Asked by: Lord Johnson of Marylebone (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the bidding process for the £7 million of funding to tackle antisemitism in schools and universities, announced in the Autumn Statement.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Following the Autumn Statement announcement, the government is preparing to issue an invitation for interested organisations to tender to tackle anti-semitism in schools, colleges, and universities. The department encourages all interested organisations to consider submitting a bid in response to the invitation to tender.
Asked by: Lord Johnson of Marylebone (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the speech by the Home Secretary on 8 October in which she said “too many students coming into this country who are propping up, frankly, substandard courses in inadequate institutions”, whether they will list (1) all substandard higher education courses and the criteria for their inclusion in this category, and (2) all inadequate higher education institutions and the criteria for their inclusion in this category; and how many international students in total attend substandard courses at inadequate institutions.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is committed to tackling low-quality courses and ensuring that students and the taxpayer see returns on their investment. We are working with the Office for Students’ (OfS) to implement a visible and effective investigations regime that will enable the OfS to intervene where it has concerns about the quality of provision or student outcomes.
Where higher education providers are found to be in breach of requirements, the OfS may choose to impose sanctions such as financial penalties, suspension from the OfS register or, in the worst cases, deregistration
These “boots on the ground” inspections are part of significant regulatory reform being taken forward with the OfS, which aims to introduce a more rigorous and effective quality regime. This also includes setting stringent minimum thresholds on student outcomes for the first time.
Asked by: Lord Johnson of Marylebone (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reduction in the (1) number, and (2) proportion, of 16–17 year old learners re-sitting Maths and English GCSE in further education colleges between 2019 and 2021.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Institutions decide their academic requirements for sixth form entry.
Trends in take-up of post-16 education suggest that the increased number of young people attaining higher GCSE grades in 2020 and 2021 has contributed to a greater proportion of young people attending school sixth forms and sixth form colleges rather than general further education (FE) colleges. Higher numbers of young people attaining grade 4 or above in GCSE English and maths are likely to have resulted in a lower number of young people re-taking those examinations because of the way the requirement on institutions operates, however, we recognise that some students with these grades will still require support for their future attainment.
These trends in GCSE grades could have contributed to an increase in study at level 3 and a decrease in study at level 2 at FE colleges. Between 2019 and 2021 the number of 16-17-year-olds in FE colleges studying a level 2 qualification dropped 8.7% and the number studying a level 3 qualification increased 14.7%. This represents a 1.6% fall in the proportion of the age 16-17 population studying level 2 and a 1.4% increase in the proportion of the age 16-17 population studying level 3.
Funding for the academic year 2022/23 is based on student numbers in the academic year 2021/22. Provisional data (which excludes sixth form colleges) suggests that FE colleges had in aggregate a fall of just over 1% in their 16-19 students in 2021/22 compared with the previous year, which has had an impact on funding. However, the higher funding rates mean that despite this slight fall in student numbers, colleges will see a significant increase in funding in 2022/23. We expect to see only a small proportion of colleges with a cash reduction in 16-19 funding in 2022/23 compared with 2021/22 when allocations are published. Each year we look to put in place exceptional in-year growth funding, subject to affordability, to help providers that see a significant increase in students, and we will be looking carefully at what can be put in place to help colleges which see an increase in students in 2022/23.
Asked by: Lord Johnson of Marylebone (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of any connection between the increase in the GCSE pass rate in Maths and English between 2019 and 2021 and the reduction in the number of 16–17 year olds enrolling into Level 2 study with further education providers.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Institutions decide their academic requirements for sixth form entry.
Trends in take-up of post-16 education suggest that the increased number of young people attaining higher GCSE grades in 2020 and 2021 has contributed to a greater proportion of young people attending school sixth forms and sixth form colleges rather than general further education (FE) colleges. Higher numbers of young people attaining grade 4 or above in GCSE English and maths are likely to have resulted in a lower number of young people re-taking those examinations because of the way the requirement on institutions operates, however, we recognise that some students with these grades will still require support for their future attainment.
These trends in GCSE grades could have contributed to an increase in study at level 3 and a decrease in study at level 2 at FE colleges. Between 2019 and 2021 the number of 16-17-year-olds in FE colleges studying a level 2 qualification dropped 8.7% and the number studying a level 3 qualification increased 14.7%. This represents a 1.6% fall in the proportion of the age 16-17 population studying level 2 and a 1.4% increase in the proportion of the age 16-17 population studying level 3.
Funding for the academic year 2022/23 is based on student numbers in the academic year 2021/22. Provisional data (which excludes sixth form colleges) suggests that FE colleges had in aggregate a fall of just over 1% in their 16-19 students in 2021/22 compared with the previous year, which has had an impact on funding. However, the higher funding rates mean that despite this slight fall in student numbers, colleges will see a significant increase in funding in 2022/23. We expect to see only a small proportion of colleges with a cash reduction in 16-19 funding in 2022/23 compared with 2021/22 when allocations are published. Each year we look to put in place exceptional in-year growth funding, subject to affordability, to help providers that see a significant increase in students, and we will be looking carefully at what can be put in place to help colleges which see an increase in students in 2022/23.
Asked by: Lord Johnson of Marylebone (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of changes in enrolments at all levels of study in further education by people aged 16 to 17 between 2019 and 2021.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Institutions decide their academic requirements for sixth form entry.
Trends in take-up of post-16 education suggest that the increased number of young people attaining higher GCSE grades in 2020 and 2021 has contributed to a greater proportion of young people attending school sixth forms and sixth form colleges rather than general further education (FE) colleges. Higher numbers of young people attaining grade 4 or above in GCSE English and maths are likely to have resulted in a lower number of young people re-taking those examinations because of the way the requirement on institutions operates, however, we recognise that some students with these grades will still require support for their future attainment.
These trends in GCSE grades could have contributed to an increase in study at level 3 and a decrease in study at level 2 at FE colleges. Between 2019 and 2021 the number of 16-17-year-olds in FE colleges studying a level 2 qualification dropped 8.7% and the number studying a level 3 qualification increased 14.7%. This represents a 1.6% fall in the proportion of the age 16-17 population studying level 2 and a 1.4% increase in the proportion of the age 16-17 population studying level 3.
Funding for the academic year 2022/23 is based on student numbers in the academic year 2021/22. Provisional data (which excludes sixth form colleges) suggests that FE colleges had in aggregate a fall of just over 1% in their 16-19 students in 2021/22 compared with the previous year, which has had an impact on funding. However, the higher funding rates mean that despite this slight fall in student numbers, colleges will see a significant increase in funding in 2022/23. We expect to see only a small proportion of colleges with a cash reduction in 16-19 funding in 2022/23 compared with 2021/22 when allocations are published. Each year we look to put in place exceptional in-year growth funding, subject to affordability, to help providers that see a significant increase in students, and we will be looking carefully at what can be put in place to help colleges which see an increase in students in 2022/23.