Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Government plans to retrofit all education buildings to help achieve the Net Zero target by 2030.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department supports sustainability through our capital funding and programmes, both to reduce carbon and save schools money on energy.
Since 2015, the Department has allocated £11.3 billion to maintain and improve school buildings, including improving energy efficiency. This includes £1.8 billion in the current financial year 2021/22.
In addition, the ten year school rebuilding programme has launched with a commitment to 500 rebuilding projects over the next decade. This will replace poor condition and ageing school buildings with modern, energy efficient designs, transforming education for thousands of pupils.
The Further Education (FE) Capital Transformation Fund delivers the Government’s £1.5 billion commitment to upgrade the estate of both FE colleges and designated institutions in England. This will target colleges in the worst condition whilst supporting the Government's objectives on achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions.
In 2020, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy set up the £1 billion Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme which provided grants for eligible public sector bodies, including schools, to fund energy efficiency and heat decarbonisation measures. Higher education institutions were also eligible for these grants. Phase 2 of this scheme has recently been announced and will allocate £75 million of funding.
More broadly, the Department is working with colleagues across government on carbon reduction and energy efficiency and developing thinking on how future capital programmes can contribute further.
Further details on capital funding for the period beyond this financial year will be set out at the next Spending Review.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support his Department is providing to the families of home schooled children during the covid-19 outbreak; and what steps he is taking to help home schooled children receive predicted grades for examinations.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It is the Government’s aim to ensure all young people receive a world-class education which allows them to reach their potential and live a fulfilled life. In turn, we support the right of parents to educate children at home when they wish to do so and can provide a suitable education.
On 25 February, the Department announced proposals to fairly award all pupils a grade that supports them to progress to the next stage of their lives. These proposals include a clear and accessible route for private candidates to work with a centre to receive a grade this year, at the same time as other candidates. Exam boards will provide centres with clear guidance on the evidence they can use to assess a private candidate. A list of available centres will be published shortly, and we are working with the sector to ensure there are sufficient centres available and at a similar cost to a normal year.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that the Government protects (a) higher education in London (b) Teaching Grant in London and (c) London weighting for London’s Universities.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
The Strategic Priorities Grant, formerly referred to as the Teaching Grant, plays an important role in supporting providers and students to develop the skills and knowledge needed locally, regionally, and nationally to support the economy.
The Strategic Priorities Grant will be reformed for the 2021/22 financial year to ensure that more of taxpayers’ money is spent on supporting higher education (HE) provision which aligns with national priorities, such as healthcare, science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and subjects meeting specific labour market needs.
The London weighting accounts for a small proportion of London-providers’ income. Providers in London received around £64 million London Weighting in the 2020/21 academic year, which is less than 1% of their total income.
Excellent provision can be delivered across the country. London universities will be able to benefit from the significant uplifts we are making to elements of the Strategic Priorities Grant, including the first real terms increase in years in per capita funding for high-cost subjects in Grant funding, as well as being able to bid for capital investment to support the delivery of strategic subjects.
We have also asked the Office for Students (OfS) for a £10 million increase to the specialist provider allocation, to support these institutions which are particularly reliant on Strategic Priorities Grant funding, many of whom are London-based. We want to ensure that our small and specialist providers, including some of our top music and arts providers, receive additional support, and that grant funding is used to effectively support students.
The OfS will consult on these changes shortly before final allocations for the 2021/22 financial year are confirmed and will carefully consider the impact of any changes on providers.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what additional mental health support the Government is providing to pupils during the January 2021 covid-19 lockdown.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The government has made children’s wellbeing and mental health a central part of our response to the COVID-19 outbreak, and the support we have already put in place for children and young people will be critical during this time. The department has issued guidance for schools which includes information and sources of further advice on supporting mental health and wellbeing, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak.
We have ensured that schools have the flexibility to offer a place in school as a vulnerable child to any pupils for whom being in school will help them manage their wellbeing and mental health, or to access support more easily. Decisions will be informed by the school’s experience of how pupils have been affected so far.
Schools will continue to offer pastoral support to pupils working remotely at home, informed and supported by training and expert advice that we have made available, including through the £8 million Wellbeing for Education Return scheme and through local links with mental health providers. This information and support is relevant to remote provision as well as to those attending school. Schools should make sure that parents and pupils know who to contact if they have new concerns about mental health and wellbeing.
A £1 billion COVID “catch-up” package with £650 million shared across early years, schools and 16-19 providers over the 2020/21 academic year is also supporting education settings to put the right catch-up and pastoral support in place. The Education Endowment Foundation have published a COVID-19 support guide to support schools to direct this funding, which includes further information about interventions to support pupils’ mental health and wellbeing.
The department will also be convening a task force to look at the effects on children, young people and staff in the education system and we will confirm the next steps as soon as possible.
Public Health England has produced guidance for parents and carers on supporting children and young people's mental health and wellbeing. For those who need specialist support or help, all NHS Mental Health Trusts are providing 24/7 open access telephone lines to support people of all ages and continue to deliver mental health support to children and young people.
The government continues to invest in and prioritise mental health. The NHS will receive around an additional £500 million this year, to address waiting times for mental health services, give more people the mental health support they need, and invest in the NHS workforce.
In the long term, we remain committed to our joint green paper delivery programme with the Department for Health and Social Care and NHS England, including introducing new mental health support teams for all schools and colleges, providing training for senior mental health leads in schools and colleges, and testing approaches to faster access to NHS specialist support.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to help deaf students access remote learning during the covid-19 lockdown that began in January 2021.
Answered by Vicky Ford
All primary schools, secondary schools and colleges in England are now expected to provide remote education for the majority of their pupils and students, with the exception of vulnerable children and young people (including those with an Education, Health and Care Plan) and the children of critical workers, who can attend school or college in person. Where vulnerable children and young people and children of critical workers do not attend school or college, the Department expects schools and colleges to provide them with remote education.
For pupils with SEND, their teachers are best placed to know how the pupil’s needs can be most effectively met to ensure they continue to make progress even if they are not able to be in school due to COVID-19. The requirement for schools to use their best endeavours to secure the special educational provision called for by the pupils’ special educational needs remains in place.
Schools should follow the age-related guidance for primary schools and secondary schools: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/952443/210114_School_national_restrictions_guidance_FINAL_14012021.pdf. For example, for Key Stage 1 children in a special school, a minimum of 3 hours should be the aim on average across the cohort, with less for younger pupils. However, we expect schools to consider these expectations in relation to the pupils’ stage of development and special educational needs, for example, where this would place significant demands on parents’ help or support.
Schools should work collaboratively with families, putting in place reasonable adjustments as necessary, so that pupils with SEND can successfully access remote education and an ambitious curriculum appropriate for their level of need alongside their peers. All further education colleges should give particular consideration on how best to support vulnerable and disadvantaged students and students with SEND who may not be able to access remote education without support.
To ensure pupils with SEND are supported effectively, the Department has provided additional funding to one of our demonstrators, National Star College, to provide specialist training in assistive technologies to teachers, leaders and SENCOs in all state funded schools in England. This training will help to secure remote education arrangements for pupils with special educational needs. Advice and guidance is also available to support the development of an inclusive curriculum.
In addition, the Department has made £4.84 million available for Oak National Academy to provide video lessons in a broad range of subjects for Reception up to Year 11. Specialist content for pupils with SEND is also available. To support pupils with hearing loss, lessons supplied by Oak are captioned. For younger age groups (year 1 to 3 English and Maths), where their reading ability might make captions harder to understand, lessons are also signed in British Sign Language. All lessons are pre-recorded and can be accessed at any time on any internet-connected device. Depending on the lesson picked, faces of teachers can be seen which may assist pupils with lip reading (please note that this is dependent on video quality). Some of these lessons are also supported with slides, quizzes and worksheets that are text based.
There is a wide range of further resources available to support schools and further education colleges to meet the remote expectations we have set. The Get Help With Remote Education page on gov.uk provides a one-stop-shop for teachers and leaders, signposting the support package available: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/get-help-with-remote-education.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the Government's laptop loan scheme for vulnerable or disadvantaged secondary age children to all school age children without access to a home device.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government has committed over £100 million to support remote education, including by providing laptops, tablets and 4G wireless routers to disadvantaged and vulnerable children.
We have considered the needs of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children and will ensure they get the support they need. The Department is providing laptops and tablets to disadvantaged children who would otherwise not have access and are preparing for examinations in year 10, those receiving support from a social worker, including pre-school children, or are a care leaver.
We are supporting schools and children of all ages in a number of ways, including those without access to devices. For example, schools can draw on support from the BBC which is broadcasting lessons on television. Some of the BBC educational content is offline, via the red button, which disadvantaged pupils without digital devices or connectivity will still be able to access.
Schools may also choose to draw on the many resources offers which have been made by publishers across the country. To complement resources that schools have made available to their pupils – both online and in hard copy - the Department has published an initial list of high quality online educational resources, which have been identified by some of the country’s leading educational experts to help pupils to learn at home. This list can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-online-education-resources.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of alternative funding arrangements for student finance that is compatible with sharia law for individuals of Muslim faith.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The department undertook equalities assessments on access to student finance for individuals of Muslim faith in November 2015 when introducing regulations to move from a system of maintenance grants to loans and in May 2016 when introducing the Bill which became the Higher Education Research Act 2017 which includes provisions to enable alternative student finance to be introduced. The assessments can be found at the following links:
The government’s assessment of the merits of alternative funding arrangements that is compatible with Sharia law for individuals of Muslim faith was made in its response to the consultation published in September 2014. The consultation response can be found at the follow link:
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what equalities assessment his Department has undertaken on access to student finance for individuals of Muslim faith.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The department undertook equalities assessments on access to student finance for individuals of Muslim faith in November 2015 when introducing regulations to move from a system of maintenance grants to loans and in May 2016 when introducing the Bill which became the Higher Education Research Act 2017 which includes provisions to enable alternative student finance to be introduced. The assessments can be found at the following links:
The government’s assessment of the merits of alternative funding arrangements that is compatible with Sharia law for individuals of Muslim faith was made in its response to the consultation published in September 2014. The consultation response can be found at the follow link:
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to equalise the gender balance in the take-up of STEM apprenticeships.
Answered by Anne Milton
We know that there are disparities in gender representation in apprenticeships in some sectors such as Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies, and we want to address these disparities through a range of activities. It is important to note that women accounted for 53.4 per cent of apprenticeship starts in 2016/17.
Through the Year of Engineering 2018 and the Apprenticeship Diversity Champions Network we are championing gender representation in apprenticeships amongst employers in industries where improvement is needed - including making sure more women access science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) apprenticeships. We have made it easier for part-time workers to undertake apprenticeships, such as those with caring responsibilities and lone parents.
With regard to careers advice we are working with employers to make sure the decisions girls make about their future education and career choices are well informed. We are undertaking work to assess the breadth and effectiveness of current careers provision in schools and colleges on STEM, and evaluating approaches to careers provision to encourage girls to consider jobs in STEM industries.