The objectives of the market engagement are to: establish potential future procurement options available to the Department, gather market intelligence with regard to supplier capabilities, and enable a decision-making process to determine if a Departmental Solar PV Framework is 1) required and 2) would be beneficial.

No funding has been allocated as this work is being carried out through the Department’s capital direct sourcing team’s business as usual activities and forms part of their five year procurement programme.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Department for Education.

Regarding data on which local authorities do not own a children’s residential care home, this is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to the Honourable Member and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Regarding the annual cost of providing residential care to children, local authorities are required to submit annual outturn statements about their spending on children’s services, including spend on residential care, to my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education.

This financial data collection asks for local authority annual expenditure to be split across the following categories:

• Own provision: expenditure on services provided or managed by the authority
• Private: expenditure on services provided or managed by private sector entities such as profit-making companies
• Other public: expenditure on services provided or managed by public sector entities such as other local authorities and other public providers (such as services provided by other local authorities or health bodies)
• Voluntary: expenditure on services provided or managed by third sector entities such as voluntary and community groups, social enterprises, charities, cooperatives and mutuals.

More information on the collection, including the provision captured within ‘residential care’, can be found in the outturn guide for local authorities at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/section-251-2017-to-2018.

The most recent published outturn data is for 2017-18 and can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/la-and-school-expenditure-2017-to-2018-financial-year.

The table below shows total annual expenditure on residential care across all local authorities in England in 2017-18 across the provision categories defined above.

Total local authority expenditure on residential care by placement provider for 2017-18:

Regarding data on which local authorities do not own a children’s residential care home, this is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to the Honourable Member and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Regarding the annual cost of providing residential care to children, local authorities are required to submit annual outturn statements about their spending on children’s services, including spend on residential care, to my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education.

This financial data collection asks for local authority annual expenditure to be split across the following categories:

• Own provision: expenditure on services provided or managed by the authority
• Private: expenditure on services provided or managed by private sector entities such as profit-making companies
• Other public: expenditure on services provided or managed by public sector entities such as other local authorities and other public providers (such as services provided by other local authorities or health bodies)
• Voluntary: expenditure on services provided or managed by third sector entities such as voluntary and community groups, social enterprises, charities, cooperatives and mutuals.

More information on the collection, including the provision captured within ‘residential care’, can be found in the outturn guide for local authorities at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/section-251-2017-to-2018.

The most recent published outturn data is for 2017-18 and can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/la-and-school-expenditure-2017-to-2018-financial-year.

The table below shows total annual expenditure on residential care across all local authorities in England in 2017-18 across the provision categories defined above.

Total local authority expenditure on residential care by placement provider for 2017-18:

The Department is committed to supporting schools to deliver high quality teaching of relationships education for all primary aged pupils, relationships and sex education for all secondary aged pupils, and health education for all pupils in state-funded schools.

From spring 2020, all teachers will have access to a central programme of support that will focus on tools to enhance practice and teacher confidence, including an implementation guide, access to high-quality resources, and training that can be delivered online and face to face.

The Department has been working with schools, teachers and sector experts to develop support materials that are suited to the sector’s needs and that will enable the delivery of the entire statutory guidance including areas such as consent, HIV, sexual health and mental health. The Department will continue to engage with the wide range of stakeholders that have helped informed key decisions on these subjects.

To support this work, the Department has convened a new working group, who will provide insight into how the new guidance is working in practice. This group, with representatives from teaching unions, sector experts, faith and minority groups, parents and young people, provides us with evidence and feedback to improve the delivery of these subjects. The working group met for the first time in September and the Department intends to publish the membership and terms of reference on GOV.UK in due course.

The Department is committed to supporting schools to deliver high quality teaching of relationships education for all primary aged pupils, relationships and sex education for all secondary aged pupils, and health education for all pupils in state-funded schools.

From spring 2020, all teachers will have access to a central programme of support that will focus on tools to enhance practice and teacher confidence, including an implementation guide, access to high-quality resources, and training that can be delivered online and face to face.

The Department has been working with schools, teachers and sector experts to develop support materials that are suited to the sector’s needs and that will enable the delivery of the entire statutory guidance including areas such as consent, HIV, sexual health and mental health. The Department will continue to engage with the wide range of stakeholders that have helped informed key decisions on these subjects.

To support this work, the Department has convened a new working group, who will provide insight into how the new guidance is working in practice. This group, with representatives from teaching unions, sector experts, faith and minority groups, parents and young people, provides us with evidence and feedback to improve the delivery of these subjects. The working group met for the first time in September and the Department intends to publish the membership and terms of reference on GOV.UK in due course.

The Department is committed to supporting schools to deliver high quality teaching of relationships education for all primary aged pupils, relationships and sex education for all secondary aged pupils, and health education for all pupils in state-funded schools.

From spring 2020, all teachers will have access to a central programme of support that will focus on tools to enhance practice and teacher confidence, including an implementation guide, access to high-quality resources, and training that can be delivered online and face to face.

The Department has been working with schools, teachers and sector experts to develop support materials that are suited to the sector’s needs and that will enable the delivery of the entire statutory guidance including areas such as consent, HIV, sexual health and mental health. The Department will continue to engage with the wide range of stakeholders that have helped informed key decisions on these subjects.

To support this work, the Department has convened a new working group, who will provide insight into how the new guidance is working in practice. This group, with representatives from teaching unions, sector experts, faith and minority groups, parents and young people, provides us with evidence and feedback to improve the delivery of these subjects. The working group met for the first time in September and the Department intends to publish the membership and terms of reference on GOV.UK in due course.

The Department is committed to supporting schools to deliver high quality teaching of relationships education for all primary aged pupils, relationships and sex education for all secondary aged pupils, and health education for all pupils in state-funded schools.

From spring 2020, all teachers will have access to a central programme of support that will focus on tools to enhance practice and teacher confidence, including an implementation guide, access to high-quality resources, and training that can be delivered online and face to face.

The Department has been working with schools, teachers and sector experts to develop support materials that are suited to the sector’s needs and that will enable the delivery of the entire statutory guidance including areas such as consent, HIV, sexual health and mental health. The Department will continue to engage with the wide range of stakeholders that have helped informed key decisions on these subjects.

To support this work, the Department has convened a new working group, who will provide insight into how the new guidance is working in practice. This group, with representatives from teaching unions, sector experts, faith and minority groups, parents and young people, provides us with evidence and feedback to improve the delivery of these subjects. The working group met for the first time in September and the Department intends to publish the membership and terms of reference on GOV.UK in due course.

​The Department does not hold information on the number of schools with gardens. Responsible bodies such as local authorities, academy trusts and diocesan bodies are best placed to answer questions on the numbers of their schools with gardens.

Since 2010, the Government has funded thousands of good new school places across the country through the free schools programme. The programme aims to kick-start wider improvement, inject fresh approaches and draw in talent from a variety of backgrounds.

As at 1 October 2019, there are 507 open free schools, 48 university technical colleges and 24 studio schools, which will provide over 320,000 places when at capacity. The attached table contains the information requested.

The length of time it takes to identify, acquire and adapt the right site can sometimes mean that it is necessary for a school to open in temporary accommodation to meet the need for school places in the local area. As such, a free school can open whilst works are taking place on the permanent site.

Where we have had concerns over the long-term success and viability of a proposed school, we have taken swift and decisive action to cancel the project. On occasion, a trust will decide to withdraw a project before the proposed school opens. The primary objective of the Department in all cases is to ensure the best possible educational outcomes for local pupils and to secure value for money for the taxpayer.

Proposals for distribution of the Social Care Grant in 2020-21 have now been put to the sector in a technical consultation, published on 3 October https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/local-government-finance-settlement-2020-to-2021-technical-consultation.

Proposals for distribution of the Social Care Grant in 2020-21 have now been put to the sector in a technical consultation, published on 3 October https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/local-government-finance-settlement-2020-to-2021-technical-consultation.

Local authorities are under a statutory duty to ensure that there is a school place available for every child. The Department provides basic need funding for every place that is needed, based on local authorities’ own data on pupil forecasts. Local authorities can use this funding to provide places in new schools or through expansions of existing schools, and can work with any school in their local area, including academies and free schools.

Basic need allocations to local authorities to provide new school places from 2011-2021 can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/basic-need-allocations. Data for allocations prior to 2011-12 is not readily available.

The Department has also invested a total of £365 million through the Special Provision Capital Fund from 2018-19 to 2020-21. This funding will help local authorities to create new places and improve facilities for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.

Special Provision Capital Fund allocations to local authorities can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-provision-capital-funding-for-pupils-with-ehc-plans.

In addition, the Department has funded thousands of good new school places and opened schools across the country through the free schools programme. The Department’s total capital costs of establishing free schools are listed below. These annual costs include all aspects of site acquisition, design, and construction expended in that year.

There are also some much smaller additional capital programmes which have also created places, however this is not their primary objective. In total, the Department is on track to create one million places this decade (2010 to 2020), the largest increase in school capacity in at least two generations. This follows a decrease of 100,000 places between 2004 and 2010.

[1] This figure will be available once the Department lays its annual accounts before Parliament in 2020.

The Department for Education has allocated over £13 billion in condition funding from 2011-12 to 2019-20, an average of £1.4 billion a year. On top of that, the £4.4 billion Priority School Building Programme is rebuilding or refurbishing school buildings in the worst condition across England, covering over 500 schools. Data on capital funding allocated prior to 2011-12 is not readily available.

In addition to this, the Department provides Basic Need funding to local authorities for new school places and, as of 1 October 2019, the Department has opened 507 free schools which when full will educate 280,000 pupils.

Published data on annual capital allocations is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-capital-funding.

The information is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD) covers the pay and conditions for teachers in maintained schools in England. Non-maintained schools, including academies and free schools, are responsible for determining the pay and conditions of their staff themselves. Such schools are therefore not obliged to follow the statutory arrangements set out in the STPCD, although they may still choose to do so if they wish.

As academies have freedoms and flexibilities to set the rate of pay for their teachers outside of the national pay arrangements, it is up to them to determine whether, and in what circumstances, to pay any annual uplift or performance-related pay.

Capital to support Sure Start children’s centres was made available to local authorities through the Sure Start, Early and Childcare grant in the 2010-11 financial year. Details of expenditure on capital grants to support Sure Start, Early Years and Childcare in 2010-11 are set out on page 77 of the department’s annual report and accounts for 2010-11 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-for-education-annual-report-and-accounts-financial-year-2010-to-2011.

Between 1 April 2011 and 31 March 2015, capital funding for children’s centres was made available from the Schools Capital Funding Allocations. Since 1 April 2015, capital funding for children’s centres has been made available through the School Condition Allocations. It is for local authorities to decide how to prioritise their capital funding according to local needs. Published data on capital allocations is available on the GOV.UK website https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-capital-funding#funding-allocations-for-2019-to-2020.

The department does not record how much capital local authorities spend on children’s centres.

The Government continues to support families with their childcare costs. My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced £66 million for early years in 2020-21 to increase hourly rates paid to childcare providers through the Government’s early education entitlements in England. Further information and details of how this will be distributed will follow in due course.

The Department recognises that maintained nursery schools are an important part of the early years sector and provide valuable services to disadvantaged children. In February 2019, we announced further supplementary funding for maintained nursery schools of £24 million to ensure that the 2019-20 academic year is fully funded.

The average hourly funding rate for 3- and 4-year-olds was £4.75 in both 2018-19 and 2019-20 (provisional). The average rate can be calculated from dedicated school grant tables which can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2018-to-2019.

and here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2019-to-2020.

The average rate can vary year on year as a result of the number of children taking up the funded hours. The average rate for 3- and 4-year-olds comprises the universal 15-hour entitlement and the additional 15-hour entitlement. It does not include the budget for early years pupil premium, disability access fund or supplementary funding.

In 2012-13, the Department announced £100 million of capital allocations for local authorities to support implementation of early years education for two-year olds from lower income families. Local authorities were responsible for distributing this capital investment and so the Department does not hold information on the number of places created by this funding.

The Department allocated £100 million over 2016-17 and 2017-18 to local authorities to support successful bids to the Early Years Capital Fund (EYCF). The Department regularly assesses the progress of these projects and will publish the outcomes in due course when all projects have completed. Information detailing the outcomes from the EYCF bidding round will be published at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/early-years-capital-fund-2017.

In July 2019, the Department announced the outcome of applications to the School Nurseries Capital Fund. This fund, of nearly £24 million for 69 projects, will help to create new high-quality school-based nursery places for 2, 3 and 4-year-olds. The profiling of this spend will depend on the progress of individual projects. The full list of successful projects for this fund can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-nurseries-capital-fund-list-of-application-outcomes.

The Department will publish the outcomes in due course when all projects have completed.