Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate his Department has made of the number of pupils claiming pupil premium funding in (a) Lewisham Deptford, (b) London Borough of Lewisham, (c) London and (d) England.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The pupil premium is additional funding that state-funded schools in England receive to help improve the attainment and wider outcomes of pupils from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds; and also of looked after and previously looked after children.
Schools are allocated deprivation pupil premium funding based on the number of pupils on roll at the time of the January school census who have been registered for benefits-based free school meals (FSM) at any point in the last six years (known as Ever6 FSM). Schools also receive pupil premium funding at a higher rate (known as pupil premium plus) for pupils who have left local authority care in England and Wales through adoption, a special guardianship order, a child arrangements order or a residence order. Pupils who are in local authority care for one day or more also attract pupil premium plus funding; this is paid to the local authority and managed by the Virtual School Head.
The Department publishes information annually showing the number of pupils at school, local authority, Parliamentary constituency and national levels who attract the pupil premium to the schools they attend – this is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-allocations-and-conditions-of-grant-2019-to-2020.
The Department does not routinely monitor or publish statistics on the number of pupils who would be eligible for the deprivation pupil premium through having a parent in receipt of benefits that meet the qualifying criteria for FSM, but who do not attract this funding to the schools they attend because they are not registered for FSM.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to support pupils with endometriosis.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department wants to support all young people to be happy, healthy and safe. We want to equip them for adult life and to make a positive contribution to society. From September, we are making relationships education compulsory for all primary pupils, relationships and sex education compulsory for all secondary pupils and health education compulsory for all pupils in state-funded schools.
The statutory guidance sets out that as part of health education, primary and secondary pupils should be taught about menstrual wellbeing including key facts about the menstrual cycle. Schools have the flexibility to design the content of their curriculum in an age appropriate way to support their cohort of pupils. To help schools design their curriculum, we have signposted them to expert advice from Public Health England on reproductive health. This advice covers data, key facts and women’s experiences from menstruation to menopause. The statutory guidance can be accessed via the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/805781/Relationships_Education__Relationships_and_Sex_Education__RSE__and_Health_Education.pdf.
The Government is also fully funding access to free period products in schools and colleges across England, for pupils who need them. The new scheme gives young people easy access to period products at school or college, breaking down stigma and ensuring that no young person’s education is disrupted by their period.
This scheme is part of a wider programme of work, led by the cross-sector Period Poverty taskforce, with the vision to eliminate period poverty and shame around menstruation in the UK by 2025.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of the national funding formula for schools on levels of socio-economic inequality in (a) Lewisham, Deptford constituency, (b) London and (c) England.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The National Funding Formula (NFF) commits extra funding for pupils with additional needs, based on levels of deprivation, low prior attainment, English as an additional language and mobility. Evidence shows that pupils with these characteristics are more likely to fall behind, and need extra support to reach their full potential. In 2020-21, £6.3 billion will be allocated in the NFF for 5-16 year olds with additional needs in England. Areas with high levels of additional needs will attract more funding, and as a result, both the Lewisham, Deptford constituency and the wider region of London will receive higher than average per pupil funding. Next year, primary and secondary schools in Lewisham, Deptford will attract, on average, £5,381 and £7,086 per pupil respectively. Across all of London, primary and secondary schools will attract, on average, £4,827 and £6,370 per pupil respectively. In both cases, this is above the national average of £4,352 for primary schools and of £5,578 for secondary schools.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress his Department has made on implementing the steps outlined in the Government's response to the Timpson Review of School Exclusion, published in May 2019.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government is taking forward an ambitious programme of action on behaviour, exclusion and alternative provision (AP). This will respect head teachers’ powers to use exclusion, enable schools to support children at risk of exclusion, and ensure that excluded children continue to receive a good education. The Department will expand AP and improve the quality of the sector so that pupils in AP receive the support and education they need to help them overcome the challenges they are facing, and to prepare them for the next stage of their lives.
Further information on the timeframes for this work will be provided in due course.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the average per-hour cost of childcare (a) in a nursery and (b) with a childminder in (i) Lewisham, Deptford constituency, (ii) London and (iii) the UK in each of the last five years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government published data on the cost of delivering childcare in England for 2015 and 2018. The average hourly costs of delivery are shown in the attached table (with the respective publications from which the data is sourced).
The Government also published data on the cost of delivery childcare in London, by all provider types, for 2015 and 2018. The average hourly costs of delivery are shown in the attached table (with the respective publications from which the data is sourced).
Average hourly costs in both tables are based on different collection methodologies and from different sources, so comparability is limited.
The Government does not hold such data relating specifically to the Lewisham Deptford constituency or the UK, nor does it hold this data relating to 2016 and 2017.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, how many convictions there have been for in-person voter fraud in (a) the London Borough of Lewisham, (b) London and (c) the UK in each of the last five years.
Answered by Bridget Phillipson - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
The Commission has collected and published information about allegations of electoral fraud from the police since 2008.
The Commission’s data shows that between 2014 and 2018 there were no convictions of in-person voter fraud in the London Borough of Lewisham. There was one conviction in the Waltham Forest constituency at the 2017 UK Parliamentary General Election. In total there have been two convictions in the UK for in-person voter fraud during the period specified; these occurred in Waltham Forest (as noted above) and in East Ayrshire at the 2016 EU Referendum.
The Commission will publish information about allegations of electoral fraud during 2019 in spring 2020.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Education:
What recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of local authority funding for children’s services.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The Government is providing councils with an additional £1 billion for adults’ and children’s social care in every year of this Parliament. This is on top of the continuation of the £410 million social care grant in 2020-21. This will support local authorities to meet rising demand.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 39 of the Government's strategy for tackling loneliness, what records his Department holds on the number of schools that allow their premises to be used outside school hours.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The information requested is not held centrally as the Department does not currently hold data on the number of schools that allow their premises to be used outside school hours. The Department will collect data on the income generated by schools letting their premises for the year 2019-20. This data should be available towards the end of next year.
The Department encourages schools to make the best use of their facilities, particularly where this creates more opportunities for young people to access a broad range of activities.
Schools sit at the heart of their community and there are some excellent examples of this happening. For example, the Deanery CE Academy in Swindon, opened in September 2019, where community access has been designed in the layout of this school.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 11 of the Government's Loneliness strategy, whether he has issued guidance to schools on using their grounds as public community spaces.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is developing guidance for schools which will include advice on how schools can use their premises for community use. This guidance will set out different types of income generation activities including letting out premises, working with local businesses, selling goods and services, and applying for grants. The Department intends to publish this on GOV.UK in due course.
The Department’s aim is to level the playing field between schools in their ability to generate income and help them build strong community links at the same time.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 31 of the Government's Loneliness strategy, what progress he has made on encouraging employers to offer work placements and apprenticeships to young people with special educational needs or disabilities.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
We are aiming to increase the proportion of apprenticeships started by people with a learning disability or learning difficulty (LDD) to 20% by 2020. During the first 3 quarters of 2018/19, 12.3% of starts were by apprentices who identified as having LDD, up from 11.5% reported at the same time last year.
Traineeships support young people identified as having LDD to gain work experience through work placements. In 2017/18, 21% of starts were by young people who identified as having LDD.
To support employers to offer opportunities to people with LDD, the department is funding a range of resources for employers on work experience, traineeships, apprenticeships and employment for those with LDD. We are also funding the Learning and Work Institute to create an employer toolkit on widening participation.
We are also continuing to work with Mencap to take forward the recommendations from their July report to make apprenticeships more accessible.
We continue to provide financial support to training providers where an apprentice requires additional support to help remove barriers for people with LDD. Up to £150 a month may be paid to training providers to fund additional support. In specific circumstances, this amount can rise to £19,000 per year if necessary.
Providers and employers recruiting apprentices aged 19 to 24 with Education, Health and Care plans continue to receive an additional payment of £1000. Providers and employers who recruit 16 to 18 year olds receive £1000 regardless of whether they have LDD.