Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the absence rate has been for pupils who are (a) in Year 10, (b) in Year 12 and (c) eligible for free school meals since schools re-opened to all pupils on 8 March 2021.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The COVID-19 attendance rate for pupils eligible for free school meals, from 8 March 2021 to 7 June 2021, is published on Explore Education Statistics (Table 1B) which can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.
Year group is not collected as part of the daily data collected from educational institutions and rates for this groups are not available.
Based on the Autumn Census, 60% of pupils had some period where they did not attend in circumstances relating to the COVID-19 outbreak. Further details on this can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england-autumn-term.
The Department understands that the COVID-19 outbreak has caused particular challenges for different groups of children and has acted swiftly to minimise its impact and ensured that schools remained open for vulnerable children throughout.
The Department has also continued to work closely with local authorities to support them to re-engage absent pupils and share good practice. The £3 billion investment in education recovery includes over £900 million that schools can use to support the children who have been most impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak. The Government's Supporting Families programme continues to work with families where absence is a specific concern.
Data for autumn 2020 on pupil absence and not attending in circumstances relating to COVID-19 outbreak is published at https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england-autumn-term. This includes data broken down by free school meals, special educational needs and ethnicity. Attendance data is not published by disability.
National data on the attendance of pupils during the COVID-19 outbreak is published weekly at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.
There are breakdowns of attendance rate by pupils eligible for free school meals and those with special educational needs (educational health care plan). The coverage is from 8 March 2021 to 7 June 2021.
The COVID-19 attendance rate at local authority and regional levels is published on Explore Education Statistics (Table 1C) which can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.
The Department collects the number of sessions recorded as not attending in circumstances related to the COVID-19 outbreak via the school census. This is collected as a total for each pupil across each term. It is possible to calculate the average number of sessions missed in a term but it is not possible to calculate the average length of each spell of non-attendance. 7% of sessions in Autumn Term 2020 were recorded as not attending due to COVID-19 circumstances. This represents 5 days (one week) per pupil. Data on pupil absence in schools in England, autumn term 2020/21 is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england-autumn-term.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support his Department plans to provide to people on an apprenticeship whose placements have been delayed as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
During the COVID-19 outbeak, we have seen employers continuing to offer new apprenticeship opportunities and recruit apprentices to help meet their skills needs.
We recognise that COVID-19 restrictions have caused disruption to training and assessment. We have worked closely with the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education to introduce flexibility to employers, training providers and end-point assessment organisations to ensure that apprentices, including furloughed apprentices, can safely continue with, and complete, their programmes.
Apprenticeships training can be delivered flexibly. During the COVID-19 outbreak, we have encouraged providers to deliver training remotely where possible and many providers have developed additional training materials and/or alternative mechanisms for delivery in response to COVID-19. As national restrictions have been relaxed by the government, barriers to training and assessment have now largely been removed.
We would encourage employers and providers to continue to work together to judge the appropriate balance of on-site and remote training and assessment to ensure that the apprentice receives a high-quality experience.
To help employers recruit the right people now, and not delay taking on apprentices, we are offering employers a higher incentive payment of £3,000 when they take on an apprentice as a new recruit until September 2021. Employers have submitted over 52,000 claims for the incentive payments for new apprentices with planned start dates between August 2020 and March 2021.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure that models for apprenticeships, traineeships and other skills programmes (a) take into account changes in workplaces as a result of the covid-19 outbreak, and (b) are fit for future purpose in the context of that matter.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
It is important that our programmes provide the skills individuals and employers need now, and in the future, and that these are adaptable and responsive to emerging skills needs, and ways of working.
Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak we have responded quickly and flexibly, providing support and guidance for employers and apprentices, and we are committed to supporting a smooth transition as restrictions lift and apprentices return to work and training. Guidance for apprentices, employers, and training providers on this can be found here: https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/covid-19/recent-announcements/apprentices-returning-to-work-and-training/.
We support employers who may wish to retain some of the agile and flexible training practices developed in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, where these deliver a good experience for apprentices and give them every opportunity to achieve their apprenticeship. For example, Ofsted identified ways in which further education and skills providers had adapted their provision to include further online and remote learning opportunities. More information can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/933434/FES_COVID-19_briefing_October_2020.pdf.
Apprenticeships play an invaluable role in supporting people of all ages to start and progress in their careers and we are working closely with employers and providers to support them to train apprentices in the ways that best meet their needs. We are encouraging greater use of innovative apprenticeship training models, such as the ‘front-loading’ of off-the-job training, with tailored support now on offer to the construction and health and social care sectors. We are also developing accelerated apprenticeships so that apprentices with substantial prior learning, such as T Level graduates, can complete an apprenticeship more quickly.
In July, we are launching a £7 million fund to support more apprentices through the flexi job apprenticeship scheme. This will support employers and apprentices in sectors with more flexible employment models, like the creative industries, to make greater use of apprenticeships. We are also developing portable apprenticeships to further enable apprentices and employers to make use of apprenticeships in those sectors where short-term, project-based employment is the norm.
Since September 2020 we have been working with employers to develop new occupational traineeships which will provide young people with a tailored springboard into their industries. In May we introduced the first ever occupational traineeship in rail engineering with further occupational traineeships opportunities in the adult care, construction, digital, logistics and automotive sectors to follow in the summer. These traineeships will be aligned to apprenticeship standards and will significantly increase the opportunities for young people to progress into apprenticeships or other employment.
T Level students should have the opportunity to experience a real workplace setting during their industry placement, to help them develop their skills and receive the nurturing, mentoring and support needed to succeed. We have put in place additional funding and support for education providers and employers, including a new T Level employer incentive scheme, where employers will be eligible to claim a £1,000 payment for hosting a T Level industry placement, recognising the impact that COVID-19 is having on businesses.
We have also put in place specific measures to ensure that the first cohort of T Level students can complete their industry placement successfully, again in recognition of the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. These include a temporary flexibility for the education and childcare industry placement hours requirement and alternative arrangements for summer assessments that will allow students to focus on their industry placement and the occupational specialism in the second year of their course. We are monitoring the situation closely and offering providers one to one support as needed.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, on what date his Department plans to publish the data from the national school census for autumn 2020.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department does not routinely publish data from the autumn school census.
The school census collection takes place termly, but not all of the information is collected on a termly basis. We publish a routine annual summary of school census data based on spring census figures, which can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics. The next release, relating to January 2021, will be published in June 2021.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that private early years providers do not charge top-up fees to parents entitled to free childcare under the Free Early Education Entitlement.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Government funding is intended to deliver 15 or 30 hours a week of free, high quality, flexible childcare for eligible two, three and four year olds across 38 weeks of the year. It is not intended to cover the costs of meals, additional hours or additional services, and providers may charge parents for these.
Our statutory guidance is clear that local authorities should work with providers to ensure all parents have fair access to a free place, which must be delivered completely free of charge. Providers should not charge parents “top-up” fees (any difference between a provider’s normal charge to parents and the funding they receive from the local authority to deliver free places) or require parents to pay a registration fee as a condition of taking up their child’s free place.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of primary and secondary school pupils anticipated to re-enrol on the school register in September 2020 re-enrolled on the school register in September 2020.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It has not proved possible to respond to the right hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many pupils were removed from school admissions registers in the most recent academic year for the reason that they were continually absent from school for a period of more than 20 days, under section 8(1)(h) of the amended Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It has not proved possible to respond to the right hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate he has made of the number of children who have dropped off the school register in September 2020.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It has not proved possible to respond to the right hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate his Department has made of the number of schools that have off-rolled pupils in England in the last academic year.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The information requested is not held by the Department and cannot be estimated from current data sources.
The Government is clear that off rolling is unacceptable in any form. The Department will continue to work with Ofsted to define and tackle it. Ofsted already considers records of pupils taken off roll and revisions to the framework in September 2019 strengthened the focus on this. Where inspectors find off rolling, this will always be addressed in the inspection report and, where appropriate, could lead to a school’s leadership being judged inadequate.
A pupil’s name can lawfully be deleted from the admission register only on the grounds prescribed in Regulation 8 of the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 as amended. All schools must notify the local authority when a pupil’s name is to be deleted from the admission register under any of the grounds prescribed in regulation 8. This should be done as soon as the ground for removal is met and no later than the time at which the pupil’s name is removed from the register.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of pupils have been off-rolled from schools in England the last academic year.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The information requested is not held by the Department and cannot be estimated from current data sources.
The Government is clear that off rolling is unacceptable in any form. The Department will continue to work with Ofsted to define and tackle it. Ofsted already considers records of pupils taken off roll and revisions to the framework in September 2019 strengthened the focus on this. Where inspectors find off rolling, this will always be addressed in the inspection report and, where appropriate, could lead to a school’s leadership being judged inadequate.
A pupil’s name can lawfully be deleted from the admission register only on the grounds prescribed in Regulation 8 of the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 as amended. All schools must notify the local authority when a pupil’s name is to be deleted from the admission register under any of the grounds prescribed in regulation 8. This should be done as soon as the ground for removal is met and no later than the time at which the pupil’s name is removed from the register.