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.
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 freedom of speech on campuses at universities.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
This government will ensure that our universities are places where free speech can thrive and will strengthen academic freedoms.
The freedom to express views openly, challenge ideas and engage in robust debate is crucial to the student experience and to democracy. Individuals should never be in a position where they can be stopped from, or are made to feel inhibited in, expressing an opinion perfectly lawfully.
The government worked alongside the Equalities and Human Rights Commission which published new guidance in February 2019 on freedom of speech in higher education to support higher education providers and students’ unions in delivering their duties.
The Office for Students (OfS) also has an important role to play in championing free speech and promoting good practice. A public interest principle relating to free speech is built into the OfS regulatory framework.
The government will be looking closely at how well higher education providers are meeting these obligations and will consider whether further action is needed, working with a range of partners.
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 that the remuneration of vice-chancellors of universities is at an appropriate level.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
While universities are autonomous institutions and responsible for setting the pay of their staff, they receive significant amounts of public funding and are rightly subject to public scrutiny.
Vice chancellor salaries must be justifiable and should not be excessive. The process for setting pay must be transparent. The government agrees with the recommendation made by the Committee of University Chairs (CUC) in its senior staff remuneration code that vice chancellors should not sit on the committee that sets their pay.
The government set up the Office for Students (OfS) to regulate the higher education sector and to ensure the sector is delivering real value for money. The OfS has said that universities should, as a minimum, be following the CUC senior staff remuneration code. Where issues with senior staff pay lead to concerns, the OfS has the power to carry out independent reviews to ensure that a provider’s governance arrangements are fit for purpose.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made in improving education outcomes for Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller communities.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The latest published data, including breakdowns for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) pupils, relates to 2019 at key stage 2 and 2018 at key stage 4. At both stages, the data showed a small improvement in headline attainment measures for this group compared to the previous year. At key stage 2, the percentage of GRT pupils attaining the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics rose from 19% in 2018 to 20% in 2019. At key stage 4, the percentage achieving grades 9-4 in English and mathematics rose from 11.8% in 2017 to 13.1% in 2018.
The government is taking significant steps forward to support attainment and progression for all pupils, including GRT pupils. Our education reforms, including those aimed at improving teaching; encouraging good attendance and behaviour; and strengthening the curriculum and examination system, are designed to improve opportunity and standards for all pupils. These reforms are underpinned by school accountability measures, which are intended to encourage schools to focus more closely on the attainment of all their pupils.
Through the pupil premium; we are addressing low economic circumstances. This is a key factor that predicts future educational outcomes, and affects a high proportion of GRT children. Since 2011, we have provided over £15 billion of this additional funding, with a further £2.4 billion being distributed in this financial year.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what provision they are making to enable those adults whose first language is not English to learn the language to a reasonable standard; and what resources they have committed to such provision in the last 12 months.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Department for Education funds English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) through the Adult Education Budget (AEB). Colleges and adult learning providers have the freedom and flexibility to determine how they use their AEB allocation to meet the needs of their communities. In 2017/18, the latest year for which we have data available, this supported 114,300 adult learners to access English courses with £105 million of investment from the AEB.
In addition, the Home Office and Department for Education have provided £10 million from 2016 - 2020 to enable refugees resettled through the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme to access additional classes. From April 2019, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government set up a new Integrated Communities English Language programme, worth £4.5 million for this year. The programme will deliver community-based English language learning in 2019/20 for over 19,000 learners.
The Department for Education is working closely with other government departments to develop a new strategy for ESOL. This strategy will provide a shared vision and common aims for all publicly funded ESOL.