Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has made an assessment of the level of institutional racism in UK universities.
Answered by Andrea Jenkyns
Any form of racism is abhorrent and unacceptable anywhere, including in higher education (HE). HE providers are autonomous institutions with clear responsibilities. Under the Equality Act 2010, they should have robust policies and procedures in place to comply with the law in investigating and swiftly addressing reports of racism.
The department is clear that HE providers should be proactive in confronting and preventing racism, ensuring campuses are safe, welcoming environments for students of all races and backgrounds, and empowering those students to feel confident in reporting issues. The 2020 Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities report found that most students from ethnic minority groups do relatively well in accessing and completing HE.
However, the department continues to work with universities, sector organisations, student organisations, and the regulator to drive racism out of HE institutions.
The Office for Students (OfS) has published data showing that black students are less likely than white students to achieve a first or 2.1 degree. The department notes that the OfS will be tracking this further as part of its range of new performance indicators.
The department is in regular contact with other government departments, such as the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice, to align activity and ensure effective practice in prevention and victim support is shared widely.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
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 tackling institutional racism in higher education institutions.
Answered by Andrea Jenkyns
Any form of racism is abhorrent and unacceptable anywhere, including in higher education (HE). HE providers are autonomous institutions with clear responsibilities. Under the Equality Act 2010, they should have robust policies and procedures in place to comply with the law in investigating and swiftly addressing reports of racism.
The department is clear that HE providers should be proactive in confronting and preventing racism, ensuring campuses are safe, welcoming environments for students of all races and backgrounds, and empowering those students to feel confident in reporting issues. The 2020 Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities report found that most students from ethnic minority groups do relatively well in accessing and completing HE.
However, the department continues to work with universities, sector organisations, student organisations, and the regulator to drive racism out of HE institutions.
The Office for Students (OfS) has published data showing that black students are less likely than white students to achieve a first or 2.1 degree. The department notes that the OfS will be tracking this further as part of its range of new performance indicators.
The department is in regular contact with other government departments, such as the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice, to align activity and ensure effective practice in prevention and victim support is shared widely.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to tackle outstanding repairs to further education college buildings in Lancaster and Fleetwood constituency.
Answered by Andrea Jenkyns
The Further Education Capital Transformation Programme is delivering the £1.5 billion manifesto commitment to upgrade further education (FE) college estates.
Through this programme, £200 million was allocated to all FE colleges and designated institutions to undertake immediate remedial work and upgrade the condition of their estates. Lancaster and Morecambe College, which is situated in same local authority as Lancaster and Fleetwood constituency, received an allocation of £410,528 of capital funding to improve their estate in August 2020. Colleges were able to prioritise how they could use this funding to tackle immediate condition improvement projects.
The next stage of the programme of investment to upgrade the FE estate is due to be announced later this year.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 28 September 2022 to Question 51633 on Schools: Solar Power, how many school buildings in Lancaster and Fleetwood constituency were inspected as part of the CDC Survey.
Answered by Jonathan Gullis
The Department is preparing detailed analysis of the data collected for the Condition Data Collection (CDC) programme and plan to publish the details by the end of the year.
The key, high-level findings of the CDC programme, were published in May 2021 in the report ‘Condition of School Buildings Survey – Key Findings’.
The report is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/989912/Condition_of_School_Buildings_Survey_CDC1_-_key_findings_report.pdf.
The Department has no plans to make a statement.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to his Answer of 27 September to Question 51628 on Schools: Buildings, which schools in Lancaster and Fleetwood constituency have one or more buildings classified in Category D of condition need; how long each of those buildings has been classified in that category; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jonathan Gullis
The Department is preparing detailed analysis of the data collected for the Condition Data Collection (CDC) programme and plan to publish the details by the end of the year.
The key, high-level findings of the CDC programme, were published in May 2021 in the report ‘Condition of School Buildings Survey – Key Findings’.
The report is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/989912/Condition_of_School_Buildings_Survey_CDC1_-_key_findings_report.pdf.
The Department has no plans to make a statement.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much has been spent on improvements to school buildings in Lancaster and Fleetwood constituency in the period between 1 January 2022 and 31 March 2022.
Answered by Jonathan Gullis
The Department has allocated over £13 billion in condition funding since 2015 for improving the condition of school buildings, including £1.8 billion in the 2021/22 financial year.
Schools and those responsible for school buildings receive condition funding through different routes depending upon their size and type. Local authorities, large academy trusts and large voluntary aided bodies receive school condition allocations (SCA) to invest in their schools. In addition, devolved formula capital (DFC) is allocated for individual schools and other eligible institutions to spend on capital projects that meet their own priorities.
As investment of these allocations is determined at a local level and many responsible bodies, such as large academy trusts, cut across local boundaries, it is not possible to break total spend down to constituency level. However, allocations of SCA and DFC for the 2021/22 financial year can be found at: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20210701004626/https:/www.gov.uk/guidance/school-capital-funding#funding-allocations-for-the-2021-to-2022-financial-year.
Schools that are not part of bodies eligible for SCA are instead eligible to bid to the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF). Annual bidding rounds for CIF are launched in the autumn, and the outcomes are announced in the following spring. CIF funding is released in phased payments as work progresses. For CIF, we do not track monthly expenditure by constituency. We publish final CIF funding amounts on individual projects only once all projects in an annual round have completed, for commercial reasons.
In addition to allocations, the School Rebuilding Programme (SRP) will rebuild or refurbish buildings at 500 schools over the next decade. 161 schools have been confirmed to date and details, including contract values once available, are published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme-2022-to-2023-approved-schools.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much has been spent in Lancaster and Fleetwood constituency through the National Tutoring Programme in each month since it was launched.
Answered by Jonathan Gullis
The Department does not hold information on Tuition Partners or Academic Mentors in the required format at constituency level.
School-led tutoring grant allocations by school and local authority for the 2021/22 academic year have been published here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1071234/School_Led_Funding_Publication_File_flat_values_v1.ods.
Payment information relating to school-led tutoring for the 2021/22 academic year will be published by the Education and Skills Funding Agency once the reconciliation process has been completed for that period.
School-led tutoring grant allocations for the 2022/23 academic year have been published and are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-tutoring-programme-ntp-allocations-for-2022-to-2023-academic-year.
Between November 2020 and June 2022, over 2 million tuition courses were started. The Government has committed more than £1 billion to support tutoring over the 2020/21 to 2023/24 academic years, during which the Department aims to offer up to six million tutoring courses.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) Ofsted-registered childminders are working and (b) children aged (i) 1-3 and (ii) 4-11 are living in Lancaster and Fleetwood constituency; what assessment he has made of the adequacy of childcare provision in that constituency; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
A breakdown in the number of Ofsted-registered childminders who are working, and the number of children aged 1-3 and 4-11 by parliamentary constituency and local authorities requested, can be found in the attached table. Childminders are generally the most affordable and flexible form of childcare and form an important part of the broader childcare market.
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. At present, all local authorities report that they are fulfilling their duty to ensure sufficient childcare.