Covid-19: Educational Settings

Debate between Lord Empey and Baroness Berridge

Thursday 7th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, there have been significant changes. As I just outlined, we hope we will carry forward certain changes if they are in the best interests of children. There will be a moment to reflect at some point on all the changes that have happened, on the use of online and where it is and is not appropriate. Our focus is on supporting staff and schools to deliver education and to focus on reopening our schools as soon as public health data allows us to.

[Lord Empey (UUP) [V]]

My Lords, by the time this pandemic is over, virtually two full academic years will have been severely disrupted. I served on the Select Committee of your Lordships’ House on food, poverty and the environment last year. It was very clear that a lot of very severely disadvantaged children were falling further and further behind. While I welcome my noble friend’s announcement about the provision of laptops and connectivity, she will know that a number of people will simply not have the expertise to use the equipment and there will be parts of the country where the signal will not be available. What provisions will be made for an emergency recovery plan when this pandemic is over to prevent these children completely falling out of society and having their life chances severely affected?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, we are keenly aware of the effect that the closure of schools has, particularly on disadvantaged children. We are aware that school is a protective factor for many children and that schools are the second-largest referrers to children’s social care.

On disadvantaged children, the holiday activities fund will be in every local authority area from the Easter holidays. There is still also the winter Covid fund of £170 million until the end of March, which is being given to local authorities. That should cover any needs during February half term. The reasons the noble Lord outlined are why we have directed that schools should be in daily contact with children through the remote education they are delivering, so that any children who are struggling, particularly if they have mental health issues, can be brought into school at the discretion of the school leadership.

The Covid catch-up fund that I have outlined has been moved to remote provision. On getting data, the Renaissance Learning partnership, which is gathering information on lost time in education, is looking at how that can now be used now that we have this interruption to education again. We are keen to get the data as soon as we can.

Lifetime Skills Guarantee and Post-16 Education

Debate between Lord Empey and Baroness Berridge

Tuesday 6th October 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, these are not just statements of intention; today, I have outlined that the numerous initiatives that have been started by the Department for Education and the Department for Work and Pensions are matched by funding. They will be a reality—some of them are already. The noble Baroness is completely right: in relation to the UTCs, which are important in promoting technical education, there is now a duty on the local authority and on schools to make sure that young people are made aware of that offer. The careers service has a link with employers locally so that they are brought into schools to outline the needs and skills that they have.

Teachers have been assisted to make sure that they are also aware of the apprenticeship offers because, unfortunately, as the noble Baroness will know from a Select Committee we both sat on, many teachers have not gone through these routes. We have been helping and training them and giving them the links so that they can make people aware of these offers. We want a greater take-up of level 3 and, particularly, levels 4 and 5 qualifications and for them to be validated by employers as making people qualified for jobs.

[Lord Empey (UUP)]

My Lords, I broadly welcome the trajectory of the Statement, but, speaking as someone who had responsibility at home for skills and both further and higher education, I assure my noble friend that simply giving people training on its own is not enough. If it does not lead to a job, there is demoralisation and the young people find themselves going round in circles doing different courses and getting demoralised as they go. Important though apprenticeships are, for employers, it is not simply about money: unless there is an outlet for that apprentice, there is no job.

I personally believe that the biggest problem we face in our broader education sector is snobbery. It has been referred to, and we can call it whatever we like, but that is what it is. We do not value vocational education the same as academic education. When will the noble Baroness tell us what steps will be taken to ensure that those young people do not have their morale destroyed by not having some role? If those people cannot find a job, will her department consider the idea of reintroducing the old-style ACE scheme, where at least people had employment in a social enterprise to tide them over until such time as a job in the private sector became available?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, I assure the noble Lord that there is no snobbery in the Department for Education; we want to promote parity of esteem for vocational and technical qualifications across our sector. The Prime Minister and the Secretary of State are behind this Everybody has a role to play in ensuring that these skills are seen and respected; television programming over the last 10 years has shown the importance of construction in many of the programmes that they have chosen to produce. We have also invested £900 million in work coaches, who are essential to getting alongside people on a one-to-one basis to help them into work. There is £17 million for the new workplace academy programmes, which are helping people with their CVs and job interviews.

The noble Lord is correct: one of the things we have to do for young people is this review, particularly of level 4 and level 5 qualifications, of which there are over 4,000. I remember sitting with the noble Baroness on a Select Committee and seeing the plethora of avenues and qualifications that were there, so that the pathway is clearer for young people and they get a qualification that an employer says is relevant and equips them for the job that they want. I can only draw attention, once again, to the £2 billion for the Kickstart scheme, which is about jobs for young people who find themselves on universal credit at the moment.