Author: admin

  • James Berry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    James Berry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by James Berry on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to reform special educational needs and disability provision.

    Edward Timpson

    The special educational needs and disability (SEND) reforms which came into effect in September 2014 represent the biggest change to the SEND system in a generation. They are transforming the support available to children and young people with SEND by joining up services across education, health and social care and by focusing on positive outcomes for education, employment, housing, health and community participation.

    Since September 2014, our reforms have seen the introduction of:

    o published ‘local offers’ for each local area, setting out the SEND services that are available;

    o new Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans for those with more complex needs – replacing statements of SEN and post-16 Learning Difficulty Assessments (LDAs);

    o a new legal requirement on local authorities to take the views of families fully into account when deciding what provision to offer;

    o new statutory protections for 16-25 year olds in further education – including the right to request the educational institution of their choice;

    o new duties for health to deliver the agreed health elements of EHC plans;

    o the option of a personal budget for families and young people with an EHC plan;

    o a review of disagreement resolution arrangements; and

    o new arrangements for supporting young offenders with SEND.

  • Jo Stevens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jo Stevens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jo Stevens on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of recent trends in the number of people under 19 completing apprenticeship programmes.

    Nick Boles

    In England, 71,100 apprenticeships were achieved by under 19 year olds in the 2014 to 2015 academic year. This is 5,700 more than in the 2013 to 2014 academic year and 10,300 more than in the 2012 to 2013 academic year.

    We supported over 600,000 apprenticeships starts for 16-18 year olds during the previous parliament.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of teacher recruitment and retention in primary and secondary schools.

    Nick Gibb

    There are now more, better-qualified teachers in England’s classrooms than ever before. We are attracting top graduates and career-changers with generous incentives, including tax-free bursaries worth up to £30,000 and the opportunity to earn a salary whilst training.

    This year, over 1,000 more postgraduate trainee teachers were recruited than in 2014/15. We exceeded our target for new primary teachers and finished ahead of last year in key secondary subjects such as maths and physics.

    Teacher retention rates have remained broadly stable for two decades. 72% of those who qualified in the 2009 calendar year and entered teaching by November 2009 were still teaching five years later.

    It is vital for schools to be able to retain good teachers. That is why we have made significant policy interventions in the areas that teachers tell us matter most, such as improving pupil behaviour and reducing unnecessary workload. We have appointed behaviour expert Tom Bennett to lead a review to ensure new teachers are fully trained in dealing with disruptive children and to consider all of the challenges of managing behaviour in schools.

    We have established three groups to address the biggest concerns that teachers raised in the workload challenge: marking, planning and data management. The groups will create principles for practice and make specific recommendations for action. All three groups are due to report to Ministers in 2016 and we are commissioning a biennial survey to track teacher workload, starting in the spring of 2016.

    We have also given schools the freedom to pay the best teachers more, recognising excellence and improving retention.

  • Andrew Turner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Andrew Turner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Turner on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her policy is on the provision of learning outside of the classroom.

    Nick Gibb

    Field trips and educational visits are important and have a key role to play in children’s education.

    It is for schools to use their professional judgement to decide how their activities deliver a broad and balanced curriculum and to plan lessons and use their budgets accordingly.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government plans to take to meet demand for school places in Romford.

    Nick Gibb

    The Government is investing £23 billion in school buildings to create 600,000 new school places, open 500 new free schools and address essential maintenance needs.

    Havering local authority received £23 million of basic need funding between 2011 and 2015, which helped to create nearly 3,000 new places between 2010 and 2014.

    It has also been allocated a further £47 million to create the places needed by 2018.

  • MiDavies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    MiDavies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by MiDavies on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking in schools to help young people spot the signs of mental illness.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    Good mental health and wellbeing is a key priority for this Department. Young people have told us they would like to have opportunities to support each other and help to do this effectively.

    We recently launched a suite of peer support activities, which include a call for evidence for stakeholders and children and young people and funding of up to £1.5m including a new digital innovation fund, to develop reliable, engaging and trusted advice online to help them understand both their own, and their friends mental health.

    We will also be working with a core steering group, and wider advisory group of sector experts, including headteachers, youth leaders and charities, to look at what works in peer support, and how young people can strengthen their own networks.

  • Ranil Jayawardena – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Ranil Jayawardena – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ranil Jayawardena on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that more classic literature is taught in schools.

    Nick Gibb

    All pupils in secondary schools should be encouraged to enjoy challenging titles and develop a confidence and ability to read the great classics of English and world literature.

    The Government is delighted that, following our call for action, Penguin is offering classroom sets of 100 classic books for the equivalent of £1 a copy. This will allow pupils to read a wide range of literature with the support of their teacher. I hope other publishers will follow, to make classic literature a feature of every classroom.

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve educational standards in Bradford.

    Nick Gibb

    This Government is committed to educational excellence everywhere. The new powers in the Education and Adoption Bill are designed to help raise standards in underperforming areas such as Bradford, ensuring all failing maintained schools become academies with strong sponsors, and coasting schools are challenged to improve.

    The Regional Schools Comissioner has already prioritised Bradford for the Northern Fund and brought two new sponsors into the area.

    We have also significantly expanded School Direct and Teach First, to ensure schools in Bradford have access to high-quality teachers. The new National Teaching Service, which will place outstanding teachers and middle leaders into schools which most need additional support to improve their teaching, will begin with a pilot later this year; Bradford will be one of the areas eligible to participate in this pilot.

    I recently had the pleasure of being able to see some of the excellent work that is already being done to raise standards in Bradford, when I visited the outstanding Beckfoot School in Bingley, where 46% of pupils achieve the E-Bacc combination of core academic GCSEs.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-02-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Freedom of Information Act 2000 allows publicly funded bodies that are individually bound by that Act to form what is described as a private institution that is claimed to be exempt from that Act, and if so, in which clause or clauses.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    Public authorities subject to the Act are listed in Schedule 1, and companies wholly owned by the public sector are automatically covered through section 6.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-02-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 11 February (HL5646), when the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority changed its practice; what the reasons were for doing so; and how that change in practice had previously been communicated publicly.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) cannot confirm when this practice changed. Making provision for interested members of the public to make their views known, whilst not a legal requirement under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, was part of the HFEA’s past practice although very few applications attracted a response. This change was not communicated publicly.