Oral Answers to Questions

Nick Gibb Excerpts

Monday 19th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[James Frith (Bury North) (Lab)]

14. What steps he is taking to support alternative educational provision. [R]

[The Minister for School Standards (Nick Gibb)]

I, too, congratulate Andria Zafirako on winning the global teacher prize. I have met Andria. She is an inspirational teacher who is dedicated to her pupils, and she has a love of teaching and the profession.

On 16 March, we published a policy paper setting out our approach to the reform of alternative provision. We want to ensure that the right children are placed in AP, and that they receive a higher-quality education with better outcomes than is currently the case.

[Mr Howarth]

The Minister will know that, at its best, alternative provision can give young people an opportunity to get back on track, but that at its worst, in some cases, it is nothing more than childminding. He will also know that because of pressure on budgets, headteachers often take the cheapest option. Will he address that problem and ensure that schools have no incentive to send young people to alternative provision that is unsuitable and of no use?

[Nick Gibb]

The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. The GCSE outcomes of children in alternative provision are significantly worse than those of children outside it. Only 4.5% of pupils in AP achieve grade 4 or better in English and maths, compared with 65% of all other pupils. We have asked Ed Timpson to conduct an exclusions review to establish which groups of young people are being excluded from schools, focusing particularly on groups who are disproportionately excluded from mainstream education.

[James Frith]

I refer Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.

Some 56% of Bury schools that responded to my schools survey told me that they had been forced to cut special educational needs and disability provision because of school budget cuts. Does the Minister acknowledge that a bigger number does not mean more money per student, and will he commit himself to a real-terms per-pupil fair funding formula that encourages the inclusion of SEND pupils in mainstream schools?

[Nick Gibb]

We have increased high-needs funding from £5 billion in 2013-14 to £6 billion in 2018-19. It is up £130 million in 2017-18 compared with the previous year, and overall we are spending £1.3 billion more on school funding compared with under the 2015 spending review.

[Sarah Jones (Croydon Central) (Lab)]

7. What discussions she has had with the Home Secretary on reducing the number of children carrying knives at school.

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[Heidi Alexander (Lewisham East) (Lab)]

9. How many schools in England subject to an academy order have not confirmed a sponsor.

[The Minister for School Standards (Nick Gibb)]

There are currently over 2,000 open sponsored academies and, as of 1 February, 92 schools subject to an academy order were in the process of being matched to a sponsor. That involves brokering a relationship between a suitable academy trust and maintained school, and includes addressing any land or contractual issues. A school not having a confirmed sponsor is generally not due to the lack of a sponsor, but because of the time it takes to address those issues.

[Heidi Alexander]

The Minister might know that my interest in this matter stems from the number of years it took his Department to resolve the situation at Sedgehill School in Lewisham, which was not able to find a sponsor and instead has agreed a three-year school improvement partnership. If the Department is struggling so much to find sponsors for academies, why is this still a central plank of the Minister’s school turnaround strategy?

[Nick Gibb]

Because we are not, across the system as a whole, struggling to find new sponsors. We have 7,000 academies now, most of which are converter academies, and they themselves are becoming the sponsors of underperforming schools across the system. This system is working. Secondary sponsored academies made the strongest improvements in 2016, despite facing the biggest challenge, and compared with 2015, the average attainment 8 score for sponsored academies improved by almost three attainment points, compared with 1.3 attainment points for maintained schools. The academies programme is working and is raising standards right across the system.

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

12. What steps his Department is taking to ensure the effective safeguarding of children and young people receiving individual private tuition.

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[Ged Killen (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Lab/Co-op)]

15. What steps his Department is taking to ensure that all schools teach awareness of LGBT issues in an age-appropriate manner.

[The Minister for School Standards (Nick Gibb)]

Schools can currently teach about LGBT issues and must comply with the Equality Act 2010. We have established a £3 million programme on homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying. We are also engaging with stakeholders to develop age-appropriate and inclusive relationships education, and relationships and sex education. The response to the call for evidence will be published shortly.

[Ged Killen]

I thank the Minister for that answer. Following media reports of a school in London censoring textbooks that make reference to homosexuality, it is clear that more work is still needed. Will he agree to look at the recommendations of the Time for Inclusive Education campaign in Scotland to ensure that all young people receive an education that is fully LGBT-inclusive?

[Nick Gibb]

Yes, I would be very happy to look at that report. We are consulting on the content of relationships and sex education, and we will be publishing new guidance and regulations on that. We will consult on that. We have also introduced regulations to require schools to teach fundamental British values.

[Chris Law (Dundee West) (SNP)]

17. What steps his Department is taking to increase student retention rates in higher education.

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[Stephen Lloyd (Eastbourne) (LD)]

T7. A few weeks ago I had the privilege of meeting the father of Oliver King and founder of the Oliver King Foundation. His young lad, Oliver, died at school. His father’s ambition is to get a defibrillator in every school, because the work that the foundation has done identified that that would save the lives of many, many hundreds of people. Will the Government commit to supporting a defibrillator in every school?

[The Minister for School Standards (Nick Gibb)]

We have funded a considerable number of defibrillators in schools, and we are working with the British Heart Foundation to provide facilities for schools to teach first aid and lifesaving skills in schools.

[Huw Merriman (Bexhill and Battle) (Con)]

Pay rises for teachers in schools in my constituency would be most welcome, but there is a concern that those rises will have to be met from the increase in funding that was delivered to schools in the summer. Are there plans, like there are with the NHS, to find a budget outside the existing school funding formula for those pay rises?

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[Clive Efford (Eltham) (Lab)]

Based on Government statistics, 63 schools in my borough will lose funding of £300,000 per annum between 2015 and 2020. Can the Minister tell me what happened to the Prime Minister’s promise to maintain pupil funding?

[Nick Gibb]

No school in the country will lose funding under the new national funding formula. The minimum that schools will receive is an extra 0.5% increase, and that will be for schools that have been receiving more than that funding formula would produce. Therefore, no school will lose funding. As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has said, there have been cost pressures in recent years, but we are helping schools to deal with them through school efficiency advisers and buying schemes to enable them to marshal their resources as efficiently as possible.

[Tim Loughton (East Worthing and Shoreham) (Con)]

Recent figures from the Department show that, last year, 4,350 children were adopted in England. That is a near 20% decline from the peak in 2015. Why are adoptions in decline?