Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that the guidance and instructions it has issued to schools in response to the covid-19 outbreak is consistent and non-contradictory.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department for Education is working closely with Public Health England and others to develop guidance for the education sector on COVID-19.
The Department is engaging closely and constructively with unions, serving school leaders and other school stakeholder organisations to respond to sector concerns and support schools as they open for more pupils.
We continue to update our guidance in response to feedback and to ensure it reflects the most up-to-date information to make sure that teachers, parents and young people are as well-informed as possible in the current rapidly changing circumstances.
If staff or parents need further advice after reading the guidance on GOV.UK, the Department has set up a dedicated COVID-19 helpline for queries relating to education and children’s social care.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to support specialist higher education providers that are financially reliant on international student fee income and who have incurred losses as a result of the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
The government recognises that the COVID-19 outbreak will have an unparalleled impact on all elements of the global and UK economy. The higher education sector, including student recruitment, is no exception. We have been working closely with the sector, including specialist providers, to monitor the likely impacts of COVID-19 on student numbers in 2020-21. We understand the COVID-19 outbreak and a possible reduction in overall student numbers poses significant challenges.
In response to this and calls from the sector, on 4 May, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, announced a package of measures to stabilise university admissions this autumn and ensure sustainability in higher education at a time of unprecedented uncertainty.
Temporary student number controls will be put in place for domestic and EU students for the academic year 2020/21 to ensure a fair, structured distribution of students across providers. Provider-level student number controls will be determined based on provider forecasts and allow for 5% growth above this. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, will also have the discretion to allocate an additional 10,000 places on top of the controls, of which 5,000 will be allocated to students studying nursing or allied health courses, to ensure growing numbers that will support our vital public services. This measure will only apply to full-time undergraduate UK/EU domiciled students, with certain specified exemptions. These controls will not apply to international (non-EU) students.
The Office for Students (OfS), the regulator in England, has also consulted on a new temporary condition of registration. The OfS’ proposed condition would prohibit registered providers from engaging in any form of conduct which, in the opinion of the OfS, could reasonably have a material negative effect on the stability and/or integrity of the English higher education sector.
The government has also pulled forward tuition fee payments, expected to be worth £2.6 billion, for providers so that they receive more cash in the first term of academic year 2020/21, announced £100 million of public funding will be brought forward to the current academic year to help protect vital university research activities in England and confirmed providers are eligible to apply for the government financial support schemes estimated by the OfS to be worth at least £700 million to the sector.
Universities have an integral part to play in our economy, society and culture, which is highlighted now more than ever through their leading role in the fight against the virus. That is why we are introducing a package of measures to boost support for students, stabilise the admissions system and ease the pressures on universities’ finances.
I have written to all hon. Members with full details of the package, which have also been published on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-support-package-for-universities-and-students.
On Friday 5 June, the department announced Sir Steve Smith as the International Education Champion, a key deliverable of the 2019 International Education Strategy. Sir Steve will assist with opening up export growth opportunities for the whole UK education sector, tackling international challenges such as those posed to attracting international students and forging lasting global connections.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to support higher education providers that are financially reliant on international student fee income and who have incurred losses as a result of the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
The government recognises that the COVID-19 outbreak will have an unparalleled impact on all elements of the global and UK economy. The higher education sector, including student recruitment, is no exception. We have been working closely with the sector, including specialist providers, to monitor the likely impacts of COVID-19 on student numbers in 2020-21. We understand the COVID-19 outbreak and a possible reduction in overall student numbers poses significant challenges.
In response to this and calls from the sector, on 4 May, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, announced a package of measures to stabilise university admissions this autumn and ensure sustainability in higher education at a time of unprecedented uncertainty.
Temporary student number controls will be put in place for domestic and EU students for the academic year 2020/21 to ensure a fair, structured distribution of students across providers. Provider-level student number controls will be determined based on provider forecasts and allow for 5% growth above this. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, will also have the discretion to allocate an additional 10,000 places on top of the controls, of which 5,000 will be allocated to students studying nursing or allied health courses, to ensure growing numbers that will support our vital public services. This measure will only apply to full-time undergraduate UK/EU domiciled students, with certain specified exemptions. These controls will not apply to international (non-EU) students.
The Office for Students (OfS), the regulator in England, has also consulted on a new temporary condition of registration. The OfS’ proposed condition would prohibit registered providers from engaging in any form of conduct which, in the opinion of the OfS, could reasonably have a material negative effect on the stability and/or integrity of the English higher education sector.
The government has also pulled forward tuition fee payments, expected to be worth £2.6 billion, for providers so that they receive more cash in the first term of academic year 2020/21, announced £100 million of public funding will be brought forward to the current academic year to help protect vital university research activities in England and confirmed providers are eligible to apply for the government financial support schemes estimated by the OfS to be worth at least £700 million to the sector.
Universities have an integral part to play in our economy, society and culture, which is highlighted now more than ever through their leading role in the fight against the virus. That is why we are introducing a package of measures to boost support for students, stabilise the admissions system and ease the pressures on universities’ finances.
I have written to all hon. Members with full details of the package, which have also been published on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-support-package-for-universities-and-students.
On Friday 5 June, the department announced Sir Steve Smith as the International Education Champion, a key deliverable of the 2019 International Education Strategy. Sir Steve will assist with opening up export growth opportunities for the whole UK education sector, tackling international challenges such as those posed to attracting international students and forging lasting global connections.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what resources his Department has allocated to schools in Southwark to help ensure that pupils are aware that their school schedules may have changed during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department for Education has published a planning guide for primary schools to help them prepare for wider opening:
This makes clear that schools should communicate with parents to make sure they know whether their child will be able to attend school, and what they need to do with respect to taking their child to school and picking them up.
We have published guidance for secondary schools on how to welcome back students from year 10 and year 12 from 15 June:
The Department has also published advice to schools on communicating online with parents, carers, and pupils:
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has plans to reimburse schools in Southwark for additional costs resulting from the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Schools will continue to receive their budgets for the coming year, as usual, regardless of any periods of partial or complete closure.
We are providing additional funding to schools, on top of existing budgets, to cover unavoidable costs incurred due to the COVID-19 outbreak that cannot be met from their existing resources.
Schools, including those in Southwark, are eligible to claim for increased premises related costs associated with keeping schools open over the Easter and summer half term holidays; support for free school meals for eligible children who are not in school, where schools are not using the national voucher scheme; and additional cleaning costs required due to confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases, over and above the cost of existing cleaning arrangements.
Further information on this funding can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-financial-support-for-schools
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the effect that the policy to charge children for bus travel in London will have on (a) school attendance, (b) late arrivals and (c) the ability of schools to maintain social distancing.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Local authorities have a statutory duty to provide free home to school transport for eligible pupils. The aim of the duty is to ensure that no child is prevented from attending school because they cannot walk there, whether that is because of distance, the safety of the route, or their special educational needs or disability. In London, local authorities do not need to provide free home to school transport for children who are able to travel for free on Transport for London (TfL) services.
On 15 May, the Government announced that, as part of a £1.6 billion funding package to protect TfL services, free travel for under 18s will be temporarily suspended. This will help reduce the risk of crowding on transport at busy times by encouraging those who can to walk or cycle instead. As part of the deal, arrangements will be put in place to ensure that children eligible for free home to school transport can still travel to school for free. The cost of this will not fall on London boroughs.
The Department for Transport has published guidance for the public on safer travel during the COVID-19 outbreak. Parents and children may wish to refer to this when planning their journeys to school. The guidance is available here: www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-safer-travel-guidance-for-passengers.