a £1 billion catch-up package including a National Tutoring Programme and a Catch-up Premium for this academic year, and in February 2021 we committed to further funding of £700 million to fund summer schools, the expansion of our tutoring programmes and a Recovery Premium for the next academic year. Funding will support pupils across early years, schools, and colleges.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 3 March 2021 to Question 157325 on the Academic Year and School Day, what progress his Department is making on examining a range of options to help schools use evidence-based interventions to support their pupils to make up lost learning as a result of the covid-19 outbreak; and when he plans to make an announcement on that matter.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department appointed Sir Kevan Collins as Education Recovery Commissioner to oversee our long-term recovery plan. Sir Kevan will speak with parents, pupils, and teachers whilst developing this, and will review how evidence-based interventions can be used to address the impact COVID-19 has had on education. We will share further details in due course.
In June 2020, we announced a £1 billion catch-up package including a National Tutoring Programme and a Catch-up Premium for this academic year, and in February 2021 we committed to further funding of £700 million to fund summer schools, the expansion of our tutoring programmes and a Recovery Premium for the next academic year. Funding will support pupils across early years, schools, and colleges.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to appoint a cross-Departmental Minister for Disabled Children; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Vicky Ford
As the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families I am responsible for policy on special educational needs and disabilities and on disadvantaged children more broadly.
The government is committed to supporting disabled children and as part of this we will be publishing a new national strategy for disabled people this year. I work closely with my hon. Friend, the Member for North Swindon, as Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work, and with Ministerial Disability Champions across Whitehall to ensure that our policies are joined up effectively. Our priority here is ensuring that the needs of disabled children are recognised and appropriately met, which is what the current ministerial arrangements are already working to achieve.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on the (a) employment and (b) income of supply teachers.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department does not hold data on the rate of employment or the income of supply teachers.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has released estimates of the number and value of claims made to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS). This outlines the number of companies, and employees who have been supported by the CJRS by employment sector, including education. However, the statistical release does not provide data on specific job roles within a sector. The information is available to view here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/coronavirus-job-retention-scheme-statistics-december-2020
If supply staff employed via employment agencies are unable to find work, their employment agency can place them on furlough and use the CJRS to claim for 80% of their wages, including during school holiday periods, provided that the eligibility criteria. are met. Information on the CJRS is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme. Information on the eligibility criteria is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-which-employees-you-can-put-on-furlough-to-use-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support is available for casual supply teachers who are not contracted to a school during the January 2021 covid-19 lockdown.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Schools will continue to receive their budgets for the coming year as usual, regardless of any periods of partial or complete closure. Schools have autonomy over these budgets and their employment arrangements and decisions on staffing are made at the local level.
If supply staff employed via employment agencies are unable to work due to COVID-19, their employment agency can place them on furlough and use the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to claim for 80% of their wages, including during school holiday periods, provided that the eligibility criteria are met. Information on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme. Information on the eligibility criteria is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-which-employees-you-can-put-on-furlough-to-use-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme.
Employers can now flexibly furlough their employees for the hours the employee would usually have worked in that period, whilst also being able to work outside of the hours they are furloughed. Employees can work for any amount of time, and any work pattern but they cannot do any work for their employer during hours that employers record them as being on furlough. Further information is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme#flexible-furlough-agreements.
The decision to furlough an employee, fully or flexibly, is entirely at the employer's discretion as it is dependent on a range of factors that the employer is best placed to determine, for example, the amount of work available for employees.
The Government has provided additional financial support for those who are unable to work because they have COVID-19, or are self-isolating, which is outlined here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-what-to-do-if-youre-employed-and-cannot-work?priority-taxon=5ebf285a-9165-476c-be90-66b9729f50da#if-someone-you-live-with-has-symptoms-of-coronavirus.