Asked by: Laura Pidcock (Labour - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate he has made of the number of children affected by changes to eligibility for free school meals under universal credit.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
We estimate that around 50,000 more children will benefit from free school meals (FSM) by 2022, compared to the previous system.
No child will lose their entitlement to FSM because of these changes. As well as the additional 50,000 pupils mentioned above, hundreds of thousands more children will benefit from the generous protections we will provide.
Asked by: Laura Pidcock (Labour - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he had made of the effectiveness of non-vocational funding for post-16 year olds in rural communities.
Answered by Anne Milton
The same funding arrangements apply to 16 to 19-year olds education in different types of institutions and for different programmes, including academic and vocational. The Department for Education and its agencies have previously considered using a sparsity factor for 16 to 19-year olds education (given a factor of this kind is used in 5 to 16-year olds school funding). However, a sparsity factor was not introduced into the 16 to 19-year olds funding system.
16 to 19-year olds education is different in nature to 5 to 16-year olds education. There is a more diverse set of education and training providers to consider, offering a wider choice of programmes. Post-16 students often travel further to access these education options. We recognise that the cost and availability of transport can be an issue for students. Local authorities have a duty to publish a transport policy statement each year that sets out the travel arrangements they will make to support young people to access 16 to 19-year olds education, together with a duty to encourage and support young people to participate in education and training.
The 16-19 Bursary Fund enables disadvantaged students to access funding to meet the costs of participating in education and training, and can be used to contribute to transport costs.
Asked by: Laura Pidcock (Labour - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a sparsity factor for rural schools in post-16 education.
Answered by Anne Milton
The same funding arrangements apply to 16 to 19-year olds education in different types of institutions and for different programmes, including academic and vocational. The Department for Education and its agencies have previously considered using a sparsity factor for 16 to 19-year olds education (given a factor of this kind is used in 5 to 16-year olds school funding). However, a sparsity factor was not introduced into the 16 to 19-year olds funding system.
16 to 19-year olds education is different in nature to 5 to 16-year olds education. There is a more diverse set of education and training providers to consider, offering a wider choice of programmes. Post-16 students often travel further to access these education options. We recognise that the cost and availability of transport can be an issue for students. Local authorities have a duty to publish a transport policy statement each year that sets out the travel arrangements they will make to support young people to access 16 to 19-year olds education, together with a duty to encourage and support young people to participate in education and training.
The 16-19 Bursary Fund enables disadvantaged students to access funding to meet the costs of participating in education and training, and can be used to contribute to transport costs.
Asked by: Laura Pidcock (Labour - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the real terms net change in funding will be for schools in County Durham under the new national funding formula.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department published full details of the school and high needs national funding formulae, and the impact they will have for every local authority here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-funding-formula-tables-for-schools-and-high-needs.
The national funding formula would allocate an additional 2.8% to schools in County Durham, if implemented in full based on 2017-18 pupil data. This represents an increase of £8.0 million. The actual funding that County Durham will receive will be determined each year on the basis of the most recent pupil data available.
As the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies has said, the additional £1.3 billion we are allocating to schools funding means that overall funding per pupil across the country will now be maintained in real terms up to 2020.
Asked by: Laura Pidcock (Labour - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of the new national funding formula on schools in rural areas.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Schools in districts identified as rural by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs would gain on average 3.9%. Of these, remote schools that attract additional funding through the sparsity factor will gain on average 5.0%, which ensures that the higher costs of these schools are recognised.
These figures are calculated as if the national funding formula had been implemented in full in 2017-18, with no transitional arrangements.
Asked by: Laura Pidcock (Labour - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of teacher and other school professionals' experience of referring children and young people to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services; and what analysis has been conducted by her Department of the time taken from referral to treatment for such services.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Questions about access to mental health services were included as a part of the Teacher Voice Omnibus Survey (2017) and the Supporting Mental Health in Schools and Colleges Survey (2017).
Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission are conducting joint inspections of each local area’s approach to identifying and meeting special educational needs and disabilities, including for mental health. The area inspection reports are published on the Ofsted website.
The evaluation of phase one of the joint Department for Education and NHS England Mental Health Services and schools link pilot considered how joint working can improve referrals across 255 schools in 27 areas. Phase two of the pilot will include up to 1200 more schools in 20 areas and will also be evaluated.
The Children and Young People’s Mental Health Green Paper, which will be published before the end of the year, will consider how we can further improve access to treatment.
Asked by: Laura Pidcock (Labour - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the levels of sexual harassment in schools in North West Durham.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Schools and colleges should be safe places for all children to learn and we are clear that sexual harassment should never be tolerated in a school.
Schools are under a statutory duty, set out in the department’s guidance, Keeping children safe in education (KCSIE), to safeguard and promote the welfare of their pupils. KCSIE sets out what staff should know and do to protect children. It also sets out that schools should have an effective child protection policy. The policy should include procedures to minimise the risk of peer on peer abuse and how allegations will be investigated and dealt with.
Our recent Pupil, Parent and Carers omnibus survey (July 2017) shows that 8% of the 857 female respondents said that a boy had touched them inappropriately and without permission at least once or twice in the last year. 28% of female respondents to the same survey said that they had experienced someone saying something sexual or sexist to them at least once or twice in the last year.
We do not hold data on incidents of sexual harassment in schools in specific parliamentary constituencies.
Ofsted inspectors will always consider whether safeguarding arrangements are effective and, if safeguarding is inadequate, this will be reflected in the overall rating of the school.
The hon. member for North West Durham will be aware, as discussed in the debate on sexual harassment and sexual violence in schools on 2 November 2017, of the steps the department will be taking to address the issues. We will be publishing interim advice for schools this term. The advice will cover child in child sexual violence and sexual harassment. We will also launch a public consultation, this term, on proposed updates to KCSIE. We intend to publish revised guidance, for information, early in the summer term 2018. This will then be commenced and come into force at the start of the September 2018 school year.