Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps students who have their bills included in rent can take to access from the Energy Bills Support Scheme.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The government recognises the additional cost of living pressures that have arisen this year and impacted students. Many higher education providers have hardship funds that students can apply to for assistance.
There is £261 million of student premium funding available this academic year to support disadvantaged students who need additional help. The department has worked with the Office for Students to ensure universities support students in hardship by using hardship funds and drawing on the student premium.
In addition, all households will save on their energy bills through the Energy Price Guarantee and the £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme discount. Students who buy their energy from a domestic supplier are eligible for the energy bills discount. The Energy Prices Bill introduced on 12 October includes the provision to require landlords to pass benefits they receive from energy price support, as appropriate, onto end users. Further details of the requirements under this legislation will be set out in regulations.
Students whose bills are included in their rent, including energy charges, will typically have agreed their accommodation costs upfront when signing their contract for the current academic year. Businesses, including those that provide student accommodation, are covered by the Energy Bill Relief Scheme which provides energy bill relief for non-domestic customers in Great Britain.
A HM Treasury-led review will be launched to consider how to support households and businesses with energy bills after April 2023.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools have been retro-fitted to improve energy efficiency since 2019.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Local authorities and other responsible bodies carry out regular improvement works at schools across the country. The Department does not hold central records of all these individual projects. Since 2019 the Condition Improvement Fund has provided funding for 5,036 projects at eligible schools and sixth form colleges.
In addition to this, between 1 January 2019 and 1 October 2022, 230 schools were rebuilt or significantly refurbished under the Priority School Building Programme, a Department funded and delivered school building condition improvement programme. All projects adhered to the Department’s design specification for schools and improved their energy efficiency.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of electric heaters bought for use in schools since 2019.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The information requested is not held centrally. The Department does not buy centrally on behalf of schools, so does not hold the information about the number of electric heaters that have been bought since 2019. Schools are autonomous and have the freedom to make their own buying decisions based on individual needs and circumstances.
More information on buying guidance and procedures for schools is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/buying-procedures-and-procurement-law-for-schools.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential impact of the cost of living crisis on the number of children living in poverty who are not eligible for free school meals.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The department does not currently have any plans to assess the potential impact of the cost of living crisis on the number of children living in poverty who are not eligible for free school meals (FSM). However, the department continues to monitor the rising cost of living whilst working with other government departments on support surrounding this issue and the department will continue to keep FSM eligibility under review to ensure that these meals are supporting those who most need them. In setting a threshold, the government believes that the current level, which enables children to benefit from FSM, while remaining affordable and deliverable for schools, is the right one.
The latest published statistics show that around 1.9 million pupils are claiming FSM. This equates to 22.5% of all pupils, up from 20.8% in 2021. Together with a further 1.25 million infants supported through the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy, the greatest ever proportion of school children, 37.5%, are now provided with FSM.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make it his policy to reduce the number of school places offered on a faith basis.
Answered by Robin Walker
Church and faith schools represent a third of all state-funded schools. The department values the contribution that they make to a diverse school system.
Faith schools have played a longstanding and important role in our education system. Faith schools are popular with parents, with many being high-performing and are more likely to be rated good or outstanding by Ofsted than non-faith schools. New academies and free schools that have a faith designation must allow for a minimum of 50% of places to be allocated to children without reference to faith where the school is oversubscribed.
In 2018, the department published ‘Secondary school choice and selection: insights from new national preferences data’. The report found evidence that the smaller proportion of disadvantaged and minority ethnic pupils attending church schools compared to other schools was a result of a range of factors, including admissions oversubscription criteria, as well as parental preference.
The department expects all schools, including faith schools, to be open and inclusive. All schools, including faith schools, must ensure that their admission arrangements are fair and objective, and that the arrangements will not disadvantage unfairly a child from a particular social or racial group.
Many faith schools are oversubscribed, showing that parents value and want these schools. The department also understands that the ability to prioritise children of faith when oversubscribed is important to faith schools and we do not intend to change that.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he had made an assessment of the potential impact of religious selection on socioeconomic inclusion in schools.
Answered by Robin Walker
Church and faith schools represent a third of all state-funded schools. The department values the contribution that they make to a diverse school system.
Faith schools have played a longstanding and important role in our education system. Faith schools are popular with parents, with many being high-performing and are more likely to be rated good or outstanding by Ofsted than non-faith schools. New academies and free schools that have a faith designation must allow for a minimum of 50% of places to be allocated to children without reference to faith where the school is oversubscribed.
In 2018, the department published ‘Secondary school choice and selection: insights from new national preferences data’. The report found evidence that the smaller proportion of disadvantaged and minority ethnic pupils attending church schools compared to other schools was a result of a range of factors, including admissions oversubscription criteria, as well as parental preference.
The department expects all schools, including faith schools, to be open and inclusive. All schools, including faith schools, must ensure that their admission arrangements are fair and objective, and that the arrangements will not disadvantage unfairly a child from a particular social or racial group.
Many faith schools are oversubscribed, showing that parents value and want these schools. The department also understands that the ability to prioritise children of faith when oversubscribed is important to faith schools and we do not intend to change that.