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Written Question
Department for Education: Public Appointments
Friday 28th January 2022

Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department seeks references for candidates appointed to public positions which fall under the remit of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.

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

References are not routinely requested for public appointments which fall under the remit of the Commissioner for Public Appointments, as they may not always be the most appropriate, fair or open way of making an assessment of candidates.

However, the Governance Code on Public Appointments sets out that the Advisory Assessment Panel must be satisfied that all candidates can meet the Seven Principles of Public Life, adhere to the Code of Conduct for board members of public bodies and do not have any conflicts of interest which are not manageable within the context of the role.


Written Question
Members: Correspondence
Wednesday 7th July 2021

Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many items of written correspondence from hon. Members sent to Ministers in his Department have been (a) received and (b) replied to since 1 April 2020; and how many of those responses were responded to by (i) Ministers and (ii) officials.

Answered by Nick Gibb

Between 1 April 2020 and 2 July 2021 the Department for Education recorded 22,150 items of written correspondence from MPs and 101 items from Members of the House of Lords. Of these cases all but one was responded to or will be responded to by Ministers.

As per the Cabinet Office’s guidance for handling correspondence from MPs and Members of the House of Lords, where appropriate Executive Agency or Non-Departmental Public Body Chief Executives may correspond directly. The above data does not include these cases.


Written Question
Performing Arts: Children
Monday 23rd November 2020

Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what representations he has received from youth arts companies on bringing into line with the covid-19 regulations for boarding schools out-of-school arts activities that are run as residential courses.

Answered by Nick Gibb

The Department has been in close communication with various stakeholders, including some with connections to youth arts, since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak with respect to residential trips. We will continue this communication over the coming months.

The guidance for full opening of schools and the guidance for holiday and after school clubs, and other out-of-school settings, set out the Department’s current position in relation to educational visits. They can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools and https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/protective-measures-for-holiday-or-after-school-clubs-and-other-out-of-school-settings-for-children-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak/protective-measures-for-out-of-school-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.

At present, schools and out-of-school settings can undertake COVID-19 secure day visits within the UK but are advised against the resumption of domestic and overseas residential educational visits. This is because, unlike boarding schools, residential settings have a transient population with different groups rotating in and out of the centre on a weekly basis. This constant change of population serves to increase the risk of COVID-19 transmission.

This decision has not been taken lightly and is taken in the context of the Government announcing new national restrictions to address rising cases of COVID-19 in England. This position will be reviewed again before the end of November 2020.


Written Question
Students: Wales
Thursday 4th June 2020

Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with Welsh Ministers on imposing a cap on the number of English-domiciled students studying in Wales.

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

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, and I have regular meetings with Welsh ministers, and ministers from all the devolved administrations, about higher education issues. Meetings have included discussions on the development of student number controls policy.

Officials in the department also have regular meetings and discussions with their counterparts. Following the COVID-19 outbreak, we will continue to work closely with the devolved administrations on strengthening and stabilising the higher education system.

Student number controls for institutions in the devolved administrations only apply to the number of English-domiciled entrants who will be supported with their tuition fees through the Student Loans Company. The funding of English-domiciled students is not a devolved matter, and it is right and fair that this policy should apply consistently wherever they are studying in the UK.


Written Question
Children: Day Care
Tuesday 2nd June 2020

Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on ensuring that women in receipt of reduced support under the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme due to periods of maternity leave in the previous three tax years are not denied entitlement to 30 hours free child care as a result of falling below the income threshold for that entitlement.

Answered by Vicky Ford

Individuals who are in receipt of maternity benefits remain eligible for the 30 hours free childcare entitlement.

Those who are currently receiving statutory maternity pay and are intending to return to work, should apply for a 30 hours place in the usual way.

If an individual’s return to work date is delayed, or their hours affected solely due to the COVID-19 outbreak, they will remain eligible for 30 hours if their loss of income is directly due to the outbreak. For example, if they have been furloughed or are accessing the self-employment income support scheme.

The government’s guidance about Tax-Free Childcare and 30 hours free childcare during the COVID-19 outbreak is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-you-can-get-tax-free-childcare-and-30-hours-free-childcare-during-coronavirus-covid-19.



Written Question
Art and Design: GCE A-level
Tuesday 28th January 2020

Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students were entered for A-level art and design in (a) England and (b) each Local Education Authority area in each year since 2010.

Answered by Nick Gibb

The number of pupils entered for art and design A-Levels in England and each Local Education Authority area in each year since 2012 can be found in the table attached. The data for 2010-2012 is not currently available at a granular enough level to allow us to provide either local authority data, or local authority national aggregates, for these years.

The number of pupils entered for art and design A-Levels in England[1] has decreased over that time, but has been relatively stable over the past 3 years, with around 35,000 entries.

[1] England totals derived as per attached spreadsheet, for state funded schools only and the sum of local authority figures. Therefore, these may deviate from published, national figures.


Written Question
Art and Design: GCSE
Tuesday 28th January 2020

Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many pupils were entered for art and design GCSE in (a) England and (b) each Local Education Authority area in each year since 2010.

Answered by Nick Gibb

​The number of pupils entered for art and design GCSE in England and each Local Education Authority area in each year since 2010 can be found in the excel spreadsheet attached.

The number of pupils entered for art and design GCSEs in England1 has fluctuated across the last 10 years, but the current year’s figure of 155,731 pupils entered is the highest number of pupils entered since 2015, and the second highest of the last 10 years. In 2019, there has been a 10.6% increase in number of pupils entered for art and design GCSEs compared to 2018, and a 5.7% increase compared to 2010.​

Any trends observed in the attached figures should be treated with caution and considered against changes in methodology over the ten year period, changes in cohort and more recently, changes in entry behaviour from schools following the introduction of 9-1 reformed GCSEs across all GCSE subjects, including art and design.


Written Question
Art and Design: Teachers
Monday 27th January 2020

Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many art and design teachers there were in (a) England and (b) each Local Education Authority in each year since 2010.

Answered by Nick Gibb

The information requested for (a) is shown in the table below.

Number (headcount) of teachers in state funded secondary schools in England teaching art and design – November 2010 to 2018

Year

Headcount of teachers of art and design

2010

13,200

2011

13,913

2012

12,810

2013

12,654

2014

12,376

2015

11,976

2016

11,957

2017

11,772

2018

11,874

Information on subjects taught by teachers in state funded secondary schools in England is collected from around 85% of state funded secondary schools through the School Workforce Census. This is then grossed up to provide national estimates.

The published information shows the proportion of teaching hours spent teaching art and design has remained broadly stable between 2010 and 2018. National level estimates show that in 2010, 4.1% of all teaching hours were spent teaching art and design. In 2018, this was 3.8%. All editions of the publication can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-school-workforce.

Information for individual local authorities is not held centrally.


Written Question
Apprentices: Film
Monday 22nd July 2019

Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 11 July 2019 to Question 274454, whether his Department plans to collect data which would enable an assessment of the amount of apprenticeship levy money that was (a) paid by and (b) spent on apprenticeships by screen industry companies in financial year 2018-19.

Answered by Anne Milton

The apprenticeship levy is collected by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) from employers with a pay bill in excess of £3 million per year. HMRC does not collect data which allows levy collection to be broken down by sector.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) does not require levy-paying employers to register a sector when they set up an online apprenticeship service account to manage their funds. Therefore, ESFA are unable to supply information on the sectoral distribution of spending on apprenticeships. There are currently no plans to change the registration process to collect this information from employers registering for an apprenticeship service account.

We are working closely with employers in the creative industries, including companies in the screen industry, so they can realise the benefits of apprenticeships. The Department for Digital Culture, Media and Sport is developing an innovative pilot which will enable apprentices to benefit from hands-on experience on the sets of major films and television shows. Launching later this year, it will explore a new model that fulfils the requirements of high-quality apprenticeships, but uses multiple placements on film and television productions, as well as addressing skills shortages.


Written Question
Apprentices: Film
Thursday 11th July 2019

Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the amount of apprenticeship levy money that was (a) paid by and (b) spent on apprenticeships by screen industry companies in financial year 2018-19.

Answered by Anne Milton

The apprenticeship levy is collected by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) from employers with a pay bill in excess of £3 million per year. HMRC does not collect data which allows levy collection to be broken down by sector. The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) does not require levy-paying employers to register a sector when they set up an online apprenticeship service account to manage their funds. Therefore, ESFA are unable to supply information on the sectoral distribution of spending on apprenticeships in the format requested.