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Written Question
Childcare: Sefton Central
Thursday 19th October 2023

Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 14 September 2023 to Question 198639 on Childcare, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure the adequacy of (a) trained staff, (b) safe premises and (c) registered places in Sefton Central constituency by the start of September 2025 to offer eligible children aged nine months and above to access 30 hours a week of free childcare for 38 weeks each year until the end of the term before they start at primary school.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Having enough staff in place to deliver high-quality education and care will be key to ensuring the successful delivery of our record expansion of early years entitlements. Driving up interest in early years careers and ensuring there are enough opportunities for career development is a priority for this government.

In the government’s Spring Budget 2023, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced transformative reforms to childcare for parents, children and the economy. By 2027/28, this Government will expect to be spending in excess of £8 billion every year on free hours and early education, helping working families with their childcare costs. This represents the single biggest investment in childcare in England ever.

The department is developing a range of new workforce initiatives including the launch of a new national campaign, planned for the beginning of 2024, to boost interest in the sector and support the recruitment and retention of talented staff. To increase interest in early years, we are working to remove unnecessary barriers to entering the sector as well as considering how to make early years qualifications more accessible, coordinated and relevant.

Over the summer the department launched a competition for Early Years Skills Bootcamps with a pathway to an accelerated level 3 Early Years Educator apprenticeship, and we will consider degree apprenticeship routes so everyone from junior staff to senior leaders can easily move into or indeed enhance their career in the sector. We are also working across government to boost early years career awareness by collaborating with the Department for Work and Pensions and Careers & Enterprise Company to promote the importance and value of a career in early years.

Regarding safe premises, with a growing number of staff joining the sector, the safety of our youngest children remains as important as ever. All new and existing early years providers must keep children safe and promote their welfare. The Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework sets the standards that all early years providers in England must meet to ensure that children are kept healthy and safe. More information can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1170108/EYFS_framework_from_September_2023.pdf.

Under these requirements, all owners and managers of childcare settings have a responsibility to ensure that their premises, including overall floor space and outdoor spaces, are fit for purpose and suitable for the age of children cared for and the activities provided on the premises. All providers must also comply with the requirements of health and safety legislation, including fire safety and hygiene requirements. At all times when children are present, at least one person who has a current paediatric first aid certificate must be on the premises.

Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. Part B of the Early education and childcare statutory guidance for local authorities highlights that local authorities should report annually to elected council members on how they are meeting their duty to secure sufficient childcare, and to make this report available and accessible to parents. More information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-education-and-childcare--2.

The Department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing. Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, we discuss what action the local authority is taking to address those issues and where needed support the local authority with any specific requirements through our childcare sufficiency support contract.


Written Question
Apprentices: Taxation
Tuesday 4th July 2023

Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 21 June 2023 to Question 190594, what steps her Department is taking to prevent the return of apprenticeship levy funding to the Treasury.

Answered by Robert Halfon

The apprenticeship levy is an important part of the government’s reforms to create a high-quality, employer-led apprenticeships system. It supports employers of all sizes to invest in high-quality apprenticeship training. The department is increasing investment in apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by 2024/25, which is more than double what was spent on apprenticeships in 2010/11 in cash terms.

Employers choose which apprenticeships they offer and when, therefore total annual spend on apprenticeships depends on the choices made by employers. While the department has seen some underspends in the apprenticeship budget in previous years, this will not always be the case. In the 2021/22 financial year, 99.6% of the apprenticeship budget in England was spent, supporting employers of all sizes to build the skilled workforces they need.

Employers can now choose from over 670 high-quality apprenticeship standards in a variety of sectors to help meet their skills needs. The department also continues to encourage employers to make greater use of apprenticeships by introducing flexible training models like flexi-job and accelerated apprenticeships, which are making apprenticeships more accessible for all sectors. The department has also improved the transfer system to make it easier for levy paying employers to find other employers who wish to take on new apprentices with transferred funds.

As well as funding new apprenticeships in levy-paying employers, the English apprenticeships budget also supports new apprenticeships in employers that do not pay the levy, existing apprentices that started in previous years, English and mathematics tuition for apprentices and additional payments to employers, providers and apprentices.


Written Question
Semiconductors: Skilled Workers
Thursday 29th June 2023

Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the National Semiconductor Strategy, published by her Department on 19 May 2023, when she plans to launch the Skills Dashboard.

Answered by Robert Halfon

The department is developing a Skills Dashboard in 2023 to support the National Science and Technology Council to understand the supply and demand of science and technology skills. This will be focusing on priority technologies, including semi-conductors. The data supporting the dashboard is being developed and the dashboard is on course to be released this year.


Written Question
Construction: Skilled Workers
Thursday 29th June 2023

Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to address skills shortages in the construction industry.

Answered by Robert Halfon

The department’s skills reforms in England provide a ladder of opportunity that enables young people and adults to get good jobs and progress in their careers.

The department is building a skills system that is employer focused, high-quality and fit for the future, and is flexible enough to lead to more people completing high-quality courses that meet employers’ needs in all sectors. This ambitious skills agenda is backed by £3.8 billion of investment over this Parliament. We are using this to expand and strengthen higher and further education, ensuring skills training is aligned to the needs of employers to enable communities to thrive.

With this investment, we are putting employers at the heart of our skills system. This is why the department is working with industry to shape our training offers, creating more routes into skilled employment in key economic sectors, including construction.

Our high-quality apprenticeships are supporting people of all ages with the opportunity to earn and learn the skills needed to start, or progress in, an exciting career in the construction sector. Employers in the construction sector can access a range of high-quality apprenticeship standards to meet their skills needs. There are currently 81 standards approved for delivery, including standards in Modern Methods of Construction to support greener approaches and deliver our commitment to a net-zero economy. In 2021/22, there were 7,490 starts at Level 3 in the construction, planning and built environment sector, a 29.7% increase when compared to 2020/21 (COVID-affected).

T Levels are strengthening vocational options for young people finishing their GCSEs. These two-year, technical qualifications are designed with relevant employers, and are equivalent in size to three A levels. Three T Levels in Construction are now available, leading to a variety of careers in the sector such as bricklaying, plumbing, and civil engineering.

We are delivering reforms to increase the profile, prestige, and uptake of higher technical education. Central to our reforms is the introduction of Higher Technical Qualifications (HTQs). HTQs are current, and new, Level 4 and 5 qualifications, approved and quality-marked by the Institute for Apprenticeships & Technical Education as providing the skills demanded in the workplace by employers.

HTQ rollout is on track with 172 approved qualifications being delivered between September 2022 and September 2024. From September 2023, there will be 18 approved HTQs in Construction and the Built Environment, followed by a further three that have been approved for first teach in September 2024.

The Free Courses for Jobs offer, which was launched in April 2021, allows eligible adults to access over 400 Level 3 qualifications for free, which are equivalent to A levels. Qualifications are available that support workers in all sectors. There are 418 Free Courses for Jobs offers approved for delivery available in construction.

Skills Bootcamps are free, flexible courses of up to 16 weeks, giving people the opportunity to build up sector-specific skills, with an offer of a job interview with an employer on completion. Skills Bootcamps are available in a variety of skill areas. Skills Bootcamps in the construction sector are open for applications in all regions.

High-quality careers information, advice, and guidance are key to helping people to make informed decisions about their future, including being able to find out about and consider the different options, including those in construction, available to them.

The Careers & Enterprise Company is supporting schools and colleges to embed best practice in the delivery of careers information, advice and guidance, so young people are aware of the full range of training and careers available to them and have access to a broad range of employers and workplaces, including those in the construction sectors. This will be delivered through the national roll-out of Career Hubs, Career Leader training, and the Enterprise Adviser Network.

The National Careers Service website gives customers access to a range of useful digital tools and resources to support them including ‘Explore Careers’ which includes more than 130 industry areas and more than 800 job profiles including a range of key sector careers available, descriptions of what those roles entail, qualifications and entry routes. The content team regularly researches and updates content and welcomes updates from industry to ensure content is accurate and up to date.


Written Question
Apprentices: Taxation
Tuesday 27th June 2023

Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Apprenticeship Levy for skills development.

Answered by Robert Halfon

The apprenticeship levy is an important part of the government’s reforms to create a high-quality, employer-led apprenticeships system, and it supports employers of all sizes to invest in high-quality apprenticeship training. The government does not currently have any plans to review the apprenticeship levy.

The department is increasing investment in apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by 2024/25 and have a range of work underway to support employers to use our high-quality apprenticeships to the build skilled workforces they need.

There are over 670 employer-designed apprenticeship standards currently available across all levels and sectors and we are encouraging flexible training models, like flexi-job and accelerated apprenticeships, so that employers can train their apprentices in the way that works best for them. We have also improved the levy transfer system to support levy paying employers to make fuller use of their levy funds.

We have removed the limit to the number of apprentices that small and medium-sized enterprises can take on and we continue to pay 95% of their apprenticeship training costs and 100% for the smallest employers when they take on younger apprentices, including those aged 16-to-18.

The department also wants to further accelerate the growth of higher and degree apprenticeships and encourage higher education providers to expand their existing offers or develop new ones. We are providing an additional £40 million over the next two years to support degree apprenticeship providers to expand and help more people access this provision, on top of our £8 million investment in 2022/23.


Written Question
Apprentices: Taxation
Tuesday 27th June 2023

Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to reform the apprenticeship levy.

Answered by Robert Halfon

The apprenticeship levy is an important part of the government’s reforms to create a high-quality, employer-led apprenticeships system, and it supports employers of all sizes to invest in high-quality apprenticeship training. The government does not currently have any plans to review the apprenticeship levy.

The department is increasing investment in apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by 2024/25 and have a range of work underway to support employers to use our high-quality apprenticeships to the build skilled workforces they need.

There are over 670 employer-designed apprenticeship standards currently available across all levels and sectors and we are encouraging flexible training models, like flexi-job and accelerated apprenticeships, so that employers can train their apprentices in the way that works best for them. We have also improved the levy transfer system to support levy paying employers to make fuller use of their levy funds.

We have removed the limit to the number of apprentices that small and medium-sized enterprises can take on and we continue to pay 95% of their apprenticeship training costs and 100% for the smallest employers when they take on younger apprentices, including those aged 16-to-18.

The department also wants to further accelerate the growth of higher and degree apprenticeships and encourage higher education providers to expand their existing offers or develop new ones. We are providing an additional £40 million over the next two years to support degree apprenticeship providers to expand and help more people access this provision, on top of our £8 million investment in 2022/23.


Written Question
Ceramics: Manufacturing Industries
Thursday 8th June 2023

Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps with her Cabinet colleagues to promote careers in the ceramics manufacturing sector through schools.

Answered by Robert Halfon

High-quality careers information, advice, and guidance is key to helping young people to make informed decisions about their future. This includes the ability to find out about and consider different careers options available, such as in the ceramics manufacturing sector.

Whilst an essential element of careers advice is that it is impartial, the department works with the Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC) to support schools and colleges to embed best practice, so that young people are aware of the full range of careers and have access to meaningful encounters with a range of employers and workplaces.

The department funds Careers Hubs, which lead partnerships of secondary schools, colleges, employers, Local Enterprise Partnerships, local authorities, and careers providers to help young people connect closely to local skills and economic needs through a responsive careers education programme. Through this network, schools can make links with employers from a wide range of sectors who are working with schools and colleges to improve careers education to support young people to make informed choices, and to develop the skills they need and employers want.

The CEC can work with business and sector bodies to help them to engage with schools and colleges across England. Sector bodies can register their interest via the CEC at: https://www.careersandenterprise.co.uk/employers/industry-partnerships/. Individual employers can also register their interest to support schools and colleges through the Enterprise Adviser Network or as a Cornerstone Employer via the CEC’s Employers webpage at: https://www.careersandenterprise.co.uk/employers/. Cornerstone Employers are a flagship group of employers from a range of sectors that work with networks of schools and colleges to improve careers education and ensure key skills for their sector are understood by teachers and education leaders.

In addition, the National Careers Service, a free, government-funded careers information, advice, and guidance service draws on a range of labour market information to support and guide individuals. The Service website gives customers access to a range of useful digital tools and resources to support them including ‘Explore Careers’ which includes more than 130 industry areas and more than 800 job profiles. These include a range of manufacturing roles, and describe what those roles entail, qualifications, and entry routes.


Written Question
Semiconductors: BTEC Qualifications
Monday 5th June 2023

Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the National Semiconductor Strategy, published 19 May 2023, whether her Department plans to create BTEC courses in relevant skills to help support young people enter the semiconductor industry.

Answered by Robert Halfon

Apprenticeships and technical qualifications such as T Levels must be based on occupational standards codesigned with employers and approved by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education.

At level 3, T Levels are the new, world class technical qualifications that are being rolled out across the country. The T Level in “Building Services Engineering for Construction” provides young people with an in-depth understanding of the construction sector. This includes an occupational specialism in “Electrical and electronic equipment engineering”, covering the properties, construction, and function of semiconductor devices.

As outlined in the National Semiconductor Strategy, the department will work with employers to ensure that occupational standards meet the specific requirements of employers in the semiconductor sector, to increase the flow of talented people into the industry.


Written Question
Construction: Training
Thursday 27th April 2023

Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to remove the double levy charge on modular manufacturers by exempting them from the scope of the Construction Industry Training Board levy.

Answered by Robert Halfon

The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) levy applies to all employers engaged wholly or mainly in construction industry activities, unless exempted. A full list of construction industry activities in scope for the purposes of the CITB levy can be found here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1992/3048/schedule/1/made.

The department has not been asked to consider a request to amend this list.

The department does not intend to exempt any in scope employers from the CITB levy on the basis they also pay the apprenticeship levy. The CITB levy and apprenticeship levy fund different activities. The apprenticeship levy is ‘ring-fenced’ to support apprenticeships in England across all sectors and occupations. The CITB levy is specific to the construction industry and invested by CITB in training and other projects for the benefit of the sector. This includes grants to employers to train new staff or develop the skills of their existing workforce, initiatives to help the industry recruit new talent and support the transfer of skilled workers.


Written Question
Teachers: Sefton Central
Monday 24th April 2023

Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many teachers in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in the Sefton Central constituency do not have qualified teacher status.

Answered by Nick Gibb

Information on the school workforce in England is published in the annual ‘School Workforce in England’ national statistics release, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.

The number of teachers without qualified teacher status in all state funded schools in England, including a breakdown by primary and secondary, and by local authority, is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/29d83b82-2aba-44c7-bb82-08db371944c7.

Data relating to schools in individual constituencies can be found in the ‘teacher and support staff numbers by school’ file, within the additional supporting files section, available at: https://content.explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/api/releases/0728fb07-f014-492c-aac9-fd11bb441601/files/2dfcc772-c410-46ac-cb9d-08da713e9200.

There are 24,000 more teachers now than in 2010. The quality of teaching is the most important in school factor in improving outcomes for children, especially for those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Evidence is clear that high quality professional development can lead to improved pupil attainment.

The Department has invested in transforming training for teachers and head teachers. Every teacher and head teacher now has access to high quality, evidence based training and professional development at every stage of their career, starting with initial teacher training (ITT).

By 2024, a reformed ITT provider market will be delivering quality assured training leading to qualified teacher status (QTS) that places a greater emphasis than ever before on embedding structured practice into courses, ensuring trainees are ready to thrive in the classroom.

A new system of higher quality training provider partnerships will be supported by £36 million to introduce new Quality Requirements, including better training for mentors and the delivery of new, cutting edge, intensive training, and practice activity. Every teaching school hub will be involved in ITT to ensure that training places are available across the country.

QTS is considered desirable for teachers in most schools in England. In some schools, including academies, free schools, and independent schools, QTS is not a legal requirement. Academies have a fundamental freedom to employ talented people who do not necessarily have QTS.

Most teachers in all schools, including academies, have QTS and have undertaken initial teacher training. In the 2021/22 academic year, the latest data available, 14,771 teachers (headcount) did not have qualified teacher status, equivalent to 2.9% of teachers.