Tag: Jess Phillips

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-07-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many visits her Department’s teaching blog has received on average each week since that blog was established.

Nick Gibb

The teaching blog has received an average of 758 visits per week, and 15,938 visits in total. The costs are only in staff time and image usage of £2.50 per image as the blog is hosted on the GOV.UK platform. The blog is run by the Department’s social media team as a small proportion of one member of staff’s overall workload.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 15 September 2016 to Question 45512, what grades of officials and which Ministers have the authority to make decisions on the approval or rejection of applications from maintained schools to convert to academy status.

Edward Timpson

The Secretary of State for Education has authorised the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Schools and eight regional schools commissioners (RSCs) to act on her behalf on the approval or rejection of applications for maintained schools to convert to academy status. RSCs are Director level civil servants; the Secretary of State remains accountable for, and has the power to overturn, their decisions. RSCs must make their decisions in line with a Decision Making Framework, which has been determined by ministers. The Decision Making Framework is published on gov.uk at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/548540/RSC_Decision_Making_Framework_April_2016.pdf

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-10-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish the successful Free School application form for the Kings Science Academy, Bradford.

Edward Timpson

In the interests of transparency, from January 2015, the Department began to publish all appropriately redacted successful free school applications on GOV.UK. Due to an on-going police investigation into alleged fraud at Kings Science Academy, its free school application was not published at that time. The legal proceedings now have concluded and we will publish the appropriately redacted original application in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2015-11-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to page 13 of the NHS’ Five Year Forward View, what progress NHS England has made on the commitment to give patients choice over where and how they receive care; and how progress on that commitment will be assessed.

Ben Gummer

NHS England is working to secure a sustained improvement in awareness, offer, operation and take up of choice by 2020. This includes supporting the independent Maternity Services Review, which is due for publication early in the New Year, and taking forward any recommendations that relate to choice; improving the quality of End of Life Care and the choices people should have about where they receive their care and where they choose to die; strengthening choice in both physical and mental health elective services, to ensure that the NHS honours patients’ legal rights to choice of who provides their care; and securing choice in the design and implementation of new care models for the future NHS.

NHS England has brought this work together with their programmes on personal health budgets and integrated personal commissioning, under a new Director and with additional resource, to accelerate the work in all of these areas in support of the Five Year Forward View commitment to deliver greater patient empowerment. Improvements will be assessed through a new national assessment framework for clinical commissioning groups.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-02-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many places were allocated to each Troops to Teachers cohort.

Nick Gibb

Initially the Ministry of Defence’s resettlement contractor was responsible for recruiting trainees to the programme. Recruitment for the programme has been the responsibility of the University of Brighton.

For Cohort One, 293 applications were received and 41 trainees began the programme.

For Cohort Two, 196 applications were received and 52 trainees began the programme.

For Cohort Three, 62 applications were received and 51 trainees began the programme.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, for what reason her Department cancelled Round Six of the UK Aid Match Fund; for what reason that cancellation was not announced earlier; for what reason that cancellation was not announced earlier; and what assessment she has made of the effect of that cancellation on charities who were developing proposals.

Mr Desmond Swayne

The UKAid Match scheme has been a clear success in matching pound for pound public donations to charity appeals for projects changing lives in some of the poorest countries in the world. A sign of success is that some projects have substantially exceeded their fundraising targets. This has led to the programme’s full allocation of £120M being reached earlier than planned. DFID announced that there would not be a further funding round under the current programme as soon as it became clear that the budget had been fully allocated.

The Government is committed to doubling UK Aid Match. This will provide further opportunities for charities who were developing proposals, including those intended for Round 6, to secure match funding for their appeals. Details of future funding opportunities will be set out in due course, including on the UK Government website.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-04-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department has published on academy schools and their entitlement to run consultancy businesses alongside the educational function of the school.

Edward Timpson

The Department’s Governance Handbook states that:

“An academy trust’s Articles of Association set out its ‘object’ and the powers that it may exercise to further that object. These powers include the power to establish or support any charitable companies or trusts formed for the trust’s object and to set up subsidiary companies to carry on any trade or business to raise funds for the trust.”

The Department’s Governance Handbook is available on GOV.UK at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/governance-handbook

The model Articles of Association also require that the trust’s income and property shall be applied solely towards the promotion of the trust’s charitable objects. The Charity Commission provides guidance for charities on trading activity on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/trustees-trading-and-tax-how-charities-may-lawfully-trade-cc35/trustees-trading-and-tax-how-charities-may-lawfully-trade.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to mitigate the cost to local authorities of schools that are in deficit transferring to academy status.

Edward Timpson

Deficits for schools which convert to become sponsored academies remain with the local authority. These deficits remain with their local authority as these schools were the responsibility of the authority when they were found to be failing or underperforming and it is the authority’s responsibility for ensuring the school managed its expenditure satisfactorily. Guidance on how deficits for converter and sponsored academies are dealt with is available on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/416430/School_balances_on_conversion_submission.pdf

Local authorities are responsible for ensuring the financial viability of maintained schools and ensuring any deficits are cleared within 3 years.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many free schools are in temporary accommodation.

Edward Timpson

As at 23 May 2016, 110 free schools were in some form of temporary accommodation. Some of these schools will be open in temporary accommodation on their permanent site as part of a phased transition.

Opening free schools in temporary accommodation has ensured that we have been able to meet a need for places and support free school trusts to open much needed new schools at the earliest opportunity.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-06-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 1.37e of the Educational Excellence Everywhere White Paper, when she plans to launch the National Teaching Service.

Nick Gibb

The National Teaching Service was launched, with a pilot scheme in the North West, on 29 January 2016[1].

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/national-teaching-service-pilot-gets-underway

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