Written questions by Pearce.

What steps she is taking to ensure that local authorities (a) adequately capture the needs of SEND children and (b) provide a local offer that adequately meets levels of demand for those needs.

This government is committed to providing the necessary support to improve the experiences for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their families. The department is committed to taking a community-wide approach, improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools and alternative provision settings, as well as ensuring special schools cater to those with the most complex needs. A new Ofsted and Care Quality Commission area SEND inspection framework was launched in January 2023. All local areas are due to receive a full inspection within five years, supporting local areas to achieve better outcomes and standards in line with our programme of reform. Where a council does not meet its duties, the department can take action that prioritises children’s needs and supports local areas to bring about rapid improvement. The department works to monitor, support and challenge local authorities, working closely with NHS England to tackle weaknesses that sit with health partners.

What steps she is taking to help increase the availability of childcare in High Peak constituency.

Ensuring that parents are able to access affordable and high-quality childcare is a priority for this government. As an initial step, the department is progressing work to deliver 3,000 new nurseries through upgrading space in primary schools. Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing. Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, the department discusses what action the local authority is taking to address those issues and where needed, supports the local authority with any specific requirements through the department’s childcare sufficiency support contract.

How many (a) primary and (b) secondary school students receive free school meals in High Peak constituency.

As of January 2024, 26%, or 1,725 pupils, of state-funded primary school pupils and 24%, or 1,286 pupils, of state-funded secondary school pupils attending schools in High Peak constituency were eligible for and claiming free school meals. This compares with national rates of 24% of primary school pupils and 24% of secondary school pupils in the whole of England. These figures are from the school census and are published down to school level here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics.

What assessment her Department has made of the implications for her policies of trends in levels of school exclusions in (a) High Peak constituency, (b) Derbyshire and (c) England.

Every pupil deserves to learn in a safe, calm classroom and the department will always support teachers to make this happen. Schools can use sanctions as a measure to improve behaviour and in the most serious cases, suspension and permanent exclusion may be necessary to ensure that pupils are protected from disruption and can benefit from the opportunities provided by education. The statutory Suspension and Permanent Exclusion guidance is clear that, in all cases, school leaders should consider early intervention strategies to address the underlying causes or any contributing factors towards pupil’s disruptive behaviour. This can include where a pupil has special educational needs and disabilities or other unmet needs. The guidance also makes clear that schools, local authorities and local partners should work together to understand what lies behind local trends. Local leaders should use this to understand, to plan and put in place additional and targeted action based on their own local context. If they identify any gaps, they should act to ensure those who work with children have the training, services and support they need to address them. The rising number of exclusions presented for the 2022/23 school year, including in Derbyshire, puts into sharp focus that too many pupils are being held back by their background and that the education system is failing to meet the needs of children. The government is determined to get to grips with the causes of exclusions to ensure it can break down the barriers to opportunities. The department has already committed to providing access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, introducing free breakfast clubs in every primary school and ensuring earlier intervention in mainstream schools for pupils with special needs.

What steps her Department has taken to improve children's oracy skills in High Peak constituency.

The department recognises the importance of oracy. Communication skills are essential throughout life, and the foundations of these skills are developed during the early years and the first part of primary school. Delayed development of communication skills can have serious consequences for children’s learning, and there is good evidence that spoken language skills are strongly associated with children’s literacy, numeracy and educational attainment. This government will fund evidence-based early-language interventions in primary schools, so that every child can find their voice. In July 2024, the department announced that funded support for the 11,100 schools registered for the Nuffield Early Language Intervention programme would continue for the 2024/25 academic year. Spoken language is already part of the national curriculum for English for 5 to 16 year olds and is delivered in a number of different ways. The government has established an independent review of curriculum, assessment and qualification pathways, covering Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 5. This will be chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE, an expert in education policy, including in curriculum and social inequality. The Review will seek to deliver, amongst other things, a curriculum that ensures children and young people leave compulsory education ready for life and ready for work, building the knowledge, skills and attributes young people need to thrive. This includes embedding digital, oracy and life skills in their learning. English Hubs support early language through the delivery of Medium Level Support, which is a Continuous Professional Development (CPD) offer that includes targeted support, CPD programmes and workshops. English Hubs deliver the universal early language CPD programme to schools over six sessions. So far, over £90 million has been invested in the English Hubs programme overall, with a further £23 million committed for the 2024/25 academic year. High Peak’s local English Hub is St Wilfrid’s. More information about the Hub is available here: https://stwenglishhub.co.uk/.

How many and what proportion of children in schools in High Peak constituency are learning a musical instrument at school.

The department does not collect information from schools about the number or proportion of their pupils learning a musical instrument at school. Schools can seek the support of their local Music Hub in providing music education, including support for instrumental teaching. Arts Council England is the fundholder for the Music Hubs programme and collects and publishes information about the activity of each of the Music Hubs. This information is about the music education activity or support the Hubs provide and does not include information on what schools provide without the support of the Hub. The High Peak constituency is served by Derbyshire Music Education Hub, which provides opportunities to learn an instrument, including through whole class ensemble teaching across the local authority areas of Derby and Derbyshire. In 2022/23, 47.4% of state-funded schools across Derby and Derbyshire were supported with whole class ensemble teaching. The Hub also delivered or supported lessons to 2,244 pupils in small group tuition, 5,447 pupils in individual lessons, and 6,149 pupils as part of large group lessons. In addition, 1,577 pupils participated in Hub-led or Hub-supported ensembles and group activity, and instruments were loaned to 302 schools during 2022/23. The 2022/23 data was published on 20 May 2024 and can be accessed on the Arts Council’s website, which is available here: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/MusicEducationHubs/music-education-hubs-survey-and-data#t-in-page-nav-2.

What steps her Department is taking to improve the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of teachers in High Peak constituency.

High-quality teaching is the factor that makes the biggest difference to a child’s education. There are now 468,693 full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers in state-funded schools in England, but the department must do more to ensure it has the workforce needed to provide the best possible education for every child. This is why the government has set out the ambition to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers. The first crucial step towards achieving this is to ensure teaching is once again an attractive and respected profession, and teachers receive the pay they deserve. This is why the department has accepted in full the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendation of a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools from September. The department is providing schools with almost £1.1 billion in additional funding in the 2024/25 financial year to support schools with overall costs. This matches what the department has calculated is needed to fully fund, at a national level, the teacher pay award and the support staff pay offer in the 2024/25 financial year, over and above the overall available headroom in schools’ existing budgets. Alongside teacher pay, financial incentives are one of the most effective ways to increase teacher supply, and the department is continuing to support teacher trainees with tax-free bursaries of up to £28,000 and scholarships of up to £30,000 in shortage subjects. To help with retention, new teachers of mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing also receive retention payments if working in disadvantaged schools in the first five years of their careers. In the 2023/34 academic year, five schools in the High Peak constituency were eligible for these retention payments. To further help teachers stay and thrive in the profession, the department is addressing teacher workload and wellbeing, and supporting schools to introduce flexible working practices. The Flexible Working Ambassador Multi-Academy Trusts and Schools Programme offers support to schools across every region in England to help implement flexible working. Schools in High Peak that are interested in receiving tailored peer support can either approach the dedicated Ambassador for the East Midlands region or contact the national delivery provider to be matched with specialist support. The department has also established Teaching School Hubs across the country, which provide high-quality professional development to teachers at all stages of their careers. Potentia Teaching School Hub and Spencer Teaching School Hub are centres of excellence supporting teacher training and development across Amber Valley, Bolsover, Chesterfield, Derbyshire Dales, High Peak, North East Derbyshire, Derby, Erewash and South Derbyshire.

How many hours of (a) mathematics, (b) English, (c) sciences and (d) modern foreign languages were taught in secondary schools in High Peak constituency by teachers without a relevant (i) A-level and (ii) higher level qualification in the last full year for which data are available.

Information on the school workforce, including subjects taught in state-funded secondary schools, is published in the ‘School Workforce in England’ statistical publication, which is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england. National estimates of the total number of hours taught for each subject are available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/b9970602-8643-43bd-ba9c-08dcafcfd634. The proportion of those hours that were taught by teachers without a relevant post A-level or higher level qualification are available nationally at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/5bbdd9e0-77ad-49e2-ba9d-08dcafcfd634. Timetabled teaching is reported for a typical week in November, as determined by the school. It does not cover an entire year of teaching. If there are variations in timetabling across the year, this is not covered in the data available to the department. Subject taught is only collected from secondary schools that use electronic timetabling software that can produce data in the format required. Data is then weighted to provide national estimates. Breakdowns by local authority and parliamentary constituency are, therefore, not available.

How many children in High Peak constituency have taken part in foreign school trips since September 2023.

The department does not hold information on overseas school trips unless the school is successful in applying for funding from the Turing Scheme, which is the UK government’s global programme for students to study and work abroad. The department can confirm that for the 2023/24 academic year, no schools in the High Peak constituency applied to the Turing Scheme.

What the average staff-to-student ratio was in secondary schools in (a) England and (b) High Peak constituency in (i) 2019, (ii) 2020, (iii) 2021 and (iv) 2022.

Information on the school workforce, including the pupil to adult and pupil to teacher ratios at national, regional, local authority and individual school level, is published in the ‘School Workforce in England’ statistical publication, which can be found...

If her Department will make an estimate of the median level of student debt held by people in High Peak constituency.

The median debt of full-time undergraduate borrowers funded by student finance England, whose postcode is within the High Peak constituency, and who entered repayment within the last five financial years, is £47,831.69. The median debt includes tuition fee and maintenance loans.The borrowers’ postcode refers to the current contact or home address supplied by the borrower to the Student Loans Company.

What the average funding per pupil in mainstream schools was in (a) High Peak constituency, (b) Derbyshire and (c) England in each of the last three years.

The average funding per pupil in mainstream schools in (a) High Peak constituency, (b) Derbyshire and (c) England for the 2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years can be found in the tables below.The department is only able to provide the schools national funding formula (NFF) allocations for the High Peak constituency. The schools NFF determines school revenue funding for all mainstream schools in England, although schools’ actual allocations are based on local authorities’ local funding formulae. Constituency figures are based on an aggregate of schools’ NFF allocations. The aim of the NFF is to distribute funding in a fair way and the government therefore keeps it under review.Average Per Pupil Funding through the Schools NFF:Financial YearHigh Peak Constituency2022/23£5,3002023/24£5,6052024/25£5,956 Per-pupil school funding is the aggregated school-level NFF allocation divided by the number of pupils in mainstream schools in the constituency. Funding figures for Derbyshire and England are provided based on the actual allocations of the schools block of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG), the core allocations received by local authorities for funding mainstream schools. Average Per Pupil Funding in Mainstream Schools through the DSG:Financial YearDerbyshire England2022/23£5,456£5,5342023/24£5,788£5,8382024/25£5,935£5,957 To note:In 2022/23, on top of funding through the NFF/DSG, all schools received additional funding through the Schools Supplementary Grant.In 2023/24, on top of funding through the NFF/DSG, all schools received additional funding through the Mainstream Schools Additional Grant (MSAG) and the Teachers' Pay Additional Grant (TPAG). The DSG figures provided here include the MSAG (but not TPAG) allocations.In 2024/25, on top of funding through the NFF/DSG, all schools will receive additional funding through the through the TPAG, Teachers' Pension Employer Contribution Grant 2024 and Core Schools Budget Grant.In addition to this core revenue funding and additional grants noted, schools received funding through a number of separate streams, including Pupil Premium, Universal Infant Free School Meals funding; PE and sport premium funding and the recovery premium and National Tutoring Programme to support education recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic.

How many degree apprenticeships were (a) advertised and (b) completed in (i) High Peak constituency, (ii) Derbyshire and (iii) Greater Manchester in each of the last five years.

The table below provides details of degree level apprenticeship (Level 6 and 7) vacancies in High Peak constituency, Derbyshire and Greater Manchester that were advertised on the Find an Apprenticeship (FAA) service on GOV.UK in each of the last five years.The department encourages employers to advertise on FAA to maximise engagement with their vacancies and to ensure that they are accessible to all potential apprentices, but not all choose to use the service. Employers may choose to recruit apprentices through their own channels, for example via their own websites, which the department does not monitor. The figures below therefore do not represent the total number of degree level apprenticeship vacancies advertised.Academic YearHigh PeakDerbyshireGreater Manchester2018/19Low501702019/200801302020/21Low902202021/22Low3704002022/23Low270430To note:Figures rounded to the nearest 10.‘Low’ indicates a value of fewer than 5.Vacancies are total number of positions within an advert. Each advert on FAA can have more than one position advertised. The table below provides details of degree level (Level 6 and 7) apprenticeships that have been achieved in High Peak constituency, Derbyshire and Greater Manchester in each of the last five years, as published in the Apprenticeships statistics publication.Academic YearHigh PeakDerbyshireGreater Manchester2018/19Low10202019/2010201902020/2120604202021/22201906702022/2330310980To note:Figures rounded to the nearest 10.‘Low’ indicates a value of fewer than 5.Source is the Individualised Learner Record.Geography is based on the learner home postcode.

What support her Department provides for SEND children in schools in rural constituencies.

For too long, the education and care system has not met the needs of all children, particularly those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), with parents and carers struggling to get their children the support they need and deserve. This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with SEND or in alternative provision, including children in rural areas, receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life. The department will be focusing on a community-wide approach, improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, and ensuring that special schools cater to those with the most complex needs. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, and I will work with families and education and care experts to deliver this in the best interests of our children.

What estimate her Department has made of how many children in High Peak constituency have been identified as having Special Education Needs.

The special educational needs (SEN) publication publishes data on pupils with SEN support or education, health and care (EHC) plans. This publication can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england. The figures requested are derivable from the underlying school data and have been summarised in the table below:Pupils with SEN in High Peak constituency, January 2024Pupils by SEN typeTotal numberTotal ProportionTotal pupils12,304100%SEN support1,78714.5%EHC plan5264.3%