Asked by: Anne-Marie Trevelyan (Conservative - Berwick-upon-Tweed)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children at key stage (a) 1, (b) 2, (c) 3 and (d) 4 are in receipt of the service pupil premium.
Answered by Edward Timpson
No children in an early years setting are in receipt of the service child element of the pupil premium grant. The grant is payable to schools and local authorities for pupils in year groups reception to year 11.
The number of school-age children in England eligible for the service child pupil premium in January 2016, broken down by Key Stage, is provided in the table.
| Reception | Key Stage 1 | Key Stage 2 | Key Stage 3 | Key Stage 4 | Total |
Number of pupils (headcount) | 6,008 | 13,098 | 26,489 | 17,479 | 10,358 | 73,432 |
Source: School Census, January 2016
Asked by: Anne-Marie Trevelyan (Conservative - Berwick-upon-Tweed)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many school-aged pupils there are with at least one parent who is a national in another EEA member state in households with a total income within the threshold for pupil premium eligibility.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
Pupil premium eligibility in 2015/16 is based on whether pupils are known to have been looked after by the local authority; have left care through adoption, a special guardianship, child arrangements or residence order; or if a pupil has been registered as eligible for free school meals at any point in the last 6 years. It is not determined through a household income threshold.
Asked by: Anne-Marie Trevelyan (Conservative - Berwick-upon-Tweed)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 15 March 2016 to the hon. Member for St Albans to Question 30490, on pupil premium, if she will estimate the number of children eligible to receive pupil premium funding with at least one non-UK EEA national parent in each year since 2011-12.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Department does not collect data on the identity or characteristics of individual pupils’ parents (including details of parental nationality), so cannot offer a meaningful estimate of the number of pupil premium pupils with at least one parent who is a non-UK EEA national.
Asked by: Anne-Marie Trevelyan (Conservative - Berwick-upon-Tweed)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 17 March 2016 to the hon. Member for St Albans to Question 30489, on schools: admissions, if she will commission research on the effect on additional school places of inward migration from (a) EU and (b) non-EU countries.
Answered by Edward Timpson
As set out in the written response to PQ 30489, supporting local authorities in their responsibility to ensure sufficient school places remains one of this Government’s top priorities. The basic need capital funding we allocate to local authorities to create new school places is based on their own data on school capacity and future pupil forecasts. Any increase in need for places should be reflected in the local authority’s final basic need allocation. We allocate basic need funding three years ahead to give local authorities time to plan and deliver the new places needed in their area.
The Government has committed to investing £7 billion in new school places up to 2021, which, when added to our investment in the free schools programme, will help to create 600,000 new places.
Beyond the information already provided to the Department by local authorities, we do not plan to commission further research on the effect of inward migration on the need for school places.
Asked by: Anne-Marie Trevelyan (Conservative - Berwick-upon-Tweed)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 17 March 2016 to the hon. Member for St Albans to Question 30489, on schools: admissions, if she will estimate the number of those new school places which are needed up to 2021 due to immigration from (a) EU and (b) non-EU countries.
Answered by Edward Timpson
As set out in the written response to PQ 30489, supporting local authorities in their responsibility to ensure sufficient school places remains one of this Government’s top priorities. The basic need capital funding we allocate to local authorities to create new school places is based on their own data on school capacity and future pupil forecasts. Any increase in need for places should be reflected in the local authority’s final basic need allocation. We allocate basic need funding three years ahead to give local authorities time to plan and deliver the new places needed in their area.
The Government has committed to investing £7 billion in new school places up to 2021, which, when added to our investment in the free schools programme, will help to create 600,000 new places.
Beyond the information already provided to the Department by local authorities, we do not plan to commission further research on the effect of inward migration on the need for school places.
Asked by: Anne-Marie Trevelyan (Conservative - Berwick-upon-Tweed)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the benefits of teaching first aid in schools on public health outcomes.
Answered by Edward Timpson
This Government believes that the teaching of first aid skills is important. The Department for Education works closely with expert organisations such as the Red Cross and St John Ambulance who provide learning materials to schools, including life-saving training kits produced by the British Heart Foundation. These kits provide young people with first-hand experience of life-saving skills and we have promoted the use of these via the termly school email and social media channels.
How first aid is provided is up to teachers and is taught as part of personal, social, health and economic (PHSE) education in schools. In line with the continued drive to reduce bureaucracy and burdens on schools, we do not ask schools to routinely collect data on this.
Asked by: Anne-Marie Trevelyan (Conservative - Berwick-upon-Tweed)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent representations she has received from local authorities on the time taken to implement Education Health Care Plans.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Special Educational Needs (SEN) advisers within the Department are in regular contact with local authorities, to provide them with support as they implement our reforms to the system for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.
These reforms were introduced in September 2014. Since October 2013, local authorities and parents have taken part in termly surveys, to provide their views on the preparation and implementation of these reforms. These surveys asked for feedback on various issues, such as the transition of children and young people with SEN statements; learning difficulty assessments (LDAs); Education, Health, and Care Plans; and the introduction of EHC Plans more generally.
In response to this feedback, the Department announced a change to the transition arrangements on 10 July 2015. From 1 September 2015, a local authority has 18 weeks, following a notice period of two weeks, to conclude a transfer review, when considering whether to replace an SEN statement with an EHC Plan. This maximum time limit has been extended from 14 weeks. The Department has also provided support for local areas in managing this transition process: this support includes a series of regional workshops in September and October 2015, led by DfE SEN advisers.
Local authorities have until 1 April 2018 to conclude transitions from SEN statements to EHC plans for all children in their area. Young people in further education and training who receive support as a result of an LDA can choose to request an EHC needs assessment. All young people who receive support as a result of an LDA, who will continue in further education or training beyond 1 September 2016, must have an EHC plan by that date, where one is needed.
We continue to monitor progress with implementation.
Asked by: Anne-Marie Trevelyan (Conservative - Berwick-upon-Tweed)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the time taken to introduce Education Health Care Plans; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Special Educational Needs (SEN) advisers within the Department are in regular contact with local authorities, to provide them with support as they implement our reforms to the system for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.
These reforms were introduced in September 2014. Since October 2013, local authorities and parents have taken part in termly surveys, to provide their views on the preparation and implementation of these reforms. These surveys asked for feedback on various issues, such as the transition of children and young people with SEN statements; learning difficulty assessments (LDAs); Education, Health, and Care Plans; and the introduction of EHC Plans more generally.
In response to this feedback, the Department announced a change to the transition arrangements on 10 July 2015. From 1 September 2015, a local authority has 18 weeks, following a notice period of two weeks, to conclude a transfer review, when considering whether to replace an SEN statement with an EHC Plan. This maximum time limit has been extended from 14 weeks. The Department has also provided support for local areas in managing this transition process: this support includes a series of regional workshops in September and October 2015, led by DfE SEN advisers.
Local authorities have until 1 April 2018 to conclude transitions from SEN statements to EHC plans for all children in their area. Young people in further education and training who receive support as a result of an LDA can choose to request an EHC needs assessment. All young people who receive support as a result of an LDA, who will continue in further education or training beyond 1 September 2016, must have an EHC plan by that date, where one is needed.
We continue to monitor progress with implementation.