Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions he has had with representatives from the craft industry on craft education and the national curriculum.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The national curriculum provides many opportunities for pupils to develop knowledge and skills in a wide range of creative subjects, including art and design, music, and design and technology.
The programme of study for art and design states that all pupils should become proficient in craft and design, and learn about great craft makers.
The Department’s officials meet subject specific stakeholders regularly. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has not yet had meetings with representatives from the craft industry on this issue.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation of 8 January 2018, how many candidates deemed appointable by the most recent appointment panel for the Office for Students were not subsequently appointed.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
Two parallel open recruitment campaigns were held in the second half of 2017; one for Office for Students (OfS) board members, and a second specifically for a student experience board member. The campaigns generated 221 applications for the non-executive board member positions and 133 applications for the student experience representative. Please note that some applicants responded to both campaigns.
11 candidates were shortlisted for interview for the non-executive board member positions. 10 interviews were held as one candidate did not attend the interview. Six candidates were shortlisted and interviewed for the student experience board member position.
Ten candidates were deemed appointable for the non-executive board member positions. Three candidates were deemed appointable for the student experience board member position. Ministers chose to appoint five candidates from the ten non-executive campaign and therefore five candidates were not appointed. For the student experience campaign, ministers chose not to appoint any of the three appointable candidates. Ministers then chose to make an interim appointment of one of the successful candidates appointed to the OfS Student Panel onto the OfS Board and will re-run a campaign for a permanent student representative on the OfS Board later in the year.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the effect of the immigration skills charge on the creative industries.
Answered by Anne Milton
We have not assessed the effect of the charge on individual sectors. The cost will depend on whether employers choose to use the Tier 2 route. It will also vary depending on the number of Certificates of Sponsorship employers choose to assign, whether they pay the standard or reduced rate, and the length of time an employer chooses to employ a worker for.
We are monitoring the operation of the charge and will review the policy following its first year.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has for the development of specialist careers advice for those considering careers in the creative industries.
Answered by Anne Milton
We make advice available to help young people and adults make informed decisions about their options including careers in the creative industries.
The National Careers Service provides professional careers advice to young people and adults via a dedicated helpline, website and in the local community. The website contains a number of job profiles. These includes information on roles, skills and entry requirements for occupations and careers in the creative industries. All National Careers Service provider advisers are qualified professionals, most of whom are qualified to level 6 in delivering careers advice and have access to continuous professional development.
Schools have a statutory duty to provide access to information on the full range of options to their pupils aged 12 -18 years. This must include information on the full range of education and training options, including apprenticeships in many industries. Through their links with the Careers and Enterprise Company and programmes such as “Inspiring the Future”, young people have access to employers from a variety of industries. This contact helps to broaden their horizons and consider different opportunities.
We want to go further to ensure that everyone can find a fulfilling education or training route that is right for them, whether this is an academic route, technical route or apprenticeship. The Secretary of State confirmed in a speech to the Sutton Trust on 12 July that we will publish a careers strategy in the Autumn. This will improve the extent and quality of support for people of all ages.
We are implementing apprenticeship reforms to continue to improve the quality of apprenticeships for all, providing the skills that employers need to reach our commitment of 3 million starts in England by 2020. We want better apprenticeships in more sectors, covering more roles, including in the creative industries.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the differences are in the requirements for proposed new grammar schools and existing grammar schools for fairer access.
Answered by Nick Gibb
On 12 September, the department launched the consultation ‘Schools that work for everyone’, which sets out proposed requirements that could be placed on new and existing selective schools to ensure fair access. This can be found at https://consult.education.gov.uk/school-frameworks/schools-that-work-for-everyone.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 28 April 2016 to Question 35059, how many requests to meet with hon. Members she has received from each of the political parties represented in the House since 1 February 2016.
Answered by Nick Gibb
My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Education frequently meets Hon Members from across the political spectrum in the performance of her duties.
Information in the form requested is not readily available and could be compiled only at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many hon. Members of each party she has met as a result of a request for such a meeting since her appointment.
Answered by Nick Gibb
My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Education frequently meets Hon Members from across the political spectrum in the performance of her duties.
Information in the form requested is not readily available and could be compiled only at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many requests to meet with hon. Members she has received from each of the political parties represented in the House since her appointment.
Answered by Nick Gibb
My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Education frequently meets Hon Members from across the political spectrum in the performance of her duties.
Information in the form requested is not readily available and could be compiled only at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to publish the findings of her Department's review into the status and professionalism of teaching assistants announced in October 2014.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Ministers have considered the latest evidence on the effective deployment and professional development of teaching assistants, together with a summary of the call for evidence and the draft teaching assistant standards submitted by the expert panel.
In the light of this evidence, the Government believes that schools are best placed to decide how they use and deploy teaching assistants, and to set standards for the teaching assistants they employ. The Secretary of State has therefore decided not to publish the draft standards.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many primary school children are receiving more than two hours of physical education per week.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The government is providing primary schools with over £150 million per year of ring-fenced funding, paid directly to head teachers to improve PE and sport. The funding goes directly to primary schools to improve PE and sport. We published a research brief in September 2014 about how schools used the primary PE and sport premium and the impact of the fund on PE and sports provision. The findings from this independent research show that the mean amount of time spent on curricular PE in primary schools increased by 13 minutes from 109 to 122 minutes a week from 2012/13 to 2013/14. The full report will be published later in 2015.