Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what funding her Department has allocated to support teachers through (a) subject knowledge enhancement courses for trainees, (b) Oak National Academy Resources (i) planned and (ii) existing, (c) subject hubs, (d) support for level 3 provision and (d) bursaries and other support for continuing professional development for (A) maths and numeracy, (B) English and literacy, (C) science, (D) music, (E) history and (F) Religious Education in the last five years.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Teachers are the foundation of the education system; there are no great schools without great teachers. The quality of teaching is the single most important in-school factor for improving pupil outcomes. This is particularly important for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The department is creating a world class teacher development system, which builds from Initial Teacher Training (ITT), through to early career support, specialisation, and onto school leadership. The funding breakdown requested over the last five years is included in the attached table. The department is providing support across a range of subjects via a network of hubs that help build teacher capability and pupil access to subjects. This focuses on support for teachers in schools and extends to sixth form provision in some schools.
In addition to this funding, in 2021, as part of the government’s long term recovery plan, £184 million of new funding was allocated to enable teachers employed at state-funded organisations to access fully funded training scholarships for National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) for three years until the end of the 2023/24 academic year. This includes two specialist NPQs in Leading Literacy (NPQLL) and the NPQ in Leading Primary Mathematics (NPQLPM). In March 2024, the government announced scholarship funding for NPQs for the October 2024 cohort. This includes a guarantee that the NPQLPM will be fully funded until October 2025 to further expand teaching of mathematics mastery approaches through primary education.
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 is taking steps to ensure that children with SEND who have difficulties with the school environment receive a full education.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Schools, further education colleges, sixth form colleges and 16-19 academies are required to identify and address the special educational needs (SEN) of the pupils they support and (in mainstream settings) to use their best endeavours to make sure that a child or young person who has SEN gets the support they need.
The right of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to an education is the same as that for any other pupil. It is important for schools to acknowledge the barriers to attendance are wide and complex, especially for pupils with SEND.
The department’s expectation for a ‘support approach’ is set out in the working together to improve school attendance guidance which can be accessed here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1099677/Working_together_to_improve_school_attendance.pdf. This support may include reasonable adjustments for pupils with disabilities or support for pupils for whom mental health issues are affecting their attendance. The guidance states that schools should be mindful of the barriers these pupils face and put additional support in place where necessary to help them access their full-time education. This includes establishing strategies for removing in-school barriers to attendance as well as ensuring joined-up pastoral care is in place with the local authority and other partners. More information on reasonable adjustments can be found here: https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2023/04/10/what-are-reasonable-adjustments-and-how-do-they-help-disabled-pupils-at-school/. More information on mental health issues affecting pupils attendance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mental-health-issues-affecting-a-pupils-attendance-guidance-for-schools.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to make an assessment of the appropriateness of allocating maintenance funding directly to smaller responsible bodies.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department has allocated over £15 billion since 2015 for keeping schools safe and operational, including £1.8 billion in the 2023/24 financial year. This is informed by consistent data on the condition of the school estate. The department also provide extensive guidance on effective management of school buildings, including through Good Estates Management for Schools.
Local authorities, larger multi-academy trusts (MATs) and larger voluntary-aided (VA) school bodies receive an annual school condition allocation (SCA) to invest in priorities across the schools for which they are responsible. Smaller academy trusts and single academy trusts, smaller VA bodies and sixth-form colleges are instead able to bid into the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF).
To be eligible to receive direct SCA for the 2023/24 financial year, MATs and VA bodies must have met two principal criteria. The MAT or VA body must have had 5 or more open schools at the start of September 2022, and those open schools (or their predecessor schools) must have had at least 3,000 pupils counted in the spring 2022 census, or the 2021 to 2022 individualised learner record.
School level allocations for both SCA and CIF eligible schools are calculated using the same formula, to ensure parity. Whilst the allocations for schools in SCA eligible responsible bodies are totalled to form a direct allocation for the responsible body, the allocations for CIF eligible schools and sixth form colleges are combined to form the CIF fund, into which they can bid. This is to ensure that schools and sixth form colleges in smaller responsible bodies, which are CIF eligible, have the opportunity to access sufficient funding to complete projects to improve condition.
Were CIF eligible responsible bodies given direct allocations, they would, in most cases, attract substantially less funding than SCA eligible responsible bodies, as the allocation formula is based on pupil numbers. As a result, direct allocations might not be sufficient for these responsible bodies to complete the projects they require, which is why they are instead given access to CIF.
The department keeps the methodology for allocating condition funding under review.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support smaller responsible bodies to apply for the Condition Improvement Fund where they have schools in need of repair works.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department has allocated over £15 billion since 2015 for keeping schools safe and operational, including £1.8 billion in the 2023/24 financial year. This is informed by consistent data on the condition of the school estate. The department also provide extensive guidance on effective management of school buildings, including through Good Estates Management for Schools.
The department publishes detailed guidelines in the Information for Applicants document on GOV.UK each round to support school leaders, staff, and governing bodies at those academies, sixth form colleges and voluntary aided schools eligible to apply for the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF).
This includes tips on how to prepare a good CIF application and advice about the types of evidence applicants should provide to support a bid for different types of building projects, along with an application checklist. This includes information about the services that responsible bodies can seek from technical advisory companies. For CIF 2024/25, the department also produced a recorded overview made available to all applicants before they completed their bids.
Prior to the 2024/25 round opening to applicants, the CIF team invited sessions with eligible responsible bodies who had either made no recent applications or had been repeatedly unsuccessful with bids. We plan to offer further meetings to additional CIF eligible trusts and providers following the outcome of the 2024/25 round this spring.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many contracts have been awarded via the school rebuilding programme; and if she will make a comparative estimate of this figure with her Department's planned projections.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The School Rebuilding Programme was announced in 2020 and will transform buildings at 500 schools and sixth-form colleges over the next decade. It will rebuild or refurbish poor condition buildings, providing modern designs, with new buildings being net zero carbon in operation.
The department has selected 513 schools for the programme to date, and is on track to commence delivery of these schools at a rate of 50 per year. Several rebuilding projects have already completed under the programme, with many more at various stages of delivery. The department remains committed to rebuilding or refurbishing schools already selected for the School Rebuilding Programme.
The department has awarded 50 contracts. This is in line with the forecast. Details can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder.
Asked by: Christian Wakeford (Labour - Bury South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what fiscal steps she is taking to support (a) training programmes, (b) apprenticeships and (c) other efforts to promote (i) job creation and (ii) skills development in Bury South constituency.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The government is committed to creating a world leading skills system which is employer-focused, high quality and fit for the future. The government’s reforms are strengthening higher education (HE) and further education (FE) to help more people get good jobs and upskill and retrain throughout their lives, as well as to improve national productivity and economic growth. The government’s reforms are backed with an additional investment of £3.8 billion over the course of this Parliament to strengthen HE and FE.
This additional funding will help providers such as those in Bury to deliver high quality education and training.
Bury College serves the Bury South constituency and received £25.3 million to deliver learning and skills training programmes in 2022/23 for 16 to18 year olds and apprentices for local employers. Bury College has also received capital investment of over £12 million since 2019.
Bury College offers a wide range of post-16 education and training from pre-entry level qualifications, A levels, T Levels, vocational courses at Levels 1 to 3, and apprenticeships in health and public services, business administration, engineering, retail and commercial enterprise, and education and training. It also has a University Centre and works in partnership with several local universities to deliver a range of HE courses at Higher National Diploma, Foundation Degree and Degree level to the local community. Bury College also receives funding for adult education programmes via Greater Manchester Combined Authority.
Bury College is a partner of the Greater Manchester Institute of Technology, led by The University of Salford, and has received £1.353 million of funding for refurbishments and specialist equipment in Heath Innovation, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, Enterprise and Sports provision. Bury College will account for 25% of all learners at the Institute of Technology. This equates to approximately 200 learners in 2023/24.
The area is also served by Holy Cross College, a Catholic sixth form college, which received £12.89 million to deliver learning programmes for 16 to18 year olds in 2022/23. It delivers a largely academic Level 3 programme and a small Level 2 cohort. Holy Cross College has a University Centre delivering HE both through a direct contract with Office for Students and in partnership with Liverpool Hope University.
The department is increasing investment in the apprenticeships system in England to £2.7 billion by 2024/25 to support employers of all sizes and in all areas of the country, including Bury South, to grow their businesses with the skilled apprentices they need. Since 2010, there have been 11,380 apprenticeship starts in Bury South.
The department has introduced the Free Courses for Jobs scheme which enables eligible adults to gain a qualification for free. Residents in Bury can access provision in a range of sector subject areas delivered through colleges and training providers in the area.
In addition, the department has also introduced Skills Bootcamps, which are free, flexible courses of up to 16 weeks, giving people the opportunity to build up sector-specific skills and fast track to an interview with an employer. In each of the 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years, the department has allocated £7.5 million to Greater Manchester Combined Authority to deliver Skills Bootcamps in the Greater Manchester area, including in Bury South via grant funding.
T Levels will equip more young people with the skills, knowledge and experience to access skilled employment or further study. From September 2023, 18 T Levels will be available and will be delivered through nearly 300 providers across all regions of the country. Bury college is delivering T Levels in business administration, legal, financial, and accounting, education and childcare, and health and engineering in 2023/24. The college intends to introduce further T Levels in catering and hospitality, construction and the built environment, creative and digital, and hair and beauty in 2024/25.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what grants were provided by her Department to (a) Wokingham Borough Council and (b) state-aided schools in Wokingham in the (i) 2022-23 and (ii) 2023-24 financial year; and how much was awarded in each grant.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Revenue funding covers ongoing or operational expenses associated with schools. The majority of this is provided on a per pupil basis to support learning and attainment, but it also includes other aspects such as school running costs and salaries.
The following revenue grants were allocated to Wokingham Borough Council and/or schools within the council in both the 2022/23 and 2023/24 financial years: the Dedicated Schools Grant, Pupil Premium, PE and Sports Premium, Coronavirus (COVID-19) Recovery Premium, National Tutoring Programme, Teachers’ Pension Employer Contribution Grant and Universal Infant Free School Meals.
Other grants were allocated in specific financial years, to support schools with growing costs and the 2023 teachers’ pay award. These include: the Schools Supplementary Grant (2022/23), Mainstream Schools Additional Grant (2023/24), Teachers’ Pay Additional Grant (2023/24).
Wokingham Borough Council’s revenue grant allocations can be found in the separate table provided. The total school revenue funding grants, broken down by individual schools within the local authority, are published annually, in full. For 2022/23, these can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-funding-statistics. The 2023/24 financial year school revenue funding statistics are scheduled to be published in the same format in January 2024.
Additional revenue funding is provided for post-16 provisions, such as sixth forms and colleges.
The department also allocates capital funding each year to support local authorities to provide sufficient childcare, mainstream and high needs school places, as well as keeping the school buildings that they are responsible for safe and operational. The following capital grants were allocated to Wokingham Borough Council in both the 2022/23 and 2023/24 financial years: the Basic Need Capital Allocations Grant, High Needs Provision Capital Allocations Grant, Childcare Expansion Capital Grant and School Condition Allocations (SCA).
Larger multi-academy trusts and voluntary-aided bodies in Wokingham will also have been allocated SCA funding for the schools for which they are responsible, although allocations typically cut across local authority boundaries. Smaller academy-trusts and voluntary aided bodies will have been invited to bid into the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF), to apply for funding for specific projects. Outcomes for CIF for 2022/23 and 2023/24 can be found on GOV.UK.
State-funded schools in Wokingham will also have been allocated funding to spend on their capital priorities or contribute to larger projects through an annual Devolved Formula Capital allocation.
In 2022/23, eligible schools and sixth-form colleges also received an allocation from an additional £447 million of capital funding to improve energy efficiency.
More information on school condition funding, including allocations for 2022/23 and 2023/24, can be found on GOV.UK.
Wokingham Borough Council’s grant allocations for Basic Need, High Needs, Childcare and (for its maintained schools) total SCA for the 2022/23 and 2023/24 financial years can be found in the separate table provided.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what additional funding has been made available to further education colleges since their reclassification as public sector organisations in November 2022.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department is investing an additional £185 million in the 2023/24 financial year and £285 million in the 2024/25 financial year to drive forward skills delivery in the further education sector. This funding is to help colleges and other providers to address their key priorities, particularly tackling recruitment and retention issues in high-value subject areas that are critical to the economy.
The above investment is in addition to the £125 million of funding made available in the 2023/24 financial year to boost the national 16 to 19 funding rate and subject-specific funding.
In the 2023/24 academic year, the department is applying a 2.2% increase to the final earnings for all adult education budget (AEB) formula-funded provision, excluding associated learner and learning support. In addition, the department is applying a 20% boost on top of earnings for all AEB formula-funded provision in six sector subject areas, including: Engineering, Manufacturing Technologies, Transport Operations and Maintenance, Building and Construction, ICT for Practitioners, and Mathematics and Statistics.
The department will make an initial downpayment over the next two years ahead of introducing the Advanced British Standard, with funding benefiting further education as follows:
- An additional investment of around £150 million each year to support those who do not pass mathematics and English GCSE at 16 to gain these qualifications. This will particularly benefit further education colleges, who play a vital role in helping close the attainment gap by 19.
- An increase in funding to colleges and schools so they can deliver maths to more students aged over 16, increasing the Core Maths and Advanced Maths Premium and investing in a digital platform for tutoring in Core Maths. In total this is £60 million of additional funding for maths education over the next two years of which further education institutions will potentially be able to benefit from the Core Maths Premium and Advanced Maths Premium.
- To improve the recruitment and retention of teachers of key shortage subjects around £100 million will be invested each year to double the rates of the Levelling Up Premium and expand it to cover all further education colleges. All teachers who are in the first five years of their career, teaching shortage subjects and working in disadvantaged schools and all further education colleges, will be paid up to £6,000 per year tax-free.
Since reclassification, £884 million of capital funding has been confirmed for further education colleges and designated institutions to fund condition improvement, expansion and the provision of specialist equipment and facilities. Some capital programmes have wider eligibility to also include sixth form colleges and other statutory sixth form providers.
The department has also opened the college capital loans scheme in April to enable capital projects reliant on commercial borrowing to proceed as planned.
Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the outcome of the rebuilding survey at Rawlins Academy in Loughborough.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Rawlins Academy is part of the School Rebuilding Programme which will transform buildings at 500 schools and sixth-form colleges over the next decade. It will rebuild or refurbish poor condition buildings, providing modern designs, with new buildings being net zero carbon in operation.
The department’s surveys at Rawlin’s Academy have recently started and are due to complete in the New Year. The department will share the outcome of these surveys with the school shortly.
Asked by: Baroness Garden of Frognal (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support students studying a classroom-based electrical technical diploma to transition into the workforce.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Further education outcomes are published annually and include information on the employment and further learning destinations of adult learners in the academic year after achieving their learning aim. The outcomes are available to view online at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/further-education-outcome-based-success-measures. Earnings outcomes are also tracked in each of the five academic years after achievement of the learning aim. Users can break down the data to view the outcomes for learners achieving specific qualifications. The most recent published data relates to adult learners who achieved their qualification in the 2020/21 academic year and their destinations in the following academic year (2021/22).
For example, the following table shows the sort of learner outcome measures that can be found in the publication. The outcomes relate to the year after achievement of the qualification. Full methodology is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/methodology/further-education-outcomes.
Qualification title | Sustained employment and/or learning | Sustained employment | Sustained learning | Median earnings |
Advanced Technical Diploma in Electrical Installation | 78% | 75% | 11% | c |
Diploma in Electrical Installation | 90% | 77% | 56% | £17,730 |
Diploma in Electrical Installations (Buildings and Structures) | 89% | 79% | 49% | £21,460 |
Advanced Diploma in Electrical Installation | 86% | 85% | 10% | c |
Diploma in Electrical Installation (Engineering) | 93% | 83% | 60% | z |
Diploma in Electrical/Electronic Engineering | 83% | 75% | 58% | z |
Intermediate Diploma in Electrical Installation | 93% | 85% | 66% | z |
c denotes where a figure has been suppressed for confidentiality reasons and z denotes where data is unavailable.
The department expects further education providers to ensure students are well informed about the world of work and their options for employment, and to tailor careers activities to the needs of their students. Providers should deliver support and advice on transitional pathways into further/higher education, training or into employment. These expectations are underpinned by funding agreements that require further education colleges and sixth form colleges to secure access to independent careers guidance for all students up to the age of 18 and to 19- to- 24-year-olds with an Education, Health and Care Plan. Further education colleges also have a statutory duty under the Education Act 1997 to provide persons attending the college with access to both guidance materials and reference materials relating to careers education and career opportunities.