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Written Question
Universities: Wales
Monday 22nd June 2020

Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government when they will publish their modelling relating to controls on numbers of students domiciled in England attending Welsh universities; and whether such modelling recognised the risk of a disproportionate financial impact on Welsh universities as a result of such controls.

Answered by Baroness Berridge

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education and my hon. Friend, the Minister of State for Universities have regular meetings with Welsh ministers, and ministers from all the devolved administrations, about higher education issues. These discussions have included the development of student number controls policy. The department’s officials also have regular meetings and discussions with their counterparts.

Student number controls are a direct response to the COVID-19 outbreak. They are designed to minimise the impact to the financial threat posed by COVID-19 and they form a key part of the package of measures to stabilise the university admissions system.

These controls are a temporary measure and will be in place for one academic year only. Student number controls for institutions in the devolved administrations only apply to the number of English-domiciled entrants who will be supported with their tuition fees through the Student Loans Company. They are set at a level which will allow every institution to take more first year English students than they took last year. The funding of English-domiciled students is not a devolved matter and it is right and fair that this policy should apply as consistently as possible wherever they are studying in the UK.

Ministers will continue to work closely with the devolved administrations on strengthening and stabilising the higher education system following the COVID-19 outbreak.


Written Question
Health Professions: Training
Monday 16th March 2020

Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have received in relation to the proposal by the Office for Students to cut funding to universities providing pre-registration clinical training for physiotherapists and other student clinicians by 3 per cent.

Answered by Baroness Berridge

No representations have been made to Her Majesty’s Government in relation to the proposal by the Office for Students (OfS) to make savings to teaching grant funding, including for some pre-registration clinical courses.

The OfS consulted on their proposals, which include a proposal to make additional budget provision for providers in a small number of high-cost and high-priority areas, to reflect additional students on pre-registration courses in medicine, nursing, midwifery and allied health professions. Providers and other interested parties have therefore had an opportunity to make representations. The OfS will conclude the consultation in due course.


Written Question
Physiotherapy: Training
Monday 16th March 2020

Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of a reduction in university funding on the expansion of physiotherapy training.

Answered by Baroness Berridge

No representations have been made to Her Majesty’s Government in relation to the proposal by the Office for Students (OfS) to make savings to teaching grant funding, including for some pre-registration clinical courses.

The OfS consulted on their proposals, which include a proposal to make additional budget provision for providers in a small number of high-cost and high-priority areas, to reflect additional students on pre-registration courses in medicine, nursing, midwifery and allied health professions. Providers and other interested parties have therefore had an opportunity to make representations. The OfS will conclude the consultation in due course.


Written Question
Schools: Finance
Monday 25th March 2019

Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many requests to meet representative headteachers from the WorthLess? campaign have been declined by the Secretary of State for Education; and when such requests were refused.

Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education meets regularly with teachers, headteachers and representative groups to discuss education issues, including school funding. Regarding the specific group mentioned, I have met with them, as has my right hon. Friend, the Minister of state for School Standards. Senior officials continue to engage with this organisation through a working group.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State has been invited to meet with representative headteachers from this group twice since January 2018. These meetings were taken by myself and senior officials as part of ongoing engagement with this organisation through a working group.


Written Question
Schools: Finance
Monday 25th March 2019

Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans the Secretary of State for Education has to meet headteachers to discuss the WorthLess? campaign and those headteachers' concerns over cuts in educational funding and the impact of such cuts on schools’ ability to provide an appropriate educational experience for children of all abilities; if so, when; and if not, why not.

Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education meets regularly with teachers, headteachers and representative groups to discuss education issues, including school funding. Regarding the specific group mentioned, I have met with them, as has my right hon. Friend, the Minister of state for School Standards. Senior officials continue to engage with this organisation through a working group.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State has been invited to meet with representative headteachers from this group twice since January 2018. These meetings were taken by myself and senior officials as part of ongoing engagement with this organisation through a working group.


Written Question
Science: Primary Education
Tuesday 24th June 2014

Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many primary schools in England have (1) a science subject leader, and (2) a science subject leader who has a science degree.

Answered by Lord Nash

The information requested is not collected centrally.


Written Question
Chemistry: Teachers
Tuesday 24th June 2014

Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase the numbers of chemistry teachers with a subject-specialist background.

Answered by Lord Nash

The Government is committed to supporting schools in recruiting specialist teachers in chemistry. Specific support is provided for individuals interested in teaching chemistry through targeted marketing, personal advisors and securing school experience. We have significantly increased tax-free bursaries for chemistry trainee teachers from £9,000 in 2012/13 to up to £20,000 in 2014/15. In addition, we continue to work jointly with the Royal Society of Chemistry to offer scholarship awards of £25,000 in order to attract the most talented chemists into initial teacher training (ITT). We have surpassed our target for trainees entering chemistry teacher training in each of the last three years, recruiting 121% of the target in 2011/12, 108% in 2012/13, and 127% in 2013/14.

We are continuing to fund subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) courses, which are an important tool to ensure all chemistry trainees have specialist subject knowledge. Around a quarter of accepted places for chemistry ITT in 2014/15 are being supported by SKE.

The latest annual School Workforce Census (2013) shows that 19.6% of chemistry teachers who teach pupils from years 7 to 13 have no relevant post-A Level qualification, down from 24.3% in the 2012 census, demonstrating the impact of these incentives.

The Government also recognises the vital importance of subject-specific development for in-service teachers. We have made almost £7 million available to fund a network of Regional Science Learning Centres and we are funding teaching schools to develop and deliver a range of post-ITT SKE provision in specific subjects, including chemistry.


Written Question
Science: Primary Education
Tuesday 24th June 2014

Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase the numbers of primary school teachers with (1) a science degree, or (2) a science A-level, as their highest science qualification.

Answered by Lord Nash

The Government would like to see many more science graduates and candidates with a science A Level becoming teachers – both primary and secondary – to raise the quality of science teaching.

However, the responsibility for making recruitment decisions rightly rests with schools, including what specialist qualifications and experience they expect individual teachers to have. Through the new School Direct training route, we have given schools more control over the selection and training of the teachers they need for the future.