Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools involved in Phase 1 of the School Rebuilding Programme have had construction work formally begin.
Answered by Robin Walker
The first 100 schools were announced earlier this year on gov.uk, along with the methodology for selection. This can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme-first-50-schools and https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme-second-set-of-50-schools. The projects are all progressing through either the feasibility stage or the procurement, design and planning stage. Construction has started at 7 schools.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many new schools have opened since July 2019; and how many of those have been free schools.
Answered by Robin Walker
The government’s free schools programme has delivered hundreds of new schools and provided thousands of high-quality new school places across the country.
Since July 2019, a total of 392 new state-funded schools have opened (including sponsored and converted academies), of which 169 are new free schools. These include mainstream, special and alternative provision, and 16-19 free schools. These schools will create more than 86,000 places at capacity.
Information about all schools in England is publicly available at: https://www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average cost of (a) one school meal and (b) a year's worth of school meals was in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Will Quince
The department does not set a price for school meals whether paid for or free.
School governing boards are responsible for the provision of both free and paid for meals and it is for them to decide on the price depending on local circumstances. The department knows that many factors influence the costs of school meals including, for example, catering arrangements, food prices and existing numbers of pupils taking up school meals.
Through the schools national funding formula, the department allocates £460 of funding to local authorities for each of the pupils in their area eligible for free school meals. Local authorities then distribute this money to schools through their local funding formula, which must include additional funding for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds, such as those eligible for free school meals. This allocation will increase to £470 per eligible pupil as part of the overall increase to the core schools budget for the 2022-23 financial year.
It is then for schools to decide how to use their budget, including how much to allocate to pay for benefits-based free school meals.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what his Department's estimate was of the level of cash reserves held by multi-academy trusts as of 25 November 2021.
Answered by Robin Walker
It is prudent financial planning for academy trusts to build reserves. Even trusts with strong balance sheets and adequate reserves can find themselves in a vulnerable position if they have insufficient cash assets. Academy trusts are accountable for, and transparent about, their reserves. As part of their short and long term financial planning, they must have a policy for holding reserves set out alongside financial data in their published annual accounts. These are clear requirements of the Academy Trust Handbook, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/academy-trust-handbook.
The department publishes the Sector Annual Report and Accounts (SARA), which consolidates all academy accounts into one document. The last published report includes data on surpluses by academy trust size (page 25, figure 11b), available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/968362/SARA_Academies_Sector_Annual_Report_and_Accounts_201819_-_accessible.pdf.
The report for the 2019/20 academic year will be published in December 2021 and will include updated data on surpluses.
The National Audit Office’s recently published report on the financial sustainability of schools in England contains information about surpluses in all academy trusts (both single and multi-academy trusts), available here: https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Financial-sustainability-of-schools-in-England.pdf. This reports that the net position across all academy trusts in the 2019/20 academic year was a cumulative surplus of £3.1 billion.
Data for the 2019/20 academic year on the financial position of individual academy trusts, including their surplus position, is available in academy trusts individual accounts and the schools financial benchmarking website, available here: https://schools-financial-benchmarking.service.gov.uk/.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much and what proportion of the £10 million funding for Behaviour Hubs has been allocated to schools as of 24 November 2021.
Answered by Robin Walker
Since April 2021, the £10 million behaviour hubs programme has supported 22 lead schools and two multi-academy trusts (MATs), who have been working with 34 partner schools and two MATs. A second cohort of 41 partner schools and two MATs have been recruited and their induction took place in September 2021.
Of the £10 million funding, around 70% is being used to fund teachers’ and senior leaders’ time to engage with the programme and implement action plans. The remainder is being used to contract behaviour and programme delivery experts to develop and deliver specialist training and resources for schools.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools have been supported by the Behaviour Hubs programme as of 24 November 2021.
Answered by Robin Walker
Since April 2021, the £10 million behaviour hubs programme has supported 22 lead schools and two multi-academy trusts (MATs), who have been working with 34 partner schools and two MATs. A second cohort of 41 partner schools and two MATs have been recruited and their induction took place in September 2021.
Of the £10 million funding, around 70% is being used to fund teachers’ and senior leaders’ time to engage with the programme and implement action plans. The remainder is being used to contract behaviour and programme delivery experts to develop and deliver specialist training and resources for schools.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the prevalence of covid-19 anti-vaccination protests outside school gates (a) nationally, (b) regionally and (c) by local authority.
Answered by Robin Walker
The right to peaceful protest is a vital part of a democratic society. However, this does not extend to unlawful behaviour, and it is never acceptable for anyone to intimidate pupils and teachers. Should a protest contravene the law, the police have comprehensive powers to deal with activities that spread hate or deliberately raise tensions through violence or public disorder. The use of these powers and the management of demonstrations are an operational matter for the police.
Through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, the government is introducing new measures which will allow the police to take a more proactive approach in managing highly disruptive protests.
Separately, the Department for Education and the UK Health Security Agency have provided information in guidance for schools on how to handle any misinformation or disruption. In the event of a protest or disruptive activity outside a school, or if schools know a protest is planned, they should alert the School Age Immunisation Service provider, local authority and local police contacts to discuss the best way to manage the situation.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many incidents of anti covid-19 vaccination protestors harassing schools and pupils have been recorded in 2021 as of 22 November 2021.
Answered by Robin Walker
The department continues to closely monitor anti-vaccination activity occurring around schools alongside the Department of Health and Social Care and other government departments.
There is a close working relationship between the vaccine programme, local police, local authorities and other partners to gather intelligence and provide proportionate mitigations to keep people safe.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many National Leaders of Education (NLEs) have been trained over the last twelve months.
Answered by Robin Walker
Over the past 12 months, National Leaders of Education (NLE) and multi-academy trust (MAT) leaders have been trained to support this year’s Trust and School Improvement Offer. As at 25 November 2021, there are 234 NLEs and 93 MAT leaders supporting schools and trusts as part of the offer.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many pupils have received (a) at least one and (b) more than one tutoring session as part of the National Tutoring Programme as at 24 November 2021.
Answered by Robin Walker
In the 2020/21 academic year, the National Tutoring Programme (NTP) reached over 300,000 pupils in its initial year. The programme has been significantly expanded and aims to engage up to 2 million pupils in the 2021/22 academic year.
In addition to tutoring delivered through tuition partners and academic mentors, this year we have also provided funding direct to schools to allow them the flexibility of choosing their own qualified staff to deliver school-led tutoring.
NTP participation data for has not yet been published. We continue to collect data from schools for all three strands of the programme and will be publishing this in due course following validation in accordance with the Statistical Code of Practice.