Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the (a) suitability of and (b) need for a review of Provider Access Legislation for students with SEND to assist them with acquiring employment.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Since January 2023, schools have been required to comply with strengthened provider access legislation, offering at least six opportunities for pupils to meet providers of technical education or apprenticeships. These encounters offer insights into the courses and qualifications that different providers offer, supporting pupils to make more informed decisions about their next step.
All pupils should have the same opportunities for meaningful provider encounters. The overwhelming majority of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with high levels of needs, can access fulfilling jobs and careers with the right preparation and support. Schools should involve parents/carers, the Special Educational Needs Coordinator and other relevant staff to identify any barriers and support needed, and tailor each provider encounter appropriately.
Where future pathways are limited for learners due to the nature of their specific learning needs and/or physical ability, for example where they are highly likely to proceed into adult social care, it is recognised that it may be necessary for additional flexibility in how these encounters are delivered.
The Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC) supports schools, colleges and specialist institutions to meet the requirements of the provider access legislation. The CEC has produced tailored resources for provider access legislation in SEND settings, sharing good practice in developing and delivering tailored encounters within SEND provision. The resources can be found at the following link: https://resources.careersandenterprise.co.uk/resources/provider-access-legislation-pal-send-settings.
Data published by the CEC provides encouraging early evidence that specialist settings are offering more meaningful encounters for their pupils. For example, in the 2022/23 academic year, 69% of schools reported that most young people had been provided with meaningful encounters with Independent Training Providers (up 9% percentage points in 2021/22). This was higher in special schools and alternative provision (90%), an increase of 22% percentage points from the previous year.
2023/24 is the first full academic year that the strengthened legislation has been in place. The department will continue to monitor and review the support in place, the level of compliance, and the impact on young people.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the (a) budget and (b) outturn spending were for (i) 16-19 learning, (ii) Adult Education Budget, (iii) Adult Skills Fund, (iv) free courses for jobs, (v) skills bootcamps, (vi) Multiply, (vii) Advanced Learner Loans, (viii) Advanced Learner Loans Bursary Fund, (ix) Apprenticeships and (x) all other programmes to support further education and adult skills in the financial year (A) 2022-23 and (B) 2023-24.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made a comparative assessment of the impact of (a) integrating SEND children in mainstream schools and (b) sending SEND children to specialised schools on the (i) educational outcomes and (ii) general wellbeing of those children.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and alternative provision (AP) Improvement Plan sets out a vision for a single, national inclusive SEND and AP system where all children, no matter their need, receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life. This requires high-quality mainstream provision where children and young people have their needs identified early and can access prompt, evidence-based, targeted support. This should be alongside improved access to timely, high-quality specialist provision, where this is appropriate.
The department continues to monitor the literature and latest research on the impact of inclusion.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase digital learning opportunities across (a) schools and (b) colleges.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Ensuring that all children, regardless of their background, have the world class computing and digital knowledge and skills that they need for the future is a key priority of this government.
To help meet the demand for people with computing and digital qualifications and competencies, the department introduced computing as a statutory English National Curriculum subject in 2014, from Key Stages 1 to 4 inclusive. Through computing, pupils become digitally literate so that they are able to use, express themselves and develop their ideas through information and communication technology at a level suitable for the future workplace and as active participants in a digital world.
The computer science GCSE and A level were also introduced in 2013, through which students are taught to understand and apply the fundamental principles and concepts of computer science. In addition, there are high quality vocational and technical digital qualifications available that are counted in the Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5 performance tables, which provide alternative pathways towards digital careers. Information on the Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5 performance tables can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/key-stage-4-qualifications-discount-codes-and-point-scores and https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-qualifications-discount-codes-and-point-scores, respectively.
The department has invested over £100 million in the National Centre for Computing Education (NCCE) to improve the teaching of computing and drive up participation in computer science at GCSE and A level. The NCCE provides high quality continuing professional development and resources to teachers of all Key Stages and engages with schools and colleges across England to improve their computing provision. This includes facilitating industry-led events for pupils on careers in computing and digital.
The department is also investing to fix the basics by improvinge broadband access and connectivity and sett standards for technology infrastructure to help create an environment where all schools and trusts can use technology effectively. The department is working with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and commercial providers to accelerate gigabit capable broadband rollout to schools and investing up to £200 million to upgrade schools that fall below Wi-Fi connectivity standards in Education Investment Areas.
The government recognises that digital skills are important for adults of all ages, and the department is committed to improving their level of digital skills to support active participation in society.
From August 2020, the department introduced a digital entitlement for adults with no or low digital skills to undertake specified digital qualifications free of charge. The new entitlement mirrors the existing legal entitlements for English and maths and puts essential digital skills on an equal footing in the adult education system, as the third essential skill adults need for work, life and further learning.
The department introduced new Essential Digital Skills qualifications (EDSQs) at entry level and Level 1 from August 2020, which are funded under the digital entitlement. EDSQs are based on the national standards for essential digital skills and are designed to meet the diverse needs of adults with no or low digital skills byreflecting different learning needs, motivations and starting points.
To further enhance the essential digital skills offer for adults, from August 2023 the department introduced new digital Functional Skills qualifications (FSQs), which replaced FSQs in Information and Communication Technology. Digital FSQs have standardised content and assessment and provide a benchmark of digital skills for employers. These are based on subject content for digital FSQs that the department published in October 2021.
In addition to formal qualifications, the department also funds community learning and other non-regulated learning, such as building confidence in essential digital skills, through the Adult Education Budget. Many Local Authorities and other further education providers are already delivering these courses that help equip adults with the essential digital skills they need for work, life and further learning.
Of course, people may look to progress beyond essential digital skills, through a desire to retrain or upskill. Through the department’s wider skills reforms, which is backed by an additional £3.8 billion in further education and skills over the lifetime of this Parliament, it has continued to ensure learners, whatever their age, can train, retrain and upskill towards better jobs, better wellbeing and better options for the future.
The department has introduced three Digital T Levels, which include Digital Business Services, Digital Production, Design and Development, and Digital Support Services. They are the gold-standard Level 3 technical qualification that are designed with employers to meet industry standards and with a significant industry placement built in to give that all-important experience of work within the digital sector. Digital skills are increasingly important across all occupations and as a result, every T Level has the digital skills necessary for employment embedded into its curriculum.
Additionally, employers have designed over 30 high-quality digital apprenticeships to support them to develop the skilled workforces they need, including Level 3 Information Communications Technician, Level 3 IT Solutions Technician and Level 3 Digital Support Technician. The department is increasing investment in the apprenticeships system in England to £2.7 billion in the 2024/25 financial year to support employers in delivering high-quality apprenticeships.
Employers and learners can also make use of the department’s Skills Bootcamp offer, which provides free, flexible courses of up to 16 weeks, giving people the opportunity to build up sector-specific skills with an offer of a job interview upon completion. Skills bootcamps in digital form our largest sector and are available in each English region and online with courses ranging from software development to AI and Machine Learning.
More information about digital skills and other government-funded training opportunities can be found at the following link: https://www.skillsforcareers.education.gov.uk/pages/skills-for-life.
Asked by: Gen Kitchen (Labour - Wellingborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average staff to student ratio was in secondary schools (a) nationally and (b) in Wellingborough constituency in (i) 2019, (ii) 2020, (iii) 2021 and (iv) 2022.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Information on the school workforce, including the pupil to adult and pupil to teacher ratios at national, regional, local authority and individual school level, is published in the ‘School Workforce in England’ statistical publication here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
As of November 2022, which is the latest data available, there were record numbers of full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers in state-funded schools in England at over 468,000. This is an increase of 27,000, equivalent to 6%, since 2010. This makes the highest number of FTE teachers since the School Workforce Census began.
The table below provides the pupil to adult ratio and the pupil to teacher ratio for state-funded secondary schools in Wellingborough constituency and England for the 2019/20 to 2022/23 academic years.
Pupil to adult and pupil to teacher ratios for state-funded secondary schools in Wellingborough constituency and England, by year
2019/20 and 2022/231
| Wellingborough constituency2 | England | ||
Pupil to adult ratio3, 5 | Pupil to teacher ratio4, 5 | Pupil to adult ratio3, 5 | Pupil to teacher ratio4, 5 | |
2019/20 | 11.0 | 17.2 | 11.9 | 16.6 |
2020/212 | 11.1 | 16.9 | 11.9 | 16.6 |
2021/22 | 11.0 | 17.0 | 11.9 | 16.7 |
2022/23 | 10.6 | 17.5 | 12.0 | 16.8 |
Source: School Workforce Census.
1. Workforce data as at November and pupil data as at the following January. For instance, 2019/20 relates to November 2019 workforce and January 2020 pupils.
2. There are 6 secondary schools in Wellingborough constituency.
3. Pupil to adult ratio includes teachers and support staff (excluding auxiliary staff).
4. Pupil to teacher ratio includes all teachers.
5. The ratios are calculated using pupil numbers taken from the publication, Schools, Pupils and their Characteristics, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics.
Asked by: Thérèse Coffey (Conservative - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the availability of NHS provision for the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD in Suffolk.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including access to assessment and treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance. The NICE guideline on ADHD does not recommend a maximum waiting time from referral for an assessment of ADHD to the point of assessment or diagnosis.
Whilst the Department has not made a specific assessment, Suffolk and North East Essex ICB advises that it has undertaken a review of children’s ADHD and autism services. As a result of the review, and current demand, the ICB has agreed additional funding of £3.3 million to support the services to not only reduce the time children are waiting for assessment but also increase the service provision to meet future demand. The ICB is also looking at potential new models of delivery and at the current pathways to see how it can utilise them more efficiently to ensure a smoother process for families.
In respect of adult ADHD and autism services, the ICB has worked closely with its local National Health Service provider, Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, to closely monitor and respond to increases in demand. In March 2024, the ICB agreed to invest £300,000 to support those patients on the waiting list with additional advice and support.
In respect of the adequacy of ADHD service provision nationally, in December 2023, NHS England initiated a rapid piece of work to consider ADHD service provision within the NHS. The initial phase of work identified challenges, including with current service models and the ability to keep pace with demand. Following this initial review, NHS England is establishing a new ADHD taskforce alongside the government, to look at ADHD service provision and its impact on patient experience. The new taskforce will bring together expertise from across a broad range of sectors, including the NHS, education and justice, to better understand the challenges affecting people with ADHD and help provide a joined-up approach in response to concerns around rising demand.
Alongside the work of the taskforce, NHS England has announced that it will continue to work with stakeholders to develop a national ADHD data improvement plan, carry out more detailed work to understand the provider and commissioning landscape and capture examples from local health systems which are trialling innovative ways of delivering ADHD services to ensure best practice is captured and shared across the system.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the number of skilled mechanics.
Answered by Alan Mak - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade) (jointly with the Cabinet Office)
The Government are in regular contact with the automotive sector to understand their requirements and we continue to support the automotive sector, including through the Automotive Council Skills Working Group which covers skills issues across manufacturing, aftermarket (repair and servicing) and sales.
The Government recognises that skills are critical to the current and future needs of the economy and that is why we are committed to delivering a world-leading skills system that is employer-focused, high-quality, and fit for the future. This is through high quality further and higher education, apprenticeships, and adult training. This is driving productivity and growth by growing talent across the country, addressing skills shortages and responding to evolving skills needs in key growth sectors.
Asked by: Rachel Maclean (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much was spent on (a) education places and (b) home to school transport for SEND (i) children and (ii) adults by local authority in 2023.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Total high needs funding for children and young people with complex special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) is over £10.5 billion in the 2024/25 financial year, which is an increase of over 60% from the 2019/20 allocations. Of this, Worcestershire County Council is due to receive a high needs funding allocation of £90.2 million in 2024/25, which is a cumulative increase of 32% per head over the three years from 2021/22. This funding will help local authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting children and young people with SEND.
Local authorities spent £7.9 billion on education for children and young people with complex SEND in the 2022/23 financial year, the latest year for which actual expenditure is available. The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) allocated a further £1.0 billion on high needs funding for SEND places in that financial year. The outturn data for expenditure in the 2023/24 financial year is not yet available, but is due to be published in late 2024. Planned expenditure reported by local authorities for that year was £9.4 billion and the ESFA’s expenditure was £1.1 billion. The data does not enable differentiation between children aged 0 to 18 and adults aged 19 to 25. Individual local authority expenditure information is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-local-authority-school-finance-data.
In the 2023/2024 academic year, a further £592 million of disadvantage funding was allocated through the 16 to 19 funding formula for young people aged 16 to 19, or those aged 19 to 24 and who have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan. Institutions are free to choose the best ways to use this additional funding and use this, in part, to support disadvantaged students including those with learning difficulties and disabilities.
Local authorities publish information about their expenditure on home-to-school travel for children with special educational needs (SEN) and on post-16 transport for both young people aged 16 to 18 and adults aged 19 to 25 with SEN, learning difficulties or disabilities, but they are not required to specify whether each child, young person, or adult has an EHC plan.
The information collected from local authorities is published on GOV.UK and can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/la-and-school-expenditure. Local authority gross expenditure on SEN transport covering the 2022/23 financial year is set out in the attached table.
Asked by: Rachel Maclean (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average cost was to educate (a) a child and (b) an adult with SEN in each of the last 20 years.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Children and young people with special educational needs are educated in a broad range of settings, most of which do not report their costs in a way that enables the department to isolate the costs of their education. Due to this, the department does not hold the information requested on the average cost.
Through the department’s special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and alternative provision (AP) Improvement Plan, the department is reforming the SEND system so that when a child or young person requires specialist provision, they get access to the support they need, and parents do not face an adversarial system to secure this. To support this, the department have increased the high needs budget to £10.54 billion, which is 60% more than in 2019/20. The department is also investing £2.6 billion to deliver new specialist and AP places and improve existing provision.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the current arrangements for the assessment of literacy and numeracy competence at the first stage of recruitment into any branch of the armed forces; what provision exists for adult education for (1) literacy, (2) numeracy, and (3) broader educational purposes, after the first two stages of the recruitment process; and what specialist and current expertise exists to assist senior officers in their responsibility to deliver professional and educational support.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Armed Forces conduct a range of eligibility checks and assessments within recruitment pipelines, and these include the requirement for candidates to have minimum educational qualifications for entry into the Armed Forces. The single Services set their own minimum educational entry standards, and these are specific to the individual requirements of employment groups. Minimum educational qualifications for entry are regularly reviewed and amended to reflect the most up to date requirements of employment groups.
Following initial training, 95% of enlisted personnel are enrolled onto apprenticeships, which require Functional Skills standards. We support all Service personnel up to Level 2 Functional Skills English and Maths and provide further additional support for those with Specific Learning Differences. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) also promotes lifelong learning among members of the Armed Forces, using the Elective Education Schemes to gain higher level qualifications. MOD, and each of the Armed Forces, have specialist education and training policy teams to assist senior officers.