Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if his Department will take steps to provide funding for computer programming courses in (a) Newcastle upon Tyne East constituency and (b) England.

There are a range of just over 200 digital qualifications which are nationally available for funding both those 16 to 19 and adults, and this will include availability in Newcastle Upon Tyne.

These qualifications will be at a range of levels and will include broader qualifications covering a range of IT, digital and computing skills, as well as level 2 and level 3 qualifications in computing which will have a greater focus on aspects of programming.

Three T Levels in Digital are now available in a number of providers across the country, Digital Business Services, Digital Production, Design and Development, and Digital Support Services. They offer a prestigious, high-quality technical option at level 3, supporting progression to occupations such as software development technician. Colleges in Newcastle and its surrounding areas are now offering T Levels in the digital route.

Through the Level 3 Free Courses for Jobs offer, we have made more than 400 level 3 courses free for adults learning below the national living wage and those that haven’t previously obtained a level 3 qualification. Courses are available in a range of digital skills, including: cyber security, coding, network architecture, and systems support. We are also expanding Skills Bootcamps, which are free, flexible courses in job specific skills, including in digital areas such as software development, coding and data analytics. A large number of digital Skills Bootcamps are being delivered online and are available to learners across the country, however there are courses being delivered in person, which are available at Gateshead College, Tyne Coast College and Northumbria University.

Newcastle Upon Tyne is a devolved area for the purposes of the Adult Education Budget (AEB), which means that it is responsible for the provision of adult education and allocation of the AEB in the area including determining what adult provision to fund to meet learner and employer demand.