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  • Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department has allocated to the Future Teaching Scholars programme for the 2016-17 cohort.

    Nick Gibb

    Funding for the Future Teaching Scholars programme is allocated by financial year rather than by cohort. £1.3m has been allocated for financial year 2016-17. This covers the £15,000 financial incentive to Scholars, continued marketing expenditure, and all programme delivery costs.

  • Martyn Day – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Martyn Day – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Martyn Day on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the implications of a decision to leave the EU on the higher education fees status of EU students becoming classed in the same way as that for non-EU overseas students; and whether his Department plans to assess the potential effect of any such change in classification on the number of students coming from EU member states to study in the UK.

    Joseph Johnson

    At the February European Council, the Government negotiated a new settlement, giving the United Kingdom a special status in a reformed European Union. The Government’s position, as set out by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister to the House on 22 February, is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU.

  • Tristram Hunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Tristram Hunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tristram Hunt on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department has spent on (a) new IT equipment, (b) new furniture, (c) new artwork, (d) catering and events, (e) renovating its buildings and facilities, (f) new plants and shrubs and (g) special advisers’ travel expenses since May 2015.

    Nick Gibb

    The Department for Education has spent the amounts shown in the table below on the following list of categories from 1 May 2015 to 31 January 2016.

    a) New IT equipment

    £868,312

    b) New furniture

    £11,861

    c) New artwork

    No Expenditure

    d) Catering and events

    £326,575

    e) Renovating buildings and facilities [1]

    £9,862,679

    f) New plants and shrubs

    No Expenditure

    g) Special Advisers’ travel expenses (including rail journeys)

    £1,555

    [1] The figure for renovating buildings and facilities is for DfE and its Agencies and does not include expenditure on school buildings.

    The figures are for the Department, its Agencies and Non-Departmental Public Bodies, Government Equalities Office, Equality and Human Rights Commission and Office of the Children’s Commissioner.

  • Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will establish a system to permit supplementary schools and mainstream schools to bid for funding to support the professional development of staff teaching English to GCSE and A-level standard; and if she will make a statement.

    Nick Gibb

    Decisions relating to teachers’ professional development rightly rest with schools, headteachers, and teachers as they are in the best position to judge their own requirements.

  • Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will require the Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations board to offer GCSE and A-level Gujarati examinations beyond September 2018; and if she will make a statement.

    Nick Gibb

    The exam boards are independent organisations, and the department continues to work closely with them to secure the future of all the existing language GCSEs and A levels, including Gujarati.

  • Geoffrey Clifton-Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Geoffrey Clifton-Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Geoffrey Clifton-Brown on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if the new national curriculum can be taught in primary schools to mixed-age classes.

    Nick Gibb

    Schools can choose to teach pupils of different year groups together.

    Maintained schools are required to cover the whole of the programme of study for each national curriculum subject by the time pupils reach the end of the key stage period. In planning how best to teach the curriculum, schools should consider all relevant circumstances, including the needs of their pupils, and make decisions accordingly.

    The programmes of study for primary English, mathematics and science are set out on a year-by-year basis to provide a guide as to the pace that the material should be taught in these key subjects.

    The national curriculum focuses on the essential knowledge that must be taught, allowing teachers to take greater control over the wider curriculum in schools and how it is taught. Teachers are free to use their professional judgement and take account of local circumstances in deciding how best to organise their classes, including whether it would be suitable to teach mixed age pupils together. The Department has no involvement in these decisions.

  • Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many applicants to the Future Teaching Scholars programme to date have been (a) women and (b) men.

    Nick Gibb

    To date we have received applications from 27 women and 23 men. We remain confident that we will secure 110 scholars by the end of summer 2016.

  • Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the number of (a) people who will apply for 2016-17 cohort of the Future Teaching Scholars programme, (b)applicants that will join that scheme for that year and (c) such applicants that will complete that training.

    Nick Gibb

    The Future Teaching Scholars programme is currently recruiting high achieving A level students, with the aim of securing up to 110 Scholars to start the programme in academic year 2016-17. All Scholars will be rigorously selected, including assessment of their commitment to teaching.

  • Tristram Hunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Tristram Hunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tristram Hunt on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that the supply of newly-qualified teachers is not affected by imbalances in the distribution of teacher training places at a sub-regional level.

    Nick Gibb

    The Department for Education has changed the approach to initial teacher training (ITT) allocations for the 2016 to 2017 academic year. The National College for Teaching and Leadership are not allocating a specific number of places to individual organisations for postgraduate ITT courses due to start in the 2016 to 2017 academic year. Instead, eligible schools, school-centred initial teacher training providers (SCITTs) and higher education institutions (HEIs) will be able to recruit as many trainees as they feel they need (subject to a limited number of controls), until the overall system has recruited a sufficient number.

    As School Direct and SCITT partnerships cover large geographical areas, we are monitoring recruitment at a regional level only. To date, the only challenge in geographical distribution of ITT places has been found in the London region in recruitment to primary, which was recruiting slower than other regions. In this case we have allowed school led routes (i.e. School Direct (tuition fee) and SCITTs) in this region to continue to recruit to primary courses to ensure that enough trainees are recruited.

    We are prepared to use reserve recruitment controls in other subjects, or for other regions as required.

  • Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many spaces have been set aside on initial teacher training courses for the 2016-17 cohort of the future teaching scholars programme.

    Nick Gibb

    There will be places available for all Scholars after they successfully complete their undergraduate degree and commence their initial teacher training from the 2019-20 academic year.