Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
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 planned defunding of the level 3 Criminology qualification on the criminal justice workforce pipeline (a) in general and (b) for jobs that contribute to maintaining national security.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
This government is committed to ensuring that students in post-16 education have access to a high quality suite of qualifications that are easy to choose from and which provide the best chances for progression into higher study, or into a skilled job. The department firmly believes that, until the Advanced British Standard (ABS) is introduced, A Levels and T Levels are the best route at Level 3 to achieving those outcomes. A Levels are world class qualifications that provide the best preparation for higher education in most academic subject areas, including the social sciences.
The government’s view is that A Levels should be the academic qualifications of choice at Level 3. This is based on evidence about progression and attainment for students who study A Levels compared to those who study other academic qualifications at Level 3. Students who study A Levels tend to both do better and have higher completion rates at university than students who studied other qualifications, even when taking into account background characteristics.
An impact assessment was undertaken to consider the post-16 reforms at Level 3 as a whole, which can be read here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1091841/Revised_Review_of_post-16_qualifications_at_level_3_in_England_impact_assessment.pdf.
The study of criminology at Level 3 is not generally an entry requirement for criminology and other related degree courses. A Level sociology, which is in the same sector subject area of sociology and social policy, will serve students wishing to progress to criminology degrees. Students wishing to progress into other careers in criminal justice and national security, such as legal, policing or prison and probation services, could also undertake other A Levels such as law, combined with small alternative academic qualifications in approved subjects such as uniformed protective services.
Development of the ABS is a decade long reform programme. Therefore, removal of funding from technical qualifications overlapping with T Levels is continuing as planned. The technical parts of the ABS are much closer to the T Level than any other qualification, meaning that T Levels will be the most future proof qualification for students at 16 to 19.
As the department reforms applied general qualifications, it will be up to colleges to decide what they offer to ensure that students have access to a wide range of publicly funded qualifications. As education is a devolved matter, the devolved administrations may take a different approach to post-16 education.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the policy paper entitled Transforming for a digital future: 2022 to 2025 roadmap for digital and data, updated on 29 February 2024, when her Department first assessed each of the red-rated legacy IT systems in her Department and in the Student Loans Company to be red-rated.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO), in the Cabinet Office, has established a programme to support departments managing legacy IT. CDDO has agreed a framework to identify ‘red-rated’ systems, indicating high levels of risk surrounding certain assets within the IT estate. Departments have committed to have remediation plans in place for these systems by next year (2025).
It is not appropriate to release sensitive information held about specific red-rated systems or more detailed plans for remediation within the department’s IT estate, as this information could indicate which systems are at risk, and may highlight potential security vulnerabilities.
Asked by: Sally-Ann Hart (Conservative - Hastings and Rye)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to ensure that academy trusts publish details of (a) how their schools' annual grants are pooled and (b) (i) how and (ii) for what purposes funding is allocated to each school.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
A trust with multiple academies can pool the general annual grant (GAG) to form one central fund. The ability to pool funding gives trusts the ability to direct funds to meet improvement priorities and running costs across its schools and deliver a successful financial operating model for their trust. The Academy Trust Handbook (ATH) requires that if a trust decides to pool their GAG, then it must consider the funding needs and allocations of each constituent academy.
The department requires a high level of accountability and transparency of academy trusts. Academy trusts’ status as companies, charities and public sector bodies, means they have a rigorous tri-partite framework and are held up to greater scrutiny. Trusts must account properly for their money and publish annual accounts, which must set out how much funding was held by each of their academies. In addition, a breakdown of each academy’s income and expenditure is available on the schools financial benchmarking website.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many full-time equivalent staff in her Department are working on the science and technology skills dashboard.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The science and technology jobs and skills dashboard has been developed by the department’s Unit for Future Skills alongside science and technology policy experts in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. It is expected to be published in due course. Once the dashboard is published, the expectation is for it to take less than one full time-equivalent staff member to maintain and develop further.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much additional Strategic Priorities Grant recurrent funding was allocated to the Office for Students between financial years (a) 2022-23 and (b) 2024-25.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG) is funding supplied by the government on an annual basis to support teaching and students in higher education (HE), which includes funding for subjects that are expensive to deliver, such as science and engineering, students at risk of discontinuing their studies, and world-leading specialist providers. The department is investing hundreds of millions of pounds in additional funding over the three-year period from 2022/23 to 2024/25 to support high quality teaching and facilities, including in science and engineering, subjects that support the NHS, and degree apprenticeships. This includes the largest increase in government funding for the HE sector to support students and teaching in over a decade.
In the 2022/23 financial year, the total recurrent SPG funding was £1,397 million. This was increased to £1,454 million for the 2023/24 financial year. The department has recently provided a budget of £1,456 million in recurrent SPG for the 2024/25 financial year.
Asked by: Gen Kitchen (Labour - Wellingborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she takes to ensure that local authorities (a) adequately capture the needs of SEND children and (b) provide a local offer that adequately meets levels of demand for those needs.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Children and Families Act 2014 requires all local authorities to publish a local offer of services for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in their area. This helps families to be aware of services available in their area and provides a way for them to contribute to shaping provision to meet local needs.
As set out in the SEND Code of Practice, local authorities must consult children and young people with SEND and their parents and carers, in reviewing educational and training provision, social care provision and in preparing and reviewing the Local Offer.
In the SEND and alternative provision (AP) Improvement Plan, published in March 2023, the department has set out plans to build a consistent national SEND and AP system in which parents and carers can trust and have confidence, and which can be navigated easily.
Through the Change Programme, the department is testing Local Area Inclusion Plans (LAIPs). These are 3 year plans that explain how the needs of children and young people with SEND aged 0 to 25 in an area will be met. LAIPs will be monitored and reviewed by the department and be underpinned by strengthened accountabilities and improved use of data for all those responsible for local delivery of places.
Ofsted and Care Quality Commission also commenced a strengthened local inspection framework in January 2023. Where local authorities are failing, the department works with them using a range of improvement programmes and SEND specialist advisers to address weaknesses. Inspections under the new framework place greater emphasis on the outcomes that are being achieved for children and young people with SEND.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
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 the shortage of ADHD medication on students during the upcoming exam season; and whether her Department has had discussions with (a) examination boards and (b) schools on mitigation measures.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department is aware of the current difficulties some students are facing in obtaining medication for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The department has not held discussions with examination boards specific to this.
There are established arrangements in place that schools and colleges will be familiar with, which should be used to arrange any reasonable adjustments or access arrangements for students with disabilities.
The Equality Act 2010 requires examination boards to make reasonable adjustments where a disabled person would be at a substantial disadvantage in undertaking an assessment. Reasonable adjustments are changes made to exams or assessments, or to the way they are conducted, to mitigate the risk that a disabled person would be at a substantial disadvantage in undertaking an assessment. They are needed because some disabilities can make it harder for students to show what they know, understand and can do in an assessment, than it would be had the student not been disabled. The exam or assessment must still test the same knowledge, skills and understanding for that qualification.
If a student’s need has changed or they need a reasonable adjustment that has not been applied for, the school or college should contact the relevant awarding organisation as soon as possible.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of trends in the level of funding for subject knowledge enhancement programmes for (a) primary maths, (b) design and technology, (c) English, (d) biology and (e) religious education on the future recruitment of student teachers in those subjects.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department reviews all policies, including subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) courses, on a regular basis to adapt its approach to attracting new teachers where needed and to ensure that interventions are focused where they will have the most positive impact for children and young people.
When reviewing the SKE package for the remainder of the 2023/24 academic year, factors including teacher supply needs, the volume of SKE participants associated with each subject and the relative recruitment to Initial Teacher Training (ITT) were all taken into account to ensure that the department is targeting funding where it is needed most.
The department remains committed to recruiting the teachers it needs. The ITT financial incentives package for the 2024/25 recruitment cycle is worth up to £196 million, which is a £15 million increase on the last cycle. Tax free ITT bursaries continue to be available in design and technology, English, biology and religious education for ITT 2024. The department will continue to review the SKE programme on a regular basis to ensure that its funding is targeted as effectively as possible.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to ensure every (a) primary and (b) secondary pupil in England can visit the theatre at least once in their school career.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
All state-funded schools should teach a broad and balanced curriculum that promotes pupils' cultural development. The best schools combine creative subjects with core subjects, and the department is committed to ensuring that all pupils have access to both.
Cultural education is therefore integral to a high-quality education. Alongside drama as part of the English curriculum and dance as part of the physical education curriculum, music and art and design, remain important pillars of the knowledge-rich National Curriculum.
Drama is not an individual subject within the English National Curriculum, but it is an important part of a pupil’s school experience. The main introduction of drama to the primary programmes of study details the type of drama opportunities pupils should be given and acknowledges the artistic practice of drama. Teachers will use their professional judgement as to how and when such opportunities are created.
On 10 February 2017, the department announced an update to the content for the GCSE in drama and the A level in drama and theatre studies to specify that all pupils will now have the entitlement to experience live theatre, reaffirming the government’s commitment to providing pupils with an enriching arts education.
A parent’s income should not be a barrier to a pupil participating in a school trip. Schools may not charge for school trips that take place during school hours, or which take place outside school hours but are part of the National Curriculum, part of religious education, or part of the syllabus for a public exam that the pupil is being prepared for at the school. Parents can be asked for contributions towards the cost of a trip, but schools must make clear that contributions are voluntary. The published advice, ‘Charging for School Activities’, is clear that no pupil should be excluded from an activity simply because their parents are unwilling or unable to pay. The advice can be found at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/706830/Charging_for_school_activities.pdf.
Finally, pupil premium funding will rise to over £2.9 billion in the 2024/25 academic year. The increase will ensure that this targeted funding continues to help schools to support the educational outcomes of disadvantaged pupils. As set out in the menu of approaches, schools are able to use pupil premium to fund extracurricular activities, including school trips to theatres.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to take steps to ensure that pupils from low income families are able to participate in school visits to theatres.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
All state-funded schools should teach a broad and balanced curriculum that promotes pupils' cultural development. The best schools combine creative subjects with core subjects, and the department is committed to ensuring that all pupils have access to both.
Cultural education is therefore integral to a high-quality education. Alongside drama as part of the English curriculum and dance as part of the physical education curriculum, music and art and design, remain important pillars of the knowledge-rich National Curriculum.
Drama is not an individual subject within the English National Curriculum, but it is an important part of a pupil’s school experience. The main introduction of drama to the primary programmes of study details the type of drama opportunities pupils should be given and acknowledges the artistic practice of drama. Teachers will use their professional judgement as to how and when such opportunities are created.
On 10 February 2017, the department announced an update to the content for the GCSE in drama and the A level in drama and theatre studies to specify that all pupils will now have the entitlement to experience live theatre, reaffirming the government’s commitment to providing pupils with an enriching arts education.
A parent’s income should not be a barrier to a pupil participating in a school trip. Schools may not charge for school trips that take place during school hours, or which take place outside school hours but are part of the National Curriculum, part of religious education, or part of the syllabus for a public exam that the pupil is being prepared for at the school. Parents can be asked for contributions towards the cost of a trip, but schools must make clear that contributions are voluntary. The published advice, ‘Charging for School Activities’, is clear that no pupil should be excluded from an activity simply because their parents are unwilling or unable to pay. The advice can be found at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/706830/Charging_for_school_activities.pdf.
Finally, pupil premium funding will rise to over £2.9 billion in the 2024/25 academic year. The increase will ensure that this targeted funding continues to help schools to support the educational outcomes of disadvantaged pupils. As set out in the menu of approaches, schools are able to use pupil premium to fund extracurricular activities, including school trips to theatres.