Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many local authority run nurseries there were in (a) 2010 and (b) the latest period for which figures are available.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The department collects data on all providers offering funded early education via the schools and early years census data collections. Local authority run nurseries would be most likely to be listed in the ‘local authority day nurseries’ category. In January 2010 there were 463 local authority day nurseries with children in receipt of funded early education, and 428 local authority day nurseries with children in receipt of funded early education in January 2018. Local authority day nurseries with no funded children will be omitted from these numbers.
The provision for children under 5 years of age national statistics release shows the number of local authority day nurseries separately for 2 year-olds (table 12) and 3 and 4 year-olds (table 13): https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/education-provision-children-under-5-years-of-age-january-2018. Where children received funded early education at more than one private, voluntary or independent (PVI) provider they have been counted only once. The PVI provider where the child took the majority of their funded hours is the provider reported in the statistical release figures therefore, if the local authority day nursery was not providing the majority of a child’s hours, they will not have been counted in tables 12 and 13.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what meetings (a) he and (b) Ministers of his Department have held with (a) local authority leaders, (b) staff and (c) parents on the future funding of maintained nursery schools in (i) Salford and (ii) England; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Since my appointment, I have held the following meetings and visits involving local authority leaders, staff and parents regarding maintained nursery schools (MNS) and local authority maintained nurseries.
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State has visited and met with staff at Rothesay Nursery School in Luton and Martenscroft Nursery school in Manchester. My right hon. Friend, the Minister for School Standards held a roundtable with a group of headteachers to discuss school funding, which was attended by the headteacher of Castle Vale Nursery School.
We recognise that MNS are an important part of the early years sector and make a valuable contribution to improving the lives of some of our most disadvantaged children. We are providing around £60 million a year to local authorities to enable them to maintain funding levels until at least 2020 and have commissioned new research that will help us establish an evidence-base to inform long-term policy for maintained nursery schools.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment his Department has made of the educational benefits to children of maintained nursery schools in Salford.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The department has funded longitudinal studies; the ‘Study of early education and development’ and the ‘Effective pre-school, primary and secondary education project’. These studies show that high quality early education supports children’s development in the short term and has benefits for educational outcomes in the long term. There are no maintained nursery schools in Salford. No specific assessment has been conducted on the educational benefits of local authority run nurseries in Salford.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many teachers in (a) Salford, (b) Greater Manchester and (c) the North West Region are on the (a) upper, (b) leading practitioner and (c) leadership pay ranges.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The attached table provides the number and proportion of full and part-time regular teachers in service in state funded schools who are paid on the upper, leading practitioner and leadership pay ranges for Salford, Greater Manchester and the North West Region and in England in November 2017.
Figures for teachers on the main pay scale have been provided for context.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will publish the (a) reasons for and (b) evidential basis for his Department's decision on winding up Salford Academy Trust.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Following consultation with the department, Salford Academy Trust (SAT) has decided that the best option for its academies is to merge with another trust. The department’s priority is to ensure that all pupils in SAT receive the best possible education and in this case, we have agreed to identify a trust to provide increased capacity to improve outcomes for pupils. The department is working closely with SAT to manage a smooth transition for its pupils. The decision on whether or not SAT winds up is a matter for the trust.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to answer of 13 December 2017 to Question 117656 on ICT: Education, what the timetable is for the National Centre for Computing Education to be in operation.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department expects the first National Centre to be appointed by autumn 2018, with the first training taking place in the 2018-2019 academic year.
In May 2018, the Department released the tender inviting bids for the programme. The closing date for the submission of bids is 15 June 2018. Ensuring that our children have the digital and computing skills needed for the future is a key priority of this Government. The National Centre of Computing Education is part of a new £84 million programme to improve the teaching of computing and to increase participation in computer science. The National Centre will support a national network of computing hubs to raise academic standards by providing comprehensive training and resources to schools.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 103 of the Industrial Strategy, when she plans to undertake a review into higher level technical education at levels 4 and 5.
Answered by Anne Milton
The government announced a review of higher technical education on 31 October. We want to allow T level students in 2020 to have a clear sight of progression pathways into higher education. During the review we will engage with employers, education providers, students, and others with expertise in this area and I will keep the House updated on progress.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 110 of the Industrial Strategy, when she expects the National Centre for Computing Education to be in operation.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The new National Centre for Computing Education will form part of the government’s new £84 million package over the next five years to improve the teaching of computing and drive up participation in computer science. The centre will support a national network for schools to provide training and resources to primary and secondary schools. We are currently developing plans for the delivery of the package and will be announcing more details about the National Centre in due course.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 11 of the Industrial Strategy, what assessment she has made of the effect of funding cuts to the Adult Skills Budget since 2010 on the ability to establish a technical education system that rivals the best in the world.
Answered by Anne Milton
The Adult Education Budget (AEB), introduced in 2016-17, replaced three separate funding lines: funding for adult vocational education outside of apprenticeships (previously held within the Adult Skills Budget), Community Learning and Discretionary Learner Support. We have maintained funding for the AEB in cash terms at £1.5 billion for this year to support adult skills participation. In the 2017-18 financial year, the overall funding for adult Further Education and skills (excluding capital) is £3.4 billion. This £3 billion will be available to directly support learning (this includes funding for offender learning which is now the responsibility of Ministry of Justice). This is set out in the Skills Funding Letter 2017-18 which can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/skills-funding-letter-april-2017-to-march-2018.
Furthermore, in the Spring 2017 Budget, the government announced the investment of an additional £500 million per year in England’s technical education system once T levels have been fully rolled out. We announced £20 million to help providers prepare for the delivery of T levels and to help teachers prepare for these changes.
In the first wave of reforms to technical education, we are focussing on developing T levels as high quality level 3 technical study programmes for 16 to 19 year olds. We will consider how we adapt T levels so they are appropriate for adult learners and will review technical provision at levels 4 and 5. On 30 November we published a consultation setting out proposals for T levels and the wider reformed technical education system. It seeks views on how best to implement the reforms to make sure they are a success and meet the aims of the Sainsbury Report and the Post-16 Skills Plan.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 102 of the Industrial Strategy, when she plans to introduce revised performance measures for school and colleges performance.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The school and college performance tables will be revised to take account of the introduction of T levels. A public consultation on T levels was published on 30 November and the consultation included a question on the performance measures for T levels. We will consider the responses to the consultation carefully and provide further details of revisions to performance tables in due course.
The school and college performance tables are reviewed on a regular basis to ensure the published measures are robust and relevant, and put useful information into the public domain in an easily accessible format.
Substantial reforms were made to the 16-18 school and college performance tables in 2016 and further information will be published for the first time in the 2017 performance tables to be published in January. The data that is published provides information on the outcomes of students following academic, applied general or technical courses.