Asked by: Imran Ahmad Khan (Independent - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children of compulsory school age in Wakefield are electively home educated in comparison to prior to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department does not collect data on the number of electively home educated children. This data is held by local authorities.
Asked by: Imran Ahmad Khan (Independent - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 26 May 2021 to Question 537, how the figures provided in that Answer compare to the average per pupil funding for (a) primary and (b) secondary schools throughout West Yorkshire.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The schools block funding allocated to schools for the 2021-22 financial year in each West Yorkshire local authority is as follows:
Local Authority | Primary funding per pupil | Secondary funding per pupil |
Bradford | £4,596.16 | £6,042.03 |
Calderdale | £4,593.96 | £5,799.59 |
Kirklees | £4,573.93 | £5,856.52 |
Leeds | £4,548.03 | £5,961.28 |
Wakefield | £4,502.36 | £5,755.73 |
The schools block funding allocated to the Yorkshire and Humber region is £4,567.07 per primary pupil and £5,858.44 per secondary pupil.
Further information on school funding statistics can be found at the following link, for which the latest available figures are for the 2020-21 financial year: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-funding-statistics/2020-21#dataDownloads-1.
Asked by: Imran Ahmad Khan (Independent - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in West Yorkshire were eligible for the free school meals voucher scheme during its operation.
Answered by Vicky Ford
According to the census data for 2020: in West Yorkshire there were 76,940 (19.9%) pupils eligible for benefits-related free school meals in the spring of 2020 and 85,738 (22.4%) pupils eligible in the autumn of 2020. This year’s spring census is due to be published in June 2021.
During the periods of school opening restrictions, we continued to provide extra funding to support schools to provide food parcels or vouchers to pupils who were eligible for benefits-related free school meals and who were required to stay at home during term time.
Guidance was in place allowing schools to decide the best approach for their pupils. School leaders know their communities best and were given flexibility to select the most appropriate support for their pupils. This could have been through lunch parcels, locally arranged vouchers or through the national voucher scheme.
Now schools are fully open, all children should be able to access a nutritious meal at school, free to those that are eligible for free school meals. Where pupils eligible for benefits related free school meals are required to stay at home, schools should work with their school catering team or food provider to offer good quality lunch parcels. This is the same arrangement that was in place throughout the autumn term.
Asked by: Imran Ahmad Khan (Independent - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding is allocated per pupil in (a) high and (b) primary schools in Wakefield constituency.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The schools block funding allocated for schools for financial year 2021/22 for Wakefield local authority is £4,502.36 per primary pupil and £5,755.73 per secondary pupil.
Further information on school funding statistics can be found at the following link, for which the latest available figures are for financial year 2020/21: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-funding-statistics/2020-21#dataDownloads-1.
Asked by: Imran Ahmad Khan (Independent - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of graduates entering into postgraduate studies from (a) Wakefield and (b) West Yorkshire.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The postgraduate master’s loan scheme was introduced in summer 2016 to help remove the financial barrier often faced by those wishing to step up to achieving a master’s level qualification and stimulate take up of postgraduate master’s study. The loan is intended as a contribution to the cost of study, rather than to specifically cover tuition fees or livings costs. Entitlement is not means-tested.
Similarly, since 2018 students have been able to apply for a loan to contribute to the costs of postgraduate doctoral study. These loans are available to all eligible students who have gained a place on an eligible programme of study.
The maximum loan amounts for the 2021/22 academic year of £11,570 for master’s study and £27,265 for doctoral study are available to all eligible students domiciled in England. Additional support is not provided for individual areas.
Asked by: Imran Ahmad Khan (Independent - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to encourage pupils to study STEM subjects in (a) further and (b) higher education in (i) Wakefield and (ii) West Yorkshire.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
The government is encouraging more students, including those in Wakefield and West Yorkshire, into science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and training at all stages from primary school to higher education. Improving take-up of STEM subjects is vital for the UK’s future economic needs and to drive up productivity.
To ensure a strong pipeline of qualified students into higher education and careers in STEM areas, the department has committed substantial spending on mathematics, digital and technical education to increase take-up and better teaching of STEM subjects in schools.
We have also introduced T Levels as a high-quality technical alternative to A levels. T Levels in Digital and Construction were launched last year, Health and Science will be taught for the first time from this September, and courses in Engineering and Manufacturing will launch in 2022. In the West Yorkshire area, Notre Dame Catholic Sixth Form College and Shipley College began teaching the Digital T Level last year. Wakefield College, Calderdale College and Leeds City College plan to deliver T Levels (including Digital, Construction, Health & Science and Education & Childcare) from September this year. A further 3 providers - Kirklees College, Leeds College of Building and Garforth Academy - will start delivering T Levels (including Digital, Construction, Health & Science, Education & Childcare, Business Administration and Engineering & Manufacturing) in 2022.
The government is also funding the creation of up to 20 Institutes of Technology, which will be centres of excellence for technical training. These unique collaborations between further education colleges, universities and businesses offer higher technical education and training (mainly at levels 4 and 5) in key sectors such as digital, construction, advanced manufacturing and engineering.
The government also funds programmes to support STEM and the creation of a more diverse STEM workforce now and in the future, such as the STEM Ambassador programme and the CREST Awards, which focus on increasing engagement in STEM through informal and extra-curricular activities, to support young people’s learning, skills and decision-making in pursuing STEM qualifications and careers.
The STEM Ambassadors programme is a nationwide network of over 30,000 volunteers representing over 7,000 employers, who engage with young people to support their interest and knowledge in STEM subjects and to illuminate the broad range of STEM careers through their own experiences. STEM Ambassadors delivered over half a million volunteering hours per year, acting as relatable role models to illustrate to young people that science, research, engineering and innovation is for ‘people like me’ (57% of STEM Ambassadors are under 35, 45% are women and 15% are from an ethnic minority background).
Careers information, advice and guidance opens young people’s eyes to a range of different career possibilities, such as careers in STEM, and challenge stereotypes as well as helping to prepare young people for the workplace.
We know that supporting schools to deliver STEM-related careers education is important. Secondary schools are expected to provide pupils with at least one meaningful interaction with employers per pupil per year, with a particular focus on STEM employers.
The Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC) launched a STEM toolkit to support Careers Leaders, helping them to build STEM-specific content into their careers strategy. The toolkit can be found here: https://www.stem.org.uk/resources/elibrary/resource/467467/stem-careers-toolkit-secondary-schools-and-colleges. The CEC has funded encounters between young people and STEM employers since it was established, investing in organisations like Engineering UK, Greenpower Trust and Manufacturing UK.
The CEC is also working with Local Enterprise Partnerships to help Enterprise Coordinators in those areas with the lowest uptake of STEM qualifications to make sure that STEM encounters are built into careers and enterprise plans.
Asked by: Imran Ahmad Khan (Independent - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to prevent the risk of grade inflation in school exams in summer 2021.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Due to the ongoing disruption to education caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, the Government announced on 6 January that GCSE, AS and A level examinations will not go ahead as planned this summer. On 25 February, it was confirmed that pupils would receive grades awarded by their teachers, who had the flexibility to use a range of evidence.
Parents and pupils can have confidence in the grades awarded this summer. Clear guidance has been provided to teachers, who will make evidence-based judgements on the grade at which their pupils are performing. Exam boards have also provided grade descriptors and exemplar materials to support teachers. These are broadly pegged to performance standards from previous years.
During the context of the COVID-19 outbreak, teachers are best placed to understand the content pupils have covered, their pupils’ performance, and how they compare to other pupils this year and in previous years. Teachers will already have a good understanding of their pupils’ performance which they can continue to develop throughout the time remaining supported by the resources and guidance issued to them by Awarding Organisations and the Joint Council for Qualifications. One of the requirements is that centres consider their historic awarding in the most recent examinations actually taken. This is one of the ways that grade inflation should be kept in check.
A robust quality assurance process will also be in place to support teachers in ensuring internal quality assurance processes have been effectively implemented. This will also reduce the risk of any malpractice.
Asked by: Imran Ahmad Khan (Independent - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps his Department has taken to increase numeracy rates for children from low-income households.
Answered by Nick Gibb
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 14 April 2021 to Question 176112.
In addition to this, the Department has also launched the National Tutoring Programme (NTP) which provides additional, targeted support for those children and young people who have been hardest hit from disruption to their education as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. The NTP is an ambitious scheme that aims to increase access to high-quality tuition for the most disadvantaged children and young people, helping to accelerate their academic progress and tackling the attainment gap between them and their peers.
Children can receive tuition in one of six main subject areas, including mathematics. Further information on the NTP can be found here: https://nationaltutoring.org.uk/.
Asked by: Imran Ahmad Khan (Independent - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps his Department has taken to increase literacy rates for children from low-income households.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government is committed to continuing to raise literacy standards, ensuring all children can read fluently and with understanding. The first five years of a child’s life provide a critical opportunity to close development gaps between disadvantaged children and their peers, particularly in Reception year.
Through the Early Years Professional Development Programme, the Department is investing £20 million to provide practitioners in pre-Reception settings with access to high-quality training to raise practitioners’ skills in supporting young children’s development in early language, literacy and mathematics. Improving these skills will drive up quality in the pre-school years, so that more children arrive at Reception year with the foundations in place to make the most of primary school. We have also invested £9 million of National Tutoring Programme funding in improving the language skills of Reception age children who need it most this academic year, through the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI).
In 2018, we launched a £26.3 million English Hubs Programme dedicated to improving the teaching of reading, with a focus on supporting children making the slowest progress in reading, many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds. The 34 English Hubs in the programme are primary schools which are outstanding at teaching early reading. We have since invested a further £17 million in this school to school improvement programme, which focuses on systematic synthetic phonics, early language, and reading for pleasure. Since its launch, the English Hubs Programme has provided appropriate and targeted support to several thousands of schools across England. In this academic year, the programme is providing intensive support to over 875 partner schools.
Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, English Hubs have continued to offer support and training to schools across the country by bringing much of their offer online. This has involved opening up virtual training and professional development events to a wider pool of schools and distributing materials targeted specifically at remote education and recovery. English Hubs have adapted well to providing intensive support remotely and have delivered more than 1,400 days of specialist phonics training to over 875 partner schools so far this academic year. Furthermore, we have worked closely with our English Hubs Programme to support them in guiding their networks of schools through the challenges of school disruption, particularly in promoting the importance of reading among head teachers.
As part of recognising the importance of reading during the disruption to education caused by COVID-19, the Department held a Reading Together Day on 16 July 2020 to celebrate the benefits of reading: https://readingagency.org.uk/news/media/reading-together-day-announced-for-16-july-2020.html. As part of this, we have published 10 top tips to help parents support their children to read: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/10-top-tips-to-encourage-children-to-read.
Additionally, the £1 billion catch up package announced in June 2020 included a new £350 million National Tutoring Programme (NTP) which provides additional, targeted support for those children and young people who have been hardest hit from disruption to their education as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. The NTP is an ambitious scheme that will increase access to high-quality tuition for the most disadvantaged children and young people, helping to accelerate their academic progress and tackling the attainment gap. The programme is intended to support disadvantaged pupils eligible for pupil premium funding. We recognise there are different indicators for disadvantage and teachers and head teachers should exercise professional judgement when identifying which pupils would benefit most from this additional support. The NTP for this academic year comprises of three elements:
Furthermore, to support the hard work of schools in delivering remote education, Oak National Academy was very quickly brought together by over 40 teachers, their schools and other education organisations. The Department has made £4.84 million available for Oak both for the summer term of the academic year 2019-20, and then for the 2020-21 academic year, to provide video lessons in a broad range of subjects, including English, for Reception up to Year 11. Specialist content for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities is also available.
Asked by: Imran Ahmad Khan (Independent - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department has taken to encourage students from (a) Wakefield and (b) West Yorkshire to enter into higher education.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
It is more crucial than ever before that we tap into the brilliant talent that our country has to offer, and make sure that university places are available to all who are qualified by ability and attainment to pursue them and who wish to do so.
All higher education (HE) providers wishing to charge higher levels fees must have an access and participation plan agreed by the Office for Students (OfS). These plans set out how they will support students from disadvantaged backgrounds and under-represented groups, to access, participate and succeed in HE and progress from it. This includes setting targets where the provider identifies the inequalities that it intends to address.
Prior attainment is a key determinant of participation in HE. Universities must do more to reach out to those from under-represented and disadvantaged backgrounds to raise aspirations and support the raising of attainment in schools. That is why in our latest strategic guidance to the OfS, we asked them to encourage providers to do much more to work with schools in a way which meaningfully raises the attainment of disadvantaged children.
In addition, the OfS were also asked to urge providers to do more to ensure that all students, particularly those from the most disadvantaged backgrounds, are recruited to HE courses that will deliver good outcomes. Too many students are being let down by HE courses with low completion rates and courses which have no real labour market demand and therefore do not lead them into skilled employment. True social mobility is when we put students and their needs and career ambitions first, be that HE, further education or apprenticeships.
We want to help disadvantaged students by driving up standards, and providing equality of opportunity so that students have access to new skills and better paid jobs. This is fundamental to this government’s ambition of enabling every person to fulfil their potential.