Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential impact on primary school education in Ipswich of the priority education investment area status.
Answered by Robin Walker
The department was pleased to announce Ipswich as a Priority Education Investment Area (EIA) as part of the recent Schools White Paper, Opportunity for all: strong schools with great teachers for your child.
The White Paper set out the department's vision for a school system that helps every child to fulfil their potential founded on achieving word-class standards of literacy and numeracy and confirmed the headline ambitions. At primary, this is for 90% of children to achieve the expected standards in reading, writing and maths by the end of Key Stage 2, and for performance in the worst performing areas to have improved by over a third – by 2030.
In Priority EIAs, the department will offer intensive investment in addition to the significant support available to all EIAs, so that they can drive improvement further and faster. This has the potential to transform pupils’ outcomes at primary and secondary, by overcoming entrenched barriers to improvement and strengthening the school’s system in these areas. In existing opportunity areas, like Ipswich, the department will refine the focus on their Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 4 headline ambitions and build on the good work that is already underway.
In all 55 EIAs, the department will be taking steps to support underperforming schools to make the necessary improvements, build trust capacity, support improved digital connectivity in the schools that need this most and offer the Levelling Up premium, worth up to £3,000 tax free, to eligible teachers. The department’s additional support to Priority EIAs includes a share of around £40 million of funding to address local needs, such as those acting as a barrier to improvement at primary and priority access to a number of other Department for Education programmes.
My hon Friend, the Minister for the School System, and I will be writing to all MPs with Priority EIAs in their constituencies to update them on our next steps for the programme, following the briefing session we held on 27 April.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the impact on children’s wellbeing of receiving an early diagnosis of dyslexia.
Answered by Will Quince
Early identification of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including dyslexia, is crucial in supporting the wellbeing of children and young people. It can ensure they receive the support they need to flourish in their education, and as they move into adult life.
Under the Children and Families Act 2014, every mainstream school is required to identify and address the SEND of the pupils they support. They also must endeavour to make sure that every child or young person gets the support they need to succeed in their education.
The department’s SEND code of practice is clear that meeting the needs of a child with dyslexia is not dependent on a diagnostic label or test. Instead, the department expects teachers to monitor the progress of all pupils and put support in place where needed.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the funding of academy chain branches in Ipswich receiving comparatively less than the equivalent branch in London Tower Hamlets, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of regional disparities in funding for the provision of education for SEND students on the resource availability for those students in Suffolk.
Answered by Robin Walker
There are three key reasons why per pupil school funding rates are different in Tower Hamlets and Suffolk.
The first reason is historical. The national funding formula (NFF) replaced a system which was unfair, untransparent, and out of date, where similar schools and local areas received very different levels of funding with little or no justification. The NFF is improving fairness, so that funding is more closely matched to current needs, rather than historic differences. However, in this move to greater fairness it is also important to maintain stability for schools. The NFF ensures that all schools receive a minimum per-pupil increase in their pupil-led funding, while providing the greatest gains for areas which have been relatively lower funded historically. We believe this strikes the right balance between fairness and stability.
Secondly, it is right that schools with high numbers of pupils with additional needs – such as those indicated by measures of deprivation, low prior attainment, or English as an additional language – receive extra funding to help them meet the needs of all their pupils. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals, for example, is higher in Tower Hamlets than in Suffolk, and the funding system reflects this. In addition, schools in more expensive areas, such as London, attract higher funding per pupil than other parts of the country to reflect the higher costs they face.
Thirdly, the current funding system allows for local variation in how funding allocations are determined for individual schools. Local authorities are responsible for designing a local funding formula, within certain parameters, to determine final budgets for schools in their area. This means that there continues to be significant differences in the way in which some local authorities allocate funding. The government has recently put forward its proposals to complete its reforms to the school’s, which will determine schools’ budgets directly rather than through local formulae set independently by each local authority. This will level up the school funding system so that all schools across the country are funded on a fair, consistent basis.
We are also aware that some local authorities have found it difficult to meet the increasing costs of provision for children and young people with education, health and care plans. The right response to tackling this is a multi-faceted approach which looks to the heart of the issues: significant increases in high needs funding nationally; targeted intervention for the local authorities which have struggled the most; and reform from the cross government special education needs and disabilities (SEND) review.
We announced in summer 2021 that high needs funding will increase by £780 million, or 9.6%, in 2022-23 compared to 2021-22; this follows the increase of more than £1.5 billion over the previous two years. This will bring the total high needs budget to £8.9 billion, an increase of over a third since 2019-20. Suffolk County Council’s provisional high needs allocation for 2022-23 is £92.5 million, an increase of 8.1% per head of population aged 2-18 years, compared to 2021-22.
In addition, the autumn 2021 Spending Review will deliver an additional £4.7 billion for the core schools’ budget by 2024-25, compared to previous plans. That includes an additional £1.6 billion for schools and high needs in 2022-23, on top of the funding we previously announced. We will confirm in due course how this additional funding for 2022-23, and for the two subsequent years, will be allocated for schools and high needs.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how his Department plans to allocate the £8.6 million funding announced for 2021-22 for supporting participation of parents and young people in the SEND system.
Answered by Will Quince
The department is committed to strengthening the participation of parent carers and young people in the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system, as evidenced by the £8.6 million provided in 2021-22 to support the effective involvement of parent carers and young people in designing SEND policies and services.
At a local level, this includes providing development support and making available up to £17,500 to each Parent Carer Forum (PCF) to strengthen parent carer participation, an increase of £2,500 compared to 2020-21. Our funding also supports coproduction at a national level, including via FLARE, a national engagement group of disabled young people with representation from each region, and the National Network of Parent Carer Forums.
In addition, the £8.6 million of investment includes funding to ensure families are able to access high quality and impartial information, advice and support, including continued provision of a national helpline to provide advice for families.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to help strengthen participation of parents and young people in the SEND system.
Answered by Will Quince
The department is committed to strengthening the participation of parent carers and young people in the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system, as evidenced by the £8.6 million provided in 2021-22 to support the effective involvement of parent carers and young people in designing SEND policies and services.
At a local level, this includes providing development support and making available up to £17,500 to each Parent Carer Forum (PCF) to strengthen parent carer participation, an increase of £2,500 compared to 2020-21. Our funding also supports coproduction at a national level, including via FLARE, a national engagement group of disabled young people with representation from each region, and the National Network of Parent Carer Forums.
In addition, the £8.6 million of investment includes funding to ensure families are able to access high quality and impartial information, advice and support, including continued provision of a national helpline to provide advice for families.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether a school can receive a Good rating from Ofsted where the inspection found an inadequate provision for SEND.
Answered by Robin Walker
These are matters for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to you directly and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of Ofsted’s school education inspection framework involves consideration of SEND provision.
Answered by Robin Walker
These are matters for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to you directly and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether it is possible for a school to be graded by Ofsted as outstanding or good if there are concerns that special educational needs provision is not being provided at an equivalent level.
Answered by Robin Walker
This is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to you directly and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans the Government has to make the flying of the Union Flag compulsory at all schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Schools play an important role in preparing pupils for life in modern Britain. This involves supporting pupils to understand the society in which they grow up and developing their sense of British identity.
Schools are free to display the national flag of the United Kingdom and it is a matter for individual schools to decide. The Department for Education does not provide specific guidance or restrictions on this.
Whilst the Government has a policy on flying the Union Flag above government buildings, this does not extend to schools.
Asked by: Tom Hunt (Conservative - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of increasing financial support to pre-schools during the covid-19 outbreak to help prevent the closure of those pre-schools.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The government recognises the importance of supporting the early years sector financially during the COVID-19 outbreak.
That is why on 20 July 2020 we announced that we will continue to fund childcare at the same level as before the COVID-19 outbreak, until the end of the calendar year. This will give nurseries and childminders another term of secure income, regardless of how many children are attending. Early years settings will continue to benefit from a planned £3.6 billion funding in the 2020-21 financial year to create free early education and childcare places for children.
In addition to this, the government has provided a package of support for individuals and businesses which are directly benefitting providers of childcare. This includes business rates relief and grants, the extended Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, the Business Interruption Loan Scheme, the Job Retention bonus and the extended Job Retention scheme, which will remain open until December 2020, with employees receiving 80% of their current salary for hours not worked, up to a maximum of £2,500.
Around £60 million per year of supplementary funding is also being provided to local authorities, to enable them to protect maintained nursery schools’ funding. On 24 August 2020, we announced that we will continue to provide this for the whole of the 2020-21 academic year.
We continue to work closely with both local authorities and the early years sector organisations to monitor the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the sector.