Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason level 3 travel and tourism qualifications will not be funded after 2025; and what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of this decision on (a) the North East and (b) Newcastle.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department has embarked on a technical education reform programme. The changes to post-16 qualifications at level 3 and below are designed to ensure that our qualifications system provides opportunity for young people from all backgrounds. We want as many people as possible to undertake world class A levels and T Levels, as evidence shows these qualifications provide the best foundation from which to progress either into higher education (HE), or skilled employment.
Data shows that, in the following year, of the approximately 3,100 16-18 students who completed a level 3 qualification in Travel and Tourism in 2018/19:
This shows mixed progression outcomes for these qualifications. Specifying that newly developed travel and tourism-related qualifications must be based on employer-designed, approved occupational standards at level 3 will ensure that students gain the knowledge, skills, and behaviours employers in the travel and tourism industries need, leading to better and more consistent progression outcomes for young people.
The department will continue to fund travel and tourism qualifications at level 3 beyond 2025. Existing travel and tourism qualifications will remain funded until 31 July 2026, after which qualifications approved for funding in travel and tourism will need to be mapped against one of the relevant occupational standards at level 3 for technical qualifications. Further information can be accessed at: https://occupational-maps.instituteforapprenticeships.org/.
For future qualifications, the department is encouraging awarding organisations to work with schools, colleges and employers to develop new travel and tourism focused technical qualifications at level 3 which support young people to enter employment or further technical study.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of classifying postgraduate stipends as income for the purposes of providing free childcare support eligibility for full-time researchers.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Minister (Equalities)
The department knows that for families with younger children, childcare costs are often a significant part of their household expenditure, which is why we are committed to improving the cost, choice, and availability of childcare.
The department is removing one of the biggest barriers to parents working by vastly increasing the amount of free childcare that working families can access. Over £4.1 billion will be provided by 2027/28 to fund 30 hours of free childcare per week (38 weeks per year) for working parents with children aged nine months to three years in England. This new offer will empower parents, allowing them to progress their careers and support their families. The department will invest £204 million in 2023/24 to uplift the rates for existing entitlements, rising to £288 million in 2024/25, with further uplifts beyond this.
We believe all parents should have access to childcare before and after the school day to help them work. That is why we are also launching a new national wraparound childcare pilot scheme. A total of £289 million will be provided in start-up funding to enable schools and local areas to test flexible ways of providing childcare. This will include, for example, exploring models such as partnerships between schools and working with private providers on-site. The department expects that this means most schools will have built up the demand to be able to deliver their own before and after school provision (8am-6pm) by September 2026.
Our proposals in the Spring Statement represent the single biggest investment in childcare in England ever. By 2027/28, this Government expects to be spending in excess of £8 billion every year on free hours and early education, helping families with young children with their childcare costs.
Postgraduate stipends are not classified as income for tax purposes by HM Revenue and Customs, meaning that neither PhD students, nor their university, pay income tax or National Insurance Contributions on their stipend. Because the stipend is not income from work, PhD students are therefore not eligible for free childcare support.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the potential merits of including full-time Postgraduate researchers in free childcare support eligibility.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Minister (Equalities)
The Childcare Bill policy statement, published in December 2015, is clear that parents who are studying will not qualify for 30 hours free childcare, unless they are earning and meeting the income criteria.
Students, including postgraduate researchers, who work in addition to their studies and earn the equivalent of at least 16 hours a week at national minimum or living wage, and under £100,000 adjusted net income per year, will be eligible for 30 hours free childcare. If they are unable to meet this threshold, they will remain eligible for the universal 15 hours of free early education entitlement, which is available to all three and four-year-olds regardless of their family circumstances.
The department is not currently planning to extend the income criteria for 30 hours free childcare. We recognise the value of parents continuing in education and provide a range of support for students in further or higher education to support them with childcare.
The department introduced new support packages for students starting Postgraduate master’s degree courses from the 2016/17 academic year onwards, and Postgraduate Doctoral Degree Courses from 2018/19 onwards. These loans are not based on income and are intended as a contribution to the cost of study. They can be used by students according to their personal circumstances to cover the costs of fees and living costs, including childcare. The new support packages have provided a significant uplift in support for postgraduate students while ensuring that the student support system remains financially sustainable.
Students studying on postgraduate courses can apply for loans towards their course fees and living costs, up to £11,836 in 2022/23 for new students undertaking postgraduate master’s degree courses and up to £27,892 in 2022/23 for new students undertaking postgraduate doctoral degree courses.
The department remains committed to improving the cost, choice, and availability of childcare, and we continue to look at ways to make childcare more affordable and to encourage families to use government-funded support they are entitled to.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many Degree Apprenticeships were (a) advertised and (b) completed in the North East in each of the last five years.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The table below provides details of degree level apprenticeship (Level 6 and 7) vacancies in the North East that were advertised on the Find an Apprenticeship (FAA) service on GOV.UK in each of the last five years.
The department encourages employers to advertise on FAA to maximise engagement with their vacancies and to ensure that they are accessible to all potential apprentices, but not all choose to use the service. Employers may choose to recruit apprentices through their own channels, for example their own websites, which we do not monitor. The figures below therefore do not represent the total number of degree level apprenticeship vacancies advertised.
Academic Year | Number of Level 6 & 7 Apprenticeship Vacancies in the North East advertised on Find An Apprenticeship |
2017/18 | 40 |
2018/19 | 110 |
2019/20 | 70 |
2020/21 | 160 |
2021/22 | 140 |
The table below provides details of degree level apprenticeships that have been achieved in each of the last five years.
Academic Year | Number of Level 6 & 7 Apprenticeship achievements in the North East |
2017/18 | 10 |
2018/19 | 60 |
2019/20 | 100 |
2020/21 | 280 |
2021/22 | 570 |
Between 2017/18 and 2021/22 there have been 7,780 degree-level apprenticeship starts in the North East region. Level 6 and 7 apprenticeship standards range from one to five years in duration and typically take three to four years to complete.
Note:
The vacancy region is based on the postcode of the vacancy whereas the achievement/start region is based on apprentice’s home postcode.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to take steps to improve the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of STEM teachers; and whether she has made an assessment of the adequacy of existing schemes at attracting and retaining staff.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department’s recruitment and retention reforms aim to ensure effective teacher supply across all subjects. The Department recognises that recruitment and retention in some subjects, including STEM subjects, remains more challenging and the Department has put in place additional targeted initiatives.
In October 2022, the Department announced an Initial Teacher Training (ITT) financial incentives package worth up to £181 million for those starting ITT in 2023/24, which is a £52 million increase on 2022/23. The package includes bursaries worth £27,000 tax free and scholarships worth £29,000 tax free to encourage talented trainees to teach in key subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing. More information on the financial incentives package can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/funding-initial-teacher-training-itt/funding-initial-teacher-training-itt-academic-year-2023-to-2024. For the 2023/24 academic year, the Department has also extended bursary and scholarship eligibility to all non-UK national trainees in physics.
There is strong evidence that increasing bursaries increases ITT recruitment. The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) have recently published independent research which corroborates the Department’s analysis which finds that a £1,000 increase in bursary value results in approximately a 3% increase in applicants on average, all other things being equal. The NFER research can be found here: https://www.nfer.ac.uk/media/4957/assessing_the_impact_of_pay_and_financial_incentives_in_improving_shortage_of_subject_teacher_supply.pdf.
The Department also pays a Levelling Up Premium worth up to £3,000 tax-free for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers, who choose to work in disadvantaged schools, including in Education Investment Areas. More information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/levelling-up-premium-payments-for-teachers.
In spring 2022, the Department launched ‘Engineers teach physics’ (ETP), an ITT course which was piloted as a step to encourage engineering graduates and career changers with an engineering background to consider a career as a physics teacher. Following the pilot year, the Department has now rolled ETP out nationally, with 18 providers currently offering this course.
The Department reviews the existing schemes on offer each year and considers the introduction of specific targeted initiatives where there is evidence that they could contribute to the recruitment and retention of excellent teachers.
To support retention across all subjects, the Department has published a range of resources to help address staff workload and wellbeing. This includes the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter, which the Department is encouraging schools to sign up to as a shared commitment to promote staff wellbeing. The Charter can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/education-staff-wellbeing-charter. The Department will be reviewing progress made against the Charter later this year.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has a set a target on increasing the range of employers and industries offering Degree Apprenticeships in the (a) UK and (b) North East; and what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the current range of apprenticeships available.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Level 6 and 7 Degree level apprenticeships provide people with high quality training and are important in supporting productivity, social mobility and widening participation in higher education and employment.
The department wants to further accelerate the growth of higher and degree apprenticeships across all regions and encourage higher education (HE) providers to expand their existing offers, or develop new ones. The department is therefore providing an additional £40 million in Strategic Priorities Grant funding over the next two years, on top of the £8 million investment in the 2022/23 financial year. This funding will help to ensure people can access professions which have historically been reserved for those with a traditional degree.
The department continues to promote degree level apprenticeships to employers in all sectors and regions, and it is for individual employers to choose which apprenticeships they offer, and at what level, according to their needs.
The department is working hard to ensure that young people across the country get the right information to help them decide on the best route for their future. From autumn 2023, UCAS will expand their service so that young people can see more personalised options, including degree apprenticeships. From 2024, students will then be able to apply for apprenticeships alongside degrees, meaning young people can find the right option for them, all in one place.
There are now a wide range of degree level apprenticeships available for individuals and employers to choose from. The department’s reforms introduced industry-designed apprenticeship standards to ensure that apprenticeships deliver the skills that employers need. Employers have developed almost 160 standards at degree level, including Doctor, Construction Quantity Surveyor and Midwife. Where employers identify an occupation gap, they can work with the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IFATE) to develop a new apprenticeship.
The department has seen a year-on-year growth of degree level apprenticeships, with almost 180,000 starts since their introduction in the 2014/15 academic year. Starts at Levels 6 and 7 now represent 16.2% of all starts (33,180) so far this year (August 2022 to January 2023), and volumes are up by 12% when compared to the same period in 2021/22 (29,580).
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the extent to which tuition fees for home students cover the actual costs of degree delivery across various subjects for UK universities.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The Office for Students collect and publish sector-level data on income and full economic cost by type of activity including publicly funded teaching (which relates to domestic and EU domiciled students, but not international students). The latest published data can be found here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/annual-trac-2020-21/.
As part of the 2019 Augur Review on Post-18 Education and Funding, the department commissioned and published a report by KPMG on the cost of undergraduate provision which looked at the variation in costs of teaching per student across subjects and providers. The report can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cost-of-undergraduate-higher-education-provision.
The department also published a related analytical note on subject variations in the cost of teaching an undergraduate, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/post-18-review-of-education-and-funding-supporting-statistics.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the diversity of the (a) socioeconomic background, (b) ethnic heritage or origin and (c) gender of students who successfully secure a degree apprenticeship.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department has seen year-on-year growth in the number of ethnic minority, female, and people from the most deprived areas starting apprenticeships at Levels 6 and 7.
That said, the department wants to see more people access degree level apprenticeships.
To achieve this, the department is making up to £40 million available to higher education providers to improve access to apprenticeships over the next two years, on top of the £8 million investment in 2022/23. The department is also increasing the care leavers bursary from £1,000 to £3,000 and continues to promote degree apprenticeships in schools and further education (FE) colleges to students of all backgrounds, through our Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge programme.
In addition, we are working with UCAS on the expansion of their apprenticeships service. From this autumn, young people will see more personalised options on UCAS, including apprenticeships. This will help put technical and vocational education on an equal footing with traditional academic routes.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 30 January 2023 to Question 132392 on Admissions: Academies, whether her Department has provided (a) additional support and (b) guidance to local authorities to help them meet their statutory duty to provide sufficient school places for all children living in their area.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department supports Local Authorities with capital funding for additional school places provided through the Basic Need Grant. Based on Local Authorities’ forecasted pupil numbers, the Department has provided £535 million to create school places needed for September 2023, a further £745 million for places needed by September 2024 and £195 million for places needed by September 2025. At a national level, births have been dropping since 2013. There will continue to be a need for new school places, particularly if areas have a higher birth rate, new housing developments or increased migration from the UK and overseas.
Local Authorities can use the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) to manage significant growth in pupils’ numbers. As part of the DSG, the Department has allocated £259 million in Growth and Falling Rolls funding to Local Authorities in 2023/24. This is an increase of £13 million on funding allocated for 2022/23.
The Department also provides funding to Local Authorities for children who have arrived due to humanitarian and resettlement schemes. In 2022/23 the Department has so far allocated £160 million funding for children who have arrived via the Homes for Ukraine scheme and will allocate a further £30 million at the end of March 2023 for children from Afghanistan in bridging hotels.
Guidance on the process to create a free school, where a Local Authority has identified the need for a new school, can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/establishing-a-new-school-free-school-presumption.
Guidance for Local Authorities on the prescribed alterations process to increase places at existing maintained schools can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-organisation-maintained-schools.
The Department engages with Local Authorities on a regular basis to review their plans for creating additional places and to consider alternatives where necessary. When Local Authorities are experiencing difficulties, the Department provides additional support and advice to help them find solutions as quickly as possible, including when there are sudden population influxes.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 30 January 2023 to Question 132392 on Admissions: Academies, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of granting local authorities the power to direct academies to admit pupils in periods of (a) short term and (b) acute demand for school places.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is not currently considering giving Local Authorities a power to direct academies to admit pupils in periods of demand for school places.
While it is for academies, as their own admission authority, to determine the numbers of places they provide, the Department does expect academy trusts along with other schools to collaborate with Local Authorities to provide additional places where these are needed, particularly where an academy has spare capacity that can be brought into use.
The Department supports Local Authorities with capital funding through the Basic Need Grant to meet their statutory duty to provide sufficient school places. The Department provides revenue funding as part of the Designated Schools Grant that Local Authorities can use to support schools to manage a significant growth in pupil numbers.