Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the timescale is for the decision on the remaining apprenticeship funding band changes proposed by the Institute for Apprenticeships.
Answered by Anne Milton
As the Institute for Apprenticeships (IfA) are an independent body, it is for them, rather than for the department, to lead on the process for reviewing funding bands for existing standards and on consultation with the business community.
The IfA has worked with employer trailblazer groups throughout the review process. The IfA has also discussed the management standards directly with business stakeholders who have made representations.
The remaining outcomes of the review of funding bands will be published on GOV.UK by the end of the calendar year.
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions his Department has had with the Institute for Apprenticeships on the concerns made by the business community on the consultation process into the review of the apprenticeship funding bands.
Answered by Anne Milton
As the Institute for Apprenticeships (IfA) are an independent body, it is for them, rather than for the department, to lead on the process for reviewing funding bands for existing standards and on consultation with the business community.
The IfA has worked with employer trailblazer groups throughout the review process. The IfA has also discussed the management standards directly with business stakeholders who have made representations.
The remaining outcomes of the review of funding bands will be published on GOV.UK by the end of the calendar year.
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions his Department has had with the business community on the Institute for Apprenticeships' proposed changes in funding bands for management apprenticeships.
Answered by Anne Milton
As the Institute for Apprenticeships (IfA) are an independent body, it is for them, rather than for the department, to lead on the process for reviewing funding bands for existing standards and on consultation with the business community.
The IfA has worked with employer trailblazer groups throughout the review process. The IfA has also discussed the management standards directly with business stakeholders who have made representations.
The remaining outcomes of the review of funding bands will be published on GOV.UK by the end of the calendar year.
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance his Department provides to local authorities on the provision of special educational needs and disability in schools; and whether that guidance covers dyslexia.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Children and Families Act 2014 sets out the statutory framework for supporting children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), which places a number of duties on local authorities and others. Guidance is provided in the 0-25 SEND Code of Practice. This is available online here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25 and is supported by a range of other guidance and information available online both via GOV.UK and on the National Association for Special Educational Needs (Nasen) SEND gateway (https://www.sendgateway.org.uk/).
The government takes the support for children and young people with dyslexia seriously. I recently spoke at a global summit on dyslexia attended by more than 200 people, including industry bodies and organisations, educationalists and over 35 overseas foundations and governments who support dyslexia.
Between April 2017 and March 2018, the department provided £500,000 to the British Dyslexia Association, in partnership with Helen Arkell Dyslexia Centre, the Professional Association of Teachers of Students with Specific Learning Difficulties, the Dyspraxia Foundation and Manchester Metropolitan University, to provide support for children and young people with dyslexia and other specific learning difficulties. This builds on work with dyslexia organisations the government funded in 2013-15 and 2015-16 to facilitate better support for children with dyslexia and other specific learning difficulties
This year we are funding Nasen and University College London, on behalf of the Whole School SEND consortium which includes the British Dyslexia Association, to embed SEND into school improvement practice and equip the workforce to deliver high quality teaching across all types of special educational needs (SEN). New SEND regional leads will bring together practitioners and networks in their local area to build a community of practice, help identify regional SEN school improvement priorities and facilitate the exchange of knowledge and expertise.
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance his Department has issued to local authorities on assessments for children who may have dyslexia.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Schools are required under the Children and Families Act (2014) to identify and address the special educational needs (SEN) of the pupils or students they support, and guidance is set out in the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Code of Practice. This includes arranging for appropriate tests where the school’s own assessments indicate that this is necessary
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 4 September 2018 to Question 168014 on Academies, whether academy schools that are in deficiency can be considered for education authority oversight.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Financial accountability for academies is founded on a clear framework which is regulated by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA).
The ESFA has a robust intervention strategy to ensure, where financial concerns are identified, that appropriate and proportionate action is taken swiftly. The ESFA will intervene in a way that is proportionate to the risk and preserves the effective education of children.
The department is satisfied that these arrangements provide robust financial oversight for academy trusts and we have no plans to change them.
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of providing for a route whereby schools in difficulty which have been converted to academy status can revert to local authority control; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
We have no plans to consider returning schools back to local authorities.
Indeed, as of March 2018, over half a million pupils now study in sponsored academies that are rated Good or Outstanding; they typically replaced underperforming maintained schools.
The department firmly believe that becoming an academy can bring enormous benefits to schools and their pupils; coming together in a multi-academy trust, sharing expertise, working collaboratively, driving improvements.
Hundreds of schools every year continue to voluntarily choose to become an academy and join a multi academy trust.
The department is working on a range of methods and tools for building trust capacity and assessing risk.
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Department for Education:
What steps his Department has taken to increase the take-up of STEM subjects.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government is committed to tackling our shortage of STEM skills so we can grow the workforce we need for a dynamic economy. We are doing this by investing in programmes to increase the take-up of maths, by incentivising schools using the recently launched advanced maths premium and supporting better teaching of maths, physics and computing in schools, including a new £84 million programme to improve computing teaching.
To improve the development of technical STEM skills, the Government is introducing T levels, which will be developed with employers, and provide progression opportunities into skilled work or higher level study, including degrees.