Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of children who are routinely missing school because they are unable to afford menstrual products.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
No girl should be held back from reaching her potential because of her background or gender. Our current Sex and Relationships Education guidance encourages schools to make adequate and sensitive arrangements to help girls cope with menstruation. Schools are best placed to identify and address the needs of their pupils, have discretion over how they use their funding and can make sanitary products available to disadvantaged pupils if they identify this as a barrier to attainment or attendance. We support schools in addressing the needs of disadvantaged pupils through the provision of the Pupil Premium, equivalent to almost £2.5bn of additional funding this year alone.
The department is committed to ensuring that any policy aimed at improving the attendance or attainment of pupils eligible for free school meals is based on robust evidence. We have sought to establish whether there has been any rigorous national assessment of the prevalence of period poverty or its impact on attendance, however none appears available. The department reached out to school stakeholders in July 2017 through the Association of School and College Leaders forum asking for contributions on the issue and have received a very limited response.
The department collects information on absence through the termly school census. We collect data on the number of possible sessions, number of authorised absences, number of unauthorised absences and the reason for absence for each pupil. The reasons for absence do not include a category, which would enable sessions missed due to a lack of access to menstrual products to be identified. The method of data collection does not enable us to identify pupils who are routinely missing school as we collect information on the total sessions missed each term. Full details of the absence data we collect in school census can be found in the census guidance here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-census . We are producing additional analysis of our absence data to look for evidence of period poverty and will publish findings in due course.
We have made it a priority to reduce school absence for all pupils and there has been some notable success in this area, with overall yearly absence rates decreasing from 6.5% of possible sessions missed in 2006/7 to 4.6% in 2015/16.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will bring forward proposals to provide free menstrual products to children on free school meals.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
No girl should be held back from reaching her potential because of her background or gender. Our current Sex and Relationships Education guidance encourages schools to make adequate and sensitive arrangements to help girls cope with menstruation. Schools are best placed to identify and address the needs of their pupils, have discretion over how they use their funding and can make sanitary products available to disadvantaged pupils if they identify this as a barrier to attainment or attendance. We support schools in addressing the needs of disadvantaged pupils through the provision of the Pupil Premium, equivalent to almost £2.5bn of additional funding this year alone.
The department is committed to ensuring that any policy aimed at improving the attendance or attainment of pupils eligible for free school meals is based on robust evidence. We have sought to establish whether there has been any rigorous national assessment of the prevalence of period poverty or its impact on attendance, however none appears available. The department reached out to school stakeholders in July 2017 through the Association of School and College Leaders forum asking for contributions on the issue and have received a very limited response.
The department collects information on absence through the termly school census. We collect data on the number of possible sessions, number of authorised absences, number of unauthorised absences and the reason for absence for each pupil. The reasons for absence do not include a category, which would enable sessions missed due to a lack of access to menstrual products to be identified. The method of data collection does not enable us to identify pupils who are routinely missing school as we collect information on the total sessions missed each term. Full details of the absence data we collect in school census can be found in the census guidance here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-census . We are producing additional analysis of our absence data to look for evidence of period poverty and will publish findings in due course.
We have made it a priority to reduce school absence for all pupils and there has been some notable success in this area, with overall yearly absence rates decreasing from 6.5% of possible sessions missed in 2006/7 to 4.6% in 2015/16.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that kinship carers have sufficient financial support.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Kinship carers’ access to financial support depends on the individual circumstances of the carer and the child. This includes whether the arrangement in place is formal or informal and whether a child in an informal arrangement is recognised as being ‘in need’ under s17 of the Children Act 1989.
The Children Act 1989 sets out the duties and responsibilities of local authorities to support the needs of all children living with family and friends carers. Statutory guidance “Children Act 1989: family and friends care”, published during the last Parliament, strengthened the requirements on local authorities to support families and friends caring arrangements, including on financial support.
The guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/children-act-1989-family-and-friends-care.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that all children in nursery have access to a qualified Early Years Teacher.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
On 3 March the Department for Education published an early years workforce strategy which seeks to remove the barriers to attracting, retaining and developing staff.
For graduates we have begun the process to amend regulations so that early years teachers can lead teaching in nursery and reception classes in maintained schools. Over the longer term, we are going to consider how plans to strengthen QTS could offer positive opportunities for early years teachers. We also want to make sure that all settings serving disadvantaged children can access specialist graduates, so we are commissioning a feasibility study to explore how best to achieve this.
The strategy is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-workforce-strategy
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effects of the introduction of the National Funding Formula on funding for schools in the North East.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Since 2010, this Government has protected the core schools budget. This year, it is the largest ever on record, totalling over £40 billion. It will continue to rise for the rest of this Parliament, as pupil numbers rise.
We are currently consulting on a national funding formula for schools, which will be implemented from 2018-19. Our proposals for funding reform will mean that schools 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.
Schools in the North East would overall gain 1.0% per-pupil as a result of our proposals and 60% (622) of schools in the region would see an increase in funding.
Schools that are due to gain funding will do so quickly, with increases of up to 3% per pupil in 2018-19 and 2.5% in 2019-20.
To ensure stability for schools, we have proposed substantial protections to limit reductions to any individual school’s budget to manageable levels. No school will face a reduction of more than 1.5% per pupil per year or 3% per pupil overall.
We are also supporting 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.
This collection includes benchmarking tools and the recently published Schools’ Buying Strategy which will help schools make significant savings, over £1 billion a year by 2019-20, in non-pay and procurement costs.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that schools in the North East are adequately funded.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Since 2010, this Government has protected the core schools budget. This year, it is the largest ever on record, totalling over £40 billion. It will continue to rise for the rest of this Parliament, as pupil numbers rise.
We are currently consulting on a national funding formula for schools, which will be implemented from 2018-19. Our proposals for funding reform will mean that schools 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.
Schools in the North East would overall gain 1.0% per-pupil as a result of our proposals and 60% (622) of schools in the region would see an increase in funding.
Schools that are due to gain funding will do so quickly, with increases of up to 3% per pupil in 2018-19 and 2.5% in 2019-20.
To ensure stability for schools, we have proposed substantial protections to limit reductions to any individual school’s budget to manageable levels. No school will face a reduction of more than 1.5% per pupil per year or 3% per pupil overall.
We are also supporting 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.
This collection includes benchmarking tools and the recently published Schools’ Buying Strategy which will help schools make significant savings, over £1 billion a year by 2019-20, in non-pay and procurement costs.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to encourage greater uptake of free milk in schools and nurseries.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The government wants pupils to be healthy and well nourished. We already encourage the consumption of dairy products as part of a balanced diet through school funding, legislation and guidance.
Schools must provide free milk to all disadvantaged pupils when it is served during the school day as required by free school meals and milk legislation. Free milk is also provided to pupils in reception, year 1 and 2 when served as part of universal infant free school meals provision. To improve uptake, we are exploring what opportunities exist in the longer term to make the free school meals registration processes more efficient.
The School Food Standards provide the legislative framework to ensure schools provide children with healthy food and drink options, which includes a requirement to make milk available at least once during the school day. As part of our work on the childhood obesity plan we will be promoting these standards to those academies and free schools where they do not already apply.
Department of Health spending on the Nursery Milk Scheme has doubled since 2007/08. The Scheme provides 1/3 pint (189ml) of milk per day to children under the age of five attending childminders or private and local authority nurseries for at least two hours a day. In addition, the EU School Milk Scheme provides subsidised milk to school children and plays a valuable role in encouraging the consumption of dairy products and contributing to the development of healthy eating habits from an early age.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to make funding for the Primary PE and Sport Premium available to provide activity opportunities for children during school holidays.
Answered by Edward Timpson
We want all pupils to be healthy and active. Since 2013, we have provided over £450million of ring-fenced funding to improve PE and sport in primary schools, and have committed to doubling the primary PE and sport premium to £320million a year from September 2017 using revenue from the soft drinks industry levy.
Schools have the freedom to decide how best to use the funding based on the needs of their pupils, and some schools may elect to provide extra-curricular activities for pupils during school holidays. However, this is a decision for the school, based on their local circumstances.
In addition to providing funding through the premium, there are also a number of initiatives underway across Government to improve levels of physical activity in children. This includes a new £40million investment from Sport England into projects which offer opportunities for families with children to get active and play sport together outside of school.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with teachers on her proposal that all schools be required to convert to academies.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Secretary of State regularly meets teachers at a range of events while visiting schools and in meetings at the Department as well as headteacher reference groups and expert panels. In these meetings, the Secretary of State discusses the Government’s commitment to achieving educational excellence everywhere.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many primary and secondary students in (a) Sunderland and (b) England have been funded by the pupil premium in each of the last five years.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Pupil Premium was introduced in April 2011. Information on the number of pupils funded by year is not available but the attached tables show the amounts of funding allocated.
Data which split the pupil premium into the primary and secondary phases of education is only available for the deprivation element of the premium. This is paid to schools for the number of pupils who are eligible for free school meals (currently or in the previous six years). Information on deprivation pupil premium by primary and secondary year groups was first published in 2013/14.