Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with Ofsted about schools allowing pupils to be absent to attend protest marches, what assessments Ofsted and schools should make of safeguarding issues arising from pupils being allowed to attend such events, and what advice the Department for Education is planning to issue to schools in this regard.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is clear that missing school for events such as political protests is unacceptable and should not be condoned.
The department has been monitoring events closely and has written to all schools and local authorities supporting leaders and teachers in taking firm action. The department encourages schools and local authorities to set clear expectations to parents on attendance, confirming that absence for this kind of activity should be treated as unauthorised. The department has been clear that school leaders and local authorities should be enforcing attendance policies, and they should take immediate action where these policies have been breached. In the most egregious cases this can mean fines or prosecution. The department has shared this communication with Ofsted to ensure all inspectors are clear on the position.
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the statements by Professor David Miller about Jewish students; and what discussions they have had with (1) the University of Bristol, and (2) the police, about the steps being taken to ensure the safety of such students.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The government abhors antisemitism in all its forms and has for several years pushed for greater action from higher education providers in addressing it. This has included encouraging them to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism, in order to have universal clarity of what constitutes antisemitic behaviour.
The government expects universities and other higher education providers to comply with their legal duties on discrimination and harassment, as well as their legal duties to protect free speech. Universities must balance the exercise of their legal duties, including on a case-by-case basis.
We expect higher education providers to be at the forefront of tackling antisemitism, making sure that higher education is a genuinely fulfilling and welcoming experience for everyone.
All higher education providers should discharge their responsibilities fully and have robust policies and procedures in place to comply with the law, to investigate and swiftly address hate crime, including any antisemitic incidents that are reported. We expect higher education providers to have robust policies and procedures in place to address staff disciplinary issues.
All higher education providers have procedures for handling student complaints and, if students are unhappy with their experience, they should use the processes in place to complain formally to their provider outlining their concerns. Where a student complaint cannot be resolved through the institution’s complaint processes, a student at a provider in England and Wales can ask for his or her complaint to be reviewed by an independent body, the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education. Students also can and should inform the police if they believe the law has been broken.
With regards to the case of Professor David Miller, universities are independent and autonomous organisations which are responsible for the management of their own affairs and for meeting their duties under the law. Accordingly, the government has not intervened directly in this case. It is the responsibility of the University of Bristol to determine whether or not Professor Miller’s remarks constitute lawful free speech. In doing so, the government’s view is that they may wish to consider, in particular, his remarks about current students at the University of Bristol. It is important to distinguish between lawful, if deeply offensive, views on the one hand, and unacceptable acts of abuse, intimidation, and violence on the other.
Regardless of whether or not it is found that Professor Miller’s conduct constitutes lawful free speech, the government considers that the University of Bristol could do more to make its condemnation of that conduct clear to current and future students and to show its commitment to creating a welcoming environment for Jewish students. The government considers Professor Miller’s views to be ill-founded and wholly reprehensible, and wholeheartedly rejects them.
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Sutton Trust Learning in Lockdown, published on 21 January; and what plans they have to meet the Sutton Trust to discuss the report.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The data for the Sutton Trust report was collected at the start of the new term. Since then, the department has substantially increased delivery of devices to support vulnerable and disadvantaged pupils with remote learning.
The government is investing over £400 million to support access to remote education and online social care services, including securing 1.3 million laptops and tablets for disadvantaged children and young people.
Since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, over one million laptops and tablets have been delivered to schools, trusts, local authorities and further education providers, as of Monday 15 February, with over 490,000 delivered since 4 January 2021.
The Department has also partnered with the UK’s leading mobile operators to provide free data to help disadvantaged children get online as well as delivering over 60,000 4G wireless routers for pupils without connection at home and buying more for issues.
Where remote education is needed and pupils continue to experience barriers to digital remote education, we expect schools to work to overcome these barriers. This could include distributing school-owned laptops or supplementing digital provision with different forms of remote education such as printed resources or textbooks. This should be supplemented with other forms of communication to keep pupils and students on track or answer questions about work.
The Department has introduced a £350 million National Tutoring Programme for disadvantaged pupils and students. This will increase access to high-quality tuition for disadvantaged and vulnerable children and young people, helping to accelerate their academic progress and tackling the attainment gap between them and their peers.
As part of the National Tutoring Programme, schools in the most disadvantaged areas are being supported to employ in-house academic mentors to provide tuition to their pupils. During this period of national restrictions, as members of school staff, we expect mentors to continue providing tuition support to pupils in line with their school's policies.
The Department has responded to a written enquiry from the Sutton Trust and do not have any current plans to meet. We have conducted surveys with schools, pupils and parents throughout the COVID-19 outbreak and have collected data on access to technology, which will be published in due course.
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that the statutory guidance for 2020 on (a) Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and (b) Health Education will include guidance on online abuse and threats on (i) Twitter and (ii) other social media.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department wants schools to equip their pupils with the knowledge needed to make the best use of the internet and technology in a safe, considered and respectful way.
Through the guidance for the new subjects of relationships education, relationships and sex education and health education, teachers will address online safety and appropriate behaviour in an age appropriate way.
This topic is threaded throughout the guidance which sets out, for example, that pupils should be taught about the rules and principles for keeping safe online, including how to recognise risks, harmful content and behaviours, and how and to whom to report issues. Pupils should also be made aware of the relevant legal provisions when key topics are being taught, including online behaviours.
The guidance also refers to some key publications about internet safety which can be used by teachers and others in teaching about this topic. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education.
This teaching will complement the existing computing curriculum, which covers the principles of online safety at all key stages, with progression in the content to reflect the different and escalating risks that pupils face. This includes how to use technology safely, responsibly, respectfully and securely, and where to go for help and support when they have concerns about content or contact on the internet or other online technologies.
There are other curriculum subjects which include content relevant to teaching pupils how to use the internet appropriately and safely. For example, citizenship education covers media literacy, distinguishing fact from opinion and the role and responsibility of the media in informing and shaping public opinion.
The Department has also published non-statutory guidance, ‘Teaching Online Safety’ in schools. This outlines how schools can ensure their pupils understand how to stay safe and behave online, as part of these existing curriculum requirements and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teaching-online-safety-in-schools.
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what advice is included in the statutory guidance for 2020 on (a) Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and (b) Health Education to minimise social media harassment of young adults using Twitter.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department wants schools to equip their pupils with the knowledge needed to make the best use of the internet and technology in a safe, considered and respectful way.
Through the guidance for the new subjects of relationships education, relationships and sex education and health education, teachers will address online safety and appropriate behaviour in an age appropriate way.
This topic is threaded throughout the guidance which sets out, for example, that pupils should be taught about the rules and principles for keeping safe online, including how to recognise risks, harmful content and behaviours, and how and to whom to report issues. Pupils should also be made aware of the relevant legal provisions when key topics are being taught, including online behaviours.
The guidance also refers to some key publications about internet safety which can be used by teachers and others in teaching about this topic. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education.
This teaching will complement the existing computing curriculum, which covers the principles of online safety at all key stages, with progression in the content to reflect the different and escalating risks that pupils face. This includes how to use technology safely, responsibly, respectfully and securely, and where to go for help and support when they have concerns about content or contact on the internet or other online technologies.
There are other curriculum subjects which include content relevant to teaching pupils how to use the internet appropriately and safely. For example, citizenship education covers media literacy, distinguishing fact from opinion and the role and responsibility of the media in informing and shaping public opinion.
The Department has also published non-statutory guidance, ‘Teaching Online Safety’ in schools. This outlines how schools can ensure their pupils understand how to stay safe and behave online, as part of these existing curriculum requirements and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teaching-online-safety-in-schools.
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to increase literacy rates of primary school students from lower income households in Dudley.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government is committed to continuing to raise literacy standards – ensuring all children, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, can read fluently and with understanding.
The Department introduced the light touch phonics screening check for Year 1 pupils in 2012. The check is designed to assess pupils’ ability to decode and read words using phonics. Phonics performance is improving, with 82% of pupils meeting the expected standard this year, compared to 58% when the check was introduced. Mastering phonics, which provides a solid foundation for reading means these pupils will be able to go on to apply these skills in more advanced ways.
In 2018, the Department launched a £26.3 million English Hubs Programme. The Department has appointed 34 primary schools across England as English Hubs. The English Hub programme is supporting nearly 3000 schools across England to improve their teaching of reading through systematic synthetic phonics, early language development, and reading for pleasure. The English Hubs are focused on improving educational outcomes for the most disadvantaged pupils in Reception and Year 1. St John Bosco English Hub engaged with nine schools in Dudley in the last academic year. It aims to support 85 schools in its local area, which covers Dudley as well as other constituencies.
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many women have started courses in STEM subjects at colleges in Dudley in each of the last five years.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The attached table provides the number of aims delivered on STEM-related courses for females in Dudley in education and training provision, for each academic year since 2013/14 and covers all further education (FE) providers. In addition, there is a second table providing the number of female starts on STEM-related apprenticeships. Both tables include students of all ages for Dudley as well as for England.
The tables provide the number of learning aims (i.e. courses, programmes, qualifications and units) students have taken in STEM-related FE sector subject areas.
This data includes a student more than once where they take or progress to more than one aim/qualification in STEM.
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department has to increase the take-up of apprenticeships through university technical colleges.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 6 September 2019 to Question 286154.
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to help increase literacy rates of Key Stage 1 students from lower income households in (a) Dudley and (b) England.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many women have started courses in STEM subjects at colleges in Dudley in the most recent period for which information is available.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.