Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether UK students will liable for fees in their host countries under the Turing programme.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
The government is committed to international education exchanges. The Turing scheme will be backed by over £100 million, providing funding for around 35,000 students in universities, colleges and schools to go on placements and exchanges overseas, starting in September 2021.
We will be making further information available very shortly to enable providers across the UK to prepare to bid for funding when applications open in the coming weeks for placements to take place from September 2021. This will include information on how applications will be assessed, and funding allocated and we plan to have a call for bids much like Erasmus+. Successful applications will receive funding for administering the scheme and students taking part will receive grants to help them with the costs of their international experience.
This scheme will be demand-led and will be open to bids from providers across the UK. As such, there is no projection as to the number of students from each nation or specific limits for any specific region.
On tuition fees, we expect these to be waived for Turing scheme participants consistent with the arrangements for Erasmus+.
On participant numbers, the National Agency collects data on Erasmus+ participation by devolved administration, available here: https://www.erasmusplus.org.uk/statistics.
Data for the programme year 2020/2021 is not currently available.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions his Department had with the Welsh Government on the allocation and distribution of Wi-Fi vouchers from telecommunication companies for disadvantaged children in 2020.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Mobile networks are currently providing internet access for pupils in England to engage with remote learning. All devolved nations have set up separate initiatives to support their schools.
Last year, the Department ran a pilot in partnership with British Telecom (BT) to provide children and young people free access to a BT WiFi hotspot. Through this, 10,000 BT codes were sent to local authorities and academy trusts for them to pass onto disadvantaged families so that they could access a BT WiFi connection until 31 December 2020. The pilot was not extended because, following testing, it did not suitably meet children and young people’s needs for a reliable and consistent internet connection to access remote education.
The Department has kept colleagues in the devolved administrations updated throughout the COVID-19 outbreak response on our progress with providing laptops and internet access for remote education.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the agreement with mobile network operators to provide free data for key educational sites will include Wales; and what discussions he has had with the Welsh Government on that agreement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The mobile networks are currently providing internet access for pupils in England to engage with remote learning, and the devolved nations have set up separate initiatives to support their schools. The Department has kept colleagues in the devolved administrations updated throughout the COVID-19 response on its progress with providing laptops and the internet for remote education.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what financial support he plans to allocate to (a) exam invigilators and (b) moderators appointed by examination boards who have been unable to work during the covid-19 outbreak; and what discussions he has had with representatives from the Welsh Government on that support.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Invigilators are mostly employed directly by school and other exam centres, while moderators are employed by exam boards.
The Department’s guidance states that where schools or local authorities had expected to use their public funding to engage workers, and had budgeted for this, but work is no longer needed due to the COVID-19 outbreak, we encourage them to follow the approach for casual workers set out in paragraph 20 of the Procurement Policy Note 02/20 and 4/20 on contingent workers. This will ensure that directly hired casual workers have access to the same levels of support as casual agency workers on live assignment during the COVID-19 outbreak. The guidance sets out that in certain circumstances, public bodies can make payments of up to 80% of previously agreed rates to contingent workers. Whilst we encourage schools to follow this guidance, including for invigilators where appropriate, it is advisory and does not mandate or prescribe what schools should do in individual circumstances.
The exam boards that employ moderators are independent organisations. As such, they are responsible for deciding on payment arrangements and discussing with HMRC as appropriate. The situation is complex given the status of different examiners, but we know that the boards are providing information and updates to those involved.
Given that invigilators and moderators are employed by either exam centers or exam boards and covered by general Government guidance as set out above, we have not discussed this specific issue with the Welsh Government.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the Government's policy is on the (a) fee and (b) immigration status of students from the EU starting courses at UK universities in 2021.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
We recognise how important it is that students and providers have information on eligibility for student support before applications for courses open. Applications for courses starting in the academic year 2021/22 do not open until September 2020. We will provide sufficient notice for prospective EU students on fee arrangements ahead of the 2021/22 academic year and subsequent years in the future.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has considered the suspension of student loan repayments in response to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
The repayment of student loans, which includes borrowers from Wales, is governed by the Education (Student Loans) (Repayment) Regulations 2009 (as amended). Department officials are in regular contact with the Devolved Administrations and will continue to liaise with them on Student Loan Repayment policy.
The current system protects borrowers if they see a reduction in their income. Repayments are made based on a borrower’s monthly or weekly income, not the interest rate or amount borrowed, and no repayments are made for earnings below the repayment thresholds. Repayments are calculated as a fixed percentage of earnings above the relevant repayment threshold - if income drops, so do repayments made. Any outstanding debt is written off at the end of the loan term with no detriment to the borrower.
If, at the end of the year, the borrower’s total income is below the relevant annual threshold, they may reclaim any repayments from the Student Loans Company made during that year.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has held discussions with the Welsh Government on suspending student loan repayments in response to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
The repayment of student loans, which includes borrowers from Wales, is governed by the Education (Student Loans) (Repayment) Regulations 2009 (as amended). Department officials are in regular contact with the Devolved Administrations and will continue to liaise with them on Student Loan Repayment policy.
The current system protects borrowers if they see a reduction in their income. Repayments are made based on a borrower’s monthly or weekly income, not the interest rate or amount borrowed, and no repayments are made for earnings below the repayment thresholds. Repayments are calculated as a fixed percentage of earnings above the relevant repayment threshold - if income drops, so do repayments made. Any outstanding debt is written off at the end of the loan term with no detriment to the borrower.
If, at the end of the year, the borrower’s total income is below the relevant annual threshold, they may reclaim any repayments from the Student Loans Company made during that year.