Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what role her Department plans to play in developing and implementing the Government's carers strategy in respect of support provided to young carers.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Government has already introduced legislative changes to The Children Act 1989 (s17) to ensure that local authorities carry out an assessment, on request or on the appearance of need, of young carers’ need for support.
The Department for Education welcomed the Children’s Commissioner report and has just concluded the analysis of this, as well as recently published DfE-commissioned research. Officials are now considering the evidence and exploring various policy avenues which will help local authorities, schools and professionals to improve the identification and support of young carers and their families. This will lead to a contribution from Department for Education setting out our vision and future plans which will be part of the cross-government Carers’ Strategy led by the Department of Health and due to be published by Summer 2017.
Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of the report by the Children's Commissioner for England on young carers, published in December 2016; and if she will provide additional support to councils in England to help them to (a) identify and (b) improve support for young carers.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Government has already introduced legislative changes to The Children Act 1989 (s17) to ensure that local authorities carry out an assessment, on request or on the appearance of need, of young carers’ need for support.
The Department for Education welcomed the Children’s Commissioner report and has just concluded the analysis of this, as well as recently published DfE-commissioned research. Officials are now considering the evidence and exploring various policy avenues which will help local authorities, schools and professionals to improve the identification and support of young carers and their families. This will lead to a contribution from Department for Education setting out our vision and future plans which will be part of the cross-government Carers’ Strategy led by the Department of Health and due to be published by Summer 2017.
Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department holds on the number of children who rely on public transport to get to school in (a) England and (b) the North East.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Department for Education does not hold data on the number of children who use public transport for their home to school journeys. While we do oversee the school transport policy and legislative framework which determines the duties of local authorities and we support this through the Local Government Finance Settlement, we do not prescribe the type of arrangements or modes of transport that can be used locally.
The Department for Transport does however, undertake an annual National Travel Survey which includes data on the modes of school travel. The 2015 survey, including regional level data, is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-travel-survey-2015
Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 14 June 2016 to Question 40132, whether there have been any changes to her Department's plans for the roll out of the National Teaching Service; and when her Department expects to confirm the details of those plans.
Answered by Nick Gibb
We are currently reviewing the lessons learned from the National Teaching Service pilot alongside our growing evidence base on the recruitment challenges that different schools face. The next steps on this will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will consider changing adult learning funding to fund British Sign Language courses for families of children who are born deaf.
Answered by Robert Halfon
This Department funds British Sign Language (BSL) qualifications in England through the Adult Education Budget (AEB). In the current economic climate, our funding must be focussed where it can have the most impact, so we support young adults aged 19 and over to gain the skills and qualifications they need to get work or to progress in their chosen career.
Learners who need lip reading skills to access work or stay in work are eligible to receive public funding through the Skills Funding Agency, and we are introducing changes that will make BSL qualifications acceptable, for the purposes of apprenticeship completion requirements, as an alternative to Functional Skills English for apprentices whose first language is BSL.
Colleges and training providers are independent and autonomous bodies and are responsible for their course provision. They are required to respond to the needs of learners, employers and communities to ensure that provision meets the need of local people, and we would expect every college or training organisation that receives public investment to consider offering lip-reading and sign language provision if there is a demand for it locally. Our more flexible adult education budget funding rules for 2016/17 enable broader types of learning activities that re-engage people in learning, build confidence, and enhance well-being.
Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 15 June 2016 to Question 40241, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of the reconstituting of her Department on the continuation of (a) the Employer Skills Survey, (b) the Employer Perspectives Survey, (c) Labour Market Information and (d) other research products previously produced by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills.
Answered by Robert Halfon
My written statement of 21 July [HCWS121] confirmed that management of the Employer Skills Survey, the Employer Perspectives Survey and the LMI (Labour Market Information) for All Portal would be transferred to the Department for Education.
The contract for maintaining the LMI for All portal has been re-let to the Institute for Employment Research, the Employer Perspectives Survey is being prepared for publication and we will shortly begin commissioning of the Employer Skills Survey.
Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many places for 16 to 19 year olds there are in (a) schools and (b) further education colleges in (i) the Tees Valley and (ii) Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency; and how many such places are planned for each of the next five years.
Answered by Edward Timpson
i. The following table summarises the total number of places allocated to all post-16 institutions based in Tees Valley for the academic year 2016 to 2017:
Allocated 16 to 19 places for Tees Valley Area based institutions | |
Type | Student Numbers |
Academy | 2,274 |
Free School | 56 |
Special Schools | 311 |
Commercial and Charitable Provider | 556 |
General FE and Tertiary | 10,430 |
Local Authority | 384 |
Sixth Form College | 4,604 |
Grand Total | 18,615 |
EFA Funded students – figures are yet to be published (October 2016) and may be subject to very minor change.
ii. The following table summarises the total number of places allocated to all post-16 institutions based in Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency for the academic year 2016 to 2017:
Allocated 16 to 19 places for institutions based in the Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency | |
Type | Student numbers |
Academy | 227 |
Sixth Form College | 1,742 |
Grand Total | 1,969 |
EFA Funded students – figures are yet to be published (October 2016) and may be subject to very minor change.
We do not hold planned numbers for future years.
Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to encourage employers to provide work experience opportunities to people in full-time education.
Answered by Nick Boles
We want young people to have opportunities to engage with employers and the world of work throughout their education. This should be an age appropriate approach which begins with work discovery activities in primary school.
We recognise that older children will benefit from an increasing range of employer interventions including inspiring talks, mentoring and work experience. That is why the employer-led Careers & Enterprise Company is increasing the level of employer input into schools and colleges. For example, by rolling out its Enterprise Adviser Network, which works closely with Local Enterprise Partnerships to connect employees from firms of all sizes to schools through a network of volunteer enterprise advisers drawn from business.
We want more young people to have the opportunity to take part in high quality work experience that helps to prepare them for the workplace and develop the employability skills that employers require. Work experience and work placements should be an integral part of most students’ 16-19 study programmes.
Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to Lord Heseltine's report, Tees Valley: Opportunity unlimited, published on 7 June 2016, what assessment her Department has made of the feasibility of a University Technical College or Institute of Technology in the Tees Valley area.
Answered by Nick Boles
Lord Heseltine’s report recommends that, following the Tees Valley Post-16 Area Review, universities and local employers should consider whether technical based education provision in the form of either a University Technical College (UTC) or Institute of Technology (IoT) may help to address skill gaps and contribute to meeting the future needs of business.
The Government is committed to establishing a UTC or technical academy within reach of every city. As with other new academies, proposals to establish new UTCs and technical academies are submitted to the Department twice a year. The Department for Education would consider any proposals from the Tees Valley area as it would from elsewhere. The strongest applications that demonstrate a clear need and demand for their chosen specialisms in their local area are approved to develop their plans further.
The Baker Dearing Educational Trust is funded by the Department to support applicant groups and can be contacted to discuss future UTC proposals. The process for establishing IoTs has not started yet, so no assessment has been made regarding the feasibility of an Institute in the Tees Valley area.
Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will (a) establish an additional National Teaching Service (NTS) pilot in Teesside and (b) give priority to the Tees Valley in the NTS national roll-out in response to the recommendation in Lord Heseltine's report, Tees Valley: opportunity unlimited to prioritise the Tees Valley for national roll-out of the NTS.
Answered by Nick Gibb
In November 2015 we announced that by 2020 the National Teaching Service (NTS) will have placed 1,500 high-performing teachers and middle leaders into challenging schools in areas of the country that struggle to attract, recruit and retain high quality teachers.
The NTS was launched with plans for a pilot scheme in the North West of England from September 2016 with the aim of attracting 100 NTS teachers and middle leaders into schools in the region. The national programme will include a clear focus on delivering cohorts of NTS teachers and middle leaders into eligible schools in Achieving Excellence Areas (AEAs) as set out in the Educational Excellence Everywhere White Paper. We will confirm our plans for rolling out the NTS in due course.