Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the total staffing was of her Department's Regions Group in (a) fiscal and (b) academic year 2023-24; and if she will make an estimate of the number of staff anticipated for 2025-26.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

The average number of full-time equivalent (FTE) staff in the department’s Regions Group was 790 in the 2023/24 financial year and 825 in the 2023/24 academic year.

On 1 October 2024, 172 FTE staff along with their functions transferred into Regions Group, in advance of the planned closure of the Education and Skills Funding Agency in March 2025.

Currently, the expected number of staff in Regions Group on 1 April 2025 is 996.9 FTE.

Workforce allocations for 2025/26 have not yet been set.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the consultation entitled School accountability reform – school profiles, improvement and intervention, published on 3 February 2025, how many and what proportion of full-time equivalent Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence teams will be (a) DfE-employed civil servants and (b) external advisers.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

The department’s new regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) teams will provide both mandatory targeted intervention to schools that Ofsted identifies as needing to improve, and a universal service for all schools, which will act as a catalyst for collaboration and improvement across all schools.

RISE teams will now begin engaging with the first schools eligible for the targeted, bespoke service, with more schools to begin in April.

The department’s first 20 RISE advisers are now in post. They will work alongside the department to help support schools break down the barriers to opportunity and end the link between background and success. A full list of these advisers has been published on GOV.UK.

Expert RISE advisers will work with the department’s Regions Group. Some Regions Group staff will work full-time delivering RISE work, others will deliver some RISE work alongside other roles. Workforce allocations for the 2025/26 fiscal and academic years have not yet been set.

In addition to the RISE advisers in post, the department launched a recruitment campaign for a full cohort of advisers to start in the spring and summer term. We will be informing candidates of the outcome of this campaign shortly.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the consultation entitled School accountability reform – school profiles, improvement and intervention, published on 3 February 2025, how much time she expects Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence teams to spend on (a) universal service and (b) targeted intervention.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

The department’s new regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) teams will provide both mandatory targeted intervention to schools that Ofsted identifies as needing to improve, and a universal service for all schools, which will act as a catalyst for collaboration and improvement across all schools.

RISE teams will now begin engaging with the first schools eligible for the targeted, bespoke service, with more schools to begin in April.

The department’s first 20 RISE advisers are now in post. They will work alongside the department to help support schools break down the barriers to opportunity and end the link between background and success. A full list of these advisers has been published on GOV.UK.

Expert RISE advisers will work with the department’s Regions Group. Some Regions Group staff will work full-time delivering RISE work, others will deliver some RISE work alongside other roles. Workforce allocations for the 2025/26 fiscal and academic years have not yet been set.

In addition to the RISE advisers in post, the department launched a recruitment campaign for a full cohort of advisers to start in the spring and summer term. We will be informing candidates of the outcome of this campaign shortly.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) staffing is (a) in place and (b) anticipated for the next (i) fiscal and (ii) academic year.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

The department’s new regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) teams will provide both mandatory targeted intervention to schools that Ofsted identifies as needing to improve, and a universal service for all schools, which will act as a catalyst for collaboration and improvement across all schools.

RISE teams will now begin engaging with the first schools eligible for the targeted, bespoke service, with more schools to begin in April.

The department’s first 20 RISE advisers are now in post. They will work alongside the department to help support schools break down the barriers to opportunity and end the link between background and success. A full list of these advisers has been published on GOV.UK.

Expert RISE advisers will work with the department’s Regions Group. Some Regions Group staff will work full-time delivering RISE work, others will deliver some RISE work alongside other roles. Workforce allocations for the 2025/26 fiscal and academic years have not yet been set.

In addition to the RISE advisers in post, the department launched a recruitment campaign for a full cohort of advisers to start in the spring and summer term. We will be informing candidates of the outcome of this campaign shortly.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the consultation entitled School accountability reform – school profiles, improvement and intervention, published on 3 February 2025, what are the differences in (a) role and function and (b) qualifications and experience required between (i) National Leaders in Education and (ii) external advisers in Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence teams.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellent (RISE) team advisers have an exceptional track record of school improvement and executive leadership. This includes individuals who are, or have recently been, headteachers, senior local authority officers or trust leaders. They have a much broader role in acting as the catalyst for driving a self-improving system, and designing bespoke, targeted interventions to under-performing schools, compared to National Leaders of Education (NLEs). Unlike NLEs, RISE advisors will not directly deliver these interventions but will draw on a range of high-quality organisations from curriculum hubs to high-performing trusts, to do so in line with evidence on driving improvements in school standards and outcomes.

The department’s targeted, mandatory RISE intervention is backed initially by over £20 million of funding for school improvement, far more than was available under the optional Trust and School Improvement (TSI) offer of a basic £6,000 worth of support per school compared to RISE’s of up to £100,000. In addition, the previous government had not planned to continue the TSI offer for schools which were newly eligible from September 2024, a decision this government has reversed.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made on the recruitment of external advisers for regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) teams.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

The department’s new regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) teams will provide both mandatory targeted intervention to schools that Ofsted identifies as needing to improve, and a universal service for all schools, which will act as a catalyst for collaboration and improvement across all schools.

RISE teams will now begin engaging with the first schools eligible for the targeted, bespoke service, with more schools to begin in April.

The department’s first 20 RISE advisers are now in post. They will work alongside the department to help support schools break down the barriers to opportunity and end the link between background and success. A full list of these advisers has been published on GOV.UK.

Expert RISE advisers will work with the department’s Regions Group. Some Regions Group staff will work full-time delivering RISE work, others will deliver some RISE work alongside other roles. Workforce allocations for the 2025/26 fiscal and academic years have not yet been set.

In addition to the RISE advisers in post, the department launched a recruitment campaign for a full cohort of advisers to start in the spring and summer term. We will be informing candidates of the outcome of this campaign shortly.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of funds spent by (a) schools and (b) trusts on legal advice in relation to complaints.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

Each year, schools receive core funding from the department to cover their expenditures. The funding schools receive is not ringfenced for any specific form of expenditure and it is for each school to determine how this money will be best used to support their individual circumstances.

We do not keep records of schools or trust spending on legal advice in relation to complaints or any other legal matters.

All schools must have a written complaints procedure that tells complainants how they can make a complaint and how the school will handle it. This must be available on request to complainants.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of teachers without qualified teacher status will be exempted from requiring that status due to exemptions for maintained schools being extended to academy schools under the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

Following implementation of the qualified teacher status (QTS) measure in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, when a teacher is recruited and commences employment with an academy, they will be required to have QTS or meet one of the exemptions set out in regulations. The proportion of the teachers who will meet one of these exemptions and therefore not require QTS will depend on the individual circumstances of the teachers being employed and recruitment decisions made by leadership teams in academies.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of complaints to Ofsted on schools.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

This is a matter for His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver. I have asked him to write to the right hon. Member for East Hampshire directly and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department holds on the (a) proportion of, (b) extent of and (c) reasons for schools deviating from the National Curriculum.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

The department does not wish to create significant additional burdens on schools by trying to collect detailed information on compliance with the national curriculum, which is not always straightforward to assess, and therefore does not hold data on schools’ curriculum provision.

A recent external survey indicates that 8 in 10 Multi-Academy Trust Chief Executives believe that this change will have no impact or could have a positive impact for their schools.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate of the potential impact of achieving level 2 in (a) English and (b) maths on the lifetime earnings of a person with those grades.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

Research published by the department in 2021 on attainment by the end of key stage 4 found that a one-grade improvement in GCSE mathematics and English was associated with an increase of £14,579 and £7,266 in lifetime earnings respectively. The full report can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/993202/GCSE_Attainment_and_Lifetime_Earnings_PDF3A.pdf

That is why the department continues to ensure the highest standards of teaching to GCSE, requires 16- to 19-year-old students without level 2 in these subjects to continue studying them and fully funds adults through the adult skills fund statutory entitlement.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether schools receiving support from regional improvement for standards and excellence teams will have improvement progress measured by (a) those teams, (b) other teams in her Department and (c) Ofsted in a way that could (i) trigger and (ii) otherwise affect a decision to make a structural intervention.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

Ofsted plan to monitor the quality of schools which are under-performing on a regular basis. Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence teams will also be checking on the implementation of the school’s improvement plan. If schools do not make sufficient improvement, the department’s default approach will be to structurally intervene. This approach is set out in the ‘School Accountability Reform – school profiles, improvement and intervention’ consultation.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of members of the public directly contacting the Teaching Regulation Agency.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) analyse and report on referral numbers within their Annual Report and Accounts published on GOV.UK. Referrals to TRA have increased from 1038 in 2022/23 to 1684 in 2023/24, and that increase has been driven by a rise in the number of referrals made by members of the public since the launch of the online referral system in March 2023.

Local Government

Found: This is a point I know Damian Hinds MP pointed out in an article for Herald and Post where he highlighted

Found: Bool Wera Hobhouse Rebecca Paul Rachael Maskell John Lamont John Cooper Sir Julian Smith Damian Hinds

Found: Bool Wera Hobhouse Rebecca Paul Rachael Maskell John Lamont John Cooper Sir Julian Smith Damian Hinds

Found: Bool Wera Hobhouse Rebecca Paul Rachael Maskell John Lamont John Cooper Sir Julian Smith Damian Hinds

Found: Bool Wera Hobhouse Rebecca Paul Rachael Maskell John Lamont John Cooper Sir Julian Smith Damian Hinds

Found: Rebecca Paul Dame Meg Hillier Rachael Maskell John Lamont John Cooper Sir Julian Smith Damian Hinds

Found: Rebecca Paul Dame Meg Hillier Rachael Maskell John Lamont John Cooper Sir Julian Smith Damian Hinds

Found: Rebecca Paul Dame Meg Hillier Rachael Maskell John Lamont John Cooper Sir Julian Smith Damian Hinds