To match an exact phrase, use quotation marks around the search term. eg. "Parliamentary Estate". Use "OR" or "AND" as link words to form more complex queries.


Keep yourself up-to-date with the latest developments by exploring our subscription options to receive notifications direct to your inbox

Written Question
Schools: Cadets
Monday 23rd October 2023

Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average Ofsted status was of schools with Combined Cadet Force contingents in 2023.

Answered by Nick Gibb

The Government committed £50 million of London Interbank Offered Rate funding to the Cadet Expansion Programme to increase the number of Cadet Units in schools across the UK to 500 by April 2020. Having achieved this target, the Department for Education and Ministry of Defence are continuing to work on the Government's ambition to increase the number of cadets in schools to 60,000 by April 2024.

Cadets have access to a broad range of youth activities, which are undertaken in a safe and controlled environment. These experiences can help develop qualities such as loyalty and respect, self confidence, teamwork, and resilience which helps cadets achieve excellence and shape their own future. Schools that have set up Cadet Units have also reported a range of benefits, including improvement in attendance, attainment, commitment and relationships between staff and students.

Ofsted grades for the 275 state funded schools with cadet units are below. There are three schools that do not have Ofsted grades as at 31 December 2022.

Ofsted Grade

Number of state funded schools with an Ofsted grade with cadets

% of the overall grade

Outstanding

60

22%

Good

163

59%

Requires improvement

39

14%

Inadequate

13

5%

Ofsted Statistics as at 31 December 2022


Written Question
Children: Day Care
Thursday 28th January 2021

Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to Question 130635 tabled on 16 December 2020, what assessment he has made of the financial effect on childminders of reintroducing the method of calculating early years entitlement funding that was in place before the covid-19 outbreak.

Answered by Vicky Ford

We have provided unprecedented support to early years providers throughout the COVID-19 outbreak through block-buying childcare places and schemes, including furlough. Childminders are also eligible to receive support from the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, which has been extended until the end of April 2021: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-self-employment-income-support-scheme.

The government will continue to support families with their childcare costs. My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced on 25 November an extra £44 million for 2021-22, for local authorities to increase hourly rates paid to childcare providers for the government’s free childcare entitlement offers.

On 17 December 2020, the government announced a return to funding early years settings on the basis on attendance.

We will fund local authorities in the 2021 spring term based on their January 2021 census. If attendance rises after the census is taken, we will top-up councils to up to 85% of their January 2020 census level, where a local authority can provide evidence for increased attendance during the spring term. This will give local authorities additional financial confidence to pay providers for increasing attendance later in the spring term. The early years local authority survey continues on a weekly basis. The following link has more information on the use of Early Years Dedicated Schools Grant in spring 2021: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2020-to-2021/dsg-technical-note-2020-to-2021.

In line with the existing and unchanged statutory guidance, local authorities should ensure that providers are not penalised for short-term absences of children (for example, sickness, arriving late or leaving early, or a family emergency) through withdrawing funding, but use their discretion where absence is recurring or for extended periods, taking into account the reason for the absence and the impact on the provider.

We stay in regular contact with the early years sector, including on this subject. We will be closely monitoring both parental take-up of places and the capacity and responses of providers.


Written Question
Children: Day Care
Thursday 28th January 2021

Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to Question 130636 tabled on December 16 2020, if he will extend the adjusted calculation for early education entitlement funding, used during the autumn 2020 term, into spring 2021 in line with the extension to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

Answered by Vicky Ford

We have provided unprecedented support to early years providers throughout the COVID-19 outbreak through block-buying childcare places and schemes, including furlough. Childminders are also eligible to receive support from the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, which has been extended until the end of April 2021: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-self-employment-income-support-scheme.

The government will continue to support families with their childcare costs. My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced on 25 November an extra £44 million for 2021-22, for local authorities to increase hourly rates paid to childcare providers for the government’s free childcare entitlement offers.

On 17 December 2020, the government announced a return to funding early years settings on the basis on attendance.

We will fund local authorities in the 2021 spring term based on their January 2021 census. If attendance rises after the census is taken, we will top-up councils to up to 85% of their January 2020 census level, where a local authority can provide evidence for increased attendance during the spring term. This will give local authorities additional financial confidence to pay providers for increasing attendance later in the spring term. The early years local authority survey continues on a weekly basis. The following link has more information on the use of Early Years Dedicated Schools Grant in spring 2021: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2020-to-2021/dsg-technical-note-2020-to-2021.

In line with the existing and unchanged statutory guidance, local authorities should ensure that providers are not penalised for short-term absences of children (for example, sickness, arriving late or leaving early, or a family emergency) through withdrawing funding, but use their discretion where absence is recurring or for extended periods, taking into account the reason for the absence and the impact on the provider.

We stay in regular contact with the early years sector, including on this subject. We will be closely monitoring both parental take-up of places and the capacity and responses of providers.


Written Question
Children: Day Care
Wednesday 27th January 2021

Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the financial effect on childminders of re-introducing the method of calculating early years entitlement funding that was in place before the covid-19 outbreak.

Answered by Vicky Ford

We have provided unprecedented support to early years providers throughout the COVID-19 outbreak through block-buying childcare places and schemes including furlough. Childminders are also eligible to receive support from the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, which has been extended until the end of April 2021: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-self-employment-income-support-scheme.

Whilst we recognise childcare attendance has been affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, we saw attendance rise over the autumn term from 482,000 on 10 September to 759,000 on 17 December. On 17 December 2020, the government therefore announced a return to funding early years settings on the basis on attendance. In line with the existing and unchanged statutory guidance local authorities should ensure that providers are not penalised for short-term absences of children, for example sickness, arriving late or leaving early, or a family emergency through withdrawing funding, but use their discretion where absence is recurring or for extended periods taking into account the reason for the absence and the impact on the provider.

We stay in regular contact with the early years sector, including on this subject. We will be closely monitoring both parental take-up of places and the capacity and responses of providers.

The government will continue to support families with their childcare costs. My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced on 25 November an extra £44 million for the 2021-22 financial year, for local authorities to increase hourly rates paid to childcare providers for the government’s free childcare entitlement offers.


Written Question
Children: Day Care
Wednesday 27th January 2021

Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will extend the adjusted calculation for the early education entitlement funding, used during the autumn 2020 term, into spring 2021, in line with the extension to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

Answered by Vicky Ford

We recognise childcare attendance has been affected by the COVID-19 outbreak; we saw attendance rise over the autumn term from 482,000 on 10 September to 759,000 on 17 December 2020. On 17 December 2020, the government therefore announced a return to funding early years settings on the basis on attendance. In line with the existing and unchanged statutory guidance (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/use-of-free-early-education-entitlements-funding-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/use-of-free-early-education-entitlements-funding-during-coronavirus-covid-19), local authorities should ensure that providers are not penalised for short-term absences of children, (for example, sickness, arriving late or leaving early, or a family emergency through withdrawing funding), but use their discretion where absence is recurring or for extended periods, taking into account the reason for the absence and the impact on the provider.

We will fund local authorities in the 2021 spring term based on their January 2021 census. If attendance rises after the census is taken, we will top-up councils to up to 85% of their January 2020 census level, where a local authority can provide evidence for increased attendance during the spring term. This will give local authorities additional financial confidence to pay providers for increasing attendance later in the spring term.

We stay in regular contact with the early years sector and have heard from them already on this subject. We publish regular official statistics on attendance in early years settings (https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak) and the next release is due on Tuesday 2 February. We will be closely monitoring both parental take-up of places and the capacity and responses of providers.


Written Question
Childminding: Finance
Monday 11th January 2021

Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which local authorities do not pay early education entitlement funding in full to childminders.

Answered by Vicky Ford

Our guidance makes clear how we expect local authorities to fund early years entitlement places during the COVID-19 outbreak. Local authorities should only take a different approach from that set out in guidance if they have good reasons for doing so, their approach is fair and equitable, and they communicate this clearly to their providers. Further information on this guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/use-of-free-early-education-entitlements-funding-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/use-of-free-early-education-entitlements-funding-during-coronavirus-covid-19.

Through our regular contact with local authorities, it is apparent that the vast majority have been compliant with our funding guidance throughout the COVID-19 outbreak.

Childminder funding can be more complex than funding for group-based providers. This is because unlike nurseries, which typically offer a fairly consistent number of childcare places, the number and age of children cared for by a childminder can vary significantly throughout the year and from one year to another. This means that childminders may move in and out of offering the government’s early years entitlements depending on the children they are caring for at any given time.

For this reason, we know that some local authorities fund their childminders on a case-by-case basis in the interests of value for money and propriety. This ensures that they are not paying providers who might not otherwise have been offering entitlement places.

We do not currently hold data on the number of local authorities taking tailored approaches to childminder funding. This is due to the highly variable nature of this provision, and that fact that arrangements may vary within a single local authority based on the individual circumstances of each childminder.


Written Question
Students: Loans
Monday 9th March 2020

Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of maintenance loans for full-time students in England for the purpose of housing costs.

Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology

The government measures student housing costs periodically but does not collect data annually. The Student Income and Expenditure Survey in 2014/15 reported average housing costs of £4,151 for full-time undergraduates who incurred those costs. The Student Income and Expenditure Survey in 2011/12 reported average housing costs of £3,628 for full-time undergraduates who incurred them.

The student finance system contributes towards undergraduate students’ living costs at University, with the most support available for students from the lowest income families. The government increased maximum loans for living costs by 2.8% for the current academic year, 2019/20, to £8,944 for students living away from home and studying outside London with a further 2.9% increase to £9,203 for 2020/21. Higher rates of loan are available for students living away from home and studying in London.


Written Question
Students: Housing
Monday 9th March 2020

Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average housing costs were for full-time students in England in each of the last 10 years.

Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology

The government measures student housing costs periodically but does not collect data annually. The Student Income and Expenditure Survey in 2014/15 reported average housing costs of £4,151 for full-time undergraduates who incurred those costs. The Student Income and Expenditure Survey in 2011/12 reported average housing costs of £3,628 for full-time undergraduates who incurred them.

The student finance system contributes towards undergraduate students’ living costs at University, with the most support available for students from the lowest income families. The government increased maximum loans for living costs by 2.8% for the current academic year, 2019/20, to £8,944 for students living away from home and studying outside London with a further 2.9% increase to £9,203 for 2020/21. Higher rates of loan are available for students living away from home and studying in London.


Written Question
Students: Housing
Monday 9th March 2020

Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the extent to which maintenance loans cover the cost of housing for students in England.

Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology

The government measures student housing costs periodically but does not collect data annually. The Student Income and Expenditure Survey in 2014/15 reported average housing costs of £4,151 for full-time undergraduates who incurred those costs. The Student Income and Expenditure Survey in 2011/12 reported average housing costs of £3,628 for full-time undergraduates who incurred them.

The student finance system contributes towards undergraduate students’ living costs at University, with the most support available for students from the lowest income families. The government increased maximum loans for living costs by 2.8% for the current academic year, 2019/20, to £8,944 for students living away from home and studying outside London with a further 2.9% increase to £9,203 for 2020/21. Higher rates of loan are available for students living away from home and studying in London.


Written Question
Construction: Training
Tuesday 3rd July 2018

Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to increase the provision of high quality construction training.

Answered by Anne Milton

The government has recently announced a £22 million Construction Skills Fund, for which bids will open in July 2018. This initiative will bring training to working construction sites, allowing learners to apply their knowledge in a real workplace, and easing their transition into their new career. The fund is designed to meet the needs of employers and people wanting to join the construction industry, particularly adult learners. This will also increase opportunities for work placements in the long-term and support the delivery of high quality construction T Levels by 2020.

The construction industry’s structure is dominated by small businesses and is cyclical, with a weak record of investment, including in skills. It is therefore one of two industries which has an industry training board, the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), funded by a sector levy, to oversee and coordinate skills demand. We published a review of CITB last autumn and it is now embarking on a transformational reform programme. Reforms will see the CITB refocus on its core mission of working with industry to make sure there is availability and access to high quality construction training provision in order to meet the industry’s skills needs.

We are developing new T Level programmes which are central to reforming technical education, to improve workforce skills and drive productivity growth. One of the first three T Levels to be delivered from 2020 will be in Construction. The outline content for this T Level was developed by employers and published on 25 May.

Apprenticeships provide people of all ages with the opportunity to progress in work and life, giving them a clear route to success. We will create three million quality apprenticeships in England; making them longer and better, with more off-the job training and an assessment at the end. New apprenticeship standards across all levels are being designed and driven by industry; creating higher quality training that will lead to a more skilled and productive economy.