Secretary of State for Education faces first Departmental questions
The new ministerial team at the Department for Education faced questions in the House of Commons this week for the first time since their appointment. Shadow Secretary of State for Education, Kate Green MP, asked about the National Tutoring Programme (NTP), the central part of the government’s ‘catch up’ plans.
She questioned whether or not the NTP was reaching enough students, saying that ‘by the end of the national tutoring programme period, nearly 2 million young people will have left school without support, including, it is estimated, more than half a million in the north.’ She added that tutoring is reaching just one in 16 pupils this year, which threatens widening the disadvantage gap if the Government fails to invest in education recovery.
Richard Holden, the Conservative MP for North West Durham, also asked about the NTP, following on from a visit to a school in his constituency by the new School Standards Minister, Robin Walker. He said that Head Teachers were concerned about the amount of paperwork involved in accessing the scheme, and asked what the DfE was doing to ensure that bureaucracy would not prevent the NTP reaching as many children as possible.
The new Secretary of State, Nadhim Zahawi, said that the DfE is focused on outcomes, especially those from the most disadvantaged communities. While the support provided by the NTP is welcome, it unfortunately has not been accessible to many students in the North East. The scheme had a difficult start in our region, with challenges of capacity in provision of tutors. There are also growing concerns that the need to recruit tutors is having a knock-on effect that is leading to a shortage in supply staff. While the NTP can be an effective part of ‘catch-up’, there needs to be a much wider and longer-term approach to recovery, and Schools North East will continue to lobby for this.
Chair of the Education Select Committee, Robert Halfon, made the case for a longer school day. He said that the evidence is that this can increase educational attainment, especially among disadvantaged children. Nadhim Zahawi said that there are excellent examples of a longer school day, and that he will be looking into this. Schools are already working at capacity to deliver ‘catch-up’, putting significant workload pressures on staff. Any moves to extend the school day must be properly resourced, with consideration of the impact on staff wellbeing.
Several MPs from our region also asked questions, including Labour MP for Wansbeck, Ian Lavery, who raised the budget challenges schools are facing, with rises in energy costs and ongoing repair works; an issue first raised by Schools North East with national media nearly a month ago. He said that the dilemma for many Head Teachers will be to choose between heating or learning.
Robin Walker pointed to the £1.8 billion investment in the conditions of schools. However, this does not address the rising operational costs, which schools haven’t previously budgeted for. Schools are facing huge increases in energy costs, up to 48% on gas and 26% on electricity. These increases are coming over the winter months, and when schools are making efforts to improve ventilation.
Schools are also now facing increases in National Insurance contributions. Despite earlier plans to compensate public sector employers (including schools) following the NI rises for health and social care, Nadhim Zahawi confirmed before the Education Select Committee that this would no longer be the case. Zahawi revealed that the NI rise will cost schools £300 million, and will come out of the £1.6 billion extra school funding announced at the spending review for 2022-23.
While the additional funding announced in the budget will be welcomed by schools, there is a substantial risk a large proportion of it will be swallowed up by increased essential costs. Schools North East will continue to lobby for schools to receive adequate funding and support.