Asked by: Tristram Hunt (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of the £60 million social mobility funding announced by her Department on 4 October 2016 will be spent on (a) early years funding, (b) the Government's 30 hours free childcare policy and (c) frontline education.
Answered by Nick Gibb
We are considering options for selecting further Opportunity Areas from amongst those areas that face these particular challenges. Details will be available in due course.
We are finalising the performance measures, following initial discussions with key partners in each area. We also plan to assess the implementation process in the first year of delivery so we can learn from this for future developments. In addition, we will be commissioning a full programme of evaluation so we can understand the effectiveness of opportunity areas in transforming outcomes for children, young people and adults in these areas.
We are considering options for how to most effectively distribute the £60 million social mobility funding over the next three years and we will say more in due course.
Work has commenced with each area to draw together the key stakeholders to fully understand the unique issues and challenges being faced in those areas, and discuss how the support available to Opportunity Areas can be best utilised. Tailored delivery plans will be developed in partnership with Opportunity Areas for rapid improvement, making best use of the funding available. This funding will be in addition to funding already announced for early years, childcare and frontline education.
Asked by: Tristram Hunt (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 3 November 2016 to Question 50295, how her Department plans to assess the effectiveness of opportunity areas in improving social mobility; and what performance measures such an assessment will include.
Answered by Nick Gibb
We are considering options for selecting further Opportunity Areas from amongst those areas that face these particular challenges. Details will be available in due course.
We are finalising the performance measures, following initial discussions with key partners in each area. We also plan to assess the implementation process in the first year of delivery so we can learn from this for future developments. In addition, we will be commissioning a full programme of evaluation so we can understand the effectiveness of opportunity areas in transforming outcomes for children, young people and adults in these areas.
We are considering options for how to most effectively distribute the £60 million social mobility funding over the next three years and we will say more in due course.
Work has commenced with each area to draw together the key stakeholders to fully understand the unique issues and challenges being faced in those areas, and discuss how the support available to Opportunity Areas can be best utilised. Tailored delivery plans will be developed in partnership with Opportunity Areas for rapid improvement, making best use of the funding available. This funding will be in addition to funding already announced for early years, childcare and frontline education.
Asked by: Tristram Hunt (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 3 November 2016 to Question 50295, what methodology her Department plans to use in selecting the next four opportunity areas; and when she expects an announcement to be made on the location of those areas.
Answered by Nick Gibb
We are considering options for selecting further Opportunity Areas from amongst those areas that face these particular challenges. Details will be available in due course.
We are finalising the performance measures, following initial discussions with key partners in each area. We also plan to assess the implementation process in the first year of delivery so we can learn from this for future developments. In addition, we will be commissioning a full programme of evaluation so we can understand the effectiveness of opportunity areas in transforming outcomes for children, young people and adults in these areas.
We are considering options for how to most effectively distribute the £60 million social mobility funding over the next three years and we will say more in due course.
Work has commenced with each area to draw together the key stakeholders to fully understand the unique issues and challenges being faced in those areas, and discuss how the support available to Opportunity Areas can be best utilised. Tailored delivery plans will be developed in partnership with Opportunity Areas for rapid improvement, making best use of the funding available. This funding will be in addition to funding already announced for early years, childcare and frontline education.
Asked by: Tristram Hunt (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria were used to select the first six social mobility opportunity areas; and if she will publish the evidence that that decision was based on.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The first six Opportunity Areas were selected from two different published data sets: the Social Mobility Commission’s Social Mobility Index and the data used to rank local authority districts on school performance and capacity in the March White Paper.
The Social Mobility Commission’s Index ranks 324 local authority districts based on a range of measures grouped under four headings: early years, school, youth and adulthood. We cross-referenced the lowest performing districts according to that index with our school performance and capacity data. This provided a shortlist from which we chose the first six areas.
We want to learn from what works in these areas, capturing which challenges all areas share and what is unique to a particular place. Therefore, the selection of these initial six areas was not based on ranking but a range of factors including regional spread and the type of area.
Social Mobility Index:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/social-mobility-index
Analysis
Education white paper, Educational excellence everywhere:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/educational-excellence-everywhere
Achieving Excellence Area Composite Indicator:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/defining-achieving-excellence-areas-methodology
Asked by: Tristram Hunt (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what ranking her Department gave to Stoke-on-Trent relative to other local authority areas in the assessment made against criteria used to select the six social mobility opportunity areas.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The first six Opportunity Areas were selected from two different published data sets: the Social Mobility Commission’s Social Mobility Index and the data used to rank local authority districts on school performance and capacity in the March White Paper.
The Social Mobility Commission’s Index ranks 324 local authority districts based on a range of measures grouped under four headings: early years, school, youth and adulthood. We cross-referenced the lowest performing districts according to that index with our school performance and capacity data. This provided a shortlist from which we chose the first six areas.
We want to learn from what works in these areas, capturing which challenges all areas share and what is unique to a particular place. Therefore, the selection of these initial six areas was not based on ranking but a range of factors including regional spread and the type of area.
Social Mobility Index:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/social-mobility-index
Analysis
Education white paper, Educational excellence everywhere:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/educational-excellence-everywhere
Achieving Excellence Area Composite Indicator:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/defining-achieving-excellence-areas-methodology
Asked by: Tristram Hunt (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many members have joined the government-funded chartered College of Teaching since its inception.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Membership of the College is a matter for the independent College of Teaching.
Asked by: Tristram Hunt (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Department has had any discussions with the chartered College of Teaching about further Government funding.
Answered by Nick Gibb
There have been no discussions with, and no formal requests from, the independent College of Teaching regarding further public funding.
Asked by: Tristram Hunt (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what meetings (a) she, (b) the Minister for Schools, (c) her advisers and (d) officials of her Department have had with representatives of the chartered College of Teaching since she took up her office.
Answered by Nick Gibb
I have met Professor Dame Alison Peacock in her capacity as the College’s CEO Designate.
Departmental officials have held meetings with representatives of the independent College of Teaching to discuss the Government funding to support the initial establishment of the College. The Secretary of State for Education and her advisers have not yet held meetings with representatives of the College since she took up her office.
Asked by: Tristram Hunt (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has received a formal request from the chartered College of Teaching for further public funding.
Answered by Nick Gibb
There have been no discussions with, and no formal requests from, the independent College of Teaching regarding further public funding.
Asked by: Tristram Hunt (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department spent on (a) consultancy fees, (b) legal advice, (c) civil service staffing costs and (d) all other expenditure relating to the Education and Adoption Act 2016.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Officials from across the Department were involved in different ways and at different times on work for the Education and Adoption Act. It is therefore not possible to distinguish costs from the wider business of the Department. There was no external legal or consultancy expenditure.