Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to review the School Food Standards; and if she will update those standards in line with the UK’s climate targets.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The school food standards regulate the food and drink provided at lunchtime and at other times of the school day. Compliance with the school food standards is mandatory for all maintained schools, academies and free schools. It is important that children eat nutritious food at school and the department encourages schools to have a whole school approach to healthy eating.
The government has the ambition to source half of all food served in public sector settings from local producers or food that has been produced by growers certified to higher environmental standards, where possible. The government wants to use the purchasing power of the public sector food supply chain to lead the way and to set the tone in delivering the government’s wider ambitions on sustainability, animal welfare, economic growth, nutrition and health. The department has also committed to supporting schools to drive up their sustainable practices on food. Schools can voluntarily follow the government buying standards, which include lots of good advice around sustainable sourcing.
Ministerial teams are working with departmental officials on plans to deliver the government’s manifesto commitments, including making quick progress to deliver breakfast clubs in every primary school. The department’s aim is to deliver better life chances for all through a system which works for all. As part of this, as with all government programmes, the department will keep its approach to school food under continued review.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help improve school transport for children living in rural areas in Stratford-on-Avon constituency.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department’s home to school travel policy aims to make sure that no child is prevented from accessing education from a lack of transport. Local authorities must arrange free home to school travel for children of compulsory school age, 5 to 16, who attend their nearest school and would not be able to walk there because of the distance, their special educational needs, disability or mobility problem, or because the nature of the route means it would be unsafe for them to do so. There are extended rights to free travel for children from low-income families.
Parents are responsible for making travel arrangements for children who are not eligible for free home to school travel. Good local bus services are an essential part of prosperous and sustainable communities, providing access to schools and other services. This government has set out an action plan to deliver better bus services, grow passenger numbers and drive opportunity to under-served regions. As announced in the King’s Speech, the government will pass the Better Buses Bill to put the power over local bus services back in the hands of local leaders to ensure networks can meet the needs of the communities who rely on them, including in rural areas. The government also plans to empower local transport authorities by reforming bus funding to give local leaders more control and flexibility over their funding so they can plan ahead to deliver their local transport priorities.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of teachers in Stratford-on-Avon constituency.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
High-quality teaching is the factor that makes the biggest difference to a child’s education. There are now 468,693 full-time equivalent teachers in state-funded schools in England, but we must do more to ensure we have the workforce needed to provide the best possible education for every child in all parts of the country, which is why the government has set out the ambition to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers.
The first crucial step towards achieving this is to ensure teaching is once again an attractive and respected profession and that teachers get the pay they deserve. This is why the department has accepted, in full, the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendation of a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools from this September.
The department is providing schools with almost £1.1 billion in additional funding, in the 2024/25 financial year, to support schools with overall costs. This matches what the department has calculated is needed to fully fund, at a national level, the teacher pay award, and the support staff pay offer in the 2024/25 financial year, after accounting for the overall available headroom in schools’ existing budgets.
Alongside teacher pay, financial incentives are one of the most effective ways to increase teacher supply, and the department is continuing to support teacher trainees with tax-free bursaries of up to £28,000 and scholarships of up to £30,000 in shortage subjects. To help with retention, new teachers of mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing, in the first five years of their careers, also receive retention payments if they are working in disadvantaged schools. In the 2023/24 academic year, two schools in the Stratford-on-Avon constituency were eligible for these retention payments.
To further help teachers stay and thrive in the profession, the department is also addressing teacher workload and wellbeing and supporting schools to introduce flexible working practices.
The department has also established Teaching School Hubs across the country, which provide approved high-quality professional development to teachers at all stages of their careers. Tudor Grange Teaching School Hub is a centre of excellence supporting teacher training and development across Bromsgrove, Redditch, Solihull and Stratford-on-Avon.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of SEND provision in Warwickshire; and whether she plans to take steps with Warwickshire County Council to help improve the (a) funding and (b) delivery of SEND services.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Following the last Ofsted inspection, officials have been working with Warwickshire County Council (WCC) to closely monitor progress against the area for improvement identified by inspectors.
The areas were:
(i) Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) waiting times, assessments and support following diagnosis.
(ii) Co-production.
(iii) Placement of children and young people with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan.
(iv) Uptake of training for school staff working with children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
(v) And the quality of the online local offer.
The department appointed a SEND advisor to support and work alongside WCC and the local area partnership.
This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with SEND or in alternative provision (AP) receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life. The department is committed to taking a community-wide approach in collaboration with Local Area Partnerships, improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, as well as ensuring special schools cater to those with the most complex needs.
The department recognises the financial pressures on local authorities due to rising costs in the SEND system. The Core Schools Budget Grant (CSBG) will provide over £140 million, at a national level, in additional funding for special and AP schools in the 2024/25 academic year, to cover increased costs from the 2024 teachers' pay award and the outcome of the support staff negotiations. This is in addition to the £10.75 billion allocated this year for high needs provision and teacher-related costs. Local authorities’ allocations of the CSBG will be confirmed this autumn.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make a comparative assessment of the adequacy of funding per pupil in (a) Stratford-on-Avon constituency, (b) Warwickshire and (c) nationally.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The overall core schools budget will total £61.8 billion in the 2024/25 financial year. The average per pupil funding in England, as allocated through the schools block of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG), is £5,957.
In the 2024/25 financial year, the average per-pupil funding for Warwickshire, as allocated through the schools block of the DSG, is £5,634.
The DSG is allocated at local authority level, and as such the equivalent figures are not available for the Stratford-on-Avon constituency. The allocations that schools within a constituency receive are determined by the local funding formula in their area.
The figures provided include premises funding but exclude growth funding. The figures do not include the additional grant funding that schools across the country have received to support pay and pensions increases in 2024/25.
One reason why the per pupil funding figure in Warwickshire is lower than the average in England is that schools in Warwickshire have a lower proportion of pupils who attract deprivation funding through the NFF than the national average.
The department continues to consider the various funding formulae used at national and local levels to ensure that we have a fair education funding system that directs funding to where it is needed.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve SEND provision in Stratford-on-Avon constituency.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Following the last Ofsted inspection, departmental officials have been working with Warwickshire County Council (WCC) to closely monitor progress against the areas for improvement identified by inspectors.
The areas were:
(i) Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) waiting times, assessments and support following diagnosis.
(ii) Co-production.
(iii) Placement of children and young people with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan.
(iv) Uptake of training for school staff working with children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
(v) And the quality of the online local offer.
The department has appointed a SEND Advisor to support and work alongside WCC and the local area partnership.
This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with SEND or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life. The department is committed to taking a community-wide approach in collaboration with local area partnerships, improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, as well as ensuring special schools cater to those with the most complex needs.