Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether eligible students can access free school meals when they have been withdrawn from school by their parent or guardian.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Education Act 1996 places a duty on maintained schools and academies to provide free school meals (FSM) to pupils of all ages that meet the criteria for eligibility and who are attending school during term time. The Act makes clear that a child must be registered at a publicly funded school as a condition of claiming FSM. Free meals are not available to those who elect to undertake education from home, nor to pupils of private institutions.
Schools should continue to provide free meals for registered pupils either on the school premises or at any other place where education is being provided.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps to provide free school meals to children who are permanently excluded.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Schools are legally required to provide free school meals (FSM) to eligible pupils. Pupils must be registered at the school in order to be eligible. For temporary or fixed term exclusions, schools should continue to provide FSM for registered pupils, either on the school premises or at any other place where education is being provided.
In the case of pupils who have been permanently excluded, and are no longer registered with a school, the Local Authority must arrange suitable full time education for the pupil to begin from the sixth school day after the first day the permanent exclusion took place.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support his Department will be providing to schools to help ensure they can manage increased energy costs.
Answered by Robin Walker
The department recognises that schools will be facing cost pressures in the coming months, particularly due to the increase in energy prices. We are looking carefully at how this will impact schools and are considering what additional support we could offer.
The department contacted all schools in England to get basic data on their current and future energy tariffs to better understand how they have been affected by recent energy price increases. The survey closed on 2 June 2022, and the responses will be used to understand the impacts of energy cost increases on schools and inform considerations of additional support the department could offer.
Cost increases should be seen in the wider context of funding for schools. The government is delivering a £4 billion cash increase in the core schools budget next year, taking total funding to £53.8 billion. This includes an additional £1.2 billion for schools in the new schools supplementary grant for the 2022/23 financial year. Overall, this represents a 7% cash terms per pupil boost, which will help schools meet the pressures we know they are facing, particularly around energy costs.
All schools can access a range of school resource management (SRM) tools to help them get the best value from their resources, to help them save on regular purchases and reduce non-teaching costs. Our SRM tools include recommended deals for energy costs and ancillary services relating to energy. The department will also update and strengthen guidance on a regular basis to inform schools of the market and commercial position, with practical advice on exiting existing and entering new contracts, available here: https://www.get-help-buying-for-schools.service.gov.uk/procurement-support. The get help buying for schools service will also be able to offer support to schools in switching and entering new contracts.
The department recognises that every school’s circumstances are different, and where schools are in serious financial difficulty, they should contact their local authority or the Education and Skills Funding Agency.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when his Department plans to next review its covid-19 guidance in relation to childminding settings.
Answered by Will Quince
Keeping children and staff safe is the department’s utmost priority and throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we have listened carefully to the latest scientific and medical advice when developing guidance.
The department has recently reviewed and updated its guidance for childminders with the UK Health Security Agency. This guidance is available here: https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2022/03/18/childminders-can-continue-to-operate-from-home-if-someone-in-their-house-has-tested-positive-for-covid/.
Since 17 March 2022, childminders can continue to childmind in their homes if someone who lives with them has tested positive or has COVID-19 symptoms.
Childminders are advised to follow the steps below to reduce the risk of onward transmission:
Childminders can also consider using alternative places to operate, such as other childminders’ houses, where possible.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much additional funding her Department would require in order to ensure that no school saw a cut in its budget for 2017-18 as part of the Schools National Funding Formula.
Answered by Nick Gibb
In December 2016 the Department confirmed dedicated schools grant (DSG) funding settlements for 2017-18 to local authorities. For all local authorities, funding has been protected in cash terms per pupil. Further details are available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2017-to-2018.
In 2017-18, individual schools’ funding is decided at a local authority level. The Department allocates funding to each local authority, who then allocate this funding to their schools using their local formulae. The Minimum Funding Guarantee (MFG) ensures that the maximum any individual school can lose is 1.5% per pupil. Local authorities are now finalising and will shortly be confirming their 2017-18 funding to schools. Further information is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/school-revenue-funding-settlement-for-2017-to-2018.
We are currently consulting on our proposals for a National Funding Formula, which will come into force in 2018-19. The consultation will run until March 22nd and is available at https://consult.education.gov.uk/funding-policy-unit/schools-national-funding-formula2/.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of primary school pupils are in receipt of free school meals in Halifax constituency.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Data for the number of pupils eligible for free school meals in each school in England are available in the underlying data in the annual ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ statistical release.[1]
The number and proportion of pupils, attending primary school in Halifax constituency in Calderdale local authority, who were known to be eligible for free school meals[2] in 2016 is given below.
These figures do not include infant pupils who are not eligible for free school meals based on the standard criteria, but who can receive a meal under the universal infant free school meals programme.
Primary school pupils | Halifax parliamentary constituency |
Number of pupils (headcount) | 10,391 |
Number known to be eligible for and claiming FSM | 1,841 |
Proportion known to be eligible for and claiming FSM | 17.7% |
Source: School Census, January 2016
[1] www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-school-and-pupil-numbers - click on the relevant year and then ‘underlying data.’ The data are contained in files with ‘Schools_Pupils’ in the title.
[2] Not all children assessed as eligible for free school meals will have taken a lunch on census day.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what advice her Department is providing to schools projected to see reductions in funding under the Schools National Funding Formula on how to balance their budgets.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Our proposals for funding reform will mean that schools and local authority areas will, for the first time, receive a consistent and fair share of the schools budget, so that they can give every child the opportunity to reach their full potential.
For Calderdale, the proposals would mean an increase in schools funding of 1.3%, and an increase of 9.7% for high needs funding.
We are also committed to providing support for schools to improve their financial health and efficiency. We have produced a collection of tools, information and guidance, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/schools-financial-health-and-efficiency. The collection includes guidance on workforce planning, financial management, benchmarking, and buying for schools.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the effect of changes of the Schools National Funding Formula on funding for schools in Calderdale.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Our proposals for funding reform will mean that schools and local authority areas will, for the first time, receive a consistent and fair share of the schools budget, so that they can give every child the opportunity to reach their full potential.
For Calderdale, the proposals would mean an increase in schools funding of 1.3%, and an increase of 9.7% for high needs funding.
We are also committed to providing support for schools to improve their financial health and efficiency. We have produced a collection of tools, information and guidance, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/schools-financial-health-and-efficiency. The collection includes guidance on workforce planning, financial management, benchmarking, and buying for schools.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will undertake a national review of the operation of admissions procedures and the School Admissions Code.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department for Education is intending to make changes to the School Admissions Code to improve the admissions system for parents and schools. This will be subject to a full public consultation to allow anyone with an interest to provide their views. It will also be subject to parliamentary scrutiny. Details of the consultation will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what procedures are in place to ensure that headteachers follow the School Admissions Code.
Answered by Nick Gibb
An individual school’s admission authority is responsible for setting and applying its admission arrangements. The local authority is the admission authority for community and voluntary controlled schools; the school’s governing body is the admission authority for voluntary aided and foundation schools; and for academies, the admission authority is the academy trust.
Anyone who believes a school’s admission arrangements are unfair or unlawful can object to the Schools Adjudicator. If the Adjudicator finds the admission arrangements do not comply with the Code, the admission authority must amend their arrangements accordingly.
Any parent who believes the admission authority has not properly applied the school’s admission arrangements in the case of their child’s application and the child has, as a result, been refused a place at the school, has the right of appeal to an independent appeal panel. If the appeal panel upholds the appeal, the school must admit the child.
The School Admissions Code can be found on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-admissions-code--2