Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what measures he plans to put in place to assess students studying for BTEC exams in 2021.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
Written exams scheduled in February and March should not go ahead unless they are taken to demonstrate occupational competency. Alternative arrangements will be needed to award qualifications that are taken instead of, or alongside, GCSEs and AS/A levels, including many BTECs used for progression to further or higher education, where the primary method of assessment is written exam(s). Our joint consultation with Ofqual proposed this is also the case for April onwards.
We sought views through the consultation on the detail of these alternative arrangements and the qualifications that should be in scope of this approach. The department’s joint consultation with Ofqual closed on 29 January. The department and Ofqual will work together to publish our decisions by the end of February, once the consultation responses have been analysed. Further information on this is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-alternative-arrangements-for-the-award-of-vtqs-and-other-general-qualifications-in-2021.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will ensure that all early years' settings in England have access to regular asymptomatic covid-19 testing.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is continuing to work closely with colleagues across government and local authorities to secure the most effective approach to asymptomatic testing for the whole of the early years sector.
We are rolling out our asymptomatic testing programme to primary schools with deliveries of test kits which started from 18 January 2021. This programme will offer all primary school, schools based nursery and maintained nursery school staff home Lateral Flow Device test kits for twice weekly testing. This will help to break the chains of transmission of COVID-19 in nurseries and schools by identifying asymptomatic positive cases. Those who test positive will then self-isolate, helping to reduce transmission of the virus.
Community testing programmes are currently being rolled out across the country. These are led by local authorities and provide asymptomatic testing through testing sites based in the local community. This testing is primarily focused on those who must leave home to work during lockdown.
Early years staff, as critical workers, continue to have priority access to DHSC-led symptomatic PCR testing via the online portal: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-getting-tested.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will include early years settings in the charitable and private sector in his Department's programme of regular asymptomatic covid-19 testing.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is continuing to work closely with colleagues across government and local authorities to secure the most effective approach to asymptomatic testing for the whole of the early years sector.
We are rolling out our asymptomatic testing programme to primary schools with deliveries of test kits which started from 18 January 2021. This programme will offer all primary school, schools based nursery and maintained nursery school staff home Lateral Flow Device test kits for twice weekly testing. This will help to break the chains of transmission of COVID-19 in nurseries and schools by identifying asymptomatic positive cases. Those who test positive will then self-isolate, helping to reduce transmission of the virus.
Community testing programmes are currently being rolled out across the country. These are led by local authorities and provide asymptomatic testing through testing sites based in the local community. This testing is primarily focused on those who must leave home to work during lockdown.
Early years staff, as critical workers, continue to have priority access to DHSC-led symptomatic PCR testing via the online portal: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-getting-tested.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will cancel phonics tests in 2021 in England in response to the pressures resulting from the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Getting the fundamentals right at an early age is vital for success at secondary school and in later life. It is important, therefore, to gauge standards at an early but appropriate age, identify those pupils who need extra help, and then ensure they receive it. Once pupils can decode, using consistent synthetic phonics, they are able to focus on their wider reading skills and develop a love of reading.
The phonics screening check is considered essential to support the Department’s wider aim to help address any lost time in education during the COVID-19 outbreak. It is a short, light-touch assessment, to confirm whether individual pupils have learnt phonic decoding to an expected standard.?The aim is simply to identify the pupil’s decoding ability, so that those who need help can be identified and supported by the school.
The Department is enabling a more flexible approach in schools in 2021, accommodating those absent on the scheduled date for the phonics screening check by extending the existing timetable variation window by a further week, until 25 June 2021.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much and what proportion of the catch-up funding for schools announced in the Spending Review 2020 is (a) new and (b) the subject of previous Government announcements.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Spending Review announcement allows us to carry on delivering on our £1 billion catch up package, including £350 million on the National Tutoring Programme, and extending the success of this ambitious programme for another year. This will ensure that a pupil’s circumstances are not a barrier to getting the support they need to unlock their potential. Our £1 billion catch up package helps schools to address the learning loss their pupils are facing due to the COVID-19 outbreak and also includes a £650 million Catch-up Premium which schools can use based on their pupils’ specific needs.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to extend supplementary funding for maintained nursery schools to cover the 2021-22 financial year.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Maintained nursery schools (MNS) are an important part of the early years sector and provide valuable services, especially in disadvantaged areas. The government announced on 24 August that up to £23 million of supplementary funding will be provided to local authorities, to enable them to continue protecting the funding of MNS during the summer term in 2021.
This government remains committed to the long-term funding of MNS, and any reform to the way they are funded will be accompanied by appropriate funding protections.
The department has secured a continuation of around £60 million of supplementary funding for MNS in the 2021-22 financial year, as part of this Spending Review. The department continues to consider what is required to ensure a clear, long-term picture of funding for all MNS, including those in Barnet. We will say more about this soon.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make it his policy to include in his next tranche of supplementary funding maintained nursery schools in boroughs that were not included in his Department's most recent supplementary funding for early years settlement.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Maintained nursery schools (MNS) are an important part of the early years sector and provide valuable services, especially in disadvantaged areas. The government announced on 24 August that up to £23 million of supplementary funding will be provided to local authorities, to enable them to continue protecting the funding of MNS during the summer term in 2021.
This government remains committed to the long-term funding of MNS, and any reform to the way they are funded will be accompanied by appropriate funding protections.
The department has secured a continuation of around £60 million of supplementary funding for MNS in the 2021-22 financial year, as part of this Spending Review. The department continues to consider what is required to ensure a clear, long-term picture of funding for all MNS, including those in Barnet. We will say more about this soon.