It is the responsibility of individual primary schools to ensure that teachers get appropriate continuing professional development in all relevant subjects, including mathematics. The Department for Education is committed to improving the mathematical ability of primary teachers and we have put in place a number of measures to support schools; in particular with implementing the new mathematics curriculum.

The National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM) is responsible for coordinating and quality assuring teacher professional development across all phases and works actively to support the underpinning mathematical knowledge of primary teachers. The NCETM will receive just under £2 million in funding between March 2015 and March 2016.

The department has established a network of 34 new Maths Hubs across England, backed by £11 million of funding. This initiative will enable every primary school in England to access locally tailored, quality support as well as leading on national projects to implement the Asian-style mastery approach to mathematics, which has achieved world-leading levels of success. Central to this is the China-England Mathematics Teacher Exchange Programme, which has so far seen 59 primary mathematics teachers from Shanghai spend three weeks working in primary schools alongside their English colleagues, planning lessons, and leading master classes and training sessions with other schools to allow local teachers to benefit directly from their expertise. The hubs are also leading a project to trial the use of Singapore-style textbooks at the core of a mastery teaching approach in selected primary schools.

For the first time in 2014-15, post-initial teacher training subject knowledge enhancement is available to primary teachers for mathematics. This is part of a school-led test and learn project with 45 Teaching School Alliances designing and delivering this training across the country to meet local need.

Supporting the teaching profession and reducing unnecessary workload which can lead to stress is an absolute priority for the Department for Education. Our response to the Workload Challenge[1] set out a comprehensive programme of action to be taken at every level in the school system, and the department will continue to do everything it can to relieve unnecessary burdens on teaching professionals.

School employers are responsible for the health of their workforce. It is vital that they have systems in place that identify and tackle the cause of stress in their staff and provide appropriate support for them. Headteachers also have a duty to promote the safety and wellbeing of staff and to lead and manage staff with a proper regard for their wellbeing. This includes the expectation of a healthy balance between work and other commitments outside the school.

[1] www.gov.uk/government/publications/workload-challenge-for-schools-government-response

The information requested is not collected centrally.

It is for school leaders to determine with their teachers what forms of professional development would be most effective in particular circumstances and to fund this from their delegated budgets. However, the government is continuing to improve the capacity of schools to take the lead in training and developing teachers, including teachers of STEM subjects in secondary schools. This includes supporting schools to lead on the creation of high-quality training opportunities for teachers through the national network of teaching schools. The department is providing funding of £7.2 million from April 2014 to support the National Science Learning Network which delivers high-quality science professional development locally through partnerships.

On 11 March 2015 the Prime Minister announced new measures to recruit more maths and physics teachers. This includes making £24 million available to train and upskill 15,000 existing non-specialist mathematics and physics teachers over the next 5 years. This will enable every secondary school in England to up-skill at least 1 of their staff in these subjects each year. The successful Maths and Physics Chairs programme is being expanded to recruit 100 experts with PhDs to teach and support the subject knowledge development of 2,000 physics and maths teachers in the school partnerships where they work. They are especially targeted in disadvantaged areas.

It has also been announced that the government is supporting the establishment of a new, independent professional body – the College of Teaching. This new organisation, which is being set up by teachers for teachers, will play an important part in promoting high professional standards and effective development for its members.

To publish now the names of schools which applied for but were not allocated funding would be unfair to the local authorities and schools which are affected by the announcement. Those organisations will be considering the next steps for resolving their situations; these might involve finding alternative capital funding sources or non-capital solutions. Publishing the details now could lead to unwelcome pressure from potential suppliers whilst they are considering their options. It is reasonable to assume that all authorities and schools will have decided on the approach they will be taking forward by July.

The new School Food Standards came into force in January 2015 ensuring schools provide heathy meals throughout the week. The Department for Education provides guidance on the standards[1] and funds the implementation support service, including a menu checker service helping schools to provide hot, healthy menu choices for all their pupils. The School Food Plan website also provides a range of support and advice on providing healthy food in schools.[2]

[1] www.gov.uk/school-meals-healthy-eating-standards

[2] http://whatworkswell.schoolfoodplan.com/

The Troops to Teachers participants are still undertaking their training. The first cohort of trainees began the two year programme in January 2014 and are due to complete their training in December 2015. The second cohort began in September 2015 and will complete their training in August 2016.

A total of nine trainees have withdrawn from the programme, from across both cohorts.

The original budget for the Property Data Survey Programme was £13 million, which was increased to £20 million following the extension of the programme to include 8,000 further surveys.

It had always been the intention to complete school surveys, over time, on the new consistent basis established by the Property Data Survey Programme; this simply brought forward the expenditure from future years’ spend. As a result we have benefited from a consistent database that has been used to allocate maintenance funding to get the best return from the government's investment in the school estate.

The first Troops to Teachers participants are still undertaking their training. The first cohort began training in January 2014, so all of the current trainees have served 14 months on the programme. The second cohort started training in September 2015, therefore current trainees have served 6 months on the programme.

The Priority School Building Programme 1 (PSBP1) is a centrally managed programme set up to address the needs of the schools most in need of urgent repair. Through the programme, 260 schools will be rebuilt or have their condition needs met by the Education Funding Agency.

Under the PSBP1 the Department for Education has now signed construction contracts for 102 schools: construction work has started at 100 schools; and construction work will start imminently at the other 2 schools.

20 schools have now opened in new buildings: at 3 of these schools construction work is complete and at the other 17 schools construction work is continuing to demolish the old dilapidated buildings.

In 2014-15 the Department for Education allocated over £650 million to local authorities and their schools in capital funding to be spent on improving the condition of their school buildings. This was in addition to the approximately £750 million in funding we allocated to academies, academy trusts and other schools outside of local authority control for this purpose in 2014-15. Local authorities, academy trusts and schools themselves are best placed to judge when asbestos needs to be removed, or other works are necessary to make it safe, and can use this funding to carry out that work as required.

The department has recently announced £4.2 billion in funding for responsible bodies to spend on improving the condition of their school buildings during 2015-18.

As Ofsted is responsible for the requested statistics, I have asked Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, to write to the Hon Member with the information requested. A copy of his reply will be placed in the House library.

As Ofsted is responsible for the requested statistics, I have asked Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, to write to the Hon Member with the information requested. A copy of his reply will be placed in the House library.

There are two cohorts of trainees on the Troops to Teachers programme. There are 8 female trainees in the first cohort and 12 in the second cohort. This is just under a quarter (24%) of the total participants across both cohorts.

No trainees have declared themselves as Black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME).

The information requested could only be produced at disproportionate cost.

The Department for Education currently has no plans to amend the School Admissions Code in this respect.

It is government policy that all school places must be allocated in accordance with each school's oversubscription criteria. Such criteria are determined following consultation with the local community and reflect local needs.

The Department for Education has communicated with schools and local authorities to remind them of the importance of working with parents to encourage those who meet the benefits-based free school meals (FSM) criteria to continue to register their entitlement. The department has made advice and guidance available to help them to do so, based on best practice and lessons learned in areas which have previously offered universal FSM whilst successfully maintaining their registration rates.

This includes the publication of a model registration form, based on forms developed by those areas, which schools can choose to us as part of their enrolment process to gather information from parents to enable them to undertake FSM eligibility checks.

We are looking closely at the data on registration for benefits-based FSM gathered through the January 2015 school census, and will take appropriate action if the census shows a significant drop in registration rates among infant-age pupils.

We are also exploring what opportunities exist for the more efficient identification of disadvantaged pupils, particularly in the context of Universal Credit being rolled out nationally.

I replied to the Rt Hon Member for Manchester, Gorton on 19 February. I have arranged for a copy to be resent to the Rt Hon Member’s office.

As Ofsted is responsible for the requested statistics, this is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw. A copy of his reply will be placed in the library of the House.