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Written Question
Universities: Coronavirus
Tuesday 25th May 2021

Asked by: Baroness Bull (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what funding support they plan to provide to enable universities to continue utilising PCR testing as their campuses reopen.

Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

We have worked with higher education providers to offer twice-weekly asymptomatic testing using lateral flow device (LFD) tests to all students residing in their term-time accommodation or accessing university facilities, and to all staff. This is playing an important role in identifying cases of the virus and breaking chains of transmission.

We have supported higher education providers in recovering the costs for the set-up and running of asymptomatic testing sites.

From May, higher education providers can offer their staff and students home test kits which can be collected from a location on campus.

Anyone that tests positive for COVID-19 through an LFD test is offered a confirmatory polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test free of charge, and the same applies to students and staff in the higher education sector.


Written Question
Qualifications
Tuesday 11th February 2020

Asked by: Baroness Bull (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the value of (a) history, (b) politics, and (c) modern languages qualifications in the workforce of the future; and (2) the value of having studied such subjects for improved (a) international relations, and (b) intercultural understanding.

Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton

?The government’s assessment is that studying these subjects can provide pupils with knowledge that will help them in later life, including improving their understanding of international relations and their intercultural understanding. We are pleased that the proportion of pupils taking history and languages GCSEs has increased since the government’s introduction of the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) performance measure in 2010. Studying the EBacc subjects keeps pupils’ options open for further study and future employment.


Written Question
Culture: Education
Monday 5th November 2018

Asked by: Baroness Bull (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the conclusion of the report by the University of Nottingham, Time to Listen, published on 15 October, that arts and cultural education offers “systematic ways of developing understanding, new knowledge and skills”; and what steps they are taking to ensure that arts and cultural education is sufficiently prioritised in the national curriculum.

Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton

The government agrees with the report on the value of arts and cultural education. In state maintained schools dance, music, art and design, and drama are a compulsory part of the National Curriculum at key stage 1 to key stage 3, with pupils having an entitlement to study an arts subject at key stage 4. All schools, including academies and free schools, must provide a broad and balanced curriculum.

The government is committed to funding music and arts, and has spent almost £500 million on related programmes between 2016 and 2020. This includes £300 million for music education hubs to ensure that all children have the opportunity to play and perform in choirs and ensembles. This spending also includes £118 million for the Music and Dance Scheme, which allows exceptionally talented young musicians and dancers to attend world-class institutions such as the Royal Ballet School and the Yehudi Menuhin School.

Between 2010 and 2018 the percentage of young people entering at least one arts GCSE has fluctuated but remained broadly stable.


Written Question
Culture: Education
Monday 5th November 2018

Asked by: Baroness Bull (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the findings of the report by the University of Nottingham, Time to Listen, 15 October, of the value of arts and cultural education.

Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton

The government agrees with the report on the value of arts and cultural education. In state maintained schools dance, music, art and design, and drama are a compulsory part of the National Curriculum at key stage 1 to key stage 3, with pupils having an entitlement to study an arts subject at key stage 4. All schools, including academies and free schools, must provide a broad and balanced curriculum.

The government is committed to funding music and arts, and has spent almost £500 million on related programmes between 2016 and 2020. This includes £300 million for music education hubs to ensure that all children have the opportunity to play and perform in choirs and ensembles. This spending also includes £118 million for the Music and Dance Scheme, which allows exceptionally talented young musicians and dancers to attend world-class institutions such as the Royal Ballet School and the Yehudi Menuhin School.

Between 2010 and 2018 the percentage of young people entering at least one arts GCSE has fluctuated but remained broadly stable.