Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many apprenticeships have been offered at Level 5 and above to people aged under 25 in each local authority area of the West Midlands in the last 12 months.
Answered by Anne Milton
We do not collect data on the number of apprenticeships offered but we collect data on apprenticeship starts.
The table below provides figures of the number of apprenticeship starts at Level 5 and above to people aged under 25 in each local authority area of the West Midlands for the 2016/2017 provisional full academic year.
West Midlands Local Education Authorities (LEAs) | Starts |
Birmingham | 70 |
Coventry | 30 |
Dudley | 20 |
Herefordshire | 10 |
Sandwell | 20 |
Shropshire | 20 |
Solihull | 20 |
Staffordshire | 40 |
Stoke-on-Trent | 20 |
Telford and Wrekin | 30 |
Walsall | 20 |
Warwickshire | 40 |
Wolverhampton | 20 |
Worcestershire | 40 |
Total | 370 |
Figures are rounded to the nearest ten. The sum of the LEA breakdowns may not match the overall total as this is calculated from unrounded data.
For further information on apprenticeship starts by local council breakdowns, is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/650904/201617_Oct_Apps_Geography_Data_Pack_Final.xlsm.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 17 October 2017 to Question 106647, how many apprenticeships have been offered at Level 5 and above to people aged over 24 in the West Midlands in the last 12 months.
Answered by Anne Milton
Data on the number of apprenticeships offered is not held, but the number of apprenticeship starts is collected. Data for the provisional, full academic year 2016/17, shows there were 2,580 apprenticeship starts, at Level 5 and above for those aged 25 and above in the West Midlands region.
Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many apprenticeships have been offered at Level 2 and above to those aged over 24 in the West Midlands in the last 12 months.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
All apprenticeships are at level 2 and above.
Data for the provisional, full academic year, 2016/17, shows there were 28,410 apprenticeship starts for those aged 25 and above in the West Midlands region.
Data for the latest final, full academic year, 2015/16, shows there were 27,220 apprenticeship starts for those aged 25 and above in the West Midlands region.
All figures are rounded to the nearest 10.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what representations she has made to the US Administration about (a) the strategic importance of the Fulbright programme to the special relationship and (b) the need to preserve funding for the programme in the years ahead.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Fulbright programme provides important opportunities for education exchanges between the UK and the US. We have received no communication from the US government to inform us of any proposal to cut funding of the Fulbright Programme.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to preserve the anonymity of witnesses who provided evidence to the Clarke inquiry into Birmingham schools.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
We take the issue of witness anonymity extremely seriously.
The independent panel overseeing the teacher misconduct case of some of the individuals involved in the events related to Trojan Horse recently ordered the full disclosure of transcripts of interviews given to Peter Clarke. As a result of the independent panel’s direction, lawyers acting on behalf of NCTL wrote to witnesses to inform them of that decision, and stated that in the event that they had any comments or concerns in relation to the disclosure of their transcripts they should contact them. Since the direction, where we have written to witnesses and we have either not yet heard back from them or they have raised concerns, no disclosures have been made. We have informed the independent panel that a number of witnesses have raised concerns, and the panel has indicated that it wishes to consider the issue at a further hearing.
These issues are part of a set of complex legal proceedings and it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her letter of 9 October 2015, when she will provide a substantive answer to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill on concerns raised in that letter on behalf of Mr M. Ikhlaq.
Answered by Nick Gibb
In her letter of 30 November 2015, my Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Education stated that we would provide a full response as soon as further consideration of Mr Ikhlaq’s case is complete. She will write to the Rt Hon Member shortly.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to promote character education in schools; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Edward Timpson
All schools should develop character traits like self-confidence, motivation and resilience in their students. These traits support academic attainment, are valued by employers, and encourage young people to make a positive contribution to British society.
At the Character Symposium in January 2016, the Secretary of State for Education outlined her vision for character education. She announced that the Department intends to promote character education through the building and strengthening of our evidence base. We will facilitate this via an online digital platform which will share evidence, innovation, and examples of best practice in character education. We will also promote character education to schools and organisations through a new round of character awards.
To support schools in this, we are already investing £5 million in character education. This figure includes £3.5m of grants for 14 projects and £1m to the Education Endowment Foundation to build research the most effective ways that character can be developed.
Of course, many schools and organisations are already supporting children to develop their character, through programmes such as National Citizen Service. We will be investing over a billion pounds over the next four years to make NCS a rite of passage and toensure that 60% of 16 year olds can take part by 2021.
In addition, school sport can help children and young people develop positive character traits such as fair play, leadership and resilience. It can teach them how to bounce back from defeat, how to respect others and how to work together in teams to achieve a goal. PE remains a compulsory subject at all four key stages in the new national curriculum which came into force in September 2014.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of (a) secondary and (b) primary schools are academies.
Answered by Edward Timpson
As of January 2016, 18% of primary schools and 65% of secondary schools are academies, including free schools, studio schools or Universal Technical Colleges.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the framework is for assessing quality of education and inspecting standards and safety in settings where children are instructed in madrassas.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Local authorities are responsible for safeguarding children in their areas, regardless of where they are educated. The statutory guidance on the Prevent Duty[1] makes it clear that local authorities should take steps to understand the range of out of school settings, such as supplementary schools and tuition centres, in their area and take appropriate steps to ensure that children attending such settings are properly safeguarded.
The Prime Minister has recently announced that supplementary schools which provide intensive education will need to register themselves for inspection. The government’s counter-extremism strategy[2] sets out our intentions to introduce this system. We will be consulting on this regulatory framework.
Intervention will apply if there are concerns about the safety or welfare of the children attending these supplementary schools. Where institutions are teaching intolerance we will not hesitate to take action. We are consulting on the coverage of this proposed scheme, which is likely to include some madrasa schools.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prevent-duty-guidance
[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/counter-extremism-strategy
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure pupils' names are not removed from school admission registers without an adequate explanation of the child's whereabouts.
Answered by Nick Gibb
As recently announced, we are taking immediate steps to strengthen the regulations about the information schools must collect when a pupil is taken off the admissions register.