Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the number and proportion of three and four year old (a) children and (b) children with British citizenship who are not eligible for the extended 30 hours of childcare offer because their parents work the required number of hours but have no recourse to public funds.
Answered by David Johnston
This government is making the largest investment in childcare in England’s history. By the 2027/28 financial year, the government will expect to be spending in excess of £8 billion every year on free hours and early education. It will provide hard working parents 30 hours of free childcare per week (38 weeks per year) for children aged 9 months to until they start school. This represents the single biggest investment in childcare in England ever.
The department does not hold data on the numbers of 3- and 4-year-old children who are not eligible for 30 hours because their parents have no recourse to public funds, and what proportion of those children have British citizenship.
The expanded working parent entitlement, which will be rolled out in phases from April 2024, will be available to working parents who meet the eligibility criteria. These will be the same as the current 30 hours offer for 3- and 4-year-olds.
The free childcare entitlements for the children of working parents are not within the definition of ’public funds’ in the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 or the Immigration Rules. However, there are requirements in the Childcare (Free of Charge for Working Parents) (England) Regulations 2022 for the parent, or one of the parents, not to be subject to immigration control. This means that where both parents have no recourse to public funds, they will not be eligible for the entitlements. However, if there are two parents and just one of them is subject to immigration control the family will still be eligible for the entitlements, provided they meet the other conditions.
Parents with no recourse to public funds are, however, able to access the 15 hours free early education entitlement available for all 3 and 4-year-olds and, if eligible, 15 hours free early education for disadvantaged 2-year-olds. In September 2022, the department extended eligibility for the 2-year-old entitlement to disadvantaged families who have no recourse to public funds. This is because these entitlements are intended to support children's development and help prepare them for school.
The government has no current plans to extend the free childcare entitlements offer for working parents to families with no recourse to public funds.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to communicate with (a) schools and (b) local authorities about the expansion of eligibility for the disadvantaged two-year-old offer to include families affected with no recourse to public funds.
Answered by David Johnston
The department consulted on extending eligibility for the 15 hour early education entitlement for 2-year-olds between 25 March 2022 and 20 May 2022. The department published its response on 25 August 2022 alongside guidance, including a sample application form, for local authorities which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/30-hours-free-childcare-la-and-early-years-provider-guide. In addition, the eligibility criteria have been updated on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a Multi-Sensory Impairment fund with £34.3 million ring-fenced funding available to local authorities in England to increase the number of Multi-Sensory Impairment teachers.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Minister (Equalities)
The department is firmly committed to ensuring that children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with multi-sensory impairments, receive the support they need to succeed in their early years, at school and at college.
High needs funding for children and young people with complex SEND, including those with multi-sensory impairment, will be rising to £10.1 billion in the 2023/24 financial year, which is an increase of over 50% from the 2019/20 allocations. This extra funding will help local authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting children and young people with SEND.
The department has no current plans to create a new and separate funding stream specifically for the education of children with multi-sensory impairment. Local authorities and schools have responsibilities for supporting all children and young people with SEND under the Children and Families Act 2014, including those with multi-sensory impairment. They are best placed to decide how to prioritise their spending on the range of resources and activities that will best support them.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many times the Model history curriculum expert panel has met since its establishment; when those meetings took place; whether a draft of the model curriculum has been (a) written and (b) circulated to members of the panel; and what recent estimate she has made of when the model history curriculum will be published.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The model history curriculum expert panel met in July 2022 to advise on the direction of the model history curriculum. The panel will meet again later this summer to consider a draft.
The Department intends to publish the model history curriculum in early 2024.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of children in year three and above who are registered for free school meals are from households earning more than £7,400 per year.
Answered by Nick Gibb
In 2018, the Department updated the free school meals (FSM) eligibility criteria to include the earned income threshold of £7,400, for families on Universal Credit. Generous protections were also introduced at this time so that no one would lose their entitlement during the rollout of Universal Credit. These protections were recently extended to March 2025.
The Department has not made a formal assessment of the number and proportion of children in year 3 and above who are registered for FSM and from a household earning more than £7,400 per year.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of removing funding for applied general qualifications on school and college finances.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department’s reforms aim to place our world class A levels and T Levels at the heart of study programmes.
The department has invested over £31 million to support teachers and leaders through the T Level Professional Development programme, £240 million to develop capacity to deliver T Levels, including industry placements, and over £400 million in capital funding. We have recently announced an Employer Support Fund to enable providers to reimburse employers for costs incurred in delivering Industry Placements in the 2023/24 financial year, worth around £12 million.
In addition, and in parallel with the development of T Levels, the T Level Transition Programme (TLTP) has been specifically designed to support students who want to take a T Level, but who may not be ready to go straight onto a T Level following GCSEs.
The reforms will not end all Applied General qualifications. They allow for large alternative academic qualifications, such as BTECs, in areas like music and sport because they are not well served by A levels or T Levels. They also allow for small alternative academic qualifications, such as BTECs, in strategically important areas such as health and science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The department would expect new technical qualifications to be made available in areas not covered by T Levels. There are now over 650 occupational standards which have been led by employers to ensure that technical education, including T Levels and apprenticeships, support the development of skills that employers need.
The department is continuously working with providers and umbrella organisations to support the move to the new system, including discussing the changes with colleges in their annual strategic conversations.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which qualifications were identified as not overlapping with wave 1 and 2 T levels by the independent assessors commissioned by her Department to work on the review of Level 3 qualifications.
Answered by Robert Halfon
From the 2,000 qualifications that are available at Level 3, approximately 700 qualifications were identified which may overlap with wave 1 and 2 T Levels. Following an independent assessment, approximately 500 of these qualifications were found to not meet the 3 overlap tests. After moderation of these independent decisions was carried out by officials, a provisional overlap list of 160 qualifications was published in May 2022. Awarding organisations were given the opportunity to appeal before a final list of 106 qualifications was published in October 2022. This list excluded qualifications overlapping with the Health and Science T Levels, due to an ongoing review by the Institute for Apprenticeship and Technical Education. The final list of qualifications which have been assessed as overlapping with the Health and Science T Levels will be published shortly.
Further information can be found in guidance from the department, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-post-16-qualifications-at-level-3-in-england--2.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the International Education Strategy outlined in 2019 remains his Department's policy objective including the target for the UK to (a) host 600,000 international students and (b) raise £35 billion in export income per year by 2030.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department remains committed and continues to work towards the two ambitions in the International Education Strategy published in 2019 and updated in 2021 and 2022. These ambitions are to increase the value of our education exports to £35 billion per year and to continue to host at least 600,000 international students in the UK per year, both by 2030. With 605,130 international students in the UK hosted in the 2020/21 academic year, the government has met its International Students ambition for the first time, nearly ten years early.
Education exports make an important contribution to the UK economy as well as helping us build global relationships and international students enrich the university experience for all students, including those from the UK themselves. For both international and domestic students, this cultural exchange helps build life-long friendships, future networks, and important business, political and diplomatic bridges.