Asked by: Baroness Brady (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that teachers are prioritised to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) are the independent experts who advise the government on which vaccine/s the UK should use and provide advice on who should be offered them. The JCVI advises that the first priorities for the COVID-19 vaccination should be the prevention of mortality and the maintenance of the health and social care systems, and as the risk of mortality from COVID-19 increases with age, prioritisation is primarily based on age. This prioritisation captures almost all preventable deaths from COVID-19. In the next phase of the vaccine rollout, the JCVI have asked that the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) consider occupational vaccination in collaboration with other Government departments. The department is working with DHSC and Public Health England to ensure that the education and childcare workforce is considered for prioritisation in the roll out of the vaccine.
Asked by: Baroness Brady (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the (1) year-on-year fall in the number of apprenticeships started by young people, and (2) the effectiveness of the Apprenticeship Levy.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Our reforms to apprenticeships have fundamentally changed what apprenticeships are and the long-term opportunities they provide for people of all ages and backgrounds.
The tables below show apprenticeships starts, by age, from 2015/16 to 2018/19, including the percentage change from 2015/16 to 2018/19 and the breakdown of frameworks and standards.
Age range | 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | Percentage change 2015/16 – 2018/19 |
Under 19 | 131,400 | 122,800 | 106,600 | 97,700 | -26% |
19 to 24 | 153,900 | 142,200 | 113,700 | 116,000 | -25% |
25+ | 224,100 | 229,900 | 155,500 | 179,700 | -20% |
Total | 509,400 | 494,900 | 375,800 | 393,400 | -23% |
Type of apprenticeship | 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 |
Frameworks | 505,100 | 470,300 | 212,100 | 145,300 |
Standards | 4,300 | 24,600 | 163,700 | 248,100 |
The number of people starting apprenticeships has fallen across all age groups. A key reason for this is that we are moving away from old apprenticeship frameworks which employers said were not equipping apprentices to do the job; training was often poor or non-existent. As more standards have become available each year, the number of apprentices of all ages starting on standards has increased.
Employers are now in the driving seat, designing apprenticeship standards to give apprentices the skills that industry really needs. Over 63% of starts in 2018/19 were on standards, compared to 44% in 2017/18, and all starts will be on high quality standards from August 2020.
To promote apprenticeships to younger people, we launched the third phase of our apprenticeships marketing campaign, Fire it Up, in January. The campaign shines a spotlight on how apprenticeships can provide opportunities for ambitious young people and support businesses to diversify their workforce. Our annual National Apprenticeship Week will take place in February and celebrate the impact of apprenticeships on individuals, employers and the economy.
In 2019, we engaged with over 16,500 students in years 10 to 13, and 2,000 schools and colleges used the Apprenticeship Activity Pack for students. Throughout the year, our Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge (ASK) programme ensures that schools and colleges across England have free support to develop apprenticeship awareness activities.
The apprenticeship levy underpins our reforms to increase the quality of training and to support employers of all sizes to make a sustainable investment in the skills they need to grow.
We have already made changes to the levy in response to our engagement with employers. In April 2019, we raised the cap on transfers to 25%. We have already seen employers making use of transfers to support apprenticeship starts in their supply chains or to meet local skills needs.
In January, we extended the use of transfers to cover the full cost of training for 16 to 18-year-olds, eligible 19 to 24-year-olds and for receiving employers with fewer than 50 employees, creating opportunities for organisations who may have previously felt that employing an apprentice was beyond their reach. We are committed to continuing to look at how we can improve the working of the levy to ensure it delivers the skilled workforce that employers need.
Asked by: Baroness Brady (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to review the rates of interest charged on student loans to ensure they properly reflect the Bank of England interest rate.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The system for setting interest rates on student loans is set out in The Education (Student Loans) (Repayment) Regulations 2009, as amended. The Department for Education sets the interest rate as instructed by the regulations.
For post-2012 student loans, the department regularly monitors the interest rates set on student loans against the interest rates prevailing on the market. The most appropriate comparators for undergraduate student loans are the effective interest rates available on unsecured personal loans, as published by the Bank of England (data series CFMBJ77 and CFMBJ94). Both rates continue to be above the maximum interest rate charged on student loans.