Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department is taking steps to support local partnerships between schools and youth organisations to support educational enrichment work in schools.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Enrichment programmes encompass a wide range of activities, including sports, art, drama, outdoor experiences, debating, volunteering, business, tech or cooking. These activities can have a significant positive impact on young people, including on their academic progress and wellbeing and the department is committed to ensuring young people have access to high quality extra curricular opportunities.
Schools are best placed to understand and meet the specific needs of their pupils, and have flexibility to decide what range of extra curricular activities to offer. However, the department does support a range of initiatives to expand access to high quality extra curricular activities through schools, such as working with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to offer the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award to all state secondary schools in England.
The Shared Outcomes Fund was originally set up in 2019 to incentivise departments to work collaboratively across challenging policy areas to deliver better value for citizens. In the Third Round of HM Treasury’s Shared Outcomes Fund the Department for Education and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport was were awarded a total of £3.4 million for the delivery of the Enrichment Partnerships Pilot (EPP), more information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/shared-outcomes-fund-round-three. The EPP aims to improve the enrichment offer of up to 200 secondary schools in Education Investment Areas, testing whether greater coordination locally can enhance school enrichment offers, develop local partnerships and promote greater collaboration between schools on extra curricular activities.
The government has also invested £289 million to support the expansion of wraparound childcare for primary school children in England. Schools’ enrichment and extra curricular offers may interact with, complement and support the delivery of wraparound childcare provision. The department is supporting and encouraging schools to continue to offer enrichment and extra curricular activities and to consider how these activities can be delivered in a way that supports working parents. This may include working with local private providers who can support schools to deliver activities in a regular and reliable way.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology on the potential merits of extending childcare grants to postgraduate research students.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Through the student loans company, the department offers a specific Childcare Grant (CCG) to support students with the costs of childcare whilst they are in study, which totals around £202 million per year.
The CCG offers parents support of up to 85% of their childcare costs up to a maximum of £183.75 a week for one child and £315.03 for two children.
CCG support is provided to individuals where both parents are students, the student is a lone parent, or the student parent’s partner is on a low income.
The government has no plans to extend CCG to postgraduate research students.
The government introduced new support packages for students starting postgraduate master’s degree courses from the 2016/17 academic year onwards and postgraduate doctoral degree courses from 2018/19 onwards.
These loans are not based on income and are intended as a contribution to the cost of study. They can be used by students according to their personal circumstances to cover the costs of fees and living costs including childcare. The new support packages have provided a significant uplift in support for postgraduate students while ensuring the student support system remains financially sustainable.
Students studying on postgraduate courses can apply for loans towards their course fees and living costs of up to £12,167 in 2023/24 for new students undertaking postgraduate master’s degree courses, and up to £28,673 in 2023/24 for new students undertaking postgraduate doctoral degree courses.
As postgraduate stipends are not classified as income for tax purposes by HMRC, meaning that neither PhD students nor their university pay Income Tax or National Insurance Contributions on their stipend, stipends are therefore not counted as income from work. However, it remains the case that students are eligible for universal 15 hours childcare, which is available to all 3 and 4 yearolds, regardless of family circumstances and/or income.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of support available to postgraduate research students with the cost of childcare.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Through the student loans company, the department offers a specific Childcare Grant (CCG) to support students with the costs of childcare whilst they are in study, which totals around £202 million per year.
The CCG offers parents support of up to 85% of their childcare costs up to a maximum of £183.75 a week for one child and £315.03 for two children.
CCG support is provided to individuals where both parents are students, the student is a lone parent, or the student parent’s partner is on a low income.
The government has no plans to extend CCG to postgraduate research students.
The government introduced new support packages for students starting postgraduate master’s degree courses from the 2016/17 academic year onwards and postgraduate doctoral degree courses from 2018/19 onwards.
These loans are not based on income and are intended as a contribution to the cost of study. They can be used by students according to their personal circumstances to cover the costs of fees and living costs including childcare. The new support packages have provided a significant uplift in support for postgraduate students while ensuring the student support system remains financially sustainable.
Students studying on postgraduate courses can apply for loans towards their course fees and living costs of up to £12,167 in 2023/24 for new students undertaking postgraduate master’s degree courses, and up to £28,673 in 2023/24 for new students undertaking postgraduate doctoral degree courses.
As postgraduate stipends are not classified as income for tax purposes by HMRC, meaning that neither PhD students nor their university pay Income Tax or National Insurance Contributions on their stipend, stipends are therefore not counted as income from work. However, it remains the case that students are eligible for universal 15 hours childcare, which is available to all 3 and 4 yearolds, regardless of family circumstances and/or income.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to extend childcare grants to postgraduate research students.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Through the student loans company, the department offers a specific Childcare Grant (CCG) to support students with the costs of childcare whilst they are in study, which totals around £202 million per year.
The CCG offers parents support of up to 85% of their childcare costs up to a maximum of £183.75 a week for one child and £315.03 for two children.
CCG support is provided to individuals where both parents are students, the student is a lone parent, or the student parent’s partner is on a low income.
The government has no plans to extend CCG to postgraduate research students.
The government introduced new support packages for students starting postgraduate master’s degree courses from the 2016/17 academic year onwards and postgraduate doctoral degree courses from 2018/19 onwards.
These loans are not based on income and are intended as a contribution to the cost of study. They can be used by students according to their personal circumstances to cover the costs of fees and living costs including childcare. The new support packages have provided a significant uplift in support for postgraduate students while ensuring the student support system remains financially sustainable.
Students studying on postgraduate courses can apply for loans towards their course fees and living costs of up to £12,167 in 2023/24 for new students undertaking postgraduate master’s degree courses, and up to £28,673 in 2023/24 for new students undertaking postgraduate doctoral degree courses.
As postgraduate stipends are not classified as income for tax purposes by HMRC, meaning that neither PhD students nor their university pay Income Tax or National Insurance Contributions on their stipend, stipends are therefore not counted as income from work. However, it remains the case that students are eligible for universal 15 hours childcare, which is available to all 3 and 4 yearolds, regardless of family circumstances and/or income.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an estimate of the number of students receiving a minimum loan whose parents are (a) unwilling or (b) unable to provide additional funding to support their cost of living in each of the last five years.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The student income and expenditure survey for the 2021/22 academic year provides data from a representative sample of students in England on total student income. The survey does not collect data on, nor estimate, the number of parents or carers who are unwilling or unable to contribute to their child or children’s living costs, but it does show the extent to which students receive financial support from their families, alongside other sources of income. The 2021/22 student income and expenditure survey can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/student-income-and-expenditure-survey-2021-to-2022.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will add Down syndrome as a separate data item on the school census.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is committed to improving the support in education for children and young people with Down syndrome, particularly given the passage of the Down Syndrome Act 2022, which My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State supported on behalf of the Government in her previous role in the Department for Health and Social Care. The Secretary of State for Education has also been speaking with representatives of Down syndrome organisations about how the department can best deliver on this commitment through the measures in the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan. Discussions have included how the department best collects and uses data, and whether to collect data on the number of pupils with Down syndrome through the School Census. The department hopes to confirm the decision shortly.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of the findings and recommendations on the primary education and skills levelling up missions in the report by the East of England APPG and EELGA entitled Levelling up in the East of England - the East of England's progress towards the Government’s twelve levelling up missions; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is determined to improve the quality of education for all children no matter where they live. The Government introduced the Levelling Up White Paper, which sets targets to raise school standards and outcomes for children and give pupils from all backgrounds the opportunity to succeed.
The Department is providing significant support to 55 Education Investment Areas (EIA), of which 24 are Priority Education Investment Areas (PEIA). There are three PEIAs in the East of England: Ipswich, Norwich, and Fenland and East Cambridgeshire.
Over the next three years, up to £86 million in trust capacity funding and £150 million for extending the Connect the Classroom programme are being prioritised in EIAs. In EIAs, the Department is also offering the Levelling Up premium, worth up to £3,000 tax free, to eligible teachers. In the 24 Priority EIAs, we will offer further investment in addition to the significant support available to all EIAs, to address local needs and drive improvement.
The Levelling Up White Paper also sets out a mission that by 2030, the number of people successfully completing high quality skills training will have significantly increased in every area of the UK. In England, this will lead to 200,000 more people successfully completing high quality skills training annually, driven by 80,000 more people completing courses in other areas. The Government is continuing to progress this, underpinned by £3.8 billion funding in further education over this Parliament.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether it remains the policy of his Department to implement the International Education Strategy produced in 2019, including the target for the UK to host 600,000 international students and increase the value of education exports to £35 billion per year by 2030.
Answered by Andrea Jenkyns
The department remains committed and continues to work towards the two ambitions in the International Education Strategy, to increase the value of our education exports to £35 billion per year and to continue to host at least 600,000 international students in the UK per year, both by 2030.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he would issue guidance on the arrangements for supporting schools and other educational institutions that will be welcoming the children of Ukrainian refugees who have recently come to the UK as soon as possible.
Answered by Robin Walker
The department stands with Ukraine and continues to work across government to ensure we are supporting all Ukrainians entering the UK.
On the 1 April, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, wrote a letter to local chief executives and directors of children’s services. The letter confirms that all school-aged children and young people who arrive from Ukraine will have the right to access suitable education and childcare whilst in the UK. The letter can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/secretary-of-state-letter-to-local-authorities-about-children-arriving-from-ukraine?utm_source=01%20April%202022%20C19&utm_medium=Daily%20Email%20C19&utm_campaign=DfE%20C19
The Secretary of State has reminded local authorities that they are able to use flexibilities to admit above the published admission number and exceed the infant class size limit, as well as using the in-year Fair Access Protocol (FAP) to ensure all school-aged children can access suitable education. Guidance on the FAP can be accessed here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1012993/FAP_Guidance.pdf
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has published:
The department has also updated the guidance on school access rights for pupils from overseas, published here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/schools-admissions-applications-from-overseas-children?utm_source=01%20April%202022%20C19&utm_medium=Daily%20Email%20C19&utm_campaign=DfE%20C19, and are adding some questions and answers to DLUHC’s Homes for Ukraine frequently asked questions page, published here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/homes-for-ukraine-scheme-frequently-asked-questions?utm_source=01%20April%202022%20C19&utm_medium=Daily%20Email%20C19&utm_campaign=DfE%20C19.
The above pieces of guidance were also communicated directly to local authorities on the 1 April 2022 via the department’s daily sector bulletin email.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason his Department did not include the food sector in the Lifetime Skills Guarantee; and if he will reconsider its exclusion to help promote a sustainable future for British farming and enhance UK food security.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
Through the Free Courses for Jobs offer, we are making courses available that offer good wage outcomes and address skills needs in the economy, empowering adults with the tools they need to secure a better job.
We have identified hundreds of courses that can give adults the skills they need in the labour market, and this includes agriculture and land-based engineering qualifications.
Many of the qualifications available support employers regardless of their sector, including those in the food and drink industry – for example, business, accountancy, and digital qualifications.
We are keeping the list of qualifications and the sector subject areas in scope under review and will consider requests for including courses that meet the published criteria.
Qualifications not included in this offer will still be eligible for Advanced Learner Loans. Advanced Learner Loans are income-contingent loans that provide extensive coverage of regulated qualifications at level 3 to level 6, helping to meet the upfront tuition fees. Applications in the 2019/20 academic year have been to study at nearly 450 training providers, and over 3000 qualifications are currently in scope.