Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has carried out an assessment of the potential effect of the end of transitional funding on the number of maintained nursery schools in England.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Maintained nursery schools (MNS) make an important contribution to improving the lives of some of our most disadvantaged children. In recognition of the costs that MNS experience over and above other providers, we are providing supplementary funding - additional to funding received under the Early Years National Funding Formula (EYNFF), of around £60 million a year to enable local authorities to protect MNS pre-EYNFF funding levels at least until 2019-20.
Decisions about what happens after that will be taken as part of the next Spending Review and informed by research we are carrying out on the value that MNS offer.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many apprenticeships have been funded by the apprenticeship levy in the Wolverhampton local authority area in the last three financial years; and how many apprenticeships in that area his Department estimates will be funded by the apprenticeship levy (a) 2017-18 and (b) 2018-19.
Answered by Anne Milton
The apprenticeship levy did not come into effect until April 2017 and so there were no levy-supported apprenticeship starts before that date.
The table attached sets out the overall number of apprenticeship starts where the learner’s home postcode is in the Wolverhampton local authority (LA) area, and provides the number of these that were levy-supported since April 2017. Please note that 2016/17 figures for all apprenticeship starts are full year figures and the 2016/17 levy-supported starts represent just 2016/17 quarter 4; this means that these are not comparable as they represent different timeframes.
The apprenticeship levy is collected centrally by HM Treasury and future availability and location of apprenticeships is dependent on where employers choose to recruit or offer apprenticeship opportunities. We do not therefore hold data on future delivery in the Wolverhampton LA area.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate he has made of the number of apprentices employed by Carillion who are yet to find alternative apprenticeship provision.
Answered by Anne Milton
The government’s priority is to minimise disruption to apprentices’ and is intent on finding new employers for the apprentices that affected by the liquidation of Carillion.
The remaining apprentices who are yet to be placed, fall into one of three cohorts.
There are approximately 125 apprentices actively engaged in the matching / interview process. There are approximately 180 apprentices who have now achieved their apprenticeship or have left during the transition to Construction Industry Training Board (CITB).
225 apprentices have received multiple communications, however they have chosen not to respond. They have been issued with a final letter, which states that if they do not engage, CITB will notify PwC that they are not seeking alternative provision or employment.
CITB have recently launched a targeted employer campaign, with an intent to secure employment placements for learners who we’ve been unable to yet match with employment during the process, due to their geographical area of learning. This has resulted in an increasing number of employer vacancies, which CITB are actively pursuing in order to place more apprentices.
On Monday 5 March, the Official Receiver published a web update on employment within the Carillion group, which can be found at: https:https://www.gov.uk/government/news/carillion-official-receivers-update--3.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate he has made of the number of apprentices employed by Carillion who are yet to find alternative apprenticeship provision.
Answered by Anne Milton
The government’s priority is to minimise disruption to apprentices’ and is intent on finding new employers for the apprentices that affected by the liquidation of Carillion.
The remaining apprentices who are yet to be placed, fall into one of three cohorts.
There are approximately 125 apprentices actively engaged in the matching / interview process. There are approximately 180 apprentices who have now achieved their apprenticeship or have left during the transition to Construction Industry Training Board (CITB).
225 apprentices have received multiple communications, however they have chosen not to respond. They have been issued with a final letter, which states that if they do not engage, CITB will notify PwC that they are not seeking alternative provision or employment.
CITB have recently launched a targeted employer campaign, with an intent to secure employment placements for learners who we’ve been unable to yet match with employment during the process, due to their geographical area of learning. This has resulted in an increasing number of employer vacancies, which CITB are actively pursuing in order to place more apprentices.
On Monday 5 March, the Official Receiver published a web update on employment within the Carillion group, which can be found at: https:https://www.gov.uk/government/news/carillion-official-receivers-update--3.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number children of universal credit recipients in Wolverhampton North East who (a) will and (b) will not qualify for free school meals.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Department for Education does not hold information on the specific qualifying benefit that determines free school meal eligibility for individual pupils. We do not hold future estimates broken down by benefit type or constituency.
The department publishes information on free school meal eligibility in the statistical first release: ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’. This is published at national and local authority level, and the latest data is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2017.
Under our proposed criteria for free school meals under Universal Credit, we estimate that by 2022 around 50,000 more children in England will benefit from a free school meal compared to the previous benefits system.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many apprentices are funded in the Wolverhampton local authority area through the apprenticeship levy; and how many apprenticeships in the Wolverhampton local authority area the Government expects will be funded by the apprenticeship levy, in financial year (a) 2017-18 and (b) 2018-19.
Answered by Anne Milton
The number of apprenticeship starts is published as part of the further education and skills statistical first release. Apprenticeship starts broken down by geographical region and local authority are available in the further education data library:
Currently, data on apprenticeship starts is only available reported to the end of April 2017, before the apprenticeship levy was introduced. The statistical first release will publish apprenticeship starts supported through the levy in the October release on 12 October 2017.
Apprenticeships are jobs and the volume and mix of apprenticeships will depend on the decisions employers make. The department has made estimates of the overall numbers of apprenticeships in future years but does not have breakdowns by local authorities.
Data on the number of accounts registered on the apprenticeship service and the number of commitments made have been published as part of the statistical first release collection:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/further-education-and-skills-statistical-first-release-sfr.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her most recent estimate is of the number of primary school places required in Wolverhampton.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Local authorities are responsible for ensuring there are sufficient school places for pupils. The Department collects pupil forecasts and school capacities from each local authority through the annual school capacity survey (SCAP). This data is used to allocate capital funding to local authorities to help them provide sufficient school places where they are needed. The Department’s Pupil Place Planning team then work with local authorities to determine that those places are in fact being created.
The capacity and forecast data are published on an annual basis, giving local authority and regional totals, through the SCAP tables. From the latest published data giving the position at May 2016, Wolverhampton Local Authority had 24,296 places at primary schools and 22,172 pupils on roll at primary schools. Further information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-capacity-academic-year-2015-to-2016.
The Department also publishes school place scorecards to show the challenges that local authorities are facing, together with the progress that they are making in providing sufficient good quality school places. The latest published scorecards show that an estimated 200 primary places are needed in Wolverhampton Local Authority to meet demand in 2018/19. This figure is based on demand in separate planning areas within the local authority. The scorecards, including full details of the calculation, can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authority-school-places-scorecards-2016.