Asked by: Graham Stuart (Conservative - Beverley and Holderness)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of re-allocating the SEND per pupil funding allocation for the East Riding in line with other local authorities.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department will take time to consider whether to make changes to the high needs national funding formula (NFF) that is used to allocate funding for children and young people with complex special educational needs and disabilities. The department will also consider the impact of any formula changes on local authorities, including East Riding of Yorkshire Council. It is important that there is a fair education funding system that directs funding to where it is needed.
Budgets for the 2025/26 financial year have not been set, which means that decisions on the high needs NFF and the publication of allocations for that year will not be to the usual timescales.
Asked by: Graham Stuart (Conservative - Beverley and Holderness)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students were enrolled in (a) school sixth forms, (b) academy sixth forms and (c) 16 to 19 years free schools which have been established since September 2011 in the most recent year for which figures are available.
Answered by Nick Boles
The 2014 to 2015 academic year is the most recent year for which full-year enrolment figures are available.
The following enrolment figures are based on institutions that were established on or after 1 August 2011 as this is the start of the school allocation year.
There were 5,825 students enrolled at 54 newly established School Sixth Form institutions
There were 17,118 students enrolled at 159 newly established Academy Sixth Form Institutions (Including Studio School’s and UTC’s)
There were 3,289 students enrolled at 29 newly established 16-19 Years Free School institutions
Asked by: Graham Stuart (Conservative - Beverley and Holderness)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans the Government has to increase the number of students studying Spanish in schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Since September 2014, maintained primary schools in England must teach a modern or ancient foreign language to pupils at key stage 2 (ages 7 to 11). According to the annual language trends surveys conducted by the Centre for British Teachers, 20 per cent of primary schools taught Spanish in 2014, up from 16 per cent in 2012. In order to support the new curriculum, the government is funding nine projects across the country providing continued professional development for primary and secondary teachers, including training and resources for the teaching of Spanish.
The government took action in 2010 to halt the decline in the number of school children taking language GCSEs by introducing the English Baccalaureate. This has had a positive effect on the take up of languages in schools. The proportion of the cohort in state funded schools entered for a modern foreign language has risen from 40 per cent in 2010 to 49 per cent in 2015. Over the same period, there has been a 46 per cent rise in the number of entries for Spanish GCSE in schools in England.
The government’s goal is that, in time, at least 90 per cent of pupils enter GCSEs in the EBacc subjects of English, maths, science, humanities and languages.
Asked by: Graham Stuart (Conservative - Beverley and Holderness)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many pupils took a GCSE in Spanish in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Information on the total entries for GCSEs in Spanish is published at national level as part of the “GCSE and equivalent results in England” statistical first release [1],[2],[3],[4],[5]
[1] 2014/15 provisional table can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/467610/SFR37_2015_Subject_Timeseries.xls. (Years: 2009/10 - 2014/15)
[2] 2008/09 revised table 8 can be found at: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130401151655/http:/www.education.gov.uk/researchandstatistics/statistics/allstatistics/a00196306/ks4-results-in-england-2008-09-(revised). (Year: 2008/09)
[3] 2007/08 revised table 10 can be found at: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130401151655/http:/www.education.gov.uk/researchandstatistics/statistics/allstatistics/a00195931/gcse-and-equivalent-results-in-england. (Year: 2007/08)
[4] 2006/07 revised table 10 can be found at: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130401151655/http:/www.education.gov.uk/researchandstatistics/statistics/allstatistics/a00195692/dcsf-gcse-and-equivalent-examination-results-in-en. (Year: 2006/07)
[5] 2005/06 revised table 10 can be found at: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130401151655/http:/www.education.gov.uk/researchandstatistics/statistics/allstatistics/a00195387/gcse-and-equivalent-examination-results-in-england. (Year: 2005/06)
Asked by: Graham Stuart (Conservative - Beverley and Holderness)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much (a) pupil premium and (b) pupil premium plus funding each local authority (i) received in the most recent year for which figures are available and (ii) will receive in (A) 2015-16 and (B) 2016-17.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
Allocations for the pupil premium and pupil premium plus for each English local authority for financial years 2014 to 2015 and 2015 to 2016 are published at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-2014-to-2015-final-allocations; and
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-2015-to-2016-allocations.
The allocations for the pupil premium plus for 2015- 2016 will be updated in December 2015 to take account of the numbers of children looked after for at least one day, as recorded on the children looked after data return (SSDA903) completed by local authorities in March 2015.
Allocations for financial year 2016-2017 will be published in June 2016 following the receipt of pupil number data from the spring 2016 schools and alternative provision censuses. The pupil premium per pupil amounts for 2016-2017 will be protected at the current rates, which are:
Pupils | per pupil rate |
Disadvantaged pupils: Primary | £1,320 |
Disadvantaged pupils: Secondary | £935 |
Pupil Premium Plus: Looked After Children (LAC) 1 and those adopted from care or who leave care under a Special Guardianship Order or Child Arrangements Order (formally known as a residence order). | £1,900 |
Service children | £300 |
1. A looked after child is defined in the Children Act 1989 as one who is in the care of, or provided with accommodation by, an English or Welsh local authority.
Asked by: Graham Stuart (Conservative - Beverley and Holderness)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much Dedicated Schools Grant each English local authority will receive in 2015-16; and what the (a) Schools Block, (b) High Needs and (c) Early Years element is of that grant for each such local authority.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
Allocations for the dedicated schools grant for financial year 2015-2016 for each English local authority are published at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2015-to-2016.
These set out the amounts for the schools block, high needs block and early years block. The allocations for the early years block will be updated in June 2016 to take account of the additional take up of the early years entitlements as recorded in the spring 2016 schools, early years and alternative provision censuses.
Asked by: Graham Stuart (Conservative - Beverley and Holderness)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether students who have A* to C grades in unregulated English and mathematics IGCSEs will be required to study for GCSEs in those subjects as a condition of receiving funding for a post-16 course.
Answered by Nick Boles
Students on post-16 courses who hold an unregulated IGCSE qualification at Grade C or above will not be required to study maths and English GCSE in 2014/15 or 2015/16. No decision has been made in relation to students who sit the first new GCSEs in summer 2017 and enter post-16 education that September. An announcement will be made before September 2015 when the new GCSEs in maths and English are first taught.
Asked by: Graham Stuart (Conservative - Beverley and Holderness)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she will publish her Department's response to the consultation, Improving Permanence for Looked After Children; and if she will introduce an entitlement to support for all children returning home from care.
Answered by Edward Timpson
A robust assessment of the needs of a child and their family and how these needs will be met through ongoing support from the local authority is crucial if children are to return home safely and successfully from care. The Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010 are clear that the child’s care plan must provide details of the advice, assistance and support that the responsible authority intends to provide after the child has returned home. Working Together to Safeguard Children 2013 sets out the principles and parameters of a good assessment. [1]
Improving practice when children return home from care is a priority for the Government. In 2013, we consulted on a range of proposals to improve permanence for looked-after children. Department for Education officials convened a meeting of the relevant Expert Group on 9 September 2014 to discuss these issues and the consultation response. The Government’s formal response will be published later this year.
[1] www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-safeguard-children
Asked by: Graham Stuart (Conservative - Beverley and Holderness)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 7 April 2014, Official Report, column 86W, on schools: governing bodies, how many governors (a) have completed and (b) are expected to have completed National College for Teaching and Leadership training on dealing with performance related pay awards for teachers by 1 September 2014.
Answered by Edward Timpson
From January to April 2014, 3,205 school governors completed the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) training on dealing with performance related pay awards for teachers; 7,200 are expected to complete the training by 1 September 2014.
Governors have held school leadership to account for school performance, including the assessment of overall teacher performance, for some time. With the introduction of performance-related pay, governing bodies will have already approved revised pay policies that set out precisely how their schools will make performance and pay decisions.
To support governors in exercising their responsibilities, the Department for Education issued advice on implementing the new pay arrangements. The NCTL is also providing these free training workshops for governors on performance-related pay and financial efficiencies. In addition, the National Governors Association (NGA) has published guidance on how governors should prepare to deal with pay appeals. We believe that, with this support, most governing bodies will have the knowledge and awareness of the key issues they need to address to ensure that robust evidence-based pay decisions are made this September.
Asked by: Graham Stuart (Conservative - Beverley and Holderness)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of how well-prepared school governors are in advance of their taking the first decisions regarding performance-related pay.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Governors have held school leadership to account for school performance, including the assessment of overall teacher performance, for some time. With the introduction of performance-related pay, governing bodies will have already approved revised pay policies that set out precisely how their schools will make performance and pay decisions.
To support governors in exercising their responsibilities, the Department for Education issued advice on implementing the new pay arrangements. The National College for Teaching and Leadership has also offered training for governors on performance-related pay and financial efficiencies. In addition, the National Governors Association has published guidance on how governors should prepare to deal with pay appeals. We believe that, with this support, most governing bodies will have the knowledge and awareness of the key issues they need to address to ensure that robust evidence-based pay decisions are made this September.