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  • Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the staffing complement is of the office of each regional schools commissioner; and what the staff grade is of each post in each such office.

    Edward Timpson

    At present, each RSC office employs between 8 and 10 members of staff. In line with the Department’s commitment to greater transparency, staffing structure information for each RSC office, including staff count for each grade, pay scale and location, is published on GOV.UK at: http://reference.data.gov.uk/gov-structure/organogram/?pubbod=department-for-education

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  • Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what duties are placed on regional school commissioners to consult with local authorities on school place planning.

    Edward Timpson

    Local authorities are responsible for ensuring there are sufficient school places in their local area.

    The RSCs are responsible for approving the sponsors of new free schools and intervening in underperforming academies and free schools in their area. The RSCs consider basic need when making decisions on proposed changes to academies, and must consider any representations from local authorities.

  • Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish the terms and conditions of the contracts of the specialist contractors hired by her Department to advise regional school commissioners.

    Edward Timpson

    The Department will publish an award notice on GOV.UK that names suppliers that have been awarded contracts, business addresses and contract values over £20,000. The Department will also be publishing related supplier contracts that support the academy and free school programme on Contract Finder on GOV.UK by 31 March 2016.

  • Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what functions are delegated to each specialist contractor hired by her Department to advise regional school commissioners.

    Edward Timpson

    Invitation to tender including the contract was published on contracts finder on GOV.UK on 12 August 2015 at:

    https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/fcbd797d-c613-47f5-8853-79f2ad7d74a9

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  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department plans to take to publish performance data for academy chains.

    Edward Timpson

    In March 2015 the Department published a consultative statistical working paper proposing performance measures for multi-academy trusts[1].

    In addition, the Department’s school performance tables now allow parents and others to more easily see which academies are within a multi-academy trust and the information for each academy, including their academic performance and Ofsted judgements[2].

    Ofsted also carries out focused inspections of groups of academies within multi-academy trusts and these outcomes are published[3].

    [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-in-academy-chains-and-las-performance-measures

    [2] http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/performance/

    [3] http://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/local-authority-school-improvement-arrangements-inspections-and-focused-school-inspections

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  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of (a) maintained primary schools, (b) maintained secondary schools, (c) primary academies and (d) secondary academies provide at least two hours of physical education per week.

    Edward Timpson

    Information on the proportion of schools providing at least two hours of physical education (PE) per week is not held by the Department.

    Through the primary PE and sport premium, primary schools have received over £450m of ring-fenced funding to improve PE and sport. We have committed to continue this funding until 2020. In December 2015, we published a report looking at how schools used the primary PE and sport premium and the impact of the fund on PE and sports provision. Primary schools reported spending around 2 hours per week on curricular PE in both 2013/14 and 2014/15[1]. 87% of schools also reported that the quality of PE teaching had increased since the introduction of the premium.

    We do not hold information on how much time is spent on curricular PE for secondary schools.

    [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pe-and-sport-premium-an-investigation-in-primary-schools

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  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to improve links between schools and elite sports organisations.

    Edward Timpson

    The national curriculum sets out the expectation that pupils should be provided with opportunities to engage in a broad range of competitive sports and activities.

    Many national governing bodies of sports and elite sporting organisations offer a programme for schools, to engage children and young people in their sports. Through their school sports programme, the Premier League is currently working in over 4,000 schools to support the PE curriculum, provide sports clubs, and deliver enrichment activities. In October 2015, the Premier League announced that they will expand their schools offer to every primary school in the country within 6 years.

    The Department funds ‘On the Front Foot’, a programme designed and delivered by Premiership Rugby to develop character and resilience in primary and secondary schools across the country. The programme delivers classroom based and physical activity character building programmes to 17,250 pupils.

    The Football Association’s Skills programme is a nationwide football coaching programme working in over 1,000 primary schools a year, providing specialist football coaching for children and supporting teachers in their delivery of sport. Sessions are offered during PE lessons, extra-curricula clubs and holiday clubs.

    The Tennis Foundation and the Lawn Tennis Association support teachers with training, resource and equipment to help them deliver tennis in schools. Their aim is to increase access to tennis across schools, further and higher education through a wide range of programmes. They offer support to make tennis inclusive and accessible to all pupils. Over 60,000 primary, special and secondary school pupils take part in schools tennis competitions every year.

    The Rugby Football Union works with hundreds of maintained schools as part of its ‘All Schools Plan’ to help more secondary school children play rugby. This was launched by the RFU and the Rugby Football Foundation in 2012, as part of the RFU’s Rugby World Cup 2015 legacy plans.

    The School Games is the Government’s framework for competitive school sports. The programme provides a national final event where the most talented young people in the UK compete in 12 different sports. More than 150 of the athletes who competed at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow had previously competed at the School Games and 59 athletes claimed 84 medals.

  • Imran Hussain – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Imran Hussain – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the implications for her Department’s policies on training teachers of the findings of the National Audit Office report, Training new teachers, published in February 2016.

    Nick Gibb

    We are considering the findings of the National Audit Office report on training new teachers. The Permanent Secretary and Sinead O’Sullivan, Director of Programme Delivery in the National College for Teaching and Leadership, will be appearing as witnesses before a Public Accounts Committee hearing on the report on Monday 7 March 2016. This will be an opportunity to discuss the content of the report.

  • Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many staff in the office of each regional schools commissioners are employed under a contract of employment to another third party.

    Edward Timpson

    The regional school commissioners currently have one agency worker and one inward secondee from a County Council.

  • Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the specialist contractors hired by her Department to advise regional school commissioners are required to declare any interests relevant to their employment by her Department.

    Edward Timpson

    Contractors procured to support the academies and free schools programme are required to declare conflicts of interest.

    The contract states, “The Contractor is required to declare to the Contract Manager any interests and/or links, including other contracts or positions held whether they be paid or unpaid or relationships with, but not limited to, schools, education providers or other external organisations involved in the provision of education or education services so the Contract Manager may assess whether any conflicts of interest, whether potential, actual or perceived, and as reasonably judged by the Contract Manager, may have the potential to present reputational, operational or legal or risks to the Contractor and to the Department in allocating any particular project.

    "If such a conflict of interest does arise, or may arise, the Contractor will declare it to the Department immediately and accept that the Department may ask the Contractor to immediately cease any involvement with the task giving rise to the conflict.”