Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to give extra (a) powers and (b) responsibilities to (i) councils and (ii) mayors over (A) academies, (B) other schools and (C) further education.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
All our schools are crucial partners in breaking down the barriers to opportunities for children and young people so they all receive a brilliant education which sets them up to achieve and thrive.
Academies are directly accountable to my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education. In the event that academies and their trusts are not meeting the required standards, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has powers to intervene. In the event that a local authority or mayor has concerns about the performance of an academy or trust in their area they can raise these with the department.
Maintained schools are accountable to their local authority, which also has powers to intervene where schools are seriously underperforming.
The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, introduced on 17 December 2024, contains proposals to extend certain powers of local authorities. They include powers relating to the admission of children to maintained schools and academies, to the range of bodies which can propose the opening of a new school and to the setting of a school’s published admission number.
The department believes that further education has a crucial part to play in ensuring we have the skills needed for sustainable economic growth. That is why the government will continue to build an education system that prepares our students for life, work, and the future. All young people should have access to high quality education and training that meets their needs and provides them with opportunities to thrive.
The department recognises that mayors have a key role to play in ensuring that education and training pathways for young people provide clear routes into further education or employment. While the department remains committed to the principle of a national education system for those in compulsory education, including that every learner must have a wide range of choices in 16-19 study, the English Devolution White Paper, published on 16 December 2024, sets out areas for further devolution including on skills. Mayors will in future be jointly responsible for local skills improvement plans and have a key role developing the Youth Guarantee to ensure all young people under age 21 are earning or learning.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps her Department has made to ensure that the construction sector is represented in the courses supported by the Skills and Growth Levy.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is working across government and in partnership with industry, including through the Construction Skills Delivery Group (CSDG), to ensure that our skills offer meets the needs of the sector.
This includes transforming the Apprenticeship Levy into a new Growth and Skills Levy. The new levy will build on the apprenticeships programme to create opportunities for learners of all ages, and give employers of different sizes greater flexibility to address critical skill shortages in their workforces and drive economic growth.
The department will set out more detail in due course, including further information on the role of Skills England in ensuring that levy-funded training delivers value for money and meets the needs of businesses.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to his Department's planned update to the statutory guidance on Promoting the Health and Wellbeing of Looked After Children, if he will include a (a) specific focus on mental health services for that group as part of that update and (b) strategy for delivering those services in a culturally sensitive manner.
Answered by David Johnston
The government gave a commitment to update the statutory guidance, ‘Promoting the health and wellbeing of looked-after children’ and extend it to care leavers up to age 25, in the ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’ strategy for the reform of children’s social care. The update forms part of the wider mission in the strategy, to reduce the disparities in long-term mental and physical health outcomes and improve wellbeing for care-experienced people.
The Department for Education and the Department of Health and Social Care are taking forward this update together, and work is underway to understand how the current guidance is working in practice and where changes are necessary. This includes consideration of whether there is a need to include further guidance regarding mental health support for looked-after children and care leavers, as well as consideration of whether there is a need to include further guidance relating to cohorts with particular characteristics.
The department will work with a wide range of stakeholders with a diversity of professional and personal experience to ensure that the guidance is sensitive to the health and wellbeing needs of all looked-after children and care leavers, including those with protected characteristics as part of government’s duty under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of Barnardo’s report entitled Double discrimination: Black care-experienced young adults navigating the criminal justice system, published on 21 September 2023.
Answered by David Johnston
The department recognises that children in care are more likely than their peers in the general population to have contact with the criminal justice system. That is why, in 2018, the department published a joint national protocol with the Home Office and Ministry of Justice (MoJ) on reducing the unnecessary criminalisation of looked after children and care leavers. This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-protocol-on-reducing-criminalisation-of-looked-after-children.
The department is also taking action on the risk factors that can lead to criminal behaviour, including through our work to improve school attendance.
Through the care leaver Ministerial Board, the department is working closely with MoJ to improve support and outcomes of care-experienced people in the criminal justice system.
MoJ is currently updating its strategy for care-experienced people, to ensure that their time in the criminal justice system is used to support them to lead crime-free lives. The strategy will include a focus on race and its role in shaping the experiences and outcomes of those with care experience and will link to wider departmental efforts to address racial disproportionality in the criminal justice system. MoJ is aiming to publish this strategy in 2024.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what his timetable is for announcing arrangements for the primary PE and sport premium funding for the 2021-22 academic year.
Answered by Will Quince
The department is continuing to provide £320 million in the academic year 2021/22 for the primary PE and sport premium. This is enabling children and young people to access competitive sport and supporting primary schools to improve the quality of the PE, sport and physical activity which they deliver.
The department is considering arrangements for the primary PE and sport premium for the 2022/23 academic year and beyond. We are aware of the importance of providing schools with sufficient notice of future funding and will confirm the position as early as possible in the new year.
Similarly, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) are considering arrangements for the School Games Organisers programme and will confirm the position on future funding as soon as possible.
The department is also working to deliver on the nearly £30 million announced in October towards improving and opening school sports facilities in England, as well as to improve the teaching of PE at primary school. The department will continue to work closely with DCMS and DHSC to deliver on the aims of the school sport and activity action plan which we will be updating next year.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when he plans to announce a decision on the long-term funding for PE and school sport.
Answered by Will Quince
The department is continuing to provide £320 million in the academic year 2021/22 for the primary PE and sport premium. This is enabling children and young people to access competitive sport and supporting primary schools to improve the quality of the PE, sport and physical activity which they deliver.
The department is considering arrangements for the primary PE and sport premium for the 2022/23 academic year and beyond. We are aware of the importance of providing schools with sufficient notice of future funding and will confirm the position as early as possible in the new year.
Similarly, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) are considering arrangements for the School Games Organisers programme and will confirm the position on future funding as soon as possible.
The department is also working to deliver on the nearly £30 million announced in October towards improving and opening school sports facilities in England, as well as to improve the teaching of PE at primary school. The department will continue to work closely with DCMS and DHSC to deliver on the aims of the school sport and activity action plan which we will be updating next year.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress his Department has made, in discussions with the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, in taking a decision on funding for the School Games Organiser network beyond March 2022.
Answered by Will Quince
The department is continuing to provide £320 million in the academic year 2021/22 for the primary PE and sport premium. This is enabling children and young people to access competitive sport and supporting primary schools to improve the quality of the PE, sport and physical activity which they deliver.
The department is considering arrangements for the primary PE and sport premium for the 2022/23 academic year and beyond. We are aware of the importance of providing schools with sufficient notice of future funding and will confirm the position as early as possible in the new year.
Similarly, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) are considering arrangements for the School Games Organisers programme and will confirm the position on future funding as soon as possible.
The department is also working to deliver on the nearly £30 million announced in October towards improving and opening school sports facilities in England, as well as to improve the teaching of PE at primary school. The department will continue to work closely with DCMS and DHSC to deliver on the aims of the school sport and activity action plan which we will be updating next year.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the impact on (a) schools and (b) young people’s physical activity levels of the (i) lack of confirmation of public funding for the School Games Organiser network beyond March 2022 and (ii) uncertainty on the future of the PE and Sport Premium beyond this academic year.
Answered by Will Quince
The department is continuing to provide £320 million in the academic year 2021/22 for the primary PE and sport premium. This is enabling children and young people to access competitive sport and supporting primary schools to improve the quality of the PE, sport and physical activity which they deliver.
The department is considering arrangements for the primary PE and sport premium for the 2022/23 academic year and beyond. We are aware of the importance of providing schools with sufficient notice of future funding and will confirm the position as early as possible in the new year.
Similarly, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) are considering arrangements for the School Games Organisers programme and will confirm the position on future funding as soon as possible.
The department is also working to deliver on the nearly £30 million announced in October towards improving and opening school sports facilities in England, as well as to improve the teaching of PE at primary school. The department will continue to work closely with DCMS and DHSC to deliver on the aims of the school sport and activity action plan which we will be updating next year.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 22 October 2021 to Question 56778 on Local Government Finance, if he will publish details of only those funds that his Department allocates to local authorities through a process of competitive bidding.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
The department is still collating 2020-21 grant award data. We expect the collation and accuracy and completeness checks to be concluded in the new year. It is at this stage that the department would be able to provide the analysis requested. The 2020-21 grant scheme and award data is due to be published by Cabinet Office in March 2022.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many funds are allocated to local authorities by his Department through a process of competitive bidding; and if he will publish the names of those funds.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
The department is currently collating 2020-21 grant award data which we expect to be available in the new year following accuracy and completeness checks. The data is due to be published by Cabinet Office in March 2022 but may not contain the recipient category.
The 2019-20 scheme and award grant data is available on the link below in the DfE sheet. The 2019-20 scheme data does not contain the recipient category, but the recipient names are available in the awards data as is the allocation methodology and the grant scheme.