Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to promote technical and vocational education and training in the East Midlands.
Answered by Anne Milton
Since the publication of the Wolf Review in 2011, the department has implemented an extensive programme of reforms to strengthen technical and applied qualifications. This includes taking forward the recommendations from Lord Sainsbury’s panel on technical education (TE), which will create a world-class technical and vocational education system, offering a real choice of high-quality training.
Our apprenticeships marketing campaign, Fire It Up, aims to change the way people think about apprenticeships, by showing them as an aspirational choice for those with energy and passion and encouraging everyone to consider them. In addition, the Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge project is a free service provided through the Department for Education, and works with schools to ensure that teachers have the knowledge, support and resources to enable them to promote apprenticeships to their students.
Alongside apprenticeships, new T levels will raise the prestige of TE and provide students with a high-quality, technical alternative to A levels. We are working closely with the providers selected to deliver T levels in 2020 (including Derby College) to ensure they are ready for first teaching, and have provided them with marketing materials which can be adapted for local use. A communications campaign will launch later this year to raise awareness of T levels, where they can lead and how they fit in with other post-16 choices.
We have announced the first 12 Institutes of Technology (IoTs) that will be set up across the country to deliver higher TE and training with a particular focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects. Backed by £170 million of government funding for investing in state-of-the-art equipment and facilities, one of the new IoTs is led by the University of Lincoln in partnership with local further education colleges and employers.
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of the national school breakfast programme on (a) pupil attendance rates and (b) educational attainment.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The department is investing up to £26 million in a breakfast club programme, using funds from Soft Drinks Industry Levy revenues. This money will kick-start or improve breakfast clubs in over 1,700 schools. The focus of these clubs has been to target the most disadvantaged areas of the country – including the Department for Education’s Opportunity Areas – to help make sure every child gets the best start in life.
A contract was awarded to Family Action in March 2018 and will run until March 2020. Family Action, in partnership with Magic Breakfast, have both been named as the leading charities responsible for running the Breakfast Club programme. Family Action are distributing the appropriate funding to participating schools who meet the eligibility criteria. Family Action has confirmed that they have reached their recruitment target of 1,775 schools.
We monitor management information from the programme on an ongoing basis and will also review the effectiveness of the programme fully once the programme concludes including the number of children attending.
In March 2019, Family Action indicated that by the start of the summer term over 250,000 children would be benefiting from the programme.
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of children that have been recipients of the National School Breakfast programme since its inception.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The department is investing up to £26 million in a breakfast club programme, using funds from Soft Drinks Industry Levy revenues. This money will kick-start or improve breakfast clubs in over 1,700 schools. The focus of these clubs has been to target the most disadvantaged areas of the country – including the Department for Education’s Opportunity Areas – to help make sure every child gets the best start in life.
A contract was awarded to Family Action in March 2018 and will run until March 2020. Family Action, in partnership with Magic Breakfast, have both been named as the leading charities responsible for running the Breakfast Club programme. Family Action are distributing the appropriate funding to participating schools who meet the eligibility criteria. Family Action has confirmed that they have reached their recruitment target of 1,775 schools.
We monitor management information from the programme on an ongoing basis and will also review the effectiveness of the programme fully once the programme concludes including the number of children attending.
In March 2019, Family Action indicated that by the start of the summer term over 250,000 children would be benefiting from the programme.
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps his Department has taken to raise levels of literacy in Nottinghamshire.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government is committed to continuing to raise literacy standards, ensuring all children can read fluently and with understanding.
The Department launched a £26.3 million English Hubs Programme in 2018, building on the success of our phonics partnerships and phonics roadshows programmes. Hub schools are taking a leading role in improving the teaching of early reading through systematic synthetic phonics, early language development, and reading for pleasure. The Department has appointed 34 primary schools across England as English Hubs. This includes Horsendale in Nottingham, working with a number of primary schools in Nottinghamshire and the surrounding area to raise levels of literacy.
Phonics performance is improving. In 2018, there were 163,000 more 6-year-olds on track to become fluent readers compared to 2012. This represented 82% of pupils meeting the expected standard in the phonics screening check, compared to just 58% when the check was introduced in 2012.
In addition, Nottinghamshire schools have received approximately £1.1 million in additional funding to raise levels of literacy and numeracy of Year 7 pupils.
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the funding per pupil at (a) primary and ( b) secondary schools in Nottinghamshire in 2019-20.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Nottinghamshire will receive, in total, £482.1 million through the schools block of the Dedicated Schools Grant in 2019-20, as calculated under the national funding formula. This means that the overall average per pupil funding for mainstream schools in Nottinghamshire this year is £4,442.
Local authorities are still responsible for designing a local formula to fund schools in their areas. The average per pupil funding allocated under Nottinghamshire’s local formula is £3,990 per pupil in primary schools, and £5,017 per pupil in secondary schools.
Schools also receive funding from separate funding streams and additional grants, such as the high needs blocks of the DSG and the Pupil Premium.
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of pupils achieved a NVQ3+ or equivalent in Nottinghamshire in 2018.
Answered by Anne Milton
Level 3 attainment by young people aged 19 in 2018 was published in April 2019 in the following national statistics release: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/level-2-and-3-attainment-by-young-people-aged-19-in-2018.
The table below gives the proportion of pupils aged 19 in 2018 who had achieved a level 3 qualification. Proportions are for those educated in the state sector at age 15.
Cohort of pupils aged 19 in 2018 | Pupils attaining level 3 by age 19 |
Nottinghamshire local authority | 51.8% |
East Midlands | 52.4% |
England | 57.2% |
Level 3 includes A levels (including Applied A levels, Vocational A levels and Pre-U principal subjects), International Baccalaureate, AS levels, Advanced Apprenticeships, National Vocational Qualifications and Vocationally Related Qualifications and other qualifications, including the level 3 diploma.
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with representatives of universities on the sharing of applicants’ pupil premium status and ethnicity directly with universities in order to enabling progress on access and participation.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
Widening access and participation in higher education is a priority for the government. This means that everyone with the capability to succeed in higher education should have the opportunity to participate, regardless of their background or where they grew up.
We have made real progress in ensuring universities are open to all, with record rates of disadvantaged 18-year-olds in higher education. However, we know there is further to go to maximise the potential of the talent out there, so it is vital that we build on this progress.
Higher education providers need to use good quality and meaningful data to identify disadvantage in order to effectively address disparities in access and participation in higher education. We encourage institutions to use a range of measures to identify disadvantage, including individual-level indicators, area data (such as Participation of Local Areas, Index of Multiple Deprivation or postcode classification from ACORN), school data, intersectional data such as Universities and Colleges Admissions Service’s (UCAS) Multiple Equality Measure, and participation in outreach activities. To this end, we are working with the Office for Students (OfS), UCAS and sector representatives to further explore how we can support universities to improve and enhance access to data.
We want institutions to consider a broad range of information in their offers, including the context in which a student’s results were achieved. We are committed to helping universities progress in their efforts to improve access and successful participation for under-represented groups.
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with the Office for Students on the transmission of data on applicants’ pupil premium status and ethnicity directly to universities in order to support universities’ work on widening participation and access.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
Widening access and participation in higher education is a priority for the government. This means that everyone with the capability to succeed in higher education should have the opportunity to participate, regardless of their background or where they grew up.
We have made real progress in ensuring universities are open to all, with record rates of disadvantaged 18-year-olds in higher education. However, we know there is further to go to maximise the potential of the talent out there, so it is vital that we build on this progress.
Higher education providers need to use good quality and meaningful data to identify disadvantage in order to effectively address disparities in access and participation in higher education. We encourage institutions to use a range of measures to identify disadvantage, including individual-level indicators, area data (such as Participation of Local Areas, Index of Multiple Deprivation or postcode classification from ACORN), school data, intersectional data such as Universities and Colleges Admissions Service’s (UCAS) Multiple Equality Measure, and participation in outreach activities. To this end, we are working with the Office for Students (OfS), UCAS and sector representatives to further explore how we can support universities to improve and enhance access to data.
We want institutions to consider a broad range of information in their offers, including the context in which a student’s results were achieved. We are committed to helping universities progress in their efforts to improve access and successful participation for under-represented groups.
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to improve careers advice for young adults with learning difficulties and disabilities.
Answered by Anne Milton
The careers strategy, published in December 2017, includes proposals to improve the quality and coverage of careers advice in schools. For example, the Careers & Enterprise Company and the Gatsby Foundation have developed a toolkit containing tips for schools and employers to help them support young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). This is available at the following link: http://www.talentinocareers.co.uk/send-gatsby-benchmark-toolkit.pdf.
The Careers & Enterprise Company has awarded £1.7 million to 20 organisations to support some of the most vulnerable young people to help them prepare for the world of work. This is targeted at programmes supporting disadvantaged groups including those with SEND), looked after children and care leavers and young people from gypsy, Roma and traveller communities. Projects include tailored careers support in Sussex for young people with SEND and their parents and a partnership that helps young people with autism to engage with local employers and learn about the technical routes available to them in Leeds.
The National Careers Service provides free, up to date, impartial information, advice and guidance on careers, skills and the labour market in England. It offers face-to-face advice, a helpline with web chat, text and telephone support and a website which gives customers 24-hour access to information and advice. All services are available to adults aged 19+ and young people aged 13 to 18 can use the website and helpline. People with learning difficulties and disabilities are a priority group for face-to-face advice and the National Careers Service are very experienced in providing support to vulnerable groups. Just over a fifth (22%) of National Careers Service face-to-face customers have a disability, which is higher than in the general population (18%).[1]
[1] Summer 2017 equality analysis of the National Careers Service.
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of pupils who (a) were and (b) were not eligible for pupil premium in their last year of compulsory secondary school (i) entered at least one A level, (ii) achieved three or more A-levels, (iii) achieved grades ABB or better at A level, and (iv) achieved A*A*A or better at A-level in the last year for which figures are available.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department publishes student’s achievements in A levels, in different grade combinations, split by characteristics. This information is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/a-level-and-other-16-to-18-results-2017-to-2018-revised.
Table 1, attached below uses this data to provide the number[1] of students entering at least one A level[2] and those who achieved A*/A*/A, A/B/B and E/E/E[3],[4],[5] or better, split by their disadvantaged status[6] at the end of key stage 4. Figures are based on 2017/18[7] revised data, for students in state-funded schools and colleges. The Department does not publish estimates of the proportion of key stage 4 disadvantaged pupils who go on to enter and achieve these different A level combinations by the end of 16-18 study. However, an estimate can be derived by comparing the published numbers to the size of the disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged groups from two years previously in 2016. These are shown in table 2, attached.
[1] The cohort of students is based on those who are eligible for inclusion in the AAB measure, however this is further restricted (see footnote 2). Inclusion in the AAB measure refers to those who entered at least one full size A level, excluding applied A levels (this includes double award A levels, but does not include AS levels, general studies or critical thinking)). If students are entered for less than three full size A levels, they are only included in the measure if they have not entered for other academic, applied general and tech level qualifications greater than or equal to the size of an A level. Where a student has only been at a provider for one year, they need to have entered three A levels to be included.
[2] This includes A level entries only (excludes double awards, AS levels and Applied A levels); it excludes general studies and critical thinking.
[3] Each student's total grades are taken and compared to the requested groupings. Inclusion in each group occurs when the student has the exact grades, or when three (or more) of their grades match or are higher than the required grades. Therefore, students with only 1 or 2 grades are excluded as they do not match or beat all three required grades. These figures will differ slightly from measures published for all students nationally, due to this slight methodological difference.
[4] Only includes students with pass grades (A* to E). Discounting has been applied in line with performance tables methodology (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-qualifications-discount-codes-and-point-scores).
[5] The E/E/E combination identifies those who achieved 3 or more A levels as an E grade is the lowest passing grade.
[6] Students disadvantaged status is taken from the census recorded completed in their final year of key stage 4 year study. Students who completed their key stage 4 study in independent schools will not have been included in the census and are grouped as 'unknown disadvantaged status'.
[7] Based on students who finished their 16 to 18 study in 2017/18. Covers results achieved during all years of 16-18 study (up to three years, i.e. the 2015/16, 2016/17 and 2017/18 academic years).