Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much has been spent under the National Tutoring Programme in Warrington North constituency in each month since the launch of that programme.
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: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether young people from Hong Kong on the extended British National (Overseas) visa will be able to immediately access apprenticeship schemes in the UK without having to wait for three years of residence.
Answered by Andrea Jenkyns
Hong Kong British National (Overseas) visa holders are required to meet the same residency requirements as most other non-UK nationals. The residency requirements ensure that public funding for apprenticeships is targeted at those with established ties to the United Kingdom.
They are able to live, work and study in the UK, but will not have access to public funds.
They may start an apprenticeship, and access government funds for training and assessment, once they meet the residency requirement, and can do so before they are able to apply for indefinite leave to remain or citizenship.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to help support parents with the cost of school uniforms.
Answered by Jonathan Gullis
The ‘Cost of school uniform’ guidance, which was published in November 2021 and came into force at the start of September, requires schools to ensure that their uniform is affordable and secures best value for money for parents. It requires schools to:
Headteachers know their school communities best and can make decisions on the branded items that are most appropriate to their school. Branded items create a sense of common identity and prevent pupils from competing against one another in the latest fashion trends. The guidance requires school leaders to carefully consider the overall cost implications of their chosen approach, including whether requiring a branded item is the most cost-effective way of achieving the desired result for their uniform. To ensure that school uniform acts as a social leveller, optional branded items should be kept to a minimum.
The guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cost-of-school-uniforms/cost-of-school-uniforms.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support will be made available to students to assist them with rising energy and food costs.
Answered by Andrea Jenkyns
To support disadvantaged students and those who need additional help, the department has confirmed in 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 academic year 2022/23.
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 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 2022/23 financial year 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 Government to pay them, remain at £9,250 for the 2022/23 academic year in respect of standard full-time courses. We are 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.
As part of a package of support for rising energy bills, the government is 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. Alongside this, the government is also making available discretionary funding of £144 million to support vulnerable people and individuals on low incomes, including students, to support those ineligible for council tax.
The government has also announced that households will get £400 of support with their energy bills through an expansion of the Energy Bills Support Scheme. Students who buy their energy from a domestic supplier are also eligible for this support. Furthermore, 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. Students who buy their energy from a domestic supplier are eligible for the energy bills discount.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that future BTec results are not delayed.
Answered by Andrea Jenkyns
This is a matter for Ofqual, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation. I have asked its Chief Regulator, Dr Jo Saxton, to write to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools have offered places to Ukrainian refugees in each local authority area.
Answered by Robin Walker
The department does not hold information on how many schools have offered places to Ukrainian refugees in each local authority.
We can share headline data on how many Ukrainian children are coming into the country and out of those how many children are being allocated school places. This data is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-placements-for-children-from-outside-of-the-uk/2022-may.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when will schools who offer places to Ukrainian refugees receive additional per pupil funding for those children.
Answered by Robin Walker
For children who have arrived via the Homes for Ukraine scheme, the department has advised local authorities that funding will be on a per pupil basis for the three phases of education. This bespoke scheme enables individuals, charities, community groups and businesses to volunteer accommodation and provide a route to safety for people fleeing from Ukraine.
Eligible local authorities will receive full tariff amount for each child from Ukraine who has arrived under the Homes for Ukraine scheme up to and including 31 May 2022. This payment will be made in July 2022. Further funding allocations for children that arrive in a local authority from June 2022 onwards will be made at a later date.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what targets his Department maintains for the proportion of eligible schools in England that are covered by the Risk Protection Arrangement; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Robin Walker
The department does not maintain a target for the proportion of eligible schools. To date Risk Protection Arrangement membership currently stands at 43% of all eligible schools. Whilst it is not mandatory, the provision of an alternative to commercial insurance continues to provide schools with choice, enabling them to make the most suitable decisions based on their individual needs.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance his Department provides to (a) schools, (b) colleges and (c) universities on defending themselves from cyber fraudsters; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Robin Walker
The department works closely with the National Cyber Crime Security Centre (NCSC) and Joint Information Systems Committee to ensure that up-to-date cyber security guidance is shared with schools, colleges, and universities, including free tools from the NCSC as part of their Active Cyber Defence programme. The department’s Risk Protection Arrangement (RPA) has more than 9,500 member schools (43% of eligible schools in England) and is including cover for cyber incidents as standard from the 2022/23 membership years. To be eligible for RPA cyber cover, there are four key conditions that members must meet. In the event of a cyber incident, RPA members have access to a 24/7 Incident Response Service.
The department’s dedicated sector cyber security function provides advice in response to cyber security enquiries and incident reports from the sector, liaising with the affected institution following an incident to advise on steps to mitigate the threat and provide guidance on recovery.
To support schools in understanding their digital environment and what secure technology they should have in place, the department is developing a core set of digital, data and technology standards. The first set of standards has been published and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/digital-data-and-technology-functional-standard-version-1. All schools and colleges should meet these standards, levelling up access to safe, secure, and user-friendly digital technology for teaching and administration. Standards are being developed by technical and educational experts and will cover all critical technology and infrastructure to meet business and teaching needs, including cyber security.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance his Department has provided to (a) schools, (b) colleges and (c) universities that want to make stocks of lateral flow covid-19 tests available to students and invigilators during the assessment and exams period; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Robin Walker
Public health advice continues to be that testing in education and childcare providers is no longer needed. Most infectious diseases in education and childcare settings can be managed by following the advice in UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) updated health protection in education and childcare settings guidance. Students and staff should follow UKHSA’s advice for those who have symptoms.
As individuals are now mixing in an otherwise open society, regular testing within school and colleges is no longer as effective as it once was. Instead, the most effective protection against severe disease from COVID-19 for everyone, including those at higher risk from COVID-19, is to get vaccinated.
Although education providers may still have some unused test kits in stock, they should not continue to hand these out to staff or students or dispose of them (unless they have reached their expiry date).
The department are currently working with UKHSA to explore the options for removal of testing resources no longer required and repurpose or redeploy them as much as possible based on clinical need prioritisation.
In the meantime, settings should retain any surplus stock and may wish to note this in their contingency plans. The department has published emergency planning and response guidance for education and childcare settings here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/emergency-planning-and-response-for-education-childcare-and-childrens-social-care-settings.