Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which local authorities have requested permission to disapply guidelines on the ring-fenced dedicated schools grant for the financial year 2018-19; and what is the disapplication each wishes to make.
Answered by Nick Gibb
We are still in the process of collating and categorising requests from local authorities for disapplication from the school finance regulations for the 2018-19 financial year. The information requested by the Rt hon. member for Kingston and Surbiton will not be available until approximately mid-December.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of the finding in the London Councils' Ask the Parents: the Fifth Year Survey, published in November 2017, that 35 per cent of parents in London have been asked to make financial contributions to their school.
Answered by Nick Gibb
In July 2017 we announced an additional £1.3 billion for schools and high needs across 2018-19 and 2019-20, in addition to the schools budget set at Spending Review 2015. This means funding per pupil for schools and high needs will be maintained in real terms for the next two years.
Nothing in legislation prevents a school from asking for voluntary contributions for the benefit of the school or any school activities and this is a matter for schools. However, no parent is required to make a contribution to their child’s education. The rules are clear and no policies have been introduced by this government to allow schools to charge for education provided during school hours and this includes the supply of any materials or equipment.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much schools have spent on advertising for teacher posts in each of the last five years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department does not have the specific data requested but it is committed to helping schools recruit teachers as efficiently as possible. We have therefore begun to develop a teacher vacancy site that will enable schools to recruit teachers without paying for advertising.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much (a) schools and (b) colleges have spent on private sector recruitment and search agencies for teacher recruitment in each in each of the last five years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department does not have the specific data requested but it is committed to helping schools recruit teachers as efficiently as possible. We have therefore begun to develop a teacher vacancy site that will enable schools to recruit teachers without paying for advertising.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support her Department has provided to local authorities to aid recruitment of teachers and temporary supply teachers.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is in the planning stage of a new commercial framework designed to help schools with the sourcing of supply teachers. The framework will be aimed at providing improved terms and conditions, promoting better agency conduct and offering improved pricing for schools. As part of the development of the framework we have engaged with a variety of stakeholders, including schools and local authorities. It is anticipated that the new supply teacher framework will be available in September 2018.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the White Paper, Educational Excellence Everywhere, published in March 2016, what the timetable is for the launch of the national teacher vacancy website; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is undertaking user research with head teachers, school business managers and recruitment staff as well as returning, aspiring and newly qualified teachers, to strengthen its understanding of the issues schools face when advertising teacher vacancies and the challenges teachers have finding and applying for jobs. The Department is using this information in the development and design of a new national teacher vacancy service. We are currently at an early stage of prototyping the new service and testing, to ensure the service meets the needs of users. Depending on the outcome of this development phase, we could expect to start building a service early in 2018. We will provide further details in due course.