Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether financial assistance to absorb the cost of changes to Employer National Insurance and minimum wage, similar to arrangements for maintained schools, will be provided to institutions that receive funding through the Music and Dance Scheme.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
For the 2024/25 academic year, the department adjusted the Music and Dance Scheme bursary contribution for families with a relevant income below £45,000 to account for the VAT introduction from January 2025. This methodology will be reviewed for future years and details will be set out in due course.
With reference to employer National Insurance contributions and the minimum wage, the Music and Dance Scheme grant funding of both private schools and Centres for Advanced Training relates to financing places for individual students via means-tested bursaries only and is not intended as direct funding to meet wider employment costs.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will adjust the means testing methodology of the Music and Dance Scheme to reflect the cost of VAT on fees.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
For the 2024/25 academic year, the department adjusted the Music and Dance Scheme bursary contribution for families with a relevant income below £45,000 to account for the VAT introduction from January 2025. This methodology will be reviewed for future years and details will be set out in due course.
With reference to employer National Insurance contributions and the minimum wage, the Music and Dance Scheme grant funding of both private schools and Centres for Advanced Training relates to financing places for individual students via means-tested bursaries only and is not intended as direct funding to meet wider employment costs.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to increase the £45,000 threshold of combined household income per family as part of the support package for the Music and Dance Scheme; and whether they plan to make that support package permanent.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
For the 2024/25 academic year, the department adjusted the Music and Dance Scheme bursary contribution for families with a relevant income below £45,000 to account for the VAT introduction from January 2025. This methodology will be reviewed for future years and details will be set out in due course.
With reference to employer National Insurance contributions and the minimum wage, the Music and Dance Scheme grant funding of both private schools and Centres for Advanced Training relates to financing places for individual students via means-tested bursaries only and is not intended as direct funding to meet wider employment costs.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they are having with providers of the Music and Dance Scheme on an appropriate future earnings threshold as part of support to offset VAT.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
For the 2024/25 academic year, the department adjusted the Music and Dance Scheme bursary contribution for families with a relevant income below £45,000 to account for the VAT introduction from January 2025. This methodology will be reviewed for future years and details will be set out in due course.
With reference to employer National Insurance contributions and the minimum wage, the Music and Dance Scheme grant funding of both private schools and Centres for Advanced Training relates to financing places for individual students via means-tested bursaries only and is not intended as direct funding to meet wider employment costs.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to support universities and other higher education institutions offering foundation courses in creative subjects, including fine art.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The government is committed to supporting creative subjects such as fine art in higher education.
In the 2024/25 academic year, more than two thirds of the £1,402 million Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG) recurrent funding to higher education providers is allocated to support the provision of high-cost subjects within price group A to C1.2, including various creative arts courses. This funding is in recognition of the higher costs of teaching those subjects.
For this academic year (2024/25), funding from the SPG for world-leading small and specialist providers was maintained at £58 million. Of the 20 providers recognised in this way, 12 are creative and performing arts providers.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with stakeholders regarding a proportionate route to registration with the Office for Students designed for smaller, specialist providers in support of accessing the Lifelong Learning Entitlement, including those offering Trinity College London’s Level 5 and 6 Professional Performing Arts Diplomas accredited by the Council for Dance, Drama and Musical Theatre.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The government is fully committed to delivering the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) as set out in the Autumn Budget 2024. From the LLE’s launch in January 2027, the Office for Students (OfS) will regulate all providers offering LLE-funded provision.
The OfS has made clear that they expect to restart work on registrations, degree awarding powers and university title in August 2025, although the changes will remain under review until then. We understand that the OfS will keep providers updated throughout this period about their plans, including confirming application arrangements from August onwards. The government supports the reasons for the temporary pause in order for the OfS to refocus their efforts on provider financial sustainability. As the independent regulator, it is for the OfS to process registrations in the manner they deem most appropriate.
The government will continue to engage closely with the OfS and providers to support timely transition arrangements for the launch of the LLE. The government, together with the OfS, will provide further information on the regulation of providers under the LLE in spring 2025.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made towards the third category of registration with the Office for Students for smaller, specialist providers in support of accessing the Lifelong Learning Entitlement, including those offering Trinity College London’s Level 5 and 6 Professional Performing Arts Diploma.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The government is fully committed to delivering the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) as set out in the Autumn Budget 2024. From the LLE’s launch in January 2027, the Office for Students (OfS) will regulate all providers offering LLE-funded provision.
The OfS has made clear that they expect to restart work on registrations, degree awarding powers and university title in August 2025, although the changes will remain under review until then. We understand that the OfS will keep providers updated throughout this period about their plans, including confirming application arrangements from August onwards. The government supports the reasons for the temporary pause in order for the OfS to refocus their efforts on provider financial sustainability. As the independent regulator, it is for the OfS to process registrations in the manner they deem most appropriate.
The government will continue to engage closely with the OfS and providers to support timely transition arrangements for the launch of the LLE. The government, together with the OfS, will provide further information on the regulation of providers under the LLE in spring 2025.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether reducing absenteeism in schools will be an explicit goal of the curriculum review.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
Tackling absence is at the heart of the government’s mission to break down the barriers to opportunity. Thanks to the efforts of the sector there are more learners in school but, with 1.6 million children still persistently absent, this remains a major challenge.
The Curriculum and Assessment Review is being independently conducted by a group of education leaders (the review group) and chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE. The terms of reference were published in July, which is attached and can also be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/curriculum-and-assessment-review.
The review will look closely at the key challenges to attainment for young people, and the barriers which hold children back from the opportunities and life chances they deserve, in particular those who are socioeconomically disadvantaged, or with special educational needs or disabilities. However, the review will not be able to address every issue facing the curriculum and assessment system. It will therefore seek to identify and focus on addressing the most significant and pressing issues facing curriculum and assessment without destabilising the system.
Ministers will take decisions on what changes to make to curriculum, assessment and qualifications in the light of the final recommendations from the review group next autumn.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 17 October regarding the music and dance scheme (HL Deb col 303–04), whether they are having similar discussions with providers of the Dance and Drama Awards Scheme; and whether similar consideration will be given to support by the Department for Education for that scheme.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The government has engaged with providers involved in the Dance and Drama Awards scheme to discuss the issue of VAT on private education and will consider how best to support young people engaged in this programme following the spending review.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will negotiate for the UK to rejoin Erasmus+.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The department is working to reset the relationship with its European friends to strengthen ties and tackle barriers to trade. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs has said that the department must do more to champion ties between the UK and the EU’s people and culture, for example, holidays, family ties, school and student exchanges, the arts and sport.
This is not about renegotiating or relitigating Brexit, but about looking forward and building a strong and constructive relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union.