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  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-04-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how her Department intends to support and mentor weaker schools as part of the Northern Powerhouse schools strategy.

    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.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    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 to facilitate new academy sponsors in the North as part of the Northern Powerhouse Schools Strategy.

    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.

  • Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-04-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many requests to meet with hon. Members she has received from each of the political parties represented in the House since her appointment.

    Nick Gibb

    My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Education frequently meets Hon Members from across the political spectrum in the performance of her duties.

    Information in the form requested is not readily available and could be compiled only at disproportionate cost.

  • Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-04-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many hon. Members of each party she has met as a result of a request for such a meeting since her appointment.

    Nick Gibb

    My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Education frequently meets Hon Members from across the political spectrum in the performance of her duties.

    Information in the form requested is not readily available and could be compiled only at disproportionate cost.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-04-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding she plans to make available for turnaround activity as part of the Northern Powerhouse Schools Strategy; and what formula or method she plans to use to allocate funding.

    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.

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

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-04-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what powers she has to improve governance and scrutiny of leadership and management at the Audenshaw School Academy Trust; and if she will make a statement.

    Edward Timpson

    The Education and Adoption Act 2016 has introduced consistent powers to tackle inadequate and coasting academies. These allow the Secretary of State to terminate the funding agreement of an academy which has been rated as inadequate by Ofsted or is identified as coasting, and if necessary move the school to a new trust with a sponsor who has a proven track record and who will ensure the leadership and management of the school has the skills needed for the future.

    Vicky Beer, the Regional Schools Commissioner for Lancashire and West Yorkshire, has been working closely with Audenshaw School Academy Trust to ensure that sufficient action is being taken to ensure the school improves.

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

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-04-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will meet the hon. Member for Denton and Reddish to discuss the use of pupil premium funding by Audenshaw School Academy Trust.

    Edward Timpson

    I understand that the Hon. Member for Denton and Reddish has met the Regional Schools Commissioner, Vicky Beer, to discuss his concerns about Audenshaw School Academy Trust. I can assure him that she is fully aware of the issues and is holding the trust to account for underperformance.

  • David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-04-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to encourage car manufacturers to adopt green and hybrid technologies.

    Andrew Jones

    The UK offers one of the most comprehensive packages of support for ultra low emission vehicles in the world. This includes the plug-in car and van grants, support for infrastructure, investment in R&D, and the ground breaking government-industry communications campaign, ‘Go Ultra Low’.

    The government recently committed over £600m over the course of this parliament to support the take up and manufacture of ultra low emission vehicles, and has set itself the ambitious goal that by 2050 nearly all cars and vans should be zero emission.

    We are also active in the EU in pushing for ambitious regulation of the CO2 emissions of new cars, which will encourage the increasing deployment of new greener technologies.

  • Lisa Cameron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lisa Cameron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Cameron on 2016-04-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential effect of the revised European School Milk Scheme on dairy farmers in the UK.

    George Eustice

    The UK has operated the existing EU school milk scheme since the 1970s. This has made an important nutritional contribution, encouraging children to adopt healthy eating habits. The new scheme will operate from 1 August 2017 with an enhanced focus on educational measures to strengthen the links between the farming community and children, parents and teachers. The total budget for the scheme has been increased from €80 million to €100 million to encourage higher milk consumption. Now that the scheme has been voted through, we will consider the new requirements and consult industry.

    Indicative allocations for each Member State for the period 1 August 2017 to 31 July 2023 are set out in the new school schemes regulations. The UK’s indicative allocation for school milk is €9,804,331 annually. Participation in the scheme is voluntary at the national level. Final allocations will depend on the amounts that Member States request as there is provision for re-allocating amounts that are not taken up in Member States programmes.

    In addition to the European School Milk Scheme, the Department for Health funds a much larger domestic scheme that provides free school milk to the under 5s at a cost of around £60 million a year.

  • Lisa Cameron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lisa Cameron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Cameron on 2016-04-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what allocation the UK expects to receive from the European School Milk Scheme in each of the next three years.

    George Eustice

    The UK has operated the existing EU school milk scheme since the 1970s. This has made an important nutritional contribution, encouraging children to adopt healthy eating habits. The new scheme will operate from 1 August 2017 with an enhanced focus on educational measures to strengthen the links between the farming community and children, parents and teachers. The total budget for the scheme has been increased from €80 million to €100 million to encourage higher milk consumption. Now that the scheme has been voted through, we will consider the new requirements and consult industry.

    Indicative allocations for each Member State for the period 1 August 2017 to 31 July 2023 are set out in the new school schemes regulations. The UK’s indicative allocation for school milk is €9,804,331 annually. Participation in the scheme is voluntary at the national level. Final allocations will depend on the amounts that Member States request as there is provision for re-allocating amounts that are not taken up in Member States programmes.

    In addition to the European School Milk Scheme, the Department for Health funds a much larger domestic scheme that provides free school milk to the under 5s at a cost of around £60 million a year.