Asked by: Lord Jones (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to make further funding available to further education colleges and universities to assist with their financial challenges.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
All young people should have access to high quality education and training that meets their needs and provides them with opportunities to thrive. This is why, in the 2025/26 financial year, the government is providing an additional £300 million for further education to ensure young people are developing the skills they need to succeed.
The department recognises the financial strain that some higher education (HE) providers are under and are working closely with the Office for Students (OfS) to monitor any risks and to ensure there are robust plans in place to mitigate them. Sir David Behan has been appointed as interim OfS Chair to oversee the important work of refocusing the OfS’ role to concentrate on key priorities, including the HE sector’s financial stability.
HE providers are autonomous and responsible for managing their own budgets and business models. However, in recognition of the financial challenges the sector is facing, the government has made the difficult decision to increase tuition fee limits by forecast Retail Prices Index inflation. As a result, the maximum fee for a standard full-time undergraduate course in the 2025/26 academic year will increase by 3.1%, from £9,250 to £9,535. Longer-term funding plans for the HE sector will be set out in due course.
Adapting to the changed context of the HE sector over the next decade will require providers to undertake a more fundamental re-examination of business models and much less wasteful spending. In return for the increased investment we are asking students to make in the sector, we will need to see far greater collaboration across the sector to drive efficiency. We will expect the sector to be significantly more transparent on how it is managing its resources and to be held to account for delivering great value for money for students and the taxpayer.
Asked by: Lord Jones (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many apprenticeships there are in the aerospace sector.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
The most recent statistics on apprenticeship starts by industry characteristics cover the 2021/22 academic year and are published here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships-in-england-by-industry-characteristics. Apprenticeship starts in the aerospace sector by year, from 2017/18 to 2021/22, can be found attached and also in the following linked table: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/d7e45bd9-6d39-419d-ea95-08dcfb0032ff.
Asked by: Lord Jones (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase the number of female apprenticeships in the manufacturing industry.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The proportion of females starting apprenticeships in Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies has risen from 7.3% in the 2017/18 academic year to 10.6% in the 2020/21 academic year.
The department wants to see even more women accessing traditionally male-dominated fields such as Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) and those that offer the highest wage returns. 15% of starts in STEM apprenticeships were by women in the 2020/21 academic year, up from 11% in 2019/20 and 10% in 2018/19.
Our Apprenticeships Diversity Champions Network is championing gender representation amongst employers in industries where improvement is needed, including engineering and manufacturing. The network published a report during National Apprenticeship Week 2022 sharing best practice and hints and tips for employers to improve diversity in apprenticeships. In addition, our Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge (ASK) Programme is continuing to provide free resources to promote STEM apprenticeships to girls in schools.
We are working with the Apprenticeships in Manufacturing (AiM) group, which includes industry partners such as Make UK and Enginuity, to grow the number of high-quality apprenticeships in the manufacturing sector.
Asked by: Lord Jones (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) male, and (2) female, graduate apprenticeships were taken up in (a) 2018, and (b) 2021.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
Apprenticeships are available from level 2, equivalent to GCSE level, through to level 6, equivalent to a bachelor’s degree, and level 7, equivalent to a master’s degree. The attached file contains male/female breakdowns by apprenticeship level for apprenticeship starts from the 2017/18 to 2020/21 academic years.
Apprenticeship achievements from 2017/18 to 2020/21 are shown in the table below:
Academic Year | Achievements |
2017/18 | 276,160 |
2018/19 | 185,150 |
2019/20 | 146,900 |
2020/21 | 156,530 |
Total achievements are the count of apprenticeships achieved at any point during the stated academic period. Learners achieving more than one apprenticeship will appear more than once.
Further information on apprenticeships starts and achievements can be found in the apprenticeships and traineeships statistics publication here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships-and-traineeships.
Asked by: Lord Jones (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many apprenticeships were completed in (1) 2018, and (2) 2021.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
Apprenticeships are available from level 2, equivalent to GCSE level, through to level 6, equivalent to a bachelor’s degree, and level 7, equivalent to a master’s degree. The attached file contains male/female breakdowns by apprenticeship level for apprenticeship starts from the 2017/18 to 2020/21 academic years.
Apprenticeship achievements from 2017/18 to 2020/21 are shown in the table below:
Academic Year | Achievements |
2017/18 | 276,160 |
2018/19 | 185,150 |
2019/20 | 146,900 |
2020/21 | 156,530 |
Total achievements are the count of apprenticeships achieved at any point during the stated academic period. Learners achieving more than one apprenticeship will appear more than once.
Further information on apprenticeships starts and achievements can be found in the apprenticeships and traineeships statistics publication here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships-and-traineeships.
Asked by: Lord Jones (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure that (1) schools, and (2) colleges, are fully (a) engaged, and (b) committed, to the T-Level programme in their areas.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
We have raised awareness of T Levels through targeted engagement with schools and colleges, working with education sector organisations, and marketing campaigns aimed at students, parents and employers. There are currently just over 100 providers delivering T Levels, including colleges and schools. Over 400 providers are planning to deliver T Levels from 2023, with all general further education colleges included at that point.
We have given significant, early support to providers to ensure readiness for delivery, including network events, peer support, and funding to build capacity for industry placements and workforce preparation. We are also working closely with Ofsted to ensure the successful delivery of T Levels more broadly and have commissioned a thematic survey of the first three years of T Level delivery. This will help us identify strengths, weaknesses and areas for improvement across a substantial sample of providers to help inform best practice for the future rollout.
Asked by: Lord Jones (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the budget earmarked for the National Tutoring Programme.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The National Tutoring Programme has a budget of £1.01 billion for the duration of the 3 year programme. The department does not hold data on how many tutors currently work in the programme
Schools are employing tutors by using their share of the £579 million school-led tutoring grant. Last term, 256,000 courses started with these tutors.
56 approved tuition partners are contracted with the department’s delivery partner, Randstad, to provide tutoring. Each tutoring organisation commits to delivering a minimum of 500 15-hour tuition courses.
As of 12 December 2021, an estimated 20,000 starts had been made by pupils on courses of tuition provided through academic mentors in the 2021/22 academic year.
Asked by: Lord Jones (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many tutors there are currently in the National Tutoring Programme.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The National Tutoring Programme has a budget of £1.01 billion for the duration of the 3 year programme. The department does not hold data on how many tutors currently work in the programme
Schools are employing tutors by using their share of the £579 million school-led tutoring grant. Last term, 256,000 courses started with these tutors.
56 approved tuition partners are contracted with the department’s delivery partner, Randstad, to provide tutoring. Each tutoring organisation commits to delivering a minimum of 500 15-hour tuition courses.
As of 12 December 2021, an estimated 20,000 starts had been made by pupils on courses of tuition provided through academic mentors in the 2021/22 academic year.
Asked by: Lord Jones (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much was spent on the (1) upgrading, and (2) improvement, of (a) primary, and (b) secondary, state school buildings for the years (i) 2015, and (ii) 2000.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The department allocates annual condition funding to schools and those responsible for school buildings. Since 2015, the department has allocated £11.3 billion to maintain and improve school buildings, including £1.8 billion for the financial year 2021-22.
Local authorities (LAs), large multi-academy trusts and large voluntary-aided (VA) school bodies receive an annual school condition allocation to invest in capital maintenance and upgrades across the schools for which they are responsible. Stand-alone schools, small academy trusts and smaller VA bodies are eligible to apply for funding through the Condition Improvement Fund.
All schools also receive funding to spend on their capital priorities through an annual devolved formula capital allocation.
In addition to condition allocations, we deliver major rebuilding programmes centrally, including the Priority Schools Building Programme, which is rebuilding or refurbishing more than 500 schools in the poorest condition. In June 2020, my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, announced a new 10-year School Rebuilding Programme. We have announced the first 100 schools to benefit from the programme, as part of a commitment to 500 projects over the next decade.
In the 2015-16 financial year, the department allocated a total of £5.1 billion in capital funding to schools, including funding for rebuilding projects and to deliver school places. This includes £1,399,601,236 in condition funding to schools and those responsible for school buildings. You can find the allocations for individual schools here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-capital-funding. This funding is not broken down between primary and secondary schools because much of the funding was allocated to LAs, academy trusts and VA school bodies to invest based on local knowledge.
In the 2000-01 financial year, the department allocated £1.9 billion in capital funding for schools. A breakdown of how this funding was spent across different projects is not readily available.
Asked by: Lord Jones (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) primary, and (2) secondary, academy schools there are at present.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
As of 1 January 2022, there are 6,474 primary academies and free schools, and 2,768 secondary academies, free schools, university technical colleges and studio schools. Primary academies include middle-deemed primary schools, whilst secondary academies include all-through schools, middle-deemed secondary schools and 16 to 19 academies.