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 HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to make fees under the Music and Dance Scheme exempt from VAT.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Performing arts schools that offer full-time education to children of compulsory school age and/or 16-19 year olds for a charge will remain in scope of this policy, this includes the Music and Dance Scheme. This is to ensure fairness and consistency across all schools that provide education services and vocational training for a charge. The Government has no plans to exempt further schools from this policy.
However, the Department for Education has decided to adjust its Music and Dance Scheme bursary contribution for families with a relevant income below £45,000 to account for the VAT that will be applied on fees, ensuring that the total parental fee contributions for families with below average relevant incomes remain unchanged for the rest of the 2024/25 academic year.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have plans to exclude international students from the net migration statistics.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
Please see the letter attached from the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.
Professor Sir Ian Diamond | National Statistician
The Earl of Clancarty
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW
4 March 2025
Dear Lord Clancarty,
As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking whether there are any plans to exclude international students from the net migration statistics (HL5079).
We are aware of stakeholder interest in an alternative measure of net international migration excluding students and are currently seeking user feedback on the requirement for this, as well as views on proposed options for how this could be estimated. We expect to report on the outcome of this process in early May 2025.
Currently, international students are included in official estimates of immigration if they meet the UN definition of a long-term international migrant, by residing in the UK for 12 months or more. Students staying long-term contribute to population change, as well as to society and the economy more broadly. Therefore, it is important to include them in the migration estimates as these feed into the calculation of official population estimates. Additionally, not all international students emigrate at the end of their studies, with many transferring into work or remaining in the UK for family or other reasons. Of the non-EU+ nationals who arrived in the UK on a study-related visa in the year ending June 2021, 48% had transitioned onto a different visa type by year ending June 2024.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Sir Ian Diamond
https://data.un.org/Glossary.aspx?q=long-term%20migrant
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the cost of setting up the UK Soft Power Council; how much it will cost to run per year; and whether board members will receive a salary.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The budget for the Soft Power Council will be minimal, sufficient to cover only the basic costs of running its four meetings per year. Board members will not receive a salary.