Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how current higher education outcome metrics for creative subjects align with their plans to grow the creative industries as a priority sector as part of the Industrial Strategy 2025; and whether the Department for Education plans to review, in consultation with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, whether existing measurement methodologies adequately reflect the labour market structures and earnings patterns of the creative economy.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department works with Skills England to identify which occupations are the highest priority to the creative industries and which educational pathways lead to these occupations. These occupations cover many skill sets, such as IT, alongside those in creative subjects.
The Creative Industries Sector Plan is a 10-year plan to tackle barriers to growth and maximise opportunities across the sector, with the aim of making the UK the number one destination for creativity and innovation. It sets out how government is partnering with industry to build a skills landscape that meets business needs and ensures that our creative workforce is fit for the future. This includes policies such as short courses, funded through the Growth and Skills Levy, in areas such as digital and artificial intelligence.
The department has had discussions with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on ways of measuring the wider value of higher education subjects, including on matters of culture and heritage.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the suitability of early-career earnings as a measure of university course value in sectors characterised by self-employment, income volatility and delayed earnings growth, including the creative industries; and what consideration they have given to alternative indicators such as business formation rates, intellectual property generation or contribution to cultural exports as supplementary measures.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Outcomes from various data and at multiple points after graduation are considered by the department to understand graduate outcomes across different sectors. This includes 15 months after graduation in the Graduate Outcomes survey, and 3, 5 and 10 years after graduation in the Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) publication data. The Office for Students uses Graduate Outcomes survey data for their B3 condition of registration measures to help ensure course quality, but these B3 measures do not include graduate earnings.
The department also considers the wider potential benefits of higher education, when designing policy. These may include increased innovation and exports, contributions to cultural and heritage capital, potential intergenerational effects on children’s outcomes and potential associations with health or crime rates.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps are being taken to ensure that teachers receive training in safeguarding children.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
The initial teacher training (ITT) Criteria set out requirements for ITT courses leading to qualified teacher status. Course design must encompass all aspects of the Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework, including safeguarding duties; and accredited providers are required to ensure trainee teachers are aware of Keeping Children Safe in Education (KSCIE), guidance that schools and colleges must have regard to. KCSIE is clear that every school must have a designated safeguarding lead who takes lead responsibility for safeguarding and child protection. In line with KCSIE, all staff should undergo safeguarding and child protection training (including online safety) at induction. Additionally, all staff should receive regular safeguarding and child protection updates, including online safety (e.g., via email, e-bulletins, staff meetings) as required, and at least annually, to continue to provide them with relevant skills and knowledge to safeguard children effectively.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what employment and earnings data they hold for graduates in (1) fine art, (2) craft, (3) design, and (4) other creative industries, at (a) 15 months, (b) three years, (c) five years, and (d) 10 years, after graduation; and how that data are used in assessing the long-term economic contribution and student loan repayment profiles of those graduates.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department holds employment and earnings data for graduates across all industries in various datasets and at multiple points after graduation. This includes the Graduate Outcomes survey at 15 months after graduation, and the higher education (HE) Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) publication data at up to 10 years after graduation.
The LEO data will be used alongside Labour Force Survey data to estimate the longer-term economic contribution of graduates in this year’s upcoming update of the Institute for Fiscal Studies report on the impact of undergraduate degrees on lifetime earnings. LEO data is also used alongside the Student Loans Company and HMRC data to inform the department’s forecasts of student loan repayments, as detailed in the methodology accompanying to the department’s published student loan forecasts. The forecasts and methodology are available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/student-loan-forecasts-for-england/2024-25.
Asked by: Baroness Falkner of Margravine (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Department for Education has declined to lay before Parliament a draft statutory code submitted by an arm's-length body between January 2015 and December 2025, where that code has not been subject to litigation.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department has not declined to lay a draft statutory code submitted by an arm’s length body. The government is currently considering a submitted code and, if the decision is taken to approve it, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education will lay it before Parliament. Parliament will then have a 40-day period to consider the draft code.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the cost of Erasmus+ in each year between 2027 and 2032.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Negotiations with the European Commission on the UK’s association to Erasmus+ in 2027 have now concluded. We have secured significantly improved financial terms compared to default arrangements, ensuring a fairer balance between the UK’s contribution to the EU and the number of UK participants who receive funding. We negotiated a 30% discount, securing participation for 2027 at a cost of approximately £570 million, saving UK taxpayers around £240 million while securing the benefits of participation for young people in the UK and across the EU.
This commitment covers the 2027/28 academic year. Any participation in Erasmus+ into the next Multiannual Financial Framework from 2028-34 will need to be agreed in the future and be based on a fair and balanced contribution.
Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the average amount of extra charges paid by parents who claim 30 hours of free childcare; and what steps they are taking to enforce guidance that prevents providers from making mandatory charges a condition of accessing free hours of childcare.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
It is our ambition that all families have access to high-quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life and delivering on our Plan for Change.
As part of the childcare experience survey and the childcare and early years survey of parents, parents who claim 30 hours childcare are asked to indicate any additional charges they pay to their provider. The survey does not ask whether paying the fixed charges is conditional for taking up a place.
The department has recently updated statutory guidance for local authorities. This guidance reinforces that there must be no mandatory charges. The statutory guidance is clear that there must not be any mandatory charges for parents in relation to the free hours. We explain in the statutory guidance that while providers can charge for consumables, food and optional extra activities, as well as additional hours beyond the entitlements, that these must be voluntary for the parent. We furthermore provide a non-exhaustive list of items and services that providers cannot charge for.
Local authorities are empowered to ensure that providers follow this guidance through their provider agreements. How that will be enforced is a matter for the local authority to decide.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the standard time interval after graduation at which employment outcomes are measured for higher education leavers; whether that interval varies by subject area; and what assessment they have made of whether the 15-month Graduate Outcomes survey measurement point adequately captures career trajectories in subjects characterised by freelance, self-employed and portfolio working, including fine art, craft and design.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Higher education (HE) employment outcomes are measured at multiple points after graduation, including after 15 months in the Graduate Outcomes survey, and after 3, 5 and 10 years in the HE Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) publication data. Together these datasets provide evidence to inform policy. The HE LEO publication can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/leo-graduate-and-postgraduate-outcomes/2022-23.
The department recognises that employment trajectories differ by occupation and industry sector and takes the full range of data and evidence into account in its research and policy design.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Welsh Government about the continuation of the Taith programme in conjunction with the return of the UK to the Erasmus+ scheme.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Any decision on the continuation of the Taith programme following the UK’s association to Erasmus+ in 2027 rests with the Welsh Government.
Asked by: Lord Wei (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in regard to the Regulatory Policy Committee (RPC) opinion: Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill impact assessment, issued on 31 January 2025, when collective agreement for the relevant regulatory provisions was obtained; on what grounds the legislation was judged sufficiently urgent to proceed before the RPC had issued an opinion; and whether ministers were informed prior to Second Reading on 8 January 2025 that the RPC had not yet completed its scrutiny.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill is a key step towards delivering the government’s Opportunity Mission to break the link between young people’s background and their future success.
The Bill’s impact assessments were submitted to the Regulatory Policy Committee (RPC) on 5 November 2024, in accordance with the Better Regulation Framework. Collective agreement was provided for measures in the Bill by the Home and Economic Affairs Committee and Parliamentary Business and Legislation Committee in advance of the Bill’s introduction, as required.
The department published the Bill’s impact assessments on 30 January 2025, ahead of the RPC’s final opinion being published on 31 January 2025. The RPC gave the Bill’s impact assessments a green-rating, finding them fit for purpose. Ministers were kept updated throughout.