Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to support students experiencing hardship as a result of the outbreak of covid-19, with particular reference to (a) term-time accommodation costs and (b) income lost from possible redundancies.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The government is aware of the disproportionate impact the COVID-19 outbreak will have on some students. We have made an additional £70 million of student hardship funding available to higher education (HE) providers this financial year. The new funding means that universities are able to help students impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak, for example those facing additional costs for alternative accommodation, loss of employment, or extra costs to access their teaching online.
Providers will have flexibility in how they distribute the funding to students, in a way that will best prioritise those in greatest need, including those that have already applied for hardship funding previously but now need additional support. The funding can be distributed to a wide population of students, including postgraduates (whether taught or research) and international students.
This money is in addition to the £256 million of Student Premium funding HE providers are able draw on this academic year towards student hardship funds, including the purchase of IT equipment, and mental health support, as well as to support providers’ access and participation plans.
This has been a very difficult time for students, and we encourage universities and private landlords to review their accommodation policies to ensure they are fair, clear and have the interests of students at heart.
We know that not all students will face financial hardship. The current measures aim to target support for students in greatest need and the government continues to monitor the situation going forward to look at what impact this funding is having.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what financial support and assistance is available to people who plan to train as teachers in (a) religious studies and (b) other humanities subjects at (i) undergraduate and (ii) postgraduate level.
Answered by Nick Gibb
All trainee teachers on both undergraduate and postgraduate initial teacher training (ITT) courses are able to apply for student finance, regardless of the subject they train to teach. The only ITT courses that are ineligible for student finance are employment based courses, where trainees earn a salary whilst they train.
Providing they are eligible, trainee teachers in subjects such as religious education and other humanities can access a tuition fee loan, so they do not have to pay the fee upfront. They can also receive a means tested maintenance loan of up to £12,382 to support their living costs. Additional means tested funding is available from Student Finance England for trainees in particular circumstances, including those with children, adult dependants, or a disability.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of (a) extending the PE and sport premium and (b) making available equivalent funding to all school age groups.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Physical education (PE) and school sport plays an important role in supporting children and young people to be physically active during the current COVID-19 restrictions. That is why the Department confirmed that the primary PE and sport premium would continue at £320 million for the 2020/21 academic year. The premium can be used to support remote teaching of PE as well as teaching in school.
To support sport and physical activities to resume, the Department has additionally announced £10.1 million of funding for the 2020/21 academic year to help school sports and swimming facilities to open outside of school hours.
The Department is considering arrangements for the primary PE and sport premium for the 2021/22 academic year and will confirm the position as soon as possible. The Department is working with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Department of Health and Social Care on how to support better PE, sport and physical activity provision for all children and young people, including in secondary schools, as part of the continuing work to deliver our joint schools sport and activity action plan, published in 2019.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what Government support is being provided to ensure that children with special educational needs can access (a) specialist playgrounds and (b) play centres that cater for children with sensory needs in their local area.
Answered by Vicky Ford
We continue to prioritise support for children and young people with special educational needs, including those with sensory needs, and their families. Children and young people with an education, health and care plan should be allowed to continue attending their education setting if their parent wants them to (or, for post-16 provision, if the young person wants to attend). This will mean that those children and young people can continue to access sensory support at their school or college.
Parents and carers may continue to access respite care to support them in caring for their disabled children during the national lockdown, including both services which care for children away from home and care which is delivered in the family home. Guidance for parents on early years providers, schools and colleges, which sets out that respite provision for families of disabled children can continue to operate, is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/what-parents-and-carers-need-to-know-about-early-years-providers-schools-and-colleges-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.
In terms of access to specialist playgrounds, under national lockdown rules, outdoor playgrounds can remain open. The full guidance for this can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-for-managing-playgrounds-and-outdoor-gyms/covid-19-guidance-for-managing-playgrounds-and-outdoor-gyms.
We are also providing £40.8 million for the Family Fund this year to support over 85,000 families on low incomes raising children with disabilities or serious illnesses. This includes £13.5 million to specifically address needs arising from the COVID-19 outbreak. These grants can be used to purchase a range of things including sensory toys and equipment.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what financial support his Department provides to non-maintained nurseries.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Nurseries, childminders and pre-schools, who have provided crucial support throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, are now more vital than ever.
We have provided extra security to nurseries and childminders that are open by paying local authorities for the autumn term for childcare places at the level we would have funded before COVID-19 – regardless of how many children were attending.
Early years settings will continue to benefit from a planned £3.6 billion spending in the 2020-21 financial year on our early education entitlements, paid to local authorities to create free early education and childcare places for children.
On SEND, the £14.4 billion funding package we announced for schools in total across three years between 2019-20 and 2022-23 - includes over £730 million additional funding to be allocated in 2021-22 for high needs, which covers children and young people aged 0 to 25. The additional high needs funding will bring the total high needs budget to over £8 billion next year.
In 2019 the government pledged a new £1 billion fund to help create more high quality, affordable childcare, including before and after school and during the school holidays. We are already delivering on this pledge with a £220 million Holiday Activities and Food Programme to provide enriching activities and a healthy meal for disadvantaged children in the Easter, Summer and Christmas holidays in 2021.
My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced at the Spending Review a £44 million investment in 2021-22, for local authorities to increase hourly rates paid to childcare providers for the government’s free childcare entitlement offers. This will pay for a rate increase that is higher than the costs nurseries may face from the uplift to the national living wage in April.
We continue to ensure early years providers can access the package of additional support provided by the government, which includes business rates relief, income support and job retention schemes.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that people have access to flexible adult learning courses during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
The Department wants to ensure that a wide range of opportunities are available to adults to meet their future skills needs.
We are continuing to invest in education and skills training for adults through the Adult Education Budget (AEB), worth £1.34 billion in the 2020-21 financial year. The AEB fully funds or co-funds skills provision for eligible adults aged 19 and above from pre-entry to level 3, to support adults to gain the skills they need for work, an apprenticeship, or further learning. Our funding rules allow for flexibility in course delivery, and providers already offer shorter/more flexible courses. More information about the AEB is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/adult-education-budget-aeb-funding-rules-2019-to-2020.
As part of the Lifetime Skills Guarantee recently announced by my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, the department is launching skills bootcamps, which will be available in 6 areas across the country. The bootcamp training courses will provide valuable skills based on employer demand and are linked to real job opportunities, helping participants to get jobs, and employers to fill much-needed vacancies. The department is planning to expand the bootcamps to more of the country from spring 2021, and we want to extend this model to include other technical skills training. More information about the launch of skills bootcamps is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/major-expansion-of-post-18-education-and-training-to-level-up-and-prepare-workers-for-post-covid-economy.
In April 2020, the department introduced the Skills Toolkit, an online platform providing free courses to help individuals build the skills that are most sought after by employers. We have recently expanded the platform so that people can now choose from over 70 courses, covering digital, adult numeracy, employability, and work readiness skills, which have been identified as the skills employers need the most. These courses will help people stay in work, or take up new jobs and opportunities. More information about the Skills Toolkit is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-free-online-learning-platform-to-boost-workplace-skills.
Through our lifelong loan entitlement, the department will also make it easier for adults and young people to study more flexibly. This will allow people to space out their studies across their lifetimes, transfer credits between colleges and universities, and enable more part-time study.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has put in place following the end of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to support employers in (a) retaining and (b) upskilling workers (i) now and (ii) in the future.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
The government is providing £2.5 billion (£3 billion when including Barnett funding for devolved administrations), for the National Skills Fund.
The National Skills Fund will support adults to learn and reach their potential in the labour market.
My right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, recently announced that for adults who do not currently have a level 3 qualification, the government will be fully funding their first full level 3 through the National Skills Fund. We will target this level 3 entitlement at subjects and qualifications with economic value and the strongest alignment with government priorities, to ensure the best possible returns for individuals, employers and the nation.
My right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, also announced the launch of our new digital bootcamps, in 6 areas, to support local regions and employers to fill in-demand vacancies. The bootcamp training courses will provide valuable skills based on employer demand and will offer a fast track to a job interview on completion. Pending the success of the initial bootcamps, we are planning to expand the digital bootcamps to more of the country from Spring 2021 and we also want to extend this model to include other technical skills training.
The government remains committed to consulting on aspects of the National Skills Fund to ensure that we develop a fund that helps adults learn valuable skills and prepare for the economy of the future. We are continuing to review the ongoing implications of the COVID-19 outbreak and we are considering the most appropriate time and approach we can take to launch the consultation, ensuring we have meaningful discussions with employers, providers and users.
Alongside the National Skills Fund, the department has been working to respond to the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak. In his Summer Economic Update, my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced investment of over £500 million to deliver a package of support for people to access the training and develop the skills they will need to go on to high-quality, secure and fulfilling employment. The Skills Recovery Package included:
The Chancellor of the Exchequer also announced a new £2 billion Kickstart Scheme to create hundreds of thousands of new, fully subsidised jobs for young people aged 16 to 24 claiming Universal Credit. Funding available for six-month job placements will cover 100% of the National Minimum Wage for 25 hours a week – and employers will be able to top this wage up. Employers can apply next month and the scheme will start in autumn. There will be no cap on the number of places available.
The government appreciates the importance of adult education to improving people’s life chances. We will continue to explore options within adult education to aid the post COVID-19 recovery.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to improve diversity among (a) students and (b) academic staff in higher education.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
It is crucial that we tap into the talent the UK has to offer and that higher education is available to all who are qualified by attainment to pursue it.
The government brought forward sweeping reforms of higher education to promote equality of opportunity through the Higher Education and Research Act (2017). This includes a mandatory condition of registration which requires all higher education providers in England registered with the Office for Students (OfS) to publish data including the number of applications for admissions, offers made and acceptance rates broken down by gender, ethnicity and socio-economic background. The OfS has issued guidance to higher education providers on how to comply with the transparency condition.
Higher education providers wishing to charge higher level tuition fees must have an Access and Participation Plan agreed by the OfS. Through these plans, providers set out the measures they will take to ensure that students from disadvantaged backgrounds and unrepresented groups can access and succeed in higher education. Ambitious new five-year Access and Participation Plans have been agreed for 2020-21 to 2024-25, which include targets and measures to close long standing gaps in equalities.
Recent data shows that the black ethnic group have seen the greatest proportional increase in progression rates to higher education by age 19 – from 44.1% in 2009-10 to 59.1% in 2018/19.
The OfS has also made available online an interactive dashboard of data, which will help to evaluate access and participation at specific universities and colleges. The dashboard can be used to compare different student groups (for example, disabled students or students by their ethnic background) and their peers, and reveal gaps in access, continuation, success and progression. More information is available at:
https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/data-and-analysis/access-and-participation-data-dashboard/.
Higher education providers are independent and autonomous institutions and are responsible for their own decisions on employment issues. We expect providers, like all employers, to give due consideration to their obligations under the Equality Act 2010 and the way their employment practices affect different sections of their communities and staff at different stages of their careers.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what after-school support is available for the children of parents who are returning to work following the outbreak of covid-19.
Answered by Vicky Ford
As of 4 July, providers offering out-of-school activities and wraparound care to children, such as after-school, breakfast, and extracurricular clubs, have been able to open for both indoor and outdoor provision with safety measures in place.
Out-of-school and after-school provision will continue to be permitted to operate both on or away from school premises during the autumn to support working parents and carers. We have updated the COVID-19 guidance for providers of holiday and after-school clubs and other out-of-school settings. The guidance outlines the protective measures that settings should put in place to minimise the risk of infection and transmission of the virus, and to operate as safely as possible when all children return to school. The guidance is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/protective-measures-for-holiday-or-after-school-clubs-and-other-out-of-school-settings-for-children-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak/protective-measures-for-out-of-school-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he has taken to ensure that children and young people have been receiving healthy and nutritious meals during the 2020 school summer holidays.
Answered by Vicky Ford
We knew that some families would face increased pressure on household budgets over the summer due to the COVID-19 outbreak. We therefore established the COVID-19 Summer Food Fund to provide supermarket vouchers for children who receive benefits-related free school meals.
Families were free to select the most appropriate food and drink for their child. When selecting products, we encouraged families to consider health and nutrition and signposted that the School Food Standards act as a useful guide. There were a number of online resources available to support families in preparing healthy and nutritious food, including on the NHS Eat Well website and recipes produced by the Change4Life campaign.
In addition, our £9 million Holiday Activities and Food Programme worked across 17 local authority areas, providing thousands of children with access to healthy meals and enriching activities. Family Action and Magic Breakfast also continued to offer healthy meals through our National School Breakfast Programme during the summer holidays in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
These schemes were part of a wider package of government support, which included a £63 million fund for local authorities to help those struggling financially due to the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. This allowed local authorities to provide financial help to those facing severe hardship to allow them to pay for food and other necessities.