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Written Question
Apprenticeships
Tuesday 16th July 2019

Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many apprenticeships were created in 2018 as a result of capital infrastructure projects.

Answered by Anne Milton

The information requested is not held centrally.

The department does publish a wide range of data on apprenticeships on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis, including on the number of starts in each sector subject area. These resources are available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-apprenticeships.


Written Question
Construction: Apprentices
Tuesday 16th July 2019

Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many apprenticeships were created in the construction sector in 2018.

Answered by Anne Milton

The most recent statistics on apprenticeships starts by industry sector cover the academic years 2012/13 to 2016/17 and are published on GOV.UK:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/apprenticeships-in-england-by-industry-characteristics.

In 2016/17 there were:

  • 36,170 starts in the manufacturing sector;
  • 1,620 starts in the energy sector; and
  • 31,610 starts in the construction sector.

Statistics for 2017/18 are due to be published in October 2019.


Written Question
Manufacturing Industries: Apprentices
Tuesday 16th July 2019

Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many apprenticeships were created in the manufacturing sector in 2018.

Answered by Anne Milton

The most recent statistics on apprenticeships starts by industry sector cover the academic years 2012/13 to 2016/17 and are published on GOV.UK:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/apprenticeships-in-england-by-industry-characteristics.

In 2016/17 there were:

  • 36,170 starts in the manufacturing sector;
  • 1,620 starts in the energy sector; and
  • 31,610 starts in the construction sector.

Statistics for 2017/18 are due to be published in October 2019.


Written Question
Energy: Apprentices
Tuesday 16th July 2019

Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many apprenticeships were created in the energy sector in 2018.

Answered by Anne Milton

The most recent statistics on apprenticeships starts by industry sector cover the academic years 2012/13 to 2016/17 and are published on GOV.UK:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/apprenticeships-in-england-by-industry-characteristics.

In 2016/17 there were:

  • 36,170 starts in the manufacturing sector;
  • 1,620 starts in the energy sector; and
  • 31,610 starts in the construction sector.

Statistics for 2017/18 are due to be published in October 2019.


Written Question
Department for Education: Consultants
Friday 22nd March 2019

Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many consultants his Department has hired in each year since 2016; and at what cost to the public purse.

Answered by Anne Milton

Information regarding the number of consultants that the department has hired in each year since 2016 is not held centrally. This is because it is a decentralised process and numbers are not collected.


Written Question
Department for Education: Public Consultation
Friday 15th March 2019

Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many consultations by his Department (a) are open, (b) are closed awaiting a Government response and (c) have been initiated since 2016.

Answered by Anne Milton

This department currently has 3 open consultations and 7 closed consultations awaiting publication of a government response. It has initiated (published) 106 consultations since January 2016.


Written Question
Teachers: Pay
Thursday 31st January 2019

Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimates his Department has made of the comparable costs of the (a) recommendations of the School Teachers’ Pay Review Body that all pay and allowance ranges for teachers and school leaders are uplifted by 3.5% from September 2018 and (b) his Department's pay package introduced following the that School Teachers’ Pay Review Body report.

Answered by Nick Gibb

In July 2018, the Department accepted in full the School Teachers’ Pay Review Body (STRB) recommendation for a 3.5% uplift to the minima and maxima of the main pay range. As a result, classroom teachers will see starting salaries increasing by between £803 and £1,004. The Department also announced a substantial uplift to pay ranges for leaders and higher-paid teachers: 2% on the upper pay range and 1.5% on the leadership pay range.

This was supported by a new Teachers’ Pay Grant of £508 million over two years, covering the difference between these awards and the 1% award that schools would have anticipated under the previous public sector pay cap. This was funded using existing Department for Education resources, recognising that the pay award would have a significant impact on school budgets.

Providing an equivalent Teachers’ Pay Grant to cover the difference between a 3.5% award for all pay ranges and the previous public sector pay cap would have cost over £900m across two years.

In line with the overall government approach to pay review body recommendations across the public sector, the Department needs to balance the importance of rewarding teachers with ensuring awards are affordable and fair to the taxpayer.


Written Question
Students: Loans
Tuesday 29th May 2018

Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average length of time has been for monthly salary deductions collected by HMRC to be reconciled with individual accounts held by the Student Loans Company in each of the last three years.

Answered by Sam Gyimah

Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the Student Loans Company (SLC) exchange information about salary deductions after the end of each tax year. SLC does not apply interest to accounts until the information about repayments is received from HMRC. This means that borrowers are not disadvantaged by the time taken to exchange the data between HMRC and SLC.

The Education (Student Loans) (Repayment) Regulations 2009 set out that the total amount a borrower has repaid over the last tax year should be treated as having been paid in equal instalments throughout the year, and interest is applied on this basis.

SLC begins to process repayments data as soon as it is received from HMRC after the end of the relevant tax year. HMRC’s current target is to pass 92% of End of Year PAYE returns to SLC by 31 July 2018. SLC aims to have processed these returns by 31 August 2018. Last year, HMRC exceeded their target and passed 96% of End of Year PAYE returns to SLC by 31 July 2017.

The government is taking steps to develop systems to allow the sharing of student loan repayment information more frequently between HMRC and SLC from April 2019 . This will allow for repayments to be credited and for interest calculations to be undertaken regularly throughout the year.


Written Question
Students: Loans
Tuesday 29th May 2018

Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much debt interest accrued on student loans for which salary deductions have already been made by HMRC in each of the last three years.

Answered by Sam Gyimah

Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the Student Loans Company (SLC) exchange information about salary deductions after the end of each tax year. SLC does not apply interest to accounts until the information about repayments is received from HMRC. This means that borrowers are not disadvantaged by the time taken to exchange the data between HMRC and SLC.

The Education (Student Loans) (Repayment) Regulations 2009 set out that the total amount a borrower has repaid over the last tax year should be treated as having been paid in equal instalments throughout the year, and interest is applied on this basis.

SLC begins to process repayments data as soon as it is received from HMRC after the end of the relevant tax year. HMRC’s current target is to pass 92% of End of Year PAYE returns to SLC by 31 July 2018. SLC aims to have processed these returns by 31 August 2018. Last year, HMRC exceeded their target and passed 96% of End of Year PAYE returns to SLC by 31 July 2017.

The government is taking steps to develop systems to allow the sharing of student loan repayment information more frequently between HMRC and SLC from April 2019 . This will allow for repayments to be credited and for interest calculations to be undertaken regularly throughout the year.


Written Question
Students: Loans
Tuesday 29th May 2018

Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether debt interest is paid on portions of student loans for which salary deductions have already been made by HMRC.

Answered by Sam Gyimah

Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the Student Loans Company (SLC) exchange information about salary deductions after the end of each tax year. SLC does not apply interest to accounts until the information about repayments is received from HMRC. This means that borrowers are not disadvantaged by the time taken to exchange the data between HMRC and SLC.

The Education (Student Loans) (Repayment) Regulations 2009 set out that the total amount a borrower has repaid over the last tax year should be treated as having been paid in equal instalments throughout the year, and interest is applied on this basis.

SLC begins to process repayments data as soon as it is received from HMRC after the end of the relevant tax year. HMRC’s current target is to pass 92% of End of Year PAYE returns to SLC by 31 July 2018. SLC aims to have processed these returns by 31 August 2018. Last year, HMRC exceeded their target and passed 96% of End of Year PAYE returns to SLC by 31 July 2017.

The government is taking steps to develop systems to allow the sharing of student loan repayment information more frequently between HMRC and SLC from April 2019 . This will allow for repayments to be credited and for interest calculations to be undertaken regularly throughout the year.