Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will review the amounts payable for Initial Teacher Training bursaries for arts subjects
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
For those starting initial teacher training (ITT) in the 2024/25 academic year in art and design and music, the department is offering a £10,000 bursary.
The bursaries that the department offers are designed to incentivise more applications to ITT courses. The department reviews bursaries each year before deciding the offer for trainees starting ITT the following academic year. In doing this, the department takes account of a number of factors, including historic recruitment, forecast economic conditions and teacher supply need in each subject.
The government is committed to delivering 6,500 new expert teachers. To deliver that commitment, the department will review the way bursaries are allocated and the structure of retention payments. The department will announce its recruitment and retention incentive offer for 2025/26 in due course.
All trainees on a tuition fee-funded ITT course can apply for a tuition fee loan and maintenance loan to support their living costs. Additional funding is also available depending on individual circumstances, such as the Childcare Grant. More information about teacher training funding can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/teacher-training-funding.
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 (Education)
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.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their definition of "cultural education" as referred to in the published terms of reference for the Cultural Education Plan Expert Advisory Panel.
Answered by Baroness Barran
The published terms of reference for the cultural education plan expert advisory panel, sets out that cultural education sits at the heart of an enriching and fulfilling curriculum for pupils. A broad and balanced curriculum includes arts and heritage in the range of subjects taught, and in wider co and extracurricular activities.
The breadth and depth of cultural education is demonstrated by, but not exclusive to, the following: visual arts, music, craft, dance, design, digital arts and gaming, drama and theatre, film and cinema, galleries, heritage, libraries, literature and poetry, live performance, museums, and archaeology, architecture and the built environment, and archives.
This plan will focus on how the department can support access and participation in a wide range of arts subjects and activities, particularly for children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and in underrepresented groups. It will also further support young people who wish to pursue careers in our creative, cultural, and heritage industries.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the justification for imposing fines for absenteeism in schools; and whether they intend to review the use of this measure.
Answered by Baroness Barran
Absence is often a symptom of wider issues a family is facing. Schools, trusts and local authorities should always work together with other local partners to understand the barriers to attendance and provide support. Where support is not successful, not engaged with, or not appropriate, legal intervention remains an important part of local authorities’ powers to protect every child’s right to a full-time education.
The department has consulted on a new framework to improve consistency and fairness in issuing penalty notices and to ensure they are used effectively as part of the suite of parental responsibility measures. The department will be responding to this consultation in due course.
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 Barran on 26 April (HL Deb cols 1208–11), whether (1) the National Curriculum, and (2) accountability measures, will be in scope of the Cultural Education Plan.
Answered by Baroness Barran
More details on the Cultural Education Plan will be published shortly, including the Expert Advisory Panel and the Terms of Reference for their work. The Government has already implemented significant reforms to raise expectations in terms of what all pupils are taught and how schools are held accountable, and we do not plan to make further changes to the National Curriculum or performance measures in this Parliament. We value the work of teachers and schools in responding to these changes and as such these matters are out of scope of this Plan.
The Cultural Education Plan will highlight the importance of a high quality cultural education and the important role that wider cultural institutions can play by working with schools.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government when the (1) Expert Advisory Panel, and (2) Terms of Reference, for the Cultural Education Plan will be announced.
Answered by Baroness Barran
More details on the Cultural Education Plan will be published shortly, including the Expert Advisory Panel and the Terms of Reference for their work. The Government has already implemented significant reforms to raise expectations in terms of what all pupils are taught and how schools are held accountable, and we do not plan to make further changes to the National Curriculum or performance measures in this Parliament. We value the work of teachers and schools in responding to these changes and as such these matters are out of scope of this Plan.
The Cultural Education Plan will highlight the importance of a high quality cultural education and the important role that wider cultural institutions can play by working with schools.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will introduce the arts premium outlined in the most recent Conservative Party manifesto.
Answered by Baroness Barran
This government is committed to high quality education for all pupils, and integral to this are the arts and music.
The Autumn Statement announced additional investment of £2 billion in each of 2023/24 and 2024/25, over and above totals announced at the 2021 Spending Review.
This means funding for both mainstream schools and high needs is £3.5 billion higher in 2023/24, compared to 2022/23. That funding is on top of the £4 billion, year-on-year increase provided in 2022/23. In total, this represents an increase of £7.5 billion, or over 15%, in schools’ funding in just two years.
Arts education is integral to the school system and the department will also continue to invest around £115 million per annum in cultural education to 2025, through our music, arts and heritage programmes. Consideration for an Arts Premium will be given in due course.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will produce a formal response to The Times Education Commission's final report, published on 15 June.
Answered by Baroness Barran
We are very grateful for the work of the Times Education Commission, noting both the breadth of issues and the depth of evidence considered during its inquiry.
We remain committed to our ambitious programme of educational reforms. These include the bold measures set out in our 2021 Skills for Jobs White Paper, which will give people the opportunity to train, retrain and upskill flexibly throughout their lives, in order to get great jobs in the sectors that our economy needs and to boost productivity.
Through the changes set out in our 2022 Schools White Paper, we are also driving improved standards in schools with measures that will ensure an excellent teacher for every child, high standards of curriculum, attendance and behaviour, and targeted support for children who are behind in English or maths and a stronger and fairer school system that works for every child.
We remain focused on these and our other reform priorities and have no current plans to publish a formal response to the Commission.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the press release Fairer higher education system for students and taxpayers, published on 24 February, what courses they consider to be of low quality and not leading to a graduate job with a good wage.
Answered by Baroness Barran
The government is consulting openly on the introduction of student number controls to improve outcomes from higher education (HE) for students, society and the economy.
In response to this consultation, the government welcomes views on how we should identify the highest quality HE which offers the best outcomes, and such provision may be prioritised.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking (1) to raise the profile, and (2) to improve the perceived status of, early years teaching jobs.
Answered by Baroness Barran
The department understands that the earliest years are the most crucial stage of child development. Early education supports children’s social and emotional development and lays the foundation for lifelong learning.
The department is grateful for the contribution that all early years’ providers and childcare staff make in their work every day, both to the early education of children and to support the economy.
We are committed to supporting the sector to develop a workforce with the appropriate knowledge, skills and experience to deliver high quality early education and childcare, and to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. That is why the department has recently announced an additional £153 million in programmes to support workforce development, including increasing the number of places available for early years initial teacher training. We are also developing new early years training routes, including a new National Professional Qualification for Early Years Leadership and support for new apprenticeship routes for careers in the early years.