Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect on students from disadvantaged backgrounds of the Government's recent decision to remove funding for the provision of BTEC qualifications.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
Employers are facing a skills shortage that we must act to address. It is vital in a fast moving and high-tech economy that technical education closes the gap between what people study and the needs of employers. This is why we are introducing over 20 T Levels, developed with 250 leading employers, and reviewing the wider post-16 qualifications system at level 3 and below.
The department’s plans for reform of level 3 qualifications were published on 14 July 2021. We will continue to fund high quality qualifications that can be taken alongside or as alternatives to T Levels and A levels where there is a clear need for skills and knowledge that T Levels and A levels cannot provide. This may include some Pearson BTECs, provided they meet the new quality criteria for funding approval.
The impact assessment published alongside the consultation response recognised that some students may find it more difficult to achieve level 3 qualifications in future. However, the assessment stated that the changes will generally be positive as students will have access to higher quality qualifications in the future, including new T Levels. This will put students in a stronger position to progress onto further study or skilled employment. The assessment acknowledged that students from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to take qualifications that could have their funding approval removed. These students should gain the most from these changes because they are the most likely to be taking qualifications that do not deliver the skills employers need. We are committed to ensuring that T Levels are accessible to all young people and have introduced flexibilities for students with SEND. The T Level Transition Programme will support young people who are not yet ready to progress to a T Level but have the potential to succeed on it after some further preparation.
All qualifications will need to meet new quality criteria to be approved for funding in future. Technical qualifications will need to be approved by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (the Institute) to be considered for funding approval. For academic qualifications, the department will set criteria to ensure all qualifications approved for funding are necessary alongside A levels. Ofqual will provide advice about quality to both the Institute and the department. This will ensure that all qualifications are high quality and provide the skills needed to support progression either into skilled employment or further study.
Alongside our reforms to level 3 qualifications, the department wants to improve study at level 2 and below, which has been neglected for too long. Improving level 2 and below is key to making sure that every student has a clear progression route, whether that is to high quality level 3 qualifications, apprenticeships, traineeships, or directly into skilled employment at level 2. The department is considering feedback to the call for evidence, which ran from 10 November 2020 to 14 February 2021, and there will be consultation on reform proposals later this year.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance his Department plans to provide to higher education institutions on the respective provision of online and face-to-face teaching for the 2021-22 academic year.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
The roadmap is delayed not derailed. By the autumn term, we have every expectation that we will have already been able to move forward with Step 4, meaning that there will be no further restrictions on the provision of in person teaching and learning.
During the COVID-19 outbreak, many providers have developed their digital offering, and as autonomous institutions some might choose to retain elements of this approach. However, they will not have to do this because of COVID-19 restrictions, and our expectation is very clear: universities should maintain the quality and quantity of tuition and ensure it is accessible.
We expect providers to have contingency plans to deal with any identified positive cases of COVID-19 or outbreaks. Higher education (HE) providers should communicate clearly to their students what they can expect from planned teaching and learning under different circumstances and scenarios, so that they are able to make informed choices.
The Office for Students, as regulator for English HE providers, has made it clear that HE providers must continue to comply with registration conditions relating to quality and academic standards, which set out requirements to ensure that courses are high-quality, that students are supported and achieve good outcomes and that standards are protected.
We intend to update HE guidance in due course to support the return of students for the new academic year.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will provide a breakdown of the amount spent by local authorities on (a) foster care companies, (b) psychiatrists, (c) private social workers and (d) other third parties in the children’s social care sector in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The department does not collect monthly children’s social care spend data from local authorities.
The department collects annual local authority children and young people’s services spend data (Section 251 LA and school expenditure) that covers a range of spend data across children’s and young people’s services. The latest data for the 2019-20 financial year is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/la-and-school-expenditure/2019-20.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of interest-bearing student loans on the number of Muslim students entering Higher Education over the last seven years.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
The government published research in May 2019 on higher education and how religious beliefs and the current student finance system influence these decisions. This research is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/alternative-student-finance-current-and-future-students-perspectives.
The government has also assessed the effect of interest-bearing loans on Muslim students in the impact assessment for the Higher Education and Research Act, which included provisions to enable the introduction of an Alternative Student Finance (ASF) product. The impact assessment was published in December 2017 and is available here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukia/2017/182/pdfs/ukia_20170182_en.pdf.
The government is considering the ASF product carefully alongside its other priorities and will provide a further update with the full and final conclusion of the Post-18 Review of Education and Funding. The interim report of the review was published on 21 January 2021, and the review is scheduled to conclude alongside the next multi-year Spending Review. An update on the ASF product will be provided at that time.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the UKCISA analysis. Who pays home fees for higher education in England, published on 28 May 2021, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of removing criteria d of the qualifications for home fees for family members of UK nationals.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
Paragraph 1 (2A) of Schedule 1 of the Education (Student Support) Regulations 2011 (as amended) provides that a person is not to be treated as ordinarily resident in a place unless that person lawfully resides in that place. Although not further defined in the Regulations, ‘ordinarily resident’ has been interpreted by the courts as lawful, habitual and normal residence from choice and for a settled purpose throughout the prescribed period, apart from temporary or occasional absences. This means that a person must hold a valid status throughout the period of ordinary residence required when establishing their eligibility to student support.
There are no plans to remove the criteria which requires a person’s residence in the UK and Islands to not have been wholly or mainly for the purpose of receiving full-time education. Student Finance England will determine on a case-by-case basis whether a person meets this requirement.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the UKCISA analysis, Who pays home fees for higher education in England, published on 28 May 2021, if he will clarify the meaning of ordinarily resident in criteria c of the qualification for home fees as a family member of a UK national.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
Paragraph 1 (2A) of Schedule 1 of the Education (Student Support) Regulations 2011 (as amended) provides that a person is not to be treated as ordinarily resident in a place unless that person lawfully resides in that place. Although not further defined in the Regulations, ‘ordinarily resident’ has been interpreted by the courts as lawful, habitual and normal residence from choice and for a settled purpose throughout the prescribed period, apart from temporary or occasional absences. This means that a person must hold a valid status throughout the period of ordinary residence required when establishing their eligibility to student support.
There are no plans to remove the criteria which requires a person’s residence in the UK and Islands to not have been wholly or mainly for the purpose of receiving full-time education. Student Finance England will determine on a case-by-case basis whether a person meets this requirement.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the evidence published by More Than A Score, what plans he has to implement the recommendations of that organisation on (a) cancelling the introduction of the Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA) in English and maths for four-year-olds in September 2021, (b) pausing all other statutory assessments in years one, two, four and six and (c) setting up an independent profession-led review into primary assessment.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Assessment is a crucial part of a child’s schooling and fundamental in a high performing education system. Statutory assessments at primary school are an essential part of ensuring that all pupils master the basics of reading, writing and Mathematics to prepare them for secondary school. Assessment data will also enable parents, schools and the Department to understand the impact of lost time in education and recovery initiatives. As such, the Department has no plans to cancel the statutory implementation of the Reception Baseline Assessment in September 2021, and the Department continues to plan for a return to a full programme of primary assessments in the 2021/22 academic year.
In 2017, the Government carried out a consultation into primary assessment in England. The consultation received over 4,000 responses from a diverse range of backgrounds and specialisms, providing a broad and informed range of views that informed policy on the current primary assessment system. In addition, the Department engages with relevant stakeholders on a regular basis to understand their views on primary assessment.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he plans to (a) implement the recommendations of the Children Society's report entitled The Good Childhood Report 2020 and (b) widen the scope of the education recovery package announced in February 2021 to include children’s wellbeing.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The government appreciates the concerns raised from the findings of the Children Society’s Good Childhood Report 2020. We believe that the safety and wellbeing of children and young people is of fundamental importance, and the government is supporting the education sector to identify and respond to children and young people’s individual needs. It is crucial that children and young people are able to access the help and support they require to keep them healthy and safe.
We look at the range of data that is available on children’s wellbeing. On World Mental Health Day 2019, we published the first annual ‘State of the Nation’ report to highlight the trends and issues in young people’s mental wellbeing. The report brought together existing data to improve understanding and help to inform the support we provide to children and young people. We published a second report in 2020, which focused on the experiences of children and young people during the COVID outbreak. It is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/state-of-the-nation-2020-children-and-young-peoples-wellbeing.
To support this work, we are working with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England to deliver our joint green paper delivery programme. The government’s 3 core commitments are to incentivise and support all schools and colleges to identify and train a senior mental health lead, to fund new Mental Health Support Teams supervised by NHS mental health staff and to pilot a 4 week waiting time for accessing specialist NHS mental health services.
We are supplementing this with other support, including a randomised control trial of a range of different school approaches to promoting good mental wellbeing which is one of the largest of its kind in the world. This sits alongside guidance on mental health and behaviour and offering effective school-based counselling.
The government has made children’s mental health and wellbeing a central part of our response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The return to school for all pupils on 8 March was prioritised due to the significant and proven impact caused by being out of school, including on wellbeing.
We have been clear that schools can use their existing additional COVID-19 catch-up funding for pastoral support for mental wellbeing where pupils need it, and many schools are doing so. In addition to this, the return to school for all pupils on 8 March has been supported with a new £700 million package, which includes a new one-off Recovery Premium for state primary, secondary and special schools to use as they see best to support disadvantaged students. This will help schools to provide their disadvantaged pupils with a one-off boost to the support, both academic and pastoral, that has been proved most effective in helping them recover from the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he will include an open consultation as part of the initial teacher training market review.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Initial Teacher Training (ITT) Market Review is focused on how the sector can provide consistently high-quality training, in line with the Core Content Framework, in a more efficient and effective market. An expert advisory group has been appointed to advise the Government on this matter.
Ian Bauckham, the Review Chair, has held early discussions with ITT network Chairs and others, and he and officials will be undertaking wider sector engagement in late Spring. The Department also plans to conduct an open consultation on final proposals.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of widening the scope of the Turing Scheme to include placements for (a) teaching staff, (b) college staff and (c) youth workers.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
Teaching and college staff mobility will not be funded as part of the Turing scheme in academic year 2021/22, as we are prioritising ensuring as many students, learners and pupils as possible have access to life-changing mobilities to support them in developing the skills they need to thrive. We will assess the impact of the scheme during its first year, and this will inform the scheme in future. Funding decisions for future years will be subject to future spending reviews.
International opportunities for the youth sector and young people outside of formal education settings are being considered as part of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport-led Youth Review, which was commissioned by HM Treasury at the 2020 Spending Review.