Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to support the SEND-specialist Further Education sector; and what central capital grants have been provided to that sector during the last ten years.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department has now published allocations for £740 million of high needs capital funding for the 2025/26 financial year. Of this funding, Birmingham has been allocated a total of just under £15 million which can be used to deliver new places in mainstream and special schools, as well as other specialist settings including early years, post-16 settings and alternative provision. It can also be used to improve the suitability and accessibility of existing buildings.
This is in addition to over £3 billion of high needs capital funding allocated to local authorities since 2018.
The department has also announced allocations of high needs revenue funding, which will be allocated as part of the dedicated schools grant to local authorities, and which they can use to support specialist further education provision for young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), particularly those with education, health and care plans, as well as children with SEND in the schools sector. High needs funding will total over £12 billion in the 2025/26 financial year.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of children in state-funded schools were educated in special schools in each year from 2010-11.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department publishes data on the number of children in special schools and the total number of pupils in state-funded schools in the following publication: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england. Data since 2015/16 can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/9e7bff83-c9e9-4503-9355-08dd6ba01329. The same data for years 2010/11 to 2014/15 can be accessed at:: https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.publishing.service.gov.uk%2Fmedia%2F5a80340040f0b62305b89c8b%2FSFR25-2015_TABLES_NATIONAL.xlsx&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many staff employed by multi academy trusts were paid (a) between £150,000 and £199,999, (b) between £200,000 and £249,999 and (c) in excess of £250,000 in each of the last five years by trust.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department collates and publishes data annually in the ‘Academies sector annual report and accounts’ on the number of academy trusts with an individual staff member whose emoluments are above £100,000. The data is available in the attached spreadsheet and can also be accessed in the reports published on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/academies-sector-annual-reports-and-accounts.
Emoluments include salary, employer pension contributions and other benefits received during the year. These are reported in bandings of £100,000 to £150,000 and £150,000 and above.
The department also publishes an annex alongside the academy sector accounts listing academy trusts paying one or more staff member remuneration of £150,000 in that year.
The academies sector annual report and accounts is drawn from academy trusts’ accounts data. The report for 2022/23 will be published shortly. The deadline for academy trusts to submit data for 2023/24 to the department was 28 January 2025 and this data is currently collated for publication. Academy trusts must also publish pay information in their annual audited accounts and on their website.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many staff employed by single academy trusts were paid (a) between £150,000 and £199,999, (b) between £200,000 and £249,999 and (c) in excess of £250,000 in each of the last five years by trust.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department collates and publishes data annually in the ‘Academies sector annual report and accounts’ on the number of academy trusts with an individual staff member whose emoluments are above £100,000. The data is available in the attached spreadsheet and can also be accessed in the reports published on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/academies-sector-annual-reports-and-accounts.
Emoluments include salary, employer pension contributions and other benefits received during the year. These are reported in bandings of £100,000 to £150,000 and £150,000 and above.
The department also publishes an annex alongside the academy sector accounts listing academy trusts paying one or more staff member remuneration of £150,000 in that year.
The academies sector annual report and accounts is drawn from academy trusts’ accounts data. The report for 2022/23 will be published shortly. The deadline for academy trusts to submit data for 2023/24 to the department was 28 January 2025 and this data is currently collated for publication. Academy trusts must also publish pay information in their annual audited accounts and on their website.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what contracts (a) BFS Group Limited and (b) subsidiary companies of BFS Group Limited hold with (i) her Department and (ii) agencies of her Department.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Following a search of the department's contract records for any supplier with “BFS Group Limited” in its name, it has been concluded that there are no live or historical contracts with that supplier.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 98 of the Education and Skills Funding Agency's publication entitled Annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 March 2024, published on 29 July 2024, if she will break down the table entitled Financial outcomes: error / suspected fraud by (a) academy trusts, (b) further education colleges and (c) independent training providers.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The information requested can be found in the attached table.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 10 January 2025 to Question 23229, on Teachers: Pay, if she will provide the same data for newly qualified teachers.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Information on the school workforce is published in the ‘School workforce in England’ statistical publication, which is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
The attached table provides the full-time equivalent median average salary for newly qualified teachers in academy schools, free schools, local authority maintained schools and all state-funded schools in England, as at November 2023.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the (a) number and (b) proportion of school support staff in state-funded schools in England who are employed on (i) zero-hour and (ii) term time-only contracts.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Information on the school workforce is published in the ‘School Workforce in England’ statistical publication here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
The school workforce census does not collect figures on zero-hour contracts and does not directly identify term time-only contracts. In November 2023, the latest information available, there were 71,000 school support staff contracts for between 37 and 40 weeks, the likely duration of term time-only contracts, in state-funded schools in England. This equates to 13% of support staff contracts where a duration was reported.
Support staff may have more than one contract, so individuals may be counted more than once.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of extending the provision of air cleaning units to education facilities.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department regularly reviews its guidance to ensure that it aligns with best practice and industry standards, to deliver high-quality school environments.
Between January 2022 and April 2023, the department provided over 9,000 air cleaning units to over 1,300 settings that had been identified with poor ventilation. The department has published guidance on how to use CO2 monitors and air cleaning units, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/using-co-monitors-and-air-cleaning-units-in-education-and-care-settings.
The department also publishes non-statutory guidance on indoor and outdoor air quality in ‘Building Bulletin 101: Guidelines on ventilation, thermal comfort and indoor air quality in schools’ (BB101), which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/building-bulletin-101-ventilation-for-school-buildings.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made on the guidance for schools on mitigating poor air quality.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department regularly reviews its guidance to ensure that it aligns with best practice and industry standards, to deliver high-quality school environments.
Between January 2022 and April 2023, the department provided over 9,000 air cleaning units to over 1,300 settings that had been identified with poor ventilation. The department has published guidance on how to use CO2 monitors and air cleaning units, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/using-co-monitors-and-air-cleaning-units-in-education-and-care-settings.
The department also publishes non-statutory guidance on indoor and outdoor air quality in ‘Building Bulletin 101: Guidelines on ventilation, thermal comfort and indoor air quality in schools’ (BB101), which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/building-bulletin-101-ventilation-for-school-buildings.