Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the negative impact new fully religiously selective voluntary-aided schools could have on employment opportunities for teachers without a religious faith.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
New voluntary-aided (VA) schools will have the same freedoms as existing ones to include religious criteria in their recruitment of teaching staff.
Schools with a faith designation (this includes VA schools, free schools, and academy converters which were previously VA schools) are able to recruit 100% of their teaching staff on the basis of faith. Voluntary controlled schools can only recruit up to 20% of their teaching staff on the basis of faith.
The department does not collect data relating to the religious belief of school staff or the extent to which VA schools with a religious character use the freedoms they have to apply religious criteria when recruiting staff.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will be taking to ensure that local authorities adhere to the duty to conduct a comprehensive equality impact assessment when deciding whether or not to approve applications to open new voluntary-aided faith schools which are legally permitted to select all of their pupils on religious grounds.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Alongside the launch of the capital scheme for new voluntary-aided schools, the department published updated statutory guidance for proposers and decision makers on opening and closing maintained schools. This guidance is attached.
The guidance sets out the requirements for the decision maker to adhere to the Public Sector Equality Duty. They are also required to consider the impact of any proposals on the relevant protected characteristics and any issues that may arise from the proposals.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether new religious schools established as a result of their new capital funding scheme and which are legally permitted to select all of their pupils on faith grounds will be encouraged to convert to academy status; and whether there will be a time restriction on when such schools are able to do so.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Any voluntary-aided school, including those funded through the recently announced voluntary-aided capital scheme, can apply to convert to academy status in the same way as any other maintained school. Whilst the department does not plan to put specific restrictions in place on academy conversion for this group of schools, they will need to obtain the necessary consents, meet our criteria and undertake a consultation before doing so.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that Ofsted's new criteria make their assessment of the role of the creative arts in the curriculum essential to educational establishments receiving a "good" report.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Ofsted is currently undertaking a consultation on its proposed new education inspection framework. The consultation runs until 5 April. Under its proposals, inspectors will assess the extent to which schools are providing a broad and balanced curriculum for their pupils. Ofsted has proposed that the benchmark for coverage and content of a school’s curriculum should be the national curriculum, which includes the arts.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Statement by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 4 February (HLWS1264), what action they will take to improve access for Gypsy, Traveller and Roma young people to further and higher education.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Widening access and participation in higher and further education is a priority for this government. Everyone with the capability to succeed should have the opportunity to benefit from a university education, regardless of their background or where they grew up. On 1 February 2019, we announced measures to tackle ethnic disparities in higher education. The announcement is attached and can also be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/universities-must-do-more-to-tackle-ethnic-disparity.
The new regulator for higher education, the Office for Students (OfS) has a statutory duty in regards to students who share particular characteristics, (protected under the Equality Act 2010), and where there is specific evidence that barriers exist that may prevent equality of opportunity, including those from the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities.
Through Access and Participation Plans agreed with the OfS, higher education providers are expected to reduce the gaps in access, success and progression for under-represented groups amongst their students.
Eligible 16 to 19 year olds do not pay tuition fees for post-16 further education (e.g. A Levels and approved technical qualifications). This enables young people to meet the requirement of continuing to participate in education or training beyond the age of 16.
Eligibility to receive public funding for further education for adults (those aged 19 and above), is based on age, prior attainment and a learner’s circumstances. Skills provision is prioritised and focussed towards young adults, those with low skills and unemployed people who are actively seeking work.
In addition, the government also provides financial support to enable learners to participate in post-16 further education, whatever their financial situation. This includes contributions to costs such as transport, childcare, essential books, equipment and accommodation.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Commission on Religious Education, Religion and Worldviews: the way forward. A national plan for RE, published in September; and whether they intend to provide a response to that report.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Religious education helps to develop children’s knowledge of the values and traditions of Britain and other countries, and to foster understanding among different faiths and cultures – it is also compulsory for all age groups in state-funded schools.
The report by the Commission for Religious Education highlights the challenges faced in teaching religious education and sets out a number of recommendations on how the teaching and status of religious education in England could be improved.
The department is reviewing these recommendations and will respond to them soon.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to implement the recommendations from the UN Committee on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination’s 2016 report Concluding observations on the twenty-first to twenty-third periodic reports of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland that schools should challenge racist bullying and promote respect for diversity, including through the training of educational personnel, in respect of Gypsy, Traveller and Roma children.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Under the Public Sector Equality Duty, state funded schools must have regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people with protected characteristics and none. This includes children of Gypsy, Traveller or Roma ethnicity.
All schools are legally required to have a behaviour policy with measures to prevent all forms of bullying among pupils. Schools have the freedom to develop their own anti-bullying strategies appropriate to their environment and to decide what training to offer to staff and are held to account by Ofsted. The government's advice to schools makes it clear that a school’s response to bullying should not start at the point at which a child is bullied; the best schools develop strategies to prevent bullying occurring in the first place.
The Department for Education is providing £1.75 million of funding, over two years, for four anti-bullying organisations to support schools tackle bullying. This funding includes projects targeting bullying of particular groups. The project, led by the Anne Frank Trust, encourages young people to think about the importance of tackling prejudice, discrimination and bullying using film clips as a catalyst for discussion.
The department is also working on a tool to support schools to create an atmosphere of respect, which will reduce bullying behaviour. This will help them meet their duties in respect of equalities, behaviour, bullying and safeguarding in a way which minimises the burdens. We plan to consult Gypsy, Roma and Traveller stakeholders in the development of this work.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the Race Disparity Audit's finding that pupils from Gypsy, Roma, or Irish Traveller backgrounds have the lowest educational attainment out of all ethnic groups in the UK, whether they intend to re-introduce funding for Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The department welcomes the work of third sector groups in developing and promoting Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month and we are supportive of schools’ involvement. Schools have an important role to play in celebrating the history and culture of all their pupils and are best placed to decide whether to participate in specific events.
The government is committed to ensuring that all pupils, regardless of background, can reach their full potential. Through the pupil premium we continue to provide additional annual funding of nearly £2.5 billion. This will help schools improve the progress and attainment of their disadvantaged pupils. High proportions of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils are eligible for and will benefit from this support.
The department continues to work with the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government on their 2018/19 pilot programme to improve the social integration of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities. In March 2018, we launched a review of exclusions which will explore why certain pupil groups, including Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils, are over-represented in exclusions statistics. In addition, as part of the Careers Strategy, Gypsy, Roma and Traveller youth will be a target group for a pilot testing ways of providing careers guidance to vulnerable groups.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Agnew of Oulton on 5 February (HL4901), how many Gypsies and Travellers were not in employment, education or training (1) 3 months, (2) 6 months, and (3) 12 months, after having completed an apprenticeship, in each academic year from 2011.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The information requested is not held centrally. It is difficult to provide reliable estimates for small groups using the sources available.
The department publishes destinations data for pupils across the different phases of education, including those participating in apprenticeships, other further education, and higher education. However, the latest published data incorporating apprenticeships does not include breakdowns for Gypsy/Roma or travellers of Irish heritage as the sample sizes were too small to form a reliable estimate. For the same reason, this information cannot be produced from datasets held on young people not in employment, education or training.
The department will continue to review data from these sources.
The latest published destinations data for students in key stages 4 and 5 shows that of the 1005 pupils recorded as Gypsy/Roma as at the end of key stage 4 in 2014/15, 65% were in a sustained education or employment/training destination in 2015/16. In the same period, 130 students were recorded as travellers of Irish heritage, and 68% of them were in a sustained education or employment/training destination. In both cases, 4% were found to be participating in an apprenticeship in 2015/16.
Of the 105 pupils recorded as Gypsy/Roma as at the end of key stage 5 in 2014/15, 78% were in a sustained education or employment/training destination in 2015/16. In the same period, 20 students were recorded as travellers of Irish heritage, and 65% of them were in a sustained education or employment/training destination. 8% and 0% of these groups, respectively, were in apprenticeships in 2015/16.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 20 February (HL Deb, col 14), what assessment they have made of how the partnership with five major cities to drive up apprenticeships among under-represented groups will affect the Gypsy, Traveller and Roma communities; and what support will be given to those whose literacy needs improvement to help them to take advantage of apprenticeship opportunities.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
We will work with partners on the Five Cities project to identify any under-represented groups that can be supported into apprenticeships, so that more people can benefit from the increased wage and employment prospects that apprenticeships offer. We have not, however, made a direct assessment of how the Five Cities project will affect the Gypsy, Traveller and Roma communities.
Legislation that we introduced allows the minimum English and maths requirements for apprenticeships to be adjusted for entry level 3. This applies to any applicant who currently has, or has previously been issued, an education health and care plan or statement of special needs or learning difficulty assessment and who, as a result of their learning difficulties and/or disability, cannot meet the regular English and maths requirements but could otherwise meet the occupational requirements of the apprenticeship.
Adults who want to improve their literacy skills prior to starting an apprenticeship and do not already hold a level 2 qualification are entitled to full funding for specified qualifications in English and maths up to level 2. 16-19 year olds who do not already hold a level 2 in English and maths are required to continue to study these subjects as part of their study programme.