Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent progress her Department has made on introducing T Levels in (a) hair, beauty and aesthetics, (b) craft and design, (c) media broadcast and production and (d) catering.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department, working closely with the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE), has been making progress on the four T Levels deferred in 2023.
T Levels in ‘Craft and Design’, and ‘Media, Broadcast and Production’ will be available from this September and providers will receive final specifications in order to prepare for their delivery in due course.
On ‘Hair, Barbering and Beauty Therapy’ and ‘Catering’, the department has continued to engage closely with employers. Next steps for the ‘Hair, Barbering and Beauty Therapy’ route will be announced shortly. For ‘Catering’, IfATE have completed a wider route review of Catering and will be engaging with employers and providers over the coming weeks. The department we will finalise arrangements for this T Level before the summer.
The department has also been ensuring progress is made with regard to T Levels in ‘Animal Care and Management’ and ‘Marketing’, with both proceeding on schedule for delivery in 2024 and 2025 respectively.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to help ensure that careers education, advice, information and guidance is compliant with section 42B of the Education Act 1997.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Section 42B of the Education Act 1997 requires schools to provide at least six opportunities for providers of technical education and apprenticeships to speak to all pupils, during school years 8 to 13.
During 2023/24, the first full academic year that the strengthened legislation has been in place, the department is supporting schools to comply and is monitoring impact. The department has introduced a ladder of support and intervention which is set out in its careers statutory guidance. This is to enforce the provider access legislation and to set out clear steps for tackling serious or persistent cases of non-compliance.
Ofsted’s school inspection handbook has been updated to make clear that if a school is not meeting the requirements of the provider access legislation, inspectors will state this in the inspection report, and take this into account when arriving at a judgement about personal development.
There is encouraging early evidence that young people’s awareness of the benefits of technical options is increasing. In the 2022/23 academic year, 92% of schools reported that most students had information about the full range of apprenticeships. 86% of schools reported that most students had meaningful encounters with further education colleges. Ofsted’s thematic review, published in September 2023, found that, in general, leaders understood their statutory responsibilities for careers, including those under the provider access legislation and they were making progress towards fully implementing the required changes.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the number of career advisers working in schools.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Information on the state-funded school workforce in England, including the number of staff and subjects taught, is published in the annual ‘School workforce in England’ national statistics release, which is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england. The figures in the school workforce census do not represent the total number of careers advisers, since many schools and colleges commission the services of an external, qualified careers professional. Schools are encouraged to search for qualified careers practitioners in their area on the UK Register of Career Development Professionals, which is hosted by the Career Development Institute.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of apprenticeship starts were in each of the 30 apprenticeship funding bands in the 2022-23 academic year.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The below table outlines the number of starts, and the proportion of starts, on apprenticeship standards for the 2022/23 academic year split by the apprenticeship funding bands published by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education in August 2023. Starts were split across 28 funding bands in 2022/23.
Max Funding Band | 2022/23 Starts (Rounded to the nearest 10) | Proportion of Starts Total |
£1,500 | 0 | 0% |
£2,000 | 0 | 0% |
£2,500 | 1250 | 0.4% |
£3,000 | 3850 | 1.1% |
£3,500 | 4810 | 1.4% |
£4,000 | 40170 | 11.9% |
£4,500 | 20780 | 6.2% |
£5,000 | 28780 | 8.6% |
£6,000 | 43540 | 12.9% |
£7,000 | 29150 | 8.7% |
£8,000 | 10100 | 3.0% |
£9,000 | 13560 | 4.0% |
£10,000 | 3290 | 1.0% |
£11,000 | 15380 | 4.6% |
£12,000 | 13600 | 4.0% |
£13,000 | 4310 | 1.3% |
£14,000 | 9990 | 3.0% |
£15,000 | 18280 | 5.4% |
£16,000 | 4700 | 1.4% |
£17,000 | 1670 | 0.5% |
£18,000 | 13340 | 4.0% |
£19,000 | 900 | 0.3% |
£20,000 | 1430 | 0.4% |
£21,000 | 18020 | 5.4% |
£22,000 | 4250 | 1.3% |
£23,000 | 280 | 0.1% |
£24,000 | 8390 | 2.5% |
£25,000 | 2860 | 0.8% |
£26,000 | 11740 | 3.5% |
£27,000 | 8120 | 2.4% |
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many SMEs have hosted more than 10 apprentices at any one time in each month since April 2023.
Answered by Robert Halfon
There were 998 non-levy employer accounts that had more than ten apprentices in learning at any one time between April 2023 and December 2023.
The below table shows the number of non-levy employer accounts that had more than ten apprentices in learning at any one time in each month.
Month | Number of non-levy employer accounts with apprentices >10 |
April 2023 | 497 |
May 2023 | 518 |
June 2023 | 532 |
July 2023 | 530 |
August 2023 | 515 |
September 23 | 651 |
October 23 | 712 |
November 23 | 728 |
December 23 | 697 |
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of apprentices on a 12-month apprenticeship in the 2021-2022 academic year completed their endpoint assessment (a) on the date of, (b) one to three months after, (c) three to six months after and (d) more than six months after completing their apprenticeship.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The below table shows achievers (rounded to the nearest 100) in the 2021/22 academic year whose planned duration was 12 months.
Months from last learning to end of EPA | Achievements | Proportion of total (%) |
EPA within a month of last learning | 2,200 | 12% |
EPA 1-3 months after last learning | 13,300 | 73% |
EPA 3-6 months after last learning | 2,200 | 12% |
EPA more than 6 months after last learning | 600 | 3% |
Total | 18,300 | 100% |
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which colleges provide T Level courses; and which T Level courses each college provides.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Over 250 providers are delivering 18 T Levels in a range of in-demand subject areas in all regions of the country. A list of these providers is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/providers-selected-to-deliver-t-levels.
Each of these providers will have information on their website relating to their T Level curriculum offer as this differs by school or college, depending on local student demand and employer needs.
Prospective students can also find details of the T Levels available in their area on GOV.UK at: https://www.tlevels.gov.uk/students/find.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has had recent discussions with his Israeli counterpart on the cost of (a) domestic settler violence to Palestinian property and (b) trends in the level of insurance coverage for Palestinians in the West Bank.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
We have urged Israel to take stronger action to stop settler violence and hold the perpetrators accountable; extremist settlers, by targeting and killing Palestinian civilians, are undermining security and stability. Both the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary have emphasised to Prime Minister Netanyahu that it is critical that Israel acts to reduce tensions in the West Bank.
As the Foreign Secretary said on 14 December, we are preventing those responsible for settler violence from entering the UK.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of apprentices who did not complete an apprenticeship that they had started completed the apprenticeship exit survey in the 2022-2023 academic year.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department is committed to supporting as many apprentices as possible to stay on their programme, to achieve and have to a high-quality experience.
The department wants to ensure that apprentice pay supports talented individuals to start and stay in apprenticeships. From April 2024, the apprentice minimum wage will increase by 21.2% to £6.40. Many employers pay their apprentices more than the minimum, with the latest data showing that the median gross hourly pay for apprentices in 2021 was £9.98 an hour.
The department continues to provide additional financial support to employers and providers to encourage more apprenticeship opportunities and to help meet additional costs associated with apprenticeships. The department provides £1,000 payments to employers and providers when they take on apprentices aged 16 to 18, and up to 24 for apprentices with an Education, Health and Care plan, which can be used to support costs such as work equipment, uniforms, or travel. The department has also increased the care leavers’ bursary from £1,000 to £3,000.
3,658 apprentices have responded to the exit questionnaire since it was launched in October 2022. Of those, 679 (19%) cited financial reasons as contributing to their withdrawal from their apprenticeship.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of respondents to the apprentice exit survey reported that financial issues contributed to them not finishing an apprenticeship in the 2022-23 academic year.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department is committed to supporting as many apprentices as possible to stay on their programme, to achieve and have to a high-quality experience.
The department wants to ensure that apprentice pay supports talented individuals to start and stay in apprenticeships. From April 2024, the apprentice minimum wage will increase by 21.2% to £6.40. Many employers pay their apprentices more than the minimum, with the latest data showing that the median gross hourly pay for apprentices in 2021 was £9.98 an hour.
The department continues to provide additional financial support to employers and providers to encourage more apprenticeship opportunities and to help meet additional costs associated with apprenticeships. The department provides £1,000 payments to employers and providers when they take on apprentices aged 16 to 18, and up to 24 for apprentices with an Education, Health and Care plan, which can be used to support costs such as work equipment, uniforms, or travel. The department has also increased the care leavers’ bursary from £1,000 to £3,000.
3,658 apprentices have responded to the exit questionnaire since it was launched in October 2022. Of those, 679 (19%) cited financial reasons as contributing to their withdrawal from their apprenticeship.