Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much (a) capital and (b) other funding he has allocated to the planned national SEND and alternative provision implementation strategy.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Green Paper set out investments in the SEND and AP system, including:
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
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 increasing funding for Teachers of the Deaf under the planned national SEND and alternative provision implementation strategy.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The department remains committed to publishing the government’s response to the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Green Paper consultation in a national SEND and AP improvement plan in due course. This will set out the government’s response to the consultation, including how we are supporting the workforce to meet the needs of children and young people. The department will not be commenting on individual policy proposals ahead of the response being issued.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he plans to publish a specialist special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) workforce strategy as part of the planned national SEND and alternative provision implementation strategy.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The department remains committed to publishing the government’s response to the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Green Paper consultation in a national SEND and AP improvement plan in due course. This will set out the government’s response to the consultation, including how we are supporting the workforce to meet the needs of children and young people. The department will not be commenting on individual policy proposals ahead of the response being issued.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the steps his Department has taken to help children’s education recover from the impact of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Robin Walker
Understanding the impact of the COVID-19 disruption on the attainment and progress of all students is a key research priority for the government. That is why we invested in research into academic progress over the 2020/21 and 2021/22 academic years with Renaissance Learning and the Education Policy Institute. The latest findings from this research, published 28 March, include data from the first half of the 2021-22 autumn term. The findings from this research have been published on gov.uk at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupils-progress-in-the-2020-to-2022-academic-years
Our latest evidence suggests recovery is happening, with primary pupils recovering around 0.1 months in reading and 0.9 months in maths since Summer 2021, and recovering 1.5 months in reading and 1.7 months in maths since Spring 2021, with pupils now only 0.8 months and 1.9 months behind in reading and maths respectively.
This is equivalent to recovering around two thirds of progress lost due to the pandemic in primary reading and around half of progress lost in primary maths since Spring 2021.
Progress for secondary pupils in key stage 3 remains a concern, with pupils now on average around 2.4 months behind in reading, having seen losses since Summer 2021.
We are making some progress in closing gaps between disadvantaged pupils and their peers, additional gaps created by the COVID-19 pandemic appear to have reduced in primary maths and secondary reading since Summer 2021. However, the gap for primary reading appears to have grown.
In line with this evidence, we have announced £1 billion to extend the recovery premium over the next two academic years. This will enable schools to provide additional support for the most disadvantaged, and will be weighted more towards secondary pupils to reflect evidence showing greater learning loss for older pupils, who also have less time left in education. This is part of the nearly £5 billion of funding we have announced for an ambitious, multi-year education recovery plan to support young people to catch up on missed learning.
Recovery funding is already making a difference. By May 2022 1.5 million courses had been started by children across England through the National Tutoring Programme, and £950 million of direct funding through the catch up and recovery premia, was helping schools to deliver evidence-based interventions based on pupil needs. In light of the success of this year’s school-led tutoring route through the National Tutoring Programme, next year we will allocate all tutoring funding directly to schools, simplifying the system and giving schools the freedom to decide how best to provide tutoring for their pupils.
In addition to this, the Schools White Paper, 'Opportunity for all: strong schools with great teachers for your child', sets out how our education system will deliver recovery, not just through our specific recovery investments, but through a wider programme of ambitious reforms that truly level up outcomes and ensure we build back better from the pandemic.
The Parent Pledge in the Schools White Paper will also make the government’s vision clear that any child who falls behind in English or maths will receive the right evidence-based targeted support to get them back on track.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools had signed-up to receive support from the National School Breakfast Programme as of 14 February 2022.
Answered by Will Quince
The government is committed to continuing support for school breakfast clubs and the department is investing up to £24 million to continue its national programme until July 2023. This funding will support up to 2,500 schools in disadvantaged areas, meaning that thousands of children from low-income families will be offered free nutritious breakfasts to better support their attainment, wellbeing, and readiness to learn.
The enrolment process is still underway for schools that wish to sign up to the programme. The figures released by Family Action on 23 March 2022 show that 1,800 schools have signed up to the school breakfast programme. The department will work with the supplier Family Action to continue to monitor the data and consider suitable opportunities to share more information on the programme as it progresses.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the student drop out rate was at higher education institutions in England in each of the last five years.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Official statistics on student retention are published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) as part of their UK performance indicators, which can be found here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/performance-indicators.
The non-continuation section shows the results of two measures for understanding retention of students through their studies:
The non-continuation section is available here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/performance-indicators/non-continuation.
Latest statistics published by HESA refer to students entering higher education (HE) in the academic year 2019/20 and whether they continued in the following academic year (2020/21). This is the first period of data that covers the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Table D, which can be found here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/performance-indicators/non-continuation/table-d includes non-continuation rates at English providers since 2014/15[1], and shows that 5.4% of young[2] UK domiciled full-time first degree entrants in the academic year 2019/20 did not continue after their first year of study. This rate represents a decrease from 6.7% for entrants in the 2018/19 academic year.
Table F, which can be found here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/performance-indicators/non-continuation/table-f includes projected outcomes at English providers since 1997/98, and shows that 81.7% of UK domiciled full-time first-degree starters in the 2019/20 academic year were projected to obtain a degree at the same HE provider where they started. 9.7% of these starters were projected to leave higher education with no award, and this is the lowest proportion since these statistics have been calculated.
[1] HESA’s publication archive contains historic non-continuation rates for academic years prior to 2014/15. These were calculated under a slightly different methodology, as set out in these publications. The archive is available here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/publications
[2] Aged 20 and under at time of entry.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has plans to introduce (a) national standards for training on restraint in schools and (b) requirements for data on restraints in schools to be published.
Answered by Robin Walker
The government is giving careful consideration to the recommendations of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s inquiry into the training, monitoring, data collection and recording of the use of restraint in mainstream and special schools. The department will set out its position in due course.
Regarding broader behaviour management issues, the department is currently consulting on the draft Behaviour in Schools guidance and Suspension and Permanent Exclusion guidance. These will equip headteachers to create calm, orderly, safe and supportive school environments where all pupils can thrive and reach their potential in safety and dignity and where exclusions are only ever used lawfully, and when absolutely necessary as a last resort. The consultation closes on 31 March 2022.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department is taking steps to implement the recommendations of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s report entitled How schools are monitoring the use of restraint; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Robin Walker
The government is giving careful consideration to the recommendations of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s inquiry into the training, monitoring, data collection and recording of the use of restraint in mainstream and special schools. The department will set out its position in due course.
Regarding broader behaviour management issues, the department is currently consulting on the draft Behaviour in Schools guidance and Suspension and Permanent Exclusion guidance. These will equip headteachers to create calm, orderly, safe and supportive school environments where all pupils can thrive and reach their potential in safety and dignity and where exclusions are only ever used lawfully, and when absolutely necessary as a last resort. The consultation closes on 31 March 2022.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent guidance he has issued to (a) local authorities and (b) academy trusts on using non-disclosure agreements for school staff.
Answered by Robin Walker
The department has issued no new advice to local authorities or schools in relation to non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). Our position remains as set out in paragraph 5.29 of the Staffing and Employment Advice for Schools, that any settlement agreement between a school and a member of staff that includes a confidentiality clause must adhere to the provisions set out in the Employment Rights Act 1996.
Advice in relation to NDAs has recently been focused on higher education providers. On 18 January 2022, my right hon. Friend, the Minister for Higher and Further Education launched a new pledge alongside Maria Miller MP and Can’t Buy My Silence, which commits universities to not using NDAs to silence victims of sexual misconduct, bullying, or other forms of harassment. The list of those universities who have signed the pledge will be held by the campaign group, Can't Buy My Silence, and hosted on their website.
Harassment of any sort is abhorrent and cannot be tolerated at schools, colleges or universities. Education providers have a responsibility to ensure that they provide a safe and inclusive environment for all students and staff.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to his Department’s publication Build Back Better: Our Plan for Growth, if he will publish the (a) number of people aged between 16 and 64 that qualified to NVQ4+ in each NUTS2 region in England and (b) gross value added per hour worked in each of those regions in the most recent year for which both sets of data are available.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) Nomis data portal provides official labour market statistics. The attached table provides the number of people aged between 16 and 64 that are qualified to NVQ4+ in each Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics 2 (NUTS2) region in England in 2020 as estimated from the annual population survey.
Latest data on gross value added per hour worked is published by the ONS and available here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/labourproductivity/datasets/subregionalproductivitylabourproductivitygvaperhourworkedandgvaperfilledjobindicesbyuknuts2andnuts3subregions. This data release uses International Territorial Levels as the new UK geographies classification system. This has superseded the NUTS classification system. This transition has not changed the names of regions or the areas covered by them.