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Written Question
Schools: Governing Bodies
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of measures available to school governing bodies to investigate complaints.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

In academy trusts, trust boards must ensure there is a procedure to deal with complaints from parents and carers and other individuals to meet their legal duties. In maintained schools, governing bodies must establish procedures to deal with all complaints about the school and any community facilities or services it provides, unless alternate statutory procedures apply as outlined in Section 29(1) of the Education Act 2002.


Written Question
Students: Loans
Wednesday 31st January 2024

Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of increasing maximum student loan amounts in line with inflation.

Answered by Robert Halfon

The department has frozen maximum tuition fees for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years to deliver better value for students, and to keep the cost of higher education (HE) under control. By 2024/25, maximum fees will have been frozen for seven years.

The government recognises the additional cost-of-living pressures that have arisen this year and that are impacting students. The department has therefore already made £276 million of student premium and mental health funding available for the 2023/24 academic year to support successful outcomes for students, including disadvantaged students.

The government has increased loans for living costs each year for students in England, with a 2.8% increase for the current 2023/24 academic year, and a further 2.5% increase announced for the 2024/25 academic year. Decisions on student finance have had to be taken to ensure the system remains financially sustainable and the costs of HE are shared fairly between students and taxpayers, not all of whom have benefited from going to university.

Students awarded a loan for living costs for the 2023/24 academic year that is lower than the maximum, and whose household income has dropped by at least 15% compared to the income provided for their original assessment can apply for their entitlement to be reassessed.

The department is now making a further £10 million of one-off support available to support student mental health and hardship funding. This funding will complement the help universities are providing through their own bursary, scholarship and hardship support schemes.


Written Question
Students: Housing
Tuesday 14th November 2023

Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the (a) cost and (b) availability of student accommodation.

Answered by Robert Halfon

Student accommodation is a busy part of the housing market. As universities and landlords are private and autonomous bodies the government has no role in the provision of student accommodation, nor a remit to intervene in how it is allocated.

The department expects universities and private landlords to review their accommodation policies to ensure that they are fair, clear, and have the interests of students at heart. This includes making accommodation available at a range of affordable price points.

Since 2006, the interests of students have been protected by three government-sponsored accommodation Codes of Practice, so that if a student believes their accommodation provider is treating them unfairly, they can raise a complaint under the relevant code of practice.


Written Question
Social Services: Children
Monday 23rd October 2023

Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding for children’s services.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The government always considers all local government spending when finalising budgets at finance settlements, to ensure councils can continue to deliver vital services, including children’s care. The government works closely with the sector to understand their needs and funding requirements.

In 2021/22, local authority gross expenditure on children and young people's services was £11.9 billion. For 2023/24, the Local Government Finance Settlement has made available up to £59.7 billion for all local government services in England, including spending on children's services. This is an increase in Core Spending Power of 9.4% in cash terms on 2022/23.

Within the Stable Homes, Built on Love reform strategy, the government announced an additional £200 million made available for care system transformation until 2024/25. Longer-term funding decisions to scale up these reforms will be made in subsequent spending review periods.


Written Question
Schools: Uniforms
Monday 11th September 2023

Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department's statutory guidance on the Cost of school uniforms published on 19 November 2021, whether her Department has received any complaints from (a) parents and (b) carers in England on the guidance in (i) 2022 and (ii) 2021.

Answered by Nick Gibb

The Department started recording complaints from parents and carers about compliance with the cost of school uniforms guidance in September 2022, when the statutory guidance, published in November 2021, came into force.

The Department received no complaints in 2021 and received two complaints in 2022. Since the guidance came into force, the Department has contacted three schools about complaints concerning schools not complying with the statutory guidance on the cost of school uniforms.

The statutory guidance can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cost-of-school-uniforms/cost-of-school-uniforms.


Written Question
Schools: Uniforms
Monday 11th September 2023

Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools her Department has communicated with about complaints concerning uniform policy costs since November 2021.

Answered by Nick Gibb

The Department started recording complaints from parents and carers about compliance with the cost of school uniforms guidance in September 2022, when the statutory guidance, published in November 2021, came into force.

The Department received no complaints in 2021 and received two complaints in 2022. Since the guidance came into force, the Department has contacted three schools about complaints concerning schools not complying with the statutory guidance on the cost of school uniforms.

The statutory guidance can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cost-of-school-uniforms/cost-of-school-uniforms.


Written Question
Special Educational Needs: Holiday Play Schemes
Wednesday 6th September 2023

Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of holiday clubs for parents of children with SEND.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department’s Holiday Activities and Food programme, backed by £200 million per year to 2025, provides heathy meals, enriching activities and free childcare places to children from low-income families over the holidays. The programme is targeted at school aged children who receive benefits-related Free School Meals (FSM), and the department expects the local authorities we fund to ensure that all programme providers offer inclusive and accessible provision.

As in previous years, local authorities have discretion to use up to 15% of their funding to provide free or subsidised holiday club places for children who are not in receipt of benefits related FSM. This can include children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities who are not also in receipt of benefits-related FSM, but who the local authority believe could benefit from the programme.


Written Question
Free School Meals: Expenditure
Wednesday 5th July 2023

Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment on the adequacy of free school meals funding in the context of the increases in the cost of food.

Answered by Nick Gibb

The Department recognises the cost pressures that some schools and suppliers may be facing. The Department is holding regular meetings with other Government Departments and with food industry representatives, covering a variety of issues including public sector food supplies.

Following the Autumn Statement 2022, schools will receive an additional £2 billion in each of the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years. The core schools’ budget, which covers schools’ day to day running costs, including schools’ energy bills and the costs of providing income related free school meals (FSM), has risen from £49.8 billion in 2021/22 to £53.8 billion in 2022/23 and will continue to rise to £57.3 billion in 2023/24 and £58.8 billion in 2024/25. By 2024/25, funding per pupil will have risen to its highest ever level in real terms. These increases provide support to schools to deal with the impact of inflation on their budgets.

The Department is continuing to review funding to ensure that schools continue to be able to provide healthy and nutritious meals in schools. The funding for the FSM factor is increasing for 2023/24, in line with the latest available Gross Domestic Product deflator forecast when the National Funding Formula was published in July 2022.

Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM) are funded through a direct grant to schools. In the 2023/24 academic year, the funding rate is increasing from £2.41 to £2.53. Further details on the UIFSM 2023/24 grant are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-infant-free-school-meals-uifsm-2023-to-2024/universal-infant-free-school-meals-uifsm-conditions-of-grant-2023-to-2024.


Written Question
School Teachers' Review Body
Tuesday 27th June 2023

Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when he plans to publish the School Teachers' Review Body Report 2023.

Answered by Nick Gibb

As part of the normal pay round process, the independent School Teachers’ Review Body has submitted its report and recommendations to the Government on teacher pay for 2023/24. The Department is considering the recommendations and will publish the response and the report in the usual way, in due course.


Written Question
Free School Meals: Finance
Monday 19th June 2023

Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of budgets for free school meals.

Answered by Nick Gibb

The Department recognises the cost pressures that some schools and suppliers may be facing. The Department is holding regular meetings with other Government Departments and with food industry representatives, covering a variety of issues including public sector food supplies.

Following the Autumn Statement 2022, schools will receive an additional £2 billion in each of the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years. The core schools’ budget, which covers schools’ day to day running costs, including schools’ energy bills and the costs of providing income related free school meals (FSM), has risen from £49.8 billion in 2021/22 to £53.8 billion in 2022/23 and will continue to rise to £57.3 billion in 2023/24 and £58.8 billion in 2024/25. By 2024/25, funding per pupil will have risen to its highest ever level in real terms. These increases provide support to schools to deal with the impact of inflation on their budgets.

The Department is continuing to review funding to ensure that schools continue to be able to provide healthy and nutritious meals in schools. The funding for the FSM factor is increasing for 2023/24, in line with the latest available Gross Domestic Product deflator forecast when the National Funding Formula was published in July 2022.

Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM) are funded through a direct grant to schools. In June 2022, the Government announced an increase to the per pupil meal rate in UIFSM to £2.41. This was backdated, recognising the cost pressures schools and some suppliers may be experiencing.