Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the Association of Colleges survey which found that three quarters of 16 to 18 year olds are performing below normal expectations, as a result of the covid-19 outbreak; and what steps he is taking in response to that matter.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
We are currently looking at a wide range of proposals that will support education recovery across all age groups, working with the Education Recovery Commissioner, Sir Kevan Collins. The department is working closely with the Association of Colleges and other sector representative bodies to develop these proposals.
I am meeting with the Association of Colleges very soon and will be discussing the findings from their survey.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department plans to take to increase the number of teachers required to deliver the measures outlined in the Skills for Jobs.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
The reforms set out in the Skills for Jobs White Paper cannot succeed without outstanding teachers and teaching. The measures announced in the Skills for Jobs white paper come with a total investment of over £65 million in financial year 2021-22, allowing us to deliver greater support for teacher recruitment, retention, and development.
As set out in the white paper, we will launch a national recruitment campaign for teachers in further education (FE) settings and will strengthen Initial Teacher Education so that it is based on clear employer-led standards. We will also continue to offer financial support for FE teacher training in priority subjects and our Taking Teaching Further programme will continue to help industry experts retrain as FE teachers.
In addition to our continuing T Level Professional Development programme, we will also increase the provision of high-quality professional development, including early career and post-COVID-19 support for online and a mixture of remote and face-to-face teaching. We will also facilitate a stronger relationship between industry and education and training providers through the introduction of a new national Workforce and Industry Exchange programme.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to improve the quality of traineeships.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
We know that traineeships have significant positive outcomes for young people. 66% of trainees progressed into work, an apprenticeship or further learning in 2018/19 academic year, the year after they completed their traineeship.
We are supporting the largest ever expansion of traineeships, providing funding for an additional 30,000 places in 2020/21 academic year, to ensure that more young people have access to high-quality training. We have extended the £1,000 incentive payments for employers who offer traineeship work placement opportunities to July 2022. We are also providing an additional £126 million to create a further 43,000 places in 2021/22 academic year.
In response to the COVID-19 outbreak we have also introduced flexibilities to enable traineeships to support more young people into work wherever possible. These include extending the maximum duration from 6 to 12 months and extending the programme eligibility to include young people with level 3 qualifications who require support to access an apprenticeship or other employment.
We are working with employers to develop new traineeships which will provide young people with a tailored springboard into their chosen industries. From May 2021 we will start to deliver the first ever traineeships developed alongside trade bodies and employers specifically for construction and rail, with further sectors to follow in the summer. These traineeships will be aligned to apprenticeship standards and will significantly increase the opportunities for young people to progress into apprenticeships or other employment.
To help improve traineeship quality and share best practice, we run provider webinars through the Association of Colleges and the Association of Employment and Learning Providers. We have introduced one-to-one meetings with providers to discuss their programmes and achievements with them.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the financial effect on colleges of clawback of adult education funding.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
We are lowering the reconciliation threshold for Education and Skills Funding Agency grant funded Adult Education Budget (AEB) adult skills, including non-formula funded community learning and 19-24 traineeships, and Advanced Learner Loan Bursary fund providers for 2020 to 2021, from 97% and 100% respectively to 90%.
Our primary aim is to support providers to continue to deliver as much quality provision as possible, including above the 90% threshold, whether that be face to face where permitted, online or otherwise remotely, and including through subcontracting (for AEB-funded provision only) where that is in line with our subcontracting conditions set out in the rules and contracts.
We acknowledge the situation is still difficult for providers but equally we know that many providers have been able to deliver very successfully remotely during lockdown and the return to face to face learning should enhance further providers’ ability to deliver.
We are announcing this change now, to help providers plan their provision better for the remainder of the 2020/21 academic year.
In areas where the AEB has been devolved, Mayoral Combined Authorities or the Greater London Authority are responsible for considering any provider flexibilities in their areas.
For those providers who are eligible and are at risk of insolvency, they would be referred to the Insolvency Regime or emergency funding process.
We are monitoring the situation carefully and, in particular, if there are providers that may need further support.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of adult education funding for colleges facing financial difficulties following the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
We are lowering the reconciliation threshold for Education and Skills Funding Agency grant funded Adult Education Budget (AEB) adult skills, including non-formula funded community learning and 19-24 traineeships, and Advanced Learner Loan Bursary fund providers for 2020 to 2021, from 97% and 100% respectively to 90%.
Our primary aim is to support providers to continue to deliver as much quality provision as possible, including above the 90% threshold, whether that be face to face where permitted, online or otherwise remotely, and including through subcontracting (for AEB-funded provision only) where that is in line with our subcontracting conditions set out in the rules and contracts.
We acknowledge the situation is still difficult for providers but equally we know that many providers have been able to deliver very successfully remotely during lockdown and the return to face to face learning should enhance further providers’ ability to deliver.
We are announcing this change now, to help providers plan their provision better for the remainder of the 2020/21 academic year.
In areas where the AEB has been devolved, Mayoral Combined Authorities or the Greater London Authority are responsible for considering any provider flexibilities in their areas.
For those providers who are eligible and are at risk of insolvency, they would be referred to the Insolvency Regime or emergency funding process.
We are monitoring the situation carefully and, in particular, if there are providers that may need further support.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has had discussions with the Department for (a) Work and Pensions and the (b) Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on the steps required to improve accountability in the further education system in order to meet local need.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
We are having regular conversations with The Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) and The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) on the further education reforms we set out in the skills for jobs white paper, where we described our plans to shift the accountability system towards focussing on meeting local and national skills need and giving employers a stronger role in shaping local skills provision through new employer-led plans. We have been having these conversations at official and ministerial level. We have committed to consulting on our proposals on accountability in the spring and will be engaging on the detail with other government departments, including DWP and BEIS, before launching the consultation.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the Association of Colleges' proposal that his Department adopt a business case approach in determining a provider's ability to deliver 90 per cent of their adult education provision.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
We are lowering the reconciliation threshold for Education and Skills Funding Agency grant funded Adult Education Budget (AEB) adult skills, including non-formula funded community learning and 19-24 traineeships, and Advanced Learner Loan Bursary fund providers for 2020 to 2021, from 97% and 100% respectively to 90%.
Our primary aim is to support providers to continue to deliver as much quality provision as possible, including above the 90% threshold, whether that be face to face where permitted, online or otherwise remotely, and including through subcontracting (for AEB-funded provision only) where that is in line with our subcontracting conditions set out in the rules and contracts.
We acknowledge the situation is still difficult for providers but equally we know that many providers have been able to deliver very successfully remotely during lockdown and the return to face to face learning should enhance further providers’ ability to deliver.
We are announcing this change now, to help providers plan their provision better for the remainder of the 2020/21 academic year.
In areas where the AEB has been devolved, Mayoral Combined Authorities or the Greater London Authority are responsible for considering any provider flexibilities in their areas.
For those providers who are eligible and are at risk of insolvency, they would be referred to the Insolvency Regime or emergency funding process.
We are monitoring the situation carefully and, in particular, if there are providers that may need further support.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the ability of colleges to be able to offer 90 per cent of adult education during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
We are lowering the reconciliation threshold for Education and Skills Funding Agency grant funded Adult Education Budget (AEB) adult skills, including non-formula funded community learning and 19-24 traineeships, and Advanced Learner Loan Bursary fund providers for 2020 to 2021, from 97% and 100% respectively to 90%.
Our primary aim is to support providers to continue to deliver as much quality provision as possible, including above the 90% threshold, whether that be face to face where permitted, online or otherwise remotely, and including through subcontracting (for AEB-funded provision only) where that is in line with our subcontracting conditions set out in the rules and contracts.
We acknowledge the situation is still difficult for providers but equally we know that many providers have been able to deliver very successfully remotely during lockdown and the return to face to face learning should enhance further providers’ ability to deliver.
We are announcing this change now, to help providers plan their provision better for the remainder of the 2020/21 academic year.
In areas where the AEB has been devolved, Mayoral Combined Authorities or the Greater London Authority are responsible for considering any provider flexibilities in their areas.
For those providers who are eligible and are at risk of insolvency, they would be referred to the Insolvency Regime or emergency funding process.
We are monitoring the situation carefully and, in particular, if there are providers that may need further support.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions he has had with Amey on increasing the number of apprenticeships at their central Bristol office.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
Apprenticeships are more important than ever in helping businesses to recruit the right people and develop the skills they need. To help employers offer new apprenticeships we have increased the level of incentive payments. Employers will be able to claim £3,000 for each apprentice they take on as a new employee between 1 April 2021 and 30 September 2021 under the government’s Plan for Jobs. It is encouraging that employers continue to see the value apprentices can bring to their businesses; as of 3 March employers had so far claimed incentive payments for 34,810 apprentices.
Officials engage regularly with Amey to support the growth of their apprenticeship programmes across all areas of their operations and to help them make the most of the wider Plan for Jobs offer.
From May, we will start to deliver the first ever rail traineeships, developed alongside the National Skills Academy for Rail, trade bodies and employers, which will provide a progression route into apprenticeships and jobs in the sector.