Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 22 January 2021 to Question 137193, when the Turing Scheme will be open for applications.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
We will be launching a website with more information on the Turing Scheme and setting out the application process in the coming weeks, for mobilities to start in September 2021.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to (a) replace opportunities for students from the EU to study and train in the UK and (b) extend those opportunities to other countries after the UK’s withdrawal from the Erasmus+ programme.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
Under the Withdrawal Agreement negotiated with the EU, the UK will continue to participate fully in the 2014-2020 Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps programmes. This means that the projects successfully bid for during the current programmes will continue to receive EU funding for the full duration of the project, including those where funding runs beyond 2020 and the end of the transition period.
The government has decided that it is not in the UK's interests to seek continuing participation in the next Erasmus+ programme. Instead, the UK is introducing a new international educational exchange scheme that has a genuinely global reach. Under the Turing scheme, UK universities, colleges and schools will be able to bid for funding to enable their students to travel abroad for study and work placements starting in September 2021 – for any of their students, regardless of nationality.
UK institutions are already speaking to their European counterparts to ensure they maintain and build upon their strong relationships. The government will support this engagement while also working to directly promote the Turing scheme overseas through government-to-government engagement.
The UK is a world-leading destination for study and research, with four universities in the world’s top 10, and 18 in the top 100. The UK is currently second only to the USA as a destination for international higher education students with approximately 486,000 students from abroad. We have considerable appeal as a destination and partner in international mobilities and exchanges, not just within the EU but across the world. Through our planned update to the International Education Strategy, and measures such as the new Graduate Route, we intend to build on this global reputation.
We will soon be launching the website and announcing the bidding process for mobilities to start in September 2021.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when the the Turing Scheme will be open for applications.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
Under the Withdrawal Agreement negotiated with the EU, the UK will continue to participate fully in the 2014-2020 Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps programmes. This means that the projects successfully bid for during the current programmes will continue to receive EU funding for the full duration of the project, including those where funding runs beyond 2020 and the end of the transition period.
The government has decided that it is not in the UK's interests to seek continuing participation in the next Erasmus+ programme. Instead, the UK is introducing a new international educational exchange scheme that has a genuinely global reach. Under the Turing scheme, UK universities, colleges and schools will be able to bid for funding to enable their students to travel abroad for study and work placements starting in September 2021 – for any of their students, regardless of nationality.
UK institutions are already speaking to their European counterparts to ensure they maintain and build upon their strong relationships. The government will support this engagement while also working to directly promote the Turing scheme overseas through government-to-government engagement.
The UK is a world-leading destination for study and research, with four universities in the world’s top 10, and 18 in the top 100. The UK is currently second only to the USA as a destination for international higher education students with approximately 486,000 students from abroad. We have considerable appeal as a destination and partner in international mobilities and exchanges, not just within the EU but across the world. Through our planned update to the International Education Strategy, and measures such as the new Graduate Route, we intend to build on this global reputation.
We will soon be launching the website and announcing the bidding process for mobilities to start in September 2021.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate he has made of the additional costs incurred by schools as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Ministers and officials continue to engage regularly with school leaders and their representatives on a wide range of issues around COVID-19, including discussions in relation to costs faced by schools at this time.
Schools have continued to receive their core funding allocations throughout the COVID-19 outbreak. Following last year’s Spending Round, school budgets are rising by £2.6 billion in the 2020-21 financial year, £4.8 billion in 2021-22 and £7.1 billion in 2022-23, compared to 2019-20. This increase in funding will help schools with costs associated with the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Department has announced a new COVID-19 workforce fund for schools and colleges to help them to remain open. It will fund the costs of teacher absences over a threshold in schools and colleges with high staff absences that are also facing significant financial pressures. Guidance on the claims process will be published shortly so schools and colleges have confidence in the costs they can incur and be eligible to reclaim.
Schools have already received payments of £102 million for exceptional costs during the summer months, and there will be a further opportunity later in the year for schools to claim for any costs that fell between March and July in the same approved categories, for which they did not claim during the first window.
To support schools in making up for lost teaching time, there is a £1 billion catch up package for schools, which includes a universal £650 million ‘Catch Up Premium’. Our expectation is that this funding will be spent on the additional activities required to support children and young people to catch up after a period of disruption to their education. Alongside this, the catch up package includes the National Tutoring Programme for disadvantaged 5 to 16 year old pupils. This scheme will provide additional, targeted support for disadvantaged pupils who need the most help to catch up.
The Department has also provided support for schools to deliver remote education. In October 2020, the Department announced a support package to help schools meet the remote education expectations set out in the schools guidance for full opening, including access to the right technology to deliver remote education, as well as curriculum guidance and resources. As part of over £195 million invested to support access to remote education and online social care, over 340,000 laptops and tablets are being made available this term to support disadvantaged children in Years 3 to 11 whose face to face education may be disrupted. Since September 2020, over 100,000 of these have been delivered to schools.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether EEA nationals aged 16 to 19 will be eligible to apply for funding from his Department for (a) higher education and (b) apprenticeships after August 2021.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
We have agreed with the EU that current EU principles of equal treatment will continue to apply for those covered by the citizens’ rights provisions in the EU Withdrawal Agreement and the EEA EFTA Separation Agreement. This means that EU nationals resident in the UK (and UK nationals resident in the EU), before the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020, will be eligible for support on a similar basis to domestic students in the relevant host state.
EU and other EEA nationals not in the scope of the citizens’ rights protections will not be eligible for home fee status, undergraduate, postgraduate and advanced learner financial support from Student Finance England for courses starting in the academic year 2021/22. This change will also apply to further education funding for those aged 19 and above. It will not affect students starting courses in the academic year 2020/21. This will not apply to students from Ireland whose right to study and to access benefits and services will be preserved on a reciprocal basis under the Common Travel Area arrangement.
From August 2021, EU and other EEA citizens, and their family members, as well as non-EEA citizens, will be eligible for apprenticeship funding in England if they have permission to live and work in the UK and meet the residency eligibility criteria in place at the time, which will be set out in the funding rules for the academic year 2021/22.
EEA students, staff and researchers make an important contribution to our universities. The government wants that contribution to continue and is confident – given the world-leading quality of our higher education sector – that it will.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when the Minister for Universities plans to respond to the letter from the hon Member for Sheffield Central dated 27 March 2020 on support for students.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
The department received the letter from the hon Member for Sheffield Central on 2 April 2020.
The department takes the concerns raised by the hon Member seriously and is in the process of drafting a response which will address the concerns raised. This will be sent out to the hon Member in due course.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect on school pupils’ performance and wellbeing of financial stress in their families.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government recognises that, for many complex reasons, economic disadvantage can have an adverse effect on pupil attainment and wellbeing.
Through the pupil premium, the Department has spent more than £18 billion since 2011, including £2.4 billion in 2019-20, to tackle educational inequality. We established the Education Endowment Fund with £137 million to research and promote the most effective ways of using pupil premium funding so that all schools can make a difference to the futures of their disadvantaged pupils. Since 2011, the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers has decreased at both ages 11 and 16.
The Department has taken a range of actions to help schools support the mental wellbeing of their pupils. This includes teaching pupils about mental wellbeing through the introduction of health education and improving collaboration with external agencies to ensure those pupils that need specialist support and treatment get it quickly. New Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) will be established in 20% to 25% of the country by 2023, supporting children and young people with mild to moderate mental health issues, and helping those with more severe needs to access the right specialist services locally. MHSTs should be delivered in a way to take account of disadvantage and seek to reduce health inequalities. We will also fund training for senior mental health leads in every state funded school and college in England, providing the skills and knowledge required to put in place effective whole school and college approaches to promote and support good mental health. We also have several initiatives in place to further support schools to develop and implement whole school approaches to mental health and wellbeing.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on demand for UK university places from EU students of the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by Nick Gibb
EU and non-EU students make an invaluable contribution to the UK’s higher education sector, socially, culturally and financially. This is why the UK Government will continue to welcome international students, working towards the ambition set out in our International Education Strategy, to host 600,000 international students per year by 2030.
The Prime Minister has also been clear that he wants to help the UK attract talent from around the world. On May 28 2019, we announced guarantees on student finance for EU nationals. EU nationals (and their family members) who start a course in England in the 2020/21 academic year or before will continue to be eligible for ‘home fee’ status and undergraduate and postgraduate student financial support from Student Finance England for the duration of their course, provided they meet the residency requirement.
To further ensure the UK higher education sector remains internationally attractive, my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister announced the new Graduate Route in September 2019. This will offer an opportunity for international students who have passed their degree to stay and work in the UK for two years post-study.