Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether (a) community and (b) private training providers holding traineeship contracts are able to access 16-19 study programmes.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department is committed to providing a comprehensive skills offer for employers and individuals. We have decided to integrate the Traineeship programme into the 16 to 19 study programme and adult education provision from 1 August 2023. All the elements of the Traineeship programme will continue to be funded for 16 to 19-year-olds, as part of the national 16 to 19 study programme, and for adults through the adult education budget (AEB).
Providers with access to funding, including further education colleges and independent training providers, can choose to continue to offer Traineeship programmes for young people who need support to get into work, apprenticeships, or further learning.
In areas where the AEB has been devolved, Mayoral Combined Authorities and Greater London Authority will decide on how best to support young adults in their areas.
The department is continuing to work with the sector and combined authorities to ensure there is a smooth transition and there are no gaps in provision, so that young people can continue to gain the skills they need to support them into apprenticeships, work, or further learning.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of closing the national traineeships programme on (a) disadvantaged young people and (b) young people who need additional support to access the employment market.
Answered by Robert Halfon
I refer the honourable member for Liverpool West Derby to the answer I gave on 23 January 2023 to the questions 126871 and 126872.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of offering the financial value of the traineeship programme to (a) further education colleges and (b) sixth form providers that do not currently deliver traineeships.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department is integrating the traineeship programme into 16-to-19 study programmes and adult education provision from 1 August 2023. This is part of the government’s commitment to provide a comprehensive and clear skills offer for employers and individuals.
All the elements of the traineeship programme - English and Maths, work experience, employability and occupational skills and qualifications - will continue to be funded for 16–to-19-year-olds as part of the national 16-to-19 study programme, and for adults through the adult education budget. This means that providers with access to funding will continue to offer traineeship type programmes for young people who need support to get into work, apprenticeships, or further learning.
The department is continuing to work with the sector and Combined Authorities to ensure that there is a smooth transition to ensure that young people can continue to gain the skills they need to support them into apprenticeships, work, or further learning.
The department will also continue to support young people to get the skills they need for apprenticeships or other employment through government-funded programmes such as T Levels and the T Level transition programme, Bootcamps, and Sector-Based Work Academies. The new ‘Career Starter Apprenticeships’ campaign is also raising awareness of apprenticeships, which offer great opportunities for those looking for their first role after leaving full-time education.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the planned closure of the national traineeship programme on access routes to apprenticeships.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department is integrating the traineeship programme into 16-to-19 study programmes and adult education provision from 1 August 2023. This is part of the government’s commitment to provide a comprehensive and clear skills offer for employers and individuals.
All the elements of the traineeship programme - English and Maths, work experience, employability and occupational skills and qualifications - will continue to be funded for 16–to-19-year-olds as part of the national 16-to-19 study programme, and for adults through the adult education budget. This means that providers with access to funding will continue to offer traineeship type programmes for young people who need support to get into work, apprenticeships, or further learning.
The department is continuing to work with the sector and Combined Authorities to ensure that there is a smooth transition to ensure that young people can continue to gain the skills they need to support them into apprenticeships, work, or further learning.
The department will also continue to support young people to get the skills they need for apprenticeships or other employment through government-funded programmes such as T Levels and the T Level transition programme, Bootcamps, and Sector-Based Work Academies. The new ‘Career Starter Apprenticeships’ campaign is also raising awareness of apprenticeships, which offer great opportunities for those looking for their first role after leaving full-time education.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to analysis by Child Poverty Action Group, published in June 2022, what steps he is taking to help ensure that all children defined as living in poverty are guaranteed access to healthy meals at school.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department continues to monitor the consequences of the rising cost of living and is working with other Government Departments to provide support.
The Department will continue to keep Free School Meal (FSM) eligibility under review, ensuring that these meals are supporting those who need them most. The Department believes that the current threshold is the right one, which enables pupils to benefit from FSM, while remaining affordable and deliverable for schools.
The latest published statistics show that around 1.9 million pupils are claiming FSM. This equates to 22.5% of all pupils, up from 20.8% in 2021. Together with a further 1.25 million infants supported through the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy, 37.5% of school children are now provided with FSM.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many primary schools in (a) the City of Liverpool and (b) Liverpool West Derby constituency currently employ a (a) play and (b) creative arts therapist.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The 2022 Schools White Paper set out the Government’s plan for all schools to provide safe, calm, and supportive school environments, with targeted academic, pastoral and specialist support, helping children and young people to fulfil their potential.
It is for schools to decide what support or therapies they provide, taking into account the needs of their pupils.
The roles of staff employed by schools is collected as part of the annual School Workforce Census each November. The data can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
Data from the November 2022 census is currently being collected and will be published in the summer of 2023.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many primary schools in England currently employ a (a) play and (b) creative arts therapist.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The 2022 Schools White Paper set out the Government’s plan for all schools to provide safe, calm, and supportive school environments, with targeted academic, pastoral and specialist support, helping children and young people to fulfil their potential.
It is for schools to decide what support or therapies they provide, taking into account the needs of their pupils.
The roles of staff employed by schools is collected as part of the annual School Workforce Census each November. The data can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
Data from the November 2022 census is currently being collected and will be published in the summer of 2023.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 1 December to Question 97665 on Schools: Finance, when her Department will set out plans for the allocation of the additional funding announced in the Autumn Statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department confirmed further details on 6 December 2022 regarding how the £2 billion additional funding for schools, announced in the Autumn Statement, will be allocated in 2023/24 financial year.
£400 million will be allocated to Local Authorities’ high needs budgets, with the rest allocated to schools through a new grant and to boost the pupil premium.
Mainstream schools will receive this additional funding through a new grant from April 2023, on top of the core funding allocations they receive via the National Funding Formula. The methodology for calculating allocations for schools via this new grant will largely mirror that of the 2022/23 Schools Supplementary Grant. The Department will publish further details and funding rates for the new grant before the end of December 2022.
For a typical primary school with 200 pupils, this new revenue equates to approximately £28,000 additional funding, and approximately £170,000 for a typical secondary school with 900 pupils.
Special and alternative provision schools will receive an increase comparable to that for mainstream schools, from the £400 million that will be allocated to Local Authorities’ high needs budgets. The Department will confirm details on how this will work shortly.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the additional funding for education announced in the Autumn Statement 2022, whether that funding will be provided in the form of (a) one or (b) multiple annual grants.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department will set out plans for the allocation of the additional funding announced at the 2022 Autumn Statement shortly.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to Autumn Statement 2022 and the announcement of an additional £2.3 billion of funding for education in 2023 and 2024, whether that funding will be available to maintained nursery schools.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Minister (Equalities)
In the 2022 Autumn Statement, my right hon. Friend the Chancellor did not commit to new measures for early years, including maintained nursery schools (MNS).
The department has increased funding to local authorities to increase the hourly rates they pay to childcare providers, including MNS, and we are providing additional support for all early years providers with their energy costs over the winter. Further, specifically for MNS, the department has already announced that an additional £10 million will be invested into MNS supplementary funding from 2023/24. This is in addition to the increase to supplementary funding in 2022/23, where the department increased the hourly funding rate by 3.5%, which is equivalent to the increase in the 3 and 4-year-old hourly funding rates. The department has confirmed the continuation of MNS supplementary funding throughout the spending review period, providing the sector with long-term certainty.