Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to promote lifelong learning and skills development.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
The government is investing £2.5 billion in the National Skills Fund in England.
Since 1 April, the government is supporting adults who do not hold A level equivalent or higher qualifications, to access over 400 funded level 3 courses, with Free Courses for Jobs. This offer is a long-term commitment, backed by £95 million from the National Skills Fund in year one.
Complementing this support for adults, Skills Bootcamps offer free, flexible courses of up to 16 weeks to give people the opportunity to build up sector specific skills and fast-track to an interview with a local employer. The department is expanding the Skills Bootcamp programme across the country during the 2021/22 financial year, with £43 million from the National Skills Fund. There will be digital Skills Bootcamps available in each English region and a wide coverage of technical Skills Bootcamps. We are also delivering Skills Bootcamps in retrofit construction skills to support the green industrial revolution.
From 2025, the department will introduce a Lifelong Loan Entitlement equivalent to 4 years of post-18 education. People will be supported to study throughout their life, with the opportunity to train, retrain and upskill as needed in response to changing skills needs and employment patterns. It will help transform post-18 study, delivering greater parity between further and higher education.
The department is continuing to invest in education and skills training for adults through the Adult Education Budget (AEB) (£1.34 billion in 2021/22). The AEB fully funds or co-funds skills provision for eligible adults aged 19 and above from pre-entry to level 3, to support adults to gain the skills required for work, apprenticeships, or further learning.
Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to protect freedom of speech on university campuses.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
This government believes that freedom of speech and academic freedom are fundamental pillars of our higher education system and that protecting these principles should be a priority for universities. That is why the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill was introduced on 12 May. The bill will strengthen existing freedom of speech duties and directly address gaps within the existing law. This includes the fact that there is no clear way of enforcing the current law when a higher education provider breaches it, as well as applying the duties directly to students' unions. The changes will introduce clear consequences for breaches of the new duties and ensure that these principles are upheld.
Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the impact of removing funding for most BTEC qualifications on students.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
Employers are facing a skills shortage that we must act to address. It is vital in a fast moving and high-tech economy that technical education closes the gap between what people study and the needs of employers. This is why we are introducing over 20 T Levels, developed with 250 leading employers, and reviewing the wider post-16 qualifications system at level 3 and below.
The department’s plans for reform of level 3 qualifications were published on 14 July 2021. We will continue to fund high quality qualifications that can be taken alongside or as alternatives to T Levels and A levels where there is a clear need for skills and knowledge that T Levels and A levels cannot provide. This may include some Pearson BTECs, provided they meet the new quality criteria for funding approval.
The impact assessment published alongside the consultation response recognised that some students may find it more difficult to achieve level 3 qualifications in future. However, the assessment stated that the changes will generally be positive as students will have access to higher quality qualifications in the future, including new T Levels. This will put students in a stronger position to progress onto further study or skilled employment. The assessment acknowledged that students from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to take qualifications that could have their funding approval removed. These students should gain the most from these changes because they are the most likely to be taking qualifications that do not deliver the skills employers need. We are committed to ensuring that T Levels are accessible to all young people and have introduced flexibilities for students with special educational needs and disabilities. The T Level Transition Programme will support young people who are not yet ready to progress to a T Level but have the potential to succeed on it after some further preparation.
All qualifications will need to meet new quality criteria to be approved for funding in future. Technical qualifications will need to be approved by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (the Institute) in order to be considered for funding approval. For academic qualifications, the department will set criteria to ensure all qualifications approved for funding are necessary alongside A levels. Ofqual will provide advice about quality to both the Institute and the department. This will ensure that all qualifications are high quality and provide the skills needed to support progression either into skilled employment or further study.
Alongside our reforms to level 3 qualifications, the department wants to improve study at level 2 and below, which has been neglected for too long. Improving level 2 and below is key to making sure that every student has a clear progression route – whether that is to high quality level 3 qualifications, apprenticeships, traineeships, or directly into skilled employment at level 2. The department is considering feedback to the call for evidence, which ran from 10 November 2020 to 14 February 2021, and there will be consultation on reform proposals later this year.
Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to encourage employers to take on more apprentices.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
In the 2021-22 financial year, funding available for investment in apprenticeships in England will remain around £2.5 billion - double that spent in 2010-11 financial year, supporting employers of all sizes to offer apprenticeships.
We are supporting employers to offer new apprenticeship opportunities by offering a higher incentive payment of £3,000 for every new apprentice hired between 1 April and 30 September 2021 as part of the government's Plan for Jobs. We have seen over 71,000 incentive payments claimed by employers so far (as of 8 June).
We continue to improve apprenticeships by making them more flexible and making it easier for employers to make full use of their levy funds. We are developing and encouraging innovative apprenticeships training models, such as the front-loading of off-the-job training and accelerated apprenticeships. These models support apprentices to be effective in their role and accelerate their progression and completion. We will also shortly launch a £7 million fund to help employers set up and expand flexi-job apprenticeship schemes, enabling people to work across multiple projects with different employers and benefit from the high-quality long-term training that an apprenticeship provides.
Levy-paying employers can already transfer up to 25% of their annual funds to support apprenticeships in their supply chains or to meet local skills needs. In August 2021, we will make the transfer of levy funds to small and medium-sized enterprises easier by launching an online matching service, whereby levy payers will be able to pledge funds for transfer and create more apprenticeship opportunities in their supply chain, sector or region.
Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to help sixth form students recover from the disruption to their education that has resulted from the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
We recognise that extended school and college restrictions due to COVID-19 have had a substantial impact on children and young people’s learning and we are committed to helping all pupils make up learning lost as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.
We have made available £1.7 billion in funding to support education recovery. In June 2020, we announced a £1 billion catch-up package, including a National Tutoring Programme and a catch-up premium for this academic year. In February 2021, we committed to further funding of £700 million to fund summer schools, expansion of our tutoring programmes and a Recovery Premium for the next academic year. This funding specifically included a £102 million extension of the 16-19 Tuition Fund for a further year to support more students in English, maths and other vocational and academic subjects whose learning has been impacted most severely by the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Tuition Fund is specific to 16 to 19 year old learners and is supporting thousands of eligible students across England to catch up and improve retention and attainment during the COVID-19 outbreak. There is good evidence of the value of small group provision in supporting learners to recover lost learning. The fund allows for this support for those studying English and maths and in elements of technical or academic study programmes helping them to address gaps in knowledge required for 16-19 qualifications.
It is essential that the fund focuses on those young people whose learning has been impacted most severely by the COVID-19 outbreak. This is why we have focused on those young people who are at significant disadvantage and who need the most support. Within the eligible cohort, providers will have discretion to target those students who need support most. Provider institutions will decide whether to opt into the scheme.
We have also appointed Sir Kevan Collins as Education Recovery Commissioner to advise on the development of a long-term recovery plan. Sir Kevan will engage with parents, pupils, students and teachers in the development of this broader approach. He will also review how evidence-based interventions can be used to address the impact that the COVID-19 outbreak has had on learning to ensure pupils and students, including those aged 16 to 19, are not disadvantaged disproportionately as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to (a) monitor and (b) enforce schools’ compliance with the requirements on political impartiality in the provisions of the Education Act 1996.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The law is clear that schools must remain politically impartial. School leaders and staff have a responsibility to ensure that they act appropriately, particularly in the political views they express. When political issues are discussed, schools must offer pupils a balanced presentation of opposing views and should not present materials in a politically biased or one-sided way.
As Ministers have made clear, political impartiality in our education system is an incredibly important principle to uphold. The Government is committed to ensuring children and young people receive a balanced education. The Department is committed to enforcing this and it, and Ofsted, will not hesitate to act where necessary to help schools meet their legal duties.
Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to help improve the development of language skills in early education.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Since 2018, we have committed more than £60 million to programmes to improve early language and literacy. Additionally, in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, we are spending up to £9 million of the National Tutoring Programme fund during the 2020/21 academic year on the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI), a robustly evidenced programme proven to improve oral language skills.
The recent Spending Review has confirmed that the department will fund further expansion of an evidence-based reception year early language programme (such as NELI) during the 2021/22 academic year.
Furthermore, over 3,000 early adopter schools are implementing the reforms to the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) from September 2020, ahead of statutory roll out in September 2021. One of the main aims of the revised framework is to improve early years outcomes for all children, particularly disadvantaged children in the critical areas that build the foundation for later success, such as language development.
As part of the reforms, we have revised the educational programmes to strengthen teaching practice in communication and language, providing a deeper focus on building vocabulary to address the word gap between disadvantaged children and their peers.
Further information on the early adopter EYFS framework can be accessed here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/896810/EYFS_Early_Adopter_Framework.pdf.
Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding for sixth form students.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Woking, to the answer that my hon. Friend, the former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families gave on 28 January 2020 to Question 5550.
Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will extend eligibility for the Teachers’ Pay Grant to sixth form colleges.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
Sixth form colleges have a different legal status and relationship to government when compared with schools. They are independent of government and the department plays no role in setting teacher pay and conditions. Therefore, sixth form colleges are not eligible for the teachers' pay grant or the early-career payments for school teachers. We continue to work closely with the further education sector to consider how best to support its needs.
We have announced a 16-19 funding increase of £400 million for 2020-21. This includes a 4.7% increase in the 16-19 base rate of funding and £20 million of new funding for the further education workforce.
Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will extend eligibility for Early Career Payments to teachers in sixth form colleges.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
Sixth form colleges have a different legal status and relationship to government when compared with schools. They are independent of government and the department plays no role in setting teacher pay and conditions. Therefore, sixth form colleges are not eligible for the teachers' pay grant or the early-career payments for school teachers. We continue to work closely with the further education sector to consider how best to support its needs.
We have announced a 16-19 funding increase of £400 million for 2020-21. This includes a 4.7% increase in the 16-19 base rate of funding and £20 million of new funding for the further education workforce.