Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of (a) all apprenticeship courses started and (b) the amount apprenticeship levy spent were for (i) Level 6 and (ii) Level 7 apprenticeships in each year since 2016.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Degree-level apprenticeships provide people with high-quality training, and are important in supporting productivity, social mobility, and widening participation in higher education and employment. There are now 159 standards at degree level (Level 6 and 7), including Doctor, Construction Quantity Surveyor and Midwife. The department is providing an additional £40 million in Strategic Priorities Grant funding over the next two years to support degree apprenticeship providers in expanding and helping more people access this provision, on top of our £8 million investment in the 2022/23 financial year.
We have seen year-on-year growth of degree-level apprenticeships with almost 180,000 starts since their introduction in the 2014/15 academic year. Starts at levels 6 and 7 now represent 16.2% of all starts (33,180) so far this year (Aug-Jan), and volumes are up by 12% when compared to the same period in 2021/22 (29,580).
The table below shows the proportion of apprenticeship starts at Level 6 and Level 7 in each academic year since 2016/17.
Apprenticeships starts (%) by academic year | Level 6 | Level 7 |
2016/17 | 0.3% | 0.0% |
2017/18 | 1.7% | 1.2% |
2018/19 | 2.8% | 3.0% |
2019/20 | 4.7% | 4.8% |
2020/21 | 6.1% | 6.1% |
2021/22 | 6.7% | 5.6% |
The table below shows the apprenticeships spend on Levels 6 and 7, rounded to the nearest £ million. This is the total spend for apprenticeships at Levels 6 and 7 by both levy-paying and non-levy paying employers and includes apprenticeships started in previous years.
Overall spend on Level 6 and 7 apprenticeships, by academic year (£ million) | Level 6 | Level 7 |
2016/17 | 12 | 0 |
2017/18 | 33 | 11 |
2018/19 | 78 | 57 |
2019/20 | 133 | 118 |
2020/21 | 203 | 186 |
2021/22 | 290 | 216 |
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 24 October 2022 to Question 59062, on T-levels: Expenditure, what the total cost to the public purse has been for T levels in each financial year since 2017-18; and what the forecast spend is for each of the next three financial years.
Answered by Robert Halfon
T Levels are important new programmes for young people, designed in partnership with employers to prepare students for entry into skilled employment, an apprenticeship, or related technical study through further or higher education. Funding has been used to develop T Levels and grow the capacity to deliver them effectively.
The information given in the previous response was taken from the Government’s Major Projects Portfolio data and relates to the baselined Whole Life Costs (WLC), rather than spend, at £918.5 million, and is not split by financial year. The total includes supporting teachers to deliver them effectively. Of this total, approximately £400 million capital funding has been provided to colleges and other providers for the first four waves of T Level delivery, starting in September 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 to improve the quality of facilities and equipment that will be used to deliver T Levels.
Forecast data for T Level spend is dependent upon the number of young people who decide to take up a T Level, and the size of future T Levels depends on factors including the qualification specification, which in some cases is still being developed. An accurate forecast for the next 3 financial years is therefore not available.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact the new Level 3 Alternative Academic Qualifications have had on T-Level student numbers in the engineering and manufacturing sector.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department is unable to make an assessment about the potential impact that level 3 Alternative Academic Qualifications (AAQs) are having on students studying T Levels in engineering and manufacturing, as they are still in development and will not be available for teaching until 2025.
AAQs will be required to meet criteria that ensure they support progression to higher education.
Small AAQs will be available for funding in a wide range of subjects, including science, engineering, health and social care, IT, art and design, performing arts, creative digital media, and sport.
The department will evaluate the impact of level 3 AAQs as part of the delivery of the qualifications reforms.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason there was a £0.4 billion decrease in Education Capital DEL spending plans for financial year 2022-23 in the Spring Budget 2023 when compared to the figures in the 2022 Autumn Statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government’s spending on the education estate is unchanged after the Spring Budget, presented to Parliament on 15 March 2023.
The change in budgetary control totals between the 2022 Autumn Statement and the 2023 Spring Budget, is a technical adjustment which reflects forecasts for how the academies sector will spend grants given by the Government, but it does not change the amount made available to the sector.
Academies have some autonomy to decide how and when to spend funding allocated to them. The lower spend in the 2022/23 financial year is due to academies planning more substantial long term works which cross financial years.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to update the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy to help tackle STEM teacher shortages.
Answered by Nick Gibb
In January 2019 the Department launched the Government’s first ever integrated Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy, developed alongside and welcomed by teachers, education unions and leading professional bodies. This can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teacher-recruitment-and-retention-strategy.
The strategy focused on four key priorities where reform and investment can have the biggest impact, and the Department continues to deliver policies that stemmed from the strategy.
The first priority is creating the right climate for head teachers to establish supportive school cultures. This is being delivered through measures such as the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter and the Department’s School Workload Reduction Toolkit, developed with the education sector. These can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/education-staff-wellbeing-charter, and here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-workload-reduction-toolkit.
The Department has also prioritised transforming support for early career teachers. The Department has reformed early career support by rolling out the Early Career Framework, which provides the foundations for a successful career in teaching.
The Department has focused on ensuring teaching remains an attractive profession as lives and careers progress. The Department has launched a new and updated National Professional Qualifications for teachers and school leaders at all levels, from those who want to develop expertise in high-quality teaching practice to those leading multiple schools across trusts.
The Department aims to make it easier for great people to become teachers. In 2021 the Department launched the new digital service, Apply for teacher training, which has enabled a more streamlined, user-friendly application route.
These reforms support recruitment and retention across all subjects. However, some subjects remain more challenging to recruit to than others, including science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects.
In October 2022, the Department announced a £181 million Initial Teacher Training (ITT) financial incentives package for those starting ITT in academic year 2023/24, which is a £52 million increase on 2022/23. The package includes bursaries worth £27,000 tax-free and scholarships worth £29,000 tax-free, to encourage talented trainees to key subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing. The Department has also extended bursary and scholarship eligibility to all non-UK national trainees in physics.
Additionally, the Department is providing a Levelling Up Premium worth up to £3,000 tax-free for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools, including in Education Investment Areas. This will support recruitment and retention of specialist teachers in these subjects and in the schools and areas that need them most.
In spring 2022, the Department launched a pilot ‘Engineers teach physics’ initial teacher training course, designed to encourage engineering graduates and career changers with an engineering background to consider a career as a physics teacher.
The Department reviews the financial incentives offer each year and considers introduction of specific targeted initiatives where there is evidence that they could contribute to the recruitment and retention of excellent teachers.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many 16 to 19 year olds withdrew from their (a) sixth form and (b) further education courses in academic years (i) 2020-21, (ii) 2021-22 and (iii) 2022-23 to date.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department has published retention data for students at the end of 16-18 study by institution type. The latest data available is for the 2020/21 academic year, which can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/a-level-and-other-16-to-18-results/2020-21. The retention rate is the proportion of students who are retained to the end of the ‘core aim’ (or main learning aim) of their study programme at a school or college.
Retention data for 2021/22 will be published on 30 March 2023 in the next update and will be available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/announcements/a-level-and-other-16-to-18-results-2022-revised--2.
Since 2010, the department has put in place a range of policies that have significantly reduced the quantity of young people designated as ‘not in education, employment or training’ (NEET). The proportion of 16 to 24-year-olds NEET in 2022 was 12.3%, which is down 3.2 percentage points since 2010. This information can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/neet-statistics-annual-brief/2022.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the number of young people not in education, employment or training.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Local authorities have a statutory duty to identify and support young people who are not in education, employment and training (NEET). All 16 and 17-year-olds are entitled to an offer of a suitable place in education or training under the September Guarantee, regardless of qualifications gained.
Since 2010, the department has put in place a range of policies that have significantly reduced the quantity of young people designated as ‘not in education, employment or training’ (NEET). The proportion of 16 to 24-year-olds NEET in 2022 was 12.3%, which is down 3.2 percentage points since 2010. This information can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/neet-statistics-annual-brief/2022.
A range of provision is available for young people aged 16-24 to equip them with the skills and experience they need to progress. This includes joined-up support to young people to help minimise time spent NEET, such as Youth Hubs and Supported Internships, which offer tailored support for young people with special educational needs and disabilities.
The department’s ‘Get the Jump’ campaign is targeting young people aged 14 to 19 to ensure they are aware of all the education and training choices available to them, how they compare and where they can lead.
We are prioritising the rollout of Careers Hubs. Evidence shows that schools and colleges which are part of a Hub achieve almost double the amount of Gatsby Benchmarks of Good Career Guidance than those not part of a Hub. This is important because each additional benchmark achieved by a school is typically associated with a 1.4% decline in NEET rates, amounting to a 9.7% decline if a school achieves all eight benchmarks compared to achieving no benchmarks, either fully or partially.
In addition to this, the National Careers Service (NCS) offers intensive support for the most disadvantaged cohorts of the working-age population, including NEET 18 to 24-year-olds. They can access impartial, local careers advice via the NCS, either face-to-face or via the telephone helpline, webchat or website.
The department is also taking steps to increase the number and quality of apprenticeships which will create further opportunities for young people. The new ‘Career Starter Apprenticeships’ campaign is raising awareness of apprenticeships which offer great opportunities for those looking for their first role after leaving full-time education, and we are working with the Department for Work and Pensions to share and promote this information through Job Centre Plus.
The department provides a range of financial support for students who need it to enable them to participate in post-16 education, including free meals, bursaries to help with the cost of education, such as travel, books, equipment, and trips, and support for childcare and residential costs where required. We allocated over £152 million in the 2022/23 academic year to institutions to help disadvantaged 16 to 19-year-olds with costs such as travel, with a further £31.7 million allocated for free further education meals.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 21 September 2022 to Question 48310 on BTEC Qualifications and T-levels, how many students aged between 16 and 18 years old were enrolled on each (a) BTEC and (b) other Level 3 applied general qualification in the most recent year for which data is available.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department does not routinely publish data on enrolment numbers for individual qualifications. The most recent information available about the number of students aged 16 to 18 enrolled on each BTEC course is the data provided in response to question 48310. This information is available at: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2022-09-06/48310.
In 2021, 128,014 students were recorded as studying applied general qualifications, with a further 140,419 students studying applied general qualifications alongside one or more A or AS Level. Further information on enrolment numbers for students aged 16 to 18 is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/78565ff0-3e74-4392-bdc4-08db294a0287.
The data for how many students aged 16 to 18 completed each Level 3 applied general qualification is available within the National Achievement Rates Tables, the most recent of which are for academic year 2018/19 and are published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-achievement-rates-tables-2018-to-2019.
In 2020, 1,300 students enrolled on a T Level, and 1,029 students received a T Level qualification. Students who began a T Level in 2021 or 2022 are still in their first or second year of study. Information on learner completions is provided to the department from schools and colleges through the Individualised Learner Record or School Census returns by the January following each academic year. The department is currently unable to provide information on student retention or completions for 2021/22.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students began but did not complete each (a) applied general qualification and (b) T Level qualification, in the most recent year for which data is available.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department does not routinely publish data on enrolment numbers for individual qualifications. The most recent information available about the number of students aged 16 to 18 enrolled on each BTEC course is the data provided in response to question 48310. This information is available at: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2022-09-06/48310.
In 2021, 128,014 students were recorded as studying applied general qualifications, with a further 140,419 students studying applied general qualifications alongside one or more A or AS Level. Further information on enrolment numbers for students aged 16 to 18 is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/78565ff0-3e74-4392-bdc4-08db294a0287.
The data for how many students aged 16 to 18 completed each Level 3 applied general qualification is available within the National Achievement Rates Tables, the most recent of which are for academic year 2018/19 and are published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-achievement-rates-tables-2018-to-2019.
In 2020, 1,300 students enrolled on a T Level, and 1,029 students received a T Level qualification. Students who began a T Level in 2021 or 2022 are still in their first or second year of study. Information on learner completions is provided to the department from schools and colleges through the Individualised Learner Record or School Census returns by the January following each academic year. The department is currently unable to provide information on student retention or completions for 2021/22.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students aged between 16 and 18 years old completed each Level 3 applied general qualification in the most recent year for which data is available.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department does not routinely publish data on enrolment numbers for individual qualifications. The most recent information available about the number of students aged 16 to 18 enrolled on each BTEC course is the data provided in response to question 48310. This information is available at: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2022-09-06/48310.
In 2021, 128,014 students were recorded as studying applied general qualifications, with a further 140,419 students studying applied general qualifications alongside one or more A or AS Level. Further information on enrolment numbers for students aged 16 to 18 is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/78565ff0-3e74-4392-bdc4-08db294a0287.
The data for how many students aged 16 to 18 completed each Level 3 applied general qualification is available within the National Achievement Rates Tables, the most recent of which are for academic year 2018/19 and are published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-achievement-rates-tables-2018-to-2019.
In 2020, 1,300 students enrolled on a T Level, and 1,029 students received a T Level qualification. Students who began a T Level in 2021 or 2022 are still in their first or second year of study. Information on learner completions is provided to the department from schools and colleges through the Individualised Learner Record or School Census returns by the January following each academic year. The department is currently unable to provide information on student retention or completions for 2021/22.