Tag: Stephen Timms

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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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to encourage more people to train as children’s social workers.

Edward Timpson

Government policy intends to improve the quality of social work and overhaul the system of social worker education to make it more effective.

In December 2015, the Prime Minister announced a further package of measures to underpin the Government’s commitment to reforming social work and protecting vulnerable children, part of which is a £100m investment during the current parliament for fast-track social work training programmes such as Step Up and Frontline.

There were 1875 applications for the 2015 cohort of Frontline, and 4306 applications for 2016 Cohort of Step Up. We aim to train over 3,000 new social workers through fast-track schemes over the Spending Review period.

In addition to this commitment to fast-track schemes government invested £695m into mainstream social work training between 2010-15, including social work bursaries and Education Support Grant, which supported generic qualifications for those wishing to enter social work. The 2015/16 funding for social work bursaries and Education Support Grant is £81M. There is no confirmation for the 2016/7 allocation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-03-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the cost to school budgets of (a) pupil mobility, (b) staff turnover, (c) pupils not speaking English at home and (d) pupils with special educational needs.

Mr Sam Gyimah

We recently published our consultations on national funding formulae for schools and high needs funding. A national funding formula will put an end to currently unfair arrangements where children with the same needs attract different amounts of money simply because of where they live. We believe that the national funding formula should target funding to pupils who are likely to face additional barriers in realising their potential and are proposing to include additional needs factors including for English as an additional language. For pupils with special educational needs (SEN), we propose that mainstream schools should continue to be responsible for the first £6,000 of costs in respect of each of their pupils with SEN, and receive top-up funding from the local authority for costs in excess of £6,000. Local authorities reported that they will allocate £750m to primary and secondary schools in 2015-16 in the form of top-up funding for pupils with SEN.

Under current local funding formulae, the total amount allocated to school budgets in relation to pupil mobility is £24m for 2015-16 and for English as an additional language, it is £267m. It is for school leaders to determine how best to use their full budget so that all pupils, including mobile pupils, pupils with English as an additional language and those with special educational needs, can reach their full potential.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-03-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 5 January 2016 to Question 20339, how a longstanding mental health condition is taken account of in assessing whether a claimant is eligible for an advance payment of universal credit.

Priti Patel

When a work coach assesses a claimant’s financial need they will take into account all of the claimant’s circumstances including any health conditions and any vulnerabilities. The Work Coach is trained to maintain an on-going conversation with the claimant about their financial capability and build up a relationship of trust with the claimant over time.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-03-21.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the mortality rate for people aged between 40 and 50 was in (a) England and Wales, (b) Newcastle, (c) Sheffield and (d) Newham in each of the last five years.

Mr Rob Wilson

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-04-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the effect on annual spending on (a) employment support by non-government providers and (b) Jobcentre Plus of the introduction of the Work and Health Programme; and if he will make a statement.

Priti Patel

Contracted provision will continue to play a crucial role in supporting the long term unemployed and those with health conditions and disabilities. The new Work & Health Programme will support those who have reached the 24 month point in their claim as well as targeted referrals of claimants with health conditions and disabilities. By 2020/21, the core funding from central government for this provision will be around £130m a year. We will work closely with the market to ensure a smooth transition from existing provision to the new provision.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-04-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 19 April 2016 to Question 34050, how much funding his Department has allocated to the work programme and work choice in the 2016-17 financial year.

Priti Patel

The total budget for Contracted Employment Programmes for 2016-17 is £402.4m. It is not possible to publish the disaggregation of this figure to individual programmes, as this is subject to change throughout the year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-04-27.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 21 April 2016 to Question 34477, whether it is possible to correct errors in PAYE real-time data submitted by employers before the point at which such errors affect universal credit claimants.

Mr David Gauke

Data validation rules are built in to stop obvious errors at the point of filing and allow customers to correct submissions. Where errors are made, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has a dedicated team who work with employers. If HMRC spots something is incorrect, it and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will work with the employer to correct that information. If the employer realises they have made a mistake, they have the opportunity to submit correct information. In addition, HMRC and DWP continually monitor the quality of Real Time Information to understand why errors occur

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 25 April 2016 to Question 34910, what qualifications are required by his Department for English and mathematics tutors who teach functional skills in numeracy and literacy.

Mark Lancaster

The Ministry of Defence general policy on the provision of Functional Skills (FS) training is that tutors employed to teach English and mathematics to Service Personnel are required to have a minimum Level 4 teaching qualification prior to employment. Once employed, all tutors must then successfully complete the ‘Defence Train the Trainer Course’.

Armed Forces training establishments follow more detailed criteria on the standard of qualification for tutors employed to deliver FS training. Two principal groups provide Functional Skills education within the Army. Basic Skills Development Managers (BSDMs) are employed across the Army Educational Services and are required to hold a nationally-recognised teaching qualification and a Adult Basic Skills Subject Specialisation Award (ABSSA) at a minimum of Level 4 in literacy or numeracy. The Army also contracts out FS delivery completed on the Army Apprenticeship Programme. Tutors on the various apprenticeships are required to hold an overall Level 5 teaching qualification and have appropriate subject matter expertise.

All Royal Air Force (RAF) English and Mathematics FS tutors are required to have a minimum Level 4 ABSSA teaching qualification in their respective subject prior to employment. The Royal Navy also have minimum entry Level 4 FS qualifications requirement for all its tutors. The RAF and Royal Navy also expect an ABSSA teaching qualification in English and maths for tutors on the various apprenticeships as well as appropriate subject matter expertise.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-05-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the loss of local authorities’ access to housing benefit claim data on their ability to target services and support tenants effectively; and if he will make a statement.

Justin Tomlinson

Local authorities are the data owners of Housing Benefit data. DWP shares customer data with local authorities in order for them to assess claims more effectively and quickly and to help them to keep claims right. We have contingency arrangements in place, should those interfaces fail.