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Written Question
Schools: WiFi
Thursday 21st July 2022

Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when his Department plans to implement the Connect the Classroom pilot project.

Answered by Will Quince

Building on the £30 million investment for the Connect the Classroom pilot programme, the department is investing up to a further £150 million on Connect the Classroom to upgrade more schools that fall below our Wi-Fi connectivity standards in priority areas. The Connect the Classroom pilot started in 2021 and engagement with schools who qualify for the additional £150 million of investment began June 2022.

National connectivity data does not cover private business fibre connections procured by schools or the take-up of a high-speed internet service by a school. The previous analysis of publicly available data of access to infrastructure showed that 3,835 schools are in postcodes that do not have access to full fibre or are currently not in areas of proposed commercial build within the next five years. This covered schools which do not have access to gigabit infrastructure, but does not consider new activity planned since this time.


Written Question
Schools: Broadband
Thursday 21st July 2022

Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of schools in England that do not have access to gigabit broadband.

Answered by Will Quince

Building on the £30 million investment for the Connect the Classroom pilot programme, the department is investing up to a further £150 million on Connect the Classroom to upgrade more schools that fall below our Wi-Fi connectivity standards in priority areas. The Connect the Classroom pilot started in 2021 and engagement with schools who qualify for the additional £150 million of investment began June 2022.

National connectivity data does not cover private business fibre connections procured by schools or the take-up of a high-speed internet service by a school. The previous analysis of publicly available data of access to infrastructure showed that 3,835 schools are in postcodes that do not have access to full fibre or are currently not in areas of proposed commercial build within the next five years. This covered schools which do not have access to gigabit infrastructure, but does not consider new activity planned since this time.


Written Question
Schools: Broadband
Monday 23rd May 2022

Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he is able to provide a timescale for the publication of further detail on the policy announcement to provide gigabit-capable broadband to all schools by 2025.

Answered by Robin Walker

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

The department will work with commercial providers to accelerate gigabit capable broadband rollout to schools to enable all schools to have access to a high-speed connection by 2025. Commercial providers, including Altnets, will be central to delivering on this important commitment.

Schools who qualify for funding have been identified from national connectivity data as the most difficult to reach schools that would be least likely to be upgraded before 2026 without government action. The department has already started work with the market and will begin contacting qualifying schools in the autumn term.


Written Question
Schools: Broadband
Monday 23rd May 2022

Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which Department will take the lead on delivering gigabit-capable broadband to all schools by 2025.

Answered by Robin Walker

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

The department will work with commercial providers to accelerate gigabit capable broadband rollout to schools to enable all schools to have access to a high-speed connection by 2025. Commercial providers, including Altnets, will be central to delivering on this important commitment.

Schools who qualify for funding have been identified from national connectivity data as the most difficult to reach schools that would be least likely to be upgraded before 2026 without government action. The department has already started work with the market and will begin contacting qualifying schools in the autumn term.


Written Question
Schools: Broadband
Monday 23rd May 2022

Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Government plans to engage with Altnets as part of its discussions with commercial providers on delivering gigabit-capable broadband to all schools by 2025.

Answered by Robin Walker

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

The department will work with commercial providers to accelerate gigabit capable broadband rollout to schools to enable all schools to have access to a high-speed connection by 2025. Commercial providers, including Altnets, will be central to delivering on this important commitment.

Schools who qualify for funding have been identified from national connectivity data as the most difficult to reach schools that would be least likely to be upgraded before 2026 without government action. The department has already started work with the market and will begin contacting qualifying schools in the autumn term.


Written Question
Broadband: Schools
Monday 23rd May 2022

Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential role of Altnets in providing gigabit-capable broadband to all schools by 2025.

Answered by Robin Walker

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

The department will work with commercial providers to accelerate gigabit capable broadband rollout to schools to enable all schools to have access to a high-speed connection by 2025. Commercial providers, including Altnets, will be central to delivering on this important commitment.

Schools who qualify for funding have been identified from national connectivity data as the most difficult to reach schools that would be least likely to be upgraded before 2026 without government action. The department has already started work with the market and will begin contacting qualifying schools in the autumn term.


Written Question
Broadband: Schools
Thursday 21st April 2022

Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether all schools will receive lightning-fast gigabit capable broadband by 2025.

Answered by Robin Walker

As announced by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, at the March 2022 Bett show, the government will work with commercial providers to accelerate gigabit capable broadband rollout to schools. This will enable all schools to have access to a high-speed connection by 2025. This is the latest step in cross-government plans to roll out gigabit broadband across the UK. The department will be providing further detail in the future.


Written Question
Children: Day Care
Tuesday 1st December 2020

Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what his policy is on funding childcare infrastructure in the (a) short and (b) long term.

Answered by Vicky Ford

The government continues to support families with their childcare costs. My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced on 25 November an extra £44 million in the 2021-22 financial year for local authorities in England to increase hourly rates paid to childcare providers for the government’s free childcare entitlement offers. This is an above inflation average hourly funding rate uplift for 3-4 year-olds and 2 year-olds, compared to the 2020-21 financial year. Further information on how this will be distributed will be made available as soon as possible.

Funding beyond the 2021-22 financial year will be considered in the round at future Spending Reviews.

Education in Wales is a matter for the devolved administration.


Written Question
Universities: Scotland
Friday 12th June 2020

Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of limits on the number of English students who can attend Scottish universities from 2020 on the higher education sector.

Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology

Student number controls for English-domiciled students in Scotland are a direct response to the financial threat posed by the COVID-19 outbreak and they form a key part of the package of measures to stabilise the admissions system.

These controls are a temporary measure and will be in place for one academic year only. Student number controls for institutions in Scotland only apply to the number of English-domiciled entrants who will be supported with their tuition fees through the Student Loans Company. They are set at a level which will allow every institution to take more first year English students than they took last year. The funding of English-domiciled students is not a devolved matter, and it is right and fair that this policy should apply as consistently as possible wherever they are studying in the UK.

Ministers will continue to work closely with the devolved administrations on strengthening and stabilising the higher education system following the COVID-19 outbreak.


Written Question
Buildings: Insulation
Monday 19th November 2018

Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 25 July 2018 to Question 164527 on Buildings: Insulation, what estimate the Government has made of the number of planned (a) school, (b) hospital and (c) care home buildings where (i) planning permission has been granted or (ii) work has commenced on site and which include the use of combustible cladding or insulation.

Answered by Nick Gibb

The Government does not collect information or publish statistics on the number of schools, hospitals or care home buildings with planning permission, or which has started on site, broken down by external wall type.

Schools are, in general, safe environments in this regard as they are typically occupied during the daytime and have multiple exit routes. In addition, all schools must comply with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, including having an up-to-date Fire Risk Assessment and conducting regular fire drills. The Department for Education is responsible for this area.

Following the Grenfell Tower tragedy, the Government has taken action to ensure that the safety issues that caused it will not happen again. This has included a survey to identify high-rise buildings over 18 metres tall, with Aluminium Composite Material cladding, in England. The latest available information on the cladding status of these building is available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/building-safety-programme-monthly-data-release-end-october-2018.

In addition, the Government established a Building Safety Programme that included an independent review of Building Regulations and fire safety. Following the publication of the review the Government announced in June 2018 that it intended to ban the use of combustible materials on external walls of high-rise buildings, subject to consultation.

Following consultation, the Government announced on 1 October 2018 that it will take forward this ban on all high-rise residential buildings, as well as hospitals, residential care premises, residential schools and student accommodation above 18 metres. This ban will be delivered through changes to Building Regulations and will limit materials available to products achieving a European classification of Class A1 or A2. The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government is responsible for this policy area.

NHS trusts are locally responsible for their fire safety, and take it very seriously. Fire safety guidance specific to the NHS Firecode, is provided to support them in doing this. As with schools, under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, NHS organisations must, as far as is reasonably practical, make sure that everyone on the premises, or nearby, can escape safely if there is a fire. They will therefore consider the ban on combustible cladding as part of the regular fire risk assessments they carry out on their existing estate. The Department for Health and Social Care is responsible for this area.