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Written Question
Nuclear Physics: Higher Education
Tuesday 23rd January 2024

Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 15 January 2024 to Question 7744 on Engineering and Nuclear Physics: Higher Education, what estimate she has made of the number and proportion of the (a) undergraduate and (b) postgraduate students who were enrolled in Nuclear and Particle Physics in the 2021-22 academic year that were international students.

Answered by Robert Halfon - Minister of State (Education)

The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), now part of JISC, collects and publishes data on student enrolments across all UK higher education providers. This includes data on full person equivalents (FPE) enrolled in different subject areas, categorised using the higher education coding of subjects (HECoS) system. Counts of enrolments in each HECoS group are published in Table 52 of HESA’s Student Data, available at: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/table-52.

Enrolments in ‘Nuclear and Particle Physics’ are recorded under HECoS code 101077, and can be filtered to give counts by level of study and domicile.

For more information on HECoS see: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/support/documentation/hecos.



Written Question
Engineering and Nuclear Physics: Higher Education
Monday 15th January 2024

Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on (a) which universities offer courses in nuclear (i) physics and (ii) engineering and (b) how many (A) undergraduate and (B) graduate students are on such courses.

Answered by Robert Halfon - Minister of State (Education)

The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), now part of Jisc, collects and publishes data on student enrolments and qualifications obtained at UK higher education providers. This includes data on full person equivalents (FPE) enrolled in different subject areas, categorised using the Higher Education Coding of Subjects (HECoS) system. Further information on the HECoS system is available at: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/support/documentation/hecos.

This data has been used to approximate which providers offered courses including elements of the HECoS subjects ‘Nuclear Engineering’ (HECoS code 100172) and ‘Nuclear and Particle Physics’ (HECoS code 101077) in the 2021/22 academic year, and how many FPEs were enrolled in each of these subjects. This information has been provided as an attachment.

For an up-to-date view of available undergraduate courses, including nuclear studies, please visit: https://discoveruni.gov.uk/.


Written Question
Veterinary Medicine: Training
Thursday 27th May 2021

Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many vets graduated in the 2019-20 academic year; and how many veterinary students commenced courses in the 2020-21 academic year.

Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology

The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collects and publishes data on students enrolled in higher education (HE) in the UK. Latest statistics refer to the 2019/20 academic year.

Data on students obtaining qualifications at UK HE providers are available by subject of study and level of qualification obtained in the 2019/20 academic year in Table 50 of HESA’s ‘Higher Education Student Data’ pages, available here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/table-50.

In the 2019/20 academic year, there were 2,290 full-person-equivalent[1] undergraduate and postgraduate qualifiers in veterinary sciences at UK HE providers.

Data covering students entering courses in the 2020/21 academic year will be published by HESA in January 2022. The latest available statistics on students entering courses by subject studied can be found in Table 52: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/table-52.

In the 2019/20 academic year, there were 2,990 full-person-equivalent1 undergraduate and postgraduate entrants to veterinary sciences at UK HE providers.

[1] Counts are on the basis of full-person-equivalents. Where a student is studying more than one subject, they are apportioned between the subjects that make up their course. Refers to “05 Veterinary sciences” under the Common Aggregation Hierarchy of subjects: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/support/documentation/hecos/cah-about.


Written Question
Members: Correspondence
Monday 1st March 2021

Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when he plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Warley dated 17 November regarding Mr Asghar.

Answered by Nick Gibb

I can confirm that a response has been sent to the letter dated 17 November 2020, from the right hon. Member for Warley.


Written Question
Members: Correspondence
Wednesday 23rd September 2020

Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when he plans to respond to the correspondence of 16 June 2020 from the hon. Member for Warley on his constituent Angela Turner.

Answered by Nick Gibb

I can confirm that a response has been sent to the letter dated 16 June, from the right hon. Member for Warley.


Written Question
Apprentices: Construction
Tuesday 21st July 2020

Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to tackle the reduction in the number of apprentice places in the construction industry.

Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education

Apprenticeships will have an important role to play in creating employment opportunities, particularly for young people, and in supporting employers in all sectors to access the skilled workforce that they need to recover and grow following the COVID-19 outbreak.

We recognise that employers, at the moment, face increased challenges with hiring new apprentices and so we will introduce a new payment of £2,000 to employers in England for each new apprentice they hire aged under 25, and a £1,500 payment for each new apprentice they hire aged 25 and over, from 1 August 2020 to 31 January 2021. Details can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-treasury. We will also ensure that there is sufficient funding to support small businesses wanting to take on an apprentice this year.

Employers are at the heart of our reforms to apprenticeships, designing high-quality standards that deliver the skills that they need, and allowing them to spend the levy on the apprenticeships training that matters for them. Employers in the construction sector have developed 86 standards which are approved for delivery. These include Groundworker at level 2 and Building Services Design Technician at level 3. A further 12 are in development.

The construction industry will be key in supporting the country’s economic recovery and my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, recently announced a £5 billion Capital Investment Plan to accelerate infrastructure projects aimed at stimulating the sector and help to recruit and retain staff including apprentices.

We are working with construction sector to encourage the take up of apprenticeships to ensure businesses can restart and recover as quickly as possible.


Written Question
Apprentices: Coronavirus
Tuesday 21st July 2020

Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans the Government has to introduce flexibility in the use of Apprenticeship Levy funds to help mitigate the effects of the covid-19 outbreak on current and potential construction apprentices.

Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education

The apprenticeship levy is an important part of our apprenticeship reforms, supporting employers of all sizes to make a long-term, sustainable investment in training. We recognise that employers at the moment face increased challenges with hiring new apprentices so we have announced a new payment of £2,000 to employers in England for each new apprentice they hire aged under 25, and a £1,500 payment for each new apprentice they hire aged 25 and over, from 1 August 2020 to 31 January 2021. Details can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-treasury. We will also ensure that there is sufficient funding to support small businesses wanting to take on an apprentice this year.

In light of the challenges presented by COVID-19, we have introduced a range of flexibilities so that apprentices and employers can continue with their apprenticeships. These include encouraging remote learning, as well as allowing furloughed apprentices to continue their apprenticeships and undertake end point assessments.

Employers are at the heart of our reforms to apprenticeships, designing high-quality standards that deliver the skills that they need, and allowing them to spend the levy on the apprenticeships training that matters for them. Employers in the construction sector have developed 86 standards which are approved for delivery. These include Groundworker at level 2 and Building Services Design Technician at level 3. A further 12 are in development.

We are working with the construction sector to encourage the take up of apprenticeships to ensure businesses can restart and recover as quickly as possible.

We remain committed to looking at how to improve the working of the apprenticeship levy, to support large and small employers in meeting the long-term skills needs of the economy.


Written Question
Apprentices: Taxation
Tuesday 14th July 2020

Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure Apprenticeship Levy funds can be used to support (a) current and (b) future construction apprentices after the covid-19 outbreak.

Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education

Apprenticeships will be key to our recovery, especially for young people. We are looking at ensuring that we support employers, especially small businesses, to take on new apprentices this year and will provide further details in due course. The apprenticeship levy is an important part of our apprenticeship reforms, supporting employers of all sizes to make a long-term, sustainable investment in training. We will ensure that there is sufficient funding to support small businesses wanting to take on an apprentice this year.

We recognise that employers, at the moment, face increased challenges with hiring new apprentices and so we will introduce a new payment of £2,000 to employers in England for each new apprentice they hire aged under 25, and a £1,500 payment for each new apprentice they hire aged 25 and over, from 1 August 2020 to 31 January 2021. Details can be found here https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-treasury.

We are developing a campaign plan to underpin our work on supporting the recovery and getting redundant apprentices back to work. As part of this campaign we will be working with all the largest construction businesses to ensure they can restart and recover as quickly as possible. This will include encouraging the sector to take on redundant apprentices from other employers both inside and outside of construction.

In light of the challenges presented by COVID-19, we have extended the transition of non-levy paying employers onto the apprenticeship service from 1 November 2020 to 1 April 2021. Under the new system, smaller employers will have more control over the funding they use to create new apprenticeship opportunities and can reserve funds before choosing the provider that best meets their needs. Levy-paying employers can transfer up to 25% of the annual value of funds in their apprenticeship service accounts to other employers. Employers can continue to recruit and train apprentices. They already have 24 months in which to spend their funds before these expire.

We want apprentices and employers to continue with their apprenticeships and have introduced a range of flexibilities to make this easier, while maintaining the quality of apprenticeships. Flexibilities include encouraging remote delivery of training and allowing changes to end point assessment, as well as introducing additional flexibility to allow furloughed apprentices to continue their apprenticeships and undertake end point assessments.

Employers are developing new apprenticeships standards, allowing them to spend the levy on the apprenticeships training that matters for them. There are now 86 construction standards that have been designed by employers across a range of levels to meet employer demand to date and a further 12 construction standards that are currently in development.


Written Question
Apprentices: Construction
Tuesday 14th July 2020

Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to increase the number of apprentice places in the construction industry.

Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education

Apprenticeships will have an important role to play in creating employment opportunities, particularly for young people, and in supporting employers in all sectors, to access the skilled workforce that they need to recover and grow, following COVID-19 outbreak. We will ensure that there is sufficient funding to support small businesses wanting to take on an apprentice this year and will provide further details in due course.

The construction industry will be key in supporting the country’s economic recovery and the Prime Minister recently announced a £5 billion Capital Investment Plan to accelerate infrastructure projects. We are working with the sector to encourage take up of new apprentices and continue to work with employers including Persimmons Homes and Balfour Beatty through our Apprenticeship Diversity Champions Network to promote best practice in recruiting and supporting apprentices from diverse backgrounds and under-represented groups including Black Asian Minority Ethnic and women.


Written Question
Apprentices: Equality
Tuesday 14th July 2020

Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to ensure greater diversity and improve gender and BAME equality amongst construction apprentices.

Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education

Apprenticeships will have an important role to play in creating employment opportunities, particularly for young people, and in supporting employers in all sectors, to access the skilled workforce that they need to recover and grow, following COVID-19 outbreak. We will ensure that there is sufficient funding to support small businesses wanting to take on an apprentice this year and will provide further details in due course.

The construction industry will be key in supporting the country’s economic recovery and the Prime Minister recently announced a £5 billion Capital Investment Plan to accelerate infrastructure projects. We are working with the sector to encourage take up of new apprentices and continue to work with employers including Persimmons Homes and Balfour Beatty through our Apprenticeship Diversity Champions Network to promote best practice in recruiting and supporting apprentices from diverse backgrounds and under-represented groups including Black Asian Minority Ethnic and women.