Asked by: Jonathan Davies (Labour - Mid Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October 2024 to Question 7546 on Children: Hygiene, what discussions she has had with (a) school leaders and (b) local authorities on the impact of uniform hygiene on children; and what assessment she has made of the potential merits of publishing practical guidance for schools on this matter.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Tackling child poverty is at the heart of breaking down barriers to opportunity and improving the life chances for every child. For too many children, living in poverty robs them of the opportunity to learn and to prosper.
A new Ministerial Taskforce, led by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has begun work on a child poverty strategy.
This taskforce will harness all available levers to drive forward short-term and long-term actions across government to reduce child poverty, with a child poverty strategy published later this spring. Additional information regarding this strategy is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tackling-child-poverty-developing-our-strategy/tackling-child-poverty-developing-our-strategy-html.
It is important that all children can attend school in a clean, affordable uniform. School leaders are well placed to manage uniform standards, including hygiene.
Asked by: Jonathan Davies (Labour - Mid Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking as part of the Curriculum and Assessment Review to consider the use of audiobooks in schools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The independent Curriculum and Assessment Review will support the innovation and professionalism of teachers, enabling them to adapt how they teach the curriculum to their students’ lives.
The Review Group will publish an interim report in early spring setting out its interim findings and confirming the key areas for further work, and publish its final report with recommendations this autumn.
The department respects the autonomy of teachers in terms of what resources they choose to use or recommend to their individual pupils, based on individual need in their own educational context and circumstances.
Asked by: Jonathan Davies (Labour - Mid Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help improve (a) literacy and (b) access to books in schools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
High and rising school standards, with excellent foundations in reading, writing and mathematics, are at the heart of the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and give every child the best start in life.
In recognition of this, the department has implemented a range of measures to support reading for pleasure. The English Hubs programme supports the teaching of phonics, early language development and reading for pleasure, with a further £23 million committed for the 2024/25 academic year to support this work. Furthermore, the government’s reading framework provides guidance on improving the teaching of reading, to ensure that every child is not only able to read proficiently but also develops a genuine love of reading.
On 5 February, the government announced a £2 million investment to drive high and rising standards in reading and writing. Building on the success of phonics, teachers will receive additional training to help children progress from the early stages of phonics in reception and year 1 through to reading fluently by the time they leave primary school. This will be delivered through the English Hubs programme. In secondary school, teachers will be offered new training and resources this year to help them support readers at all levels, and next year the department will commission further training that will be focused specifically on struggling readers in secondary school who are at risk of falling behind. The department will also publish a writing framework in the summer, which will be a first step to support schools in delivering high quality writing provision across England.
The government has also established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, which will look closely at the key challenges to attainment for young people, in line with the government’s ambition for a curriculum that delivers excellent foundations in reading, writing and mathematics.
Headteachers have autonomy to decide how best to spend the core schools funding that the department allocates. This school funding can be used to fund books, librarians, school libraries and book corners. In Autumn Budget 2024 an additional £2.3 billion was announced for schools for the 2025/26 financial year, compared to 2024/25, bringing the total core schools budget to almost £63.9 billion in 2025/26. Public libraries complement school libraries in giving pupils access to a range of books and other kinds of texts, both in and out of school.
Asked by: Jonathan Davies (Labour - Mid Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of pupils(a) behaviour and (b) violence on the number of disrupted learning hours to other pupils.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The National Behaviour Survey (NBS), delivered through the department’s omnibus panel surveys, is the department’s vehicle to gather evidence on pupil behaviour and to understand how it potentially impacts on learning.
The behaviour survey questions allow the department to build up a national picture over time and act as a signpost to what schools need. In May 2024, teachers reported that for every 30 minutes of lesson time, 7 minutes were lost due to misbehaviour.
The department will continue to use data from the NBS to inform future strategy and policy improvements on behaviour.