Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of how students on practical university degree courses will be offered extra support before entering the job market to make up for lost teaching time during the covid-19 lockdown.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Education has always been a priority for this government, and we were committed to getting all students back into university as soon as the public health situation allowed. We prioritised the return of students on practical and practice-based courses because we realised the importance of them being able to return to their studies in person.
The higher education (HE) regulator in England, the Office for Students (OfS), has made it clear that all HE providers must continue to comply with registration conditions relating to quality and standards. This means ensuring that courses provide a high-quality academic experience, students are supported and achieve good outcomes, and standards are protected, regardless of whether a provider is delivering its courses through in person teaching, remote online learning, or a combination of both.
We have worked across the sector to understand what more we can do to support graduates who are looking to enter the labour market at this challenging time. We have worked closely with the Quality Assurance Agency, professional bodies and the OfS. Our message to employers and students is that standards have been maintained and that the qualifications awarded will be of the same academic standard as in previous years.
To provide additional support, we have also developed the graduate employment and skills guide, published on 10 May 2021 on the OfS website here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/employment-and-skills/. The guide signposts graduates to public, private and voluntary sector opportunities, to help them build employability skills, gain work experience or enter the labour market, as well as providing links to further study options and resources on graduate mental health and wellbeing. To encourage graduates to take advantage of the support and resources available, we have worked with Universities UK to develop a sector statement of support and with HE providers to produce a collection of graduate employability case studies.
As part of the government’s skills recovery package ‘Plan for Jobs’, we are also investing an additional £32 million in the National Careers Service up to March 2022. This investment will support delivery of individual careers advice for over 500,000 people whose jobs or learning have been affected by the COVID-19 outbreak by the end of the 2021/22 financial year, representing an increase of 22%. The Service has introduced a range of new initiatives to continue to support all customers, working with a wide range of partners to offer careers guidance activities designed to support employers, furloughed workers, graduates, students, those who have recently lost their jobs and anyone whose career path has been impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak.
On 29 September 2020, we added additional courses to The Skills Toolkit covering digital, numeracy and employability skills. The new content includes a range of courses to develop ‘work readiness’ skills that employers report they value in their new recruits.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he plans to take to tackle the mental ill health incidence increase in university students.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Student mental health and suicide prevention are key priorities for this government. We continue to work closely with the higher education (HE) sector to promote good practice. Universities are not only experts in their student population, but also best placed to identify the needs of their particular student body.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has overall policy responsibility for young people’s mental health. We continue to work closely with them to take steps to develop mental health and wellbeing support.
On 27 March 2021, DHSC published the ‘COVID-19 mental health and wellbeing recovery action plan’: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-mental-health-and-wellbeing-recovery-action-plan. It is backed by £500 million of funding, and its aims are to address waiting times for mental health services, to give more people the mental health support they need and to invest in the NHS workforce. £13 million will be used to accelerate progress to support young adults aged 18 to 25. This group includes university students and those not in education or training, who have reported worst mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 outbreak, and who sometimes currently fall between the gaps between children’s and adult services.
While it is for HE providers to determine what welfare and counselling services they need to provide to their students to offer that support, the government is proactive in promoting good practice in this area. We continue to work closely with Universities UK on embedding the Stepchange programme within the sector: https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/stepchange.
Stepchange calls on HE leaders to adopt mental health as a strategic priority and to take a whole-institution approach, embedding it across all policies, cultures, curricula and practice. The Stepchange programme relaunched in March 2020 as the Mentally Healthy Universities programme. The University Mental Health Charter, announced in June 2018, is backed by the government and led by the HE sector: https://www.studentminds.org.uk/charter.html. The charter, developed in collaboration with students, staff and partner organisations, aims to drive up standards of practice, including leadership, early intervention and data collection.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, I have stressed the importance of protecting student and staff wellbeing. We recognise that many students are facing additional mental health challenges due to the disruption and uncertainty caused by the outbreak. I have engaged with universities on this issue and have written to Vice Chancellors on numerous occasions during the past year, most recently last month, outlining that student welfare should remain a priority. I have also convened a working group of representatives from the HE and health sectors to specifically address the current and pressing issues that students are facing during the COVID-19 outbreak.
My hon. Friend, the Minister for Children and Families and I have also convened a Mental Health in Education Action Group to drive action to mitigate the impact of the outbreak on the mental health and wellbeing of children, young people and staff in nurseries, schools, colleges and universities.
We expect HE providers to continue to support their students, which has included making services accessible from a distance whilst restrictions have been in place. We encourage students to stay in touch with the welfare teams at their HE provider, as these services are likely to continue to be an important source of support. Many providers have bolstered their existing mental health services, and adapted delivery mechanisms including reaching out to students who may be more vulnerable. Staff at universities and colleges have been proactive in supporting their students, showing resourcefulness and there are many examples of good practice.
We have worked with the Office for Students (OfS) to provide Student Space, a dedicated mental health and wellbeing platform for students. Student Space has been funded by up to £3 million from the OfS in the 2020/21 academic year. We have also asked the OfS to allocate £15 million towards student mental health in 2021/22 through proposed reforms to Strategic Priorities grant funding to help address the challenges to student mental health posed by the transition to university, given the increasing demand for mental health services. This will target those students in greatest need of such services, including vulnerable groups and hard to reach students.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance his Department has issued to universities on the provision of mental health support to students.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Student mental health and suicide prevention are key priorities for this government. We continue to work closely with the higher education (HE) sector to promote good practice. Universities are not only experts in their student population, but also best placed to identify the needs of their particular student body.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has overall policy responsibility for young people’s mental health. We continue to work closely with them to take steps to develop mental health and wellbeing support.
On 27 March 2021, DHSC published the ‘COVID-19 mental health and wellbeing recovery action plan’: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-mental-health-and-wellbeing-recovery-action-plan. It is backed by £500 million of funding, and its aims are to address waiting times for mental health services, to give more people the mental health support they need and to invest in the NHS workforce. £13 million will be used to accelerate progress to support young adults aged 18 to 25. This group includes university students and those not in education or training, who have reported worst mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 outbreak, and who sometimes currently fall between the gaps between children’s and adult services.
While it is for HE providers to determine what welfare and counselling services they need to provide to their students to offer that support, the government is proactive in promoting good practice in this area. We continue to work closely with Universities UK on embedding the Stepchange programme within the sector: https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/stepchange.
Stepchange calls on HE leaders to adopt mental health as a strategic priority and to take a whole-institution approach, embedding it across all policies, cultures, curricula and practice. The Stepchange programme relaunched in March 2020 as the Mentally Healthy Universities programme. The University Mental Health Charter, announced in June 2018, is backed by the government and led by the HE sector: https://www.studentminds.org.uk/charter.html. The charter, developed in collaboration with students, staff and partner organisations, aims to drive up standards of practice, including leadership, early intervention and data collection.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, I have stressed the importance of protecting student and staff wellbeing. We recognise that many students are facing additional mental health challenges due to the disruption and uncertainty caused by the outbreak. I have engaged with universities on this issue and have written to Vice Chancellors on numerous occasions during the past year, most recently last month, outlining that student welfare should remain a priority. I have also convened a working group of representatives from the HE and health sectors to specifically address the current and pressing issues that students are facing during the COVID-19 outbreak.
My hon. Friend, the Minister for Children and Families and I have also convened a Mental Health in Education Action Group to drive action to mitigate the impact of the outbreak on the mental health and wellbeing of children, young people and staff in nurseries, schools, colleges and universities.
We expect HE providers to continue to support their students, which has included making services accessible from a distance whilst restrictions have been in place. We encourage students to stay in touch with the welfare teams at their HE provider, as these services are likely to continue to be an important source of support. Many providers have bolstered their existing mental health services, and adapted delivery mechanisms including reaching out to students who may be more vulnerable. Staff at universities and colleges have been proactive in supporting their students, showing resourcefulness and there are many examples of good practice.
We have worked with the Office for Students (OfS) to provide Student Space, a dedicated mental health and wellbeing platform for students. Student Space has been funded by up to £3 million from the OfS in the 2020/21 academic year. We have also asked the OfS to allocate £15 million towards student mental health in 2021/22 through proposed reforms to Strategic Priorities grant funding to help address the challenges to student mental health posed by the transition to university, given the increasing demand for mental health services. This will target those students in greatest need of such services, including vulnerable groups and hard to reach students.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
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 Institute for Fiscal Studies report entitled, Will universities need a bailout to survive the COVID-19 crisis, published 6 July 2020; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The government recognises that the COVID-19 outbreak has brought significant financial challenges to the higher education (HE) sector, with losses of income across teaching, research, commercial and other activities, as published in the Institute for Fiscal Studies report on 6 July 2020. The government has already provided significant support to help providers through the financial challenges that COVID-19 has brought upon the sector. The HE package that we announced on 4 May, with its reprofiling of public funding and measures on admissions, has acted to stabilise the situation in England.
In June, we announced further UK-wide support in the form of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s research stabilisation package. Alongside this, eligible HE providers can apply for the range of business support measures that the government has put in place to support our whole economy.
We recognise, however, that a high level of uncertainty remains around the scale of problems that HE providers, as a whole and individually, may face in the coming academic year. We need to be able to intervene, where there is a case to do so, to support providers whose future is at risk because of the financial impacts of COVID-19.
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, announced further information about the higher education restructuring regime on 16 July. This will be deployed as a last resort, if a decision has been made to support a provider in England, when other steps to preserve a provider’s viability and to mitigate the risks of market exit have not proved sufficient. The overarching objectives that will guide the department’s assessment of cases will be protecting the welfare of current students, preserving the sector’s internationally outstanding science base and supporting the role that higher education providers play in regional and local economies through the provision of high quality courses aligned with economic and societal needs.
Financial support in the form of repayable loans will only be offered as a last resort measure, and with specific conditions, such as tackling low quality courses and reducing excessive Vice-Chancellor pay.
Details on the higher education restructuring regime can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-restructuring-regime.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much energy his departmental buildings have used in (a) each of the last five years and (b) 2020 to date.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The information on energy used by the Department for Education for the years 2015-16 to 2018-19 is available in the attached table. Information for 2019-20 is not available.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many data breaches his Department has reported to the Information Commissioner in each of the last five years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The table below shows the number of data breaches that the Department reported to the Information Commissioner in the last 5 years.
Report year (April to March) | Number of data breaches reported to the Information Commissioner |
2015/2016 | 1 |
2016/2017 | 1 |
2017/2018 | 2 |
2018/2019 | 2 |
2019/2020 | 3 |
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to (a) tackle the impact of lost teaching time for children in early years education and (b) ensure that the most disadvantaged children are prioritised.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Levelling up outcomes for disadvantaged children has long been a priority for government. That is why we have committed to reforms to the Early Years Foundation Stage, launched the Hungry Little Minds campaign, and since 2018, have committed more than £60 million to programmes to improve early language and literacy.
The most effective intervention government can take to address the impact of COVID-19 on early outcomes is to get children back into their nurseries.
Since 1 June, early years settings have been able to welcome back children of all ages. We want to ensure councils and early years providers are able to get children back into settings as quickly as possible, where they can be fully supported during this crucial period for their development. From 20 July, restrictions on group sizes will be lifted to enable nurseries to operate full capacity again. We will work with the sector to explore how best to continue to support children’s early development.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department plans to ring-fenced financial support for the early years education sector in the next six months.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The early years education sector receives ring-fenced funding through the early years block of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG).
We have continued to pay local authorities their DSG funding for the childcare places they normally fund for 2 to 4-year-olds throughout the COVID-19 outbreak. This is worth a planned £3.6 billion in 2020-21 and will provide reassurance for early years settings at this time.
We expect local authorities to follow the department’s position and in general, to continue paying all childminders, schools and nurseries for the early years’ entitlements. We have produced guidance for local authorities on this:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-early-years-and-childcare-closures/coronavirus-covid-19-early-years-and-childcare-closures#funding.
We continue to work closely with the early years sector to understand how it can best be supported to ensure that sufficient childcare is available for those who need it.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what (a) funding and (b) other support the Government has allocated to (i) the early years sector, (ii) primary schools, (iii) secondary schools; and (iv) further education institutions during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nick Gibb
On 17 March 2020, the Chancellor confirmed that the Government will continue to pay local authorities as normal for free early years entitlement places for 2, 3 and 4 year olds to support providers. On 18 March 2020, the Government also announced a business rates holiday for many nurseries in England for the 2020 to 2021 tax year.
Many early years providers also receive private income. The Government has therefore clarified the circumstances in which early years providers can seek support through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS). It has also provided information to early years providers on the Small Business Grant Fund and the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan. Childminders are less likely to be employers, and therefore are less likely to be eligible for support via the CJRS. We have therefore directed childminders towards guidance for the Self Employment Income Support Scheme.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-self-employment-income-support-scheme.
Local Authority maintained schools (including pupil referral units) and academies (including free schools) continue to receive their budgets as usual, regardless of any periods of partial or complete closure. This will ensure that they are able to continue to pay their staff, and meet their other regular financial commitments.
We have put in place additional support to help schools meet exceptional costs they may incur as a result of COVID-19. These costs may arise as result of keeping premises open during the holidays, providing support for free school meals for eligible children who are not attending school (where those costs are not covered by the national voucher scheme described below), and additional cleaning.
We have provided a centrally-funded national voucher scheme to make sure eligible pupils can continue to access free school meals, given they are not able to attend school, including through the Easter school holidays. We have also announced a COVID-19 Summer Food Fund which will enable children who are eligible for benefits-related free school meals to be supported over the summer holiday period.
We have made a commitment to boost remote education, including by providing devices and internet access for disadvantaged year 10 pupils, and those who receive support from a social worker and care leavers. We are ensuring every school that wants it has access to free, expert technical support to access Google and Microsoft’s education platforms, along with training on how to use the resources most effectively and peer support. We have also supported the Oak National Academy, which is a totally new initiative, assembling video lessons and resources for any teacher in the country to make use of if they wish to do so.
We have launched a £1 billion COVID-19 “catch-up” package to directly tackle the impact of lost teaching time, comprising £650 million to be shared across state primary and secondary schools over the 2020/21 academic year. Whilst headteachers will decide how the money is spent, the Government has supported the publication of the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) guidance, which sets out a range of evidence-based approaches, including small group tuition.
A National Tutoring Programme, worth up to £350 million, which will increase access to high-quality tuition for the most disadvantaged young people, with delivery starting later in the autumn term.
Further Education and Apprenticeship providers include further education colleges, sixth form colleges, designated institutions, independent training providers, adult and community learning providers, and higher education institutions to the extent that they provide further education or apprenticeships. They are funded in 3 main ways: by grant; under a direct contract for services with the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA); or through a funding agreement with the ESFA (where provision is delivered under a contract directly with an employer, or through advanced learner loan funded learning).
The ESFA will continue to pay grant funded providers their scheduled monthly profiled payments for the remainder of the 2019 to 2020 funding year. We have also published guidance on how providers can access the wider Government support packages, including the CJRS. Some providers may also be eligible for the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme or Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme, and we have directed them to guidance on eligibility. Where a provider receives Adult Education Budget (AEB), or apprenticeship funding, as part of a direct contract for services with the ESFA, and is at risk financially, they may be eligible for support (subject to meeting additional criteria) as part of the ESFA’s post-16 provider relief scheme.
On 8 July, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor, announced a £1.6 billion package of investment in further education and skills. This investment will scale up employment support schemes, training and apprenticeships to help people looking for a job and, in doing so, will stimulate the further education market.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the covid-19 outbreak on international students arriving to study at UK universities in the 2020-21 academic year; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The government recognises that the COVID-19 outbreak will have an unparalleled impact on all elements of the global and UK economy. The higher education sector, including student recruitment, is no exception. We have been working closely with the sector to monitor the likely impacts of COVID-19 on international student numbers, including restrictions on travel.
The UK’s world-leading universities remain open to international students and we are working as a priority to make processes as flexible and easy as possible to allow students to study at UK institutions in the 2020-21 academic year.
On 22 June, with my counterparts in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, I wrote to prospective international students to outline the support and guidance that is available to students who are considering studying in the UK from the autumn. In the letter, I reiterated the temporary and targeted flexibilities that the government has announced for international students. These flexibilities include the visa guidance updated on 16 June, which provides greater certainty for international higher education students. The visa guidance includes the latest information for those who might have questions around visa expiry, switching visa category within the UK and distance learning. The government has also provided reassurances regarding distance learning, confirming that students will be permitted to study partially online for the 2020/21 academic year, provided that they transition to face-to-face learning as soon as circumstances allow. The government has also confirmed that those studying by distance learning or blended learning will be eligible to apply for the graduate route provided that they are in the UK by 6 April 2021 (and that they meet other requirements of the route). The government is applying discretion under the current circumstances to ensure international students are not negatively impacted if they find themselves in a position where they cannot comply with certain visa rules.
We are also in discussions with Universities UK and other sector representatives on a regular basis to ensure that we are united in welcoming international students to the UK. We expect international students - particularly those who will be subject to the 14-day self-isolation period - to be appropriately supported upon arrival by their chosen university during these unprecedented times. International students who are considering studying at a UK higher education provider from September 2020 should contact their chosen university to find out how they are adapting to the COVID-19 outbreak.
On Friday 5 June, the government also announced that Sir Steve Smith would be the UK’s new International Education Champion as part of the government’s International Education Strategy. Sir Steve will assist with opening up export growth opportunities for the whole UK education sector, which will include attracting international students to UK Universities. The International Education Strategy,?published in March 2019 by the Department for Education and the Department for International Trade, set out a commitment to review progress following its publication.??The review, which we intend to publish this autumn, will?ensure that the International Education Strategy?responds to the challenges that are?posed by COVID-19.