Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, on what date all university students will be able to return to campus and resume in-person teaching.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Following the review into when the remaining higher education students can return to in-person teaching and learning, the government has announced that the remaining students should return to in-person teaching no earlier than 17 May 2021, alongside Step 3 of the roadmap. Students and institutions will be given at least a week’s notice of any further return in accordance with the timing of Step 3 of the roadmap.
The government roadmap is designed to maintain a cautious approach to the easing of restrictions to reduce public health risks and ensure that we can maintain progress towards full reopening. However, the government recognises the difficulties and disruption that this may cause for many students and their families and that is why the government is making a further £15 million of additional student hardship funding available for this academic year 2020/21. In total we have made an additional £85 million of funding available for student hardship.
We are supporting universities to provide regular twice weekly asymptomatic testing for all students and staff on-site and, from May, at home. This will help break chains of transmission of the virus.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the value of unused apprenticeship levy funding returned to the Government by (a) Oxfordshire County Council and (b) employers in each of the last five years.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
The funds in apprenticeship service accounts are available for levy-paying employers to use for 24 months before they begin to expire on a rolling, month-by-month basis. Employers began to pay the apprenticeship levy in April 2017 and levy funds began to expire in May 2019.
Due to taxpayer confidentiality, we are unable to publish the amount that individual employers have contributed through the apprenticeship levy or the amount of funds that have been spent or have expired.
For all employers in England, the total value of expired levy funds between May 2019 and April 2020 was £847 million. From May 2020 to February 2021, the latest period for which figures are available, the total value of expired levy funds is £1,039 million.
Employers are able to use all of the funds in their apprenticeship service accounts to support apprenticeships in their own or others’ businesses. Levy paying employers can transfer up to 25% of the annual value of funds in their apprenticeship service accounts to other employers. We are simplifying the transfers process, enabling employers to make strategic decisions over where their levy funds are spent. From August 2021, employers will be able to pledge funds for transfer, and we will introduce a new national online matching service, making it quicker and simpler for levy-payers to find employers that share their business priorities to transfer funds to.
We do not anticipate that all employers who pay the levy will need or want to use all the funds available to them, but they are able to do so if they wish. Funds raised by the levy are used to support the whole apprenticeship system. Employers’ unused funds are available to support apprenticeships in smaller employers who do not pay the levy and to cover the ongoing costs of apprentices who began training prior to the introduction of the levy.
We are again making available £2.5 billion for investment in apprenticeships in the 2021-22 financial year, which is double that spent in 2010-11.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the range of rates paid to agencies by local authorities was for children's social care workers in (a) the South-East and (b) England in each of the last five years.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The Department for Education holds the policy responsibility for children’s social care, while local authorities hold the duty to deliver children’s social care services, employ child and family social workers and make decisions about social worker renumeration. The department does not collect nor hold data from local authorities on child and family social worker pay, including on agency pay rates.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that all universities in England adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The government has asked all English higher education (HE) providers registered with the Office for Students (OfS) to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. The IHRA definition is an important tool in tackling antisemitism. Adopting this widely recognised definition sends a strong signal that HE providers take these issues seriously. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, wrote to HE leaders most recently in October 2020 to reiterate the importance of the definition and to urge all providers to consider adopting it.
The government is pleased to report that at least 91 providers have now adopted the definition, with many more preparing to adopt. The decision on adoption of the definition rests with individual providers, but the government will continue to urge them to adopt the definition and ensure that HE is a genuinely fulfilling and welcoming experience for everyone.
I am proud that so many providers have taken a positive step towards eradicating antisemitism by adopting the IHRA definition, but further progress is still needed to stamp it out. This is why, in my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education’s most recent strategic guidance letter to the OfS, the government asked the OfS to undertake a scoping exercise, to identify providers which are reluctant to adopt the definition. The letter asked them to consider introducing mandatory reporting of antisemitic incident numbers by providers, with the aim of ensuring a robust evidence base, which the OfS can then use to effectively regulate in this area.
The Secretary of State also asked the OfS to ensure that, if antisemitic incidents do occur at a provider, they should consider if it is relevant in a particular case whether the provider has adopted the IHRA definition when considering what sanctions, including monetary penalties, would be appropriate to apply.
We will continue to work across government to ensure that racism and religious hatred of any kind is not tolerated anywhere, including in our world-leading universities.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the implications of the Department of Education’s recent survey of wraparound care providers that are registered under Ofsted for (a) his policies and (b) UK businesses.
Answered by Vicky Ford
We fully recognise that ensuring there is sufficient wraparound childcare in the future is crucial for working parents, as well as vulnerable children and young people, both in the short and longer-term, when more parents and carers start returning to workplaces. We also recognise that this will impact upon UK businesses which is why, on 26 January 2021, we issued a survey to up to 2,000 Ofsted registered providers nationwide.
The objectives of the survey were to gain a better understanding of how providers of wraparound childcare have been affected by the national COVID-19 restrictions and, in particular, the most recent lockdown announced on 4 January 2020, to establish what this means for the provision they are currently offering. This analysis of this data is in progress and will help inform the department’s ongoing response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
In addition, since June 2020, we have been in close communication with various stakeholders, including several wraparound providers, to understand the specific challenges that they face, and to determine how we can most effectively support the sector to ensure that adequate wraparound childcare provision remains in place for those most in need.
We recognise the value the wraparound childcare sector offers in terms of supporting children and young people’s general wellbeing and the positive effects it can have on their mental health through the enriching social opportunities it provides. Given the valuable support this sector can provide, the government has ensured that before and after-school clubs, holiday clubs, and other out-of-school settings have been able to stay open for all children eligible to attend school on-site, and during the national lockdown for vulnerable children and young people, as well as the children of critical workers. We have also published protective measures guidance for the sector, to ensure they can offer this provision as safely as possible, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/protective-measures-for-holiday-or-after-school-clubs-and-other-out-of-school-settings-for-children-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak. In addition, we have a full roadmap to reopening, as set out in ’COVID response – Spring 2021’, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-response-spring-2021.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason he changed the census date for schools from January 2021 to October 2020 for the financial year beginning April 2021.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The move to using the October census for pupil premium funding will provide both schools and the Department with greater certainty around future funding levels earlier in the year. The majority of schools’ funding is already calculated by using data from the October census.
Per pupil funding rates for the pupil premium in the 2021-22 financial year will be the same as in the 2020-21 financial year, which is expected to increase pupil premium funding to more than £2.5 billion in 2021-22 as more children have become eligible for free school meals.
Pupil premium will continue to be based on “Ever6 FSM”, whereby all pupils eligible for free school meals at the time of the October census, or at any point in the previous 6 years, will attract pupil premium funding. As a result, we expect a typical school to see an increase in pupil premium funding from 2020-21 to 2021-22 as more children have become eligible for free school meals as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Further information on this administrative change can be found on gov.uk under “allocation changes from 2021 to 2022” on: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium/pupil-premium.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many broadband routers have been distributed by his Department to school pupils in Oxford West and Abingdon constituency since 1 March 2020 as part of the Department's programme to help pupils, students and families access remote education during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nick Gibb
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. This significant injection of laptops and tablets is on top of an estimated 2.9 million already owned by schools before the start of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The laptops and tablets are to help support schools, academy trusts and local authorities to provide access to remote education and online social care. Schools, colleges, academy trusts and local authorities are responsible for distributing the laptops and tablets and are best placed to know which children and young people need access to a device.
As of Monday 15 February 2021, over one million laptops and tablets have been delivered to schools, academy trusts, local authorities and further education providers. We are making further deliveries all the time and expect to achieve our overall commitment of delivering 1.3 million devices by the end of the spring term.
We have partnered with the UK’s leading mobile operators to provide free data to help disadvantaged children get online as well as delivering 60,000 4G wireless routers for pupils without connection at home.
Figures on the number of devices already delivered are available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/laptops-and-tablets-data. These figures are broken down by local authority and academy trust. Figures by constituency are not available.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many laptops have been distributed by his Department to school pupils in Oxford West and Abingdon constituency since 1 March 2020 as part of the Department's programme to help pupils, students and families access remote education during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nick Gibb
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. This significant injection of laptops and tablets is on top of an estimated 2.9 million already owned by schools before the start of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The laptops and tablets are to help support schools, academy trusts and local authorities to provide access to remote education and online social care. Schools, colleges, academy trusts and local authorities are responsible for distributing the laptops and tablets and are best placed to know which children and young people need access to a device.
As of Monday 15 February 2021, over one million laptops and tablets have been delivered to schools, academy trusts, local authorities and further education providers. We are making further deliveries all the time and expect to achieve our overall commitment of delivering 1.3 million devices by the end of the spring term.
We have partnered with the UK’s leading mobile operators to provide free data to help disadvantaged children get online as well as delivering 60,000 4G wireless routers for pupils without connection at home.
Figures on the number of devices already delivered are available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/laptops-and-tablets-data. These figures are broken down by local authority and academy trust. Figures by constituency are not available.