Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many staff left her Department in each year since 2015.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The attached table sets out the number of civil servants who left the department (including its executive agencies, but excluding non-departmental public bodies) in each financial year ending 31 March from 2015 onwards.
The figures provided are inclusive of those leaving the department to other government departments.
The Cabinet Office has recently launched the new Civil Service People Plan 2024–2027, which demonstrates its commitment to developing and retaining the key skills the Civil Service needs, both now and in the future.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will review and amend the criteria for student finance applications based on compelling personal reasons to ensure they offer appropriate flexibility where students experience unavoidable delays beyond a single academic year in completing their course of study.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
Generally, standard entitlement to fee support on full time courses will be available for the duration of the course, plus one extra year if needed.
If a student needs to repeat a year of study due to compelling personal reasons (CPR), they may be entitled to an additional year of tuition fee funding, in addition to their standard entitlement. Only one such year can be awarded at a time. However, if the student fails the repeat year and Student Finance England (SFE) determines that the CPR criteria have been met, a further CPR year may be awarded.
Additionally, the regulations allow a current system student, who did not complete their previous, most recent course due to CPR to access fee support for one additional year. This fee support for an additional year will be provided in respect to the first year that the student takes of the current course. Provided that it was the most recent course that the student withdrew from for CPR, it does not matter how long ago they withdrew from that course.
The decision to award fee support due to CPR is for SFE to make based on the evidence provided and the individual merits of each case.
Asked by: Sally-Ann Hart (Conservative - Hastings and Rye)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department provides on the powers (a) she and (b) local education authorities have to remove a school from an academy trust without the agreement of the trust.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The circumstances in which the department can remove a school from an academy trust without the agreement of the trust are set out in published guidance, which is titled ‘Schools causing concern’. In summary, the department can remove a school in circumstances where my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education’s, powers are triggered to terminate its funding agreement. Academies are accountable to the Secretary of State and therefore local authorities have no powers to remove an academy from a trust.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the transparency data entitled School rebuilding programme: schools in the programme, how much funding her Department has (a) allocated and (b) disbursed to each school selected in South Holland and the Deepings constituency in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
There are two schools selected for the School Rebuilding Programme (SRP) in South Holland and The Deepings constituency. These are University Academy Long Sutton and Tulip Academy.
The SRP is a centrally delivered programme. Therefore, no funding is allocated or distributed directly to schools. Once contracts are awarded for building works, they are published on the Contracts Finder within 30 calendar days. The Contracts Finder can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will assess the potential merits of extending the eligibility criteria for students in vulnerable groups in the 16 to 19 bursary fund to include young carers.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The department is determined that all young carers get the support they need to succeed.
The department provides a range of financial support for students who need it to enable them to participate in further education. This includes free meals, bursaries to help with the cost of education, such as travel, books, equipment and trips, plus support for childcare and residential costs where required.
In the 2023/24 academic year, over £160 million of bursary funding has been allocated to institutions to help disadvantaged 16 to 19 year olds with the costs of taking part in education. This is nearly 12% higher than published allocations for last year. The department also made available around £20 million each year specifically to support students in defined vulnerable groups, for example those in care, care leavers and those supporting themselves in receipt of certain social security funds or benefits.
Institutions decide which young people receive bursaries and determine the level of financial support they receive. Institutions develop their own eligibility criteria for access to the discretionary bursary fund, including setting a household income threshold appropriate to their area and must publish information on this for students.
The intention of the vulnerable group bursaries is to help young people who are in a particularly vulnerable situation and unlikely to be receiving financial assistance from parents or carers. These bursaries provide up to £1,200 to eligible young people to help meet the costs of participating in education that they would not otherwise be able to afford. Young people who are living at home and financially supported by parents or carers are not considered eligible to receive a vulnerable group bursary. Students who do not meet the criteria for bursaries for vulnerable groups may be eligible to apply for funding from the discretionary bursary fund and should approach their education institution for further advice.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help support young carers in full-time education to access financial support.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The department is determined that all young carers get the support they need to succeed.
The department provides a range of financial support for students who need it to enable them to participate in further education. This includes free meals, bursaries to help with the cost of education, such as travel, books, equipment and trips, plus support for childcare and residential costs where required.
In the 2023/24 academic year, over £160 million of bursary funding has been allocated to institutions to help disadvantaged 16 to 19 year olds with the costs of taking part in education. This is nearly 12% higher than published allocations for last year. The department also made available around £20 million each year specifically to support students in defined vulnerable groups, for example those in care, care leavers and those supporting themselves in receipt of certain social security funds or benefits.
Institutions decide which young people receive bursaries and determine the level of financial support they receive. Institutions develop their own eligibility criteria for access to the discretionary bursary fund, including setting a household income threshold appropriate to their area and must publish information on this for students.
The intention of the vulnerable group bursaries is to help young people who are in a particularly vulnerable situation and unlikely to be receiving financial assistance from parents or carers. These bursaries provide up to £1,200 to eligible young people to help meet the costs of participating in education that they would not otherwise be able to afford. Young people who are living at home and financially supported by parents or carers are not considered eligible to receive a vulnerable group bursary. Students who do not meet the criteria for bursaries for vulnerable groups may be eligible to apply for funding from the discretionary bursary fund and should approach their education institution for further advice.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the total cost to the public purse for removing (a) RAAC and (b) asbestos from schools in England in the (i) 2022-23, (ii) 2023-24 and (iii) 2024-25 financial years.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Well maintained, safe school buildings are a priority for the department to support a high-quality education for all children. Responsibility for keeping buildings safe and well maintained lies with schools and their responsible bodies, such as local authorities, academy trusts and voluntary-aided (VA) bodies. The department supports responsible bodies by providing capital funding, delivering major rebuilding programmes and offering guidance and support.
The government is funding the permanent removal of RAAC present in schools and colleges either through capital grants, or through the School Rebuilding Programme. The 2021 Spending Review announced a total of £19 billion of capital funding to support the education sector between the 2022/23 and 2024/25 financial years. Funding for RAAC during this spending period will be managed from unallocated departmental capital budgets and will not involve cutting existing commitments.
The scope and cost of each RAAC project will vary depending on the extent of the issue and nature and design of the buildings. The department is working with settings to conduct the necessary technical assessments as quickly as possible to scope and progress the works needed. The total costs will not be known until all building works have been carried out.
With regard to asbestos, the department expects all local authorities, governing bodies, and academy trusts to have robust plans in place to manage any asbestos in school buildings effectively, in line with their legal duties. The department follows advice from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) that as long as asbestos is in good condition, well protected and unlikely to be damaged or disturbed, it is usually safer to manage in place.
In many cases, asbestos will be removed as part of wider rebuilding or refurbishment work and annual condition funding can be used to remove asbestos where required. The department has allocated over £17 billion since 2015 for keeping schools safe and operational, including £1.8 billion in each year of the 2021 Spending Review period. Decisions on spending are primarily taken locally by responsible bodies, so the department does not hold data on the total cost of spend on asbestos removal. Where asbestos needs to be removed as part of work to mitigate RAAC, based on professional advice, the department will work closely with responsible bodies to help them do so.
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, what steps (a) her Department and (b) the Student Loans Company have taken to mitigate the risks of red-rated legacy IT systems.
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: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department holds on the number and proportion of students in further education colleges who have participated in work placements relevant to their course in each of the last three years.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
Data on experiences of the workplace is captured by the Careers and Enterprise Company and the latest findings are based on a national dataset of 4534 state-funded secondary schools and colleges which can be found at: https://www.careersandenterprise.co.uk/our-evidence/evidence-and-reports/insight-briefing-gatsby-benchmark-results-2022-2023/.
In the 2022/23 academic year, over 90% of further education colleges reported that most of their students had experience of a workplace by the time they finished their programme of study.
In post-16 education, pupils have access to work placement opportunities through the T level programme. T levels are designed to equip students for skilled employment, whilst also providing a high-quality route to further study, including apprenticeships, higher technical education and degree level study. The programme includes a T level industry placement where students spend a minimum of 315 hours (approximately 45 days) working with external employers. Since T levels were first introduced in 2020, 98.6% of the 2020 cohort and 94.9% of the 2021 cohort have completed their industry placement. This is a total of 4250 students who have successfully completed their industry placements.
Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to review her Department's decision to end funding for employer contributions to the teachers' pension scheme for music teachers employed by non-local authority music hubs.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
As part of the competition of the Music Hubs programme, Arts Council England informed potential bidders on 15 June 2023 that department funding would be made up of the revenue and capital grants only, and that there would not be additional funding to contribute to the cost of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) for Music Hub lead organisations that are not local authorities from September 2024. The Arts Council also published indicative allocations for the 43 new Music Hub areas.
In light of the increase in employer contributions to TPS from April 2024, the department will take steps to determine the level of employer liability across all the newly appointed Hub Lead Organisations from September 2024. This has not been possible until recently, as applicants were informed of the outcome of the Music Hubs Investment Programme on 8 April 2024. The department will then work with Arts Council England to set final Music Hub grant allocations for the 2024/25 academic year and, as part of this work, due consideration will be given to additional pension pressures due to the increase in employer contribution to the TPS.