Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the National Tutoring Programme.
Answered by Robin Walker
The National Tutoring Programme (NTP) aims to deliver up to 2 million courses this year, and up to 90 million tuition hours by the 2024/25 academic year across the programme’s three pillars.
Details of the NTP’s performance so far this year was published on 11 January. This estimated just over 300,000 tuition courses had been started since September. This is almost exactly the number of courses delivered in the whole of the previous academic year.
Independent evaluations are being conducted for both year one and year two of the NTP. We expect results from the year one overarching evaluation to be published in summer 2022. This will include insights into how the NTP has been implemented and the extent to which the programme is having an impact on pupil progress.
The year two evaluation will again focus on pupil progress and will also look into school and teacher impacts and reasons for non-participation. Interim findings from the year two evaluation will be shared with the department during the evaluation to help inform decision-making. Findings will be published in 2023.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that pupils can learn safely in education settings.
Answered by Robin Walker
Protecting face-to-face education is our top priority. There is a package of measures and support in place to help reduce transmission and retain face-to-face teaching as much as possible.
All education and childcare staff, and students of secondary school age and above should continue to test twice a week a home, 3 to 4 days apart with lateral flow device test kits. Testing remains voluntary but is strongly encouraged. As of 19 January, over 109.5 million tests (including household bubble and support bubble tests) have been completed in all education providers, including higher education.
All eligible staff and students aged 12 and over are encouraged to take up the offer of the vaccine, including boosters, where eligible. On 22 December 2021, the government accepted advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation that a primary course of vaccination should be offered to children aged 5 to 11 years old who are in a clinical risk group, or who are a household contact of someone (of any age) who is immunosuppressed. On 24 January, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, announced that the government will distribute a total of £8 million in funding to NHS England to support secondary schools with the vitally important in-school vaccination programme for young people.
In addition to over 353,000 CO2 monitors already delivered to education providers, we are also making a total of up to 9,000 air cleaning units available for poorly ventilated teaching spaces in state-funded education providers, where quick fixes to improve ventilation are not possible.
We no longer recommend that face coverings are worn in classrooms, teaching spaces or when moving around the premises outside of classrooms, such as in corridors and communal areas. Directors of public health may temporarily, and exceptionally, advise individual providers experiencing outbreaks to use face coverings in either communal areas or classrooms, as part of their responsibilities in outbreak management. The contingency framework provides more information on the principles of managing local outbreaks of COVID-19 in education and childcare providers. This framework is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-local-restrictions-in-education-and-childcare-settings.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to provide schools and pupils with access to covid-19 lateral flow tests.
Answered by Robin Walker
Educational providers can continue to place orders for test kits via the dedicated online ordering channel and should call 119 if they require further advice or support. Orders placed by 5pm each Tuesday will be delivered the following week. 119 can also be contacted for further advice and support.
If an emergency replenishment is required, that will be processed and can take up to 48 hours for schools to receive. Schools will be given an expectation as to when they can receive their delivery
Schools and further education providers use a different supply route to get their lateral flow tests. The department continues to work with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) to ensure education providers are able to receive adequate supplies of test kits.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to support disadvantaged pupils over this academic year.
Answered by Will Quince
In financial year 2022-23, the National Funding Formula (NFF) will allocate £6.7 billion, 17% of all funding allocated by the NFF, through additional needs factors, including deprivation. That includes an increase of £225 million, or 6.7%, in the amount distributed through deprivation factors.
In addition, in financial year 2022-23 schools will receive a supplementary grant, which will provide significant further funding for deprivation: £85 for each primary pupil and £124 for each secondary pupil who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years (FSM6). Schools’ individual allocations from the supplementary grant will be finalised in the coming months.
On top of this core funding, pupil premium funding rates are increasing by 2.7% in financial year 2022-23, to £1,385 for each FSM6 primary pupil and £985 for each FSM6 secondary pupil. This means that the per pupil funding rate will be the highest, in cash terms since the introduction of the pupil premium in 2011. Total pupil premium funding will increase to over £2.6 billion in 2022-23, from £2.5 billion this year.
We are also supporting disadvantaged pupils this academic year through our investment in education recovery. Overall direct investment announced for education recovery is almost £5 billion, including an additional £1.8 billion of funding announced in the recent Spending Review to support young people to catch up on education lost. Recovery premium funding will be based on the same disadvantage eligibility criteria as the pupil premium. During the 2021/22 academic year mainstream schools will attract a total of £145 for each eligible pupil.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to support young people into high quality jobs.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The department has introduced a range of skills reforms and published the ‘Skills for Jobs’ white paper in January 2021, which sets out our blueprint to reform post-16 education and training to support young people to get the skills they need to succeed throughout their lives, wherever they live in the country.
It is focused on giving people the skills they need now, and in the future, in a way that suits them. We are investing £3.8 billion in further education and skills to ensure people can access high-quality training and education that leads to good jobs, addresses current and future skills gaps, boosts productivity and supports levelling up.
My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced on 27 October 2021 that we are investing an extra £1.6 billion for 16-19 education in 2024-25 compared with the 2021-22 financial year. This means an investment of up to £615 million in the 2022-23 financial year and is much needed support for our excellent further education sector.
This follows the extra £691 million allocated in the previous two years and the specific funding made available to help recovery from the COVID-19 outbreak, including the 16-19 Tuition Fund which will make available £400 million over four years (2020-21 academic year until 2023-24 academic year).
This investment will support our aim to ensure that every young person has access to an excellent education, and providers can make better decisions around what courses they offer and focus on delivering the skills needed for a thriving and productive economy and society, with a particular emphasis on levelling up.
We are introducing T Levels, boosting access to high quality technical education for thousands of 16–19 year olds. Young people are now benefitting from these pioneering new qualifications, designed by employers to ensure students get the skills they need for great jobs.
We are supporting the largest-ever expansion of traineeships, providing funding for up to 72,000 places over the next three years. We are introducing more occupational traineeships, which are aligned to apprenticeship standards and will significantly increase the opportunities for young people to progress into apprenticeships or other employment.
Funding for apprenticeships in England will grow to £2.7 billion by the 2024-25 financial year to support more apprenticeships in employers of all sizes. We are encouraging more young people to consider apprenticeships through our Apprenticeship Support & Knowledge programme which provides resources and interventions to help better educate young people about apprenticeships
In January we launched our ‘Get the Jump’ campaign to help young people aged 14-19 to understand their education and training choices, how they compare and where they can lead. Further information can be found here: https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/explore-your-education-and-training-choices.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to strengthen the value of technical qualifications.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The government is reforming technical education to ensure that all post-16 students have access to technical options that support progression and meet employer needs. Our reforms will simplify and put employers at the heart of the system, ensuring that all qualifications are fit for purpose, high-quality and lead to good outcomes.
We are introducing over 20 T Levels, developed with over 250 leading employers. We are investing in direct support for employers to increase the number of industry placements available across all T Levels and have also established a T Level employer ambassador network to engage with others in their industries on T Levels and placements. We want all technical qualifications to be high quality and truly necessary, which is why we are reviewing all other technical qualifications at level 3 and below to create a better, more streamlined system.
While these reforms are taking place, we have introduced a high value course premium for 16-19 year olds to encourage the take up of high value subjects. In December 2021 we announced that the premium will increase by 50% in the 2022-23 financial year to £600 per student per year.
For adults we are introducing of Higher Technical Qualifications, approved through a new opt-in national approvals process as meeting employers’ skills needs. The first of these newly approved qualifications will be available for teaching from September 2022. This will be supported by the new £18 million Higher Technical Education Provider Growth Fund and the investment of up to £290 million to establish a comprehensive network of Institutes of Technology across England.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
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
The 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 we have introduced the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill, which passed its 2nd reading in the House of Commons on 12 July 2021 and was debated by the Public Bill Committee in September 2021. The Bill will strengthen existing freedom of speech duties and directly address gaps within the existing law. This includes the fact 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 and constituent colleges. The changes will introduce clear consequences for breaches of the new duties and ensure that these principles are upheld.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
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 Michelle Donelan
It is a priority for this government to ensure that everyone can access the skills they need to have the career they want, wherever they live and whatever their stage in life. Just last week, we launched the Skills for Life campaign, which will promote skills offers among adults, such as Free Courses for Jobs, Skills Bootcamps and apprenticeships.
This is in addition to our wider support for adults to get the skills they need. Whether through the Adult Education Budget or delivering on the promise of a Lifelong Loan Entitlement under my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister’s Lifetime Skills Guarantee, which, from 2025, will enable flexible and modular study across higher and further education.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to record school absence as a result of covid-19 isolation requirements.
Answered by Robin Walker
The Educational Setting Status Form (EdSet form) collects information daily from schools and colleges, including on attendance and closures during the COVID-19 outbreak. This includes how many pupils or students are absent due to COVID-19 related reasons, including a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19.
On 30 November, the government introduced targeted measures to prevent the spread of the new COVID-19 Omicron variant, including the requirement for all contacts of a suspected or confirmed Omicron case to self-isolate, regardless of their age or vaccination status, details of which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection#what-has-changed.
In line with these changes, the list of COVID-19 related reasons for absence will be updated in the EdSet form on 7 December 2021 to include ‘Required to remain at home or isolate in line with government guidance.’ Pupils or students required to self-isolate after coming into contact with a suspected or confirmed Omicron case should be recorded under this category.
Where a pupil has tested positive for COVID-19 schools should record this in their attendance register as Code I (illness). Where a pupil does not attend because their travel to, or attendance at, school would be contrary to guidance relating to the incidence or transmission of COVID-19 from the UK Health Security Agency or the Department of Health and Social Care, they will be recorded as Code X in the register (not attending in circumstances related to COVID-19).