Asked by: Lord Mackinlay of Richborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to fund and promote the training of apprentices in (1) thatching, (2) stonemasonry, (3) lead work and (4) use of lime mortars, as well as to grow and improve other skills in the heritage sector.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
High-quality apprenticeships, including the level 2 Stonemason apprenticeship standard, are available to support employers and learners in the heritage sector to develop the skills they need.
To support more high-quality apprenticeship opportunities, the department pays full training costs for young apprentices aged 16 to 21 at small employers and it pays £1,000 to employers when they take on apprentices aged 16 to 18, or aged 19 to 24 who are care leavers or have an education, health and care plan.
The department also continue to promote apprenticeships through its ‘Skills for Life’ campaign.
Asked by: Lord Mackinlay of Richborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to ensure that there is no reduction in the funding of grammar schools as a result of recent changes to funding for pupils aged 16 to 19.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
All providers of 16-19 education, including school sixth forms, sixth form colleges and general FE colleges, are funded according to a single national formula. We announced, as part of the Spending Review, that we will protect the national base rate of £4,000 per student for the duration of the parliament. From 2016/17 the large programme uplift will apply, which will give a funding uplift of 10 per cent for study programmes of four A levels and 20 per cent for five A levels, when at least a grade B in all subjects is gained. Equivalent uplifts will apply to the full level 3 International Baccalaureate and large TechBacc programmes.
We set out full details of the funding rates for 16-19 institutions in 2016/17 in January and aim to provide further information on savings that will be required from 2017/18 as soon as possible. We have already announced that we will remove transitional formula protection funding over six years from 2016/17, ensuring sufficient lead-in time for institutions to manage this reduction.