Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the cost to the public purse was of staff diversity networks in her Department in each of the last five years.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
The government has audited the cost-effectiveness of all equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) activities, through the review of EDI spending announced last June.
On 14 May, the Minister without Portfolio made a written statement on the latest findings from the review. This can be found at: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2024-05-14/hcws464.
In response to these findings, the Cabinet Office is publishing the Civil Service EDI Expenditure Guidance. This includes an end to all external spending on EDI activity, unless cleared and authorised by Ministers.
Further guidance on diversity staff networks is being developed, and the department will seek to publish additional data on historic spending to assist transparency in this area.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of (a) cars and (b) other vehicles used by her Department were made in Britain.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
The department does not procure vehicles for its own use.
The Government Car Service (GCS) provides vehicles to a number of government departments. Due to logistical and operational reasons, the type of vehicles deployed at each department can vary on a daily or weekly basis. The GCS fleet currently has 122 vehicles, 58 or 48% of which are vehicles made in Britain.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her Department's policy is on the procurement of (a) food and (b) drinks produced in Britain for use in its canteens and restaurants.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
All catering contracts for department buildings are procured by the Government Property Agency (GPA).
Contractually, all suppliers appointed by GPA are required to comply with the Government Buying Standards, owned by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
The relevant part of the standards is local and environmentally sustainable sourcing. Wherever possible, food sourcing should prioritise locally produced food and food produced to higher environmental production standards. Contracting authorities and/or tier 1 suppliers should aim for at least 50% of food spend to be on locally produced food or food certified to higher environmental production standards. Progress towards this target must be reported annually.
This contractual provision will be monitored as part of the governance and report requirements of GPA's new contracts.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of schools in have a dedicated (a) library and (b) librarian in (i) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (ii) Lincolnshire.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
The department believes that all pupils deserve to be taught a knowledge-rich curriculum that promotes the extensive reading of books and other texts, both in and out of school. School libraries complement public libraries in allowing pupils to do this.
It is for individual schools to decide how best to provide and maintain a library service for their pupils, including whether to employ a qualified librarian. Overall school funding is increasing by more than £2.9 billion in the 2024/25 academic year compared to the 2023/24 academic year, taking the total to £60.7 billion, which is the highest ever level in real terms per pupil. Many headteachers recognise the important role school libraries play in improving literacy and encouraging pupils to read for pleasure and ensure that suitable library facilities are provided. School libraries can take many forms, with some schools preferring to make books a focus in other ways, including housing them within classrooms.
The department’s Reading Framework, updated in July 2023, offers non-statutory guidance for teachers and school leaders, including helpful guidance for schools on how to organise their school library, book corner or book stock to make reading accessible and attractive to readers. Given this autonomy, the department does not collect information on the number of school libraries.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many universities have adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism.
Answered by Luke Hall
As of 10 May 2024, 245 higher education (HE) providers in England, including all but six universities, have adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism.
While the decision to adopt the definition rests with individual HE providers, the government will continue to encourage all to adopt the definition. Adopting this widely recognised educative tool is a signal that providers take these issues seriously.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the cost to her Department was of (a) events, (b) activities, (c) merchandise and (d) other associated costs relating to Pride Month 2023.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
No costs were incurred by the department connected to any events, activities, merchandise or other associated costs in relation to Pride Month 2023.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much the Education and Skills Funding Agency has spent on external consultants in each of the last five years.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
Over the last five years, the Education and Skills Funding Agency has spent the following on external consultants:
The majority of the external consultancy expenditure relates to Schools Resource Management Advisers who provide resource management advice to school leaders.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of people who started teacher training courses did not finish the course in each of the last five years.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
Trainees not awarded qualified teacher status (QTS) includes those who ended their training during the year and either left the course before the end (excluding those who left the course within 90 days of the start) or did not meet the teacher standards.
These statistics refer to the academic year in which trainees finished or withdrew from their initial teacher training (ITT) courses, rather than the year in which they began their courses. At this time, statistics on ITT trainee outcomes based on the year of entry are not available.
Academic Year | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 |
Trainees not awarded QTS | 1,304 | 1,348 | 1,172 | 1,597 | 2,236 |
Percentage of all trainees with course outcomes | 5% | 5% | 4% | 5% | 7% |
Source: DfE ITT Performance Profiles statistical publications
Footnote: Academic year refers to the year in which the trainee had a course outcome.
The ITT Performance Profiles publication is published here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/initial-teacher-training-performance-profiles/2021-22#releaseHeadlines-tables.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help increase childcare provision in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.
Answered by David Johnston
In the government’s Spring Budget, the Chancellor of Exchequer announced transformative reforms to childcare for parents, children and the economy. By 2027/28, this government will expect to be spending in excess of £8 billion every year on free hours and early education, helping working families with their childcare costs.
A commitment has been made to ensure that 30 hours of funded childcare is available for every child over the age of nine months with working parents by September 2025.
More parents are going to be able to return to work while balancing childcare commitments, thanks to the government’s £4 billion per year expansion of childcare in England. This is the largest expansion of funded childcare ever and will remove barriers to work for nearly half a million parents with a child under three in England.
South Holland and the Deepings constituency is within the area covered by Lincolnshire County Council.
Local authorities have received £12 million of local authority delivery support funding for this financial year to support with meeting programme and delivery costs associated with rolling out the expanded early year entitlements, from which Lincolnshire County Council received £125,423.
Local authorities have also received a £100 million allocation for local areas to use to make sure childcare settings in their areas have enough physical space, which is anticipated to add thousands of new childcare places across the country. Lincolnshire County Council received £1,461,094 from this fund.
Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. Part B of the ‘Early education and childcare’ statutory guidance for local authorities highlights that local authorities are required to report annually to elected council members on how they are meeting their duty to secure sufficient childcare, and to make this report available and accessible to parents.
If Lincolnshire County Council report any sufficiency challenges, the department discusses what action the local authority is taking to address those issues, and where needed, supports them with any specific requirements through its childcare sufficiency support contract.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the transparency data entitled School rebuilding programme: schools in the programme, how much funding her Department has (a) allocated and (b) disbursed to each school selected in South Holland and the Deepings constituency in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
There are two schools selected for the School Rebuilding Programme (SRP) in South Holland and The Deepings constituency. These are University Academy Long Sutton and Tulip Academy.
The SRP is a centrally delivered programme. Therefore, no funding is allocated or distributed directly to schools. Once contracts are awarded for building works, they are published on the Contracts Finder within 30 calendar days. The Contracts Finder can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder.