Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much they contribute per annum to support the Mandarin Excellence Programme.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The annual funding of the existing Mandarin Excellence Programme committed by the department since the launch in 2016 is set out in the table below:
Financial year | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | Total |
Funding | 0.93 | 1.47 | 2.63 | 1.35 | 2.97 | 9.35 |
The programme is led by the Institute of Education, University College London. It initially started with 14 schools and has now grown to 75 schools with over 6,300 pupils, and the increased funding over the period reflects this. The next phase of the programme and funding is due to be announced shortly and will start from September this year.
The funding of the Modern Foreign Language (MFL) Pedagogy Pilot Hubs by contract period, committed by the department, is set out in the table below:
Contract period | Dec 2018 | Dec 2020 | Dec 2021 | Total |
Funding | 2.17 | 1.45 | 1.17 | 4.79 |
The MFL Pedagogy Pilot is managed by the National Centre for Excellence for Languages Pedagogy (NCELP) and was launched in December 2018. In addition to the support provided to the 45 schools in the pilot programme, NCELP has also so far developed Key Stage 3 schemes of work, lesson plans and accompanying resources for French, German and Spanish, which are available free of charge through its resource portal for all teachers.
In the 4th year of the programme, NCELP will deliver free professional development courses on MFL curriculum design and pedagogy to over 1,350 teachers nationally and develop fully resourced schemes of work for Key Stage 4 that will align with the new GCSE in French, German and Spanish.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the cost per annum of restoring the Language Teacher Training Scholarships.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The Department reviews the bursaries and scholarships offered for initial teacher training (ITT) before the start of each annual recruitment cycle. Factors such as historic recruitment, forecast economic conditions, and teacher supply need are considered. Being able to change the financial incentives offered for ITT provides flexibility in responding to the need to attract new teachers and ensures money is spent where it is needed most.
The financial incentives for trainee teachers starting ITT in the academic year 2022/23 will be announced this autumn. In advance of this, the Department will consider the need and potential impact of incentives for Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) alongside the offer for all other subjects.
It is not possible to say what the cost of increasing the MFL bursary or restoring the MFL scholarship would be in future, as this is dependent on the number of eligible trainee teachers that are recruited. The Department publishes ITT census data each year showing the numbers of trainee teachers recruited, from which we can estimate the cost per annum. The published 2019/20 ITT census data shows approximately 1,145 MFL trainees were eligible for either a £26,000 bursary or £28,000 scholarship[1][2][3].
[1] Includes postgraduate MFL trainees with 1st, 2:1 and 2:2 degree classes only from the following routes only: Higher Education Institution, School Centred ITT and School Direct (fee-funded). Total excludes trainees whose degree classes are unknown.
[2] It is possible that some of these trainees may have been ineligible for a bursary or scholarship because they were in fact awarded a degree classification lower than a 2:2.
[3] A small minority of these trainees will also have been ineligible for a bursary or scholarship because they were ineligible for student finance.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the cost of restoring the Modern Foreign Languages bursary to its pre-2020/21 level of £26,000 per student.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The Department reviews the bursaries and scholarships offered for initial teacher training (ITT) before the start of each annual recruitment cycle. Factors such as historic recruitment, forecast economic conditions, and teacher supply need are considered. Being able to change the financial incentives offered for ITT provides flexibility in responding to the need to attract new teachers and ensures money is spent where it is needed most.
The financial incentives for trainee teachers starting ITT in the academic year 2022/23 will be announced this autumn. In advance of this, the Department will consider the need and potential impact of incentives for Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) alongside the offer for all other subjects.
It is not possible to say what the cost of increasing the MFL bursary or restoring the MFL scholarship would be in future, as this is dependent on the number of eligible trainee teachers that are recruited. The Department publishes ITT census data each year showing the numbers of trainee teachers recruited, from which we can estimate the cost per annum. The published 2019/20 ITT census data shows approximately 1,145 MFL trainees were eligible for either a £26,000 bursary or £28,000 scholarship[1][2][3].
[1] Includes postgraduate MFL trainees with 1st, 2:1 and 2:2 degree classes only from the following routes only: Higher Education Institution, School Centred ITT and School Direct (fee-funded). Total excludes trainees whose degree classes are unknown.
[2] It is possible that some of these trainees may have been ineligible for a bursary or scholarship because they were in fact awarded a degree classification lower than a 2:2.
[3] A small minority of these trainees will also have been ineligible for a bursary or scholarship because they were ineligible for student finance.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the cost in each of the five years leading up to the UK's departure from the EU of the UK’s participation in the Erasmus and Erasmus+ programmes.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
While the UK was a member state of the EU, we did not make seperate contributions to individual EU programmes such as Erasmus+, but instead made an overall contribution to the EU budget which was then used to fund those programmes. It is therefore not possible to calculate a figure for the UK government’s direct contributions to Erasmus+.
However, an indicative UK contribution figure can be obtained by taking the total Erasmus+ payments made in each year and applying to it the UK’s funding share of the overall EU budget in that year.
Table 1 gives an indicative estimate of the UK’s Erasmus+ contributions between 2015 and 2019. The UK contributions estimate taken from table 1 in the attachment is included below.
Under Erasmus+, the UK already contributed significantly more than we got out in the form of receipts, and the only terms of offer for continued participation would have required an annual gross contribution of £600 million, or a net contribution in the region of £2 billion over the course of the programme.
The Turing Scheme goes further than Erasmus+ by being truly global. It also goes further in enabling more disadvantaged students to benefit from the opportunities of studying abroad, including by providing extra funding for disadvantaged students, and paying for extra costs for them, including travel costs.
Table 1: UK Indicative Erasmus+ contributions in millions of pounds
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
UK Indicative Erasmus+ contributions in millions of pounds | 209 | 201 | 224 | 241 | 296 |
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the cost per annum of the Advanced Maths Premium scheme.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The Advanced Maths Premium was first paid in the 2019-20 academic year, when we allocated £10,630,200 to providers of 16-19 education. In the 2020-21 academic year, we allocated £14,059,800 of funding through the Advanced Maths Premium.
This information is available from 16-19 published allocations data at the following links: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-allocation-data-2020-to-2021-academic-year and https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-allocation-data-2019-to-2020-academic-year. This information can be calculated by totalling the allocations to individual providers in the Advanced Maths Premium column.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect to publish their response to the consultation on proposed reforms to GCSE examinations in French, Spanish and German.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
Officials continue to analyse the responses to the consultation and, whilst we have not yet specified a date for publication, it is expected that the government’s response will be published shortly after this year’s school summer holiday.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the effectiveness, and (2) the impact of, Modern Foreign Language Hubs; and if no such assessment has been made, (a) whether they plan to conduct such an assessment, and (b) if so, when.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The National Centre for Excellence for Language Pedagogy (NCELP) programme was established with its main aims being to provide support to secondary schools to improve languages teaching at Key Stages 3 and 4, and to align modern foreign language (MFL) teaching with the recommendations of the Teaching Schools Council’s 2016 MFL Pedagogy Review. This was done so that in pilot schools more pupils will take up GCSEs in MFLs, and schools are enabled to achieve sustainable numbers and group sizes. Key performance indicators (KPIs) were agreed between NCELP and the department which link to these objectives.
As a consequence of school closures over the last year, and NCELP diverting much of its resource to assist the Oak National Academy by developing and recording Key Stage 3 lessons in French, German and Spanish, we have deferred our assessment of performance against KPIs until after December 2021. However, the information gathered to date shows that:
In the meantime, NCELP is on course to have completed work developing online resources for teaching and testing in French, German and Spanish in Key Stage 3 by December 2021, which are available free of charge for all MFL teachers at: https://resources.ncelp.org.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the support for the teaching and learning of German in British universities of the German Academic Exchange Service programmes for (1) the German lektor scheme and (2) the German Language Assistant scheme.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
English universities are independent, autonomous institutions and are therefore free to choose which courses they run. Quality is assessed by the Office for Students, the regulator of higher education providers in England. Whilst the government firmly supports the teaching of German and other modern foreign languages in English universities, the government plays no role in the delivery of these specific schemes.
In terms of immigration arrangements, the government has been clear that all EU, EEA, and Swiss citizens must be resident in the UK by 31 December 2020 to be eligible for settled or pre-settled status in the UK under the EU Settlement Scheme. All EU, EEA, and Swiss nationals arriving in the UK from 1 January 2021 will be required to apply for a visa under the new points-based immigration system. People wanting to come into the UK to work from 1 January 2021 will be awarded points for a job offer at the appropriate skill level if they speak English, and if they meet the appropriate salary threshold.
The points-based immigration system is a global system which treats EU and non-EU citizens equally, prioritising individuals’ skills and talent over where a person happens to come from. The UK’s Points Based Immigration System has been designed with huge consideration given to businesses and employers, including the UK higher education sector, which has been consulted by the government throughout.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to make an exemption for (1) German lektors and (2) German language assistants participating in the German Academic Exchange Service programmes, from the standard skilled worker visa regulations in respect of the salary threshold.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
English universities are independent, autonomous institutions and are therefore free to choose which courses they run. Quality is assessed by the Office for Students, the regulator of higher education providers in England. Whilst the government firmly supports the teaching of German and other modern foreign languages in English universities, the government plays no role in the delivery of these specific schemes.
In terms of immigration arrangements, the government has been clear that all EU, EEA, and Swiss citizens must be resident in the UK by 31 December 2020 to be eligible for settled or pre-settled status in the UK under the EU Settlement Scheme. All EU, EEA, and Swiss nationals arriving in the UK from 1 January 2021 will be required to apply for a visa under the new points-based immigration system. People wanting to come into the UK to work from 1 January 2021 will be awarded points for a job offer at the appropriate skill level if they speak English, and if they meet the appropriate salary threshold.
The points-based immigration system is a global system which treats EU and non-EU citizens equally, prioritising individuals’ skills and talent over where a person happens to come from. The UK’s Points Based Immigration System has been designed with huge consideration given to businesses and employers, including the UK higher education sector, which has been consulted by the government throughout.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, in addition to university student placements, any domestic alternative to Erasmus+ would cover (1) school exchanges for pupils and teachers, (2) technical education and workplace training, (3) work shadowing and youth work, (4) sports, (5) older people, (6) disadvantaged areas, (7) arts projects, and (8) people with disabilities, in line with the current Erasmus+ programme.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Participation in Erasmus+ is subject to our ongoing negotiations with the EU.
In parallel with the negotiations, we are continuing to develop a UK-wide domestic alternative to Erasmus+ as a contingency measure. The Spending Review 2020 committed funding to prepare for a UK-wide domestic alternative, in the event that the UK no longer participates in Erasmus+, to fund outward global education mobility schemes. The government will set out further details on this potential scheme in due course.
As part of our ongoing preparations towards this potential scheme, we have looked at comparable schemes across the globe, including the Swiss European Mobility Scheme. The Department for Education is in regular contact with the Swiss government to discuss education-related matters, maintaining an open dialogue and holding discussions to share insights and best practice, including on the Swiss exchange scheme.
Youth and sport are the responsibility of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and it has been considering the provision of a domestic alternative scheme for the youth elements of Erasmus+ as part of the recent Spending Review. Funding was not, however, allocated to a domestic alternative to the youth element of Erasmus+ at the Spending Review.
Erasmus+ Sport is a very small part of the programme, representing only 1.8% of the overall budget. We are already investing significant sums of money in sport programmes which align with Erasmus+ Sport themes and objectives, and do not consider that there is a need to create a specific domestic alternative programme to replace Erasmus+ Sport activities. For example, through Sport England, we are investing more than £1.2 billion from the 2016 financial year to the 2021 financial year on grassroots sport and physical activity programmes.