Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he has taken to amend the Education Inspection Framework for 2021 in response to the potential effect of the covid-19 outbreak on school performance.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The COVID-19 outbreak has had a profound impact on schools across the country. The Department acknowledges the continued hard work of all school staff in ensuring that pupils receive a high quality education that enables them to thrive and progress whilst putting in place proportionate protective measures for children and staff.
It is important for school inspections to start up again in the new year, but at the right time and in the right way. The Department is working with schools and Ofsted to decide the best way to achieve this in a sensitive and gradual way.
The Department and Ofsted are clear that schools are not expected to prepare for Ofsted inspections.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the ability of pupils who are told to self-isolate to access online learning at home in circumstances where those pupils do not have access to the internet.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department has invested over £195 million to support access to remote education and online social care. As part of this, we have already provided over 50,000 4G wireless routers, with free data for the rest of the 2020/21 academic year; 220,000 laptops and tablets in the summer term; and over 100,000 more this term to support disadvantaged children. Departmental guidance about remote education is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/remote-education-good-practice/remote-education-good-practice.
The Department estimated the number of disadvantaged pupils without access to an internet connection using data on pupils eligible for free school meals in each school, taking into consideration estimations by Ofcom and reflecting that some pupils would already have access to a private internet connection. We know that schools and local authorities will have the best judgement of the children that need access to a device or internet connection.
We continue to provide 4G wireless routers, with free data, where schools face disruption and children need to access remote education.
In partnership with mobile network operators, the Department is providing temporary access to free additional mobile data, offering families flexibility to access the resources that they need the most.
Schools can request free mobile data uplifts for families who lack sufficient internet access until the end of the academic year via the Get Help with Technology service, when they experience disruption to face-to-face education or for clinically extremely vulnerable children. Further guidance about the Get Help with Technology service is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/get-help-with-technology-for-remote-education-during-coronavirus-covid-19.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of fixed penalty notices for non-attendance at school on the wellbeing of households containing a clinically vulnerable adult who is shielding and a child of school age.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It is vital that pupils continue to attend school for their education, wellbeing and long term development. Time spent out of school is detrimental for children’s cognitive and academic development, particularly for disadvantaged children. The Government guidance for the opening of schools during the COVID-19 outbreak is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools.
Children who live with someone who is clinically extremely vulnerable, but who are not clinically extremely vulnerable themselves, should still attend school. Guidance on shielding and protecting extremely vulnerable persons from COVID-19 is available through the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19.
The usual powers to secure high levels of attendance continue to be available to schools and local authorities during the COVID-19 outbreak. It would be for either the school or the local authority to decide if they wish to use a penalty notice as a sanction. When considering the appropriate action to tackle absence, schools and local authorities should consider the individual circumstances of each pupil and family and take the best course of action to support the child’s return to school.
Schools should consider concerns from pupils, parents and households who may be reluctant or anxious about school attendance and put the right support in place to address this. Schools will be able to provide reassurance of the measures they are putting in place to reduce the risk in school.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students with SEN who have completed two years of post-16 education as part of their Education, Health and Care Plan before accessing A-level provision were still attending 6th form study over the age of 20 in the most recent period for which figures are available.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
Information on the number of SEN students completing two years of post-16 education as part of their education, health and care (EHC) plan before accessing A-level provision, and who were still attending 6th form study over the age of 20, is not held by the department.
The department publishes information on young people with an EHC plan by age and attainment here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/level-2-and-3-attainment-by-young-people-aged-19-in-2018.
Tables 7, 8 and 9 detail information on young people that had an EHC plan at age 15 that went on to attain Level 2, Level 2 with English and Maths and Level 3 by age 19. Tables 10 and 11 detail the same information by ages 16, 17 and 18.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the National Funding Formula on (a) the number of school places, (b) spending per pupil, (c) school spending reserves and (d) the sustainability of school funding in Garston and Halewood constituency.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Local authorities are under a statutory duty to ensure that there is a school place available for every child. The Department provides local authorities with basic need funding for every new place that is needed, based on local authorities’ own data on pupil forecasts. They can use this funding to provide places in new schools or through expansions of existing schools, and can work with any school in their local area, including academies and free schools. Liverpool has been allocated £56.6 million to provide new school places from 2011-21, and Knowsley has been allocated £3 million.
The Department trusts schools to manage their own budgets and the vast majority are operating with a cumulative surplus, with only a small percentage having a deficit. The Department will be publishing data on maintained school reserves in 2018-19 in October, following the introduction of the national funding formulae. 2018-19 data on academy reserves will be published next spring.
On Friday 30 August, the Department announced a three-year settlement which will provide a total increase in funding of over £14 billion over the next three years, including an additional £7.1 billion in 2022-23, bringing the core schools’ budget in that year to £52.2 billion. This means we can ‘level up’ school funding by raising the minimum per pupil funding for secondary schools to £5,000 next year, and the minimum per pupil funding for primary schools to £3,750 in 2020-21 and £4,000 in 2021-22.
Overall, school funding is increasing significantly by 5% and the Department is increasing funding for the lowest-funded schools even faster. In addition, the Department are providing for an increase in per pupil funding at least in line with inflation for every school in England next year, with most schools attracting real terms increases.
This funding announcement means further increases for every school in Garston and Halewood over the next three years. The Department will be publishing school-level details in October.