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  • Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Cadbury on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what representations she received from religious organisations on steps to prevent civil society organisations from objecting to school admission arrangements prior to her announcing proposals to limit such objections to local parents and councils.

    Nick Gibb

    The Department’s proposed changes are intended to ensure that the Adjudicator is able to focus on the concerns parents may have about the fairness of the admission arrangements of their local school, and is not held up by the need also to consider objections referred by interest groups from outside the area.

    We do not believe that preventing other organisations from submitting objections will have a detrimental impact.

    A full public consultation will be conducted in due course and careful consideration will be given to all the views expressed in that consultation.

  • Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Cadbury on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that charities or other civil society organisations who wish to object to the admission arrangements of a school can do so on behalf of parents local to that school.

    Nick Gibb

    The Department’s proposed changes in relation to objections are designed to ensure that the Schools Adjudicator is able to focus on the concerns parents may have about the fairness of the admission arrangements of their local school and is not held up by the need also to consider objections referred by interest groups from outside the area. Local authorities will continue to have the right to object so that they are able to act on behalf of the local community.

    We will be conducting a full public consultation in due course and will give careful consideration to all the views expressed in that consultation.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether school funding for (a) inner London boroughs and (b) outer London boroughs will decrease in the next financial year.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    I can assure my Hon Friend that per pupil funding for a) inner London boroughs and b) outer London boroughs will not decline in the next financial year. The dedicated schools grant schools block is maintained at cash flat per pupil for the 2016 to 2017 financial year for all local authorities. In addition, the pupil premium is also maintained at the current per pupil amounts for the 2016 to 2017 financial year. As announced in the Chancellor’s spending review statement, we will introduce a national funding formula from 2017. We will consult on proposals later this year.

  • Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Cadbury on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average number of days was for a determination to be made by the Office of the Schools Adjudicator after an objection to a school’s admission arrangements was submitted in each the last four years.

    Nick Gibb

    The information requested is held by the Office of the Schools Adjudicator (OSA). The OSA Annual Report contains data about the objections referred to the OSA and the outcome of those objections: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/parents-to-get-greater-say-in-the-school-admissions-process

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  • Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many cases the Schools Adjudicator has investigated in connection with the provisions of the Armed Forces Covenant since 2011.

    Nick Gibb

    In response to the Armed Forces Covenant, the School Admissions Code (the code) contains various provisions to ensure that children of UK service personnel are not disadvantaged when applying for a school place. Admission authorities are required to comply with the code. Objections citing provisions relating to the Armed Forces Covenant would not be within the Office of the School Adjudicator’s jurisdiction (excluding those relating to service premium admission).

    The Office of the School’s Adjudicator has not received any objections relating to this issue.

  • Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Prevent training programme in schools; what benchmarks her Department uses to assess and train staff who provide Prevent training; and what representations she has received from schools on that training.

    Edward Timpson

    The statutory Prevent duty guidance refers to the importance of training to equip staff to identify children at risk of being drawn into terrorism and to challenge extremist ideas. Individual schools and childcare providers are best placed to assess their training needs in the light of their assessment of the risk. Ofsted assess schools’ effectiveness in keeping children and learners safe from the dangers of radicalisation and extremism and will consider evidence that there is a clear approach to implementing the Prevent duty.

    To help raise awareness of Prevent and issues around radicalisation amongst front line staff, the Home Office is continuing to roll out freely available Workshops to Raise Awareness of Prevent (WRAP). There are a number of professionals, particularly in safeguarding roles (many of whom work within local authorities and the police), who are accredited WRAP facilitators. There has been a significant increase in the number of WRAP training sessions delivered since the end of 2014. The greatest volume of WRAP training has taken place in schools with a significant increase in numbers of staff trained. Over 32,000 staff within schools were WRAP trained in 2015.

    The Department has received a number of representations from schools about the availability of WRAP training, and we are working with Home Office and other partners to ensure that schools have access to the training they need.

    Jointly with Home Office, the Department has also launched a new website, called Educate Against Hate, which brings together the best advice, support and resources available for parents, teachers and school leaders who want to learn how to protect young people from extremism and radicalisation. The website also includes references to Prevent training. http://www.educateagainsthate.com/

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  • Holly Lynch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Holly Lynch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Holly Lynch on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will undertake a national review of the operation of admissions procedures and the School Admissions Code.

    Nick Gibb

    The Department for Education is intending to make changes to the School Admissions Code to improve the admissions system for parents and schools. This will be subject to a full public consultation to allow anyone with an interest to provide their views. It will also be subject to parliamentary scrutiny. Details of the consultation will be announced in due course.

  • Holly Lynch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Holly Lynch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Holly Lynch on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what procedures are in place to ensure that headteachers follow the School Admissions Code.

    Nick Gibb

    An individual school’s admission authority is responsible for setting and applying its admission arrangements. The local authority is the admission authority for community and voluntary controlled schools; the school’s governing body is the admission authority for voluntary aided and foundation schools; and for academies, the admission authority is the academy trust.

    Anyone who believes a school’s admission arrangements are unfair or unlawful can object to the Schools Adjudicator. If the Adjudicator finds the admission arrangements do not comply with the Code, the admission authority must amend their arrangements accordingly.

    Any parent who believes the admission authority has not properly applied the school’s admission arrangements in the case of their child’s application and the child has, as a result, been refused a place at the school, has the right of appeal to an independent appeal panel. If the appeal panel upholds the appeal, the school must admit the child.

    The School Admissions Code can be found on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-admissions-code–2

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  • Holly Lynch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Holly Lynch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Holly Lynch on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria are used to define challenging behaviour as used in the 2012 School Admissions Code.

    Nick Gibb

    It is for admission authorities to agree with their local authorities what they regard as challenging behaviour, based on the circumstances of each case.

    Each local authority is required to have a Fair Access Protocol in place, to ensure that – outside the normal admissions round – unplaced children are offered a place at a suitable school as quickly as possible and that no school is asked to take a disproportionate number of children with challenging behaviour or children excluded from other schools.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has received representations on requests by schools to parents and carers that children with autism spectrum disorder not attend school during Ofsted inspections in the last five years.

    Edward Timpson

    The Department is aware of a small number of cases in the last few years where parents and carers have complained about a school either asking a child with autism to stay at home on Ofsted inspection days, or diverting the child to other non-academic activities on those days.

    Whenever such complaints have been received, we have been absolutely clear that any request for a child to stay at home during an Ofsted inspection would be an unlawful exclusion and that parents and carers should make a formal complaint to the school’s board of governors. Taking a child out of normal timetabled lessons during an inspection is unacceptable and should be drawn to the attention of the school’s board of governors.

    Parents can also ask the Secretary of State to make a determination under Sections 496 and 497 of the Education Act 1996, which give her the power to direct a governing body where it has failed to discharge a statutory duty or has done so unreasonably. Any such direction would have to be expedient, in that there must be something the Secretary of State could direct the school to do which would put matters right.

    Depending on the circumstances, parents and carers could also bring a claim of disability discrimination to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability).

    Ofsted’s school inspection framework requires inspectors to take account of schools’ use of exclusion. The Department would also pass to Ofsted any relevant evidence that falls within the inspectorate’s remit. If, during the course of an Ofsted inspection, inspectors become aware that a school has unlawfully excluded pupils for the period of the inspection, this will be taken into account in judging the effectiveness of the school and its leadership. If the evidence emerges after the inspection, the matter will be investigated by Ofsted and could lead to the school receiving an unannounced inspection visit.