Asked by: Maria Caulfield (Conservative - Lewes)
Question to the Department for Education:
What recent discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on additional funding for rural schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, meets Treasury ministers regularly to discuss matters of shared interest, including funding for schools.
The Department provides additional support aimed at rural schools. For example, the sparsity factor in the National Funding Formula allocates £25 million specifically to schools that are both small and remote.
Asked by: Maria Caulfield (Conservative - Lewes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the financial viability of rural schools in England.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The national funding formula includes support for schools in rural areas, and the sparsity factor allocates additional funding of £25 million specifically to remote schools. The formula also provides a lump sum of £110,000 for every school as a contribution to the costs that do not vary with pupil numbers. This aims to give schools certainty that they will attract a fixed amount each year in addition to their pupil-led funding.
When the lump sum is coupled with the sparsity factor, this provides significant support for small and remote schools that play an essential role in rural communities. A small, rural primary school eligible for sparsity funding will attract up to £135,000 in total through the lump sum and sparsity factors and a small secondary school will attract up to £175,000.
In addition, the formula has already allocated an increase for every pupil in every school in 2018-19, with increases of up to 3% per pupil for the most underfunded schools, including some in rural areas. In 2019-20, those schools that have been historically underfunded will see further gains of up to 3% per pupil, as the Department continues to make progress in addressing historic unfairness. Alongside this, the Department has been able to ensure that all schools will attract an increase of 1% per pupil by 2019-20, compared to 2017-18.
Asked by: Maria Caulfield (Conservative - Lewes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure an adequate long-term funding settlement for schools in England.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government continues to invest in schools, with an additional £1.3 billion across 2018/19 and 2019/20, over and above the plans set out at the last spending review, meaning that the total core schools and high needs budget will rise from almost £41 billion in 2017/18 to £43.5 billion in 2019/20. The Department will be making a strong case to the Treasury at the next spending review to ensure that we have the resourcing we need for our schools.
Asked by: Maria Caulfield (Conservative - Lewes)
Question to the Department for Education:
What recent discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on additional funding for rural schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State meets Her Majesty's Treasury Ministers regularly to discuss matters of shared interest, including funding for schools.
The Department provides additional support aimed at rural schools. For example, the sparsity factor in the National Funding Formula allocates £25 million specifically to schools that are both small and remote.
Asked by: Maria Caulfield (Conservative - Lewes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools have installed a defibrillator.
Answered by Edward Timpson
We do not hold information on the number of schools that have installed an automated external defibrillator on schools grounds, as the purchasing of a defibrillator is a matter for individual head teachers.
We know however how important swift access to a defibrillator can be in cases of cardiac arrest, which is why the Government is encouraging schools and other eligible settings to purchase a defibrillator as part of their first-aid equipment.
To make it as easy as possible for schools to do so, the Department has negotiated a deal with NHS Supply Chain to offer defibrillators to schools at a reduced cost. Since the scheme was launched in November 2014, 1831 defibrillators have been purchased through this route.
Asked by: Maria Caulfield (Conservative - Lewes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support her Department provides (a) at home and (b) in schools for children who have special educational needs and disabilities.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The system for identifying and meeting the needs of all children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and disabilities is designed to deliver the right support for all children, so that they can achieve their potential and their education prepares them well for fulfilling adult lives.
We legislated through the Children and Families Act 2014 to strengthen the system and have invested in practical and financial support for schools, local authorities and other key players in the system to help ensure that the reforms lead to a real improvement in children’s experiences. We have, for example, protected the overall school budget and increased the funding for children and young people with high needs by over £90 million this year. To ensure that local authorities have capacity to implement the reforms effectively, our additional funding included a £70 million SEN Reform Grant in 2014-15 to help local authorities plan for the SEN and disabilities reforms, and three grants (£45 million in 2014-15, £32 million in 2015-16 and £35.8 million in 2016-17) to local authorities to pay for the additional costs of implementing the reforms.
All schools are required to put in place systems for the early identification of SEN and disabilities and to use their best endeavours to meet those needs. For most pupils with SEN, schools will meet needs through ‘SEN Support’. Schools will use the ‘graduated approach’, a cycle in which they assess what support is needed, plan and deliver it and then review its impact and improve the support a child actually needs. For those pupils with more complex or severe SEN and disabilities, following a multi-agency assessment, local authorities will issue an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan setting out the provision that must be made.
A key element of the SEN and disabilities system and the recent reforms is ensuring that parents and carers are empowered to work with schools and others over the provision that is made for their children. By working together, families, local authorities and schools can provide more effective support to a child (in school and at home) to meet their SEN. For example, the 2014 Act requires local authorities to work with families over producing a Local Offer. That offer sets out in one place information about provision an authority expects to be available across education, health and social care for children and young people in its area who have SEN and disabilities, including those who do not have EHC plans. This should provide clear, comprehensive, accessible and up-to-date information about the available provision and how to access it. The offer should include what support is available to parents to aid their child’s development at home. The local authority has to publish a statement on short breaks for disabled children, young people and their families and this will form a core part of its offer. The statutory 0-25 SEN and Disabilities Code of Practice also describes a wide range of services that schools, Early Years providers, local authorities, health bodies and others provide to families to help meet SEN within the home. This includes, for example, services for pre-school age children and therapies that include programmes for implementation at home.
Asked by: Maria Caulfield (Conservative - Lewes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the relationship between faith-based admissions policies and ethnic diversity in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The department does not conduct such assessments or collect data on individual schools’ admission arrangements. The department does publish data on the ethnicity of pupils enrolled at schools in England. This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-school-and-pupil-numbers
It is for individual schools with a faith designation to decide whether or not to adopt faith-based admission arrangements, in the local context of their school.
When constructing faith-based oversubscription criteria, they must have due regard to the guidance of their religious authority, and their arrangements must comply with the School Admissions Code.
Asked by: Maria Caulfield (Conservative - Lewes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what comparative assessment her Department has made of the ethnic diversity among pupils of Catholic schools and non-Catholic schools.
Answered by Edward Timpson
All schools are subject to the Equality Act 2010 and must comply with the requirements of the Schools Admission Code. The legislation is already available within the Equality Act 2010 and the Admission Code, which ensures schools meet their statutory requirements ensuring that a diverse ethnic group of pupils attend both Catholic and non-Catholic schools.
The department does not conduct comparative assessments of ethnicity diversity among pupils of Catholic schools and non-Catholic schools.
Asked by: Maria Caulfield (Conservative - Lewes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of Catholic schools in supporting the integration of minority communities in (a) their student body and (b) the wider community.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The department does not conduct assessments on how effective Catholic schools are in supporting the integration of minority communities in their student body and the wider community.
All state-funded schools are required to teach a broad and balanced curriculum, actively promote fundamental British values and have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between peoples of different backgrounds and faiths. Pupils are taught about diverse national, regional, religious and ethnic identities in the UK and the need for mutual respect and understanding. Ofsted’s inspection framework includes a focus on pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Under the Equality Act 2010 Faith schools are not allowed to treat pupils less favourably in any other way because of their religion or belief, or lack of belief. Under the Public Equality Duty, faith schools must also have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, promote equality of opportunity, and foster good relations between different groups.
Asked by: Maria Caulfield (Conservative - Lewes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what evidence her Department holds that pupil premium funding improves the life chances of pupils at schools which receive that funding.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
Raising the educational achievement of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds is key to improving their life chances. The government is determined to deliver educational excellence everywhere so that every child, regardless of background, reaches their potential.
Over the last Parliament, £6.25 billion was invested in the pupil premium to give schools additional resource for raising the attainment of disadvantaged pupils. The Public Accounts Committee’s recent report on funding for disadvantaged pupils recognises the government’s success in narrowing the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers since the introduction of the pupil premium.
Key stage 2 reading, writing and maths results for disadvantaged pupils rose by almost 6 percentage points from 2012 to 2014, narrowing the gap with other pupils by over 2 percentage points. This information is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-curriculum-assessments-at-key-stage-2-2014-revised.
The Department's key stage 4 gap index measure also shows year-on-year improvement between 2012 and 2014 (from 3.89 to 3.74). This measure was introduced to allow for more reliable comparisons during a period of exam reform.This information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/measuring-disadvantaged-pupils-attainment-gaps-over-time.
Recent data also show that an increasing number of disadvantaged pupils go on to a sustained education destination after secondary school (rising from 80% to 83% between 2013 and 2014). This information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/provisional-destinations-key-stage-4-and-5-pupils-2013-to-2014.