The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Smith on 2016-04-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the annual budget was for food procured for his Department in each of the last three years; and what proportion of such food was sourced from British producers in the most recent period for which figures are available.
Mr Philip Dunne
The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-04-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to the President of Indonesia on the protection of religious minorities in that country.
Mr Hugo Swire
We take freedom of religion or belief seriously. Our Ambassador in Jakarta has raised these issues with the Minister of Religious Affairs, Indonesian civil society, and religious leaders. He urged them to ensure the rights of all individuals to practise their religion or belief freely were fully respected and protected.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-04-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department plans to take under the Northern Powerhouse schools strategy to expand the best academy chains in the North; what the timetable is for that expansion; and how much funding will be allocated for that expansion.
Nick Gibb
Our White Paper, Education Excellence Everywhere, sets out the range of support we will offer to schools across England.
Where schools are failing, Regional Schools Commissioners will identify a suitable academy sponsor to turn them around. In areas where there are too few sponsors, we will recruit new sponsors, including high-performing schools and more sponsors from business, charity and philanthropy. We will also encourage existing sponsors to expand, increasing incentives and minimising barriers, learning from the investment we have already made through the Northern Sponsor Fund.
For other struggling schools, we will ensure there is nationwide coverage of system leaders (teaching schools and National Leaders of Education), who will be expected to work with weaker schools to support them to improve. To help achieve this, we will improve how we designate system leaders by introducing a more sophisticated approach based on timely and accurate data rather than relying heavily on Ofsted judgements. We will also partner schools with the potential to become strong system leaders with existing teaching schools and National Leaders of Education.
Through the Department’s strategy for Achieving Excellence Areas, we will target our existing programmes to secure sufficient high quality teachers, leaders, system leaders, sponsors and members of governing boards on the areas of greatest need. At the Budget, the Government announced that we will invest an additional £20 million a year to build on this strategy to raise education standards across the Northern Powerhouse. The allocation of this funding will depend on the identified need and will be reassessed each year, based on the evidence.
For the additional funding announced in the budget, decisions on how the funding will be allocated for the 2016-17 financial year will be made by the autumn of this year and will be informed by the emerging findings of the review by Sir Nick Weller. We will be publishing the terms of reference for Sir Nick Weller’s review shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2016-04-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how the Government plans to give parents confidence that their child will be accepted by academies that determine their own admissions and ensure that the child’s needs will be met.
Edward Timpson
The law requires all schools, including academies, to comply with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan which names the school.
Where a child or young person has Special Educational Needs (SEN) or disabilities but does not have an EHC plan, academies are required to comply with the Schools Admission Code and the law relating to admissions in considering their parents’ application for a place. Academies must:
In addition:
The Secretary of State also has powers under each academy’s funding agreement to direct the admission of a child to an academy. This power can be exercised if a school unlawfully removes a child from roll or if a school unlawfully refuses to comply with an EHC plan.
Finally, anyone applying for a place as a mainstream applicant, which includes those with SEN but without an EHC plan, can appeal to an independent appeal panel constituted and operating in accordance with the School Admission Appeals Code, if refused admission. The decision of the panel is binding on all parties.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2016-04-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what powers local authorities have to ensure that academy schools accept children with special educational needs.
Edward Timpson
The law requires all schools, including academies, to comply with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan which names the school.
Where a child or young person has Special Educational Needs (SEN) or disabilities but does not have an EHC plan, academies are required to comply with the Schools Admission Code and the law relating to admissions in considering their parents’ application for a place. Academies must:
In addition:
The Secretary of State also has powers under each academy’s funding agreement to direct the admission of a child to an academy. This power can be exercised if a school unlawfully removes a child from roll or if a school unlawfully refuses to comply with an EHC plan.
Finally, anyone applying for a place as a mainstream applicant, which includes those with SEN but without an EHC plan, can appeal to an independent appeal panel constituted and operating in accordance with the School Admission Appeals Code, if refused admission. The decision of the panel is binding on all parties.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-04-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of free schools not originally opened as a trust subsequently joined multi-academy trusts since 2010.
Edward Timpson
Six free schools which originally opened as a single academy trust have joined a multi-academy trust since 2010.
53% of open free schools are part of a multi-academy trust.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-04-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effect of the presence of multilingual children in schools on the learning of monolingual children.
Nick Gibb
Analysis undertaken by the Centre for the Economics of Education in 2012 indicates that there is no association between the presence of children whose first language is not English and the educational attainment of their native English-speaking peers, after controlling for basic demographic characteristics and the schools these pupils attend.
In our recent consultation on a new national funding formula for schools, we proposed including an EAL factor in the formula. We are currently considering responses to the consultation and will come forward with further proposals in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-04-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding has been allocated for the establishment of a Northern branch of the New Schools Network; what the timetable for the establishment of that branch of Network is; and what plans he has for where that branch of the Network will be located.
Edward Timpson
The New Schools Network (NSN) is an independent charity that aims to improve the quality of education in the state sector, particularly for the most deprived children. It works with free school groups from all regions of England.
In the Budget, NSN was allocated £200,000 grant funding for a new Northern centre to encourage more innovative free schools in the region. NSN has already allocated a member of staff, who is based in Manchester, to work specifically with groups in the North and further recruitment will begin shortly.
NSN has plans to operate a similar model in the Midlands.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-04-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when her Department plans to publish the terms of reference for Sir Nick Weller’s report into transforming education across the Northern Powerhouse.
Nick Gibb
Our White Paper, Education Excellence Everywhere, sets out the range of support we will offer to schools across England.
Where schools are failing, Regional Schools Commissioners will identify a suitable academy sponsor to turn them around. In areas where there are too few sponsors, we will recruit new sponsors, including high-performing schools and more sponsors from business, charity and philanthropy. We will also encourage existing sponsors to expand, increasing incentives and minimising barriers, learning from the investment we have already made through the Northern Sponsor Fund.
For other struggling schools, we will ensure there is nationwide coverage of system leaders (teaching schools and National Leaders of Education), who will be expected to work with weaker schools to support them to improve. To help achieve this, we will improve how we designate system leaders by introducing a more sophisticated approach based on timely and accurate data rather than relying heavily on Ofsted judgements. We will also partner schools with the potential to become strong system leaders with existing teaching schools and National Leaders of Education.
Through the Department’s strategy for Achieving Excellence Areas, we will target our existing programmes to secure sufficient high quality teachers, leaders, system leaders, sponsors and members of governing boards on the areas of greatest need. At the Budget, the Government announced that we will invest an additional £20 million a year to build on this strategy to raise education standards across the Northern Powerhouse. The allocation of this funding will depend on the identified need and will be reassessed each year, based on the evidence.
For the additional funding announced in the budget, decisions on how the funding will be allocated for the 2016-17 financial year will be made by the autumn of this year and will be informed by the emerging findings of the review by Sir Nick Weller. We will be publishing the terms of reference for Sir Nick Weller’s review shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-04-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how the Northern Powerhouse schools strategy plans to fast-track the best (a) schools to become teaching schools and (b) local heads to become national leaders of education.
Nick Gibb
Our White Paper, Education Excellence Everywhere, sets out the range of support we will offer to schools across England.
Where schools are failing, Regional Schools Commissioners will identify a suitable academy sponsor to turn them around. In areas where there are too few sponsors, we will recruit new sponsors, including high-performing schools and more sponsors from business, charity and philanthropy. We will also encourage existing sponsors to expand, increasing incentives and minimising barriers, learning from the investment we have already made through the Northern Sponsor Fund.
For other struggling schools, we will ensure there is nationwide coverage of system leaders (teaching schools and National Leaders of Education), who will be expected to work with weaker schools to support them to improve. To help achieve this, we will improve how we designate system leaders by introducing a more sophisticated approach based on timely and accurate data rather than relying heavily on Ofsted judgements. We will also partner schools with the potential to become strong system leaders with existing teaching schools and National Leaders of Education.
Through the Department’s strategy for Achieving Excellence Areas, we will target our existing programmes to secure sufficient high quality teachers, leaders, system leaders, sponsors and members of governing boards on the areas of greatest need. At the Budget, the Government announced that we will invest an additional £20 million a year to build on this strategy to raise education standards across the Northern Powerhouse. The allocation of this funding will depend on the identified need and will be reassessed each year, based on the evidence.
For the additional funding announced in the budget, decisions on how the funding will be allocated for the 2016-17 financial year will be made by the autumn of this year and will be informed by the emerging findings of the review by Sir Nick Weller. We will be publishing the terms of reference for Sir Nick Weller’s review shortly.