Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill on multi-academy trusts.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the right hon. Member for Aldridge-Brownhills to the answer of 22 April 2025 to Question 903828.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of increases in employers’ National Insurance contributions on levels of redundancies in schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
School funding is increasing by £3.7 billion in 2025/26, meaning that core school budgets will total £65.3 billion, compared to £61.6 billion in 2024/25. This includes the additional funding being provided to support schools and high needs settings, with the increases to employer National Insurance contributions from April 2025.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle barriers to employers engaging with the (a) apprenticeship and (b) training system.
Answered by Janet Daby
Our Industrial Strategy sets out the interventions we will make to help tackle barriers to employer engagement with the skills system. This includes introducing shorter duration and foundation apprenticeships in priority sectors, the introduction of short courses in England, funded through the Growth and Skills Levy, from April 2026, and three packages targeted at skills needed in multiple Industrial Strategy sectors (digital, engineering, and the defence sector), building on our £625 million construction skills package to train up to 60,000 extra construction workers – crucial for delivering on our pledge to build 1.5 million new homes
This investment will be underpinned by deeper employer partnerships including launching Technical Excellence Colleges to develop pipelines of skilled workers for local businesses.
The Chair of Skills England, in partnership with the Industrial Strategy Advisory Council, will explore how employers, individuals and local and central government work together to address national skills needs, to support jobs of the future in the growth-driving sectors, and in particular opportunities for further business engagement and investment into the skills pipeline.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps to improve the (a) HR and (b) strategy support provided by her Department to SMEs to help take on apprentices.
Answered by Janet Daby
This government is continuing to cut red tape and simplify the apprenticeships system so that employers, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), can focus on supporting apprentices.
The government has already introduced a range of system improvements in response to employer and learner needs, including a more streamlined and timely approach to apprenticeship assessment that is being rolled out. The department has also redesigned the digital apprenticeship service to make access to apprenticeships a one-click process. This reduces the time employers have to spend entering information and approving digital apprentice records, removing significant administrative burdens on SMEs.
The department is also improving the apprenticeships payments system to reduce the actions required by employers. From August 2025, we will allow training providers to add new apprenticeships on the apprenticeship service. Employers will still have ownership and need to approve all new apprenticeships added.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to provide information on vocational pathways to young people in the same way as information on university pathways.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department has legislated to ensure that young people are supported to develop the knowledge and understanding of all pathways at key transition points. Schools have a legal duty to provide at least six opportunities for all pupils, during school years 8 to 13, to meet providers of approved technical education qualifications or apprenticeships.
A range of digital and in-person support is also available through the Apprenticeship and T Levels Ambassador networks and the Skills for Careers apprenticeships support page. The page can be found here: https://www.skillsforcareers.education.gov.uk/pages/training-choice/apprenticeships.
We fund the Careers and Enterprise Company to oversee a national network of 44 careers hubs that bring together schools, colleges and employers to improve the quality of careers programmes for young people. Over 400 leading employers and 3,700 business volunteers inspire young people about a range of exciting career opportunities, including the vocational and academic pathways into their sectors.
Careers hubs use data and frontline insight to support conversations about barriers to take up of technical and vocational pathways. Local partners devise solutions to meet local needs.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she made of the number of apprenticeship starts in Aldridge-Brownhills constituency in (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2023-24.
Answered by Janet Daby
The number of apprenticeship starts in the Aldridge-Brownhills constituency are published in the apprenticeships accredited official statistics publication: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/2d7a8365-ec14-40eb-96d3-08dd85738b16.
These were last published in March 2025. They include full year figures for the 2023/24 academic year, and year to date figures for the 2024/25 academic year.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of ringfencing the skills levy for funding apprenticeships.
Answered by Janet Daby
I refer the hon. Member for Aldridge-Brownhills to the answer of 7 April 2025 to Question 40142.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to encourage SMEs to participate in the apprenticeships scheme.
Answered by Janet Daby
I refer the hon. Member for Aldridge-Brownhills to the answer of 19 March 2025 to Question 37179.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing measures in connection with the Growth and Skills Levy to protect funding for (a) SMEs and (b) young people.
Answered by Janet Daby
This government has committed to widening the apprenticeships offer into a growth and skills offer, which will offer greater flexibility to employers and learners and align with the industrial strategy.
As a first step, this will include shorter duration apprenticeships and new foundation apprenticeships for young people. These will help more people learn high-quality skills at work, give more young people a foot in the door at the start of their working lives, and support the pipeline of new talent that employers will need to drive economic growth.
Construction will be one of the key sectors that will benefit from foundation apprenticeships from August 2025, backed by an additional £40 million, and shorter duration apprenticeships will also be possible from August 2025.
The government recognises the importance of ensuring the growth and skills offer supports small and medium-sized employers (SMEs) to access apprenticeships. Development of the offer will be informed by the results of Skills England’s analysis and engagement, including on where flexibilities will be most helpful for employers, including SMEs.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of fully funding apprenticeships for under-22s in SMEs on apprenticeship starts to date.
Answered by Janet Daby
Since April 2024, the government pays 100% of apprentice training costs, up to the funding band maximum, for non-levy paying employers when they take on apprentices aged 16 to 21, and apprentices aged 22 to 24 who have an education, health and care plan or have been in local authority care.
Apprenticeship statistics, including starts by young people, can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships.