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Written Question
Higher Education: Admissions
Monday 24th October 2022

Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students were accepted onto higher education courses by each A-level grade combination in England in each of the last three years.

Answered by Andrea Jenkyns

The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service publish data on acceptances to full-time undergraduate higher education by A level grade combination. It can be found here: https://www.ucas.com/data-and-analysis/undergraduate-statistics-and-reports/ucas-undergraduate-sector-level-end-cycle-data-resources-2021.

The table below shows the number of acceptances by A level grade combinations for English 18-year-olds for the three most recent years.

Figures for 2022 are due to published in December.

Table 1 – English 18-year-olds accepted to full-time undergraduate higher education by A level points:

A level points

2019

2020

2021

3 points (EEE)

305

105

145

4 points (DEE)

1,160

400

475

5 points (DDE)

2,625

945

1,015

6 points (DDD)

4,740

1,935

1,980

7 points (CDD)

7,100

3,585

3,380

8 points (CCD)

9,665

6,155

5,100

9 points (CCC)

11,895

9,170

7,650

10 points (BCC)

13,805

11,590

10,185

11 points (BBC)

14,390

13,710

12,400

12 points (BBB)

14,395

15,350

14,410

13 points (ABB)

13,800

15,540

15,665

14 points (AAB)

11,860

15,090

16,160

15 points (AAA)

10,690

14,555

16,555

16 points (A*AA)

8,365

12,755

14,905

17 points (A*A*A)

5,285

9,880

12,860

18 points (A*A*A*)

4,835

11,085

16,505

All

134,910

141,860

149,380


Written Question
Schools: Uniforms
Monday 24th October 2022

Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to reduce the cost of school uniforms by promoting price competitiveness.

Answered by Jonathan Gullis

The Department recognises that many people are worried about the impact of the increases in the cost of living with many households struggling to make their income stretch to cover the basics. It is therefore even more important that schools consider the cost of their uniform and follow the guidance to ensure best value for money for parents.

In November 2021, the Department published statutory guidance on the cost of school uniforms, which schools must consider when designing and implementing their uniform policies. The guidance, which came into effect in September 2022, requires schools to ensure that their uniform is affordable and secures best value for money for parents.

The guidance requires schools to:

  • keep branded items to a minimum, allowing parents more choice on where they purchase most items of uniform
  • demonstrate how value for money has been obtained from suppliers for any required branded items
  • avoid single supplier contracts unless regular tendering competitions are run. The Department advises contracts to be retendered at least every five years.

This guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cost-of-school-uniforms/cost-of-school-uniforms.


Written Question
Apprentices: Taxation
Wednesday 12th October 2022

Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much apprenticeship levy did educational providers (a) spend, and (b) return to treasury in each financial year since 2017/18.

Answered by Andrea Jenkyns

The apprenticeship levy is an important part of the department’s reforms to create a high-quality, employer-led apprenticeships system, and it supports employers of all sizes to invest in high-quality apprenticeship training.

As employers, education providers with a pay bill of £3 million or more will pay the apprenticeship levy. The department does not collect data on the nature or sector in which employers operate, and so it does not hold the data requested.

The funds in levy-paying employers’ apprenticeship service accounts are available for them to use for apprenticeship training and assessment for 24 months, at which point unused funds begin to expire on a rolling, month-by-month basis.

Separately, the department is set an annual apprenticeships budget by His Majesty’s Treasury (HMT). The value of this annual budget is not the same as the funds which are available in levy-paying employers’ accounts for 24 months. The annual apprenticeships budget funds apprenticeships for all employers, including those who do not pay the apprenticeship levy, and is also used to cover the cost of end-point assessment, English and maths tuition, and additional payments made to employers, providers, and apprentices.

As is usual practice, any underspends in overall departmental budgets by the end of the financial year are first returned to HMT as per the consolidated budgeting guidance. This is accessible at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/consolidated-budgeting-guidance-2021-to-2022. 


Written Question
Pupils: Bus Services
Friday 10th June 2022

Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending free bus travel to those studying aged 16 to 18 in light of the proposed increase of the leaving school age to 18.

Answered by Robin Walker

Local authorities are responsible for transport to education and training for 16- to 19-year-olds, including where students travel to school or college. Many students already receive a discount or concession, but it is for local authorities, along with local transport providers and schools or colleges, to decide whether to provide support and which students are eligible. These decisions are best made locally considering local needs, the resources available, and other local circumstances.

The 16 to 19 Bursary Fund can be used for transport costs to support young people to access education and training. Schools and colleges are responsible for deciding how to distribute their bursary allocations to students, and for establishing what criteria to use.


Written Question
Sixth Form Education: Per Capita Costs
Thursday 9th June 2022

Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average level of per pupil funding was in (a) actual and (b) real terms for sixth form funding in 2018-19; and what that the equivalent figures are for 2022-23.

Answered by Robin Walker

The average Total Programme Funding per 16 to 19-year-old student in the 2018/19 academic year was £4,504.

The equivalent figure for the 2022/23 academic year is not yet available.

In 2018/19, the base rate of funding per 16 and 17-year-old student was £4,000. This was the largest component in the Total Programme Funding per student. In the 2022/23 academic year, the base rate will be £4,542. This is an increase of 13.6% in cash terms, or 2% in real terms over the base rate in 2018/19.


Written Question
Primary Education
Tuesday 30th November 2021

Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many primary schools have (a) been opened and (b) closed by (i) local authority area and (ii) constituency in each year since 1997.

Answered by Robin Walker

The tables attached show the numbers of primary schools that have opened by year, local authority area and constituency between 1997 and 2021, and between 2000 and 2021 for schools that have closed. This includes new local authority maintained schools, free schools and new academies.

Prior to 2000, the department’s records do not capture the information for closed schools in a way which would allow us to respond fully to my hon. Friend, the member for North West Durham’s question.


Written Question
Secondary Education
Monday 29th November 2021

Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many secondary schools with fewer than (a) 400 and (b) 200 pupils on roll there are, by (i) local authority area and (ii) parliamentary constituency in England.

Answered by Robin Walker

The department publishes annual school level figures on the number of pupils attending schools in England. The most recent figures, based on the January 2021 school census, can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics.

Figures for individual schools can be found in the school level underlying data file, which is called ‘School level underlying data 2020/21 (csv, 21 Mb)’, and is listed under the dropdown headings ‘Explore data and files’ and then ‘List of other files’.

Phase of school is in column N, you can select state-funded primary schools. Local authority is in column H and parliamentary constituency in X. The size band of the school is given in column AD in units of 100. The exact pupil headcount is given in column HL.


Written Question
Primary Education
Monday 29th November 2021

Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many primary schools with (a) fewer than 210, (b) 120 to 210, (c) 60 to 120, (d) fewer than 60 and (e) fewer than 30 pupils on roll there are, by (i) local authority area and (ii) parliamentary constituency in England.

Answered by Robin Walker

The department publishes annual school level figures on the number of pupils attending schools in England. The most recent figures, based on the January 2021 school census, can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics.

Figures for individual schools can be found in the school level underlying data file, which is called ‘School level underlying data 2020/21 (csv, 21 Mb)’, and is listed under the dropdown headings ‘Explore data and files’ and then ‘List of other files’.

Phase of school is in column N, you can select state-funded primary schools. Local authority is in column H and parliamentary constituency in X. The size band of the school is given in column AD in units of 100. The exact pupil headcount is given in column HL.


Written Question
Education: Standards
Wednesday 17th November 2021

Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what (a) quantitative and (b) qualitative research his Department has commissioned on the reasons for lower levels of average educational attainment in the different regions and counties of England.

Answered by Robin Walker

The department’s research and commissioned research are published on GOV.UK. A selection of the research focussed on regional attainment disparities are provided below. These research reports focus on early years, learning loss and the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, opportunity areas, and the London effect.


Written Question
Education: Standards
Tuesday 16th November 2021

Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average educational attainment is for (a) boys and (b) girls at ages (i) 11, (ii) 16 and (ii) 18 in each (A) county and (B) region of England.

Answered by Robin Walker

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, most examinations and assessments did not take place in the 2019/20 or 2020/21 academic years. All key stage 2 national curriculum assessments were cancelled for both academic years. Therefore, no key stage 2 attainment data is available for these years.

The department publishes attainment of boys and girls at the end of key stage 2 by local authority and region. The latest figures for the 2018/19 academic year can be found in table L1 of the 'National, local authority and regional tables' here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-curriculum-assessments-key-stage-2-2019-revised[1].

The department also publishes attainment of boys and girls at the end of key stage 4 by local authority and region. These figures are available for the 2020/21 academic year here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/key-stage-4-performance-revised. A pre-created table is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/98e6ae4e-2b02-48cb-898e-c7079dda1490.

Providing an average educational attainment figure requires interpretation because of the numerous qualification types across key stage 5, with different grading structures. Performance tables include the average attainment for each qualification type, specifically A level, Academic, Applied general, Tech level and Technical certificate split by local authority and region. These figures are available for the 2020//21 academic year here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/a-level-and-other-16-to-18-results/2020-21. A pre-created table can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/42ec181e-17d2-488d-b531-514f0d90b0a8

To look at average attainment across all qualification types, the level 2 and 3 attainment by young people aged 19 release is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/level-2-and-3-attainment-by-young-people-aged-19/2019-20.

The attached table shows the attainment of the cohort turning 19 in the years shown. It includes the proportion of that cohort who achieved level 2 by 16 and went on to achieve level 3 by 19, sorted by gender, region, and local authority. County level data is not published.

[1] Download the ‘National, local authority and regional tables’ and go to table ‘Table_L1’.