Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2018 to Question 125493 on Faith Schools, what assessment he has made of whether allowing faith schools greater freedom to discriminate on the grounds of faith conflicts on the Government's proposals to strengthening equalities legislation.
Answered by Anne Milton
Faith designated schools are allowed to admit children on the basis of their faith as part of their oversubscription criteria. The ability to do this is permitted by the Equality Act.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has any plans to revise the inclusivity and community and engagement requirements for new faith schools.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
All schools must promote integration, and social cohesion whatever their character and ethos. The Department’s consultation document, ‘Schools that work for everyone’, set out proposals to replace the 50% cap on faith admissions in faith free schools with new safeguards to support inclusivity and integration. These are aimed at building on existing inclusivity requirements and those to promote fundamental British values to help ensure children and young people are prepared for life in modern Britain. The Department plans to respond to the proposals in ‘Schools that work for everyone’ in due course.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has made any estimate of the number and proportion of schools that have created a code of practice on inclusivity and tolerance.
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 estimate his Department has made of the cost to the public purse of establishing and maintaining the Office for Students in each of the next five years.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The original estimates for the cost of the Office for Students (OfS) were included in the ‘Case for Creation of the Office for Students’ (June 2016): https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/527757/bis-16-292-ofs-case-for-creation.pdf.
An updated estimate of the government’s contribution for the expected operating expenses of the OfS can be found in the ‘Introducing registration fees for Office for Students Consultation Impact Assessment’ (December 2017) in Table 5: https://consult.education.gov.uk/he-landscape-reform/ofs-registration-fees-and-other-fees-stage-2/supporting_documents/OfS%20consulation%20Impact%20Assessement%20.pdf.
These are estimates using a baseline of the costs for the Higher Education Funding Council for England and Office for Fair Access and are subject to ongoing review between the department and the OfS as part of annual business planning processes to ensure good value for money.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure the security of examination answers as a result of Ofqual's recent decision to void a number of examinations due to the answers being leaked online.
Answered by Nick Gibb
This is a matter for Ofqual, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation. I have asked its Chief Regulator, Sally Collier, to write directly to the hon. Member. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what his Department's policy is on the no-platforming at universities of (a) Al-Muhajiroun, (b) the British National Party, (c) the English Defence League, (d) Hizb-ut-Tahir, (e) the Muslim Public Affairs Committee and (f) National Action; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
Al-Muhajiroun and National Action are proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000. Membership is illegal and these groups should not be given a platform at universities.
Universities have a legal duty to take reasonable steps to ensure freedom of speech, including for visiting speakers (under the Education Act (No 2) 1986). The government therefore, does not support blanket no-platforming of individuals or organisations who are legally exercising their right to freedom of speech; it is for universities to balance their legal duties on a case-by-case basis.
The government’s position on this issue has been publicly stated on a number of occasions.
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 encourage Universities UK to resolve the dispute over the Universities Superannuation Scheme.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
Universities are autonomous institutions and they are responsible for their own pension provision. The department has not taken steps to encourage Universities UK, or any other party, to resolve the dispute regarding the Universities Superannuation Scheme, but continues to monitor developments.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether there are any contingency plans for a replacement for the ERASMUS+ scheme for UK Universities in the event that the UK does not renegotiate access to ERASMUS+.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Department for Education continues to make rigorous preparations for a range of possible outcomes from the UK's negotiations with the EU. Under the agreement made last week, the UK would participate in Erasmus+ until the end of the programme. No decisions have yet been made about post-2020 programme participation since the scope of this programme has not been agreed. Options will be discussed as part of phase two of negotiations.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will place an indicative list of projects that have received funding as a result of the Immigration Skills Charge in the Library.
Answered by Anne Milton
An assessment of the income generated by the Immigration Skills Charge (ISC) after the first year of collecting the charge and the department’s 2017/18 end year accounts will provide information on ISC income and expenditure.
A copy of this assessment will be deposited in the Libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the market share UK universities hold for students studying abroad from (a) Nigeria, (b) Malaysia and (c) Saudi Arabia.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The government fully recognises the important contribution that international students make to the UK’s higher education sector, both economically and culturally. Global data on international student destinations is not available in the format requested. However, it is available at the tertiary education level from The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization at the following link: http://uis.unesco.org/en/uis-student-flow. The link also includes further information on what types of education are included in the definition of tertiary education.
This data shows that in terms of overall market share of overseas students studying tertiary level courses, the UK continues to attract the second highest numbers of overseas students (EU and non-EU) after the USA. For students from Nigeria and Malaysia the UK is the most popular destination and for students from Saudi Arabia it is the second most population destination.