Asked by: Sally-Ann Hart (Conservative - Hastings and Rye)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on improving the provision of technical education in coastal towns; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, and officials within his department meet with counterparts in other government departments regularly to discuss education and skills matters.
In 2021 the department worked with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and other government departments, by contributing to its work on the Future of Seaside Towns and setting out the department’s proposals to boost skills and technical education around the country, including in coastal towns.
We are investing £3.8 billion more in further education and skills over the Parliament as a whole, to ensure people can access high-quality training and education that leads to good jobs, addresses skills gaps, boosts productivity and supports levelling up. This includes more investment for apprenticeships and employers in coastal communities can access funding for apprenticeships to meet their skills needs.
We have also launched T Levels, which are world-class programmes developed with over 250 leading employers to the same quality standards as apprenticeships and will ensure more young people gain the skills and knowledge demanded by employers. T Levels are already being delivered across the country, including in coastal areas such as Scarborough and Blackpool.
The government is rolling out Local Skills Improvement Plans, which will set out the key changes needed to make technical education and training more responsive to local labour market skills needs. They will be developed by local employer representative bodies working closely with further education colleges, other providers and key local stakeholders, and will be tailored to the challenges and opportunities most relevant to local areas. We have started by trailblazing these Plans in eight local areas across England in 2021-22, including in Cumbria, Kent, Sussex and Tees Valley, which have coastal towns.
Asked by: Sally-Ann Hart (Conservative - Hastings and Rye)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department has to monitor and publish data on the average (a) size of food orders by schools supported through the National School Breakfast Programme and (b) proportion of students enrolled on that Programme who take up the offer of breakfast provision during the 2021-22 academic year.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The government is committed to continuing support for school breakfast clubs and we are investing up to £24 million to continue our national programme for the next two years. This funding will support around 2,500 schools in disadvantaged areas, meaning that thousands of children from low-income families will be offered free nutritious breakfasts to better support their attainment, wellbeing and readiness to learn.
The focus of the programme is to target the most disadvantaged areas of the country, including the Department for Education’s Opportunity Areas. Throughout the contract we will be working with our provider, Family Action, to monitor different aspects of the programme including the food ordering from schools, participation rates among children, and the benefits the programme is having on pupils who are attending. We will consider the best opportunities to share information on the programme as it progresses.
Asked by: Sally-Ann Hart (Conservative - Hastings and Rye)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether any schools in Hastings and Rye constituency will be supported by the new National School Breakfast Programme over the 2021-22 academic year.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The government is committed to continuing support for school breakfast clubs and we are investing up to £24 million to continue our national programme for the next two years. This funding will support around 2,500 schools in disadvantaged areas meaning that thousands of children from low-income families will be offered free nutritious breakfasts to better support their attainment, wellbeing and readiness to learn.
The focus of the programme is to target the most disadvantaged areas of the country, including the Department for Education’s Opportunity Areas. Schools’ eligibility for the programme is based on the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI) deprivation scale – a nationally recognised indicator of need – to ensure provision is directed where it is most needed. Schools will be eligible for the programme if they have 50% or more pupils within bands A-F of the IDACI scale.
The enrolment process for schools joining the programme is currently ongoing, and we have seen a strong interest so far from eligible schools since we invited the expressions of interest. Schools are currently still able to apply to join the programme. As we are still registering schools for the programme, it is too early to publish a list of participating schools. However, we will of course consider the best opportunities to share information on the programme as it progresses.
Asked by: Sally-Ann Hart (Conservative - Hastings and Rye)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department has to ensure that adults who need training and skills development are supported as covid-19 lockdown restrictions are eased.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
It will be important that adults who are returning to learning get the skills and development they need.
We have already invested £100 million to develop a National Retraining Scheme to support working adults prepare for future changes to the economy and to help them retrain into better jobs and announced an extra £2.5 billion, over the course of this Parliament, for a new National Skills Fund, which will support people to learn new skills and prepare for the economy of the future.
In April we launched the “Skills Toolkit” – a new online platform giving people access to free, high-quality digital and numeracy courses to help build up their skills, progress in work and boost their job prospects.
Apprenticeships will be key to the recovery, helping both young people and those wanting to re-train, and we are looking at ensuring that we support employers, especially small businesses, to take on new apprentices this year and will provide further detail in due course.
The department is also exploring further options for how to boost skills to help the labour market recover from the economic effects of COVID-19.
There are a range of further and higher education opportunities open to young people leaving education this summer. In addition, we want to work with employers to ensure that young people have access to an offer of work-based training, work experience, and/or training programmes. My right hon. Friend, the Prime Minster, announced this on 29 June.