Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to extend the deadline of 1 August for implementation of the provisions of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023, given that the Office for Students has yet to publish guidance on the new complaints scheme relating to freedom of speech.
Answered by Baroness Barran
The main provisions of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 will come into force on 1 August 2024. Provisions surrounding the new regulatory framework and overseas funding will come into force on 1 September 2025. There is currently no intention to delay the commencement of these provisions, the department will lay the required secondary legislation to meet these implementation dates.
The department will work in collaboration with the Office for Students (OfS) to implement the Act, to allow time for the sector to update their policies and codes of practice. The department meets regularly with OfS to understand progress.
The OfS have already launched three consultations related to:
The proposed guidance is intended to help providers, constituent institutions and students’ unions to navigate the new free speech duties that the OfS expects to regulate from 1 August 2024. The department understands that the OfS intends to publish the final version on or before 1 August 2024.
A provisional implementation timetable is available on the OfS website: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/quality-and-standards/freedom-of-speech/changes-to-regulation/.
Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the Office for Students will provide guidance on the complaints scheme under the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 in a timely manner, in compliance with the provisions of the Act.
Answered by Baroness Barran
The main provisions of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 will come into force on 1 August 2024.
The Office for Students (OfS) has already carried out consultations related to the regulation of students’ unions and new complaints scheme rules in December 2023. The department meets regularly with OfS to understand its progress on the implementation of the Act.
The OfS also launched a consultation on 26 March 2024 on its proposed approach, regulatory advice and guidance on the duties related to freedom of speech and academic freedom.
The proposed guidance is intended to help providers, constituent institutions and students’ unions to navigate the new free speech duties that the OfS expects to regulate from 1 August 2024. The department understands that the OfS intends to publish the final version on or before 1 August 2024.
Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many adults completed Multiply adult numeracy courses in (1) 2021, (2) 2022, and (3) 2023 to date.
Answered by Baroness Barran
Completion figures are not currently published for the Multiply programme. The next data release, expected at the end of November, will include completion figures by region for all four quarters of the 2022/23 academic year.
Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many adults have completed Multiply adult numeracy courses, broken down by region.
Answered by Baroness Barran
Completion figures are not currently published for the Multiply programme. The next data release, expected at the end of November, will include completion figures by region for all four quarters of the 2022/23 academic year.
Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they will publish their final response to recommendations made in the Report of the Independent Panel led by Dr Philip Augar.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay
The government is carefully considering its response to the Review of Post-18 Education and Funding, to which the independent panel reported. We remain committed to introducing further reforms which will ensure a sustainable student finance system, drive up the quality of higher education provision, and promote genuine social mobility. We plan to consult on further reforms to the higher education system before setting out a full conclusion to the Review of Post-18 Education and Funding.
Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect to be able to inform EU students who wish to study in the UK from the 2021/22 academic year whether they will be liable for (1) UK, or (2) overseas, fees.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
We recognise how important it is that higher education students and institutions have information on eligibility for student support before applications open for university courses.
Applications for courses starting in the academic year 2021/22 do not open until September 2020. We will provide sufficient notice for prospective EU students on fee arrangements ahead of the 2021/22 academic year and subsequent years in the future.
Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that the most vulnerable children whose education is being disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic will be able to catch up with their peers in due course.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The department will do whatever it can to make sure no child, whatever their background or location, falls behind as a result of coronavirus.
Schools remain open for the children of critical workers and vulnerable children, who are encouraged to attend where it is appropriate for them to do so. Where vulnerable children are not attending an educational setting, we have asked local authorities, schools and colleges to continue to keep in touch with these children and young people during this period.
Schools are continuing to receive additional funding in the form of the pupil premium – worth around £2.4 billion annually – to help them support their disadvantaged pupils.
The government has also committed over £100 million to support children learn at home during this crisis and is considering, with a range of partner organisations, how best to support all pupils who have been affected by school closures. We are working at pace with experts, including the Education Endowment Foundation, to understand and address the immediate and longer-term impacts of school closures. This includes considering the benefits and challenges of a targeted online tutoring offer and the feasibility of some support over the summer.
Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the announcement on 19 April that they will provide laptops, tablets and 4G routers to vulnerable children across the UK, how many children at primary and secondary schools have received these items; and what percentage that number constitutes of the total number of those in need.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The Government has committed over £100 million to support remote education, including by providing laptops, tablets and 4G routers to vulnerable and disadvantaged children in England to access educational resources and social services.
We are providing laptops and tablets to disadvantaged children and families who would otherwise not have access and are receiving support from a social worker, including pre-school children and families; are a care leaver; or are preparing for examination in Year 10.
Where care leavers, children and families with a social worker at secondary school and children in Year 10 do not have internet connections, we will be providing 4G routers.
The Department has allocated devices to Responsible Bodies based on its estimates of the number of eligible children that do not have a device. Local authorities, academy trusts and other relevant organisations overseeing schools have been given guidance on how to request and order devices. We believe that local authorities and academy trusts are best placed to identify and prioritise children and young people who need devices.
We are working to provide these devices in the shortest possible timeframe.
Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 6 November 2018 (HL10959), whether they are now in a position to ensure that higher education providers have access to free school meals data at the start of the undergraduate admissions cycle as part of measures to widen access to higher education.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
Everyone with the talent and capability to succeed in higher education should have the opportunity to benefit from a high-quality university education, regardless of age, background or where they grew up.
So that providers are identifying talent in areas of disadvantage, they need to use good-quality and meaningful data. We encourage higher education providers to use a range of measures including individual-level indicators, area data (such as Participation of Local Areas, Index of Multiple Deprivation or postcode classification from ACORN), school data, intersectional data such as Universities and Colleges Admissions Service’s (UCAS) Multiple Equality Measure, and participation in outreach activities.
We are actively considering how we can make available free school meals data, taking in to account relevant data protection legislation, and will continue to work closely with UCAS and the Office for Students to this end. In general, we are looking to make data as illuminating as possible.
The government believes that every young person with the potential should have the opportunity to access higher education, if it is right for them. A person’s background or start in life should not determine their future.
Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what criteria they will use to measure the effectiveness of the mechanisms for meeting the new access and participation targets proposed by the Office for Students.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie
The Office for Students (OfS), as the new independent regulator for higher education, has recently consulted the sector on a new approach to regulating higher education (HE) providers’ progress on widening access and successful participation in HE. The OfS is expected to respond to the consultation later this year.
We would expect the OfS to keep any new approach under review, to assess its effectivenes in achieving our goals for improved access and participation in HE by under-represented groups.
The OfS brings together the levers of both funding and the arrangements for agreeing and monitoring Higher Education providers’ Access and Participation plans to seek continuous improvement in this area. OfS also now has access to a range of sanctions to address concerns about a lack of progress on access and participation.