First Aid Techniques: National Curriculum

Nick Gibb Excerpts

Tuesday 10th March 2015 Westminster Hall

[The Minister of State, Department for Education (Mr Nick Gibb)]

That is the third education policy announced by the Opposition during this Parliament; I congratulate the hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak (Steve McCabe). It is a pity that he does not have a few more to put to the electorate in two months’ time. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir David; it is the parliamentary assessment board all over again. I also congratulate the hon. Member for Bolton West (Julie Hilling) on securing the debate.

There is nothing more important than keeping children, and indeed the staff who teach them, safe in our schools. This Government have already done a great deal to ensure that defibrillators are more widely available in schools. In answer to the question asked by the hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak, we have encouraged all schools to consider purchasing automated external defibrillators, or AEDs, as part of their first aid equipment. We refer to that in the new statutory guidance on supporting pupils with medical conditions at school.

In November last year, we launched new arrangements to help schools to purchase high-quality AEDs at a significantly reduced price. To make that as easy as possible, we also produced a guide, “Automated external defibrillators (AEDs): A guide for maintained schools and academies”, covering the issues that schools might wish to consider when purchasing an AED, including location, maintenance and access to training. It was developed in collaboration with NHS ambulance services and other specialists, including Dr Andy Lockey of the Resuscitation Council, who was mentioned by the hon. Member for Bolton West. I am pleased to confirm that as of 6 March, 227 confirmed orders under the scheme had been placed, for a total of 291 AEDs.

My hon. Friend the Member for South Derbyshire (Heather Wheeler) touched on the important role that AEDs can play in communities. Many schools view a community-access AED as a tangible contribution that they can make to their community. The AED guide suggests that schools might wish to consider community access where such a solution also meets the needs of staff members.

Access to an AED is only part of the story. Every second is important when someone suffers a cardiac arrest, and first aid skills are vital to ensuring that help is available when it is most needed, as my hon. Friend the Member for North Swindon (Justin Tomlinson) pointed out from his own experience when his father had a cardiac arrest. I see why he is so passionate about the issue; he is an indefatigable campaigner on it, as he is on other life skills in the curriculum.

Therefore, the guide is clear about the importance of defibrillation and of CPR in the chain of survival. Schools will already have first aiders trained in CPR, but there is no reason they cannot use the purchase of an AED as an impetus to promote knowledge of those skills more widely within the school community; indeed, the Department for Education’s guide suggests that schools do that, and we hope that many of them will choose to do so.

The hon. Member for Bolton West made a powerful case that we should go further, persuasively arguing for CPR and life-saving skills to be included in the national curriculum. Similarly powerful speeches were made by my hon. Friends the Members for North Swindon, for South Derbyshire, for Chatham and Aylesford (Tracey Crouch), and for Romsey and Southampton North (Caroline Nokes). I listened carefully to the story of the PE teacher attending an interview at Mountbatten school and all I can say is that I hope to goodness that they were given the job of PE teacher at that school.

[Caroline Nokes]

indicated dissent.

[Mr Gibb]

If not, I am sure that he or she has been snapped up elsewhere.

We heard powerful speeches from the hon. Members for Erith and Thamesmead (Teresa Pearce) and for Vale of Clwyd (Chris Ruane); I am sure the latter will receive a letter from either Willie Walsh or Richard Branson, depending on which airline did not have a defibrillator. There was also a powerful speech from the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon).

I recognise that the intention of the hon. Member for Bolton West is to ensure that more people have the knowledge and skills that could prove so valuable in assisting a child, teacher or someone visiting a school who suffers a cardiac arrest. However, whether teaching such knowledge and skills should be an addition to the national curriculum is another question.

The new national curriculum, which came into force in September 2014, represents a clear step forward for schools. It will ensure that all children have the opportunity to acquire the essential knowledge in key academic and non-academic subjects. However, I am afraid that it has now become somewhat routine for Education Ministers to come to such debates to make the case against the inclusion of a particular new requirement in the national curriculum. Proposals such as this are often supported by a persuasive argument, but their sheer number means that we need to start from a position of caution when addressing them.

The national curriculum creates a minimum expectation for the content of curriculums in maintained schools. Quite deliberately, it does not represent everything that a school should teach. Also, schools do not have a monopoly on the provision of education to children; parents and voluntary groups outside school also play an important role.

Many schools choose to include CPR and defibrillator awareness as part of their PSHE teaching. In the introduction to the new national curriculum, we have highlighted the expectation that PSHE should be taught, and improving the quality of PSHE teaching is a priority of this Government. However, we do not want to prescribe exactly which issues schools should have to cover in PSHE or other related parts of what we would call the school curriculum, as opposed to the national curriculum.

Prescribing a long list of specific content to be covered could be unproductive, leading to a tick-box approach that did not properly address the most important issues. Nor would it ensure that schools addressed those matters that were most relevant to their pupils. Indeed, we should trust schools to provide the right education for their pupils, within the overall framework of the national curriculum.

[Julie Hilling]

I had some optimism at the start of the Minister’s speech, but I have come back to a state of depression after listening to what he has had to say. He is talking about a list of issues that come to him, but how many of them could save 150,000 lives a year and how many would combine a range of issues including citizenship and boosting confidence? I ask him to consider the fact that this subject potentially has a special, indeed unique, position in our national curriculum.

[Mr Gibb]

I am not arguing against the inclusion of CPR in a school’s teaching curriculum; I am arguing about whether teaching these things should be statutory. There is more than one way to achieve an objective.

Also, if we look at the list of issues that people argue should be included for consideration in the national curriculum, we see that many of them would save a significant number of lives each year: relationships; drugs and alcohol; emotional and mental health, and well-being; emergency life support skills; homelessness; forced marriage; violence; transgender issues; tobacco; animal welfare; bullying; gambling; gender equality; cancer; symptoms of brain tumours in young people; fire and road safety; body image; the UN declaration on the rights of the child; environment; the dangers of carbon monoxide; cooking; media literacy; knife crime; parenting; chess; and foetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

Those are all specific cases where Governments, including the previous Government, have been lobbied over the years for things to be included in the national curriculum. It would be easy for any Minister—Conservative, Labour or Liberal Democrat—to say yes to those issues, only to find that there was little time in the national curriculum for the core academic subjects that we want children to learn. However, that does not mean that we do not think those other things should be taught in schools.

CPR is included in the non-statutory PSHE programme of study produced by the PSHE Association, which should please my hon. Friend the Member for Romsey and Southampton North. That suggested programme of study, which was produced by some of the leading experts in PSHE teaching, includes teaching young people how to recognise and follow health and safety procedures and ways to reduce risk and minimise harm in risky situations, and how to use emergency and basic first aid. Many schools also make use of organisations such as the Red Cross and St John Ambulance to provide information to young people about first aid and dealing with emergencies.

The British Heart Foundation has been mentioned by a number of hon. Members. It has offered to provide free CPR training kits to every secondary school in the country, allowing young people to gain first-hand experience of that important life-saving skill. The training kit covers how and when to perform CPR on an adult or child; how and when to put someone in the recovery position, which was referred to in the debate; and how and when to use a public access defibrillator. It contains an educational DVD demonstrating how to carry out CPR while trainees join in by using mannequins, so that no instructor is needed. The kit includes 35 mannequins, enabling every pupil in a class to learn CPR together.

We will work with the British Heart Foundation to promote that kit to schools. Indeed, the DFE is notifying all schools of the foundation’s “Call, Push, Rescue” kit in the next all-school termly e-mail, and we will continue to work with the foundation to promote its resources, as well as those provided by St John Ambulance and the British Red Cross, to all schools.

Many schools are already making good use of the resources and opportunities that are available to teach CPR, and to raise awareness of public access defibrillators. At Fulford school in York, for example, CPR training is managed by the deputy head teacher as part of his responsibility for pastoral care and character. One day each year is set aside to train all year 7 students; CPR training is part of their personal development lessons. At the last training session, around 30 teachers stayed behind to help and to learn the skills themselves. Feedback from the parent council has been favourable, as has been the response from students.

Other schools approach the training in a different way. For example, at Devonport high school for boys, CPR training sessions using the “Call, Push, Rescue” kit have been run in PSHE classes on Friday mornings. Since the school received the kit, year 10 students from three of the school’s six houses have undertaken the training.

I again thank the hon. Member for Bolton West and other hon. Members for their thoughtful and constructive contributions to the debate. I reassure them that I agree with them about the value and importance of first aid skills, and I also support access to defibrillators in schools. Although we do not believe that adding teaching on those issues to the national curriculum would advance the cause most effectively, we will always remain open to further discussions about the best way to promote those issues to schools and to ensure that schools have the resources they need to keep their staff and pupils safe.

Oral Answers to Questions

Nick Gibb Excerpts

Monday 2nd March 2015 Commons Chamber

[Heather Wheeler (South Derbyshire) (Con)]

9. What assessment she has made of recent trends in the number of pupils taking up STEM subjects.

[The Minister of State, Department for Education (Mr Nick Gibb)]

Record numbers of students are taking mathematics and the sciences at A-level—15% more students took physics in 2014 than in 2010. Maths is now the single most popular A-level, with an increase of 13% since 2010, but more needs to be done. We need even more young people to take these subjects at A-level. That is why we are supporting the Your Life campaign headed by Edwina Dunn of Dunnhumby, which aims to increase the numbers taking maths and physics A-level by 50% over the next three years.

[Karen Lumley]

When I visit engineering companies in Redditch, I find that one of their main issues is attracting apprenticeships or graduates, especially women. Does my hon. Friend agree that along with the take-up of STEM subjects, we need to encourage students to see that careers in engineering are a great choice for all?

[Mr Gibb]

Indeed. We want all young people to have the right careers advice so that they take informed decisions about their future and so that they are aware of all the options available—including, as my hon. Friend said, apprenticeships—and of the advantages that studying maths and the sciences to A-level can bring.

[Heather Wheeler]

Will my hon. Friend join me in congratulating students from the William Allitt school in my constituency, who have been shortlisted as finalists in the national science and engineering competition, The Big Bang UK young scientists and engineers fair at Birmingham NEC from 11 to 14 March? This is the UK’s biggest celebration of technology, engineering and maths for young people.

[Mr Gibb]

I am pleased to add my congratulations to students from the William Allitt school. The national science and engineering competition, which receives £350,000 of funding from the Government, is an excellent example of a positive initiative that helps to promote and to recognise achievement in STEM subjects. I wish my hon. Friend’s constituents every success in the final stage of the competition, and I look forward to attending the Big Bang fair next week.

[Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central) (Lab)]

Recent research found that more than a third of schools in Newcastle do not offer triple science at GCSE. Newcastle has a thriving digital and information and communications technology hub, and a history of fantastic scientific achievement such as the recent mitochondrial breakthrough. What is the Minister doing to make sure that every pupil in Newcastle can access triple science if they have the talent to do so?

[Mr Gibb]

I share the hon. Lady’s desire that every school should offer three separate sciences at GCSE; that is very important. That is why the EBacc is such an important measure. As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State said, we have seen a 70% increase in the numbers taking those core academic subjects, which are vital to keeping opportunities open for young people.

[Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)]

The Minister says that he wants more young people to be taking maths and science subjects, but does he acknowledge that there is a chronic shortage of teachers applying for STEM subjects? Why has that happened, and what action are the Government taking to reverse this serious problem for young people and for the wider economy?

[Mr Gibb]

The hon. Gentleman makes a very good point. That is why the Prime Minister recently announced a new £67 million package of measures over the next five years to increase the skills and subject knowledge of 15,000 existing maths and physics teachers and to recruit an additional 2,500 teachers over the course of the next Parliament. As the hon. Gentleman will know, bursaries of up to £25,000 are available to trainee teachers with high degrees in maths and physics. As he will also know, some 17% of teacher trainees now hold a first-class degree and 73% of current trainee teachers hold a 2:1 degree or higher.

[Sir Peter Luff (Mid Worcestershire) (Con)]

The excellent new curriculums for computing and for design and technology can do much to inspire young people to take up STEM subjects, but further to the Minister’s last answer, can he reassure me that we recruit enough teachers to teach these important subjects?

[Mr Gibb]

I can provide my hon. Friend with that reassurance. We are offering generous bursaries, including in computer science, to attract the highest quality graduates into teaching.

[Mr Graham Stuart (Beverley and Holderness) (Con)]

7. What assessment she has made of which of her Department’s policies since May 2010 has been most successful in achieving its original objectives.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Nigel Evans (Ribble Valley) (Con)]

10. What steps she is taking to encourage pupils to study modern languages.

[The Minister of State, Department for Education (Mr Nick Gibb)]

The new curriculum requires all maintained primary schools to teach a foreign language to pupils from the age of seven. The number of entries for a modern language GCSE has increased by 20% since 2010 due to the introduction of the English baccalaureate performance measure, a major step towards remedying the enormous damage to foreign language teaching in schools caused by the previous Labour Government’s 2004 decision about the curriculum.

[Mr Evans]

“Ya khochu govorit’ svobodno po-russki”, possibly means “I want to speak Russian fluently.” For somebody of my age, it is an ambition I might hope to reach before I die, but youngsters tend to be more adept at learning foreign languages. Could we do more to encourage even more youngsters to learn Russian, Arabic and Mandarin not only to open doors in their minds, but to make their worth even more attractive in the employment market?

[Mr Gibb]

Spasibo, Mr Speaker. The number taking Russian GCSE has increased from 1,500 in 2010-11 to about 2,000 in 2013-14. I agree with my hon. Friend about the importance of languages for the economy, and for learning about other cultures. According to a report by the CBI published in 2014, 65% of businesses say they value foreign language skills, most importantly for building relations with overseas customers.

[Ms Gisela Stuart (Birmingham, Edgbaston) (Lab)]

On the subject of businesses and foreign languages, what work is the Minister doing to get companies more closely involved with secondary schools to make learning foreign languages relevant, and to put the business application and the real-life experience together?

[Mr Gibb]

The hon. Lady makes a very good point. The careers and enterprise company recently announced by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is doing precisely that—inspiring schools and young people to engage with business in considering their future careers. The importance of that has been shown by other surveys. The Economist this week points to a 2012 British Chambers of Commerce survey of 8,000 British companies, reporting that 96% of them had no foreign language speakers. In a country like Britain—an international trading nation—that is a disgrace and something we are working hard to remedy.

[Mr David Heath (Somerton and Frome) (LD)]

Are not our horizons still too limited? With the advent of IT and refinements in distance learning, should not any child in any school be able to learn any language?

[Mr Gibb]

I agree with my hon. Friend that that should be possible, and we are doing everything we can to encourage more young people to study a foreign language. The problem is that a decision was taken by the previous Labour Government in 2004 to remove the compulsory nature of taking languages to GCSE, and that has had a devastating effect on the numbers doing so. We have reversed that trend.

[Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North) (Lab)]

11. If she will take steps to promote the establishment of more sixth-form colleges.

--- Later in debate ---

[Simon Wright (Norwich South) (LD)]

16. If she will ensure that all children receive age-appropriate sex and relationship education.

[The Minister of State, Department for Education (Mr Nick Gibb)]

Sex and relationship education must be taught in all maintained secondary schools; we believe that most secondary academies and many primary schools also teach it. Any school teaching SRE must have regard to the Secretary of State’s “Sex and Relationship Education Guidance”. The guidance makes it clear that all sex and relationship education should be age-appropriate, and that schools should ensure that young people develop positive values and a moral framework that will guide their decisions, judgments and behaviour.

[Simon Wright]

Will the Minister consider that the ongoing revelations over child sexual exploitation, the explicit content on new technologies widely available to children, and the warnings of the deputy Children’s Commissioner and the Education Committee among others together make an overwhelming case for the urgent introduction of mandatory age-appropriate sex and relationship education, starting at primary school?

[Mr Gibb]

We are considering the report of the Education Committee very carefully and will respond to it in due course. We believe that all schools should teach personal, social, health and economic education and, within that, SRE. Indeed, the introduction to the new national curriculum makes that explicitly clear. What is important is not whether PSHE is statutory, but the quality of the teaching. That is our focus, and we are working with the PSHE Association and other expert bodies to ensure that teachers have the best resources to teach these very sensitive issues.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

18. What progress has been made on attracting former members of the armed forces to become teachers.

--- Later in debate ---

[Richard Harrington (Watford) (Con)]

20. If she will encourage and extend the use of the Teach First scheme.

[The Minister of State, Department for Education (Mr Nick Gibb)]

Teach First has made a real difference to the education and life chances of thousands of children in some of the most disadvantaged areas in our country. Since the Government came to office, we have more than doubled the number of trainees on the programme and spread its reach to every region in the country. For 2015-16, we have expanded the programme again. Funding has been allocated for 2,000 trainees, 33% up on last year. More than 50% of the secondary allocation will focus on priority subjects: maths, science, modern languages, computing, and design and technology.

[Richard Harrington]

I thank the Minister for that comprehensive answer. On a recent visit to the absolutely splendid Grove academy in Watford, it was brought to my attention that it can be difficult for the school, and for Watford schools in general, to attract staff because 2 miles down the road, with London weighting as it is, people receive £2,500 a year more for the same job. Given that Watford is demographically and occupationally similar to most London suburbs, will the Minister look at London weighting in this respect, so that Watford jobs become more competitive with London jobs next door?

[Mr Gibb]

My hon. Friend raised these issues when I visited Watford and a number of schools there recently. The pay reforms we have introduced over the last two years have given schools greater flexibility to decide how much they can pay a teacher and how quickly pay progresses. Our reforms are providing schools with the discretion they need to address any school-level recruitment and retention problems they may have. However, as my hon. Friend also knows, decisions about the definitions of inner and outer London and the London fringe area are ultimately a matter for the independent School Teachers Review Body.

[Mr Speaker]

It is good that we have got through all the substantive questions on the Order Paper.

--- Later in debate ---

[Charlotte Leslie (Bristol North West) (Con)]

T2. Little Fatima at Fonthill school in Southmead made two years’ reading progress in just 16 weeks thanks to the “Read on. Get on” scheme. What support are the Government giving to reading recovery schemes such as this?

[The Minister of State, Department for Education (Mr Nick Gibb)]

One of the purposes of the phonics check, which we introduced in 2012, is to identify early on those children who are still struggling with the basic reading skill of decoding. We expect schools to focus their resources on helping those children, which is why they retake the check at the end of year 2 to ensure that no child slips through the net. As a result of our policy on reading and the introduction of the phonics check in 2012, 102,000 six-year-olds are today reading more effectively than they would otherwise have done had Labour stayed in office.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

Given that two secondary academies in my constituency have recently been judged inadequate by Ofsted—one having previously been judged as outstanding, the other as good—the Secretary of State will understand that many of those parents would like to see her working closely and quickly with those schools to get them back to where they need to be. What action is she going to take to ensure that those children in Stockport and in Tameside receive the life chances they deserve?

--- Later in debate ---

[Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North) (Lab)]

I understand that the Minister recently visited Shanghai to look at the education system in China. In this respect, the Chinese are more successful than we are in many ways. What is the key difference that makes China’s socialist state system so much more successful than our system, in terms of classrooms, culture and teaching methods, and what did the Minister learn from that?

[Mr Gibb]

In maths, 15-year-olds in Shanghai are three years ahead of 15-year-olds in this country in the programme for international student assessment tables. We look very carefully at international evidence, which is why we sent 71 teachers to Shanghai to study teaching methods there. Now 30 Shanghai teachers are in 20 primary schools in this country, teaching our teachers how to improve their maths teaching. They have a mastery model. Pupils face the front, learn their tables, concentrate for 35 minutes, and use textbooks. We are learning from the best in the world.

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I feel sure that there will be a full debate on this matter on one of the long summer evenings that lie ahead of us.

PFI Academies

Nick Gibb Excerpts

Thursday 26th February 2015 Written Statements

[The Minister of State, Department for Education (Mr Nick Gibb)]

Today, I will lay before both Houses a minute setting out the revised details of the contingent liability created by the provision of indemnities to local authorities where schools in private finance initiative (PFI) contracts become academies. Both Houses were previously notified of this indemnity by a parliamentary minute laid on 13 July 2010. The contingent liability has increased since 2010 due to the rapid expansion of the academies programme and a more streamlined PFI academy conversion process.

As a result of our plan for education we now have a million more pupils in good or outstanding schools than in 2010. The academies programme has been crucial to this, helping to transform thousands of historically poor schools across the country.

No expenditure has ever arisen under this indemnity, in respect of the 164 PFI academies to date. The likelihood of any of the indemnity being realised is very low and would only be realised in relation to an individual PFI contract. The overall PFI liability has not risen. The perceived increase is because of a redistribution of schools from local authorities to the Department as the academies programme grows in popularity.

The continuation of this contingent liability means that my Department will provide indemnities to local authorities when PFI schools become academies. Local authorities will not, therefore, be left with bills arising from the actions of an academy trust over which the authority has no control.

This will give more schools the opportunity to join the 164 PFI academies already open and enjoy the benefits that academy status brings.

[HCWS317]

Bullying on School Buses

Nick Gibb Excerpts

Wednesday 25th February 2015 Westminster Hall

[The Minister of State, Department for Education (Mr Nick Gibb)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Hood. I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole (Annette Brooke) on securing this debate. I know that bullying on school transport has been a key concern of hers for many years and that she has raised the issue before, both in the House and at meetings with Ministers, including my predecessor in this role, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Bullying in any form or for any reason is totally unacceptable and should never be tolerated. No child should have to suffer the stress and indignity of being bullied at school or on the way to school. It is tragic beyond belief when bullying results in a child taking his or her own life. I have had the pleasure of meeting Mr Vodden in the past and admire the fact that he has devoted so much time and energy to looking into these matters, with a view to ensuring that no other child or family should have to go through what he and his family have had to suffer.

The response of schools to bullying should not start at the point at which a child is being bullied. Schools that excel at tackling bullying have created an ethos of good behaviour, in which pupils treat one another and school staff with respect because they know that that is the right way to behave. Respect for staff and other pupils, an understanding of the value of education and a clear understanding of how our own actions affect others should permeate the whole ethos of schools and should be reinforced by staff and all pupils.

To ensure that teachers have the powers that they need to maintain discipline and enforce school rules, we introduced a number of reforms in 2011-12. Tackling bullying and ensuring good behaviour in our schools is right at the heart of our education reforms, which are designed to raise academic standards in our schools.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I apologise for not being here in time for the start of the debate; there are many demands on our time. This is an important issue, including in my constituency, and I am sorry that I did not hear the contribution by the right hon. Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole. In Northern Ireland, including in my constituency, we have addressed the issue by working with the police, schools and transport companies, as well as with individual parents. In that way, it has been possible to address bullying on buses going to and from schools. The issues that had to be addressed were clear, but it took a combination of all those bodies to make that happen.

[Mr Gibb]

I am grateful for that intervention. I could not agree more with that approach. The agencies—schools, local authorities and bus companies—have to work together to tackle the problem. We revised the home-to-school travel and transport guidance last July; I will come back to that.

To tackle the specific issue of bullying on school buses, we have to track back and raise standards of behaviour in the whole school system. That has been a key focus of this Government’s approach to education policy. We have given teachers stronger powers to search pupils, removed the requirement to give parents 24 hours’ written notice of after-school detentions and clarified teachers’ powers to use reasonable force. We revised and updated advice to schools on promoting good behaviour and maintaining discipline—that advice includes the Charlie Taylor checklist on the basics of classroom management—and simplified advice on how to prevent and tackle bullying. We introduced anonymity for teachers accused by pupils of criminal offences until such time as they are actually charged with an offence. We changed the system of independent review panels to ensure that a school’s decision to exclude an unruly pupil is not undermined by an appeal process that can force the reinstatement of a permanently excluded pupil against the best interests of the school and its pupils.

In the light of evidence that showed that one in three secondary schools were still not confident in using their powers to discipline pupils, we updated our advice in February last year to make it clear that tough but proportionate sanctions for misbehaviour are permissible. Such sanctions range from verbal reprimands to loss of privileges, writing lines or essays or providing a school-based community service such as picking up litter or weeding the school grounds.

We expect each school to promote appropriate standards of behaviour by pupils on their journey to and from school by rewarding positive behaviour and using sanctions to address poor behaviour, and we have clarified our advice to make it clear that teachers have the power to discipline pupils for misbehaviour outside the school premises to such an extent as is reasonable. That can relate to any bullying incidents that occur anywhere off the school premises, such as on a school bus or public transport, outside the local shops or in a town or village centre.

When bullying outside school is reported to school staff, that should be investigated and acted on. The head teacher should also consider whether it is appropriate in extreme circumstances to notify the police or the antisocial behaviour co-ordinator of their local authority. In all cases of misbehaviour or bullying, the teacher can discipline the pupil on school premises or elsewhere only when that pupil is under the lawful control of the staff member.

We have strengthened Ofsted’s power. We reduced the number of criteria for inspections from 27 to four, and one of those four is behaviour and safety of pupils in the school.

I understand that my right hon. Friend’s constituent, Mr Vodden, has been impressed by the work undertaken by the anti-bullying organisations the Diana Award and Kidscape. They do excellent work to tackle bullying, which is why we are providing funding to them. I have been involved with the awards ceremony of the Diana Award, where I have met many inspiring young people genuinely tackling bullying in our schools up and down the country. We are providing £4 million of funding to several organisations to tackle bullying, and we are considering bids for further projects. Many parents are concerned about cyber-bullying, so we have issued guidance to parents and to teachers on how to identify and tackle it.

Local authorities can play a part. My right hon. Friend touched on this: when they contract to provide school transport, they can instruct companies to include anti-bullying procedures as part of their tenders. The statutory guidance I referred to earlier on home-to-school transport, which was revised in July 2014, requires local authorities to ensure the safety of pupils on school buses. Paragraph 44 talks quite explicitly about the training of bus drivers, which she referred to. It says:

“All local authorities should ensure that all drivers and escorts taking pupils to and from school and related services have undertaken appropriate training, and that this is kept up to date.”

Paragraph 47 says:

“The Department expects each school to promote appropriate standards of behaviour by pupils on their journey to and from school through rewarding positive behaviour and using sanctions to address poor behaviour.”

It cites the Education and Inspections Act 2006, which, it says,

“empowers head teachers to take action to address unacceptable behaviour even when this takes place outside the school premises”.

That guidance, which is extensive, needs to be adhered to, because local authorities have a statutory duty to make suitable travel arrangements for eligible children in their area and to promote safe and sustainable travel to school.

[Annette Brooke]

I thank the Minister for his general points on bullying and for focusing on what happens inside the bus. I accept that there are clearly lots of guidelines, but I am concerned that they are not being implemented by all local authorities. Absolutely, there is good practice, but what checks will he carry out among just a sample of them to ensure that the guidance is being implemented?

[Mr Gibb]

I will reflect on my right hon. Friend’s point. A number of local authorities have adopted a policy of withdrawing transport either temporarily or permanently in more serious repeated cases of misbehaviour. There are examples of good practice up and down the country, but I will reflect on her comments and this debate to see whether we can do more to ensure specifically that bullying on buses is being tackled by local authorities.

I should make the point that bullying on school transport is a symptom of a deeper malaise in schools where poor behaviour exists. I could cite the survey from schoolteachers today that says that three quarters of teachers report better behaviour now than they did in 2010, and when schools have exemplary behaviour policies and behaviour is right in the school, that extends beyond the school to the pupils’ school bus environment and to town centres. We are trying to have that in all our schools up and down the country, because as a Government we place a high priority on improving standards of behaviour in our schools.

I conclude by reiterating my opening point and that of my right hon. Friend: what Ben Vodden suffered on that school bus should never have happened. It should not have happened to him and it should never happen to any child going to or from school. Tackling bullying outside schools is more challenging than tackling bullying in schools, but we have been clear on teachers’ powers to discipline pupils for poor behaviour, including bullying outside the school gates. However, if a school’s approach to behaviour is as good as in the best schools in the country, that good behaviour will extend to the behaviour of pupils on school transport as much as in the schools. As I said, teachers are now reporting much better behaviour in our schools than in 2010, but until we have exemplary behaviour in all our schools and every pupil can feel safe and secure from bullying, work on that challenge will continue.

Question put and agreed to.

Reformed GCSE and A-level Content

Nick Gibb Excerpts

Thursday 12th February 2015 Written Statements

[The Minister of State, Department for Education (Mr Nick Gibb)]

The Government are reforming qualifications to provide students with the knowledge and understanding that will prepare them for employment and further study. The new GCSEs will provide young people with more fulfilling and demanding courses of study, and reformed A-levels will better prepare students for undergraduate study.

The Government have already published subject content for a number of GCSEs and A-levels to be reformed. Content for reformed GCSE subjects can be found online at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/gcse-subject-content and content for A/AS level subjects online at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/gce-as-and-a-level-subject-content

Today, I am publishing revised content for the remaining GCSEs and A-levels that will be taught in schools from September 2016: GCSEs in citizenship studies, drama, food preparation and nutrition, and religious studies; and A-levels in drama and theatre, and religious studies. In common with all reformed GCSEs and A-levels, the qualifications will be academically rigorous to prepare students for life in modern Britain and keep pace with the expectations of universities and employers.

Key changes to the reformed qualifications are highlighted below:

The new citizenship studies GCSE will require students to develop more detailed knowledge of citizenship, including knowledge of democracy and government, the legal system, society and the public finances. While students will be required to undertake at least one in-depth, critical investigation leading to a campaign or other similar activity, Ofqual has decided that assessment of the knowledge and understanding gained through such action will now be by written examination.

The drama GCSE and drama and theatre A-level are more rigorous and offer greater breadth to students. At GCSE, students will study at least one play in depth, including its social, cultural and historical context, and two extracts from a second play. At A-level, students will study at least two plays in depth, three extracts from other plays and two theatre practitioners—individuals or theatre companies. Performance skills have been enhanced for both qualifications: all GCSE students will have the opportunity to participate in two performances and A-level students will use the working methodologies of the practitioners studied in their own work.

Food preparation and nutrition is a new GCSE that draws and builds on the best of current food-related qualifications. This GCSE will place a greater focus on knowledge, including scientific knowledge of food and nutrition, and will enable students to apply this when preparing and cooking meals.

The new religious studies (RS) qualifications will provide students with a broader and deeper knowledge of religion.

GCSE RS students will spend at least half of their time developing knowledge and understanding of two religions, with the option to spend up to three-quarters of their time studying one of the two. Students will also be able to study texts and learn about critiques of religion and other non- religious beliefs through the study of philosophy and ethics.

A-level RS students will study at least one religion in depth through three of the following areas of study: the systematic study of religion; textual studies; philosophy of religion; and religious ethics. Through these, students will also be expected to engage with the works and arguments of key theologians, scholars, philosophers and/or ethicists.

All of these subjects have been prepared with the close involvement of subject organisations and experts, and I want to thank them for their contribution to the reforms.

[HCWS280]

Durham Free School

Nick Gibb Excerpts

Tuesday 27th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[The Minister of State, Department for Education (Mr Nick Gibb)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for City of Durham (Roberta Blackman-Woods) on securing this important debate. I know that, as a Member of Parliament and as a governor at Durham Johnston school, she is a passionate advocate for education in her constituency, and I also know that she has been concerned about Durham free school for some time.

We all agree that every parent should be able to choose a good local school for their child, and we are committed to giving parents a genuine choice between high-quality schools. Pupils and parents are let down when local schools are not of the highest quality, and we must act quickly and decisively when schools fail. That is precisely what we have done in the case of Durham free school.

There are currently 255 open free schools. Of those that have been inspected, more than two thirds have been rated good or outstanding and nearly a quarter have been rated outstanding, just three years after the first free school opened its doors to pupils. More than 100 free schools are in the pre-opening phase, and are due to open in 2015 and beyond. Once full, all open and approved free schools will provide 200,000 pupil places. Free schools have introduced new ideas and approaches to the school system. Schools such as Dixons Trinity academy in Bradford, Harris primary free school, Peckham, and Perry Beeches in Birmingham have been ranked outstanding by Ofsted less than two years after opening. They also give parents and local people a say in the type of education they want for their children, and they are helping to raise academic standards. Free schools also bring diversity into the system. Charities, universities, businesses, and teachers and parents have all opened free schools, and they are having a positive impact on the educational landscape.

[Mr Kevan Jones]

The Minister mentions choice. In Durham there is choice. There is the very good St Leonard’s Catholic school, there is a choice of very good secondary schools, and a good proposal was put forward for an academy backed by the local FE college. This Government cancelled that. We should have added to the choice, instead of taking the ideological step of introducing this free school, which was not needed in the area.

[Mr Gibb]

The hon. Gentleman says that, but the local community in Bowburn says differently, and that is why it got together and formed a committee to open the free school.

Prior to opening, all free schools undergo a rigorous assessment and Durham free school was no exception, but the real test of a school’s effectiveness comes when the school is open. The leadership and governance of the school must be strong. The standard of education must be high and sustainable to realise the promises made as the school prepared to open. A key strength of the free schools programme is that we can act swiftly and decisively where we find schools that are not performing well. We closed Discovery new school within six months of an Ofsted monitoring inspection showing that insufficient progress was being made. Since then we have reviewed our funding agreements with proposers, improving our ability to act without delay.

The Government have a zero-tolerance approach to under-performance in our schools, which is why the Secretary of State took the decision last week to issue a notice of her intention to terminate Durham free school’s funding agreement just three months after receiving notification of the initial concerns.

[Alex Cunningham]

I welcome that decisive action, but Durham free school was receiving its bursary services from Grindon Hall Christian school, which itself has just been found to be in special measures. What measures will the Minister take to make sure all these free schools and academies—and everything else, for that matter—have appropriate financial systems and support and that we do not have one poor school trying to provide services to another?

[Mr Gibb]

We want collaboration between schools as part of a school-led autonomous system, but we now have very strong financial controls through the Education Funding Agency, and they are stronger in academies than any maintained school, with annual reports that are audited and very detailed academy financial handbooks that academies have to adhere to.

Durham free school is a mixed 11-19 secondary school with a Christian ethos. It has an overall capacity of 630. It opened in September 2013 with 31 pupils. It currently has 92 year 7 and 8 pupils on roll, out of 120 available places.

[Roberta Blackman-Woods]

What assessment was made before the school was opened of its ability to meet the numbers that would be required to make it a good and stable school going forward? It has consistently failed to attract the numbers of students that would be necessary, so we have had a situation of, first, 30 children in one year and then the combined two years of 90 children in a school that was built to cater for 700 or 800 students.

[Mr Gibb]

It is a common feature of free schools that they do not often fill their places in the first year, but they generally increase their numbers in their second and third years. That is what we expected to happen with this school, but of course it did not happen because of the problems identified by the Ofsted report.

The vision of Durham free school came from a community who wanted a local secondary school for their children in the Bowburn area, south-east of Durham. Closures of schools in the south and south-east of Durham had left people concerned about the distances that their children were required to travel to school.

Before they are allowed to open, free school proposers receive a significant period of support and challenge from departmental officials. As with all free schools, the initial Durham free school proposal was assessed against rigorous published criteria, including a compelling vision and ethos, a detailed education plan, strong governance arrangements, robust evidence of demand, and clear financial plans. The proposers then enter a pre-opening period where groups such as the proposers of Durham free school are supported by officials and education advisers as they develop their governance and education plans, recruit pupils, consult the local community and work towards signing a funding agreement with the Department.

We make it clear that we expect to see a strong governing body to ensure that the governors have both the skills and the experience to deliver high academic standards. At the point of opening, the Durham free school governing body consisted of an existing head teacher, a retired head teacher and a number of highly qualified professionals. A strong and effective governing body is a crucial element in the success of any educational institution. In this case, we were satisfied that the governance structure had the capability to deliver an outstanding education to its pupils.

The school had 31 pupils for 60 places at opening, as the hon. Lady said. That is undoubtedly below the level we would have wished for, but new schools can take time to establish their reputation and build up their roll. The school opened on a temporary site in Gilesgate—just spitting distance from where I lived during my three years at Durham university—because of the difficulties in finding a permanent site in the trust’s preferred location.

The trust was able to demonstrate that the school could be viable in the first year of opening due to the way in which school funding is allocated in Durham. It is not uncommon for free schools to increase pupil recruitment significantly during the first year of opening and whilst in a temporary site. Our experience of the free schools programme is that schools often recruit far better in year 2, which was the case at both Rimon Jewish school and Harpenden free school, where recruitment in year 2 was almost 30% more than in year 1.

The proposer group also produced a detailed education plan which demonstrated a clear and coherent vision, focusing not only on academic success but on transforming the local area and increasing the aspirations of all its pupils. At the time of opening, Ministers agreed that the educational plan, together with a secured temporary site and the intention of finding a permanent site in Bowburn, made a strong case to proceed to opening the school.

The school opened in September 2013, and early indications from the Department’s education adviser were that it had made a positive start in delivering the education plan and was making good use of other local schools. Disappointingly, that positive start was not sustained. The recent Ofsted report clearly states that pupil aspiration is low and is not challenged by the school leadership. It shows that teaching is inadequate and consequently that pupil achievement is weak. The school has a number of other significant issues, which is why the Secretary of State took the difficult decision to issue the trust with a notice of our intention to terminate the funding agreement. I would like to address some of those issues today.

The school’s temporary location on the site of the former Gilesgate school in Durham was not the preferred location. Extensive site searches have been undertaken in the trust’s area of choice in Bowburn, which, as the hon. Lady will know, is largely made up of agricultural and residential land. We have already seen that many free schools can offer high quality education in sites that were not their original choice, and that that has not affected the quality of education, so we do not accept that as a reason for the poor judgments given in the Ofsted report.

The school has since received per-pupil funding at the same rate as all other state-funded schools in the local authority and, as a new school, received an additional £196,000 to defray the additional set-up costs and overheads while pupil numbers were growing. The Department spent £303,000 in capital funding, a large proportion of which was spent on construction, furniture, fittings, other equipment and ICT.

[Roberta Blackman-Woods]

It has been extraordinarily difficult to get information about the total funding the school has obtained over the two years of its existence. How can I easily get that information?

[Mr Gibb]

I am very happy to supply the hon. Lady with that information. Revenue and capital, in additional to the per-pupil funding, amounts to about £840,000, but I will write to her with the precise figure.

The Department received a number of worrying allegations about Durham free school’s governance in October 2014, 13 months after it opened. We acted swiftly to investigate the claims. The Education Funding Agency undertook an urgent review in November, which identified serious breaches of the academies financial handbook. Those included concerns about the governing body, the completion of Disclosure and Barring Service checks, and the robustness of the school’s financial management. As a consequence, the school was issued with a financial notice to improve on 24 November, and the Secretary of State asked Ofsted to conduct a no-notice section 5 inspection, which took place in November.

We acted swiftly, and the hon. Lady will know that we take action whenever we see underperformance in our schools system.

Question put and agreed to.

Oral Answers to Questions

Nick Gibb Excerpts

Monday 19th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[Craig Whittaker (Calder Valley) (Con)]

17. What assessment she has made of the effect of the introduction of regional schools commissioners.

[The Minister of State, Department for Education (Mr Nick Gibb)]

In the four months since the eight regional schools commissioners took up their responsibilities for the academies and free schools in their regions, they have been working efficiently with their head teacher boards to inject experience, expertise and valuable local knowledge into the management of the academy system, playing a vital role in the development of a self-improving school system.

[Craig Whittaker]

Prior to the schools commissioners being in place, it was my experience that the Department’s approach to failing academies was sometimes inconsistent. How does the Minister envisage that schools commissioners will apply a consistent approach to drive up standards and make academies more accountable?

[Mr Gibb]

Given their proximity to schools that are underperforming and their local knowledge, regional schools commissioners will act far more swiftly in taking failing schools to academy status than we have seen to date. That is the purpose of the regional schools commissioners, and I am confident that we will see a faster and smoother process of conversion to academy status.

[Stuart Andrew (Pudsey) (Con)]

18. What progress her Department has made on tackling bullying.

[The Minister of State, Department for Education (Mr Nick Gibb)]

This Government take bullying very seriously. We have strengthened teachers’ powers to tackle bullying, we have provided anti-bullying advice for schools, we have provided approximately £4 million of funding to anti-bullying charities and announced a further £2 million to address homophobic bullying, and we have included internet safety in the national curriculum. According to our longitudinal study of young people published in November last year, around 30,000 fewer young people are being bullied than 10 years ago in England.

[Stuart Andrew]

The ultimate consequence of bullying can be that the victim takes their own life, as a friend unfortunately did when I was at school. Given that these days cyber-bullying is an additional pressure for victims, what advice and support does my hon. Friend’s Department offer to teachers to deal specifically with that problem?

[Mr Gibb]

It is always tragic when young people take their own life for whatever reason, but particularly when that is linked to cyber-bullying. As this is a particular worry for parents, we recently issued advice on how they can help protect their children from cyber-bullying, the signs to look for and what to do if children are being cyber-bullied. We also produce advice for schools on how to support pupils facing cyber-bullying.

[Greg Mulholland (Leeds North West) (LD)]

A two-year research project entitled “Addressing Sexual Bullying Across Europe” has just been published by Leeds Beckett university, revealing that sexual bullying in young people is widespread across Europe, with 73% of young people aged 13 to 18 having experienced at least one form of sexual bullying on more than one occasion. This is horrendous. What more can we do in our schools to deal with this very worrying problem?

[Mr Gibb]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. This is an increasing trend and we have to make it very clear in our schools that this form of behaviour in our schools is unacceptable. The guidance issued by the Department makes it clear that issues such as consent have to be taught in our sex and relationship education lessons.

[Justin Tomlinson (North Swindon) (Con)]

19. What steps she is taking to promote the teaching of emergency life-saving skills in schools.

[The Minister of State, Department for Education (Mr Nick Gibb)]

Three in a row. Schools are free to teach emergency life-saving skills and may choose to do so as part of personal, social, health and economic education. The Department, as my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State said, is encouraging schools to purchase automated external defibrillators and has made arrangements to help them do so at a competitive price. We have also published a guide to defibrillators on school premises, in which we suggest that schools may wish to consider offering cardiopulmonary resuscitation training throughout the school.

[Justin Tomlinson]

Of the 30,000 cardiac arrests that occur outside the hospital setting each year, only one in 10 people survive. Will the Minister agree to meet me and the British Heart Foundation to discuss how, in countries where two hours of emergency life-saving skills are taught, survival rates often increase to up to 50%?

[Mr Gibb]

I agree that first aid and life-saving skills are very important, but the Government do not believe that it should be a statutory requirement for schools to teach those skills. We trust schools to make their own decisions about what is best in their circumstances. Many schools do choose to teach these skills, working with organisations such as the British Heart Foundation or St John Ambulance. I would be delighted to meet my hon. Friend to consider what more can be done to promote these programmes in schools.

[Sir Oliver Heald (North East Hertfordshire) (Con)]

T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.

--- Later in debate ---

[Angie Bray (Ealing Central and Acton) (Con)]

T3. Will my hon. Friend join me in congratulating teachers and pupils at primary schools across Ealing on their latest key stage 2 standard assessment test results, which have taken them well above average? It is particularly good to note that pupils from the most disadvantaged backgrounds have done especially well this year.

[The Minister of State, Department for Education (Mr Nick Gibb)]

I happily join my hon. Friend in congratulating primary schools in her constituency on that achievement. It is true that during the last few years we have narrowed the attainment gap between those from poorer and wealthier backgrounds. In particular, I cite key stage 2 reading, writing and maths figures, where we closed the gap by one percentage point between 2013 and 2014, which is a staggering achievement, but there is more to do.

[Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North) (Lab)]

T2. More than 10,000 people have now signed an e-petition urging the Government to introduce a VAT refund scheme for sixth-form colleges. Does the Minister now accept that it is time to drop this learning tax on sixth-form colleges, which does not have to be paid by schools, academies and free schools?

--- Later in debate ---

[Julie Hilling (Bolton West) (Lab)]

According to the Minister, schools should be able to choose whether to teach emergency life support skills, but we do not allow a choice in other subjects. Does he not agree that it is worth two hours so that we can transform our society, make every school leaver a life saver, and so save potentially 150,000 lives a year?

[Mr Gibb]

I understand the hon. Lady’s passion on this, which is shared by Government Members as well, but what is taught in personal, social, health and economic education is up to the schools, and we do not want to have an over-prescribed school curriculum. We have created a carefully balanced curriculum between central prescription and autonomy for professionals, and this is a matter for professionals. All schools are free to teach these very important skills, but we must leave some matters to schools to decide.

[Sir Nick Harvey (North Devon) (LD)]

T5. Is the Minister aware that Chulmleigh academy in my constituency has been three quarters rebuilt for just £3.7 million, compared with the £18 million it was due to have cost under Building Schools for the Future? Given the school’s superb record of delivery and astonishing value for money, will Ministers smile upon the bid now in for funding for the last stage of this superb project?

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Gibb]

I am grateful for that question. There is already an Oxford, Cambridge and Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, or OCR, GCSE qualification called “Religious Studies GCSE (B): Philosophy and Applied Ethics”. The philosophy of religion will feature in the new revised religious studies GCSEs. There are also post-16 level 3 qualifications in critical thinking and philosophy. There is significant choice in schools for students wishing to study philosophy.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

The National Audit Office has raised concerns about the DFE’s accounts relating to the academies programme. The NAO qualified signing off the DFE’s accounts, given uncertainties and errors. What has the Secretary of State done to ensure that these serious financial irregularities have been addressed by her Department?

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

The cluster academy of Montsaye academy in Rothwell, together with local primary schools in Rothwell, Desborough, Wilbarston and Rushden, is working very well in providing a more seamless education for local children from primary all the way through to 18. How might the best practice from clusters such as Montsaye be best spread across the rest of Northamptonshire and the rest of the country?

[Mr Gibb]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on his involvement as a former governor at that school. The Government’s academies programme is actively encouraging schools to collaborate and support each other as part of developing a genuinely school-led system. We are encouraging groups of schools to form strong partnerships by converting to academy status like the Montsaye cluster. The Department is working closely with Northamptonshire schools and the local authority to support the development of strong clusters led by teachers and head teachers to secure the best education for pupils in Northamptonshire.

[Several hon. Members]

rose—

Design and Technology GCSE

Nick Gibb Excerpts

Friday 16th January 2015 Written Statements

[The Minister of State, Department for Education (Mr Nick Gibb)]

We are reforming GCSEs and A levels to strengthen their academic rigour and to ensure young people are prepared for life in modern Britain. The reforms are extensive and represent a new qualifications standard, keeping pace with universities’ and employers’ needs.

Draft content for the new GCSE in design and technology was consulted on in Autumn 2014. The consultation showed many positive reactions to the creation of a single title for design and technology and the way in which the content had changed to reflect far better the processes of design. These changes will ensure that the subject prepares students well for further study in a rapidly changing world.

The reforms do, however, represent a significant change to the design and technology GCSE. To ensure all the component parts of the qualification work well together, it is my view that more time is needed to give students the best experience possible. First teaching of GCSE design and technology will, therefore, be delayed from 2016 to 2017 to enable the awarding organisations to complete their work and undertake further consultations and discussions with stakeholders.

[HCWS202]

Grammar School Funding

Nick Gibb Excerpts

Tuesday 13th January 2015 Westminster Hall

[The Minister of State, Department for Education (Mr Nick Gibb)]

The issue of competence relates to a budget deficit left to the current Government by the Government whom the hon. Member for Cardiff West (Kevin Brennan) supported and served in. That is the basis behind everything that we are discussing this morning.

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Gainsborough (Sir Edward Leigh) on securing this important debate, and other hon. Members on their thoughtful and principled speeches, on which I will continue to reflect. Creating a world-class education system that enables parents to send their children to good or outstanding schools is central to the Government’s plan for education. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Ashford (Damian Green) said, the Government’s education reforms have massively improved the life chances of millions of children in this country, and they will continue to do that. Grammar schools, with their focus on the highest standards of teaching, play an important role in delivering on that goal. There is no ambiguity about the Government’s views on grammar schools.

My hon. Friend the Member for Rugby (Mark Pawsey), my right hon. Friend the Member for Ashford and other hon. Friends referred to unfairnesses in the funding system. That is inherent in the way local authorities historically have been funded for their school budgets. In 2014, we announced the introduction of minimum funding levels, which will allocate, as has been pointed out, an additional £390 million to the least fairly funded local authorities for 2015-16. That includes Warwickshire, which received £15.4 million, and North Yorkshire, which received £9.8 million. That increase in funding represents a huge step towards removing that historical unfairness in the schools funding system. The Government have made more progress in that area than any recent Government. That puts us in a much better position to implement a national funding formula when the time is right.

As my hon. Friends will know, faced with the historically high budget deficit when we came into office in 2010, the Government needed to identify savings from across Whitehall and the public sector. Despite that, we have consistently prioritised funding for schools, ensuring that spending has been maintained in real terms. The schools budget for five to 16-year-olds has been protected since 2011, in addition to which the pupil premium to support disadvantaged pupils is worth some £2.5 billion this year. Those commitments have been possible only because the Government have found savings elsewhere, including other parts of the education budget, but I understand the concerns that the burden of those savings in education has fallen disproportionately on grammar schools or successful comprehensive schools with large academic sixth forms.

Two concerns have been particularly prominent in today’s debate. First, as my hon. Friend the Member for Wycombe (Steve Baker) pointed out, grammar schools are more likely to have large sixth forms, which may have seen reductions to funding as we have reformed the 16-to-19 funding formulas. Secondly, grammar schools are less likely to be eligible for funding made available on the basis of low prior attainment and deprivation, as the hon. Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart) and other hon. Members pointed out.

As the hon. Member for Cardiff West pointed out, funding for grammar schools is allocated in precisely the same way as funding for all other schools, whether academies, local authority maintained schools or non-selective schools, but I recognise that some features of the funding system will have resulted in grammar schools receiving less funding than many non-grammar schools in similar areas.

I will deal with those concerns in a moment, but I should first like to pay tribute to the exceptional results achieved over the last five years by some of the schools mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Gainsborough in his opening remarks. Since 2010, 100% of students attending Caistor grammar school have achieved at least five GCSEs at grades A* to C, including English and maths, and in 2014, 96.8% of students received 10 A* to C grades. Also at Caistor grammar school, 76.4% of A-levels were at grades A* to B, and at Queen Elizabeth’s high school, 61.5% of A-level grades were A* to B. Those schools are achieving remarkable high-quality, high-standard academic education results.

My hon. Friends are right that grammar schools are less likely to be eligible for funding made available on the basis of, for example, low prior attainment or deprivation. Local authorities set their own funding formulas to decide how to distribute funding for pupils aged five to 16. Low prior attainment is a common factor used in those local formulas. Given that grammar schools select their intake on the basis of ability, they are by definition unlikely to have pupils who have attained poorly in the past, so they are unlikely to qualify for that element of the local funding formulas. The purpose of low prior attainment funding is to ensure that as many young people as possible leave school with the right knowledge and skills to be able to succeed in adult life and in modern Britain. For a strong economy and society, it is important that we continue to target funding towards pupils who are not on track to do that.

Equally, grammar schools are less likely than other schools to have large numbers of pupils from poorer backgrounds, including pupils eligible for free school meals. Local authorities have to use a deprivation factor in their local formulas, meaning that schools with higher numbers of such pupils will receive additional funding. The evidence is clear that economic disadvantage remains strongly associated with poor academic performance.

My hon. Friend the Member for Salisbury (John Glen) will be aware that all grammar schools can adopt a pupil premium admissions priority for children eligible for free school meals, provided that they meet the entry criteria. Currently, of the 164 grammar schools, 32 have done so and 65 are consulting on adopting that priority in their admissions criteria from September 2016. The Government have encouraged greater collaboration between grammar schools and local primaries specifically to identify those disadvantaged children with potential at key stage 4, and to encourage them to take the 11-plus and apply to enter a grammar school.

Closing the attainment gap between those from poorer and wealthier backgrounds has been the central objective underlying all the education reforms in our plan for education, but of course the pupil premium is in addition to the main dedicated schools grant, which means that no schools are losing out as a result of the pupil premium, regardless of their pupil demographic.

As my hon. Friend the Member for Gainsborough pointed out, grammar schools tend to have a greater proportion of their students in the sixth form than other 11-to-18 secondary schools. That means that any reduction in funding for pupils aged 16 to 19 will have a greater impact.

My hon. Friends are right that we have ended the disparity between school sixth forms and colleges. By August 2015, schools and colleges will be funded at the same level for similar programmes. However, there has been some mitigation—transition funding so that schools do not suffer abrupt changes to their funding straight away. We fund all 16-to-19 providers for study programmes of 600 hours per year for full-time students. That is sufficient for a study programme of three A-levels plus one AS-level, and up to 150 hours of enrichment activities, over a two-year study programme. There should be no need to cut those extra-curricular activities, which are such an important part of a rounded school education. In addition, as has been mentioned, we have, in 2013-14, increased the rate for larger programmes of study. For students who are studying four A-levels, the school will receive an extra £400 per pupil, and for those who are studying five A-levels, the school will receive an extra £800.

Tackling a £150 billion budget deficit has had to be a priority for a Government with a clear long-term economic plan to return our economy to one of strong growth and increasing employment and opportunity. Despite that, the schools budget has been protected in real terms, but I acknowledge that difficult decisions have had to be taken and I accept that some of those decisions have impacted on funding.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (in the Chair)]

Order. I thank all hon. Members who took part in that interesting and important debate. I ask all those not staying for the next debate to leave quickly and quietly.

Reformed AS and A-Level Content

Nick Gibb Excerpts

Thursday 18th December 2014 Written Statements

[The Minister of State, Department for Education (Mr Nick Gibb)]

The Government are reforming AS and A-level qualifications to ensure they are academically rigorous and provide students with the knowledge and understanding to prepare them for higher education, and employment.

The Government have already published subject content for the first group of A-levels to be reformed. Today I am publishing revised content for A-levels in ancient languages, modern foreign languages, geography, mathematics, and further mathematics. The content for these A-levels was recommended by the A-level content advisory board (ALCAB), drawing on advice from subject experts, universities and subject associations.

By giving university academics a leading role, we are making sure that these qualifications will provide students with the skills and knowledge needed for progression to undergraduate study. I am grateful to ALCAB for their expert advice, and I am accepting their recommendations.

In ancient languages there is a clearer requirement to study literary texts in the original language.

In modern foreign languages the content has been strengthened, with new requirements for students to translate unseen material both into and out of the target language at both AS and A-level.

In geography, content has been updated to reflect the approaches to geography taken by universities and geographical organisations, with a better balance between physical and human geography.

In mathematics, all the content is now prescribed in detail. Students will be required to study both mechanics and statistics. There is an increased emphasis on mathematical problem solving to ensure students understand the underlying mathematical concepts.

In further mathematics, the A-level builds on the mathematics content with 50% of content prescribed. AS-level includes new minimum requirements for matrices and complex numbers, with 30% of content prescribed.

Copies of the content for reformed A-levels are available.

Alongside these announcements, Ofqual is today confirming its decisions on how these subjects should be assessed, including the proportion of non-examination assessment and the assessment objectives for each subject.

These reformed A-levels will be ready for first teaching in September 2016, apart from mathematics and further mathematics for which first teaching is deferred until September 2017. This will give mathematics students the best opportunity to benefit from the new qualifications at GCSE and A-level. The decision is informed by advice from ALCAB and Ofqual’s chief regulator.

The Department has also consulted upon the content for GCSEs in art and design, dance, music, computer science, physical education (PE), citizenship, cooking and nutrition, design and technology, and drama, and A-levels in dance, music and physical education and drama and theatre, and is currently consulting on proposed content for GCSE and A-level religious studies. For all these subjects we will publish content early next year.