Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what grants are available to people living in Africa to help towards the cost of tuition fees at UK universities; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
Scholarships are a key part of the UK’s soft power, creating lasting positive relations with future leaders, influencers and decision-makers around the world. Many scholars funded by the UK go on to take up senior leadership positions in their home countries, and the strong bond they have formed with the UK enhances our direct and indirect influence abroad.
This enhances our diplomatic work, our efforts in promoting increased trade and investment and supports our national security through increased goodwill and cooperation.
The Chevening Scholarship, sponsored by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), funds between 300-400 scholars a year from across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), 400-500 including North Africa. The FCO have awarded scholarships to over 8000 scholars across SSA since the programme began.
In August 2018 my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, announced an additional £2.7 million to fund up to an extra 100 scholarships across SSA, and in May 2019 my right hon. Friend, the Foreign Secretary, announced a new pan-Sub-Saharan Africa Chevening Media Freedom Fellowship programme for 60 leading journalists to train in the UK over the next 5 years.
The Commonwealth Scholarship Commission, sponsored by the Department for International Development, funds approximately 313 scholars a year from across SSA to undertake Master’s, PhD and split-site study at UK universities.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what his policy is on the inclusion of music, dance and theatre in the school curriculum.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department strongly believes that the arts form an important part of a broad and balanced National Curriculum, which is why art & design, dance, drama and music are compulsory for pupils aged 5-14 in state-maintained schools. The arts contribute significantly towards our economy and can transform lives and introduce young people to a huge range of opportunities. As a result, the Department is providing nearly £500 million of funding between 2016 and 2020 for a diverse portfolio of arts and music education programmes. £300 million of this funding is ring-fenced to support music education. The Department funds other music, dance and drama programmes as well, and also provides opportunities for young people to attend Saturday Arts Clubs and visit museums.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate he has made of the number of pupils in each key stage in (a) state and (b) private primary schools who are studying European languages by each language studied.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The information requested on which languages are taught by which primary schools, or on pupils’ performance in foreign language study at primary school, is not held centrally.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate he has made of the number of students at UK universities who are studying each European language.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collects and publishes statistics about higher education in the UK and the latest statistics refer to the academic year 2017/18.
HESA publishes breakdowns by subject area at UK higher education institutions (HEIs) but does not go into detail beyond ‘languages’. In 2017/18, there were 84,260 full-person-equivalent1 students enrolled on languages courses in UK HEIs. This information is shown in table 22 in the following link: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/what-study.
It should be noted that HESA figures are rounded to the nearest 5 and that the figure of 84,260 is for all students enrolled on languages courses. This includes all levels of study (undergraduate, postgraduate etc.) and all modes of study (full-time and part-time).
[1] Counts are on the basis of full person equivalents. Where a student is studying more than one subject, the counts are distributed between the subjects that make up their course.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress he has made on reviewing the level of university fees charged to students; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The major review of Post-18 Education and Funding is well under way. As part of the review, we are considering how students and graduates contribute to the cost of their studies including the level, terms and duration of their contribution.
We want to make sure that funding arrangements across post-18 education and training are transparent and do not act as barriers to choice or provision, as well as offering value for money for students and taxpayers.
The independent panel chaired by Philip Augar will report at an interim stage, before the government concludes the overall review in 2019, as set out in our Terms of Reference, which can be accessed here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/682348/Post_18_review_-_ToR.pdf.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what requirements there are for schools to offer as part of the curriculum (a) football and (b) rugby; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The government wants all young people to leave formal education as happy, confident and well-rounded individuals. Exercise and organised sport such as football and rugby can play a huge part in children’s personal resilience and emotional wellbeing.
Physical education (PE) is a compulsory subject at all four key stages in the national curriculum. Schools have the freedom to offer sports that interest and engage their pupils. There is a greater focus on competitive sport in PE lessons and we know that many schools offer their pupils rugby and football as part of their curricular and extra-curricular sport offer. Details of the national curriculum requirements can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-physical-education-programmes-of-study.
Through the primary PE and sport premium, the government has invested over £1 billion of ring-fenced funding to primary schools to improve PE and sport since 2013.Through the School Sport Action Plan, which will be published in the Spring, the government will work with national governing bodies of sport and local community sport clubs to make it easier for pupils to take part in sports, and this will include football and rugby.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria was used to set £6,000 as the amount that a school needs to spend on a child with special educational needs; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The figure of £6,000 was determined on the basis of research undertaken by PricewaterhouseCoopers as part of a school funding review in 2009. Evidence showed that the cost point above which children with special educational needs (SEN) became fewer in number and it would be appropriate to describe them as having high needs was around £6,000.
In order to better understand the financial incentives that influence how schools, colleges and councils support children and young people with SEN, the Department for Education will be gathering more evidence early in 2019. This will include looking at the first £6,000 schools pay for special educational provision before accessing additional funding from local high needs budgets.
We will also provide additional high needs funding allocations, for all local authorities, totalling £250 million over 2018 to 2019 and 2019 to 2020. This brings the total allocated for high needs this year to £6.1 billion and £6.3 billion in 2019 to 2020.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with stakeholders on the development of the early careers framework for teachers; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Early Career Framework has been produced by an expert group convened by the Department and made up of teachers, head teachers, academics and sector experts. Numerous other stakeholders have been engaged in the development of the framework, including via sector specific roundtables, bilateral meetings, conferences and public consultation.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate he has made of the number of teaching assistants in (a) Gloucestershire and (b) England; how much his Department has spent on those teaching staff; and what information his Department holds on the nationality of those teaching staff.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The following table provides the full-time equivalent (FTE) number of teaching assistants and other support staff in service in state funded schools in Gloucestershire local authority and England, as at November 2017.
Number of teaching assistants and other support staff in service in state funded schools in Gloucestershire local authority and England, as at November 2017 | ||
| FTE Teaching Assistants[1] | FTE Other Support Staff1 |
Gloucestershire[2] | 2,490 | 1,370 |
England | 262,820 | 145,270 |
Source: School Workforce Census
The School Workforce Census does not ask for information on the nationality of school employees. Salary levels for teaching assistants and other support staff are determined locally.
The department publishes information on income and expenditure by schools on the Schools Financial Benchmarking website: https://schools-financial-benchmarking.service.gov.uk.
This includes a category for expenditure on Education support staff, including teaching assistants, childcare staff, foreign language assistants, librarians and other support staff.
[1] Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.
[2] Figures for Gloucestershire exclude 6 out of 304 schools that did not provide a return for teaching assistants or support staff.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to promote awareness of food allergies in schools; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Food Standards Agency lead on this matter for government and from 13 December 2014 the allergen rules within the EU Food Information for Consumers Regulation became statutory. From this all food businesses, including school caterers, are required to make available the allergen ingredients information for the food and drink they serve. In these undertakings there should be processes in place to protect vulnerable individuals where the institution has a 'duty of care', for example in schools. In particular, school canteens have to ensure that children with a food hypersensitivity only get food served which is safe for them to eat.
Beyond this headteachers, school governors and their caterers are best placed to make decisions about their school food policies that take into account local circumstances. For instance, some schools are nut or peanut free which means that their caterers do not use nuts or peanuts as ingredients, and that all pupils parents are advised not to include nuts or peanuts in lunch boxes.