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Derek Twigg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Twigg on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children were excluded from academy schools in Halton in each year since 2010.

Nick Gibb

The number of permanent and fixed period exclusions in secondary academies in Halton local authority in each year since 2010/11 is provided in the table below. Note that the figures relate to secondary academies only as there were no special academies in Halton in the period the figures relate to and there were no permanent or fixed period exclusions reported by the primary academies in the area.

	Number of secondary academies	Number of permanent exclusions[1]	Number of fixed period exclusions
2010/11	1	x	39
2011/12	2	6	144
2012/13	3	x	158
2013/14	4	x	228

The number of permanent and fixed period exclusions in each of the years for all other secondary schools (i.e. those that are not academies) in Halton local authority is provided in the table below.

	Number of schools	Number of permanent exclusions	Number of fixed period exclusions
2010/11	6	9	639
2011/12	5	5	565
2012/13	5	13	461
2013/14	4	9	388

[1] Figures marked “x” are suppressed as they are less than 5

01/01/2023

Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, on which occasions since her appointment she has met (a) staff from the European Commission Directorate-General (ECDG) for Communication and (b) communication officers from ECDG for Education and Culture.

Nick Gibb

The Secretary of State has not met any staff from the European Commission Directorate General for Communication or communication officers from the Directorate General for Education and Culture since her appointment.

01/01/2023
Derek Twigg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Twigg on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many teacher vacancies there have been in (a) secondary and (b) primary schools in England in each year since 2010.

Nick Gibb

The information requested is published in the statistical first release ‘School Workforce in England, November 2014’ in Table 14 of the Main Tables, available at the following web link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/school-workforce-in-england-november-2014

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01/01/2023
Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of children were subject to child protection procedures in each year since 2010.

Edward Timpson

The requested information can be found within table A2 of the ‘Characteristics of children in need: 2014 to 2015’ statistical first release: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/characteristics-of-children-in-need-2014-to-2015

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01/01/2023
Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 22 March 2016 to Question 30916, for what reason the 26 related party transactions by academy trusts classified as irregular or improper by the Education Funding Agency were not repaid by the trusts.

Edward Timpson

Repayment is considered on a case by case basis and may be sought where there has been a serious breach of requirements or standards of conduct. Some transactions may be classified as irregular or improper because of less serious procedural and compliance issues, or because of insufficient evidence to form an opinion. Repayment may not be pursued in these cases. The 26 related party transactions classified as irregular were assessed on this basis.

01/01/2023
Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 3.28 of Educational excellence everywhere, Cm 9230, when she plans to amend the model articles of government of academies to require each school in a multi-academy trust to have a school level governing body; and whether she plans that those model articles will set out the role of school level governing bodies to focus on understanding and championing the needs of pupils, parents and the wider local community.

Edward Timpson

The model articles of association give multi-academy trust (MAT) boards the freedom to appoint a local governing body. The board is also free to decide on what, if any, governance functions they delegate to subsidiary governance structures at the level of either individual schools or clusters of schools. Whatever arrangements MATs use, they must set out and publish on their website their chosen arrangements in a clear scheme of delegation.

The White Paper Educational Excellence Everywhere outlines our intention to place a new expectation on all academies to put in place specific arrangements to engage with all parents in a meaningful way to listen to their views and feedback. To enable a move to fully skills-based governance, the White Paper also announces an end to our requirement on new and existing trusts to reserve places on the board for elected parents.

01/01/2023
Peter Kyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when her Department last reviewed its statutory guidance on post-16 transport to education and training.

Mr Sam Gyimah

The statutory guidance for local authorities on post-16 transport was updated in February 2014 following the implementation of Raising the Participation Age (RPA). It was last reviewed in February 2016 and was found to be still up-to-date; there are no immediate changes planned to the guidance.

01/01/2023
Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her policy is on whether academies will be able to employ unqualified teachers when all schools become academies.

Edward Timpson

Since August 2012, the funding agreements for all new academies has given the academy trust the freedom to employ anyone it believes is suitably qualified or is otherwise eligible to plan and prepare lessons and courses for pupils, teach pupils, and assess and report on pupils’ development, progress and attainment. Academies set up prior to this date can apply to the Education Funding Agency to have their funding agreement amended.

As set out in our White Paper, Educational Excellence Everywhere, we will replace Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) with a stronger, more challenging accreditation based on a teacher’s effectiveness in the classroom, as judged by great schools. This new accreditation will raise the quality and status of the teaching profession, better recognising advanced subject knowledge and pedagogy that is rooted in up-to-date evidence, ensuring the highest quality of teaching is paramount to the success of each school. Headteachers know this, which is why we trust them to employ staff that they believe to be best qualified for the job – including whether to make this accreditation a mandatory requirement or not, considering how to weigh it against other qualifications and experience the potential teacher may bring.

01/01/2023
Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has for the National Curriculum when all schools become academies.

Nick Gibb

In 2014 the Government introduced a new, more rigorous national curriculum which was developed with regard to the views of subject experts and teachers and to the findings of international best practice comparisons.

A system where every school is an academy will mean that the national curriculum will be a benchmark. It will serve an important role in setting out the level of knowledge-based, academically rigorous education which every child should experience.

If academies or Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) want to deliver the national curriculum in their schools, they can do so confidently. The Government wants academies to use their freedoms to innovate and build challenging, tailored curricula to meet the particular needs of their pupils, their local area or the particular ethos of the school.

01/01/2023
Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 12 April 2016 to Question 32243, how many investigations her Department has carried out into cases where schools or early years settings have been accused of refusing to accept disabled children in each year since 2010; and what the outcomes of those investigations were.

Edward Timpson

If it is considered that a child or young person may have been refused admission to a school because of a disability, a claim for disability discrimination can be made to the First-tier Tribunal for Special Educational Needs and Disability. The latest Disability Discrimination Statistics are available on GOV.UK[1].

Claims for disability discrimination against early years settings are heard by the county courts.

In 2014, 27,140 new statements or EHC plans were issued[2] and, in total, there are currently 240,185[3] children and young people with statements or EHC plans. Since 2013, the Department has received around 25 requests for an SEN determination about school admissions each year, although only three have resulted in directions to admit. In order to protect the identity of the child, we are unable to give details of these.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/483768/tribunals-send-tables.xlsx

[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statements-of-sen-and-ehc-plans-england-2015 (Table 2)

[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statements-of-sen-and-ehc-plans-england-2015 (Table 1)

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01/01/2023