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  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Ian Murray – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    Ian Murray – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what recent discussions he has had with Ministers in the Scottish Government on the recent report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Uneven Growth: Tackling City Decline and its ranking of Dundee as seventh highest on its index of relative decline.

    David Mundell

    I am aware of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation report and the issues it raises. The Government is committed to growing the economy across the UK and empowering Cities to realise their potential.

    Last week my Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Lord Dunlop, participated in a Jobs Summit in Dundee along with the Scottish Government, Dundee City Council and others aimed at boosting employment in the area and regenerating one of our finest Scottish cities. Following the summit we have committed to work with interested parties to drive forward investment in Dundee.

  • James Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    James Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will take steps to encourage BT to improve (a) the information it provides online about broadband roll-out, (b) the accuracy of its communications to residents about when cabinets will come on stream and (c) information about support residents can access in the event of delays in roll-out.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    On 25 February Ofcom published their initial conclusions for the Strategic Review of Digital Communications including a range of measures to improve the quality of service delivered by the whole of the telecoms industry, including Openreach, BT’s access network division.

    Ofcom will work with industry to improve providers’ coordination and communication to benefit consumers, including detailed information about engineer visits for installation and fault repairs. Ofcom also plans to introduce tougher minimum standards of customer service for Openreach with rigorous enforcement and fines for underperformance. In addition, the regulator plans to publish annual performance data on all operators and will look to introduce automatic compensation for consumers and small businesses when service levels fall below minimum standards.

    BT recently launched a new website providing more detailed and accurate information to the public on broadband service in any given area – http://www.superfast-openreach.co.uk/where-and-when/

    “

  • Heidi Alexander – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Heidi Alexander – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2016 to Question 25603, on NHS: Finance, how many meetings Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Authority has had with NHS trusts to agree plans to improve the financial position of those trusts since 5 February 2016.

    Ben Gummer

    As part of Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Authority’s fundamental roles, they have regular contact with all trusts and foundation trusts regarding financial planning. This contact is undertaken in various ways from face to face meetings with senior leaders to larger scale events.