Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what was the total (a) apprenticeship levy revenue received from eligible employers, (b) sum and proportion of levy revenue spent on Level 4, 5, 6 and 7 apprenticeship qualifications and (c) the sum and proportion of unspent levy revenue returned to HM Treasury in each of the last five years.
Answered by Janet Daby
All UK employers with an annual pay bill above £3 million pay 0.5 per cent of their pay bill to invest in apprenticeship training. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is responsible for collecting the levy on behalf of the government. Annual apprenticeship levy receipts are published at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67b5fd2c9ae06ef4a71cf2e0/NS_Table_final.ods.
The department is responsible for apprenticeships in England only and receives an annual protected apprenticeships budget, which is agreed at spending reviews. Although closely linked, this is distinct from the total levy income collected and the funds in employer accounts.
In total, this apprenticeship budget covers the spend drawn down by all levy-paying employers, as well as apprenticeships for those who do not pay the levy, the costs of English and mathematics tuition for apprentices, and additional payments to employers, training providers and apprentices. It also covers the administrative costs of running the apprenticeships programme.
The table below provides details of the ring-fenced apprenticeships budget, and the total and proportion of the budget that was unspent in each of the last five years.
| £ (million) |
|
|
|
|
Financial year | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
Department ring-fenced apprenticeships budget | 2,469 | 2,467 | 2,466 | 2,554 | 2,525* |
Underspend against Department ring-fenced apprenticeships budget | 550 | 604 | 11 | 96 | 16* |
Proportion of underspend against the apprenticeship budget | 22% | 24% | 1% | 4% | 1%* |
*The 2023/24 annual apprenticeship budget was revised in-year from £2,585 million to £2,525 million, as £60 million was surrendered in-year.
Where the department’s apprenticeships budget is underspent by the end of the financial year, funds are returned to HM Treasury in line with standard practice set out in the Consolidated Budgeting Guidance, a copy of which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/consolidated-budgeting-guidance-2024-to-2025.
The table below provides a breakdown of spend against the apprenticeship budget by apprenticeship level 4 to level 7, and the proportion of the budget spent at level 4 to level 7 for each of the five past years.
| Budget spend by apprenticeships level (£ million & %) |
|
|
|
Financial year | Level 4 | Level 5 | Level 6 | Level 7 |
2019/20 | 156 (8%) | 128 (7%) | 114 (6%) | 103 (5%) |
2020/21 | 181 (10%) | 146 (8%) | 172 (9%) | 165 (9%) |
2021/22 | 241 (10%) | 181 (7%) | 296 (12%) | 236 (10%) |
2022/23 | 249 (10%) | 166 (7%) | 349 (14%) | 234 (10%) |
2023/24 | 268 (11%) | 171 (7%) | 387 (15%) | 238 (9%) |
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department is using AI software in responding to written parliamentary questions.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department sometimes uses Artificial Intelligence software tools to support the drafting process for responding to written parliamentary questions. All responses are reviewed by policy officials to ensure accuracy and consistency with government policy and are signed off by Ministers.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether they have made an estimate of the potential impact of abolishing diversity, equity and inclusion roles in their Department on annual staffing costs.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department has not made an estimate on the potential impact of abolishing diversity, equity and inclusion roles on our annual staffing costs.
More information on the Civil Service Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Expenditure guidance, published in May 2024, can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-equality-diversity-and-inclusion-expenditure-guidance.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill on student discipline in educational settings.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Good behaviour in schools is essential to ensure that all pupils, no matter their background, can achieve and thrive.
Every pupil deserves to learn in a safe, calm classroom and the government will always support our hard-working and dedicated teachers to make this happen.
A Child Rights Impact Assessment has been published assessing the impact of all measures in the Bill on children and young people, including any impact on pupil behaviour in schools.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment has she made of the adequacy of the level of financial education for students in post-16 educational settings.
Answered by Janet Daby
Financial education is integrated into the curriculum at key stages 3 and 4 through citizenship education and elements of the mathematics curriculum but is not compulsory at key stage 5. However, post-16 education providers are free to teach it if they wish to do so.
There are a range of financial education qualifications available for 16 to 19 year-old students to study. This includes qualifications and courses at levels 1 and 2 for lower attaining GCSE students to support their financial literacy, as well as new qualifications at level 3, such as the T Level in Finance for those wishing to pursue a career in the industry. Level 3 Core Maths qualifications also cover financial literacy.
The mathematics and English condition of funding supports students who do not attain level 2 English and mathematics qualifications at 16, by requiring them to continue to study these subjects as part of their 16-19 study programme or T Level. Students with a GCSE grade 2 or below can study towards either level 2 Functional Skills or GCSE grade 9 to 4. This allows institutions and students with prior attainment of GCSE grade 2 and below to choose which level 2 qualification is most appropriate. The Functional Skills qualification mathematics subject content covers elements of personal finance explicitly and delivers the wider mathematics skills needed for personal finance.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made on increasing the availability of apprenticeships to young people.
Answered by Janet Daby
This government has a driving mission to break down barriers to opportunity and to grow the economy. Too many young people are struggling to access high-quality opportunities, and this government wants to ensure that more young people can undertake apprenticeships.
The department is developing new foundation apprenticeships to give more young people a foot in the door at the start of their working lives whilst supporting the pipeline of new talent that employers will need to drive economic growth.
The department also continues to provide employers and providers with additional funding to support more apprenticeship opportunities for young people. The department provides £1,000 to both employers and training providers when they take on apprentices aged 16 to 18, and up to age 24 for apprentices with an education, health and care plan or who have been in local authority care. These payments can be used to support costs such as work equipment, uniforms or travel.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of free speech provisions in higher-education.
Answered by Janet Daby
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, confirmed to Parliament on 15 January the government’s plans for future of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023, which will create a more proportionate, balanced and less burdensome approach to protecting academic freedom and freedom of speech.
While reviewing the Act, prior to the announcement, departmental officials and my noble Friend, the Minister for Skills, conducted a period of stakeholder engagement on the future of the Act with over 60 individuals, discussing freedom of speech policies, practices and challenges within higher education (HE). Amongst the individuals they met were academics with concerns about constraints on freedom of speech, sector representative groups like Universities UK and Guild HE, and mission groups such as the Russell Group, University Alliance and Independent HE, vice-chancellors, university administrators, unions and representatives of minority groups. This engagement informed decisions on the future of the Act.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what safeguards are in place to ensure people who (a) own, (b) manage and (c) work in private children's homes are properly qualified.
Answered by Janet Daby
Providers of children’s homes must register with Ofsted and prove that they are financially, mentally, and physically fit to carry on a children’s home, and that they are of integrity and good character. These requirements are set out in Regulation 26 of the Children's Homes (England) Regulations 2015.
Managers of children’s homes are required to register with Ofsted. They are required to hold a Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Residential Childcare (England) and to have at least two years’ experience working in children’s residential care, as per Regulation 28 of the Children's Homes (England) Regulations 2015. They must also pass a fit and proper persons interview with Ofsted to demonstrate they have the required knowledge and skills to manage the home.
Non-managerial staff in children's homes must hold Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) or an equivalent qualification, as per Regulation 32 of the Children's Homes (England) Regulations 2015. It is the responsibility of the registered manager to verify that their staff hold, or are working towards, this qualification. Providers have a responsibility to ensure that their staff are trained to meet the needs of the children they care for.
Providers and anyone working in regulated activity in a children’s home must undergo an enhanced DBS check, including the barred list.
Ofsted aim to inspect children’s homes at least once per year. When a home is judged to be inadequate or require improvement to be good, Ofsted usually conduct a second, assurance visit within the same inspection period.
The policy paper ‘Keeping children safe, helping families thrive’ details the department’s ambition to introduce a provider oversight scheme to increase Ofsted’s existing powers to ensure provider groups are held responsible for the quality of the children’s homes that they own through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
This will give Ofsted the power to issue fines for breaches of the Care Standards Act 2000, including to unregistered providers, and enable them to hold provider groups to account for quality issues in the provision of care. The Bill will also protect 16 and 17-year-olds from ill-treatment or wilful neglect by making low-level abuse of these young people in children’s social care settings a prosecutable offence. The Bill will also introduce a financial oversight scheme to increase financial and corporate transparency of children’s social care providers in order to allow for assessment of financial risk and advance warning of risks to providers’ financial sustainability.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the cost to local authorities is of housing children in privately run children's homes.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department publishes data on local authority expenditure on looked after children. This data is published here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/la-and-school-expenditure#explore-data-and-files.
The department does not hold data on the cost to local authorities of housing children in privately run children’s homes. In total, local authorities spent £8.1 billion on looked after children in 2023/24, including £3.1 billion on residential care.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many private dwellings have been converted into children's homes in Leicestershire in each of the last five years.
Answered by Janet Daby
Neither the department nor Ofsted keep a record of the number of homes that are converted into children’s homes.