Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to reduce fees for (1) university students whose courses will be predominantly online, and (2) former university students whose courses were moved online, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The unprecedented and unique nature of the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated changes to the way higher education (HE) providers delivered their teaching. However, online learning should only be offered to enhance the student experience, not to detract from it, and it should not be used as a cost-cutting measure.
The department has written to all English HE providers, making clear that we expect them to offer a high-quality face-to-face student experience. This year, my right hon. Friend, the Minister for Higher and Further Education, has spoken with leaders of a number of universities regarding concerns about their face-to-face teaching provision, to ensure they are offering students the amount of in-person teaching they expect.
As autonomous institutions, it is for HE providers to determine their own provision, including their learning approach, taking account of any government guidance. HE providers have delivered new and innovative approaches to teaching and learning. Some providers continue to use some of these approaches alongside in-person provision. However, online learning should only be offered to enhance the student experience, not to detract from it, and it should not be used as a cost-cutting measure.
The Office for Students is clear that all HE providers must comply with registration conditions relating to quality and standards regardless of whether a provider is delivering its courses through in-person teaching, remote online learning, or a combination of both. It will act where this is not the case, and may impose sanctions if there has been a breach of registration conditions.
If students and former students have concerns about the delivery of their university courses, they should first follow their university’s internal complaints procedure. If their concerns remain unresolved, students in England and Wales can ask the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education to consider their complaint. Recommendations can include practical remedies as well as financial compensation, where that is deemed appropriate.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Baroness Barran on 18 January (HL5056 and HL5057), what steps they take to ensure that radical Islamism is not being taught in madrassas in the UK; whether they have any evidence that radical Islamism is being taught in those settings; and if so, what further steps they intend to take.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The government is committed to ensuring all children are safe, wherever they are educated, including safe from extremism and radicalisation. The department is actively working with the education sector, national partners, and local partners to safeguard children and young people from these risks. In addition to the work that we do with schools and colleges to ensure our children and young people are resilient to extremist ideology, we jointly fund with the Home Office a network of experts who provide frontline support to education providers
We have also established an online form to allow concerns regarding extremism within the education sector to be reported directly to the department, to complement our existing counter extremism helpline, and we encourage anyone with a concern to use this service.
As mentioned in my answer of 18 January, in instances where the department becomes aware of a provider where extremist activity might be taking place, we will also work closely with relevant agencies, such as the local authority, Ofsted and the police to act. In those rare cases, such as the case of Umar Haque in 2018, which saw the attempted radicalisation of several children in a London Madrassa through devious and sophisticated grooming techniques, we have worked closely with safeguarding partners to intervene and safeguard the children, and to act against the perpetrators. In the case of Umar Haque, we saw multi-agency action result in the conviction of him and his associates under the Terrorism Act 2006.
However, while there are many legal powers in place to protect children in out-of-school providers including madrassas, which have been proven to be effective, we have not ruled out further action.
As outlined in my previous answer, the department has been taking forward a package of activity aimed at further enhancing safeguarding in this sector. This includes the provision of over £3 million of targeted funding to pilot ways in which we can boost local capacity further to identify and intervene in out-of-school providers of concern, and testing the utility of existing powers held across multiple agencies, such as local authorities, the police and Ofsted, to safeguard children attending these providers.
These pilots were taken forward with the intention of building our evidence base to inform our national next steps for supporting safeguarding in the sector, including the need for any legislation. This work concluded at the end of last year, and we are currently evaluating the outcome of these pilots. We will set out our next steps to this work in due course.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Answer by Baroness Barran on 15 December (HL Deb, col 297), what plans they have to encourage Ofsted to inspect all madrassas in England, regardless of whether they provide teaching for fewer than 18 hours per week.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The department does not hold a register of madrassas and has not made an estimate of the number of madrassas or the number of children attending them.
Madrassas are generally considered to be out-of-school settings, which are not captured by a single dedicated regulatory framework, and are not subject to inspections by Ofsted or the department.
Local authorities are, however, legally responsible for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children in their areas, including when attending out-of-school settings. To support local authorities with their existing safeguarding duties, the department has been taking forward a package of measures to enhance safeguarding in out-of-school settings, safeguarding children from all forms of harm, including extremism and terrorism.
This package of activity has included over £3 million of targeted funding to selected local authorities to examine ways to boost local capacity to identify and intervene in out-of-school settings of concern, and to test the utility of existing powers and engagement approaches for undertaking safeguarding activity in these settings. The final phase of this work concluded end of December last year, and we are currently considering the next steps for this work.
In addition, the department has also published a voluntary safeguarding code of practice to support providers, such as madrassas, to understand what they need to do to run a setting safely, and accompanying guidance for parents and carers to help them make more informed choices, including the red flags to look out for and what steps to take where they might have concerns. This is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/keeping-children-safe-in-out-of-school-settings.
If the department became aware of a setting where extremist activity was taking place or where children were at risk of harm, we would work closely with relevant agencies, such as the local authority, Ofsted and the police, to take action.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Answer by Baroness Barran on 15 December (HL Deb col 297), what estimate they have made of (1) the number of madrassas in England, and (2) the number of children that attend them; whether they have made an assessment of whether radical Islamist views are being taught in those madrassas; and if so, what were the conclusions of that assessment.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The department does not hold a register of madrassas and has not made an estimate of the number of madrassas or the number of children attending them.
Madrassas are generally considered to be out-of-school settings, which are not captured by a single dedicated regulatory framework, and are not subject to inspections by Ofsted or the department.
Local authorities are, however, legally responsible for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children in their areas, including when attending out-of-school settings. To support local authorities with their existing safeguarding duties, the department has been taking forward a package of measures to enhance safeguarding in out-of-school settings, safeguarding children from all forms of harm, including extremism and terrorism.
This package of activity has included over £3 million of targeted funding to selected local authorities to examine ways to boost local capacity to identify and intervene in out-of-school settings of concern, and to test the utility of existing powers and engagement approaches for undertaking safeguarding activity in these settings. The final phase of this work concluded end of December last year, and we are currently considering the next steps for this work.
In addition, the department has also published a voluntary safeguarding code of practice to support providers, such as madrassas, to understand what they need to do to run a setting safely, and accompanying guidance for parents and carers to help them make more informed choices, including the red flags to look out for and what steps to take where they might have concerns. This is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/keeping-children-safe-in-out-of-school-settings.
If the department became aware of a setting where extremist activity was taking place or where children were at risk of harm, we would work closely with relevant agencies, such as the local authority, Ofsted and the police, to take action.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, subject to a parental right to withdraw children from particular lessons, to require depictions of the Prophet Mohammed to be shown to pupils and discussed as part of Religious Studies in the school curriculum; and if they have no such plans, why not.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The department does not specify what a religious education (RE) curriculum should consist of, or how lessons on particular religions or non-religious beliefs should be taught. This is a matter for the school and the local authority’s Agreed Syllabus Conference, depending on whether a school is maintained or an academy, and whether the school has a religious designation or not. The details of these arrangements can be found in department guidance found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/religious-education-guidance-in-english-schools-non-statutory-guidance-2010 and https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/re-and-collective-worship-in-academies-and-free-schools.
There are therefore no plans for the department to require the depictions of the Prophet Mohammed to be shown to pupils and discussed as part of RE.
Schools are free to include a full range of issues, ideas, and materials in their curriculum, including where they are challenging or controversial, subject to their obligations to ensure political balance. They must balance this with the need to promote respect and tolerance between people of different faiths and beliefs, including in deciding which materials to use in the classroom.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment have they made as to when the Batley Grammar School teacher who has been receiving threats to his life will be able to return to normal (1) teaching duties, and (2) family life.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The department has continued to work closely with Batley Multi Academy Trust, the local authority and the Police to ensure that the trust is fully supported in implementing any necessary safety measures for the individual staff member.
The department does not hold specific information on individual staff members, as this is deemed personal information and is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Agnew of Oulton on 4 February 2020 (HL646) and 13 February 2020 (HL1377 and HL1414) and by Baroness Berridge on 12 March 2020 (HL2002), and in pursuit of their anti-terrorism policies, what plans they have, if any, to allow Ofsted to inspect madrassas in the UK which provide teaching for fewer than 18 hours per week.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
As indicated in my answer to Question HL2002 on 12 March 2020, madrassas are generally considered to be out-of-school settings, which are not captured by a single dedicated regulatory framework, and therefore are not subject to inspections by Ofsted or the department.
However, as explained previously, the department is taking forward a package of measures to enhance safeguarding in out-of-school settings, safeguarding children from all forms of harm, including extremism and terrorism.
The main phase of this work concluded in March 2020. We are currently considering how the outputs can be used to help inform best practice on how existing legal powers, held by local authorities, the police, Ofsted and other departments and agencies, can best be used to address safeguarding and welfare concerns. We are also looking into what more we might need to do at a national level.
In addition to this, we have also published a voluntary code of practice for out-of-school setting providers, such as madrassas, to support them in understanding what they need to do to run a safe setting. This is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/keeping-children-safe-in-out-of-school-settings. Accompanying guidance for parents and carers is also available to help them make more informed choices when considering out-of-school settings for their children, including the red flags to look out for and what steps to take where they might have concerns.
As indicated in my previous answer, if the department became aware of a setting where children were at risk of harm, we would work closely with relevant agencies, such as the local authority, Ofsted or the police to take action.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Baroness Berridge on 4 June (HL4788, HL4789 and HL4790), whether parents will have the right to withdraw primary school children from all sex education from September; and if so, how they may do so.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The department is committed to supporting schools to deliver high quality teaching of Relationships Education in primary, Relationships and Sex Education in secondary, and Health Education in all state-funded schools.
In light of the circumstances caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, and following engagement with the sector, the department is reassuring schools that although the subjects will still be compulsory from 1 September 2020, schools have flexibility over how they discharge their duty within the first year of compulsory teaching. For further information, I refer the noble Lord to the answer given on 10 June 2020 to Question 55660.
The statutory guidance states that although Relationships Education for all primary-age pupils is compulsory, sex education is not compulsory in primary schools (excluding compulsory content covered in the science curriculum). It is for primary schools to determine whether they need to cover any additional content on sex education to meet the needs of their pupils.
If a primary school chooses to teach sex education, they will be required to publish a policy on this and allow parents the right to withdraw their child. If a parent wishes to withdraw their child from sex education, this request must be complied with by the headteacher. The statutory guidance, which was published in June 2019, can be accessed via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether schools have a duty to respect the wishes of parents who want to raise their children in accordance with their own religious and philosophical convictions.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
We are making Relationships Education compulsory for primary school-aged pupils, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) compulsory for secondary school-aged pupils and Health Education compulsory for pupils in all state-funded schools, from September 2020.
These subjects are designed to give pupils the knowledge they need to lead happy, safe and healthy lives and to foster respect for other people and for difference. Through these subjects, children will be taught about the importance of respectful relationships and the different types of relationships that exist. This can be done in a way that respects everyone’s views.
The statutory guidance states that all pupils should receive teaching on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) relationships during their school years, and that secondary schools should include LGBT content in their teaching. Primary schools are encouraged and enabled, when teaching about different types of family, to include families with same sex parents.
In all schools, the religious background of all pupils must be taken into account when planning teaching, so that topics included in the statutory guidance are handled appropriately. Schools must ensure they comply with the relevant provisions of the Equality Act 2010. The statutory guidance is attached and can be accessed via the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/805781/Relationships_Education__Relationships_and_Sex_Education__RSE__and_Health_Education.pdf.
Schools are also required to consult with parents when developing and reviewing their policies for Relationships Education (primary) and RSE (secondary), which will inform schools’ decisions on when and how certain content is covered. Schools should ensure that parents know what will be taught and when, and clearly communicate the fact that parents have the right to request that their child be withdrawn from some or all of sex education delivered as part of statutory RSE.