Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact the Oak National Academy’s proposed creative commons licensing on education authors’ moral rights of attribution and integrity.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Oak National Academy is undertaking ongoing market engagement while finalising its plans for procurement. It is considering a range of potential licensing arrangements that will ensure third-party intellectual property rights will be respected. The invitation to tender will be released shortly.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions her Department has had with teachers on converting the Oak National Academy to an arms-length curriculum body.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Oak’s future and operating model was discussed with teachers and others in the sector in multiple forums. My hon. Friend, the former Minister for School Standards held roundtable discussions with teachers and school leaders from a range of schools and multi-academy trusts. The department held a series of public webinars for teachers, school leaders, and sector bodies. Plans for Oak’s future have also been discussed with teacher representatives, including school leaders and unions, and teacher viewpoints have been collected through surveys.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of installing air purifiers such as (a) HEPA filters and (b) Corsi-Rosenthal boxes in classrooms to help reduce the risk of covid-19 infection.
Answered by Jonathan Gullis
As of 24 June 2022, the Department has delivered more than 386,000 CO2 monitors to state-funded settings to help them assess how well ventilated their teaching spaces are.
Where an area of poor ventilation has been identified that cannot be resolved through simple measures, settings were able to apply for an air cleaning unit to use while the underlying ventilation issue is addressed.
All eligible applications received for air cleaning units have been fulfilled, with over 8,000 units now delivered. The Department also enabled settings to purchase air cleaning units at a competitive price directly from suppliers at the online marketplace. All air cleaning units supplied by the Department and available on the marketplace are HEPA (high efficiency particulate air) units that meet an approved technical specification.
Natural ventilation is best where that is achievable, and the Department has robust evidence that in the vast majority of cases, teaching spaces and classrooms benefit from sufficient natural ventilation. That evidence includes the responses to our recent survey of settings using the CO2 monitors which was published on 24 January. The findings showed that only 3% of settings reported sustained high CO2 readings (above 1500ppm) that could not be remedied through quick fixes or remedial building works.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help support students in full-time higher education with the rising cost of living.
Answered by Andrea Jenkyns
The department recognises the additional cost of living pressures that have arisen and impacted students this year. Many higher education (HE) providers have hardship funds that students can apply to for assistance.
To support disadvantaged students and those in need of additional help, the department has confirmed in our guidance to the Office for Students (OfS) on funding for the 2022/23 financial year that universities will continue to be able to support students in hardship through their own hardship funds and the student premium, for which up to £261 million is available for the 2022/23 academic year.
We have also worked closely with the OfS to clarify that English providers can draw upon this funding now, to provide hardship funds and support disadvantaged students impacted by cost-of-living pressures.
Maximum grants and loans for living costs have also been increased by 2.3% this 2022/23 academic year. Students who have been awarded a loan for living costs for the 2022/23 academic year that is lower than the maximum, and whose household income for the tax year 2022/23 has dropped by at least 15% compared to the income provided for their original assessment, can apply for their entitlement to be reassessed.
In addition, maximum tuition fees, and the subsidised loans available from the department to pay them remain at £9,250 for the 2022/23 academic year, in respect of standard full-time courses. The department is also freezing maximum tuition fees for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years. By 2024/25, maximum fees will have been frozen for seven years. As well as reducing debt levels for students, the continued fee freeze will help to ensure that the HE system remains sustainable while also promoting greater efficiency at providers.
The Energy Price Guarantee announced on 8 September will save the average household at least £1,000 a year based on current energy prices from October. This is in addition to the £400 energy bills discount for all households. Students who buy their energy from a domestic supplier are eligible for the energy bills discount.
As part of the package of support for rising energy bills, the government is also giving a council tax rebate payment of £150 to households that were living in a property in council tax bands A to D as their main home on 1 April 2022. This includes full-time students that do not live in student halls or in property that is not considered a House in Multiple Occupation for council tax purposes.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the findings of the recent report published by Higher Education Policy Institute on hidden homelessness among university students.
Answered by Andrea Jenkyns
No student should ever have to worry about their residential accommodation whilst balancing their studies. Although the department plays no role in the provision of student accommodation, we are investing £2 billion over the next three years to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping.
Universities and private accommodation providers are ultimately autonomous and responsible for setting their own rent agreements but we have always encouraged them to review their policies to make sure that their accommodation policies are fair, clear and have the interests of students at heart.
For any student with concerns, we recommend them reaching out to their university, many of whom have hardship funds that students can apply to for financial assistance.
The government recognises the additional cost of living pressures that have arisen this year and that have impacted students. Therefore, in order to support disadvantaged students and those who need additional help, we have confirmed in our guidance to the Office for Students (OfS) on funding for the 2022-23 financial year that in addition to their existing hardship funds, universities can continue to be able to support students in hardship by drawing on the student premium, for which up to £261 million is available for academic year 2022/23.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the withdrawal of funding for BTEC courses on (a) Black students and (b) racial equality.
Answered by Andrea Jenkyns
An assessment of the potential equalities impacts of the removal of funding for qualifications, which includes some BTEC qualifications, was carried out as part of the qualifications review.
The department expects all students to benefit from a more rigorous qualification system, with higher quality qualifications that better equip students with the necessary skills for progression into employment or further study. Students from black and other minority backgrounds are not expected to be disproportionately impacted by the removal of funding.
The department will continue to produce assessments of potential equalities impacts.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has had recent discussions with schools leadership on student and teacher wellbeing during extreme heat in the UK.
Answered by Will Quince
The department regularly meets with school leaders and their representative bodies to discuss issues impacting on the school workforce and pupils, this includes their wellbeing.
There is clear guidance on looking after children and those in early years settings during heatwaves, including the use of ventilation, keeping children hydrated, and avoiding vigorous physical activity. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/heatwave-plan-for-england/looking-after-children-and-those-in-early-years-settings-during-heatwaves-for-teachers-and-professionals. Ahead of the extreme heat forecast for 18 and 19 July, the department wrote to education and childcare settings to remind them of the guidance and their responsibilities.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has made an assessment of the level of threat of espionage on behalf of China in the UK higher education sector.
Answered by Andrea Jenkyns
The department cannot release information regarding threat assessments on the grounds of National Security.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to help ensure that there are adequate numbers of early years teachers and practitioners.
Answered by Will Quince
The department recognises the huge contribution that early years educators make to giving every child the best start in life, and we are committed to supporting the sector to develop a workforce with the appropriate knowledge, skills, and experience to deliver high-quality early education and childcare.
That is why the department announced up to £153 million in programmes to support workforce development as part of our work to support recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The department is also creating new early years training routes by increasing the number of places available for early years initial teacher training. Free level 3 early years qualifications are available through the Lifetime Skills Guarantee for adults without a level 3 or higher qualification, and from April 2022, eligibility was expanded to include adults who are unemployed or earning below the National Living Wage annually, regardless of any other qualifications held. Employer trailblazer groups have also developed level 2 and 3 apprenticeships, and in August 2021, the department launched a level 5 apprenticeship.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the (a) implications for his policies of the report by the Early Years Workforce Commission entitled A Workforce in Crisis: Saving Our Early Years, published in 2021 and (b) impact of levels of pay on early years staff.
Answered by Will Quince
The majority of the early years sector is made up of private, voluntary, and independent organisations who set their own rates of pay. However, the department acknowledges the concerns raised by the report, and more generally by the early years sector, regarding the perceived impact of salary rates and the link this has to workforce recruitment and retention.
The department is working with the sector to build our understanding of the early years workforce, and how we might support providers in this area.