Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people on the Erasmus scheme work in schools in the UK.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The Department for Education has made no estimate of the number of people on the Erasmus Scheme working in schools in the UK. This is because the European Commission records the number of incoming mobilities to the UK. Statistical analysis provides a breakdown by country for school staff mobilities (KA101) but does not break down figures for centralised school mobilities, such as strategic partnerships for school education (KA201) and school exchange partnerships (KA229) by country. Under the 2018 call for proposals, the UK had 2,345 participants for KA101, and 1,912 participants under the 2017 call for proposals.
More information can be found in the annual statistical analysis for Erasmus+: https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/about/statistics_en.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the UK's withdrawal from the EU on the provision of language teaching in the UK.
Answered by Nick Gibb
All teachers from the EU, including those teaching languages, make a welcome and important contribution to our school system. The Government has made an unequivocal guarantee to all EU citizens living and working here by protecting their rights in UK law through the Withdrawal Agreement Act and the EU Settlement Scheme. We have already provided certainty to almost 2.5 million people, including teachers, granted status through the EU Settlement Scheme.
On 19 February, the Government published a policy statement which set out further detail on the future points-based immigration system, that will be introduced from January 2021, to attract the brightest and best talent from around the world. As skilled workers, teachers will score sufficient points for a visa under this system if they have an offer of a teaching job that pays at least as much as the minimum salary range for teachers and they are able to speak English to the required level.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of the UK leaving the EU on teacher recruitment in the UK.
Answered by Nick Gibb
All teachers from the EU, including those teaching languages, make a welcome and important contribution to our school system. The Government has made an unequivocal guarantee to all EU citizens living and working here by protecting their rights in UK law through the Withdrawal Agreement Act and the EU Settlement Scheme. We have already provided certainty to almost 2.5 million people, including teachers, granted status through the EU Settlement Scheme.
On 19 February, the Government published a policy statement which set out further detail on the future points-based immigration system, that will be introduced from January 2021, to attract the brightest and best talent from around the world. As skilled workers, teachers will score sufficient points for a visa under this system if they have an offer of a teaching job that pays at least as much as the minimum salary range for teachers and they are able to speak English to the required level.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of provision of social workers in schools with a high volume of cases requiring social worker support.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Local authority social workers provide statutory support for children in need of help and protection. The department does not hold data on the proportion of the 29,470 full-time equivalent local authority social workers in England who are working in schools as most social workers will hold cases for children who are attending several different schools. Where additional support is provided within school, it is for headteachers to decide how to spend their budget to best meet the needs of their pupils; some choose to employ trained social workers as part of their pastoral support provision.
Analysis from the June 2019 Children in Need review shows that of all state schools in England in 2017-18: only 2% of schools (499) do not have a single pupil to have been in need of a social worker since 2012-13; in almost a third of schools these children make up between 5-10% of the pupil population; in 12% of schools, over 20% of the pupil population were at some point in need of a social worker.
As part of a What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care (WWC) Change Programme focussed on moving services closer to children and families, £2.4 million funding was made available in 2019-20 for local authorities and children’s services trusts to test social workers being based in schools. The WWC is working with 3 local authorities -- Lambeth, Southampton and Stockport -- to set up and evaluate new ways of working in which social workers work in schools to prevent harm to children and deal more effectively with harm where it occurs. The evaluation of the programme will begin in Spring 2019 and run until March 2020, when a final report will be published.
In addition, 2 Opportunity Areas - Stoke and Hastings - are testing the effectiveness of models which embed social workers in schools. In the recently published ‘Help, Protection, Education: concluding the Children in Need review’, the department committed to learn from and consider how to build on the evidence from these trials.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how long the funding commitments are for the (a) Primary Sports Premium and (b) Healthy Pupils Capital Fund.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The primary PE and Sports Premium funding is committed up until the end of the 2019/20 academic year.
The healthy pupils capital fund was announced as a one-off fund for 2018-19.
Funding for the 2020/21 academic year onwards will be considered in the context of the next Spending Review.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 15 March 2019 to Question 231556, what assessment he has made of changes in the level of take-up of pupil premium in Oxford in each year since 2015.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The department publishes information annually at national, local authority and parliamentary constituency levels on the number of pupils who are eligible for the pupil premium in the current financial year, as a result of their having been registered for benefits-based free school meals at any point in the last six years. Figures for the financial years between 2015 and 2019 are available on GOV.UK via the following links:
2015-16: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-2015-to-2016-allocations.
2016-17: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-conditions-of-grant-2016-to-2017.
2017-18: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-conditions-of-grant-2017-to-2018.
2018-19: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-conditions-of-grant-2018-to-2019.
Statistics for Oxford East constituency show that between 2015-16 and 2018-19, the proportion of primary school pupils eligible for the pupil premium fell from 27.9% to 24.9%; and the proportion of eligible secondary school pupils fell from 40.3% to 36.7%.
Statistics for Oxford West and Abingdon constituency show the same pattern over this period: the proportion of primary school pupils eligible for the pupil premium fell from 14% to 12.5%, and the proportion of eligible secondary school pupils fell from 18.3% to 16.8%.
Statistics for Oxfordshire local authority show that between 2015-16 and 2018-19, the proportion of primary school pupils eligible for the pupil premium fell from 16.2% to 14.4%; and the proportion of eligible secondary school pupils fell from 19.5% to 18.1%.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the timetable is for the new Swan School in Oxford to be signed off by his Department as ready to accept applications.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
We are committed to a free schools programme which aims to deliver high standards, choice and innovation.
I am delighted to confirm that my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education agreed in principle, on 27 March 2019, to enter into a funding agreement with the River Learning Trust (RLT) for the Swan School to open, in Oxford, in September 2019. My officials are working closely with the RLT and its legal advisers to finalise the funding agreement, which we expect to agree shortly.
To minimise uncertainty for parents of the Swan School’s prospective pupils for September, my officials informed the chief executive of the trust of the Secretary of State’s decision on 28 March, and we agreed with the headteacher of the Swan School that these parents could be informed.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of changes in the level of take-up of the pupil premium in each year since 2015; and what assessment his Department has made of the causes for such changes in the level of take-up.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Eligibility for the pupil premium is founded on the number of pupils recorded through the annual school census as claiming free school meals (FSM) currently or at any point in the last 6 years. The numbers and proportions of pupils attracting pupil premium each year are published here: https://www.gov.uk/search/advanced?group=guidance_and_regulation&topic=%2Feducation%2Fpupil-premium-and-other-school-premiums.
This shows a small downward trend in the proportion of pupils attracting the pupil premium since 2015, from 27.07% of the pupil population in 2015 to 25.13% in 2018. The reduction is seen in a large number of areas across the country and is related to there being fewer parents than in previous years claiming the benefits which would make their children eligible for FSM.
Schools and local authorities have worked hard over recent years to encourage all eligible families to register for FSM, to ensure that schools receive the full amount of pupil premium funding to which they are entitled. We provide an eligibility checking system to make the checking process as quick and straightforward as possible for schools and local authorities, and have developed a model registration form to help schools encourage parents to sign up for FSM.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the guidance entitled, Procurement policy note 03/14: promoting tax compliance, how many suppliers were allocated contracts by his Department as a result of complying with (a) one and (b) more than one of the mitigating circumstances after failing the tax compliance questions.
Answered by Anne Milton
The information is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what analysis his Department has conducted with the Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government on the effect of the roll-out of universal credit on procedural changes in flagging eligibility for pupil premium by local authority area.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Eligibility for the pupil premium is based on pupils recorded in the January census who are known to have been eligible for free school meals (FSM) now or at any point in the last 6 years (known as FSM EVER6).
Following the change to FSM eligibility criteria under Universal Credit, which came into effect in April 2018, we estimate that by 2022, more children will benefit from an FSM and therefore pupil premium compared to the previous benefits system.
As Universal Credit continues to roll out, we will keep the delivery of the pupil premium policy under review, working closely with other government departments.