Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much money was paid back from student loan repayments in each of the last three years.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
Statistics covering student loans, debt and repayment are published annually by the Student Loans Company. Separate statistics are published for each administration. Information on repayments by financial year can be found in table 1 of each of the publications available below:
https://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/student-loans-debt-and-repayment.aspx.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children were adopted in each of the last three years.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The number of adopted children who were formerly looked-after by the local authority in each of the last three years was published in Table E1 in the statistical release ‘Children looked after in England including adoption: 2017 to 2018’ available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2017-to-2018. The department does not estimate the number of adopted children who were not previously looked-after.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of foster and kinship carers that undertook training for those roles in 2017.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The information requested on the number of foster carers and kinship carers that undertook training in 2017 is not held centrally.
The statutory framework, Fostering Services Regulations 2011, clearly sets out that all foster parents, including kinship foster carers, must receive the training and development they need to carry out their role effectively. All foster parents are required to complete the Training, Support and Development Standards within 12 months of approval as a foster parent and maintain a training and development portfolio. Over and above this, it is up to local fostering service providers to determine what training their foster parents undertake in order to meet local need.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children are currently in foster care.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
At 31 March 2018, there were 55,200 looked-after children in England in foster placements. Further information on the number of looked-after children by their placement is published in table A2 of the statistical release ‘Children looked after in England including adoption: 2017 to 2018’: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2017-to-2018.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much central government funding has been spent on school transport in each of the last three years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The majority of central Government funding for home to school transport is made available to local authorities through the local Government finance settlement from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
This funding is not ring fenced. It is for local authorities to decide how they spend the total amount of funding available to them, through this and other sources.
Data showing how much local authorities spend on home to school transport during 2017-18 can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/la-and-school-expenditure-2017-to-2018-financial-year.
Data for previous years is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/section-251-materials.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that children who need one on one classroom assistance are able to receive such assistance.
Answered by Nick Gibb
There are a number of reasons why a child may benefit from one on one classroom assistance; for example a child might need extra support for a short period of time to help them catch up.
Teachers and head teachers are responsible for making decisions about how staff are deployed, based on their knowledge of children’s needs.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many classroom assistant job positions have been removed in each of the last three years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The full time equivalent (FTE) number of teaching assistants in state funded schools in England in each of the last 3 years is shown in the table 1 below.
Table 1: Teaching assistants in all state funded schools in England, 2014 to 2017
Census year | FTE number of teaching assistants | Difference in FTE from previous year | Percentage difference from previous year |
2014 | 255,100 | ||
2015 | 263,000 | 7,900 | 3% |
2016 | 265,600 | 2,600 | 1% |
2017 | 262,800 | -2,800 | -1% |
Source: School Workforce Census
The School Workforce Census does not collect information on vacancies for teaching assistants.
The data above is taken from Table 2b of the publication, School Workforce in England 2017. This publication includes underlying data at school level and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-school-workforce.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many school closures there were in each of the last three years.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The attached table shows the number of school closures for all reasons in England in each of the last three calendar years.
In the majority of instances, a closure is a procedural event marking the ending of one legal entity immediately followed by the opening of a successor establishment under a new legal entity, for example where a school ceases to be maintained by its local authority and becomes an academy.
The actual number of schools that are recorded as closing without being replaced by a successor establishment are set out in the table below.
Number of schools that are recorded as closing without being replaced by a successor establishment | |||
Type of establishment | Calendar year | ||
2016 | 2017 | 2018 (to 11 December) | |
Academies | 2 | 6 | 6 |
LA maintained schools | 25 | 18 | 16 |
Free schools* | 8 | 11 | 10 |
Independent schools | 83 | 50 | 55 |
* including University Technical Colleges and Studio Schools.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to help newly qualified teachers who have been unemployed for two or more years to find work.
Answered by Nick Gibb
A new national Teaching Vacancies service is being rolled out nationally and can be found at: https://teaching-vacancies.service.gov.uk/.
By April 2019, all schools will be able to list their vacancies on the site. This will help newly qualified teachers and established teachers find their next teaching role.
The Department is also committed to improving the quality of support for newly qualified teachers. In response to the consultation on strengthening qualified teacher status and improving career progression for teachers, the Department committed to a number of proposals. These proposals include ensuring teachers have the right support in place at the beginning of their careers, have access to high-quality professional development, and have improved progression opportunities throughout their careers.
The key decisions set out in the response, published on 4 May 2018, include introducing an extended induction period of two years supported by an early career framework, strengthening the mentoring provision for early career teachers, and developing new specialist qualifications. The consultation response is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/strengthening-qualified-teacher-status-and-career-progression.
The response to the consultation was the first stage in a longer-term programme of work and will form a core part of the Department’s recruitment and retention strategy. The Department will continue to work with the profession and will publish further details in due course.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if his Department will provide funding for extracurricular activities for schools to help tackle childhood obesity.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The government firmly believes in the importance of physical education (PE), sport and extra-curricular activities to teach children the importance of physical activity to improve their physical and mental health as well as their overall wellbeing.
Since 2013, the government has invested over £1 billion of ring-fenced funding through the primary PE and sport premium to improve PE, sport, physical activity and extra-curricular activities for all pupils in England. We encourage schools to use this funding to support their least active pupils achieve the Chief Medical Officers' guidelines of 60 minutes of physical activity each day, of which 30 minutes should be during the school day.
Under the Childhood Obesity Plan chapter 2 update the government is promoting a national ambition for every primary school in England to embrace an active mile, such as the Daily Mile, as a fun, inclusive and engaging way for all pupils to develop healthy exercise habits from a young age. Schools have the freedom to use the funding to determine which activities will improve participation, especially for their least active pupils.
The government has also allocated £100 million from the Sugar Industry Direct Levy through the Healthy Pupils Capital Fund in England to improve pupil access to facilities for physical activity, healthy eating, mental health and wellbeing and medical conditions. Schools have used this fund to improve their facilities which can be used to provide extra-curricular activities for pupils. Examples how this funding has been spent include, resurfacing playgrounds, refurbishing swimming pools and building changing rooms.