Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department has taken to reduce the number of exclusions of young people from mainstream education.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is clear that permanent exclusion should only be used as a last resort and exclusion from school should not mean exclusion from education.
The Department is taking forward an ambitious programme of reform which will respect head teachers’ powers to use exclusion, while equipping schools to support children at risk of exclusion and ensuring excluded children continue to receive a good education.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps he has taken to increase the number of pupils taking GCSE music.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government believes that music is an important subject and that all pupils should receive a high quality music education, up until at least the age of 14. The subject is compulsory in the National Curriculum, and the Government is providing funding of over £300 million for music education hubs between 2016 and 2020.
The Department hopes all pupils who want to study music at GCSE will have the opportunity to do so. Since 2009-10, the percentage of the GCSE cohort in state funded schools who take music GCSE has fluctuated but remained broadly stable between 6 and 7%. It currently stands at 6%.
In order to ensure all pupils are able to enjoy a high quality music education, the Department is developing and publishing a non-statutory model music curriculum for Key Stages 1-3.
The model curriculum will provide pupils with the knowledge and skills which enable them to embark with confidence on a GCSE course of study.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that all schools teach every part of the Equality Act 2010.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the findings of the report on University Aspirations 2019 by the Sutton Trust on 15 August 2019.
Answered by Gavin Williamson
Widening access and participation in higher education (HE) is a priority for this government. This means that everyone with the capability to succeed in HE should have the opportunity, regardless of their background or where they grew up.
Whilst we have made real progress, (the latest data for 2019 shows that the entry rate for 18-year-olds from disadvantaged backgrounds has continued to increase) more could and should be done. That is why the government asked the Office for Students to encourage providers, particularly the most selective institutions, to make further progress in ensuring that disadvantaged and underrepresented students can access, participate and succeed in HE.
The department will consider the implications of the Sutton Report on University Aspirations on access and participation policy in due course.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of rates of compliance with the ban on the smacking of children in England.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
There is no specific ban on ‘smacking’ children in England.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the importance of transparency on setting and lowering funding bands for degree apprenticeships.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
As part of its agreed responsibilities, the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education recommends and reviews funding bands to make sure that employers can access high quality apprenticeships, and that funding bands represent good value for money for employers and the government.
The Institute has highlighted its intention to improve transparency in its approach towards pricing all apprenticeships and will work with trailblazer groups of employers to test improvements. Details can be found in their Business Plan 2019-2020, available here: https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/about/business-plan-2019-2020/.
The government’s strategic guidance to the Institute asks it to go further in improving understanding of its work and being responsive to employers’ feedback regarding the funding band process for all apprenticeships, including Level 6+ and degree apprenticeships. The strategic guidance is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/790021/Strategic_Guidance_to_the_Institute_2019-20.pdf.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the findings of the annual report by the Education Policy Institute, published in July 2019, what steps he will take to tackle the education disadvantage gap.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department welcomes the focus this report brings and will consider its recommendations carefully, given the Department’s commitment to closing the attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their peers.
Since 2011, the attainment gap has narrowed by more than 9% at age 16 and more than 13% at age 11. The Department’s reforms and the extra support funded by the pupil premium have contributed to this improvement.
The Department established the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) with £137 million to research in hundreds of English schools the most effective ways of using pupil premium, and promote these so that all schools can make a difference to their disadvantaged pupils’ futures. In June 2019, the EEF published a ‘Pupil Premium Guide’ that gives schools clear advice about how best to use the pupil premium grant. The Department encourages all schools to use this guide, which can be accessed here: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/evidence-summaries/pupil-premium-guide/.
The Department seeks to ensure no pupils are left behind – hence the targeted support in some of the most socially immobile areas of the country through the £72 million opportunity areas programme and the Department’s commitment to halve the proportion of children who finish reception year without the communication and reading skills they need to thrive.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has made an assessment of the implications for his policies of the British Council's annual Language Trends Report 2019; and what steps he is taking to increase the opportunity for children of all social backgrounds to learn foreign languages and participate in international experiences.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department wants to see more pupils taking a language GCSE. Since September 2014, the reformed national curriculum makes it compulsory for pupils in maintained schools to be taught a modern or classical language in Key Stage 2. The Department introduced the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) performance measure in 2010, where entry into both modern and ancient language GCSEs counts towards the languages element of the EBacc.
The Department has introduced a number of programmes to increase participation in modern foreign languages (MFL). The £4.8 million MFL Pedagogy Pilot commenced in December 2018 and is managed by a Centre for Excellence. The Pilot is run through nine school-led hubs, is aiming to improve uptake and attainment in languages at Key Stages 3 and 4, and to share best practice, especially in disadvantaged areas. The Department has also launched a pilot project in languages undergraduate mentoring for secondary school pupils to increase participation in the subject, specifically targeting areas of high disadvantage to extend access to languages for all pupils.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the British Council's annual Language Trends Report 2019, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of children learning foreign languages.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department wants to see more pupils taking a language GCSE. Since September 2014, the reformed national curriculum makes it compulsory for pupils in maintained schools to be taught a modern or classical language in Key Stage 2. The Department introduced the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) performance measure in 2010, where entry into both modern and ancient language GCSEs counts towards the languages element of the EBacc.
The Department has introduced a number of programmes to increase participation in modern foreign languages (MFL). The £4.8 million MFL Pedagogy Pilot commenced in December 2018 and is managed by a Centre for Excellence. The Pilot is run through nine school-led hubs, is aiming to improve uptake and attainment in languages at Key Stages 3 and 4, and to share best practice, especially in disadvantaged areas. The Department has also launched a pilot project in languages undergraduate mentoring for secondary school pupils to increase participation in the subject, specifically targeting areas of high disadvantage to extend access to languages for all pupils.
Asked by: Paul Farrelly (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that degree apprenticeships support (a) social mobility and (b) lifelong learning among underrepresented groups.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
Apprenticeships benefit people of all ages and backgrounds, offering high quality on and off-the-job training. Level 6+ and degree apprenticeships offer people an alternative to full time university, as well as the opportunity to upskill or re-train throughout their lives.
The Degree Apprenticeship Development Fund (DADF) aims to enable and encourage greater social mobility and widen participation. The DADF has supported 103 higher education (HE) providers and has resulted in 4,464 degree apprentice starts. The Office for Students has published an evaluation of the fund, which can be found at the following link: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/7cd79cd8-536f-49e5-a55f-ebd83b344b16/dadf-evaluation.pdf.
HE providers, such as universities, can include degree apprenticeships in their Access and Participation Plans; these set out how they will support underrepresented groups and help individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds access and succeed in HE. The National Apprenticeship Service works with local partners to ensure that apprenticeships at all levels are available in disadvantaged areas.
We are running an employer engagement campaign, ‘Opportunities through Apprenticeships’, working with partners in Portsmouth, Nottingham, South Tyneside and Torbay. It aims to support social mobility by creating opportunities for more apprentices from disadvantaged areas to undertake high value apprenticeships with higher earnings potential and progression, such as degree apprenticeships.