Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the higher education sector.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
In 2018-19, there were 2.38 million students studying at UK higher education providers. This includes 143,000 students from the EU and 343,000 students from other countries.
The total UK sector income in 2018/19 was £40.8 billion. Almost 50% of this income was from tuition fees, around 15% comes from research grants and contracts and around 6% comes from residences, catering and conferences.
The government recognises that the Covid-19 outbreak will have an unparalleled impact on all elements of the global and UK economy. The higher education sector, including student recruitment, is no exception.
On 4 May, my right honourable Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, announced a package of measures to stabilise university admissions this autumn and to ensure sustainability in higher education at a time of unprecedented uncertainty. My right hon. Friend, the Minister of State for Universities, wrote to all Honourable Members with full details of the package, details of which have also been published on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-support-package-for-universities-and-students.
The government is doing all that it can to keep staff and students at our universities safe in this unprecedented situation whilst mitigating the impact on education. In March, my right hon. Friend, the Minister of State for Universities, wrote to students at higher education institutions to outline the support available. We continue to work closely with the sector, putting student wellbeing at the heart of these discussions.
Our latest guidance on the impact of Covid-19 is set out below:
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to encourage the promotion of distance learning courses at universities and colleges in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
Despite the significant disruption being felt across the higher education sector, students deserve appropriate support and recognition for their hard work and dedication. I welcome the way in which many universities and colleges have moved rapidly to develop new ways of delivering courses through online teaching and alternatives to traditional end-of-course exams.
We expect providers to consider how their response to the current situation will affect all students and those who might be most vulnerable to disruption. This includes students suffering from COVID-19 or who need to self-isolate, international students, and students unable or less able to access remote learning for whatever reason, together with care leavers, those estranged from their families, and students with disabilities.
The Office for Students (OfS) has recently published guidance setting out the actions it will take to support providers to maintain standards and teaching quality. The guidance highlights flexible models for teaching, learning, assessment that will most likely satisfy OfS quality and standards conditions. The clear expectation is that providers should make all reasonable efforts to enable students to complete their studies, for achievement to be reliably assessed, for qualifications to be awarded securely. Providers are already be making these arrangements. On 23 March, the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education published the first in a series of good practice guidance notes that are available to all UK higher education providers. We know higher education providers take their responsibilities seriously and are best placed to identify the needs of their student body, as well as how to develop the services needed to support it.
The government recognises the Open University plays an important role as the largest provider of part-time higher education in this country and has brought opportunities to engage in higher education to people across the country who would not have had that chance otherwise. The Higher Education and Research Act 2017 placed a duty on OfS to have regard for part time study, and to promote choice and opportunity in the provision of higher education. The OfS targets an element of the Teaching Grant to recognise the additional costs of part-time study and the Open University receives funding through this.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support and promote the Open University during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
Despite the significant disruption being felt across the higher education sector, students deserve appropriate support and recognition for their hard work and dedication. I welcome the way in which many universities and colleges have moved rapidly to develop new ways of delivering courses through online teaching and alternatives to traditional end-of-course exams.
We expect providers to consider how their response to the current situation will affect all students and those who might be most vulnerable to disruption. This includes students suffering from COVID-19 or who need to self-isolate, international students, and students unable or less able to access remote learning for whatever reason, together with care leavers, those estranged from their families, and students with disabilities.
The Office for Students (OfS) has recently published guidance setting out the actions it will take to support providers to maintain standards and teaching quality. The guidance highlights flexible models for teaching, learning, assessment that will most likely satisfy OfS quality and standards conditions. The clear expectation is that providers should make all reasonable efforts to enable students to complete their studies, for achievement to be reliably assessed, for qualifications to be awarded securely. Providers are already be making these arrangements. On 23 March, the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education published the first in a series of good practice guidance notes that are available to all UK higher education providers. We know higher education providers take their responsibilities seriously and are best placed to identify the needs of their student body, as well as how to develop the services needed to support it.
The government recognises the Open University plays an important role as the largest provider of part-time higher education in this country and has brought opportunities to engage in higher education to people across the country who would not have had that chance otherwise. The Higher Education and Research Act 2017 placed a duty on OfS to have regard for part time study, and to promote choice and opportunity in the provision of higher education. The OfS targets an element of the Teaching Grant to recognise the additional costs of part-time study and the Open University receives funding through this.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide financial assistance to international Higher Education students in England to assist with any increase in the cost of returning to their home countries at the end of the 2019–20 academic year.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The government has been working closely with the sector to ensure that international higher education students who have remained in the UK have continued accommodation and access to essential services for the duration of their stay. In addition to continuing to provide accommodation for those who cannot travel home or have no alternative residence, providers are also offering a range of other services to international higher education students, including support for catering and cleaning, and support for mental health. International higher education students are encouraged to speak to their provider if they have any specific concerns about financial hardship.
Before an international student considers returning to their home country, they should seek advice from their home country’s embassy or consulate in the UK. Students planning to travel should adhere to Public Health England advice while in the UK to ensure they are travelling safely. Students should not travel if they, or anyone else in their household, has symptoms of COVID-19.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to provide meals to students resident at hostels in the higher education sector who are unable to return to their home countries.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The government is grateful for the huge amount of work being done across the higher education sector to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 on our students and institutions.
There will be many students – international students, along with students estranged from their parents and care leavers, among others – who remain in university-owned, or private university accommodation at present, particularly now government advice is for students to remain in their current residence, and not to return home. Higher education (HE) providers should aim to ensure that sufficient institutional accommodation is available to these students
In addition, the government has reminded HE providers of their responsibility to support services for students who remain on campus. This includes practical support to ensure students can access sufficient food and medical and cleaning supplies. HE providers have been asked to ensure catering staff are available to support on halls management, even in the event of wider university closure.
It is particularly important that universities who rely on outsourced staff, such as catering, who maintain the delivery of critical services and infrastructure, take appropriate measures to protect the health, safety and welfare of their staff.
The government is also working to improve joint continuity planning between HE providers and Local Resilience Forums to consider how to ensure availability of supply of food and medicines.
We stand ready to support HE providers in any discussion that is needed to ensure they have access to the right resources to care for their students. It is essential that students are reassured that their provider will continue to support them through these difficult and unsettling times.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to promote the uptake of Mandarin in schools in England.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The government believes that learning other languages is important in our globalised economy, as well as helping pupils to prepare for life. As part of this aim, we are funding an intensive language programme which aims to see at least 5,000 young people on track towards fluency in Mandarin Chinese by 2020.
The programme started in 14 secondary schools in 2016, building to 76 schools in the current academic year, with around 5,000 pupils now studying Mandarin. The Mandarin Excellence Programme is intellectually enriching for students and gives them a significant advantage when they enter the world of work. Pupils on the programme study Mandarin for eight hours a week, at least four hours of which are teacher-taught classroom lessons – a significant increase on the time pupils usually spend on the subject.
More widely, the department has introduced the English Baccalaureate performance measure, which includes languages, and has seen the proportion of GCSE entries from pupils in state-funded schools in a modern foreign language increase from 40% in 2010 to 47% in 2019. The reformed national curriculum now makes it compulsory for pupils in maintained schools to be taught a foreign language in key stage 2.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve the life chances of children taken into care.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The government is committed to ensuring that all children taken into care have the best possible chances in life.
We have given looked after children top priority in school admissions to ensure they have access to the very best schools and their education is supported through the expertise and leadership of local authority Virtual School Heads (VSHs). VSHs are directly accountable for the educational outcomes of looked-after children and receive pupil premium plus funding to work with schools to support the education of individual children and the cohort as a whole. Pupil premium plus funding is £2,300 per child in 2019/20 rising to £2,345 in 2020/21. In addition, in recognition of the importance of ensuring that the mental health and wellbeing needs of looked-after children are identified, we are investing over £1 million to pilot high quality mental health assessments for children entering care.
The support does not stop when children leave care. Building on the measures already introduced through the cross-government care leaver strategy, in October 2019 we announced a further £19 million in 2020/21 to improve care leavers’ outcomes, including £10 million to expand Staying Put, so more care leavers can continue to live with their former foster carers until age 21 and £6 million to begin rolling out Staying Close, which provides extra support for young people leaving residential care. We are also providing £3 million to improve support for care leavers in further education.
The announcement also set out plans to establish a cross-government ministerial board to drive improved support for care leavers and a target to secure 1,000 public sector internships for care leavers by 2022.
The government also confirmed in February that it would carry out an independent review of the care system to make sure that all care placements and settings are providing children and young adults with the support they need so that they have the best possible chance to succeed in life.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure children are taught how climate change can be combatted.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
It is important that young people are taught about climate change and sustainability. Topics related to this are included in both the science and geography curricula and qualifications.
For example, in primary science pupils are taught about how environments can change as a result of human actions. In secondary science, pupils are taught about the production of carbon dioxide by human activity and the effect this has on the climate. They will also learn about the efficacy of recycling. This is expanded on in GCSE science where pupils will consider the evidence for anthropogenic causes of climate change. They will study the impact of increased levels of carbon dioxide and methane and how this can be mitigated. Pupils will also learn about renewable and non-renewable energy sources.
As part of GCSE geography pupils will look at the causes, consequences of and responses to extreme weather conditions and natural weather hazards. In 2017, the Department also introduced a new environmental science A-Level. This will enable students to further study topics that will support their understanding of climate change and how it can be tackled.
In addition, sustainability content will be included in T-Levels, new post-16 technical study programmes. In setting outline content, the T-Level panels of employers and industry experts must consider the inclusion of sustainability as relevant to their sector. For example, in construction, T-Level students will be required to learn about renewable energy and emerging technologies to support energy efficiency.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to promote (1) racial, and (2) religious, integration in schools.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Education plays a vital role in promoting integration and preparing our children and young people for life in a modern and diverse Britain.
All schools must promote community cohesion and are required to actively promote our shared values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance for those of different faiths and beliefs. Promotion of these values is part of Ofsted’s inspection framework and the department has published guidance to schools on promoting these important values as part of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Schools are also required to comply with the relevant provisions of the Equality Act 2010.
In 2016, the department also launched the Educate Against Hate website, through which we continue to provide free resources for teachers and school leaders to support their promotion of these values. This includes the department’s Respectful School Communities toolkit; a self-review and signposting tool to support schools to develop a whole-school approach which promotes respect and discipline, helping to combat bullying, harassment and prejudice of any kind.
The department also funds a number of specific initiatives to support schools in addressing these issues. This includes the provision of over £2.8 million of funding between September 2016 and March 2020 to four anti-bullying organisations, to support schools to tackle bullying – including projects focused on targeted bullying of particular groups, such as those who are victims of hate-related bullying, and projects which encourage children and young people to think about the importance of tackling prejudice and discrimination.
As part of our commitments in the Government’s Integrated Communities Action Plan, the department is also funding an expanded national school linking programme, which seeks to encourage meaningful social mixing between different types of schools and foster understanding of those with different backgrounds, faiths and beliefs. In the last year, the Linking Network has worked with over 540 schools, leading to over 22,500 pupils taking part in activities supporting integration.
As part of this same package, the department has also strengthened expectations for all new free schools on the promotion of community cohesion and integration, to make sure they are doing all that they can to ensure children and young people are able to participate fully in life in modern Britain.
The department is also introducing health education for pupils receiving state-funded primary and secondary education, alongside relationships education in all primary schools, and relationships and sex education (RSE) in all secondary schools. Mental wellbeing is a core component of the new health education curriculum, as well as being embedded in (RSE). Schools will be required to teach about a range of issues which will be relevant to wellbeing, including bullying, respectful relationships and online relationships.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to combat hate crime at universities.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
Any incident of hate crime is unacceptable and we cannot tolerate staff and students being victims of it at our world-leading universities.
Higher education (HE) providers have clear responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010. They should discharge their responsibilities fully and have robust policies and procedures in place to comply with the law, and to investigate and swiftly address incidents reported to them.
In its guidance to the Office for Students (OfS), the government has tasked the OfS to tackle these important issues, including the implementation of Universities UK’s (UUK) Taskforce recommendations. The OfS and its predecessor body allocated £4.7 million for a safeguarding scheme to address harassment and hate crime in HE. On 9 January 2020, the OfS published a consultation on harassment and sexual misconduct in HE. This consultation, which concludes on 27 March 2020, asks for views on how the OfS will regulate harassment, including hate-based and sexual misconduct. The OfS expects providers to have policies, processes and systems in place to effectively address these issues.
Evaluation to date has shown that progress has been made but that there is still more to do. The government will continue to work closely with partners, including UUK and the OfS to support work to address hate crime and harassment in universities.