Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the annual budget is for regional schools commissioners, per commissioner per region in each financial year since 2014-15; and how many staff were employed by each commissioner on average in each financial year since 2014-15.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department has identified the costs as the workforce costs and the General Administration Expenditure for the Regional Schools Commissioners (RSCs) and their teams up to 2022, and for Regional Directors and their teams from 2022 onwards. RSCs were replaced in 2022 by Regional Directors with an expanded remit.
The department's policy of retaining financial records for seven years limits access to data before the 2016/17 financial year.
In 2019 the department underwent re-organisation to align its delivery work in relation to academies, free schools and school improvement, bringing together functions that were previously delivered in different parts of the department. This data for 2019/2022 is therefore not directly comparable to previous years, as the functions delivered by the RSC teams expanded.
The RSC Staff programme budget, represented in the table below, was held centrally until the 2020/2021 financial year and then was split and allocated to the individual regions from 2021/2022. This was a change in where the budget sat rather than a change in staffing levels.
Workforce actual spend data for Regional Schools Commissioner teams 2016/2022
Workforce Actual Spend (Millions of GBP) | FY 2016/17 | FY 2017-18 | FY 2018/19 | FY 2019/20 | FY 2020/21 | FY 2021/22 |
RSC East of England and North East London | £1.60 | £1.62 | £1.15 | £1.07 | £1.20 | £1.99 |
RSC East Midlands and Humber | £1.90 | £1.48 | £1.39 | £1.10 | £1.33 | £2.58 |
RSC Lancashire and West Yorkshire | £1.85 | £1.91 | £1.45 | £1.33 | £1.39 | £2.86 |
RSC North & Opportunity North East | £1.57 | £1.29 | £1.16 | £0.74 | £0.93 | £3.36 |
RSC North West London and South Central England | £1.89 | £1.62 | £1.27 | £1.33 | £1.51 | £3.06 |
RSC South East and South London | £2.18 | £1.66 | £1.43 | £1.11 | £1.63 | £3.40 |
RSD South West | £2.20 | £1.98 | £1.39 | £1.59 | £1.81 | £3.55 |
RSC West Midlands | £1.90 | £1.91 | £1.15 | £1.20 | £1.67 | £3.18 |
RSC Staff Programme Costs* | £4.08 | £9.95 | £14.68 | £15.90 | £16.31 | £0.37 |
Full Time Equivalent staffing data for Regional Schools Commissioner teams 2016/2022
Full Time Equivalent Staff per Region | FY16/17 | FY17/18 | FY18/19 | FY19/20 | FY20/21 | FY21/22 |
RSC East of England and North East London | 44.01 | 41.46 | 42.6 | 47.4 | 41 | 41.6 |
RSC East Midlands and Humber | 46.99 | 59.93 | 47 | 51.4 | 53 | 49.9 |
RSC Lancashire and West Yorkshire | 54.16 | 68.71 | 48.6 | 64.2 | 64.1 | 54.5 |
RSC North & Opportunity North East | 40.48 | 41.28 | 32.6 | 41.9 | 37.7 | 37.3 |
RSC North West London and South Central England | 49.35 | 52.43 | 48.4 | 64.1 | 51.6 | 43 |
RSC South East and South London | 54.19 | 58.52 | 42.4 | 61.7 | 54.8 | 52.3 |
RSC South West | 54.66 | 55.59 | 53.7 | 67.2 | 59.2 | 58.9 |
RSC West Midlands | 58.62 | 52.57 | 46.7 | 57.9 | 58.6 | 56.3 |
In July 2022, the creation of Regions Group within the department led to the replacement of the RSC role with Regional Directors, with a broader remit for the delivery of special educational needs and disabilities support and children’s social care improvement and interventions in their regions alongside their role in relation to academies and free schools. The regional structures were also re-organised to align with geographical boundaries of English regions. This data is therefore not directly comparable to the previous years.
Workforce actual spend data for Regional Director teams 2022/2024
Workforce Actual Spend Data for Regional Director Teams 2022 – 2024 (Millions of GBP) | Workforce Actual | Workforce Actual (at end of Feb 2024) |
FY 2022/23 | FY 2023/24 | |
Regional Directorate - East Midlands | £2.70 | £3.11 |
Regional Directorate - East of England | £3.60 | £3.58 |
Regional Directorate - London | £4.06 | £3.68 |
Regional Directorate - North East | £2.47 | £2.09 |
Regional Directorate - North West | £4.44 | £4.36 |
Regional Directorate - South East | £4.04 | £3.93 |
Regional Directorate - South West | £4.34 | £4.13 |
Regional Directorate - West Midlands | £4.26 | £3.91 |
Regional Directorate - Yorkshire and the Humber | £4.00 | £3.89 |
Full Time Equivalent staffing data for Regional Director teams 2022/2024
Full Time Equivalent Staff per Region | FY22/23 | FY23/24 (Actual FTE at end of Feb 24) |
Regional Directorate - East Midlands | 47.7 | 54.6 |
Regional Directorate - East of England | 53.0 | 65.5 |
Regional Directorate - London | 55.6 | 56.3 |
Regional Directorate - North East | 38.3 | 33.2 |
Regional Directorate - North West | 76.2 | 80.0 |
Regional Directorate - South East | 62.8 | 61.2 |
Regional Directorate - South West | 66.3 | 78.5 |
Regional Directorate - West Midlands | 69.7 | 70.7 |
Regional Directorate - Yorkshire and the Humber | 62.7 | 71.7 |
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the phased removal of the tolerance of students who do not meet the 16 to 19 maths and English condition of funding from 5% to 0%, starting in academic year 2026-27, on (a) further education colleges and (b) independent training providers.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
This government recognises the importance of literacy and numeracy skills, both in work and everyday life. Securing good levels of literacy and numeracy has a positive impact on participation in society, improves earnings and employment opportunities and opens doors to further learning.
The changes to the mathematics and English condition of funding are intended to have a positive effect on 16-19 students, giving them the English and mathematics skills they need to progress in life and work. The changes also bring England in line with other countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), where 16-19 students receive significantly more hours of English and mathematics teaching. For the 2024/2025 academic year, the department expects providers to comply as far as reasonably possible with the changes, so they have time to plan and prepare before the department measures compliance from the 2025/2026 academic year. Only then will the department begin the phased removal of the tolerance. More information about mathematics and English condition funding can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/16-to-19-funding-maths-and-english-condition-of-funding.
As the department works with the sector on implementation, the department remains committed to considering the impacts on students in further education colleges and independent training providers. This includes the workforce implications, and maximising the benefits for them.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has undertaken an assessment of the impact of the 16 to 19 maths and English condition of funding on (a) student experience of learning at and (b) staffing levels in (i) further education colleges and (ii) independent training providers.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
This government recognises the importance of literacy and numeracy skills, both in work and everyday life. Securing good levels of literacy and numeracy has a positive impact on participation in society, improves earnings and employment opportunities and opens doors to further learning.
The changes to the mathematics and English condition of funding are intended to have a positive effect on 16-19 students, giving them the English and mathematics skills they need to progress in life and work. The changes also bring England in line with other countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), where 16-19 students receive significantly more hours of English and mathematics teaching. For the 2024/2025 academic year, the department expects providers to comply as far as reasonably possible with the changes, so they have time to plan and prepare before the department measures compliance from the 2025/2026 academic year. Only then will the department begin the phased removal of the tolerance. More information about mathematics and English condition funding can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/16-to-19-funding-maths-and-english-condition-of-funding.
As the department works with the sector on implementation, the department remains committed to considering the impacts on students in further education colleges and independent training providers. This includes the workforce implications, and maximising the benefits for them.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason her Department has included Russell Group progression as a measure in school performance data and whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of this inclusion on (a) schools and (b) non-Russell Group universities.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The percentage of students progressing to Russell Group universities metric provides useful information to parents and students about which schools and colleges support their students to go on to study at this group of research intensive institutions. This is a supplementary measure to the department’s main headline and top-level additional destination measures. Russell Group is a term which is widely understood. Most Russell Group universities are in the top third higher education institutions.
The department keeps all measures under regular review.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of how many additional SEND places have been opened in each of the local authorities that have a Dedicated schools grant: very high deficit intervention since the agreement was put in place.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Safety Valve programme targets the local authorities with the highest Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) deficits. The programme requires the local authorities involved to develop substantial plans for reform to their high needs systems, with support and challenge from the department, to rapidly place them on a sustainable footing. If the local authorities can demonstrate sufficiently that their DSG management plans create lasting sustainability and are effective for children and young people, including reaching an in-year balance as quickly as possible, then the department will enter into an agreement to hold the authority to account for delivery.
Through the agreements, the authorities are subsequently held to account for their reform and savings targets via regular reporting to the department. The department will help the local authorities with additional revenue funding over time to contribute to their historic deficits, but this is contingent on delivery of the reforms in the agreements.
Capital funding is a necessary feature of many local authorities’ DSG management plans, in cases where investment in local infrastructure will result in the availability of more appropriate provision and subsequent revenue savings. Local authorities with Safety Valve agreements are therefore invited to apply for additional high needs capital funding, to be provided as a one-off ‘top-up’ to their high needs provision capital allocations (HNPCA).
Out of the 34 local authorities that currently have Safety Valve agreements, we have allocated additional capital funding to 22. The funding allocated to these local authorities is set out below:
Local Authority | Additional capital funding allocated through the Safety Valve programme |
Bury | £3,780,514 |
Hammersmith and Fulham | £1,220,814 |
Kingston upon Thames | £3,616,603 |
Richmond upon Thames | £3,851,165 |
Stoke-on-Trent | £7,530,904 |
Hillingdon | £6,962,000 |
Kirklees | £8,200,000 |
Merton | £8,270,367 |
Rotherham | £4,323,436 |
Surrey | £8,558,437 |
York | £3,000,000 |
Bolton | £9,903,319 |
Cambridgeshire | £11,290,000 |
Haringey | £7,000,000 |
Medway | £7,188,479 |
Southwark | £3,000,000 |
Bath and North East Somerset | £4,000,000 |
Bexley | £9,500,000 |
Blackpool | £6,153,346 |
North Somerset | £2,918,000 |
North Tyneside | £4,681,000 |
Wokingham | £6,332,300 |
Total | £131,280,684 |
The 12 local authorities that did not receive additional capital either did not apply or did not successfully demonstrate to the department that capital support was necessary to support their DSG management plans.
In order to receive additional capital funding, local authorities’ proposals must demonstrate how investment would align to the reform plans and savings targets in their Safety Valve agreements. Proposals also need to show how capital plans will meet identified gaps in provision and improve the local provision offer. Once funding is allocated, local authorities have appropriate flexibility to make sensible adjustments to their plans, reflecting that the statutory duty to provide sufficient school places remains with the local authority.
6 local authorities are currently in Safety Valve negotiations with the department and have also been invited to apply for capital funding. The outcome of those negotiations and any additional capital funding being allocated will be communicated to local authorities shortly, and additional capital funding will be paid to local authorities as part of their 2024/25 HNPCA allocations later this year.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much additional capital funding has been spent in each of the local authorities with a Dedicated schools grant: very high deficit intervention to support delivery of the agreement where this forms part of the agreement.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Safety Valve programme targets the local authorities with the highest Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) deficits. The programme requires the local authorities involved to develop substantial plans for reform to their high needs systems, with support and challenge from the department, to rapidly place them on a sustainable footing. If the local authorities can demonstrate sufficiently that their DSG management plans create lasting sustainability and are effective for children and young people, including reaching an in-year balance as quickly as possible, then the department will enter into an agreement to hold the authority to account for delivery.
Through the agreements, the authorities are subsequently held to account for their reform and savings targets via regular reporting to the department. The department will help the local authorities with additional revenue funding over time to contribute to their historic deficits, but this is contingent on delivery of the reforms in the agreements.
Capital funding is a necessary feature of many local authorities’ DSG management plans, in cases where investment in local infrastructure will result in the availability of more appropriate provision and subsequent revenue savings. Local authorities with Safety Valve agreements are therefore invited to apply for additional high needs capital funding, to be provided as a one-off ‘top-up’ to their high needs provision capital allocations (HNPCA).
Out of the 34 local authorities that currently have Safety Valve agreements, we have allocated additional capital funding to 22. The funding allocated to these local authorities is set out below:
Local Authority | Additional capital funding allocated through the Safety Valve programme |
Bury | £3,780,514 |
Hammersmith and Fulham | £1,220,814 |
Kingston upon Thames | £3,616,603 |
Richmond upon Thames | £3,851,165 |
Stoke-on-Trent | £7,530,904 |
Hillingdon | £6,962,000 |
Kirklees | £8,200,000 |
Merton | £8,270,367 |
Rotherham | £4,323,436 |
Surrey | £8,558,437 |
York | £3,000,000 |
Bolton | £9,903,319 |
Cambridgeshire | £11,290,000 |
Haringey | £7,000,000 |
Medway | £7,188,479 |
Southwark | £3,000,000 |
Bath and North East Somerset | £4,000,000 |
Bexley | £9,500,000 |
Blackpool | £6,153,346 |
North Somerset | £2,918,000 |
North Tyneside | £4,681,000 |
Wokingham | £6,332,300 |
Total | £131,280,684 |
The 12 local authorities that did not receive additional capital either did not apply or did not successfully demonstrate to the department that capital support was necessary to support their DSG management plans.
In order to receive additional capital funding, local authorities’ proposals must demonstrate how investment would align to the reform plans and savings targets in their Safety Valve agreements. Proposals also need to show how capital plans will meet identified gaps in provision and improve the local provision offer. Once funding is allocated, local authorities have appropriate flexibility to make sensible adjustments to their plans, reflecting that the statutory duty to provide sufficient school places remains with the local authority.
6 local authorities are currently in Safety Valve negotiations with the department and have also been invited to apply for capital funding. The outcome of those negotiations and any additional capital funding being allocated will be communicated to local authorities shortly, and additional capital funding will be paid to local authorities as part of their 2024/25 HNPCA allocations later this year.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the number of special free schools that have opened in each year since 1 January 2015; and if she will provide a breakdown of those figures by phase.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department publishes information about open free schools, including the date they opened. This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-academies-and-academy-projects-in-development.
There are 108 open special free schools, 97 of which opened since 1 January 2015. The attached table provides the number of special free schools opened in each year since 2015, including a breakdown of these by phase.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department's guidance on mobile phones in schools, published on 19 February 2024, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the guidance on the number of children using mobile phones in school.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department assessed the different approaches to managing the use of mobile phones in schools in the ‘School Snapshot Survey: Winter 2019’.
This showed that 48% of secondary schools permitted regulated use of mobile phones at specific points during the school day and that only 16% had outright bans.
In March 2023, 15% of school leaders and 53% of pupils reported that mobile phones were used in lessons when they were not supposed to. Mobile phone use in lessons when not permitted can have an impact on the learning time for all pupils in the class and lead to online bullying, distraction and classroom disruption.
The publication of the ‘Mobile phones in schools’ guidance has the potential to impact pupils using phones in all schools where strict policies have not yet been effectively implemented.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential (a) merits of implementing a mental health support team plus model in schools and (b) impact of such an approach on the mental wellbeing of children and young people.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In December 2017, the government published a consultation to gather views on the proposals set out in its publication, ‘Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision’. The green paper is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a823518e5274a2e87dc1b56/Transforming_children_and_young_people_s_mental_health_provision.pdf.
The government response to the consultation was published in July 2018: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5b583d30ed915d0b6985cc21/government-response-to-consultation-on-transforming-children-and-young-peoples-mental-health.pdf. It outlined a commitment to implement three core proposals that the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), NHS England, the Department for Education and Health Education England would jointly take forward, one of which was to establish new Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs), working in or near schools and colleges. MHSTs add value to support that settings already have in place, and more broadly are part of a wider programme of mental health transformation set out in the NHS Long Term Plan.
As of 31 March 2023, MHSTs covered 35% of pupils in schools and learners in further education settings in England. We are extending coverage of MHSTs to an estimated 44% of pupils and learners by the end of this financial year, and at least 50% by the end of March 2025.
The Early Evaluation of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Trailblazer programme, published by the National Institute for Health Research in February 2023, revealed substantial progress in MHST implementation, despite challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. Although this was a process evaluation, early impacts include improved school and college staff knowledge and confidence in dealing with mental health issues, improved access to support for some groups, and improvements in partnership working. The study also found that the experiences of the majority of children and young people who had contact with an MHST were positive. The early evaluation is available here: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/Documents/college-social-sciences/social-policy/BRACE/trailblazer.pdf.
Work is already underway with partners to ensure that learnings are used to inform current and future practice. Since the MHST Trailblazers became operational in 2018/19, the Education Mental Health Practitioner curriculum has been strengthened in response to feedback on needs such as learning disabilities and autism, challenging behaviour and support for parents. In addition, a new Senior Wellbeing Practitioner role was launched in 2023 to support widening the MHST skillset and career progression opportunities.
The department, together with partners, will continue to listen to feedback and a planned phase 2 longer-term outcome evaluation, to inform MHST roll out and drive improvements in evidence-based mental health and emotional wellbeing support for children and young people.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of her Department's guidance entitled Mobile phones in schools, published on 19 February 2024, on (a) schools, (b) pupils and (c) learning.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
During the development of the ‘Mobile phones in schools’ guidance, the department consulted headteachers from across the sector to learn from their experience of implementing effective policies that prohibited the use of mobile phones in their schools.
Headteachers and leaders, including those involved in the Behaviour Hubs programme, reported that after removing mobile phones from the school day, the whole culture of their school changed for the better. This feedback supports an assessment that the guidance is likely to support schools to create environments that are safer places for pupils, where the distraction caused by the use of mobile phones is reduced, and that have a positive impact on learning.
Stakeholder engagement with young people, parents and representative bodies ensured the department could make an assessment of the impact of the guidance on individual pupils. Stakeholder engagement informed the development of the guidance regarding adaptations and reasonable adjustments for specific pupils and the use of mobile phones on the way to and from school.