Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of apprenticeship levy networks in improving small businesses’ access to apprenticeship levy funding.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The apprenticeship levy supports employers of all sizes to invest in high-quality apprenticeship training. Transfers are a great way for large employers to use their levy funds to support apprenticeships in other businesses, including small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), flexi-job apprenticeship agencies and charities, to help meet local or sector skills needs. This could include businesses in their supply chain.
The department continues to promote the benefits of levy transfers and has increased the proportion of their funds that levy-paying employers can transfer to support more apprenticeships in other businesses from 25% to 50%. This will help SMEs hire more apprentices by reducing their costs and enabling them to benefit from the support and experience that larger employers can provide.
Hundreds of large levy-paying employers have already taken advantage of the opportunity to transfer their unused levy funds to other businesses. Since September 2021 over 550 employers, including ASDA, HomeServe, and BT Group, have pledged to transfer over £37 million to support apprenticeships in businesses of all sizes. It is also encouraging to see regional schemes to support local businesses through transfers, including in the West Midlands.
SMEs can also access funding directly from the apprenticeships budget. The department has increased investment in the apprenticeships system in England to over £2.7 billion this financial year to support employers of all sizes, including SMEs. In addition, last year, the department removed the limit to the number of apprentices that SMEs can take on, making it easier for them to grow their businesses. This has already benefitted almost 350 SMEs. The department also now fully funds the costs of training and assessment for new apprentices aged 16 to 21 in small businesses.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to (a) support and (b) promote regional levy networks.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The apprenticeship levy supports employers of all sizes to invest in high-quality apprenticeship training. Transfers are a great way for large employers to use their levy funds to support apprenticeships in other businesses, including small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), flexi-job apprenticeship agencies and charities, to help meet local or sector skills needs. This could include businesses in their supply chain.
The department continues to promote the benefits of levy transfers and has increased the proportion of their funds that levy-paying employers can transfer to support more apprenticeships in other businesses from 25% to 50%. This will help SMEs hire more apprentices by reducing their costs and enabling them to benefit from the support and experience that larger employers can provide.
Hundreds of large levy-paying employers have already taken advantage of the opportunity to transfer their unused levy funds to other businesses. Since September 2021 over 550 employers, including ASDA, HomeServe, and BT Group, have pledged to transfer over £37 million to support apprenticeships in businesses of all sizes. It is also encouraging to see regional schemes to support local businesses through transfers, including in the West Midlands.
SMEs can also access funding directly from the apprenticeships budget. The department has increased investment in the apprenticeships system in England to over £2.7 billion this financial year to support employers of all sizes, including SMEs. In addition, last year, the department removed the limit to the number of apprentices that SMEs can take on, making it easier for them to grow their businesses. This has already benefitted almost 350 SMEs. The department also now fully funds the costs of training and assessment for new apprentices aged 16 to 21 in small businesses.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made a recent assessment of the financial impact of contracts with Transform Schools (Stoke) Limited on existing school budgets.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Stoke Local Authority school private finance initiative (PFI) contract was signed in the year 2000 and covers 88 schools in the area. The contracts were commonplace from 1998 to 2009. The department recognises that some schools with PFI contracts face higher costs.
The department supports schools that have unavoidable extra costs related to their PFI contracts through the ‘PFI factor’ in the schools national funding formula.
Local authorities determine individual schools’ final funding allocations through their own local formula. Local authorities can choose if, and how, to operate a PFI factor in their local funding formula. How they do this will vary between local authorities, reflecting in each case the specific nature of the PFI contract in question.
The purpose of the factor is to fund the additional costs to a school of being in a PFI contract, but not necessarily the full cost, as some costs may be covered within other factors and are not unique to PFI schools.
In 2024/25, the department is allocating £3.1 million in funding through the PFI factors for schools in Stoke.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which schools in Stoke-on-Trent were built under a private finance initiative (PFI) contract with Transform Schools (Stoke) Limited.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Stoke Local Authority school private finance initiative (PFI) contract was signed in the year 2000 and covers 88 schools in the area. The contracts were commonplace from 1998 to 2009. The department recognises that some schools with PFI contracts face higher costs.
From the information provided by Stoke-on-Trent City Council, the department understands that the 13 schools listed in the attached PDF were built under the PFI contract with Transform Schools (Stoke) Limited (TSSL). The department is also aware that other schools covered by the same contract received various levels of refurbishment. Stoke-on-Trent City Council will hold the detail relating to this.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which schools in Stoke-on-Trent are included in the PFI contract with Transform Schools (Stoke) Ltd.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Stoke Local Authority school private finance initiative (PFI) contract was signed in the year 2000 and covers 88 schools in the area. The contracts were commonplace from 1998 to 2009. The department recognises that some schools with PFI contracts face higher costs.
Information on the Stoke-on-Trent schools in the PFI contract with Transform Schools (Stoke) Limited was provided by the local authority and can be found in the attached PDF.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made on ensuring that every school in (a) Stoke-on-Trent, (b) Kidsgrove and (c) Talke has a defibrillator.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
On 17 July 2022, the department announced that it would be ensuring all state-funded schools in England had access to an automated external defibrillator (AEDs).
In July 2023, the department confirmed that the defibrillator programme had successfully completed the rollout of over 20,000 defibrillators to almost 18,000 schools, ensuring that all state-funded schools in England have access to this life saving first-aid equipment. This includes schools in Stoke-on-Trent, Kidsgrove and Talke.
More information about this programme is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/millions-of-children-get-access-to-life-saving-defibrillators.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding the Government has given to (a) schools in Stoke-on-Trent and (b) Transform Schools (Stoke) Ltd in relation to the PFI contract between Stoke-on-Trent City Council and Transform Schools (Stoke) Ltd in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Stoke Local Authority school private finance initiative (PFI) contract was signed in the year 2000 and covers 88 schools in the area. The contracts were commonplace from 1998 to 2009. The department recognises that some schools with PFI contracts face higher costs.
No payments are made by the department directly to Transform Schools (Stoke) Ltd in relation to the Stoke PFI contract. All payments under this PFI contract to Transform Schools (Stoke) Ltd are made by Stoke-on-Trent City Council.
Departmental funding for the Stoke PFI contract is sent via other organisations, rather than directly to schools, and for each of the last ten years is set out in the table attached.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will consider the potential merits of introducing a minimum requirement to qualify for student loans of (a) grades EEE at A-level and (b) equivalent grades at (i) T-level and (ii) Level 3 Diploma.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The government consulted on whether there was a case, in principle, for a Minimum Eligibility Requirement for access to student finance for degree-level study. In the Higher Education (HE) Reform policy statement of 17 July, the department made an announcement to not proceed with such a requirement at this time.
The government is delivering on its manifesto commitment to drive up quality and tackle pockets of poor provision in the HE sector. The department has worked with the Office for Students (OfS) to set stringent minimum thresholds for student outcomes and the OfS has introduced face to face investigations where there is a risk of breach of these expectations.
The department wants to see recruitment limits used to reduce the growth of low-quality courses, and graduate earnings to be part of the quality regime, so that students can be confident in the quality of the course that they have chosen.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will consider the potential merits of using the apprenticeship levy to fund training in skill shortages identified by the Migration Advisory Committee.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The government is supporting employers of all sizes and in all sectors, to use high-quality apprenticeships to build the skilled workforces they need, now and in the future.
Employers can access over 680 employer-designed apprenticeship standards, including in occupations which feature in the shortage occupation list, such as Level 2 Bricklayer, Level 3 Laboratory Technician, and Level 3 Lead Adult Care Worker.
The department is increasing investment in apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by the 2024/25 financial year and has removed the limit on the number of apprentices that small and medium-sized enterprises can recruit, supporting more employers of all sizes to grow their businesses with the skilled apprentices they need.
Employers can also continue to benefit from a range of other high-quality government funded skills programmes to recruit new talent or train current staff, including to help address skills shortages identified by the Migration Advisory Committee, such as through Skills Bootcamps in retrofitting.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of expanding the 100 per cent funding for small businesses taking on an apprentice younger than 19 to include medium-sized businesses.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department recognises the important role that small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play in creating apprenticeship opportunities, particularly for younger people and those in disadvantaged areas.
The department is increasing investment in apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by 2024/25. This funding will support apprenticeships in all employers, including SMEs where we continue to pay at least 95% of their training costs.
The department currently funds 100% of the training and assessment cost for apprentices aged 16-18 who are employed by businesses with fewer than 50 employees. We think it is right that we target this additional financial support at the smallest employers with limited capacity to support young apprentices.
The department recognises that employers of all sizes may need additional support to take on younger apprentices and we continue to provide £1,000 to both employers and training providers when they take on apprentices aged under 19. Employers are also not required to pay anything towards employees’ National Insurance for all apprentices aged up to 25.
In addition, the department is supporting SMEs to take on as many skilled apprentices as they need. We have removed the limit of funding 10 apprentices a year in SMEs, and we have made it easier for SMEs to register to take on an apprentice.