Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the value of a national online platform for advertising teaching vacancies.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is undertaking research to strengthen its understanding of the issues schools face when advertising teacher vacancies and the challenges teachers have finding and applying for jobs. This will inform the development and design of a new national teacher vacancy service.
This service will aim to reduce the time schools spend on publishing vacancies and the cost of recruiting new teachers. It will also make it easier for teachers to find jobs and increase the availability and quality of data on teacher recruitment.
We will provide further details in due course.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with representatives of governors and head-teachers of small primary schools in England on potential mitigation of the effect on their schools of the apprenticeship levy.
Answered by Robert Halfon
We have engaged thousands of employers and training providers throughout the development of the apprenticeship funding reforms and continue to do so. This engagement helped to shape the funding policy proposals for England from May 2017, published on 25 October. We are continuing to work with stakeholders across the education sector to support schools in getting the full benefit of our apprenticeship funding reforms.
Our ongoing engagement includes with local authorities, whose levy contributions will cover the schools they maintain, where they employ the staff. We are clear that local authorities are responsible for working closely with these schools, to agree how the cost of the levy will be fairly spread and to ensure schools contributing to the levy can access the funding for apprenticeship training. My officials continue to support them in doing this.
We have published estimates of levy payments by sector, and previous apprenticeship spending by sector:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/545145/Apprenticeships_-expected_levy_and_total_spend_-_Aug_2016.pdf.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the potential cost of the apprenticeship levy to small primary schools in England in the first year of its operation.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Small primary schools will be liable for the apprenticeship levy, at 0.5% of their pay bill, if their staff are employed by a body whose total pay bill is over £3m. That will apply to community and voluntary controlled schools, where staff are employed by the local authority, and to many multi academy trusts.
The apprenticeship levy will support schools to train up and develop existing as well as new staff, an integral part of this government’s wider plans to improve productivity and provide opportunities for people of all backgrounds and all ages to enter the workplace. We encourage all schools to employ or designate apprentices, whether or not they pay the apprenticeship levy. Where schools do not pay the levy, or have exhausted the funds in their levy pot, they can put in 10% of the costs of apprentices’ training, and the government will provide the remaining 90%.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made on creating a £10 million fund for small schools to secure expert support and advice on converting to academy status.
Answered by Edward Timpson
This Government recognises the particular challenges facing small and rural schools and is committed to supporting them. We have announced a package of measures to guarantee the continued success of these schools, including £10 million to secure expert support and advice. Details on how this will be administered, and further information, will be available in due course.