Asked by: Cheryl Gillan (Conservative - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will place copies of the board minutes of the National College for Advanced Transport and Infrastructure and the National College for High Speed Rail in the Library.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
As the National College for Advanced Transport and Infrastructure is an independent organisation outside the control of the department and its agencies, publication of minutes is decided by its own board.
Asked by: Cheryl Gillan (Conservative - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will publish the most recent Ofsted Report into the National College for Advanced Transport and Infrastructure.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
The National College for Advanced Transport and Infrastructure’s latest Ofsted report was published on 24 February 2020. The Further Education Commissioner and the Education and Skills Funding Agency have viewed the report and made recommendations for the college to follow. These supplementary documents were also published on 24 February 2020 and are available to access here: https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/provider/31/144789.
Asked by: Cheryl Gillan (Conservative - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will place in the Library the annual accounts for the National College for High Speed Two, now named the National College for Advanced Transport and Infrastructure.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
The National College for High Speed Rail (NCHSR), now known as the National College for Advanced Transport and Infrastructure (NCATI) is an independent financial organisation outside the control of the department and its agencies and is responsible for the publication of its annual reports and financial statements. The department expects that the college will publish its 2018/19 accounts once signed off by its board. However, the college’s previous annual accounts are already published and available on the college’s website.
Asked by: Cheryl Gillan (Conservative - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reasons minutes of the board meetings of the National College for advanced Transport and Infrastructure have not been published since 12 December 2018.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
As the National College for Advanced Transport and Infrastructure is an independent organisation outside the control of the department and its agencies, publication of minutes is decided by its own board in accordance with its governance documents, available on its website.
Asked by: Cheryl Gillan (Conservative - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which Minister authorised the payment of £4.55 million grant to the National College for Advanced Transport and Infrastructure referred to in that organisation's Board Minutes dated 12 December 2018; in what amounts and on what dates that grant was paid; and whether further applications for funding of that organisation have been received by his Department.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
In December 2018, in recognition of the National College for Advanced Transport and Infrastructure’s (NCATI) future potential to deliver high level technical education in the advanced transport industry and understanding the college’s intent to rebrand itself to attract a wider market share, the former Minister of State for Apprenticeships and Skills, the right hon. Anne Milton, approved revenue grant provision to the value of £4.55 million to the National College for High Speed Rail (now known as the NCATI). Payments of this funding were to be allocated as follows:
Financial Year | Funding |
2018-19 | £2 million |
2019-20 | £1.75 million |
2020-21 | £0.8 million |
The forecasted number of learners during the October 2019 intake was lower than expected. As a result, the college was awarded an emergency payment of £600,000, paid in January 2020 to keep it operational, in place of the £800,000 due to be awarded from 1 April 2020. This emergency payment triggered an Education and Skills Funding Agency Financial Notice to Improve and a Further Education Commissioner’s visit, resulting in a recommendation for a Structure and Prospects Appraisal (SPA). An application for further funding (up to a maximum of £1.6 million) has been agreed. This will be paid to the college in monthly installments, on evidence of need, and is to be used for educational purposes only to keep the college operational during the SPA.
Asked by: Cheryl Gillan (Conservative - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many student places the National College for Advanced Transport and Infrastructure has; and how many students have (a) enrolled on, (b) completed and (c) failed to finish or continue their course.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
There are 1200 learner places available at the National College for Advanced Transport and Infrastructure each year. Since it opened in September 2017, there have been 504 enrolments. 99 students have completed their courses and 92 learners withdrew.
Asked by: Cheryl Gillan (Conservative - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether all graduates of the National College for High Speed Rail will be required to work on the High Speed 2 project for a length of time after they graduate.
Answered by Anne Milton
The National College for High Speed Rail has been established to help provide the skills and qualifications required by High Speed 2 (HS2) and the modern rail industry as a whole. The college offers a range of qualifications, particularly at Level 4 and above, such as apprenticeships, certificates in higher education and foundation degrees via full time and part time delivery. There is no mandatory requirement for any student to be employed by HS2 once they have obtained their qualification. Qualifications and skills gained by students allow them to work for a wide range of organisations in the rail sector.
Asked by: Cheryl Gillan (Conservative - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her Department plans to include in the autism module that will be included in initial teacher training; and when delivery of that module will be commenced.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Teachers are required to have a clear understanding of the needs of all pupils, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including autism, as part of the Teachers' Standards. In July 2016, the Department published a new framework for initial teacher training (ITT) content, which involves specific content on SEND, including autism. As part of ITT provider inspections, Ofsted has due regard to the Teachers’ Standards and framework of core content. 99% of all ITT partnerships inspected by Ofsted were judged to be either good or outstanding at their most recent inspection.
The Government does not prescribe the content of ITT courses. It is for ITT providers to use their judgement to determine the content and structure of courses. They must be designed so that teacher trainees can demonstrate that they meet all of the Teachers' Standards at the appropriate level.
The Department has funded the Autism Education Trust (AET) since 2011 to deliver autism training to existing early years, schools and post-16 education staff in England. The AET has now trained more than 175,000 education staff to encourage a whole school approach to supporting children and young people with autism. In March 2018, the Department extended this contract by a further two years.
Asked by: Cheryl Gillan (Conservative - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children and young people who are either educated at home or not in employment, education or training are recorded within the statistics and analysis on statements of special educational needs and education, health and care plans in England published on 26 May 2016; and under which categories such children and young people are recorded.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The number of children and young people with a statement or education, health and care (EHC) plan who are educated at home is not specifically collected in the ‘Statements and EHC plans England: 2016’ publication[1]. However, as these children and young people will be included in the total number of children and young people with statements and EHC plans, local authorities are likely to have included these children and young people in the ‘other arrangements made by the local authority’ or ‘other arrangements made by the parent’ category.
The number of children and young people with statements or EHC plans who are not in employment, education or training (NEET) is not specifically collected in this statistical first release. Where young people have a statement or EHC plan and are NEET, they will be included in one of the other categories, e.g. ‘other arrangements made by local authority’ or ‘awaiting provision’.
There is not an exhaustive list of arrangements included in the category of ‘Other – arrangements made by the local authority in accordance with Section 319 of the Education Act 1996 or Section 61 of the Children and Families Act 2014’. The published SEN 2016 guide for local authorities[2] completing this part of the collection is as follows:
‘Section 319 of the Education Act 1996 empowers an authority to provide education for children with special educational needs “other than in school”. This may include education in centres run by social services or at home. Children would not normally be on another school register.
‘Section 61 of the Children and Families Act 2014 empowers an authority to provide education for children and young people with special educational needs “other than in school, post-16 institutions, etc”. This may include education in centres run by social services or where the local authority has named home education on an EHC plan.’
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statements-of-sen-and-ehc-plans-england-2016
[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/special-educational-needs-survey-2016-guide
Asked by: Cheryl Gillan (Conservative - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what establishment types and educational provision arrangements are included within the category of other arrangements made by local authority used in the statistics and analysis on statements of special educational needs and education, health and care plans in England published on 26 May 2016.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The number of children and young people with a statement or education, health and care (EHC) plan who are educated at home is not specifically collected in the ‘Statements and EHC plans England: 2016’ publication[1]. However, as these children and young people will be included in the total number of children and young people with statements and EHC plans, local authorities are likely to have included these children and young people in the ‘other arrangements made by the local authority’ or ‘other arrangements made by the parent’ category.
The number of children and young people with statements or EHC plans who are not in employment, education or training (NEET) is not specifically collected in this statistical first release. Where young people have a statement or EHC plan and are NEET, they will be included in one of the other categories, e.g. ‘other arrangements made by local authority’ or ‘awaiting provision’.
There is not an exhaustive list of arrangements included in the category of ‘Other – arrangements made by the local authority in accordance with Section 319 of the Education Act 1996 or Section 61 of the Children and Families Act 2014’. The published SEN 2016 guide for local authorities[2] completing this part of the collection is as follows:
‘Section 319 of the Education Act 1996 empowers an authority to provide education for children with special educational needs “other than in school”. This may include education in centres run by social services or at home. Children would not normally be on another school register.
‘Section 61 of the Children and Families Act 2014 empowers an authority to provide education for children and young people with special educational needs “other than in school, post-16 institutions, etc”. This may include education in centres run by social services or where the local authority has named home education on an EHC plan.’
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statements-of-sen-and-ehc-plans-england-2016
[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/special-educational-needs-survey-2016-guide