Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 20 July 2022 to Question 37614 on Schools: Buildings, which schools in Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency had at least one construction element in condition grade (a) C and (b) D when that data was collated; and which of those schools (i) have received funding and (ii) are expected to receive funding from the School Rebuilding Programme in the next two years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Condition Data Collection (CDC) is one of the largest and most comprehensive data collection programmes in the UK’s public sector. It collected data on the building condition of government funded schools in England. It provides a robust evidence base to enable the Department to target capital funding for maintaining and rebuilding school buildings.
The key, high level findings of the CDC programme were published in May 2021 in the ‘Condition of School Buildings Survey: Key Findings’ report. This is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/989912/Condition_of_School_Buildings_Survey_CDC1_-_key_findings_report.pdf.
Individual CDC reports have been shared with every school and their responsible body to use alongside their existing condition surveys to plan maintenance schedules and investment plans. The Department plans to publish detailed school level CDC data. The data is being prepared and will be published as soon as possible.
Well maintained, safe school buildings are a priority for the Department. Our funding is directed both to maintaining the condition of the school estate and rebuilding schools. The Department has allocated over £13 billion for improving the condition of schools since 2015, including £1.8 billion committed this financial year.
The ten year School Rebuilding Programme (SRP) is condition led. 400 of the 500 available places on the programme have been provisionally allocated. A list of these schools and the methodology used to select them is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme-schools-in-the-programme.
The following table shows the constituencies specified that have schools or colleges selected for the SRP:
Parliamentary constituency | Schools selected for SRP |
Oxford East | Oxford Spires Academy, announced December 2022 |
Leeds North East | John Jamieson School, announced December 2022 |
Harrow East | The Sacred Heart Language College, announced December 2022 |
The 239 schools announced in December 2022 will enter delivery at a rate of approximately 50 per year, over a five year period from 2023. The Department is currently undertaking due diligence on these schools prior to scheduling them, with schools prioritised according to the condition of their buildings, readiness to proceed, and efficiency of delivery. The scope and funding for each project will be confirmed following detailed feasibility studies and condition surveys of buildings.
Where a school identifies significant safety issues with a building, that cannot be managed within local resources, the Department considers additional support on a case-by-case basis. This includes applications for Urgent Capital Support (UCS) from eligible institutions. Schools eligible for Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) can apply for UCS where there are urgent health and safety issues that threaten school closure and cannot wait until the next CIF bidding round.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 20 July 2022 to Question 37614 on Schools: Buildings, which schools in Ruislip constituency had at least one construction element in (a) condition grade C and (b) condition grade D when that data was collated; and which of those schools (i) have already received funding from the School Rebuilding Programme and (ii) are expected to receive funding from the School Rebuilding Programme in the next two years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Condition Data Collection (CDC) is one of the largest and most comprehensive data collection programmes in the UK’s public sector. It collected data on the building condition of government funded schools in England. It provides a robust evidence base to enable the Department to target capital funding for maintaining and rebuilding school buildings.
The key, high level findings of the CDC programme were published in May 2021 in the ‘Condition of School Buildings Survey: Key Findings’ report. This is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/989912/Condition_of_School_Buildings_Survey_CDC1_-_key_findings_report.pdf.
Individual CDC reports have been shared with every school and their responsible body to use alongside their existing condition surveys to plan maintenance schedules and investment plans. The Department plans to publish detailed school level CDC data. The data is being prepared and will be published as soon as possible.
Well maintained, safe school buildings are a priority for the Department. Our funding is directed both to maintaining the condition of the school estate and rebuilding schools. The Department has allocated over £13 billion for improving the condition of schools since 2015, including £1.8 billion committed this financial year.
The ten year School Rebuilding Programme (SRP) is condition led. 400 of the 500 available places on the programme have been provisionally allocated. A list of these schools and the methodology used to select them is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme-schools-in-the-programme.
The following table shows the constituencies specified that have schools or colleges selected for the SRP:
Parliamentary constituency | Schools selected for SRP |
Oxford East | Oxford Spires Academy, announced December 2022 |
Leeds North East | John Jamieson School, announced December 2022 |
Harrow East | The Sacred Heart Language College, announced December 2022 |
The 239 schools announced in December 2022 will enter delivery at a rate of approximately 50 per year, over a five year period from 2023. The Department is currently undertaking due diligence on these schools prior to scheduling them, with schools prioritised according to the condition of their buildings, readiness to proceed, and efficiency of delivery. The scope and funding for each project will be confirmed following detailed feasibility studies and condition surveys of buildings.
Where a school identifies significant safety issues with a building, that cannot be managed within local resources, the Department considers additional support on a case-by-case basis. This includes applications for Urgent Capital Support (UCS) from eligible institutions. Schools eligible for Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) can apply for UCS where there are urgent health and safety issues that threaten school closure and cannot wait until the next CIF bidding round.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many vacancies there were for (a) maths and (b) physics teachers in secondary schools in England at the beginning of the 2022-23 academic year; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is investing £181 million in financial incentives to attract high quality graduates into a career in teaching, including tax-free bursaries worth £27,000 and tax-free scholarships worth £29,000, to encourage talented trainees to train in mathematics and physics.
For the 2023/24 academic year, the Department has extended bursary and scholarship eligibility to all non-UK national trainees in physics. This is part of a wider package of new measures to make teaching in England even more attractive to the best teachers and trainee teachers from around the world.
The Department launched a pilot initial teacher training course in spring 2022, called ‘Engineers Teach Physics’, designed to encourage engineering graduates and career changers with an engineering background to consider a career as a physics teacher. This year the Department is expanding the pilot to a national roll out.
From autumn 2022, the Department is offering a Levelling Up Premium worth up to £3,000 tax-free for mathematics, physics, chemistry, and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools, including in Education Investment Areas. This will support recruitment and retention of specialist teachers in these subjects and in the schools and areas that need them most.
Information on the state-funded school workforce in England, including the number of teacher vacancies by subject in secondary schools, is published in the annual ‘School Workforce in England’ national statistic, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
Figures for November 2022 will be published in June 2023. The latest information from November 2021 shows that there were 232 mathematics and 17 physics teacher vacancies in state-funded schools in England. This can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/bf345e04-0e82-4db4-9ea0-08dabce49219.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help secondary schools recruit adequate numbers of (a) maths and (b) physics teachers; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is investing £181 million in financial incentives to attract high quality graduates into a career in teaching, including tax-free bursaries worth £27,000 and tax-free scholarships worth £29,000, to encourage talented trainees to train in mathematics and physics.
For the 2023/24 academic year, the Department has extended bursary and scholarship eligibility to all non-UK national trainees in physics. This is part of a wider package of new measures to make teaching in England even more attractive to the best teachers and trainee teachers from around the world.
The Department launched a pilot initial teacher training course in spring 2022, called ‘Engineers Teach Physics’, designed to encourage engineering graduates and career changers with an engineering background to consider a career as a physics teacher. This year the Department is expanding the pilot to a national roll out.
From autumn 2022, the Department is offering a Levelling Up Premium worth up to £3,000 tax-free for mathematics, physics, chemistry, and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools, including in Education Investment Areas. This will support recruitment and retention of specialist teachers in these subjects and in the schools and areas that need them most.
Information on the state-funded school workforce in England, including the number of teacher vacancies by subject in secondary schools, is published in the annual ‘School Workforce in England’ national statistic, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
Figures for November 2022 will be published in June 2023. The latest information from November 2021 shows that there were 232 mathematics and 17 physics teacher vacancies in state-funded schools in England. This can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/bf345e04-0e82-4db4-9ea0-08dabce49219.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase the take up of teacher training places in (a) maths and (b) physics: and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is investing £181 million in financial incentives to attract high quality graduates into a career in teaching, including tax-free bursaries worth £27,000 and tax-free scholarships worth £29,000, to encourage talented trainees to train in mathematics and physics.
For the 2023/24 academic year, the Department has extended bursary and scholarship eligibility to all non-UK national trainees in physics. This is part of a wider package of new measures to make teaching in England even more attractive to the best teachers and trainee teachers from around the world.
The Department launched a pilot initial teacher training course in spring 2022, called ‘Engineers Teach Physics’, designed to encourage engineering graduates and career changers with an engineering background to consider a career as a physics teacher. This year the Department is expanding the pilot to a national roll out.
From autumn 2022, the Department is offering a Levelling Up Premium worth up to £3,000 tax-free for mathematics, physics, chemistry, and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools, including in Education Investment Areas. This will support recruitment and retention of specialist teachers in these subjects and in the schools and areas that need them most.
Information on the state-funded school workforce in England, including the number of teacher vacancies by subject in secondary schools, is published in the annual ‘School Workforce in England’ national statistic, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
Figures for November 2022 will be published in June 2023. The latest information from November 2021 shows that there were 232 mathematics and 17 physics teacher vacancies in state-funded schools in England. This can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/bf345e04-0e82-4db4-9ea0-08dabce49219.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average waiting time from the date of referral to appointment for a special educational needs assessment is in the London Borough of Harrow as of 1 September 2022; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Whilst the department does not hold this information, we do collect annual data on the performance of local authorities in relation to receiving a request for an education, health and care needs assessment, and if approved, to issuing an education, health and care plan, within the statutory period of 20 weeks.
From the latest information available, which covers activity during the 2021 calendar year, Harrow completed 55% of such assessments within the required timeframe. This is an increase from their 2020 figure, which was 38.4%, and covers a period affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The department will continue to monitor the annual data and act as and when appropriate to ensure that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities are able to reach their full potential and receive the right support to succeed in their education.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which exam bodies are contracted to examine students in (a) GCSEs, (b) A Levels and (c) other exams in (i) Punjabi, (ii) Bengali, (iii) Hindi, (iv) Gujarati, (v) Urdu, (vi) Sinhalese, (vii) Tamil, (viii) Pashto and (ix) Dari in England; how long these contracts are; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Awarding organisations offering GCSEs and A levels are independent, not-for-profit organisations. They are not contracted to provide assessments for pupils in particular subjects. AQA offer a GCSE and A level qualification in Punjabi and Bengali, as well as a GCSE in Urdu. Pearson Edexcel offer a GCSE and A level qualification in Gujarati and Urdu and International GCSEs (IGCSEs) in Bengali, Hindi, Sinhalese, and Tamil. Cambridge International offer an A level in Hindi, Urdu, and Tamil. There are no qualifications available in Pashto or Dari. Awarding organisations are free to introduce qualifications in any GCSE or A level subject where they consider there to be a case to do so.
It is up to schools to decide which languages are taught as part of their curriculum, both at primary and secondary school, and the government does not specify which languages should be taught or how to teach them.
There has been no funding provided directly for the teaching of Punjabi, Bengali, Hindi, Gujarati, Urdu, Sinhalese, Tamil, Pashto and Dari within the previous five years. However, the department has committed to establishing a network of language hubs, as per the Schools White Paper, and are considering ways in which we can support home, heritage and community languages as part of this.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much his Department spent on teaching (a) Punjabi, (b) Bengali, (c) Hindi, (d) Gujarati, (e) Urdu, (f) Sinhalese, (g) Tamil, (h) Pashto and (i) Dari in schools in England in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Awarding organisations offering GCSEs and A levels are independent, and mostly not-for-profit organisations, with the exception of Pearson Edexcel which is profit making. They are not contracted to provide assessments for pupils in particular subjects. AQA offer a GCSE and A level qualification in Punjabi and Bengali, as well as a GCSE in Urdu. Pearson Edexcel offer a GCSE and A level qualification in Gujarati and Urdu and International GCSEs (IGCSEs) in Bengali, Hindi, Sinhalese, and Tamil. Cambridge International offer an A level in Hindi, Urdu, and Tamil. There are no qualifications available in Pashto or Dari. Awarding organisations are free to introduce qualifications in any GCSE or A level subject where they consider there to be a case to do so.
It is up to schools to decide which languages are taught as part of their curriculum, both at primary and secondary school, and the government does not specify which languages should be taught or how to teach them.
There has been no funding provided directly for the teaching of Punjabi, Bengali, Hindi, Gujarati, Urdu, Sinhalese, Tamil, Pashto and Dari within the previous five years. However, the department has committed to establishing a network of language hubs, as per the Schools White Paper, and are considering ways in which we can support home, heritage and community languages as part of this.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much his Department spent on charitable and faith community-run weekend language schools in England in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jonathan Gullis
The Department does not provide any funding for charitable or faith community-run weekend language schools and has not done so in any of the last five years.