Written questions by Hinds.

What estimate she has made of the annual running costs of the proposed new body, Skills England.

Skills England will identify current and future skills gaps and put in place plans to address those gaps, bringing together central and local government, businesses, training providers and unions to meet the skills needs of the next decade across all regions.Skills England will be established in phases over the next 9 to 12 months to create a responsive and collaborative skills system. The Skills England Bill announced in the King’s Speech will transfer functions from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) to Skills England.Operational budgets for Skills England will be finalised over the set-up period. However, the department does not envisage an increase in running costs for transferring and delivering functions that are currently being undertaken by different organisations or teams.

What estimate she has made of the cost of (a) creating Skills England and (b) transferring responsibilities to that body from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education.

Skills England will identify current and future skills gaps and put in place plans to address those gaps, bringing together central and local government, businesses, training providers and unions to meet the skills needs of the next decade across all regions.Skills England will be established in phases over the next 9 to 12 months to create a responsive and collaborative skills system. The Skills England Bill announced in the King’s Speech will transfer functions from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) to Skills England.Operational budgets for Skills England will be finalised over the set-up period. However, the department does not envisage an increase in running costs for transferring and delivering functions that are currently being undertaken by different organisations or teams.

Whether children who have an Education, Health and Care plan will be exempt from VAT on school fees.

The Government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity, ensuring every child has access to high-quality education, which is why we have made the tough decision to end tax breaks for private schools. This will raise revenue for essential public services, including investing in the state education system. Where pupils are placed in a private school because their needs cannot be met in the state sector, and they have their places funded by their Local Authority (in England, Scotland and Wales) or the Northern Ireland Education Authority, the Local Authority or Northern Ireland Education Authority will be able to reclaim the VAT they incur on these pupils’ fees.Where a placement at a specific private school is necessary to meet the pupil’s needs in England, that school will be named in the pupil’s Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).

Whether the targeted increase of 6,500 more teachers recruited to teach key subjects means a net increase in the full-time equivalent number of teachers teaching those subjects, in post in secondary schools; what the subjects are; what her planned timescale is for reaching that target; and whether she has a target for other subjects over the same period.

The department knows that high quality teaching is the factor that makes the biggest difference to a child’s education, which is why this government will recruit 6,500 new expert teachers. The department is developing its approach and putting plans in place to achieve this, which will be shared publicly in due course. These measures will include getting more teachers into shortage subjects, supporting areas that face recruitment challenges and tackling retention issues. The way bursaries are allocated, and the structure of retention payments, will also be reviewed. The department has taken a key step towards delivering an additional 6,500 teachers by accepting the School Teachers’ Review Body recommendation of a 5.5% award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools in England from September. This is a substantial award that recognises hard-working school teachers and leaders, and demonstrates this government’s commitment to the teaching profession. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has already addressed over 14,000 people from the workforce, is expanding the teacher recruitment campaign ‘Every Lesson Shapes a Life’, and has committed to working alongside the sector to re-establish teaching as an attractive profession and as one that existing teachers want to remain in, former teachers want to return to and new graduates wish to join.

What her planned timetable is for reviewing the way bursaries are allocated and the structure of retention payments.

The department reviews bursaries each year before deciding the offer for trainees starting Initial Teacher Training (ITT) the following academic year. In doing this, the department takes account of a number of factors, including historic recruitment, forecast economic conditions, and teacher supply need in each subject. The government is committed to delivering 6,500 new expert teachers. To deliver this commitment, the department will review the way bursaries are allocated and the structure of retention payments. The department will announce its recruitment and retention incentive offer for 2025/26 in due course.

How many and what proportion of pupils at (a) primary, (b) secondary pre-16 and (c) post-16 independent schools (i) have an Education Health and Care plan and have their school fees paid for in full by their local authority, (ii) have an Education Health and Care plan and do not have their school fees paid for in full by their local authority and (iii) have special educational needs but do not have an Education Health and Care plan, broken down by local authority.

Where a local authority names an independent school on a child or young person’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan, the local authority must secure a place and must pay fees where applicable. However, if a child’s parents wish to make a private fee-paying placement which has not been named following the EHC assessment process, the local authority may be relieved of its duty to secure the special educational provision, if it is satisfied that the parents have made ‘suitable alternative arrangements’. The department publishes statistics on EHC plans, including the establishment children and young people attend. These can be accessed at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans. As at January 2024, local authorities named an independent special school for 25,620 EHC plans and an independent mainstream school for 6,768 EHC plans. Local authorities maintained 916 EHC plans where parents had made alternative arrangements, which includes where parents have chosen to arrange and pay for an independent school placement. Numbers and percentages by local authority are available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/67bb4b0f-de93-4558-b7f4-08dcab23a860. This information is provided at individual level by local authorities in the SEN2 collection. Phase of independent schools data is not collected. Therefore, the age group of the child and young person has been provided as a proxy in the attached table. However, please note that this does not necessarily translate to state-funded sector primary, secondary and post-16 schools. The department also publishes statistics on special educational needs (SEN) provision for children in schools. More information can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england. This publication includes children in independent schools recorded as having special educational needs who do not have an EHC plan, and is available at local authority level here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/de7807ad-ea91-4e25-b8aa-08dcab23db45. This information is provided by independent schools in the School Level Annual School Census and does not include school phase or an age breakdown of SEN.

Whether her Department has received representations on the impact on the workloads of (a) teachers and (b) school leaders of significant changes to the curriculum.

The views of experts, parents, teachers and leaders will be pivotal to the expert-led Review of Curriculum and Assessment announced on 19 July, and a call for evidence will be launched in September. The review will also take written evidence from key stakeholders and undertake a national roadshow, meeting and taking input from staff on the frontline. The department recognises the pressure that staff in schools and colleges have been under and is enormously grateful to them for their efforts, resilience and service in educating children and young people. In recognition of this pressure, the review will seek evolution not revolution. It will be aware of the trade-offs required to deliver high and rising standards alongside greater breadth, and in particular to any recommendations that would impact on workload. The review will seek to identify and focus on the most significant and pressing issues facing curriculum and assessment, without destabilising the system.

What her most recent estimate is of the number of pupils on roll in independent schools of a religious character of the (a) Anglican, (b) Roman Catholic, (c) other Christian, (d) Jewish, (e) Muslim, (f) Hindu, (g) Sikh and (h) other faiths in each local authority; and how many of each of those types of school there are.

The department publishes statistics on pupils and schools in England, which is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics. The number of independent schools and pupils registered at them as at January 2024, by religious character and local authority, is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/3d6557c3-5279-4652-b88d-08dcab23db45. ‘No data’ indicates that the local authority has no independent schools associated with that faith.

How the Curriculum and Assessment Review panel chaired by Professor Becky Francis will be constituted.

The Curriculum and Assessment Review will be independently led by a group of education experts (the Review Group). My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has appointed Professor Becky Francis CBE as the Chair of the Review who will convene the Review Group in consultation with the Secretary of State. An announcement about the membership of the group will be made in due course. The Review Group will work in line with the Working Principles, as laid out in the ‘Review Aims, Terms of Reference and Working Principles’, which can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6699698f49b9c0597fdb0010/Curriculum_and_assessment_review_-_aims_terms_of_reference_and_working_principles.pdf.

If she will make an estimate of the (a) (i) capacity of and (ii) number of pupils up to the end of Key Stage 4 enrolled in state-funded schools and (b) number of pupils up to the end of Key Stage 4 enrolled in independent schools, broken down by (A) local authority and (B) Key Stage in the latest period for which data is available.

The capacity of state-funded schools as at May 2023 is published in the annual school capacity official statistics publication and is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-capacity. The data is available at local authority level and by phase (primary and secondary). Pupil numbers up to age 16 are published in the ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ official statistics publication and are available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics. The data is available by local authority, age and school type. Please note that statistics from the school census are on the base of age, rather than key stage.

If she will make an estimate of the (a) (i) capacity of and (ii) number of students aged 16-19 enrolled in state-funded (A) sixth forms and (B) colleges and (b) number of students aged 16-19 enrolled in independent schools, broken down by local authority in the latest period for which data is available.

The capacity of state-funded school sixth forms and the number of students on roll in these sixth forms, as at May 2023, is published in the annual school capacity official statistics publication, which is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-capacity and https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/fast-track/cfb70ec9-6e0a-4405-befa-08dc3901786a. Information on the number of students aged 16-19 enrolled in independent schools, broken down by local authority, is published in the June ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ report. This can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/9b2df1d1-0559-463c-531c-08dca71310d3 Information on further education colleges and sixth form colleges is not available in the format requested.