Asked by: Connor Rand (Labour - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of trends in the levels of (a) recruitment and (b) retention of school support staff in (i) Trafford and (ii) England in the last five years.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Support staff are categorised into posts of teaching assistants, administrative staff, auxiliary staff, technicians and other supporting staff, plus two new posts of school business professional and leadership non-teacher, reported for the first time in 2023/24.
School business professionals include roles such as bursar, business manager, finance officer, office manager, premises manager or ICT network manager.
The full-time equivalent (FTE) of support staff has increased each year since 2019/20, to 510,400 in 2023/24, and has now passed the previous peak of 2015/16. This is an increase of 4,800 (0.9%) since last year. This increase is mainly due to an increase of 2,400 in other support staff.
The FTE of all support staff across state-funded schools in England between 2019/20 and 2023/24 can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/7b0a17e8-b3ff-403e-687f-08dca70c1109.
The FTE of all support staff in Altrincham and Sale West, Stretford and Urmston and Wythenshawe and Sale East between 2019/20 and 2023/24 can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/0b037abc-203b-42ce-5354-08dca71310d3.
School support staff play a vital role in children’s education and development.
The department will value and recognise the professionalism of the entire school workforce and address recruitment and retention challenges by reinstating the School Support Staff Negotiating Body.
The body will be tasked with establishing a national terms and conditions handbook, training and progression routes. This reform will ensure that schools can recruit and retain the staff needed to deliver high quality, inclusive education.
Asked by: Connor Rand (Labour - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of children (a) with an education, health and care plan and (b) who had previously been identified in the SEN Support category by their school were not in school in Trafford in each of the last five years.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department publishes statistics on education, health and care (EHC) plans at local authority level. This includes information on children and young people not in school or further education, for example those awaiting provision, in elective home education, in other arrangements, having had notice of their plan to cease, or not in education, employment or training. The number and proportion of children and young people with an EHC plan who were elsewhere than at school in Trafford from 2020 to 2024, which is the last five years of data available, can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/6cdcf6c0-e28a-4a72-68e5-08dca70c1109.
The data collection for EHC plans does not include information on previous special educational needs (SEN) support identification.
Wider data on SEN, including information on the total number of pupils with EHC plans and SEN support at local authority level, is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england.
Asked by: Connor Rand (Labour - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many speech and language therapists there were in (a) Trafford and (b) Greater Manchester in each of the last five years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The table below shows the number of full-time equivalent speech and language therapists working in National Health Service trusts and other core organisations, in the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust and the Greater Manchester Integrated Care System, in March of each of the last six years:
Year | Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust | Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust |
2019 | 99 | 286 |
2020 | 125 | 433 |
2021 | 123 | 433 |
2022 | 139 | 459 |
2023 | 154 | 492 |
2024 | 154 | 509 |
Source: the Hospital and Community Health Services workforce statistics for England, published by NHS England on a monthly basis.
These staff provide services in a range of settings, including in education. However, therapists will also be directly employed by other providers, including schools, independent provision, and third sector and charitable organisations, for which data is not held centrally.
Asked by: Connor Rand (Labour - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate his Department has made of the number of open GP practices in Altrincham and Sale West constituency (a) on the most recent date for which figures are available and (b) in 2010.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data provided by NHS England Digital shows that in May 2014, the earliest year from which data is available, there were 15 open general practices (GPs) in the Altrincham and Sale West constituency, and as of May 2024 there are 12 open GPs in the constituency. The data only includes main practices, and does not include branch practices.