Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of trends in the number of teachers in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Information on the school workforce, including the number of teachers in each school, is published in the ‘School Workforce in England’ statistical publication available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england. As of November 2010, when the School Workforce Census began, there were 779 full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers in the 50 out of 51 state-funded schools that returned data in the South Holland and The Deepings constituency. In November 2023, there were 848 FTE teachers in South Holland and The Deepings constituency, when all 50 schools returned data.
The ratio of pupils to teachers (qualified and unqualified) has remained broadly stable in the South Holland and The Deepings constituency, at 18.7 in 2010 and in 2023 and ranging between 17.5 and 19.9 in the years in between.
The number of staff reported by state-funded schools in November 2023, including their constituency, is available in the school level summary file in the ‘Additional supporting files’ section of the statistical publication, which is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
The ratio of pupils to teachers and to adults by parliamentary constituency is published here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-catalogue/data-set/997087c9-5b1c-4635-b412-83b4bb0130a6.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support is available for teachers who are unable to work as a result of workplace injury.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Workplace absences that are the result of a workplace injury would usually be subject to normal sick pay arrangements.
The department has no jurisdiction over arrangements for dealing with workplace injuries or matters relating to sick pay, as these are covered by the Conditions of Service for School Teachers in England and Wales, 2000, which is known as the Burgundy Book. This is a national, non-statutory agreement between trade unions and teacher employers. This government was not party to its development and cannot influence its content. Sick leave or sick pay entitlements are therefore currently the responsibility of employers, which, in a school setting, is normally the local authority or Academy Trust. Schools, like all employers, are also subject to any relevant employment legislation.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure there is adequate funding for transport to specialised educational facilities for SEND students.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department’s home to school travel policy aims to make sure that no child is prevented from accessing education by a lack of transport. Local authorities must arrange free home to school travel for children of compulsory school age, 5 to 16, who attend their nearest school and would not be able to walk there because of the distance, their special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or mobility problem, or because the nature of the route means it would be unsafe for them to do so.
The department is aware that challenges within the wider SEND system are creating pressure on home to school travel. The government is committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools so fewer children need to travel long distances to a school that can meet their needs.
The vast majority of central government funding for home to school travel is provided through the local government finance settlement, administered by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Departmental officials are working closely across government in preparation for the next Spending Review to ensure the settlement for the 2025/26 financial year reflects local authorities’ need to spend on home to school travel.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many vacant state secondary school places there were in (a) Leicestershire County Council LA area, (b) Melton Borough and (c) Melton and Syston constituency on 6 September 2024.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department does not hold data on places vacant on 6 September 2024.
Information on unfilled state secondary school places, as at May 2023, is published in the School Capacity statistics publication at the following link: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-capacity. For ease, local authority level information within the publication for Leicestershire can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/a00d6b70-f8fc-4392-b2a8-08dccd7b0275 and can be aggregated to Borough and Parliamentary Constituency level by linking to information at the following link: https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/.
For Melton Borough, there were zero secondary school places unfilled in May 2023. For Melton and Syston parliamentary constituency, there were 531 secondary school places (11%) unfilled in May 2023.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to help increase the accessibility of UK university education to British Overseas Territories citizens.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Since 2007, persons who have settled status in the United Kingdom (UK), and who come to the UK from specified British Overseas Territories, have been eligible for home fee status if they meet the requirement of three years’ ordinary residence in the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man and/or specified British Overseas Territories.
Since 2022/23, those starting designated full-time and part-time undergraduate courses are also now eligible for tuition fee loans in England if they meet the residency requirements. These are that they have been ordinarily resident in the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man and/or specified British Overseas Territories throughout the three-year period preceding the first day of the first academic year of the course, with at least part of that period having been spent in the British Overseas Territories.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure the protection of families and young children, particularly in light of (1) the decrease in local authority spending on early intervention services, and (2) the rising number of children in residential care.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
The department recognises that there is a strong evidence base for early intervention to support families stay together and thrive. This will be at the heart of this government’s system reform of children’s social care.
Through the £45 million Families First for Children Pathfinder and Family Network Pilot, the department is testing the implementation of intensive whole-family support in 10 pathfinder local authorities, where multi-disciplinary teams are providing targeted support to help families overcome challenges at the earliest opportunity, to prevent escalation, to keep children safe and help families to overcome challenges, stay together and thrive. The pathfinder is being independently evaluated. Early evaluation findings are expected in spring 2025.
The department recognises that there are increasing numbers of children in high cost, residential placements. Whilst many children benefit from high quality children’s homes, for too many children, residential placements do not meet their needs and are putting significant pressures on local authority budgets. This is why the department is committed to supporting alternatives to care for children who cannot stay with their birth parents, such as kinship arrangements. Through the Family’s First for Children pathfinder and Family Network Pilot, the department aims to make greater use of family networks, involving them in decision-making at an earlier stage, and providing practical and financial support via family network support packages to help keep children safe at home.
Furthermore, foster carers play a vital role in the care system, offering stable, nurturing, and loving family environments. However, in recent years the number of people applying to be foster carers has dropped significantly. The department is addressing this through a suite of measures. Key among these is the creation of a regional approach where 99 local authorities are working in 10 regional clusters, collaborating to recruit and retain foster carers.
This government is introducing a Children’s Wellbeing Bill to support these reforms, including through a strengthened multi-agency response. The department will also take targeted action on specific harms such as child criminal and sexual exploitation.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of charging VAT on independent schools on levels of usage of unregistered schools.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Unregistered schools, by their nature, are unregistered and at risk of being unknown, therefore this is not possible to precisely ascertain.
It is an offence under Section 96 of the Education and Skills Act 2008 for any person to conduct an unregistered independent school. Where the department finds evidence that a school is operating unlawfully, we will not hesitate to take action, working with the police, Ofsted and Crown Prosecution Service as necessary.
Anyone with intelligence or concerns relating to a potential unregistered independent school should read the department's guidance on reporting an unregistered school. This can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/report-an-unregistered-school. Any information they have can be sent to unregisteredschoolreferrals@ofsted.gov.uk.
The department has provided additional resources to Ofsted to inspect suspected unregistered independent schools. As a result, a team of dedicated inspectors has been working to identify settings and visit them to determine whether they are operating unlawfully as unregistered independent schools. Where schools are found to be operating unlawfully, Ofsted and DfE are taking action to ensure such settings cease operating unlawfully, working with other authorities as necessary.
Asked by: Claire Hazelgrove (Labour - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the difficulties faced by parents in accessing free childcare places for children under 9 months old.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Ensuring every child has the best start for life is a central priority for this government, including putting in place early family support services to help families to thrive in children’s first crucial months of life.
Children under 9 months are not eligible for government-funded childcare hours. Since September 2024, eligible working parents of children aged from nine months can access 15 hours of government-funded early education and childcare a week, over 38 weeks a year. This is available the term after the child turns nine months and the child's parent has a positive determination of eligibility from HMRC. So far over 200,000 parents have secured a place, and the department expects this to continue to rise in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that universities remain and do not close down despite financial difficulties.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
The department is committed to creating a secure future for our world-leading universities so they can deliver for students, taxpayers, workers and the economy. The government has already started reviewing options to deliver a more robust higher education (HE) sector but it will take time to get it right.
Sir David Behan has been appointed as interim Chair of the Office for Students (OfS) to oversee the important work of refocusing their role to concentrate on key priorities, including prioritising the financial stability of the HE sector.
However, the government recognises the immediate financial strain that some providers are under and is working closely with the OfS to monitor any risks and to ensure students' best interests are protected.
Ultimately, HE providers are independent from the government and therefore it is their responsibility to ensure they have a sustainable business model.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they intend to introduce the Skills England bill.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
The Skills England Bill will be introduced as soon as Parliamentary time allows. The Bill will transfer functions from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education to Skills England, and will be an important part of steps taken to establish Skills England in phases over the next 9 to 12 months.