Asked by: James Davies (Conservative - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to engage with local employers to support new graduates into employment.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are working closely with employers and other partner’s to deliver the Government’s Plan for Jobs, providing a comprehensive package of support for all young people – including graduates.
Our national and local Employer and Partnership Teams are engaging with employers across the country to bring in employment opportunities in a variety of sectors. These include many of the opportunities established as part of the Plan for Jobs, including Kickstart, Sector-based Work Academy Programme, Apprenticeships and traineeships. These provide a wide range of ways for young people to access work in their local area and enable employers to engage their future workforce. Young people, including new graduates will have access to these through their local Jobcentre Plus and via the Government’s official job matching service Find a Job website.
We have supported the development of the Department for Education’s Graduate Employment and Skills Guide that is published on the Office for Students website. The guide is designed to help final year students and recent graduates by signposting to a range of public, private and voluntary sector opportunities, to help build employability skills, gain work experience or enter the labour market.
We have provided Plan for Jobs information for employers on GOV.UK and employers can access our Help for Employers website which offers a range of advice to help businesses overcome challenges associated with the coronavirus pandemic. Whether employers are needing to expand rapidly, or worried about redundancies, they can find advice on next steps and the best ways to support their staff.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what reports he has received on university students being charged additional fees by landlords if they are told to self-isolate due to the covid-19 outbreak at their term time accommodation beyond the end of their tenancy; and what steps the Government plans to take to support students in that position.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Universities and private accommodation providers are autonomous and are responsible for setting their own rent agreements. The government plays no direct role in the provision of student residential accommodation whether the accommodation is managed by universities or private sector organisations.
If a student is contractually committed to move home and has been told to self-isolate, they should seek to delay their move until all members of their household have come to the end of their self-isolation period. All parties involved should prioritise agreeing amicable arrangements to change move dates where someone is self-isolating or has tested positive.
There is no prohibition on moving house where necessary, and anyone in England who wishes to move house can do so. This includes forming new households and moving into and out of shared student accommodation and houses in multiple occupation. Guidance is available here for: landlords and tenants on renting and COVID-19: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-and-renting-guidance-for-landlords-tenants-and-local-authorities.
If a student thinks their accommodation provider is treating them unfairly, they can raise a complaint under the accommodation codes of practice as long as their provider is a code member. The codes can be found here:
https://www.thesac.org.uk/, https://www.unipol.org.uk/the-code/how-to-complain, https://www.nrla.org.uk/.
The government is aware of the disproportionate impact the crisis will have on some students and we recognise that in these exceptional circumstances some students may face financial hardship. The department has worked with the Office for Students (OfS) to clarify that providers are able to use existing funds, worth around £256 million for this academic year, towards hardship support. The government has made an additional £85 million of student hardship funding available to higher education (HE) providers in the 2020/21 academic year. Providers have flexibility in how they distribute the funding to their students, in a way that best prioritises those in greatest need.
We know that not all students will face financial hardship. The current measures aim to target support for students in greatest need and the government continues to monitor the situation to look at what impact this funding is having.
Some students may also be eligible for a one-off payment of £500 through the NHS Test and Trace Support Payment scheme, if they are required to self-isolate. Information is available here: https://www.gov.uk/test-and-trace-support-payment.
It is vitally important that universities continue to make sure that students feel as supported as possible should they have to self-isolate. This robust package of support needs to include mental health and wellbeing support, daily communications and ensuring students have access to suitable free or affordable food.
Universities UK have also produced a checklist for providers to support students who are required to self-isolate as well as bespoke guidance for HE providers on how to prepare for and care for students who are required to self-isolate on arrival in the UK. We encourage providers to review this guidance when considering how best to support their international and other students arriving from overseas.
The OfS have published a statement on support for students in self-isolation during the COVID-19 outbreak, available here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/news-blog-and-events/blog/ofs-student-panel-statement-on-support-for-students-in-self-isolation-during-covid-19-coronavirus-pandemic/.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to students who (a) reach the end of their tenancies and (b) are required to self-isolate as a result of covid-19, what rights those students have to (i) not be evicted after the end of the tenancy and (ii) move to temporary university accommodation if a landlord requires them to vacate their property for new tenants.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
We strongly urge accommodation providers to be flexible in extending tenancies and delaying moves if tenants are isolating due to Covid-19.
However, under The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Self-Isolation) (England) if someone is legally obliged to move, they are allowed to do so even if isolating.
We know that some universities have temporary accommodation available to those if they are required to move. Students should let their accommodation provider know immediately if they are required to isolate and speak to the university accommodation office.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance his Department is issuing to universities on continuing study abroad programmes for students for the academic year 2021-22.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
For any forthcoming international mobility in education, regardless of how it is funded, we expect all universities, colleges and schools managing these to follow the relevant Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) travel advice for the destination country and to highlight this to their participants, being aware that the situation can change.
We suggest anyone who may be affected discuss their placement with their provider, being conscious that their placement may not be able to continue as originally planned, but there may be opportunities for it to start at a later date if the situation changes and this is feasible. Participants should be ready to comply with local isolation, testing or quarantine requirements, and will need to rely on the local health system.
Turing Scheme and Erasmus+ mobilities will both be in operation during the 2021/22 academic year.
Current government guidance for Turing Scheme, Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps travel is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-reopening-buildings-and-campuses/higher-education-coronavirus-covid-19-operational-guidance#travel-guidance-for-erasmus-and-european-solidarity-corps-exchanges.
FCDO travel advice per country can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what additional support he is providing to universities for students who (a) are diagnosed with covid-19 or (b) have to self-isolate.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
While universities are autonomous institutions, the safety and wellbeing of staff and students is always our priority.
We have published the ‘Higher education coronavirus (COVID-19) operational guidance’ which offers advice on supporting students who are self-isolating and can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-reopening-buildings-and-campuses/higher-education-coronavirus-covid-19-operational-guidance#students-returning-to-campus. It is vitally important that universities continue to make sure that students feel as supported as possible if they need to self-isolate due to COVID-19. This robust package of support needs to include mental health and wellbeing support, daily communications and ensuring students have access to suitable free or affordable food.
Universities UK have also produced a checklist for providers to support students who are required to self-isolate as well as bespoke guidance for higher education (HE) providers on how to prepare for and care for students who are required to self-isolate on arrival in the UK. We encourage providers to review this guidance when considering how best to support their international and other students arriving from overseas. The checklist can be accessed here: https://universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-analysis/reports/Documents/2020/uuk-checklist-support-self-isolating-students.pdf.
The Office for Students (OfS) has published a statement on support for students in self-isolation during the COVID-19 outbreak, which can be accessed here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/news-blog-and-events/blog/ofs-student-panel-statement-on-support-for-students-in-self-isolation-during-covid-19-coronavirus-pandemic/.
We have made an additional £85 million of funding available for student hardship in the 2020/21 academic year. This is on top of the £256 million of government funded student premium funding already available to HE providers to draw on. HE providers have are able to use this flexibly to support those students who need it most. It can be used in a variety of ways including the purchase mental health support and help for students due to financial hardship caused by illness and the need to self-isolate.
Alongside this, we have worked with the OfS to launch the online mental health platform Student Space, worth up to £3 million, in addition to the £15 million we have asked them to allocate to student mental health initiatives next year.
Some students may be eligible for a one-off payment of £500 through the NHS Test and Trace Support Payment scheme, if they are required to self-isolate. Further guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/test-and-trace-support-payment-scheme-claiming-financial-support/claiming-financial-support-under-the-test-and-trace-support-payment-scheme.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Office for National Statistics Graduates Report Graduates’ labour market outcomes during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic: occupational switches and skill mismatch, published on 8 March; and what assessment have they made of the finding that over 25 per cent of employed graduates are employed in unskilled or low-skilled roles.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The government understands that the COVID-19 pandemic has had an adverse impact on students graduating this year, and we recognise that some graduates may face particular challenges gaining employment because of the ongoing impact of the pandemic on the UK labour market and economy. Students have responded to the pandemic with formidable resilience and motivation, demonstrating a clear ability to adapt and to learn at pace at a challenging time.
As part of the government’s Skills Recovery Package Plan for Jobs, we are investing an additional £32 million in the National Careers Service up to March 2022. This investment will support delivery of individual careers advice for over 500,000 people whose jobs or learning have been affected by the pandemic (by the end of the 2021/22 financial year). This represents an increase of 22%.
Recent findings from the Office for National Statistics’ Graduates Report has highlighted that there is a higher proportion of graduates who have switched occupation as a result of the pandemic. We have worked with a range of institutions across the higher education sector to understand what more we can do to support graduates who are looking to enter the labour market at this challenging time. We have also worked closely with the Quality Assurance Agency, professional bodies, and the Office for Students to ensure students continue to leave university with qualifications that have real value, reflect their hard work, and allow them to progress in life.
To provide additional support, we have developed the ‘Graduate employment and skills guide’, aimed at students who are about to graduate, which was published on 10 May on the Office for Students’ website. The guide directs graduates to public, private, and voluntary sector opportunities to help them build employability skills, gain work experience, or enter the labour market, as well as providing links to further study options and resources on graduate mental health and wellbeing.
We have also worked with Universities UK to develop a Sector Statement of Support, which was published on 10 May 2021 on Universities UK’s website. The statement outlines what higher education providers and the government are doing to support graduates and encourages graduates to take advantage of the support and resources available.
We have also engaged with higher education providers to produce a collection of graduate employability case studies. Published on the provider-facing pages of the Office for Students’ website, these case studies showcase the breadth of innovative work and range of new measures that university and college careers services have introduced to support final-year students and recent graduates as they transition from university to graduate life.
Where securing work is challenging, graduates may be able to access financial support. Graduates can apply for Universal Credit immediately after finishing a degree, and they can check their eligibility at https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit/eligibility.
The government wants every student to know that, when they undertake a higher education course, they can be confident that it has a strong chance of improving their life outcomes. A key element to assessing the quality of higher education courses is ensuring that graduates are achieving outcomes consistent with the higher education courses that they have completed. Our landmark Skills and Post-16 Education Bill makes clear the power of the Office for Students to enforce minimum expectations of student outcomes for universities, helping them to tackle low-quality provision and drive up standards. This is central to the approach taken by the Office for Students, which is currently consulting on setting minimum numerical baselines that providers will be expected to reach. We welcome that consultation and we expect it to lead to results.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to issue new advice and guidance to secondary schools on managing covid-19 infection rates in response to rising cases.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is working closely with Public Health England to develop and refresh the system of controls which includes cleaning hands thoroughly more often than usual, minimising contact between individuals and keeping occupied spaces well ventilated to reduce the risk of transmission in schools. This guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/schools-coronavirus-covid-19-operational-guidance#system-of-controls.
Robust testing regimes and this system of controls, when implemented in line with schools’ own workplace risk assessment, create an inherently safer environment for children and staff where the risk of transmission of infection is substantially reduced. The Department's advice to schools on the way to control COVID-19 remains the same, even with the current new variants.
Our policy on the ‘system of controls’ is kept under review and based on the latest scientific and medical advice including in the context of prevalence, new variants and progress of the vaccination programme. We will continue to develop comprehensive guidance and to understand the effectiveness of these measures on staff, pupils, students and parents.
In areas where there is a high prevalence of the Delta variant, we are increasing the availability of testing for staff, pupils and families and working with Directors of Public Health to reduce local transmission. On 8 June the Government announced an enhanced support package for any areas affected by local outbreaks. The package includes specialist Rapid Response Teams, surge testing and enhanced contact tracing, support from military personnel, specialist communication, supervised in-school testing and discretion to reintroduce face coverings in communal areas in schools if Directors of Public Health decide it is appropriate. Further information on responding to individual or regional outbreaks can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-local-restrictions-in-education-and-childcare-settings.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Streatham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to limit the (a) spread of covid-19 variants in schools and (b) disruptions caused by covid-19 variants in schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department for Education has worked closely with Public Health England (PHE) to develop and refresh the system of controls, which include cleaning hands thoroughly more often than usual, minimising contact between individuals, and keeping occupied spaces well ventilated to reduce the risk of transmission in schools. Robust testing regimes and the system of controls, when implemented in line with schools’ own workplace risk assessment, create an inherently safer environment for children and staff where the risk of transmission of infection is substantially reduced. The way to control the COVID-19 outbreak is the same, even with the current new variants. The system of controls is available to view here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/schools-coronavirus-covid-19-operational-guidance#system-of-controls.
The system of controls is kept under review and is based on the latest scientific and medical advice, including the context of prevalence, new variants, and progress of the vaccination programme. The Department will continue to develop comprehensive guidance and to understand the impact and effectiveness of these measures on staff, pupils, students, and parents.
In areas where there is a high prevalence of the Delta variant, the Department is increasing the availability of testing for staff, pupils, and families and working with Directors of Public Health to reduce local transmission. The reintroduction of face coverings for pupils, students, or staff may be advised for a temporary period in response to particular localised outbreaks. Further information on responding to individual or regional outbreaks can be found in the contingency framework for education and childcare: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-local-restrictions-in-education-and-childcare-settings/contingency-framework-education-and-childcare-settings.
The Department recognises that extended school restrictions have had a substantial impact on children and young people’s education and we are committed to helping pupils make up education lost as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. In June 2021 £1.4 billion was announced to support education recovery for children aged 2 to 19 in schools, colleges, and nurseries. This money will provide an additional £1 billion for tutoring, which will provide up to 100 million hours of tuition for 5 to 19-year-olds by 2024, targeting disadvantaged children and key subjects such as Mathematics and English. This is in addition to the £1.7 billion already committed, bringing total investment announced for education recovery over the past year to over £3 billion.
The Department is also making available an extra £400 million to help to provide 500,000 teacher training opportunities across the country, alongside professional development for early years practitioners.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that students taking GCSEs and A Levels have access to set texts for upcoming assessments.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Students should have confidence in their grades this year. Awarding organisations have provided assessment materials, guidance, and training to support centres to make fair, consistent, and evidence based decisions which are without bias. Ofqual has also published information for centres about making objective judgements this year.
For the 2021 summer series, reasonable adjustments for disabled students and access arrangements should have been in place when evidence was generated. Where they were not, centres should take that into account when coming to their judgement. Teachers have had the flexibility to substitute or discount evidence where reasonable adjustments were not applied. For all assessments completed in the summer term, centres should have ensured students had access to reasonable adjustments. Special circumstances that may lead a teacher to disregard a piece of evidence or to replace it with another piece of evidence would cover instances where students were not provided with their approved access arrangements or reasonable adjustments when completing their work. This also applies where temporary illness or injury, bereavement, or some other event outside of the student’s control might have temporarily affected their performance.
This year, teachers have assessed their students based on what they were taught, not what they missed. Regarding the use of set texts, the Department expects students to have been assessed on the specific texts taught by their schools. Schools should follow their own processes for ensuring students have access to set texts, as they would in any other year.
Centres should follow the schools operational guidance on equipment when using classroom based resources, available to view here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/schools-coronavirus-covid-19-operational-guidance#system-of-controls.
Where schools have taught remotely, they should follow the guidance on remote education, which refers to the provision of resources, available to view here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/schools-coronavirus-covid-19-operational-guidance#system-of-controls.
Where only some of the text has been taught, teachers had the flexibility to focus their assessments on the proportion taught.
Deadline for centres to submit their teacher assessed grades was 18 June so centres have therefore completed their assessments for the 2021 series.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance his Department has issued to schools to ensure that the individual circumstances of pupils can be taken into consideration and discretion exercised in awarding GCSE grades.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Students should have confidence in their grades this year. Awarding organisations have provided assessment materials, guidance, and training to support centres to make fair, consistent, and evidence based decisions which are without bias. Ofqual has also published information for centres about making objective judgements this year.
For the 2021 summer series, reasonable adjustments for disabled students and access arrangements should have been in place when evidence was generated. Where they were not, centres should take that into account when coming to their judgement. Teachers have had the flexibility to substitute or discount evidence where reasonable adjustments were not applied. For all assessments completed in the summer term, centres should have ensured students had access to reasonable adjustments. Special circumstances that may lead a teacher to disregard a piece of evidence or to replace it with another piece of evidence would cover instances where students were not provided with their approved access arrangements or reasonable adjustments when completing their work. This also applies where temporary illness or injury, bereavement, or some other event outside of the student’s control might have temporarily affected their performance.
This year, teachers have assessed their students based on what they were taught, not what they missed. Regarding the use of set texts, the Department expects students to have been assessed on the specific texts taught by their schools. Schools should follow their own processes for ensuring students have access to set texts, as they would in any other year.
Centres should follow the schools operational guidance on equipment when using classroom based resources, available to view here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/schools-coronavirus-covid-19-operational-guidance#system-of-controls.
Where schools have taught remotely, they should follow the guidance on remote education, which refers to the provision of resources, available to view here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/schools-coronavirus-covid-19-operational-guidance#system-of-controls.
Where only some of the text has been taught, teachers had the flexibility to focus their assessments on the proportion taught.
Deadline for centres to submit their teacher assessed grades was 18 June so centres have therefore completed their assessments for the 2021 series.