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 his Department has made of the effect of the roll-out of universal credit on the number of pupils eligible for the pupil premium; and if he will make a statement.
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.
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 on the effect of the roll-out of universal credit on procedural changes in flagging eligibility for the pupil premium.
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.
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 suppliers have been excluded from bidding for contracts as a result of not complying with the criteria set out in the guidance entitled, Procurement policy note 03/14: promoting tax compliance, in each year since 2014.
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 estimate he has made of the number of children's home placements available for children with a combination of autistic spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and emotional and behavioural difficulties.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
This is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to the hon. Member for Oxford East and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
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 (a) number of and (b) demand for independent sector welfare secure children's home placements (i) in England and (ii) in (A) unitary and (B) upper-tier local authority areas.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Figures from the Ofsted publication show that there is only one independent (voluntary run) secure children’s home in England located in St Helens. The publication is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/local-authority-and-childrens-homes-in-england-inspections-and-outcomes.
As at 31 March 2018, this secure home had 12 approved places, 11 places were available and 11 children were accommodated. This information is published by the department here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-accommodated-in-secure-childrens-homes-31-march-2018.
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 he has made of the number of children referred to secure welfare children's home placements outside their local authority area in each of the last five years.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The number of children looked after in secure units placed outside the council boundary in each of the last five years was published in table A2 in the statistical release ‘Children looked after in England including adoption: 2017 to 2018’. This can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2017-to-2018.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether providers of alternative education will benefit from the £400 million capital bonus for schools, announced in Budget 2018.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is allocating an additional £400 million of capital funding to schools in 2018–19. This funding is in addition to the £1.4 billion of condition allocations already provided this year to those responsible for maintaining school buildings. This will ensure that the school estate is well maintained.
As with Devolved Formula Capital, pupil referral units, alternative-provision academies, alternative-provision free schools, and general hospital schools will benefit from the funding, along with maintained nursery, primary and secondary schools, academies and free schools, special schools, non-maintained special schools and sixth-form colleges. It will also be allocated to those specialist post-16 institutions that have eligible state-funded pupils.
In December, the Department plans to publish a ready reckoner, which is a self-service calculation tool that will allow schools to estimate their allocations. The final allocations are expected to be published in the new year.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria his Department used to allocate funding from of the Strategic Schools Investment Fund in the (a) current funding round and (b) previous funding rounds; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
There are no current rounds of the Strategic School Improvement Fund. To date, there have been three application rounds with details of all successful projects published on GOV.UK.
All Strategic School Improvement Fund bids were assessed against published assessment criteria, which considered an evidence-based programme of work, deliverability, sustainability and value for money. The full criteria can be found in the attached guidance.
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 (a) total value and (b) average spend per school has been of training support derived from the apprenticeship levy to (i) multi-academy chains and (ii) local authority schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
As with other parts of the public sector, the department will be monitoring the uptake of apprenticeships by the school workforce. Public sector bodies in scope of the public sector apprenticeships target – including schools – are required to publish annually and report to the department on their progress towards the target. The first reports (covering the period 1 April 2017 – 31 March 2018) are due by 30 September 2018.
In February 2018, we published our latest assessment of costs schools incur, including the financial impact of the apprenticeship levy. We estimate that over 16,000 schools (three quarters of the total) will pay a combined apprenticeship levy of around £110 million.
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 effectiveness of the apprenticeship levy in facilitating the training of apprentices in academy chains.
Answered by Nick Gibb
As with other parts of the public sector, the department will be monitoring the uptake of apprenticeships by the school workforce. Public sector bodies in scope of the public sector apprenticeships target – including schools – are required to publish annually and report to the department on their progress towards the target. The first reports (covering the period 1 April 2017 – 31 March 2018) are due by 30 September 2018.
In February 2018, we published our latest assessment of costs schools incur, including the financial impact of the apprenticeship levy. We estimate that over 16,000 schools (three quarters of the total) will pay a combined apprenticeship levy of around £110 million.