We are committed to ensuring that apprenticeships are as accessible as possible to all people from all backgrounds, including young people from Gypsy and Traveller communities. Apprenticeships give young people the chance to build a better future by taking their first step on the employment ladder and they give those already in work the opportunity to progress further. We are encouraging a wide range of people from all backgrounds into apprenticeships through our ‘Get In Go Far’ campaign which is aimed at 14-24 year-olds, their parents, teachers and employers. We are increasing numbers of traineeships to further support young people into apprenticeships and further work.

In the apprenticeship funding policy published in October, we announced extra payments for 16-18 year olds and 19-24 year olds formerly in care or with an Education, Health and Care Plan. Employers and providers will receive a payment of £1,000 to support additional costs associated with these apprentices.

We want to ensure we overcome barriers so all can access apprenticeships and support those from disadvantaged areas with over £60m of funding. Providers will receive an additional £600 for training an apprentice who lives in one of the top 10% of deprived areas (as per the Index of Multiple Deprivation), £300 for any apprentice who lives in the next 10% of deprived areas (the 11-20% range), and £200 for those in the next 7% (the 21-27% range). This will be in place for one year whilst we review our approach to supporting disadvantaged apprentices; ensuring apprenticeships provide equal opportunity to all, regardless of their circumstances.

The EPI report fails to recognise the fact that the government’s proposals are about creating more good school places for more parents in more parts of the country by giving them more choice. Our proposals to expand the number of good school places available to parents will help more young people, irrespective of their background, have the chance to go as far as their talents will take them.

Faith schools are among the highest performing schools in the country, with more primary and secondary faith schools judged good or outstanding than their non-faith counterparts[1]. Faith schools are popular with parents and the removal of the 50% faith cap will enable the establishment of even more good schools.

[1]Ofsted official statistics: Maintained schools and academies inspections and outcomes as at 31 March 2016 shows faith schools are more likely to be good or outstanding as compared to non-faith schools (89% as compared to 86% at primary; 81% as compared to 75% at secondary).

The School Performance Web Portal as alluded to in the Written Answer on 6 May 2014 (WA 346) has not yet been developed. The programme to develop it in the way envisaged at the time was discontinued in August 2014. It had become apparent that the programme was going to experience some delays to delivery and with a significant IT transformation programme taking place within the Department, and other changes across Government, it was clear that it was not the right time to progress with this work.

The Department for Education remains committed to the objective of improving access to performance data.

We are currently conducting small scale research with groups of parents, school leaders, governors and Department for Education officials. This is to ensure any future web presence for performance data meets both the priorities of the Department and the needs of users.

Local authorities have an important role to play in promoting better outcomes for Roma pupils. They are best placed to determine how to organise their local arrangements to support these pupils and should consider issues highlighted in the reports referred to by the noble Lady.

To support local authorities, the Department for Education funded two local authorities to trial a ‘virtual headteacher’ for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils, with responsibility for supporting schools to promote better outcomes for this group. The effective practice identified has been circulated to every local authority.

The Department will work with its Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Education Stakeholder Group, chaired by the noble Lady, to discuss ways for all the parties to encourage local action to improve provision and pupils’ outcomes.

Local authorities must draw up a care plan for the children they look after.

The plan sets out how their needs will be met, including how they will maintain family and social relationships (where this is consistent with their welfare) and develop their sense of racial and cultural identity. Further details are set out in the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010 and accompanying statutory guidance.[1]

[1] www.gov.uk/government/publications/children-act-1989-care-planning-placement-and-case-review

Two local authorities, Kent and Cambridgeshire, have been involved in piloting the role of a virtual head teacher who helped schools to engage with Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) pupils to improve their school attendance and attainment.

These local authorities are currently finalising their summaries of the projects. The Department for Education will work with these authorities and the GRT education stakeholder group, chaired by the noble Lady, to determine the most appropriate way to disseminate the outcomes of this work.

The draft Child Poverty Strategy document references measures currently under consideration to improve the attendance of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) pupils. Attendance levels for many of these pupils are unacceptably low. In 2012/13, the overall absence rate for Gypsy / Roma pupils (15.3%) was around three times the national rate for all pupils (5.3%) and for Traveller of Irish Heritage pupils, was around four times the national rate (21.4%). Poor attendance at school is a real barrier to improving attainment for this group of pupils and there is an urgent need for improvement. GRT families, stakeholder groups, schools and local authorities –

working in partnership – have an important role to play in fostering the highest expectations when it comes to attendance so that all GRT children can benefit from their full educational entitlement.

The Government is investing £2.5 billion in the pupil premium this year to improve the attainment of pupils from low-income families and so improve their future life chances. Most GRT pupils are benefiting from the pupil premium on the basis of their economic circumstances. In 2013, three quarters of Traveller of Irish Heritage and 60% of Gypsy / Roma pupils attracted pupil premium funding. There are no plans to change the pupil premium funding criteria.

The summer term meeting of the Department for Education’s reference group on GRT will provide an opportunity for further discussion on improving the attainment of GRT pupils.

The detail of the new accountability measures has yet to be fully developed. However, we expect to mirror current practice and to publish information on attainment and progress by ethnic group at national and local authority level rather than at school or college level.

A new web portal, which is under development, will improve access to 16-18 performance data including the core demographic information such as ethnicity which is currently available for primary and secondary schools.

The Government is providing £4 million, not £45 million as stated in the question, of funding over two years from spring 2013 to four anti-bullying organisations. They are: Beatbullying, The Diana Award, Kidscape and the National Children’s

Bureau. The funding is provided for the organisations to develop effective initiatives to prevent and tackle all forms of bullying, including racist bullying. Each of these organisations provides anti-bullying training to pupils and/or teachers in schools; and schools have the freedom to decide how best to use this training relative to their particular context. Schools where Gypsy, Traveller or Roma pupils have experienced bullying can use the training they receive alongside other anti-bullying initiatives that focus on, for instance, community cohesion and relationships across the school.

The Government published the revised statutory guidance on children missing education on 29 November 2013, which can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/children-missing-education.

The Government plans to publish the revised statutory guidance on children missing from education by the end of the year.

The Holocaust remains a compulsory part of the new national curriculum for history, which will be introduced from September 2014. It is for schools to decide exactly what they teach as part of this.

The Department funds the Institute of Education to provide continuing professional development for teachers in Holocaust education. This includes coverage of all major groups of victims of the Nazis, including the Roma people.

A summary of responses will be published on the Department's website, alongside the Government's response to the consultation, shortly.

The Government plans to publish the final statutory guidance on children missing from education in the autumn.

We are currently considering the responses to our consultation on educational outcomes for children of travelling families, of which there were almost 2,000. We will publish our response in due course.

The Education and Inspections Act 2006 requires all publicly funded schools to promote community cohesion. It is for the governing body to determine how best to fulfil this duty in the light of their local circumstances. Ofsted can identify any inappropriate practices that may undermine community cohesion, and it holds schools to account for the manner in which they handle behaviour and bullying.

We have consulted on whether to repeal Section 444(6) of the Education Act 1996, which provides a defence for travelling families in certain circumstances if their children are absent from school. This consultation has now closed and we are reviewing all the responses we have received, including those about distance learning.

In 2012, the Department for Communities and Local Government published a ministerial working group progress report on Gypsies and Travellers on tackling the inequalities they face around education, health, criminal justice, planning and access to benefits and financial services. Six of these were education commitments.

Three of the education commitments have been met. The virtual head teachers’ pilots and the exclusions trials are both in progress and are due to report in 2014 and 2015 respectively. The consultation on whether to repeal Section 444(6) of the Education Act 1996 ended on 22 February and the results are currently being analysed.

Information showing pupil absence

by ethnic group and attainment information for Gypsy-Roma and Traveller of Irish Heritage pupils is shown in the tables below.

Pupil absence data for the academic year 2011-12 will be published on 19 March at: http://www.education. gov.uk-researchandstatistics.

Information on the retention of Gypsy-Roma and Traveller of Irish Heritage pupils of compulsory school age is not currently available. Such information is, however, being produced in response to a recent request from the Advisory Council for the Education of Romany and other Travellers and will be placed in the House Libraries when complete.

Source: School Census

(1) Includes middle schools as deemed.

(2) Includes maintained secondary schools, city technology colleges and academies (including all-through academies).

(3) Includes maintained and non-maintained special schools. Excludes general hospital schools.

(4) Number of enrolments in schools from start of the school year up until 28 May 2010. Includes pupils on the school roll for at least one session who are aged between five and 15, excluding boarders. Some pupils may be counted more than once (if they moved schools during the school year or are registered in more than one school).

(5) The number of sessions missed due to authorised/unauthorised/overall absence expressed as a percentage of the total number of possible sessions.

(6) Pupils who have been classified according to their ethnic group, excluding White British.

(7) Includes pupil enrolments for whom information on ethnic group was unclassified or missing.

Totals may not appear to equal the sum of the component parts because numbers have been rounded to the nearest five.

Source: School Census⁽¹⁾ Includes middle schools as deemed.⁽²⁾ Includes primary academies.⁽³⁾ Includes city technology colleges and secondary academies.⁽⁴⁾ Includes maintained and non-maintained special schools. Excludes general hospital schools, independent special schools and independent schools approved for SEN pupils.⁽⁵⁾ Number of enrolments in schools from start of the school year up until 27 May 2011. Includes pupils on the school roll for at least one session who are aged between five and 15, excluding boarders. Some pupils may be counted more than once (if they moved schools during the school year or are registered in more than one school).⁽⁶⁾ The number of sessions missed due to authorised/unauthorised/overall absence expressed as a percentage of the total number of possible sessions.⁽⁷⁾ Pupils who have been classified according to their ethnic group, excluding White British.⁽⁸⁾ Includes pupil enrolments for whom information on ethnic group was unclassified or missing.

Totals may not appear to equal the sum of the component parts because numbers have been rounded to the nearest five.

Source: National Pupil Database (2009-10 to 2010-11) and Key Stage 4 attainment data (2011-12)¹ Number of pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 in each academic year.² Figures for 2009-10 and 2010-11 are based on final data; 2011-12 figures are based on revised data.³ From 2009-10 iGCSEs, accredited at time of publication, have been counted as GCSE equivalents and also as English and mathematics GCSEs.⁴ Includes attempts and achievements by these pupils in previous academic years.⁵ GCSEs only (including iGCSEs, short courses, double awards and vocational GCSEs) and AS levels.

. = Not applicable.

Source: National Pupil Database¹. Figures for 2008 to 2011 are based on final data; 2012 figures are based on revised data.². Percentage of pupils achieving Level 4 or above.³. Pupils are expected to progress by at least 2 levels between Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.

. = Not applicable.

Source: National Pupil Database¹ Figures for 2010 - 2011 are based on final data; 2012 figures are based on provisional data.²

Includes pupils achieving levels 1, 2 (including levels 2C, 2B and 2A), 3, 4, those who were working towards level 1, who were disapplied from the National Curriculum, who were significantly absent so that no TA could be made on that pupil or who were unable to access the assessment (relevant to science only). Pupils with missing, or invalid results are not included in the calculations.

. = Not applicable.

Source: National Pupil Database¹ Figures for all years are based on final data.² Only includes pupils with a valid result for every achievement scale.³ All English providers of state-funded early years education (including Academies and Free Schools), private, voluntary and independent (PVI) sectors are within the scope of the EYFSP data collection. Data for any children in the PVI sector no longer in receipt of funding who were included in the return submitted by the LA to DfE will not be included in the figures.⁴ A pupil who achieves 6 or more points in each of the 7 scales in the Personal, Social and Emotional development (PSE) and Communication, Language and Literacy areas of learning (CLL).⁵ A pupil achieving 6 or more points across the 7 Scales of PSE and CLL and who also achieves 78 or more points across all 13 scales is classed as having “a good level of development”.⁶ Percentage of pupils in this group who are classified as being in the lowest achieving 20%.

. = Not applicable.