Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she plans to take with Cabinet colleagues to ensure young people in (a) Enfield North constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield and (c) London have access to learning in nature settings.
Answered by Nick Gibb
In April 2022, the Department released its Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy. Key initiatives included ‘The National Education Nature Park’ and ‘Climate Action Award’. These programmes will engage children and young people with the natural world and directly involve them in measuring and improving biodiversity in their nursery, school, college or university
In May, as part of this initiative, the Department announced £15 million of funding to help young people in nature depleted areas, which will enable schools, colleges and nurseries to create opportunities for outdoor learning in natural settings.
Young people in Enfield may already be taking advantage of activities run by London’s National Park City Rangers.
By 2025, the Department aims to introduce a natural history GCSE, giving young people a further opportunity to engage with and develop a deeper knowledge and understanding of the natural world. In studying this GCSE, young people will explore organisms and environments in more depth and gain knowledge and practical experience of fieldwork. This new qualification adds to fieldwork opportunities already available in subjects such as geography. As we deliver on our climate change strategy, the Department will continue to work across Government to identify opportunities for young people to access learning in nature settings.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average funding per pupil in mainstream schools was in (a) Enfield North constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield and (c) London in each of the last five years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Through the schools National Funding Formula (NFF), the Department calculates notional funding allocations for each mainstream school. These school level allocations are added up to calculate a total allocation for each Local Authority. Local Authorities then set their own local formulae to distribute their total allocation between all the schools in their area. This means that schools receive their budget allocation based on their Local Authority’s formula.
The table below shows the average funding per pupil provided for mainstream schools in the Enfield North constituency, the London Borough of Enfield and London through the schools NFF.
The per pupil funding amounts exclude ‘growth’ funding, which is funding to support schools seeing significant growth in pupil numbers.
Financial year | Enfield North | Enfield | London (inner and outer) |
2019/20 | £5,151 | £5,099 | £5,426 |
2020/21 | £5,366 | £5,270 | £5,519 |
2021/22 | £5,730 | £5,629 | £5,904 |
2022/23 | £5,879 | £5,779 | £6,049 |
2023/24 | £6,235 | £6,106 | £6,337 |
On top of this funding through the schools NFF, all schools in Enfield North received additional funding through the Schools Supplementary Grant (SSG) in 2022/23, worth an average additional £172 per pupil. They are also receiving funding from the Mainstream Schools Additional Grant (MSAG) in 2023/24, worth an average additional £212 per pupil.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the impact of Outer London pay scales on (a) recruitment and (b) retention of teachers in (i) Enfield North constituency and (ii) the London Borough of Enfield.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government is concentrating funding in the teaching profession with school funding in 2024/25 due to reach its highest level in history per pupil and in real terms, as measured by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
The Department implemented in full the School Teachers’ Review Body’s (STRB) recommendations for the 2022/23 academic year of an 8.9% pay rise for early career teachers outside London, and a 5% pay rise for experienced teachers. This is the highest pay award in 30 years.
This uplift raised starting salaries to over £32,400 in Outer London, including Enfield North and the London Borough of Enfield. The Department hopes that further rises next academic year will see starting salaries reach £30,000 in all areas of England, ensuring that they are competitive relative to alternative professional graduate starting salaries.
Decisions on pay ranges and allowances, such as the London pay scales, are based on recommendations by the STRB, the independent body that advises on teachers’ pay and conditions. This year’s written evidence to the STRB sets out the Government’s position on pay awards this year, detailing how these need to strike a careful balance between recognising the vital importance of public sector workers, whilst not increasing the country’s debt further or exacerbating inflation. The evidence includes an assessment of recruitment and retention trends broken down geographically, including for areas such as Outer London. The final pay award decisions for the 2023/24 academic year will be determined later this year.
The Department announced a financial incentives package of up to £181 million for those starting Initial Teacher Training in the 2023/24 academic year, a £52 million increase on the last cycle. The Department is providing bursaries worth up to £27,000 and scholarships worth up to £29,000 to encourage trainees to apply to train in key secondary subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, and computing.
The Department also provides a Levelling Up Premium worth up to £3,000 annually for mathematics, physics, chemistry, and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who work in disadvantaged schools nationally, including within Education Investment Areas. The eligibility criteria and the list of eligible schools are available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/levelling-up-premium-payments-for-teachers.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of teachers in (a) Enfield North constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield and (c) London who have left the profession in the last (i) one, (ii) two and (iii) five years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Information on the school workforce, including the number of teachers leaving service nationally, is published in the ‘School Workforce in England’ statistical publication here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
The table below provides the full-time equivalent (FTE) number of qualified teachers leaving, and the leaving rate, from state funded schools in the London Borough of Enfield, London (inner and outer) and England for academic years 2016/17 to 2020/21 (the latest data available). The requested figures by parliamentary constituency are not available.
Full-time equivalent (FTE) qualified teachers leaving and leaving rate1 from state-funded schools as at November 2016 to 2020
Enfield local authority | London (inner & outer) | England | ||||
Leavers | Leaving rate | Leavers | Leaving rate | Leavers | Leaving rate | |
2020/212 | 283 | 9.0 | 7,052 | 9.7 | 36,262 | 8.1 |
2019/20 | 234 | 7.6 | 6,064 | 8.5 | 32,249 | 7.3 |
2018/19 | 334 | 10.6 | 8,115 | 11.4 | 41,150 | 9.4 |
2017/18 | 298 | 9.6 | 8,296 | 11.7 | 43,102 | 9.8 |
2016/17 | 353 | 10.8 | 9,090 | 12.6 | 46,667 | 10.6 |
Source: School Workforce Census
1: Leaving rate is the number of leavers divided by the total number of qualified teachers in post in November each year
2: For example, 2020/21 leavers are those who left service between November 2020 and November 2021.
Leavers are defined as qualified teachers leaving the state funded sector in England, for example due to a change of career or joining other UK education sectors and those leaving on career breaks such as maternity leave or secondments outside of the school sector. Some of these teachers may re-join a state funded school in England at a later date.
Almost 9 in 10 (87.5%) teachers who qualified in 2020 were still teaching one year after qualification, and just over two thirds (68.8%) of teachers who started teaching five years ago are still teaching.
As at November 2021 (latest data available) there were 465,500 FTE teachers working in state funded schools in England, of which 75,700 were in inner and outer London and 3,200 were in Enfield. This is an increase of 4,400 since the previous year (7,000 increase in London and 120 in Enfield).
One of the Department’s priorities is to ensure that we continue to attract, retain and develop the highly skilled teachers needed to inspire the next generation.
The Department has set out a range of measures to make teaching an increasingly attractive profession, including bursaries worth up to £27,000 and scholarships worth up to £29,000, to encourage talented trainees to key subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, and computing for those starting teacher training in 2023/24.
In addition, through the Department’s Levelling Up Premium, specialist teachers in the first five years of their career will be able to receive up to £3,000 tax-free each year from 2022/23 to 2024/25.
The Department has made good progress towards raising starting salaries to £30,000, with all new teachers to earn at least £28,000 from September – an 8.9% uplift, alongside a 5% pay award for more experienced teachers and leaders.
The Department is taking action to improve teacher quality and pupil outcomes by transforming the training and support provided for teachers, and attracting more people to teaching and enabling them to succeed.
The Department will deliver 500,000 teacher training and development opportunities by 2024, giving all teachers and headteachers access to world class, evidence based training and professional development at every stage of their career.
The Department has made a pay offer to unions that was fair, reasonable, and recognised teachers’ hard work. As per the Department’s published calculations, the pay offer would also have been fully funded, and we welcome the Office for Statistics Regulation’s recognition that we have communicated this transparently.
Just last week, thousands of schools received additional funding, as part of the extra £2 billion of funding the Department is providing both this year and next. As a result, school funding will be at its highest level in history next year, as measured by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many defibrillators have been delivered to state funded schools in (a) Enfield North constituency and (b) Enfield Council in 2023.
Answered by Nick Gibb
On 20 January 2023, the Department announced that the first deliveries of defibrillators had taken place. More information on the announcement can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/defibrillator-deliveries-begin-for-all-schools-that-need-one.
Since this announcement, as part of the ongoing rollout, the Department has delivered over 3,900 defibrillators to state funded schools.
As of 27 April 2023, 20 defibrillators have been delivered to state funded schools in Enfield North constituency and 32 to schools in Enfield Local Authority. All eligible schools in Enfield are expected to receive a defibrillator by the end of the 2022/23 academic year. Schools will be contacted by the supplier, Lyreco, once their defibrillator has been dispatched.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many Degree Apprenticeships were (a) advertised and (b) completed in (i) Enfield North constituency, (ii) the London Borough of Enfield and (iii) London in each of the last five years.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The table below provides details of degree-level apprenticeship (Level 6 and 7) vacancies in Enfield North, the London Borough of Enfield, and London that were advertised on the Find an Apprenticeship (FAA) service on GOV.UK in each of the last five years.
The department encourages employers to advertise on FAA to maximise engagement with their vacancies and to ensure that they are accessible to all potential apprentices, but not all choose to use the service. Employers may choose to recruit apprentices through their own channels, such as their own websites, which we do not monitor. The figures below therefore do not represent the total number of degree-level apprenticeship vacancies advertised.
Academic Year | Number of Level 6 and 7 Apprenticeship Vacancies Advertised on the FAA Website | ||
Enfield North | Enfield | London | |
2017/18 | 0 | 0 | 580 |
2018/19 | low | low | 1240 |
2019/20 | low | low | 990 |
2020/21 | low | 10 | 1130 |
2021/22 | 10 | 10 | 3060 |
The table below provides details of degree-level apprenticeships that have been achieved in each of the last five years.
Academic Year | Number of Level 6 and 7 Apprenticeship Achievements[1] | ||
Enfield North | Enfield | London | |
2017/18 | low | low | 10 |
2018/19 | low | low | 50 |
2019/20 | low | 10 | 450 |
2020/21 | low | 20 | 1,160 |
2021/22 | 20 | 50 | 1,790 |
Between the 2017/18 and 2021/22 academic years. there have been 230, 690, and 22,230 degree-level apprenticeship starts in Enfield North, Enfield, and London respectively. Level 6 and 7 apprenticeship standards range from one to five years in duration and typically take three to four years to complete.
[1] The vacancy region is based on the postcode of the vacancy whereas the achievement/start region is based on an apprentice’s home postcode. The data is rounded to the nearest ten. ‘Low’ indicates fewer than five.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many defibrillators have been delivered to state funded schools in (a) Enfield North constituency and (b) the London Borough of Enfield in 2023.
Answered by Nick Gibb
On 20 January 2023, the Department announced that the first deliveries of defibrillators had taken place. More information on the announcement can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/defibrillator-deliveries-begin-for-all-schools-that-need-one.
Since the announcement, the Department has delivered over 3,500 defibrillators to state funded schools.
As of 19 April 2023, 20 defibrillators have been delivered to state funded schools in Enfield North, 4 to schools in Enfield Southgate and 8 to schools in Edmonton. This covers all constituencies in the London Borough of Enfield. All eligible schools in the London Borough of Enfield are expected to receive a defibrillator by the end of the 2022/23 academic year. Schools will be contacted by the supplier, Lyreco, once their defibrillator has been dispatched.
The Department would again like to express thanks to Mark King and the Oliver King Foundation.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many hours of teaching were delivered by supply teachers in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in Enfield North constituency in the last 12 months for which data are available.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The information requested on the hours of teaching delivered by supply teachers is not held by the Department.
Information on the state funded school workforce in England, including the hours spent teaching subjects in a typical week in secondary schools, is collected as part of the annual School Workforce Census each November, and published in the annual ‘School Workforce in England’ national statistics release, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england. Information on subjects taught is only collected from a sample of secondary schools and the data does not identify whether the teacher was a supply teacher. Information on the hours spent teaching subjects is not collected from primary schools.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that schools provide effective support for children with Education, Health and Care plan in (a) Enfield North constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield and (c) London.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The department is committed to ensuring that children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), wherever they live, get the support they need, including those with Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans.
The SEND and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan outlines the department’s mission to create a single, national SEND and AP system with the proposal to develop national standards a fundamental part of this. The standards will set out what support should be available and who is responsible for providing it, to give families confidence and clarity on how the needs of children and young people will be met. As these standards will apply nationally. London and more specifically the London Borough of Enfield, including the Enfield North constituency, are automatically included.
The plan also sets out proposals to improve the assessment and planning process for EHC plans, by introducing standardised forms and processes and supporting guidance to provide greater consistency.
Quality teaching and support is vital for all children with SEND to reach their potential. The department will introduce a new leadership level Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator National Professional Qualification for schools. We are also taking steps to build teacher expertise in meeting the needs of children with SEND through a review of the Initial Teacher Training Core Content Framework and Early Career Framework.
Furthermore, high needs funding to support children and young people with complex SEND is rising to £10.1 billion in the 2023/24 financial year, an increase of over 50% compared to the 2019/20 financial year. Of this, London Borough of Enfield’s high needs funding allocation for the 2023/24 financial year will be £76 million, an 11.5% per head increase compared to the amount of high needs funding allocated in the 2022/23 financial year.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the impact of delays experienced in getting a diagnosis of autism on parents' ability to apply for an Educational, Health and Care Plan.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The department recognises that there can be long waits for autism assessments. In 2023/24 there is national funding from government of £4.2 million to improve services for autistic children and young people, including to continue to transform and develop autism assessment and diagnosis and/or pre- and post-diagnostic support to children and young people (aged 0-25), and to support the continuation of the Autism in Schools programme.
Additionally, NHS England has recently published a national framework to deliver improved outcomes in all-age autism assessment pathways and the Operational Guidance to deliver improved outcomes in all-age autism assessment pathways.
The department is committed to ensuring children who need education, health and care (EHC) plans are supported. The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Code of Practice is clear that, whilst the application for an EHC needs assessment requires evidence to proceed and that a diagnosis would be considered in this way, it is not a requirement for a formal diagnosis to be made before this process can begin. Where an NHS diagnosis has not been received, the assessment process can still be started and an EHC plan put in place.