Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of schools affected by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete have had remedial work completed in the last 12 months.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
A list of education settings with confirmed RAAC and the funding route to remove RAAC was published on 8 February. This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-raac-management-information.
The government is funding the removal of RAAC either through grants, or through the School Rebuilding Programme (SRP). The longer-term requirements of each school or college will vary depending on the extent of the issue and nature and design of the buildings. Permanently removing RAAC may involve refurbishment of existing buildings or rebuilding affected buildings.
Schools joining the SRP will be prioritised for delivery according to the condition need of their buildings, readiness to proceed, and efficiency of delivery. The department will also take into account the suitability and longevity of the temporary accommodation they are using. The department has committed to responsible bodies that it will confirm when works are expected to start by the end of the summer term.
For schools and colleges receiving grants, the department is working with responsible bodies to support them to agree the scope of works they are procuring. In some cases, this may involve undertaking technical assessments to inform the design of building works and in other cases the removal of RAAC is already underway and will be completed in the coming months.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children are being home schooled due to a lack of SEND provision in (a) Wansbeck constituency, (b) Northumberland and (c) England as of 14 December 2023.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department publishes data on the number of children in the ‘Elective home education’ (EHE) publication, which is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/elective-home-education. This includes data at a local authority, regional and national level. Data is collected from local authorities and is not available for parliamentary constituencies.
Data on the primary reason for EHE is collected and is available for Northumberland local authority and England at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/ff8aac35-11d4-4d11-af9c-08dbfa4e7cea.
Lack of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities provision is not one of the specific reasons collected.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools in (a) Wansbeck constituency and (b) Northumberland require essential maintenance work as of 14 December 2023; and what estimate her Department has made of the total cost of that work.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Responsibility for keeping buildings safe and well maintained lies with schools and their responsible bodies, such as local authorities, academy trusts and voluntary-aided (VA) bodies. The department supports them by providing access to annual capital funding, delivering major rebuilding programmes, and offering guidance and support.
Responsible bodies in England, depending on their size and type, are either eligible to receive annual School Condition Allocation (SCA) funding to use on improving the condition of their schools, or are instead able to bid into the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) each year for specific capital projects. Schools in England also receive funding to spend on their capital priorities or contribute to larger projects through an annual Devolved Formula Capital allocation (DFC). Details on SCA, CIF, and DFC can be found on GOV.UK.
In the 2023/24 financial year, Northumberland County Council, which includes Wansbeck constituency, has been allocated £3,901,192 of SCA funding. It is for Northumberland to allocate this funding across its maintained schools based on local knowledge of condition need, prioritising keeping schools safe and operational. Academies and VA schools in Northumberland will have either received SCA funding through their trust or VA group or will instead have been invited to bid into the CIF for their condition need. Outcomes for CIF for 2023/24 are published on GOV.UK.
Local authority schools in Northumberland have also been allocated a total of £594,962 in Devolved Formula Capital in 2023/24 to spend on their own capital priorities. SCA and DFC allocations for 2023/24 are published on GOV.UK.
In addition to condition capital funding, the School Rebuilding Programme (SRP) will transform buildings at 500 schools in Engand over the next decade, prioritising schools in poor condition and with evidence of potential safety issues. The department has announced 400 schools to date, including 239 in December 2022. The programme includes Ringway Primary School in the Wansbeck constituency.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children were unable to get a place at their catchment school for (a) primary and (b) secondary education in Wansbeck constituency in the 2023-2024 academic year.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department does not hold information on the criteria under which school places are offered or refused, such as being within catchment area. The administration of the coordinated offer process, by which school applications are processed and offers made, are the responsibility of the local authorities.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the final report of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, published in May 2022, what estimate her Department has made of the potential savings to the public purse of the recommendation to provide a financial allowance to all (a) special guardians and (b) kinship carers with a child arrangements order.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As part of the commitment outlined in 'Stable Homes Built on Love,' the department is exploring the feasibility of introducing a new financial allowance for kinship carers with a special guardianship order or child arrangements order. Further details will be shared in due course.
The department is in the final stages of drafting its kinship strategy, which outlines plans to enhance support for all kinship families in England. This strategy will complement the existing support initiatives offered by the department, such as the peer-to-peer support service and the upcoming training and support programme set to launch next year.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she expects the School Teachers Review Body 2023 report to be published.
Answered by Nick Gibb
As part of the normal process, the independent School Teachers’ Review Body has submitted its recommendations on teacher pay for the 2023/24 academic year to the Government. The Department will be considering the recommendations and will publish its response in the usual way, in due course.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has had recent discussions with groups representing parents and guardians on schools requiring the purchase of uniforms directly from schools without the option of using retail providers.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department engaged with key stakeholders, including representatives of parents and guardians, ahead of the statutory guidance on the cost of school uniforms being published in November 2021. In addition, in May 2022, the Department attended an online meeting with parents and schools organised by the Children’s Society.
The guidance came into force in September 2022 and is available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/cost-of-school-uniforms.
Schools must have regard to this guidance when they are developing and implementing their uniform policy. The guidance is clear that parents should be able to purchase generic items of uniform from a range of retailers, giving them choice and value for money.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
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 extending free school meals to all families receiving Universal Credit.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Since 2010, the number of pupils receiving a free school meal (FSM) has increased by more than two million. This increase in provision is due to the introduction of Universal Infant Free School Meals and protections put in place as benefit recipients move across to Universal Credit. Over a third of pupils in England now receive FSM, compared with one in six in 2010.
The Department believes that the current eligibility threshold level, which enables pupils in low income households to benefit from FSM while remaining affordable and deliverable for schools, is the right one. The Department does not have plans to change the current eligibility conditions for FSM. The Department continues to keep eligibility under review to ensure that these meals are supporting those who most need them. The Department also continues to monitor the consequences of the rising cost of living and is working with other Government Departments to provide support to disadvantaged families.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the funding allocation to schools in Northumberland by the school rebuilding programme.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department has provisionally allocated 400 of the 500 available places on the School Rebuilding Programme (SRP), prioritised on the basis of their condition. Of these, two are in Northumberland. A list of these schools and the detailed methodology used to select them is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme-schools-in-the-programme.
The funding for each project will depend on the works being undertaken and will be determined when the scope and delivery plans for each project are developed.
In addition to the SRP, the Department also allocates annual condition funding to schools and those responsible for school buildings to maintain and improve the condition of the school estate. Local Authorities receive condition funding through an annual School Condition Allocation (SCA). For the 2022/23 financial year, Northumberland County Council has been allocated £5,851,788 in SCA funding to prioritise across its maintained schools. Academies and voluntary aided (VA) schools in Northumberland will either receive SCA funding through their trust or VA group, or will be instead able to bid into the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) for their condition need.
Further detail on condition funding can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-capital-funding.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing additional funding to schools for school trips and residential visits during the cost of living crisis.
Answered by Will Quince
Schools have the flexibility to make their own decisions on how to prioritise their spending to invest in a range of resources and activities that will best support their staff and pupils, which may include school trips and residential visits. There is no specific funding allocation provided to schools for the purpose of school trips or residential visits. Any costs incurred by the school must be funded from their own budget.
The department continues to monitor schools’ financial health and we recognise that schools are facing cost pressures. This government continues to deliver year on year increases to school funding, with the total core school budget increasing to £56.8 billion by the 2024/25 financial year. This is a £7 billion cash increase compared with the 2021/22 financial year.
Increases in funding have been frontloaded to rapidly get money to schools, so that in the 2022/23 financial year alone, core schools funding is increasing by £4 billion compared to the 2021/22 financial year. This means that the total funding allocated to schools is seeing a 7% cash terms per pupil boost in the 2022/23 financial year, compared to the 2021/22 financial year, helping schools to meet the cost pressures that we know they are facing.