Asked by: Lord Knight of Weymouth (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the cost to schools in England of replacing computers due to the requirements of new Windows 11 operating system.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The department is aware that Microsoft are ending support for Windows 10 in October and are working with Microsoft to manage the impact on schools, including with regard to cost. Devices that meet the specification requirements for Windows 11 will be able to be updated for free. Many schools may have devices which are not able to upgrade to Windows 11 and we are keen to support these schools.
We have validated with Microsoft a more affordable rate for schools for extended security updates on Windows 10 devices, so schools can continue to use these devices safely for the next three years and do not need to purchase new devices. Extended security updates for Windows 10 will be offered to education institutions at the cost of $1 per device in the first year, $2 the following year and $4 the third year. More details about the transition to Windows 11 can be found here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/education/blog/2024/04/windows-10-end-of-support-updates-for-education/.
Schools have the flexibility to choose how they spend their money in relation to technology to best suit their needs and there is no ring-fenced funding for technology. Some services offered through the department’s school resource management collection may also be helpful to schools in managing their budgets. For example, the ‘Get help buying for schools’ service includes the opportunity to get free help from procurement specialists to help those in schools responsible for buying goods and services to get the best value for money. It provides specific advice on buying specific goods and services for their school through a department approved framework. The service is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/get-help-buying-for-schools.
Asked by: Lord Knight of Weymouth (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to improve the capacity of local authorities to assess children for the purposes of education, health and care plans.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The department wants to ensure that, where required, education, health and care (EHC) plan assessments are progressed promptly and, if needed, plans are issued as quickly as possible so that children and young people can access the support they need.
Local authorities have a statutory responsibility to assess whether children and young people have special educational needs that require an EHC plan. EHC plans must be issued within 20 weeks of the needs assessment commencing so that children and young people can access the support they need. The most recent dataset shows that there were 138,200 initial requests for an EHC plan and 90,500 assessments took place in 2023. 50.3% of new EHC plans in 2023 were issued within 20 weeks.
The department recognises the critical role of educational psychologists within the special education needs and disabilities (SEND) system, including in their statutory contribution to EHC assessments. To support this, we are investing over £21 million to train 400 more educational psychologists from 2024. This builds on the £10 million currently being invested in a cohort of over 200 trainees who began their training in September 2023. As these trainees complete their studies, they will join the workforce to support the capacity of local authority educational psychology services, including in delivering assessments.
Furthermore, the department is providing almost £1 billion more for high needs budgets in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding to £11.9 billion. This funding will help local authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting children and young people with complex SEND.
The department knows that local authorities have seen an increase in the number of assessment requests and that more needs to be done to ensure that local areas deliver effective and timely services. This includes better communication with schools and families.
The department continues to monitor and work closely with local authorities that have issues with EHC plan timeliness. Where there are concerns about a local authority’s capacity to make the required improvements, we help the local authority to identify the problems and put in place an effective recovery plan. This includes, where needed, securing specialist SEND adviser support to help identify the barriers to EHC plan process timeliness and put in place practical plans for recovery.
Asked by: Lord Knight of Weymouth (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to retrain the workforce to ensure that the UK has the right skills in the right areas to transition to a low-carbon economy.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
Skills is a devolved matter. This response outlines the information for England only.
The government is committed to the UK becoming a Clean Energy Superpower, achieving clean power by 2030 and net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
The government is working to ensure that the current and future skills system in England supports workers to retrain for the low carbon economy. This includes the new growth and skills offer, which will prioritise investment that supports economic growth, increases opportunity, better meets employers’ skills needs, and increases investment in skills shortage areas. The Autumn Budget 2024 announced an investment of £40 million to help deliver new foundation and shorter apprenticeships in key sectors, an additional £300 million for our further education (FE) sector, as well as £300 million of capital funding for FE condition, to support the development of the skills the country needs.
Over 40 of the occupational standards that underpin technical education in England are directly supportive of the clean energy industry. Others support insulation and energy efficiency in construction.
The government is committed to delivering the Lifelong Learning Entitlement, which will launch in the 2026/27 academic year for courses starting from January 2027. This will broaden access to high-quality, flexible education and training by providing funding for full courses as well as modules of high-value courses. Skills Bootcamps are available to support the workforce to gain new skills, including skills for the low carbon economy.
Skills England is a new national body which will bring together key partners to meet the skills needs of the next decade across all the regions and create a shared national ambition to boost England’s skills. It will provide authoritative assessments of skills needs; ensure a comprehensive suite of apprenticeships, training, and technical qualifications; and work with devolved areas and regional organisations to ensure skills needs are met. Skills England will work closely with the Office for Clean Energy Jobs at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, which has been set up with a focus on developing a skilled workforce in core energy and net zero sectors. Skills England published its first report in September, highlighting the skills needed to support targets on net zero, the Clean Energy Mission and UK targets for environmental improvements.
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has designated employer representative bodies (ERBs) to lead Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs) across England. Education and training providers must have regard to the LSIP when making decisions on provision that may be relevant to the skills, capabilities or expertise required now or in the future in their area.
Asked by: Lord Knight of Weymouth (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to develop the necessary workforce skills to fulfil their plans for safe adoption of artificial intelligence across the UK economy.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The department is committed to creating a world-leading skills system which is employer-focused, high-quality, and fit for the future. We will continue our work to ensure that the education system is able to adapt to deliver upskilling and to provide the skills that learners need for the workplaces of the future, including jobs that will be impacted by, or require the use of, artificial intelligence. This includes increasing opportunities for people to develop higher technical skills through T Levels, Apprenticeships, Skills Bootcamps, and Higher Technical Qualifications, as well as enabling access to modular learning through the Lifelong Learning Entitlement.
The department is investing in artificial intelligence (AI) skills at all stages of education, including higher education. We are working with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to deliver new postgraduate AI and data science conversion courses to boost skills and diversity in AI jobs. The government is also investing £117 million in doctoral training for AI researchers.
The department is also working with other government departments through the UK Science and Technology Framework to deliver talent and skills for five critical technologies, including AI.
This year, the department’s Unit for Future Skills is developing a Skills Dashboard to understand the supply and demand of science, technology, engineering, and maths skills to develop critical technologies like AI and quantum. This data will support improved access to relevant training.
Digital and computing skills will play an important role for individuals developing and using AI in the future workforce. The department is harnessing government and external expertise through the Digital and Computing Skills Education Taskforce to increase the number of people taking digital and computing qualifications and attract a diverse range of individuals into digital jobs.
Asked by: Lord Knight of Weymouth (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of the apprenticeship levy in 2021–22 was (1) spent by levy payers on apprenticeships in their own organisations, (2) handed down to supply chain firms to spend on apprenticeships, and (3) spent by His Majesty’s Government on apprenticeships training for SMEs.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The UK Government, via HM Revenue and Customs, collects an apprenticeship levy of 0.5% on total payroll from businesses across the UK with an annual payroll expenditure of more than £3 million.
From this, HM Treasury sets an English apprenticeships budget for the department, and the devolved governments receive a share of the funding calculated using the Barnett formula.
The apprenticeships budget in England is used to fund training and assessment for new apprenticeship starts for all employers of all sizes, both those who pay the levy and those who do not, and to cover the ongoing costs of apprentices already in training and any additional payments made to employers, providers and apprentices. The department’s apprenticeship budget for the 2021/22 financial year was £2,466 million and total spend was £2,455 million, meaning 99.6% of the apprenticeships budget was spent.
The table below shows the percentage of the apprenticeship spend against the budget by levy payers and non-levy payers in the 2021/22 financial year, including the percentage spend by levy paying employers through levy transfers to other employers. It also reflects the spend on apprenticeships that started prior to the introduction of the apprenticeship levy reform, and non-apprenticeships training, such as the cost of running the apprenticeship service, marketing, and communications campaigns.
Apprenticeship Spend | 2021/22 financial year (£ million) | % Spend against Budget |
Levy payers | 1,592 | 65% |
Of which: via levy transfer |
| 2% |
Non-Levy payers | 817 | 33% |
Pre-apprenticeship levy reforms | 7 | 0% |
Non-apprenticeships training spend | 39 | 2% |
Total Spend | 2,455 | 100% |
Asked by: Lord Knight of Weymouth (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what criteria they will use to decide whether a young person needs an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The Children and Families Act 2014 is clear on the criteria for when a local authority should issue a child or young person with an education, health and care plan. There are no proposals in the recently published Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan to change the statutory criteria.
Asked by: Lord Knight of Weymouth (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether their assessment of the market impact of Oak National Academy in the educational publishing sector was made prior to that organisation becoming an executive non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Education.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The decision to establish Oak National Academy was taken with due regard to a robust assessment of market impact, which was informed by the commercial sector. Monitoring market impact is a priority and will continue throughout Oak National Academy’s lifetime. Results will be factored into the body’s ongoing evaluation and two-year review.
As an integral part of the process to set up Oak National Academy as an arm’s length body, the department produced a business case which included an assessment of potential market impact, including in the educational publishing sector. This business case was published on GOV.UK on 1 November 2022: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/oak-national-academy-business-case.
Asked by: Lord Knight of Weymouth (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Department for Education sought evidence from the education publishing sector about the market impact of Oak National Academy after the full scope and budget was known in September.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The decision to establish Oak National Academy was taken with due regard to a robust assessment of market impact, which was informed by the commercial sector. Monitoring market impact is a priority and will continue throughout Oak National Academy’s lifetime. Results will be factored into the body’s ongoing evaluation and two-year review.
As an integral part of the process to set up Oak National Academy as an arm’s length body, the department produced a business case which included an assessment of potential market impact, including in the educational publishing sector. This business case was published on GOV.UK on 1 November 2022: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/oak-national-academy-business-case.
Asked by: Lord Knight of Weymouth (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether (1) the causes of climate change, and (2) actions that can benefit and decrease any negative impact on the natural environment, are taught in schools in England.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
It is vital that young people are taught about climate change. For this reason, related topics are included throughout both the science and geography curricula and GCSEs. In primary science and geography, pupils are given a firm foundation for the further study of the environment in secondary school. For example, in primary science, pupils are taught about how environments can change as a result of human actions. They will learn about animals’ habitats, including that changes to the environment may pose dangers to living things. In primary geography, pupils will be taught about seasonal and daily weather patterns, climate zones and human geography, including land use, economic activity and the distribution of natural resources.
In secondary science, pupils are taught about the production of carbon dioxide by human activity and the effect this has on the climate. This is expanded on in GCSE science where pupils will consider the evidence for additional anthropogenic causes of climate change. In secondary geography, pupils will look at how human and physical processes interact to influence and change landscapes, environments and the climate. 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 pupils to study topics that will support their understanding of climate change and how it can be tackled.
School and teachers can go beyond the topics set out in the national curriculum, or do more in-depth teaching of these topic areas, if they so wish.
Asked by: Lord Knight of Weymouth (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what incentives are in place for schools in England (1) to measure, and (2) to reduce, carbon emissions.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
Reduction in energy use in new and existing buildings to meet the net zero carbon emissions by 2050 target is a priority for the UK government.
The department published the Good Estate Management for Schools guidance in April 2018. The guidance includes a section on ‘Energy and water management’, and tips on reducing energy and water use in schools, including measuring energy and water consumption. It also signposts schools to other organisations that provide training, information, and support in relation to sustainability and energy efficiency in schools.
In 2020, the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy setup the £1 billion Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme which provided grants for public sector bodies including schools to fund energy efficiency and heat decarbonisation measures. This scheme has now ended, however, schools can apply for funding through Salix for projects to reduce carbon emissions as well as accessing funding through the department’s own Condition Improvement Fund for improvements to buildings and services within schools which contribute to reducing emissions.