Asked by: Baroness Byford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether primary schools with pupils who have type 1 diabetes receive additional funding towards the extra adults required to take care of such pupils; and if not, why not.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
All school funding is in place to ensure that schools makes provision for all children. This includes an allocation for children with special educational needs and disabilities. Mainstream schools are expected to meet the first £6,000 of special educational need support costs for each child from their budget, which is calculated under a local formula that includes factors that provide extra resources to schools for their pupils with additional needs.
Where a school finds that further support is required, they can ask the local authority to provide top-up funding. It is for the local authority to determine what level of top-up funding is required for each pupil, based on individual needs.
Asked by: Baroness Byford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of primary school children who have type 1 diabetes.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Baroness Byford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether there has been a underspend of the apprenticeship levies in each of the last three years; if so, by how much; and what consideration they have give to allowing any such underspends to be allocated to training schemes for the upgrade of skills.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Spending on the apprenticeship programme is demand-led. Employers choose the type, quantity and level of apprenticeships that they offer in order to meet their current and future skills needs.
Employers pay the apprenticeship levy to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. Employers in England can then set up accounts on the apprenticeship service, allowing them to direct funds to cover the costs of training and assessment for their apprentices. Employers who pay the levy have up to 24 months to spend their levy funds in their accounts. We do not anticipate that all employers who pay the levy will need or want to use all of the funds in their accounts, but they are able to do this if they wish.
There is a difference between what employers see in their levy accounts and the department’s annual apprenticeship budget set by Her Majesty’s Treasury (HMT). Levy accounts include up to 24 months of levy funds. The department’s annual apprenticeship budget must fund the whole apprenticeship programme, including apprenticeships with smaller employers who do not pay the levy and apprenticeships that started before the levy was introduced.
In total, in the 2017-18 financial year, the department spent £1.6 billion (of a £2 billion budget) to fulfil employers’ demand for apprenticeships. Lower than anticipated demand from employers led to an underspend of approximately £400 million. HMT made available a portion of the department's 2017-18 underspend, including the underspend from apprenticeships, for programmes in future financial years. We will publish the expenditure from this financial year in our 2018-19 annual report and accounts after the end of this financial year.
A review of the levy is underway in order to consider, amongst other points, how it can be used most effectively.
Asked by: Baroness Byford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to increase the availability of distance learning in rural areas where transport availability is difficult.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Shadow Minister (Work and Pensions)
Distance learning offers excellent possibilities to open up choice and opportunity to people from a diverse range of backgrounds, including those from rural areas, and the government believes it should be widely available at a range of educational levels. Student support for tuition at higher education (HE) level is available for students who want to study on a part-time basis or by distance learning.
The National Retraining Scheme (NRS) is an ambitious, far-reaching programme to drive adult retraining. It will help individuals to respond to the changing labour market, redirect their careers and secure better, more secure jobs of the future.
To inform the design of the scheme, the Flexible Learning Fund is supporting 31 pilot projects across England with a total value of £11.4 million. The projects are designing and testing innovative, flexible learning that is easy to access. The pilots are aimed at adults who are working, or who are returning to work, with either low or intermediate skills. A range of delivery methods are being tested; most of the projects will make use of on-line technologies to a degree, as well as ‘blended learning’ that combines online and face-to-face learning.
My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has previously announced that Educational Technology (Edtech) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) would be a key feature of the NRS. Technological innovation and development, including in AI, will play an important part in improving the learning experience, design and effectiveness of online training.
The government has committed up to £30 million of funding. Working closely with the technology industry we will look to innovate, test and develop ways in which technological solutions can directly answer the specific needs of NRS users alongside all learners. Details of the funding will be announced in spring 2019.
It is only right that HE providers offer a range of options which suit all students, and that students have a real choice about where and how to study. The Review of Post-18 Education and Funding will consider how we can encourage and support more learning that is flexible, like part-time and distance learning, and enable more people to study close to where they live. The review will report later this year.
The regulatory system is also a means of opening up HE to a more diverse range of provision and therefore to a wider range of students. The Higher Education and Research Act, which came into law in 2017, placed a duty on the Office for Students to consider other modes of study when promoting choice and opportunity in the provision of HE.
Through recent HE reforms, we are working to support and encourage high quality new and innovative provision that has a strong offer for students, helping providers to navigate the regulatory system and we will continue to work with new providers to tackle any barriers that might arise.
Asked by: Baroness Byford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to increasing the funding available for agricultural courses where they contain significant STEM elements.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Shadow Minister (Work and Pensions)
The government already provides funding via the Office for Students to support subjects where the costs of teaching exceed the income that providers receive through tuition fees. This includes agricultural courses with elements of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Current rates of high-cost funding are included in the ‘Office for Students: Guide to funding 2018-19’, attached.
Future funding for higher education will be announced in the forthcoming Spending Review following the Review of Post-18 Education and Funding, which is currently underway.
Asked by: Baroness Byford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking, if any, to (1) devise, and (2) introduce, a qualification in agriculture at (a) GCSE, and (b) A-Level.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The government has introduced a number of recent changes to GCSEs and A levels in England that will affect schools in the coming years. We know that extensive changes need time to settle in to schools, and that school leaders will want stability to bring in the new qualifications. Therefore, at the present time, there are no plans to introduce any further GCSEs or A levels beyond those to which the government has already committed.
There are vocational qualifications currently available in this subject, such as City & Guilds Level 2 Technical Certificate in Agriculture and IMI Level 3 Extended Diploma in Land-based Engineering Technology (VRQ). As part of our reforms to technical education, we are establishing a common framework of 15 technical education routes that encompass all employment-based and college-based training. The Agriculture, Environment and Animal Care route will be rolled out in September 2022.
Asked by: Baroness Byford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to re-defining land-based apprenticeships as STEM subjects.
Answered by Lord Nash
From May 2017, frameworks in some sector subject areas will incorporate a STEM uplift on the basis that employers were previously more likely to make additional contributions to the costs of training in these areas. We sought evidence on what sector subject areas should be included in the policy for 2017/18, prior to the policy being confirmed last October, and will monitor the market response as the policy takes effect.
We are also moving the market away from frameworks to standards, which are higher quality and more rigorous. We recognise this in the new system by allocating higher funding bands to apprenticeship standards, relative to equivalent frameworks, where appropriate. Over the course of the parliament, we will phase out the current apprenticeship frameworks so that all new apprentices undertake standards. The agriculture sector has good emerging coverage in terms of standards, with land-based engineering already in delivery, and more under development.
Asked by: Baroness Byford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the introduction of the revised system of Trailblazer Apprenticeship funding commencing in May, whether they will review the funding allocation for level 2 agricultural apprentices studying at land-based colleges.
Answered by Lord Nash
From May 2017, frameworks in some sector subject areas will incorporate a STEM uplift on the basis that employers were previously more likely to make additional contributions to the costs of training in these areas. We sought evidence on what sector subject areas should be included in the policy for 2017/18, prior to the policy being confirmed last October, and will monitor the market response as the policy takes effect.
We are also moving the market away from frameworks to standards, which are higher quality and more rigorous. We recognise this in the new system by allocating higher funding bands to apprenticeship standards, relative to equivalent frameworks, where appropriate. Over the course of the parliament, we will phase out the current apprenticeship frameworks so that all new apprentices undertake standards. The agriculture sector has good emerging coverage in terms of standards, with land-based engineering already in delivery, and more under development.
Asked by: Baroness Byford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to shorten the teacher training period for graduates in life science subjects by allowing them to qualify in a single subject, such as physics, where there are shortages in qualified teacher numbers.
Answered by Lord Nash
It is for Initial Teacher Training (ITT) providers to use their professional judgement to determine how to structure the course. However, ITT courses must be designed so that teacher trainees can demonstrate by the end of their training that they meet all of the Teachers' Standards at the appropriate level. The Teachers’ Standards, revised in September 2012, set out the key elements of effective teaching and the minimum expectations for the professional practice and conduct of teachers. The Teachers’ Standards have been attached to this answer.
Although it is already possible within existing flexibilities for schools and ITT providers to offer shorter or longer courses, the majority of postgraduate courses are one year in length. The National College for Teaching and Leadership is working with nine School Direct lead schools to pilot a shortened School Direct (salaried) route for physics and mathematics trainees. Findings from these pilots will be shared with the ITT sector to encourage other schools and ITT providers to use the existing flexibilities to meet their recruitment needs.