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  • 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 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on multi-academy trust governance arrangements.

    Edward Timpson

    As at 1 February 2016 there are 2902 academy trusts. Of these, 951 are Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) and 1951 are Single Academy Trusts.

    The Academies Financial Handbook[1] sets out that academy trusts must publish on their websites up-to-date details of their governance arrangements in a readily accessible form. Trusts must also publish the names of their members and trustees, and the membership of any committees, in their annual financial statements, a copy of which is sent to the Education Funding Agency and filed with the Companies Registrar. Trusts are also required to inform EFA of the names of their chair of trustees, accounting officer and chief financial officer.

    [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/academies-financial-handbook-2015

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  • 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 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many multi-academy trusts do not have local governing bodies with powers comparable to those of maintained schools.

    Edward Timpson

    In a Multi-Academy Trust (MAT), individual academies do not have a separate legal identity and are all under the control of the trust board. Whether the trust board establishes local governing boards for each academy is a matter for the trust board to determine. In all cases the trust board remains accountable for all academies in the MAT.

    The Academies Financial Handbook[1] sets out that academy trusts must publish on their websites up-to-date details of their governance arrangements in a readily accessible form. Trusts must also publish the names of their members and trustees, and the membership of any committees, in their annual financial statements, a copy of which is sent to the Education Funding Agency and filed with the Companies Registrar. Trusts are also required to inform EFA of the names of their chair of trustees, accounting officer and chief financial officer.

    [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/academies-financial-handbook-2015

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  • John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many permanent employees Ofsted has; and how many such employees receive salaries in excess of £100,000 per annum.

    Nick Gibb

    These are matters for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw. I have asked him to write to you and a copy of his reply will be placed in the House Libraries.

  • John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people were employed by Ofsted on short-term contracts in 2015.

    Nick Gibb

    These are matters for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw. I have asked him to write to you and a copy of his reply will be placed in the House Libraries.

  • John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people were hired by Ofsted on a consultancy basis in 2015; and what the overall cost was of their employment.

    Nick Gibb

    These are matters for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw. I have asked him to write to you and a copy of his reply will be placed in the House Libraries.

  • Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will consider including young adult carers in the vulnerable bursary criteria for the 16 to 19 Bursary Fund.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    The Government recognises the extremely valuable service that young carers provide to their community as well as to their families.

    Additional disadvantage funding is given to schools and colleges through Block 1 and 2 funding to provide extra educational and pastoral support for students whose education has fallen behind for any reason, such as having caring responsibilities.

    The 16 to 19 vulnerable bursary targets specific groups of vulnerable young people whom we know experience financial hardship and we have no plans to change the qualifying criteria.

    The 16 to 19 discretionary bursary is available to support any student who needs financial assistance to stay in education and we will strengthen the guidance provided to the schools and colleges that administer discretionary bursary funds to ensure the needs of young carers are recognised.

  • Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the relevant per pupil outturn expenditure on Education Services Grant-supported activities for the highest, median and lowest spending local authorities was for the 2014-15 financial year; and if she will publish the same statistics for planned expenditure for the 2015-16 financial year.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    The Education Services Grant (ESG) is unringfenced and local authorities therefore have complete discretion on how to spend this funding. The Department for Education has previously set out a list of activities that the grant is intended to fund, which can be found online here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/335723/ESG_AnnexA_reformatted.pdf

    Local authorities report their planned expenditure on the related budget lines through their section 251 returns and the data from these returns are published online. The data for 2014-15 can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authority-benchmarking-tables-2014-to-2015 and the data for 2015-16 can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/section-251-2015-to-2016

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  • Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of short school inspections carried out last term were converted into a full section 5 inspection; and if she will list those inspections.

    Nick Gibb

    This is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw. I have asked him to write to you and a copy of his reply will be placed in the House Libraries.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what information his Department holds on the number of casualties that have resulted from the UK’s use of (a) Brimstone missiles, (b) Hellfire missiles and (c) Paveway IV guided bombs on the most recent occasions on which those weapons were deployed against targets in (i) Iraq and (ii) Syria.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The Ministry of Defence takes any allegations of civilian casualties very seriously. We do an assessment after every British strike of the damage that has been caused, and check very carefully whether there are likely to have been civilian casualties. As has always been the case, we consider all available credible evidence to support such assessments.

    There is no such evidence to date that RAF airstrikes have caused any civilian casualties.

  • Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the target for new recruits to the Royal Navy Reserve has been met in each of the last 10 years.

    Mr Julian Brazier

    The Maritime Reserve (MR) is a vital component of the Naval Service’s capability and consists of the Royal Naval Reserve and Royal Marines Reserve.

    Centrally held data for the MR recruitment targets does not go back 10 years. Since the Future Reserve 2020 Programme was established in July 2012 the MR have achieved their targets each year.