Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, on improving skills training in Wallasey constituency.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department regularly discusses skills matters with other government departments, including the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, but not specifically about individual constituencies.
The department is investing £3.8 billion more in further education and skills over the Parliament to ensure people across the country, including in Wallasey, have access to the skills they need to build a fulfilling career in jobs the economy needs.
The department has boosted funding by an extra £1.6 billion for 16 to 19 education in 2024/25 compared with 2021/22. This is the biggest increase in 16 to 19 funding in a decade and will help to fund the additional students anticipated in the system, 40 extra hours per student, and an affordable increase in funding rates per 16 to 19 student.
This additional funding will help providers such as Wirral Metropolitan College, which is a very strong General Further Education College serving the Wallasey area. Their curriculum offer includes T Levels, apprenticeships, an extensive range of qualifications from entry level to higher education, and adult education programmes. Their provision is shaped in collaboration with local employers to ensure it meets local skills needs and the college is also a strategic partner in the delivery of the Wirral Waters project, which enables its learners to access unique learning and employment opportunities.
The college started to offer T Levels in September 2022 and has plans to build this offer in future years, but there are also a number of other local colleges offering T Levels to students in the area since 2021, such as The City of Liverpool College, Hugh Baird College and Birkenhead Sixth Form College.
The department is increasing investment in apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by 2024/25 and supporting employers in all sectors and all areas of the country to use apprenticeships to develop the skilled workforces they need. Since May 2010, there have been a total of 12,940 apprenticeship starts in Wallasey.
The department has introduced the Free Courses for Jobs scheme, which enables adult learners without a level 3 qualification (or learners with any qualification level, but earning below the National Living Wage) to gain a qualification for free. This is serving communities right across the country.
In addition, we have also introduced Skills Bootcamps, which are free, flexible courses of up to 16 weeks, giving people the opportunity to build up sector-specific skills and fast-track to an interview with an employer. There are digital Skills Bootcamps based in Wirral which offer training online as well as Skills Bootcamps in other sectors being delivered both online and face to face in the Liverpool region, which Wallasey residents would be eligible to apply for. An example of this is Tech Lancaster’s Electronics Skills Bootcamp which is being delivered in Liverpool.
The department is continuing to invest in education and skills training for adults through the Adult Education Budget (AEB) at £1.34 billion in the 2021/22 academic year. The AEB fully funds or co-funds skills provision for eligible adults aged 19 and above from pre-entry to level 3, to help them gain the skills they need for work, an apprenticeship or further learning.
Currently, approximately 60% of the AEB is devolved to nine Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) and the Mayor of London. This includes Liverpool City region which covers Wallasey. This gives Liverpool City Region direct control over adult education provision for their residents and provides the local area with the opportunity to meet local needs.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many pupils in (a) the North West, (b) Wirral and (c) Wallasey constituency were off school and self-isolating as a result of covid-19 on each day of the last two months.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department publishes geographic breakdowns of attendance and absence figures on a half-termly basis in the following publication: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak. The data for the final half of the summer term will be published through this route on 27 July 2021.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of countries that do not have a mutual recognition of academic qualifications with the UK; and what steps his Department is taking to reach a mutual recognition of academic qualifications with those countries.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department does not have a full estimate of the number of countries with which the UK Government has not established the mutual recognition of academic qualifications through an agreement, a multilateral framework or a memorandum of understanding.
The UK takes part in the Bologna Process and is a member of the 49 country European Higher Education Area, which seeks to ensure mutual recognition of higher education (HE) qualifications and mobility for European students and staff. The UK Government is also a signatory to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and Council of Europe Lisbon Convention on the recognition of HE qualifications in the Europe and secondary school qualifications giving access to higher education.
In addition to multilateral frameworks and agreements, recognition of academic qualifications can also be included within bilateral memorandums of understanding. Existing UK Government agreements, for example, with China and Argentina cover HE qualifications.
Should it be to our mutual benefit, the Department, alongside the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and colleagues across Government, will pursue arrangements with countries outside existing agreements.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on creating an apprenticeship scheme for students on vocational courses who have been unable to attend in-person practical courses as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
We are committed to supporting learners in Further Education to safely continue with, and complete, their programmes during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Following the announcement of a new national lockdown on 4 January 2021, our guidance for further education providers on restricting attendance sets out that providers should use their best endeavours to deliver remotely as much of students’ planned hours as possible. The guidance can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-further-education-provision. We recognise that this may be more challenging for some students, for example where a course necessitates the use of specialist equipment and supervision, or with respect to work experience and placements. Schools and colleges have been able to continue with the vocational and technical qualification (VTQ) exams that were due to take place in January, where they judged it right to do so. This may have been particularly important for occupational competence VTQs which can only be fulfilled through practical assessment, for example electrician. It was for providers to decide whether to put on the exam. If a student was unable to take their assessment this January, they may be able to take the assessment at a later date. In the event that is not possible, we will put in place arrangements to ensure they are not disadvantaged. Students have prepared for the assessments which are critical for them. It is right, given the importance, that those assessments were given priority alongside vulnerable students and children of key workers.
Apprenticeships are jobs created by employers which provide apprentices with high-quality on and off-the-job training. They will be more important than ever in helping businesses to recruit the right people and develop the skills they need to recover and grow. We have introduced flexibilities to support apprenticeship training to continue, including encouraging the remote delivery of training where possible, and have also introduced flexibilities to 120 apprenticeships to allow end-point assessments for these standards to continue. Where it is not possible and practicable for the apprentice to continue training, a break in learning can be used to allow the apprentice to return to learning at a future date.
To encourage employers to offer new apprenticeship opportunities we have introduced incentive payments for employers of up to £2000 for each new apprentice they hire under the age of 25 as part of our Plan for Jobs. These payments were extended until the end of March 2021 in the November 2020 Spending Review.
We continue to work closely with employers and providers, and across government, to ensure a range of training opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds to gain the skills they need.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason his Department’s digital education platform programme provides funding support for schools to set up (a) G Suite for Education and (b) Office 365 Education but not for other digital education and learning platforms.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government is investing over £400 million to support access to remote education and online social care services. This has included £14.3 million to provide grants to schools to be set up on a digital platform.
Google’s G-Suite for Education and Microsoft’s Office 365 Education platforms are free-to-use for schools and meet their needs by providing the right breadth of tools and technology to support remote education. As of 5 January, 6,900 schools have applied to the Department's digital platforms programme that forms part of the Get Help With Technology programme. Funding provided by the Department means that schools can access technical support from accredited Google and Microsoft to:
The funded support is only provided to schools and colleges that:
Google and Microsoft platforms bring together the school community, pool resources and give pupils the opportunity to work with their peers remotely. They also enable:
The key for school leaders website provides feature comparisons and case studies on how schools are making the most of these platforms, to help schools make the most appropriate choice.
The EdTech Demonstrator network is also in place to offer advice, guidance and training in ways these platforms can be used effectively to strengthen remote education arrangements and reduce teacher workload.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if his Department will expand its digital education platform programme to include other digital education and learning platforms other than G Suite for Education and Office 365 Education.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government is investing over £400 million to support access to remote education and online social care services. This has included £14.3 million to provide grants to schools to be set up on a digital platform.
Google’s G-Suite for Education and Microsoft’s Office 365 Education platforms are free-to-use for schools and meet their needs by providing the right breadth of tools and technology to support remote education. As of 5 January, 6,900 schools have applied to the Department's digital platforms programme that forms part of the Get Help With Technology programme. Funding provided by the Department means that schools can access technical support from accredited Google and Microsoft to:
The funded support is only provided to schools and colleges that:
Google and Microsoft platforms bring together the school community, pool resources and give pupils the opportunity to work with their peers remotely. They also enable:
The key for school leaders website provides feature comparisons and case studies on how schools are making the most of these platforms, to help schools make the most appropriate choice.
The EdTech Demonstrator network is also in place to offer advice, guidance and training in ways these platforms can be used effectively to strengthen remote education arrangements and reduce teacher workload.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what comparative estimate he has made of the cost of using (a) G Suite for Education and Office 365 Education in schools during the covid-19 outbreak and (b) other available digital education and learning platforms.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government is investing over £400 million to support access to remote education and online social care services. This has included £14.3 million to provide grants to schools to be set up on a digital platform.
Google’s G-Suite for Education and Microsoft’s Office 365 Education platforms are free-to-use for schools and meet their needs by providing the right breadth of tools and technology to support remote education. As of 5 January, 6,900 schools have applied to the Department's digital platforms programme that forms part of the Get Help With Technology programme. Funding provided by the Department means that schools can access technical support from accredited Google and Microsoft to:
The funded support is only provided to schools and colleges that:
Google and Microsoft platforms bring together the school community, pool resources and give pupils the opportunity to work with their peers remotely. They also enable:
The key for school leaders website provides feature comparisons and case studies on how schools are making the most of these platforms, to help schools make the most appropriate choice.
The EdTech Demonstrator network is also in place to offer advice, guidance and training in ways these platforms can be used effectively to strengthen remote education arrangements and reduce teacher workload.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has issued guidance to schools that have had residential trips cancelled as a result of the covid-19 outbreak but have been unable to obtain a refund from the company providing that trip.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department for Education continues to advise against both overnight and non overnight domestic (UK) and overseas educational visits. In the autumn term, schools can resume non-overnight domestic educational visits. All such visits should be compliant with COVID-19 guidelines and subject to a thorough and ongoing assessment of the risks to ensure that they can be undertaken safely. Schools should consult the department’s health and safety guidance on educational visits when considering any visit.
The guidance will remain under review, including the position on overnight domestic visits, and will be updated in line with guidance from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Department for Transport and Public Health England.
Any disputes regarding travel agent or travel insurance should be resolved in line with issued contractual terms and arrangements, or by reference to the relevant regulator or national trade bodies such as the Association of British Insurers, the Association of British Travel Agents and the Association of Independent Tour Operators. Departmental guidance confirms this position.
Guidance for the full opening of schools can be found here
COVID-19 travel advice for educational settings is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-travel-advice-for-educational-settings/coronavirus-travel-guidance-for-educational-settings
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students are in receipt of assistive (a) hardware and (b) software technology through the Disabled Students' Allowance in (i) Wirral and (ii) Wallasey.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The Student Loans Company does not distinguish between hardware and software within Disabled Student’s Allowance (DSA). These would both be grouped under the DSA equipment allowance. Therefore, it is not possible to separately identify the number of students who are in receipt of assistive hardware and assistive software technology through the DSA.
The number of students who were in receipt of assistive technology through the DSA equipment allowance in the 2018-19 academic year are:
i. 92 students whose home address is registered as Wirral; and
ii. 35 students whose home address is registered as Wallasey.
Figures are not yet available for the 2019-20 academic year.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to support the families of pupils on free school meals in Wallasey constituency during the school summer holidays in 2020.
Answered by Vicky Ford
I refer the hon. Members to the answer I gave on 23 June 2020 to Question 54195.