Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the statutory basis for any obligation on (a) parents and (b) guardians to allow a child to take an assessment test before that child has reached the compulsory school age is.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The compulsory school age is five under section 8 of the Education Act 1996. Whilst the reception year is not compulsory, children who are aged four who are enrolled in a reception class in a state-funded school are still covered by the requirements under the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework within the Childcare Act 2006. This includes assessments carried out in the reception year.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) nurseries, (b) childminders and (c) nursery classes based in primary schools he has visited since his appointment.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has visited, since his appointment on 8 January 2018, five nurseries, and has spent time meeting nursery children and teachers during four primary school visits. He has not yet visited any childminders.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many graduates in paid employment in an early years setting who undertake training to achieve the Teachers’ Standards (Early Years) have accessed (a) grant funding, (b) employer incentive and (c) both grant funding and employer incentive in each year since that policy was introduced.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The number of employment-based early years trainees for whom the department provided early years initial teacher training (ITT) funding in academic years 2016/17 and 2017/18 is as follows:
Academic year | Number of early years ITT trainees |
2016/17 | 451 |
2017/18 | 431 |
For all trainees shown above, both the training grant and employer incentive was provided.
We are unable to provide any data collected prior to the academic year 2016/17. A review of early years ITT data found that prior to the academic year 2016/17, data was not collected with sufficient quality to produce high quality statistics.
Further information about this and the subsequent actions put in place by the department, can be found in the ‘Data collection and quality’ section of the ITT Census 2017/18, found here at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/initial-teacher-training-trainee-number-census-2017-to-2018.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many individuals employed in early years settings have achieved level 3 qualifications in each of the last five years.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
We do not centrally collect the data requested.
However, the number of workers with qualifications at various levels is published in our ‘Childcare and early years providers surveys’ at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-and-early-years-providers-survey-2016.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-and-early-years-providers-survey-2013.
The 2018 survey is due to be published on 1 November 2018.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has received representations on the legality of a child's data being collected through baseline assessment testing but not accessible to (a) the child, (b) the parents of the child and (c) education staff; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The reception baseline assessment was trialled in a nationally representative sample of schools between 10 September and 19 October 2018. Schools’ participation in the trials was voluntary.
In line with accepted practice, the names of the schools that are participating in these trials will not be released by the department. Schools were recruited on this basis and releasing this information could adversely affect school participation in future voluntary trialling, which would put our ability to develop high quality, valid and reliable assessments at risk.
In our response to the public consultation on the future of the primary assessment system in England, and having noted the support from respondents to that consultation exercise, we confirmed that we would introduce a reception baseline assessment from the 2020 to 2021 academic year onwards. As part of that, we committed to explore the issue of what information from the assessment should be shared with schools. That consideration is continuing and we will make a further announcement prior to the introduction of the assessment.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reasons it is not possible to apply through UCAS to all drama schools that award degrees.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
UCAS handles applications to higher education on behalf of providers, independent of government. Universities, colleges and other organisations that award degrees may sign up for their services, but whether they do so, or not, is their decision.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will provide a list of the names and address of schools that are participating in the baseline assessment trial.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The reception baseline assessment was trialled in a nationally representative sample of schools between 10 September and 19 October 2018. Schools’ participation in the trials was voluntary.
In line with accepted practice, the names of the schools that are participating in these trials will not be released by the department. Schools were recruited on this basis and releasing this information could adversely affect school participation in future voluntary trialling, which would put our ability to develop high quality, valid and reliable assessments at risk.
In our response to the public consultation on the future of the primary assessment system in England, and having noted the support from respondents to that consultation exercise, we confirmed that we would introduce a reception baseline assessment from the 2020 to 2021 academic year onwards. As part of that, we committed to explore the issue of what information from the assessment should be shared with schools. That consideration is continuing and we will make a further announcement prior to the introduction of the assessment.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 19 October 2018 to Question 179290 on Primary education: nurseries, whether a cost benefit analysis is undertaken on plans for new primary schools (a) with and (b) without nursery provision.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
All free school applications are subject to a rigorous application process. Each application, including those with a nursery element, is assessed against published criteria. The assessment process includes consideration of the capacity and track record of proposers, financial viability and value for money.
The cost of a nursery in a free school is integrated into the total cost of the project. It is not possible to separate out the costs of the nursery alone, as they will generally share facilities and services with the school itself.
For the purposes of forecasting, we estimate that the average additional per pupil cost of including a nursery within a primary free school is around £12,000 excluding VAT. For actual projects, costs will depend on a variety of local circumstances including site specifications and pupil numbers.
Where local authorities (LAs) identify the need for a new school, they must seek proposals to establish a new free school. They are responsible for setting the specifications (including for a nursery) and assessing applications. LAs are responsible for meeting the associated capital costs, principally using basic need funding provided by the department.
LAs are also responsible for approving proposals for new voluntary-aided schools, including where proposals include nursery provision. LAs and proposers are responsible for meeting the associated capital costs, with the proposer expected to cover up to 10% of this amount.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 19 October 2018 to Question 179290 on Primary Education: nurseries, what estimate he has made of the average cost to the public purse of including nursery provision in a new primary school.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
All free school applications are subject to a rigorous application process. Each application, including those with a nursery element, is assessed against published criteria. The assessment process includes consideration of the capacity and track record of proposers, financial viability and value for money.
The cost of a nursery in a free school is integrated into the total cost of the project. It is not possible to separate out the costs of the nursery alone, as they will generally share facilities and services with the school itself.
For the purposes of forecasting, we estimate that the average additional per pupil cost of including a nursery within a primary free school is around £12,000 excluding VAT. For actual projects, costs will depend on a variety of local circumstances including site specifications and pupil numbers.
Where local authorities (LAs) identify the need for a new school, they must seek proposals to establish a new free school. They are responsible for setting the specifications (including for a nursery) and assessing applications. LAs are responsible for meeting the associated capital costs, principally using basic need funding provided by the department.
LAs are also responsible for approving proposals for new voluntary-aided schools, including where proposals include nursery provision. LAs and proposers are responsible for meeting the associated capital costs, with the proposer expected to cover up to 10% of this amount.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 19 October 2018 to Question 179290 on Primary Education: Nurseries, how many (a) mainstream and (b) special primary schools that opened since September 2017 (a) have, (b) have plans for and (c) do not have nursery provision.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
37 mainstream primary free schools and one special primary free school have opened since September 2017. 17 of the mainstream primary free schools have nursery provision and six have plans for nursery provision. 14 of the mainstream primary free schools and the one special primary school that opened since September 2017 do not currently have, or have plans for, nursery provision.
In addition to this, four voluntary-aided primary schools have opened during this period, one of which includes nursery provision. The department does not hold information on the number of these schools planning nursery provision.
These figures relate to schools that have exclusively primary-aged pupils.