(9 months, 2 weeks ago)
Ministerial CorrectionsRead Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Robert Halfon
He talked about the budget, but he will know that 99.6% of the apprenticeship budget, which includes the levy that is set by the Treasury, was used over the past year.
[Official Report, Fifth Delegated Legislation Committee, 12 July 2023, Vol. 736, c. 7.]
Letter of correction from the Minister for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education, the right hon. Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon).
An error has been identified in my contribution. The correct information should have been:
Robert Halfon
He talked about the budget, but he will know that 99.6% of the apprenticeship budget, which is set by the Treasury, was spent in the 2021-22 financial year.
Skills and Apprenticeships: Funding
The following are extracts from Education questions on 17 July 2023.
Mr Toby Perkins (Chesterfield) (Lab)
New research from the House of Commons Library has shown that the amount of the apprenticeship levy paid by employers that has been allocated to the apprenticeship budget has fallen from 89% in 2017 to just 77% in the most recent year. The truthful answer to the question from the hon. Member for Stroud (Siobhan Baillie) is that the Secretary of State is doing nothing to reform the apprenticeship levy, as she believes it is working perfectly. Can the Minister confirm that any employer that, like the hon. Member for Stroud, wants greater flexibility in the levy should vote Labour in the next general election?
Gillian Keegan
There is nothing that would make me give such drastic advice. The truth about the apprenticeship levy is that 99.6% of it will be spent this year. We can look in the rear view mirror, and there are some reports going back over time that show some underspend in the levy, but they are back over time. We are now spending 99.6% of the levy. Perhaps what the hon. Gentleman has not appreciated is that some of the funding goes to the devolved Governments.
[Official Report, 17 July 2023, Vol. 736, c. 602.]
Letter of correction from the Secretary of State for Education:
An error has been identified in the response given to the hon. Member for Chesterfield (Mr Perkins).
The correct response should have been:
Gillian Keegan
There is nothing that would make me give such drastic advice. The truth about the apprenticeship budget is that 99.6% of it was spent in the 2021-22 financial year. We can look in the rear view mirror, and there are some reports going back over time that show some underspend in the levy, but they are back over time. We have spent 99.6% of the budget. Perhaps what the hon. Gentleman has not appreciated is that some of the funding goes to the devolved Administrations.
Reading Standards: Primary-age Children
Sally-Ann Hart (Hastings and Rye) (Con)
The Minister for Schools (Nick Gibb)
The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study was published in May this year. England had come fourth among 43 countries that tested children of the same age, nine and 10-year-olds. In 2012 we introduced the phonics screening check, testing six-year-olds for their progress in reading and phonics.
[Official Report, 17 July 2023, Vol. 736, c. 608.]
Letter of correction from the Minister for Schools:
An error has been identified in the response given to my hon. Friend the Member for Hastings and Rye (Sally-Ann Hart).
The correct response should have been:
Nick Gibb
The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study was published in May this year. England had come fourth among 43 countries that tested children of the same age, nine and 10-year-olds. In 2012 we introduced the phonics screening check, testing year 1 pupils for their progress in reading and phonics.
Topical Questions
Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD)
The chairs of the governing bodies of 19 primary and secondary schools across the London Boroughs of Richmond and Kingston upon Thames have today written to the Education Secretary, requesting an urgent meeting to discuss the crippling funding and recruitment challenges they face. Will she agree to meet them?
Nick Gibb
Of course the Secretary of State will agree, as she has just said to me. We are spending record amounts of funding on schools. The Secretary of State achieved an extra £2 billion in the autumn statement last year and we are now spending £59.6 billion on school funding.
[Official Report, 17 July 2023, Vol. 736, c. 620.]
Letter of correction from the Minister for Schools:
An error has been identified in the response given to the hon. Member for Twickenham (Munira Wilson).
The correct response should have been:
Nick Gibb
Of course the Secretary of State will agree, as she has just said to me. We are spending record amounts of funding on schools. The Secretary of State achieved an extra £2 billion in the autumn statement last year and by 2024-25, we will be spending £59.6 billion on school funding.