Asked by: Louise Ellman (Independent - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when the Building Services Engineering Technician apprenticeship scheme is due to commence; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Anne Milton
A response has been provided to the hon. Member for Liverpool Riverside on this matter on 23 November. The unique identification number was 113589: http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2017-11-16/113589/.
The Institute for Apprenticeships is independent of the department and determines its own processes. The Institute wrote to the hon. Member for Liverpool Riverside directly on 28 November responding to the question regarding the commencement of the Building Services Engineering Technician. A copy of that response has been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Louise Ellman (Independent - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when he expects the Building Services Engineering Technician apprenticeship scheme to begin; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Anne Milton
The Institute for Apprenticeships is an independent body with responsibility for the development and approval of apprenticeship standards. I have asked the Institute to write to The hon. Member for Liverpool Riverside directly responding to this question regarding the Building Services Engineering Technician apprenticeships scheme.
A copy of that response will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses when it is available.
Asked by: Louise Ellman (Independent - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of (a) government and (b) other schemes in recruiting science teachers in secondary schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department commissioned an evaluation of four targeted interventions to increase the supply of maths and physics teachers and upskill existing teachers, which were delivered for the first time to participants in 2015/16.
The full findings from this research were published at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/maths-and-physics-teacher-supply-package.
Recruitment in Science, technology, engineering, and maths subjects has historically been challenging but in 2016/17 (the last year for which we have data) we had the highest number of trainees in science and maths since 2011/12.
We review our recruitment strategies every year and will continue to evaluate options on how best to incentivise recruitment to the profession. Analysis of past recruitment shows that increasing bursaries in subjects that are difficult to recruit to has a positive influence on recruitment performance.
Asked by: Louise Ellman (Independent - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many offers of postgraduate loans have been withdrawn as a consequence of errors attributed to the Student Loans Company in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Government has introduced a new postgraduate master’s degree loan to eligible students for the Academic Year 2016/17. The loan scheme makes £10,000 available to eligible students as a contribution towards the costs of their study and can be used for tuition fees or living costs.
Data provided by the Student Loans Company (SLC) shows that 109 postgraduate students who were offered the new loan have had that offer withdrawn. Regrettably these students were assessed in error as eligible for the loan product, and were then subsequently re-assessed as ineligible.
Asked by: Louise Ellman (Independent - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to her Answer of 15 June to Question 1850, what the budgetary reductions are; and how they were decided.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
We expect the majority of the savings to come from departmental underspends in demand-led budgets.
No savings will be made from protected schools funding, and we have no plans to change the allocations for the education of 16 to 19-year-olds in the 2015/16 academic year that were announced in March 2015.
Asked by: Louise Ellman (Independent - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the HM Treasury press release, Chancellor announces £4.5 billion of measures to bring down public debt, published on 4 June 2015, what plans she has for funding for education and training for 16 to 19 year olds during the 2015-16 academic year.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The savings announced by the Chancellor will come from a variety of measures including expected departmental underspends in demand-led budgets, efficiencies and some small budgetary reductions.
Asked by: Louise Ellman (Independent - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her policy is on keeping Holocaust education part of the national curriculum.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Holocaust remains a compulsory part of the new national curriculum for history which was introduced in September 2014. On 13 January the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that the Government is committed to continuing to fund the Holocaust Educational Trust’s valuable ‘Lessons from Auschwitz’ project in the next Parliament.
To mark the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, and with the help of the Holocaust Educational Trust, the Department held an event for staff on 15 January for Holocaust Memorial Day. A Holocaust survivor and two of the Holocaust Educational Trust’s young ambassadors gave presentations to staff.
Asked by: Louise Ellman (Independent - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to mark Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January 2015.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Holocaust remains a compulsory part of the new national curriculum for history which was introduced in September 2014. On 13 January the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that the Government is committed to continuing to fund the Holocaust Educational Trust’s valuable ‘Lessons from Auschwitz’ project in the next Parliament.
To mark the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, and with the help of the Holocaust Educational Trust, the Department held an event for staff on 15 January for Holocaust Memorial Day. A Holocaust survivor and two of the Holocaust Educational Trust’s young ambassadors gave presentations to staff.
Asked by: Louise Ellman (Independent - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to engage with parents and staff at the University Academy, Liverpool, in relation to improving standards.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The responsibility for engaging with parents and staff on improving standards in underperforming academies lies with the sponsor or trust.
The Department for Education will intervene in cases where we are concerned that sponsors are not bringing about rapid, sustained educational improvements.
In the case of the University of Chester Academies Trust (UCAT), which is the sponsor of the University Academy Liverpool (UAL), the Department has already intervened. Officials have been closely monitoring the performance of the sponsor since the publication of examination results in 2013. In April 2014, my noble Friend Lord Nash issued UCAT with a pre-warning notice letter as a result of our overall concerns about the performance of the Trust and our particular concerns about three of its academies, including UAL. The Trust has responded with an action plan to address these issues.
We do not tolerate underperformance. Where an academy is not making urgent sustained progress, we will work closely with the school and sponsor to secure whatever changes are necessary to make improvements. This might include a change of leadership, or a new partnership with a successful strong academy, sponsor or school.
We continue to monitor the situation at UAL closely against its action plan and will not hesitate to intervene further at both school and Trust level if results in 2014 do not improve.
Asked by: Louise Ellman (Independent - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her targets are for improvement at the University Academy, Liverpool; and in what timescale she will require such improvements to be made.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The responsibility for engaging with parents and staff on improving standards in underperforming academies lies with the sponsor or trust.
The Department for Education will intervene in cases where we are concerned that sponsors are not bringing about rapid, sustained educational improvements.
In the case of the University of Chester Academies Trust (UCAT), which is the sponsor of the University Academy Liverpool (UAL), the Department has already intervened. Officials have been closely monitoring the performance of the sponsor since the publication of examination results in 2013. In April 2014, my noble Friend Lord Nash issued UCAT with a pre-warning notice letter as a result of our overall concerns about the performance of the Trust and our particular concerns about three of its academies, including UAL. The Trust has responded with an action plan to address these issues.
We do not tolerate underperformance. Where an academy is not making urgent sustained progress, we will work closely with the school and sponsor to secure whatever changes are necessary to make improvements. This might include a change of leadership, or a new partnership with a successful strong academy, sponsor or school.
We continue to monitor the situation at UAL closely against its action plan and will not hesitate to intervene further at both school and Trust level if results in 2014 do not improve.