Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made for the implications of her policies of Recommendation 10 of the report published in March 2022 by the Transport Champions for Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
Recommendation 10 of this report proposes the development of a national education initiative in schools which educates young people on ways they can play a role in preventing violence against women and girls.
Schools and colleges have a critical role to play in protecting children and keeping them safe. Since September 2020, relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) has been a statutory part of the curriculum. RSHE teaches pupils what healthy relationships look like, and the concepts of, and laws relating to, all forms of abuse. The RSHE statutory guidance also advises schools to be aware of issues such as sexism, misogyny, homophobia, and gender stereotypes, and to take positive action to tackle these issues. The RSHE guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education.
As with other aspects of the curriculum, schools have flexibility over how they deliver RSHE, so they can develop an integrated approach that is sensitive to the needs and backgrounds of their pupils. Some schools choose to deliver programmes which include lessons on how to be an active bystander. Rape, harassment, and abuse are explicitly taught about in the ‘Being Safe’ topic. Schools should teach pupils the knowledge they need to recognise and report abuse, including emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. Pupils should know how to report concerns and seek advice when they suspect or know that something is wrong.
Following the Ofsted Review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges, the Department is producing non-statutory guidance that will focus on how to teach RSHE to prevent sexual harassment and sexual violence. This guidance is to be published in 2023.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he plans to change the School Admissions Code to allow summer-born children to automatically start reception at five years old.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government remains committed to making the necessary changes to allow children to start Reception aged five where this is what their parents want. The Department will consider the appropriate time for consulting on these changes in the context of competing pressures on parliamentary time.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will publish (a) the outcome of all meetings and (b) all call logs between Ministers of his Department and Mr Crispin Odey.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Details of Ministers’ meetings are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many apprentices are employed in his Department.
Answered by Anne Milton
There are currently 176 members of staff on an apprenticeship programme within the department.
Recently published data detailing the Civil Service performance against the first year of the public sector apprenticeship target can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-apprenticeship-data-2017-to-2018.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many staff in his Department are paid less than £8.75 per hour.
Answered by Anne Milton
The Department for Education and its executive agencies do not have any employees who earn less than £8.75 per hour. There are 101 employees based outside of London who earn less than £10.20 per hour.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many staff in his Department are paid less than £10.20 per hour.
Answered by Anne Milton
The Department for Education and its executive agencies do not have any employees who earn less than £8.75 per hour. There are 101 employees based outside of London who earn less than £10.20 per hour.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 25 July 2017 to Question 5159, if she will conduct an assessment on the effect of period poverty on young women and girls in schools.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Department for Education collects information on absences through the termly school census. The department collects data on the number of possible sessions, number of authorised absences, number of unauthorised absences and the reason for absence for each pupil. The reasons for absence do not include a category which would enable sessions missed due to a lack of access to menstrual products to be identified. Full details of the absence data we collect in the school census can be found in the census guidance here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-census.
The department has sought to establish whether there has been any rigorous national assessment of the prevalence of period poverty or its impact on attendance, however none appears available. We reached out to school stakeholders in July 2017 through the Association of School and College Leaders forum asking for contributions on the issue and have received a very limited response. The department is producing additional analysis of the absence data in order to look for evidence of period poverty and will publish findings in due course.