Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the number of children taking English Literature at A-Level in the last 10 years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department values the three English A-levels and keeps the total number of English A-level entries under constant review. Overall, English is one of the top four most popular A-level subjects and has been a subject of choice for large numbers of students over the past 10 years. Studying English language or literature at A-level builds students’ understanding and appreciation of the English language and the depth and power of our rich and varied literary heritage. It also helps develop valuable critical and analytical skills. The Department has sought to encourage take up of English literature A-level through the 16-18 performance tables.
The Department understands that students choose their A-level qualifications carefully in order to keep their future career options open. Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects are required for studying a wide range of courses, and STEM skills are in shortage in the economy. The Department has seen total entries to STEM A-level subjects increase in 2019 compared to last year, despite a small decrease in the population, with an increase in the proportion of girls taking STEM subjects (3.2% increase). Entries in STEM subjects have now increased by 26.2% since 2010. Entries to history and geography have also increased this summer.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the good comparative attainment of Welsh A-level students in 2019, what plans he has to commission a lessons learned review of education in England.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department has reformed A levels in England to improve students’ readiness for the demands of higher education. The Department has no plans to review comparative attainment in Wales and England. Education is a devolved matter, and it is for the Welsh government and Qualifications Wales to determine standards in Wales.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Office for Students has taken since its establishment to assess the adequacy of provision of mental health services and student support at universities.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
In our latest guidance to the Office for Students (OfS), we asked that it continue its work to support student experience, with a focus on wellbeing and mental health.
Where a provider has significant gaps in outcomes between students with a declared mental health condition and their peers, the OfS require providers to set out an ambitious strategy to narrow these gaps and promote equality of opportunity, as part of their access and participation plans.
The OfS also regulates at a sector level to share evidence and examples of effective and innovative practice. On 5 June 2019, the OfS announced the award of almost £6 million for 10 large-scale projects through a challenge competition, encouraging higher education providers to find new ways of combating student mental health issues. The OfS has commissioned a programme-level evaluation to gather what works most effectively and to disseminate learning across the sector.
On 17 June 2019, the government announced a £1 million fund for a further OfS challenge competition to find innovative proposals that drive improvements in mental health support for higher education students.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of children that went to school hungry at least once in the 2017-18.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The information requested is not held centrally. We do not ask schools to collect this information, and we do not hold any estimate.
I refer the hon. Member for Cardiff Central to the answer I gave on 2 April 2019 to Question 238408.
This year we are more than quadrupling investment in our holiday activities and food programme to £9.1 million. We estimate that around 50,000 children will benefit from being offered high quality free holiday provision this summer. This will deliver free healthy food and activities to disadvantaged children and families.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of short-term contracts for academics on the health and wellbeing of those staff.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
As independent and autonomous institutions, higher education (HE) providers are responsible for decisions regarding the contracts they offer to academics. Like all employers, HE providers have a duty of care to their staff. The department expects them to take this very seriously.
I gave a speech on 7 May that focused on early career researcher contracts. I am keen that early career academics do not get lost from policy debates – particularly around key issues like mental health and wellbeing. I am looking forward to the upcoming publication of the revised Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, and I am serious about taking this forward. The full text of this speech can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/reaching-24-securing-the-research-talent-of-tomorrow.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of homophobic abuse of pupils in schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department’s most recent figures on the levels of homophobic bullying in schools come from our omnibus surveys of school staff and pupils, parents and carers. The school snapshot survey 2016/17 interviewed senior leaders and teachers, and showed that 14% of those interviewed had seen homophobic or biphobic bullying either sometimes or often in the previous 12 months. This publication can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-snapshot-survey-winter-2017.
This is similar to the results from the teacher voice omnibus 2015/16, which showed that 13% had seen homophobic or biphobic bullying sometimes. The publication can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teacher-voice-omnibus-november-2016-survey-dfe-questions.
In the pupil and parent or carer omnibus survey 2016/17, 10% of pupils reported that they had been bullied in the past year because they are, or someone says they are, gay, lesbian or bisexual; 4% had been bullied daily, weekly, or monthly. The same survey conducted in 2017/18 shows a similar pattern with 13% of pupils reported that they had been bullied in the past year because they are, or someone says they are, gay, lesbian or bisexual; 6% had been bullied daily, weekly, or monthly. The publication can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupils-and-their-parents-or-carers-omnibus-wave-1-survey.
The Government Equalities Office is providing £4 million of funding, from September 2016 to March 2020, to help schools prevent and respond to homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying. In November 2018 the Department also published ‘Respectful School Communities’, available at https://educateagainsthate.com/school-leaders/?filter=guidance-and-training-school-leader, which is a self-review and signposting tool to support schools to develop a whole-school approach which promotes respect and discipline. This can combat bullying, harassment and prejudice of any kind. The Department is also making relationships education compulsory in all primary schools, relationships and sex education compulsory in all secondary schools and health education compulsory in all state-funded schools. This will address bullying of all kinds, with a focus on supporting pupils to develop positive respectful relationships, understanding the impact of harmful stereotypes and developing pupil wellbeing.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many violent incidents directed at teachers at schools there were in each of the last five academic years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the level of in-school hunger among children in England.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The government supports the provision of nutritious food in schools, which ensures pupils are well nourished, develop healthy eating habits and can concentrate and learn. Under the benefits based criteria, around 1.1 million of the most disadvantaged children are eligible for and claiming free school meals – saving families around £400 per year. Benefits based free meals were extended to disadvantaged further education students in September 2014. A further 1.5 million infants receive a free nutritious meal under the Universal Infant Free School Meals scheme. We are also investing up to £26 million to the National Schools Breakfast Programme. This money will kick start or improve breakfast clubs in over 1,700 schools and target the most disadvantaged areas of the country, including Opportunity Areas.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of regional inequalities in educational attainment in England.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department publishes the attainment of state-funded pupils at the end of Key Stage 2, Key Stage 4, and 16-18 study, for each region in England[1]. The headline measures for 2017/18 for each key stage are provided in the tables attached.
[1] Key Stage 2: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-key-stage-2.
Key Stage 4: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-gcses-key-stage-4.
16-18: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-attainment-at-19-years.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that all children are aware of climate change.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It is important that young people are taught about climate change. Topics related to this are included in both the science and geography curriculum and qualifications.
In primary school science pupils are taught about how weather changes across the four seasons, and look at how environments can change as a result of human actions. In secondary science pupils are taught about the production of carbon dioxide by human activity and the effect this has on the climate. This is expanded on in GCSE science where pupils will consider the evidence for additional anthropogenic causes of climate change. As part of GCSE geography pupils will look at the causes, consequences of and responses to extreme weather conditions and natural weather hazards.
In 2017, the Department also introduced a new environmental science A level. This will enable students to study topics that will support their understanding of climate change and how it can be tackled.