Asked by: Lord Sharkey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of recent data by Enroly published on 27 March which showed that issuance of certificates of Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies has significantly reduced, with overall deposits down by more than a third on the same point in 2023.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The government seeks to ensure that there is a fair and robust migration policy, whilst maintaining the UK’s place as a top destination for the best and brightest students from around the world. The department remains committed to the ambitions set out in the government’s International Education Strategy to host 600,000 international students per year and to increase the value of our education exports to £35 billion per year, both by 2030.
The department expects the UK to remain a highly attractive study destination. The UK has four universities in the top 10, and 17 in the top 100. The UK has a highly sought after higher education (HE) experience, which is respected by students across the globe. The department is hugely proud to have met its international student recruitment ambition two years running.
However, the level of legal migration remains too high. As a result, on 4 December 2023, the government announced a new package of measures to reduce net migration and curb abuse and exploitation of the country’s immigration system. The department continues to work closely with the Home Office, Department for Business and Trade, and other governmental departments to assess the impact of these changes on HE providers.
HE providers are autonomous bodies, independent from government. As such, they are responsible for their own admissions decisions. The government takes a close interest in ensuring that the HE admissions system is fair and works closely with HE providers and sector bodies to make sure the system works well for students.
Asked by: Lord Sharkey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what guidelines the Department for Education (1) has, and (2) follows, for the time taken in responding to communications from members of the House of Lords.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
In line with Cabinet Office guidance, ministers within the department aim to respond to hon. and right hon. Members of the House of Lords within 18 working days to a piece of written correspondence, written parliamentary questions within 14 days of receipt, and commitments in the House to write to hon. and right hon. Members within 10 working days or as soon as possible.
As you will understand, the department has been dealing with unprecedented volumes of correspondence due to the impact of COVID-19. The department ensures that urgent cases raised by hon. and right hon. Members are prioritised wherever possible and is taking steps to provide substantive responses in as short a time as possible.
Asked by: Lord Sharkey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Agnew of Oulton on 25 July (HL9666), what percentage of contracts for the training of apprentices, by number and by value, has been awarded by the Education and Skills Funding Agency to organisations which subcontract such training.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) is in the process of collating subcontractor data from providers awarded apprenticeship contracts. The ESFA will publish in due course an updated list of subcontractors on the GOV.UK website that are contracted to deliver over £100,000 of adult education and training per year by the providers it funds.
Asked by: Lord Sharkey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Agnew of Oulton on 25 July (HL9666), who were the recipients of Education and Skills Funding Agency contracts for the training of apprentices; what was the value of each such contract; and which awardees subcontract such training, either wholly or partially.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) does not currently monitor or collect information on the size of employers supported by contracts awarded for apprenticeship training by these contracts.
The ESFA is currently reviewing the scope of information collected, with a view to including information about employers supported by contracts in future data collection.
The ESFA currently contracts with 713 training providers for an overall value of £562 million. Further details of these training providers is attached. These contracts run from January 2018 to March 2019, and support apprenticeship delivery for 16 to 18 year olds and adult learners.
Asked by: Lord Sharkey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Agnew of Oulton on 25 July (HL9666), why they do not monitor or collect information on the size of employers supported by contracts awarded by the Education and Skills Funding Agency for apprentice training.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) does not currently monitor or collect information on the size of employers supported by contracts awarded for apprenticeship training by these contracts.
The ESFA is currently reviewing the scope of information collected, with a view to including information about employers supported by contracts in future data collection.
The ESFA currently contracts with 713 training providers for an overall value of £562 million. Further details of these training providers is attached. These contracts run from January 2018 to March 2019, and support apprenticeship delivery for 16 to 18 year olds and adult learners.
Asked by: Lord Sharkey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Agnew of Oulton on 25 July (HL9666), why they do not collect information on what percentage of the value of Education and Skills Funding Agency contracts for the training of apprentices is retained by awardee organisations which subcontract such training.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) does not hold information to indicate the percentage of funding retained by a provider when subcontracting these particular contracts. Instead, awardee organisations are required through the ESFA’s funding rules to have an up-to-date written agreement in place with each employer that sets out the apprenticeship training that the provider will directly deliver and the amount of funding the provider will retain for this delivery. In addition, the agreement must outline the apprenticeship training that each subcontractor will contribute to the employer’s apprenticeship programme and the amount of funding the provider will pay to the subcontractor for this delivery.
Asked by: Lord Sharkey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Agnew of Oulton on 25 July (HL9666), what mechanisms they use or intend to use to ensure that subcontractors to awardees of Education and Skills Funding Agency contracts for the training of apprentices are capable of delivering training of the appropriate quality and do deliver such training.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
We understand this question to refer to non-levy apprenticeship procured contracts. Under these contracts delivery started from 1 January 2018.
The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) requires all providers that subcontract to comply with its apprenticeship funding rules (attached). These rules include that providers must carry out due diligence checks on potential subcontractors. In addition, they must not use the delivery subcontractor that they assess is unsuitable, or whose quality of delivery is demonstrably inadequate.
Providers must manage and monitor all of their subcontractors to make sure that high quality delivery is taking place which meets the funding rules. This includes carrying out a regular and substantial programme of quality-assurance checks on the apprenticeship training and on-programme assessment provided by subcontractors.
The ESFA also requires all subcontractors with aggregate apprenticeship delivery of over £100,000 per year to successfully apply to its register of apprenticeship training providers.
Asked by: Lord Sharkey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Agnew of Oulton on 25 July (HL9666), how they assess the suitability for Education and Skills Funding Agency contracts for the training of apprentices of organisations which subcontract all or part of such training.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The procurement of contracts for the delivery of non-levy apprenticeship training was conducted in accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. Contracts were awarded on the basis of an Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) assessment of information supplied by providers against a defined set of criteria set out in the invitation to tender.
The ESFA, through its funding rules, requires awarded organisations to directly deliver some of the apprenticeship training associated with the apprenticeship programme of each employer they are working with. The volume of training that the awarded organisation delivers must have some substance and not be a token amount.
Asked by: Lord Sharkey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many contracts for the training of apprentices for small and medium-sized employers who do not pay the Apprenticeship Levy have been awarded by the Education and Skills Agency to date; what is the total value of those contracts; how many of the awardees do not have the facilities to provide such training and sub-contract; and what percentage of those contracts’ value is typically retained by an awardee who subcontracts training.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) currently contracts with 713 training providers for an overall value of £562 million. These contracts run from January 2018 to March 2019 and support apprenticeship delivery for 16-18 and adult learners. The ESFA does not monitor or collect information on the size of the employers supported by these contracts.
The ESFA require apprenticeship training providers to declare details of their subcontracting relationships. The first subcontractor declaration for these particular contracts is in progress and will close on 25 July 2018. A summary of providers’ subcontracting relationships will be published by the ESFA on GOV.UK in August 2018 in a document named ‘List of declared subcontractors’. The ESFA does not hold information to indicate the percentage of funding retained by a provider when subcontracting these particular contracts.