Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to meet annual teacher recruitment targets.
Answered by Nick Gibb
As of the last School Workforce Census (November 2021, published in June 2022), the number of teachers remains high, with over 465,500 full time equivalent teachers working in state funded schools across the country. This is over 24,000 more than in 2010. The Department recognises there is more to do to ensure teaching remains an attractive, high-status profession.
The Department recognises that some subjects remain more challenging to recruit to than others. The Department has announced a £181 million financial incentives package for those starting initial teacher training (ITT) in the 2023/24 academic year. The Department is providing bursaries worth up to £27,000 and scholarships worth up to £29,000 to encourage trainees to apply to train in key secondary subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, and computing.
The Department has expanded the offer to international trainees in physics and languages.
The Department provides a Levelling Up Premium worth up to £3,000 for mathematics, physics, chemistry, and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who work in disadvantaged schools nationally, including within Education Investment Areas. The eligibility criteria and list of eligible schools is on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/levelling-up-premium-payments-for-teachers.
The Department has recently raised starting salaries outside London by 8.9% to £28,000 and remains committed to the Government’s ambition of delivering £30,000 starting salaries to attract talented people to teaching. The Department has also implemented the School Teachers' Review Body recommendation of a 5% pay uplift for experienced teachers and leaders in 2022/23.
In autumn 2021, the Department launched the ‘apply for teacher training’ digital service. This enables a more streamlined, user friendly application route to attract and train teachers.
The Department is also taking action to attract more people to teaching and enable them to succeed through transforming their training and support. The Department has created an entitlement to at least three years of structured training, support and professional development underpinned by the ITT Core Content Framework and the Early Career Framework. Together, these ensure that new teachers will benefit from at least three years of evidence-based training, across ITT and into their induction.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the final report of the Independent Commission on Assessment in Primary Education; and what plans the Government has to implement that report's recommendations.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Primary assessments play a crucial role in supporting pupils to grasp the basics of reading, writing and mathematics and to prepare them for secondary school. They allow parents and schools to understand pupils’ achievements in relation to the age-related attainment expectations outlined in the National Curriculum.
In 2017, the Department carried out a consultation into primary assessment in England, with the aim of creating a settled policy in this area. The consultation received over 4,000 responses from a diverse range of backgrounds and specialisms, providing a broad and informed range of views. The Department has reached the end of the programme of reform to the current primary assessment system that followed. The Department has no current plans to undertake further major reform.
The Department remains committed to producing and publishing school-level accountability measures using full-cohort assessment data, which provide important information to support parents when choosing schools. The Department keeps all school performance measures under review, and welcomes feedback on how it can be refined and improved.
As primary school tests and assessments returned in 2021/22 for the first time since 2019, without any adaptations, the results were not published in Key Stage 2 performance tables. The usual suite of Key Stage 2 accountability measures has been produced at school level and shared securely with primary schools, academy trusts, Local Authorities and Ofsted to inform school improvement, inspection and to help identify schools most in need of support. This is a transitional arrangement for the first year in which primary assessments returned. The Department intends to publish Key Stage 2 assessment data on the performance measures website again for 2022/23.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of the level of work being undertaken by teachers on educational outcomes.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department knows that there are many factors that affect educational outcomes. There is an ongoing programme of research within the Department to understand the level of work being undertaken by teachers and headteachers, and the perceptions of workload across the workforce. It is not possible to draw direct causal links between teacher workload and educational outcomes from the existing evidence base.
The Department has taken action to improve teacher and headteacher workload, working with the profession to understand and address longstanding issues around marking, planning and data management. The School Workload Reduction toolkit, developed alongside headteachers, is a helpful resource for schools to use to reduce workload. The Education Staff Wellbeing Charter, published in 2021, is a set of commitments from the Government, Ofsted, and schools and colleges to protect and promote the wellbeing of staff and includes an explicit commitment by the Department to drive down unnecessary workload.
There was a five-hour reduction in teachers' self-reported working hours between 2016 and 2019. While progress has been made working alongside schools, the Department recognises there is still more to be done. The Department will continue to work together with headteachers, teachers and their representatives to reduce unnecessary workload and promote their wellbeing.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of statutory mental health assessments on children undertaking those assessments in (a) primary and (b) secondary education.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Minister (Equalities)
There are no statutory mental health assessments in primary or secondary schools. It is up to schools to decide what assessments to use with their pupils in order to inform their whole-school mental health provision, as well as the support that might be needed by individual pupils, taking into account the effect of the assessment on pupils.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment the Government has made of the adequacy of levels of student maintenance loans.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department is currently considering options for changes to loans and grants for living and other costs for the 2023/24 academic year, starting in August 2023. An announcement will follow in due course.
The department has continued to increase living costs support each year, with a 2.3% increase to maximum loans and grants for living and other costs for the 2022/23 academic year. Students who have been awarded a loan for living costs for the 2022/23 academic year that is lower than the maximum, and whose household income for the 2022/23 tax year has dropped by at least 15% compared to the income provided for their original assessment, can apply for their entitlement to be reassessed.
The department recognises the additional cost of living pressures that have arisen this year which have affected students. However, decisions on student finance will have to be taken alongside other spending priorities to ensure the system remains financially sustainable and the costs of higher education are shared fairly between students and taxpayers, not all of whom have benefited from going to university.
The department is working with the Office for Students to ensure universities support students in hardship using both hardship funds and drawing on the student premium. As part of this, we have invested £261 million into the student premium this academic year to support disadvantaged students who need additional help.
To help with the cost of living all households will save on their energy bills through the Energy Price Guarantee and the £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme discount. Students who buy their energy from a domestic supplier are eligible for the energy bills discount. The Energy Prices Act passed on 25 October 2022 includes the provision to require landlords to pass benefits they receive from energy price support, as appropriate, onto end users. Further details of the requirements under this act are set out in the legislation.
Students whose bills are included in their rent, including energy charges, will typically have agreed their accommodation costs upfront when signing their contract for the current academic year. Businesses, including those that provide student accommodation, are covered by the Energy Bill Relief Scheme which provides energy bill relief for non-domestic customers in Great Britain.
A Treasury-led review will be launched to consider how to support households and businesses with energy bills after April 2023.
Any student that has concerns should speak to their university about securing additional support.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to support students through the cost of living crisis.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department is working with the Office for Students (OfS) to ensure universities support students in hardship using both hardship funds and drawing on the student premium. As part of this, we have invested £261 million into the student premium this academic year to support disadvantaged students who need additional help. Further to this, higher education providers offer additional support programmes.
All households will save on their energy bills through the Energy Price Guarantee and the £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme discount. Students who buy their energy from a domestic supplier are eligible for the energy bills discount. The Energy Prices Act passed on 25 October 2022 includes the provision to require landlords to pass benefits they receive from energy price support, as appropriate, onto end users. Further details of the requirements under this act are set out in the legislation.
Students whose bills are included in their rent, including energy charges, will typically have agreed their accommodation costs upfront when signing their contract for the current academic year. Businesses, including those that provide student accommodation, are covered by the Energy Bill Relief Scheme which provides energy bill relief for non-domestic customers in Great Britain.
A Treasury-led review will be launched to consider how to support households and businesses with energy bills after April 2023.
Any student that has concerns should speak to their university about securing additional support.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support is being given to British nationals studying at universities in Ukraine until the Russian invasion of Ukraine earlier in 2022, who have not been able to complete their degree courses.
Answered by Andrea Jenkyns
Universities in Ukraine are striving to maintain the education of their students under extremely challenging conditions. This includes through the provision of online distance learning for students enrolled at Ukrainian universities, but who now live in another country, including in the UK. Students should speak with their education provider in Ukraine to understand what support is available to them to continue their studies, including through the UK twinning programme, which provides support to Ukrainian providers by establishing partnerships with universities in the UK.
Students may also wish to explore their options with providers in the UK and the department encourages them to speak with prospective providers to see what options are available to them. Institutions in England have been urged to consider students’ circumstances sensitively and show as much flexibility as possible.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether any funding from the public purse has been allocated to the Family Hubs Network, founded by Lord Farmer, as part of the Government’s rollout of the Family Hub Model Framework.
Answered by Will Quince
The government has announced a £300 million package to transform services for parents, carers, babies, and children in half of local authorities across England. This includes £82 million to create a network of family hubs.
The department will set out more detail in due course on how this new funding will be allocated. This builds on a £12 million family hubs transformation fund, which will support at least 12 local authorities in England to transform to a family hub model of service delivery. The family hubs model framework, published alongside the application guide for the family hub local transformation fund, provides information to local authorities bidding for transformation funding. Guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/family-hubs-transformation-fund.
The vast majority of government investment in family hubs will be allocated through councils and other public bodies. No funding has been allocated to the Family Hubs Network run by Lord Farmer. The department holds no contracts with the Family Hubs Network Ltd, and all government contracts are procured through fair and open competition.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the relationship is between the Family Hubs Local Transformation Fund and the Family Hubs Network.
Answered by Will Quince
The government has announced a £300 million package to transform services for parents, carers, babies, and children in half of local authorities across England. This includes £82 million to create a network of family hubs.
The department will set out more detail in due course on how this new funding will be allocated. This builds on a £12 million family hubs transformation fund, which will support at least 12 local authorities in England to transform to a family hub model of service delivery. The family hubs model framework, published alongside the application guide for the family hub local transformation fund, provides information to local authorities bidding for transformation funding. Guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/family-hubs-transformation-fund.
The vast majority of government investment in family hubs will be allocated through councils and other public bodies. No funding has been allocated to the Family Hubs Network run by Lord Farmer. The department holds no contracts with the Family Hubs Network Ltd, and all government contracts are procured through fair and open competition.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Student Loan Company’s eQuote portal for securing student support services and technology from assistive technology service providers, what timescale is planned for the rollout of the tender procurement process that will replace the current interim eQuote portal.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
The e-quote system has been introduced as an interim measure to increase transparency of pricing and provide the department and the Student Loans Company (SLC) with improved access to data and information on the costs and supply of assistive technology. This is particularly important considering the concerns made public by the Competition and Markets Authority last year in relation to allegations of price-fixing of supplies to disabled students.
There are a number of quality measures in place for the equipment and associated services procured through SLC’s e-quote portal. All equipment procured through the e-quote portal must meet the relevant specification set by SLC and the department. The department has also set out its expectations for the standards that assistive technology service providers should meet in a guidance document published here: https://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/exchange-blog/2021/march/02032021-guidance-for-assistive-technology-service-providers-atsps/.
In addition to this, SLC conducts a regular student satisfaction survey to identify any issues that students may experience so that they can be addressed.
On the question of factors other than price, it is an essential criterion that the package of support quoted for meets the student’s needs and the relevant specification. Quotes are sourced only from suppliers who are registered with the department and are therefore required to comply with the standards referenced above. The system selects the most cost-effective solution once these requirements have been met, in line with SLC’s responsibilities for securing value for money for Disabled Students’ Allowance expenditure.
On the question of the timeframe for the procurement, SLC is due to publish a Prior Information Notice on 4 February 2022 which will set out further details.