Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that university students return to face-to-face learning when covid-19 restrictions are lifted on 19 July 2021.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
In line with Step 4 of the government’s roadmap, there will be no further restrictions on in-person provision in the autumn term. Higher education (HE) providers are therefore able to shape their courses without restrictions on face-to-face provision. The position will be kept under review considering the latest scientific evidence and public health advice. The latest advice can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-reopening-buildings-and-campuses.
Furthermore, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, wrote to education leaders on 8 July 2021, setting out plans as we move towards Step 4. This included the government’s expectation that HE providers offer students a full, enriching and enjoyable experience, whilst staying as safe as possible. The letter is available to read here: https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2021/07/08/a-letter-from-the-education-secretary-to-education-leaders/.
HE providers should therefore not be planning to restrict teaching based on COVID-19 restrictions. However, as autonomous institutions it is for providers to determine their own provision, taking account of government guidance. We understand that a number of universities have announced plans on teaching in the next academic year: some will retain an element of blended learning. We know that the COVID-19 outbreak has enabled many providers to identify new and innovative approaches to teaching and learning, and students will continue to benefit from these alongside in person provision. We expect all universities to act in the interest of students and provide them with a full experience and in accordance with Office for Students guidance, which can be found here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/guidance-for-providers-about-student-and-consumer-protection-during-the-pandemic/. HE providers should communicate clearly to their students what they can expect from planned teaching and learning so that they are able to make informed choices.
HE providers are autonomous institutions and are responsible for setting their own fees within maximum fee limits set by the regulations, where applicable. The government has already announced that maximum fees in the 2021/22 academic year will remain at £9,250 for a standard full-time course. We also intend to freeze the maximum tuition fee caps for the 2022/23 academic year to deliver better value for students and to keep the cost of higher education under control – the fifth year in succession that maximum fees have been frozen.
Whether an individual student is entitled to a refund of their tuition fees depends on the specific contractual arrangements between the provider and student. Students do have consumer rights, and it is for them to decide whether to seek to exercise these.
We recognised early on the impact the COVID-19 outbreak could have on students’ mental health and wellbeing, and we asked universities to prioritise support for this. Universities responded positively and have transformed mental health and wellbeing services. There are many examples of good practice in this area. Many universities have been actively reaching out to vulnerable students to proactively offer additional support.
We have worked closely with the OfS, to provide up to £3 million to fund the mental health platform Student Space. We have asked the OfS to allocate an additional £15 million towards student mental health, through proposed reforms to strategic priorities grant funding.
Going forward, HE providers should continue to be innovative in how they identify issues and support their students. This includes identifying appropriate technology to flag potential issues and enable students to engage in a variety of ways. As a government, we will continue to review the situation and our support in this area.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to improve literacy rates of key stage 1 students from lower income households.
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.
There is sound evidence that systematic synthetic phonics is a highly effective method of teaching reading to children. The Department introduced the light touch phonics screening check for Year 1 pupils in 2012. Phonics performance is improving: in 2018, 163,000 more six year olds were on track to become fluent readers compared to 2012. This represented 82% of pupils meeting the expected standard, compared to 58% in 2012.
Building on this success, in 2018 the Department launched a £26.3 million English Hubs Programme. The Department has appointed 34 primary schools across England as English Hubs, which are taking a leading role in supporting nearly 3000 schools to improve their teaching of reading through systematic synthetic phonics, early language development, and reading for pleasure. The English Hubs are primarily focused on Key Stage 1 and focus on supporting schools with high levels of disadvantage.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to reduce the time it takes to go through the adoption process.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The government set out a strategy to radically reform the adoption system in the document ‘Adoption: a vision for change’, published in March 2016.
Since 2012-13, the government’s adoption reform programme has improved the average time taken from entering care to a child being placed with their adopted family. This has decreased by 7 months to 14 months in 2017-18.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that young people with vision impairment are provided with past papers and exams in their stated preferred format in accordance with the Equality Act 2010.
Answered by Nick Gibb
This is a matter for Ofqual, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation. I have asked its Chief Regulator, Sally Collier, to write directly to my hon. Friend and a copy of her reply will be placed in the libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that modified versions of GCSE and A Level exams are available for young people with a visual impairment; and what steps his Department takes to monitor that availability.
Answered by Nick Gibb
This is a matter for Ofqual, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation. I have asked its Chief Regulator, Sally Collier, to write directly to my hon. Friend and a copy of her reply will be placed in the libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he has taken to make childcare more accessible in North Herefordshire.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The government provides the following significant childcare support to parents and carers:
It is the responsibility of the local authority to ensure that every child that is eligible for the 15 and 30-hours free childcare entitlement is able to access a place. Local authorities receive the funding from central government in order to provide these places, and in turn, pass the funding they receive on to the front-line providers of childcare service. Local authorities also have a statutory duty to provide parents with information, advice and guidance on their websites about how these childcare offers can be accessed locally.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to improve the provision of education services for visually impaired children.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
In April 2018, the Department for Education announced £3.4 million funding over 2018-2020 to equip the school workforce to deliver high quality teaching across all types of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including for children and young people with vision impairment. The SEND schools’ workforce contract, which will be delivered by the whole school SEND consortium and led by the National Association for Special Educational Needs (Nasen), will help schools identify and meet their training needs in relation to SEND, as well as building the specialist workforce.
We are also reviewing the learning outcomes of specialist SEND qualifications, including the mandatory qualifications for teachers of classes with visual impairment, to ensure they reflect the changing needs of the education system.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to increase core funding for schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
This year the core schools budget has increased to £42.4 billion and will rise further to £43.5 billion in 2019‑20. This increase follows the additional £1.3 billion announced last year, over and above what was promised at the last Spending Review, which is being provided by prioritising front-line spending within the Department’s budget.
This means that funding for the average primary school class this year is £132,000, which is £8,000 more in real terms than in 2008. The same children will receive on average £171,000 when they move to secondary school, a real terms rise of £10,000 compared to a decade ago. Figures from the Institute for Fiscal Studies show that real terms per-pupil funding in 2020 for five to sixteen year olds will be more than 50% higher than it was in 2000.
Funding after 2019-20 will be determined at the next spending review.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of whether the Pupil Premium is being used to supplement core funding.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The pupil premium is additional funding that schools are allocated to help support pupils from financially disadvantaged family backgrounds and those who are currently looked after or who have left care through adoption or other routes. We give schools flexibility over how they spend this funding, as they are best placed to determine how to use it most effectively to support those pupils who it is intended to benefit. We hold schools to account for their use of the pupil premium through a specific focus in Ofsted inspections and through analysis of school performance tables on the progress and attainment of disadvantaged pupils.
While it is for schools to decide how to use the totality of their funding to support the education of their pupils, we require all local authority maintained schools to publish details online about how much pupil premium funding they have been allocated, the ways in which that funding has been spent and the impact this has had on eligible pupils.
We also encourage schools, when planning their strategy for use of the pupil premium, to draw on high quality research evidence about effective and cost effective approaches to increasing the progress and attainment of eligible pupils. This is reflected in the work of the Education Endowment Foundation, which has received £137 million of Government funding to identify what works to improve disadvantaged pupils’ academic progress.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to review the effectiveness of the apprenticeship levy on primary schools.
Answered by Anne Milton
As with other parts of the public sector, the Department for Education (DfE) will be monitoring the uptake of apprenticeships by the school workforce. Public sector bodies in scope of the public sector apprenticeships target - including primary schools - are required to annually publish and report to DfE on the number of apprenticeship starts in their workforce. The first reports (covering the period 1 April 2017 – 31 March 2018) will be published later in the Autumn.
In June 2018, we published updated guidance for schools on apprenticeships to support them in getting the most from our reforms: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apprenticeships-reforms-guide-for-schools. This includes case studies of good practice, myth-busting frequently asked questions and an up-to-date list of apprenticeship standards for schools to use.
A range of new apprenticeship standards for the school workforce are now available, including for trainee teachers, teaching assistants and school business managers.