Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has plans to assess maintained nurseries for risks associated with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Nothing is more important than the safety of children and staff, and it has always been the case that where the Department is made aware a building may pose an immediate risk, immediate action is taken. The Department knows how important it is for young people to be in classrooms with their friends and teachers, but their safety must come first.
The Department has been talking to schools about the potential risks of RAAC since 2018 when it first published a warning note with the Local Government Association. The Office of Government Property wrote to all Government Property Leaders in 2019, and again in September 2022, highlighting safety alerts on RAAC and signposting guidance on identification and remediation. The Government also created a cross-Government working group on RAAC this year to collectively address the issue. Since then, Departments have been surveying properties and depending on the assessment of the RAAC, decided to either continue or monitor the structure, reinforce it, or replace it. This is in line with the approach recommended by the Institution of Structural Engineers.
The Department discovered details of three new cases over the summer, where RAAC that would have been graded as non-critical had failed. The first of these was in a commercial setting. The second was in a school in a different educational jurisdiction. It was right to carefully consider the cases and scrutinise the technical details from these. Departmental technical officials were able to investigate the situation in one case where the plank that had failed was fully intact as it was resting on a steel beam after it failed. They concluded that it would previously been rated non-critical. Ministers were carefully considering the first two cases and advice from officials when a third failure of a panel occurred, at a school in late August. The Department’s technical officials also visited this school to investigate the failure.
In light of all three cases, it was right to make the difficult decision to change our guidance for education settings and take a more cautious approach within the education estate in England.
Following careful analysis of these recent cases, a precautionary and proactive step has been taken to change the approach to RAAC in education settings ahead of the start of the academic year, as outlined in our guidance.
Maintained nursery schools are treated the same as schools and FE colleges. In 2022, the Department’s questionnaire to all responsible bodies, including those who run maintained nursery schools, asked them to provide information on RAAC.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of providing free meals for children in the private, voluntary and independent early years sector.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The provision of free school meals (FSM) to the children of families who are out of work or on low income is important to the Government. The Department wants to target this support at the most disadvantaged families.
The legal requirement for the provision of meals, including free meals, applies to state funded schools, including Maintained Nursery Schools and nursery provision in primary schools. The requirements do not apply to independent early years providers.
Asked by: Nick Fletcher (Conservative - Don Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many state-funded nursery schools in England did not have a male teacher in each of the last five years for which school workforce data are available.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Information on the school workforce, including the number of teachers by gender in each school, is published in the ‘School Workforce in England’ statistical publication, which can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool, West Derby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to Autumn Statement 2022 and the announcement of an additional £2.3 billion of funding for education in 2023 and 2024, whether that funding will be available to maintained nursery schools.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
In the 2022 Autumn Statement, my right hon. Friend the Chancellor did not commit to new measures for early years, including maintained nursery schools (MNS).
The department has increased funding to local authorities to increase the hourly rates they pay to childcare providers, including MNS, and we are providing additional support for all early years providers with their energy costs over the winter. Further, specifically for MNS, the department has already announced that an additional £10 million will be invested into MNS supplementary funding from 2023/24. This is in addition to the increase to supplementary funding in 2022/23, where the department increased the hourly funding rate by 3.5%, which is equivalent to the increase in the 3 and 4-year-old hourly funding rates. The department has confirmed the continuation of MNS supplementary funding throughout the spending review period, providing the sector with long-term certainty.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, in the context of rising inflation, whether specific additional support has been provided to (a) Lark Hill, (b) Hollywood and (c) Freshfield maintained nursery schools.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
I refer the hon. Member for Stockport to the answer given on 26 October 2022 to question 68604. This referred to all maintained nursery schools in the constituency, including Lark Hill, Hollywood and Freshfield.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether it remains her policy to invest an additional £10 million into maintained nursery school supplementary funding from 2023-24, as set out in the Early Years funding formulae consultation document issued on 4 July 2022.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The department recognises that Maintained Nursery Schools make a valuable contribution to improving the lives of some of our most disadvantaged children, which is why we have announced we will be investing an additional £10 million into Maintained Nursery School supplementary funding from the 2023/24 financial year.
Over the course of summer 2022, the department consulted on proposals to update the early years funding formulae to ensure the funding system remains fair, effective and responsive to changing levels of need across different areas. The department will set out our response in due course.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to publish a response to the Early Years funding formulae consultation issued on 4 July 2022.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The department recognises that Maintained Nursery Schools make a valuable contribution to improving the lives of some of our most disadvantaged children, which is why we have announced we will be investing an additional £10 million into Maintained Nursery School supplementary funding from the 2023/24 financial year.
Over the course of summer 2022, the department consulted on proposals to update the early years funding formulae to ensure the funding system remains fair, effective and responsive to changing levels of need across different areas. The department will set out our response in due course.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many nurseries have closed in the City of Chester constituency since 2010; and of these how many are (a) maintained nursery schools (b) not-for-profit nurseries (c) for-profit nurseries.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
This is a matter for His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many nurseries have closed in West Lancashire constituency since 2010; and of those how many are (a) maintained nursery schools, (b) not-for-profit nurseries and (c) for profit nurseries.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
This is a matter for His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to the hon. Member, and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many nurseries have closed in Southampton Itchen constituency since 2010; and of those how many are (a) maintained nursery schools, (b) not-for-profit nurseries and (c) for profit nurseries.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
This is a matter for His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to the hon. Member, and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.