Small and Medium-sized Enterprises: Student Work Placements

Debate between Lord Agnew of Oulton and Baroness Burt of Solihull

Monday 16th July 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

My Lords, the noble Lord is right that these work placements are extremely important, and that there is not a one-size-fits-all placement. We have just completed an initial industry placement pilot with 21 providers, and 20,000 placements will take place over the next year as part of the capacity and delivery plan. We will evaluate how these placements have gone and make recommendations drawn from these experiences. This will include whether they have been most successful delivered in a single block, on day release, or by any other pattern. We are also looking at how we can help SMEs more by producing guidance on how they can best take advantage of this facility.

[Baroness Burt of Solihull (LD)]

My Lords, work experience works when it is done well. Although, as the Minister said, the Government publish some guidelines for the 16 to 19 year-old work-study programme, SMEs can struggle in the short term as well as in these longer-term programmes if they are not properly prepared and helped. Who is responsible for ensuring that all work placements reach a good standard, so that it is not just a question of checking workplace safety beforehand but of ensuring that they deliver for the benefit of the student and of the company?

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

My Lords, we are in the process of issuing a package of guidance for businesses, particularly aimed at SMEs; there are 10 areas of guidance in this first batch, including on how to implement industry placements, engaging students and parents or guardians, engaging staff, and the business case for industry placements. We have to accept that this will be an iterative journey as we embark on it at such scale, but we are committed to ensuring that these placements are of high quality.

Academies: Gender Pay Gap

Debate between Lord Agnew of Oulton and Baroness Burt of Solihull

Wednesday 25th April 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

My Lords, my noble friend is quite correct. It is not about any disparity between a man and a woman doing a job—that was outlawed in this country 40 years ago. I take my noble friend’s thanks for the achievements of the Inspiration Trust. Most of the credit must go to my chief executive, who is a woman—Dame Rachel de Souza. We have other exceptional women running trusts: Lucy Heller of ARK and Maura Regan of the Carmel Education Trust. Indeed, at the primary level, 65% of head teachers are women, which shows that there is every opportunity for women in the education system.

[Baroness Burt of Solihull (LD)]

My Lords, I am very grateful to the Minister for the very helpful answers that he has given my noble friend Lord Storey and others. However, is not the real problem here that disproportionately high pay is being channelled up to a tiny number of male-dominated posts at rates far higher than the local authority-run schools can pay? How does the Minister justify that, especially to the 74% of the teaching profession who are hard-working, highly professional women?

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

The noble Baroness asks a very interesting question. The pay in maintained and academy schools is actually very close. For example, the data to November 2016 shows that a maintained secondary school head teacher earned £88,300, compared to an academy secondary school head teacher who earned £92,500. However, the maintained head teacher had a 1% increase in that year, whereas the academy head teacher had a 0.4% decrease. In the primary sector, the comparisons are even closer, at £62,400 for a local authority school and £65,500 for an academy. I do not accept that money is being drawn up to mostly male teachers. As I mentioned in my earlier answer, 65% of primary heads are women. If we look at the starting pay for teachers, we see that, for a graduate teacher between the ages of 21 and 30, the average pay is £27,000, compared to £25,000 for all graduates. That does not include the very generous pension scheme that exists in the teaching profession, which has a 16.4% contribution and is underwritten by the Treasury.