Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many grants have been awarded to firms to take on an apprenticeship since the most recent Spending Review; and in which sectors those grants have been allocated.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
Apprenticeships will be more important than ever in helping businesses to recruit the right people and develop the skills they need to recover and grow. To help employers offer new apprenticeships, they are now able to claim £2,000 for every new apprentice they hire under the age of 25, in recognition of the particular impacts of COVID-19 on the employment prospects of this group, and £1,500 for new apprentices aged 25 and over. These incentive payments were announced as part of the government’s Plan for Jobs in July 2020 and the extension of the scheme (to the end of March 2021) was announced in the November Spending Review. Employers have been able to register to claim the incentive since 1 September 2020.
It is encouraging that employers continue to see the value apprentices can bring to their businesses; as of 1 December 2020 employers had so far claimed incentive payments for 11,520 apprentices. We do not hold figures for incentive payments by industry sector.
Updated figures will be published in the ‘Apprenticeships and traineeships: January 2021’ statistics publication on 28 January 2021, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/announcements/apprenticeships-and-traineeships-january-2021.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many grants have been awarded to firms to support trainees to gain work experience since the Spending Review 2020.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
We are supporting the largest-ever expansion of traineeships, providing an additional 30,000 places in 2020/21 academic year, to ensure that more young people have access to high-quality training. To encourage this, we have introduced £1000 incentive payments for employers who offer traineeship work placement opportunities between 1 September 2020 and 31 July 2021. The new incentive payment will enable employers to apply for £1000 per learner, for up to 10 learners per region, in each of the 9 regions of England.
From 27 January, employers can register to claim this incentive payment and as such, we do not yet have data on the take-up of incentive payments. Employers will be able to claim the incentive payment for all completed traineeship work experience placements that take place between the 1 September 2020 and 31 July 2021 even if the traineeship started before the 1 September 2020. We will monitor the take-up of the new payments and will assess their impact on traineeships starts to ensure traineeships continue to provide the extra support required by young people for them to progress into work or onto an apprenticeship.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to monitor Chartwell UK's progress in delivering the free school meals programme.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The continuing provision of free school meals to children from out of work families or those on low incomes is of the utmost importance to this government. Guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-free-school-meals-guidance/covid-19-free-school-meals-guidance-for-schools.
The department does not hold a contract with any provider to provide free school meals of lunch parcels to children. School catering contracts are agreed locally, and are held at school, academy trust, or local authority level. We have guidance in place allowing schools to decide the best approach for supporting free school meal pupils who are at home. This can be through lunch parcels, local vouchers or the national voucher scheme which was available from Monday.
The images circulating of poor-quality food parcels are unacceptable. On 13 January 2021, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, met with Chartwell’s and other leading school food suppliers and caterers to insist on urgent action to make sure lunch parcels meet the standards we expect. We are grateful to those firms who are working hard with schools to provide nutritious, balanced lunches for children.
If a parent is concerned about the standards of their lunch parcel, they should speak directly with their school. If a parent cannot resolve their concern through their school, they can contact the department. The department will make contact with suppliers where concerns are escalated, to ensure they are following the good practice guidance we have set out. We will also alert the school to confirm appropriate contract management arrangements are in place, so that immediate improvements are made.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many new apprenticeships were made available in the manufacturing industry in each year since 2010.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
The most recent statistics on apprenticeship starts by industry sector cover the academic years 2012/13 to 2018/19 and are published on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/apprenticeships-in-england-by-industry-characteristics
The following table shows the number of apprenticeship starts in the manufacturing industry in England between academic years 2012/13 and 2018/19.
| Academic year | ||||||
| 2012/13 | 2013/14 | 2014/15 | 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 |
Total matched apprenticeship starts | 450,710 | 388,590 | 445,910 | 457,020 | 449,830 | 346,840 | 366,170 |
C - Manufacturing | 29,780 | 27,230 | 32,180 | 36,820 | 36,170 | 26,160 | 26,850 |
Data previous to 2012/13 is unavailable and data for 2019/20 will be published in February 2021.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he had made of new apprenticeships that were taken up by people under the age of 25 from low income backgrounds in each year since 2010.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
The department does not hold information on the income backgrounds of apprentices.
We publish breakdowns of apprenticeship starts by learner age:
We also publish breakdowns of apprenticeship starts by Indices of Multiple Deprivation of the learner’s home postcode from 2014/15 onwards: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships-and-traineeships.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will provide a (a) framework and (b) tailored support to enable schools to open as places for pupil engagement and activity in the 2020 summer holidays.
Answered by Nick Gibb
We are not asking schools to open over the summer holidays. Teachers, support staff and head teachers deserve a break, to recharge and rest.
We are aware that some headteachers may be considering using their catch-up premium to provide summer school activities for their pupils. Where this is the case, they have the flexibility, discretion and autonomy to decide how they want to do this. To support schools in planning how to use the catch-up premium, the Education Endowment Foundation has produced a guide which includes advice on summer schools and contains a link to a Teach First toolkit specifically focused on summer schools, for schools that choose to do this.
Holiday clubs and out-of-school clubs for children will also be able to restart over the summer, with safety measures in place. These clubs will be part of Step 3 of the recovery strategy (from 4 July). We have published guidance for the sector on how to implement the protective measures necessary to open safely:
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he has taken to ensure the national curriculum includes (a) up to date scientific understanding of climate change and (b) the role of human behaviour in affecting the global climate.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It is important that young people are taught about climate change and the impact of human actions on the environment. Topics related to this are included in both the science and geography curricula and qualifications. These were developed with subject experts and reflect the latest scientific and academic understanding so that children fully appreciate the causes of climate change and what needs to be done to tackle it.
For example, in primary school science, pupils are taught about how weather changes across the four seasons and how human actions affect environments. In secondary school science, pupils are taught about the production of carbon dioxide by human activity and the effect this has on the climate. This is expanded on in GCSE science where pupils consider the evidence for additional anthropogenic causes of climate change. As part of GCSE geography, pupils look at the causes, consequences of, and responses to, extreme weather conditions and natural weather hazards. This includes understanding the interactions between people and environments.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of whistleblowing policies throughout academy trusts.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The department requires a high level of accountability and transparency of academy trusts. Academy trust accountability is founded on a clear framework communicated and regulated by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), through trusts’ funding agreement and the Academies Financial Handbook.
The Academies Financial Handbook requires that all academy trusts have appropriate whistleblowing procedures in place. Academy trusts must also ensure that all concerns raised with them by whistleblowers are responded to properly and fairly. Whistleblowers can also report allegations of fraud or financial irregularity to the ESFA. The ESFA has published guidance about how to report such allegations, the actions the ESFA will take when it receives an allegation and the rights of whistleblowers.
The guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-esfa-handles-allegations-of-suspected-fraud-or-financial-irregularity/how-esfa-handles-allegations-of-suspected-fraud-or-financial-irregularity.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department has taken to help ensure staff working for academy trusts can raise concerns about schools' governance.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The department requires a high level of accountability and transparency of academy trusts. Academy trust accountability is founded on a clear framework communicated and regulated by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), through trusts’ funding agreement and the Academies Financial Handbook.
The Academies Financial Handbook requires that all academy trusts have appropriate whistleblowing procedures in place. Academy trusts must also ensure that all concerns raised with them by whistleblowers are responded to properly and fairly. Whistleblowers can also report allegations of fraud or financial irregularity to the ESFA. The ESFA has published guidance about how to report such allegations, the actions the ESFA will take when it receives an allegation and the rights of whistleblowers.
The guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-esfa-handles-allegations-of-suspected-fraud-or-financial-irregularity/how-esfa-handles-allegations-of-suspected-fraud-or-financial-irregularity.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department has to conduct research on the adequacy of counselling services provided in schools in England.
Answered by Nick Gibb
School based counselling by well-qualified practitioners can play an effective role as part of a ‘whole school’ approach to supporting mental health and wellbeing. It is for schools to decide what support to put in place based on the particular needs of their pupils.
The Department has no plans to make a specific assessment of counselling services provided in schools. However, the Department's nationally representative survey of school provision published in 2017 indicated that 61% of schools offer counselling services, with 84% of secondary schools providing their pupils with access to counselling support.[1] To support schools to provide counselling, the Government has provided advice on how to deliver high quality school-based counselling, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/counselling-in-schools.
The Government is introducing new mental health support teams to provide additional support linked to groups of schools and colleges. The first teams are being set up in 25 areas of the country this year. The aim is for these teams to work together with existing provision, including school-based counselling. The Government will evaluate their introduction to ensure that they do not displace existing provision.