Asked by: Lord Naseby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the report School Recovery Strategies: Year 1 findings, published on 11 January, when they plan to re-introduce sports and physical education at the daily recommended activity levels of at least 60 minutes.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department’s COVID-19 guidance has supported schools to continue to provide physical education (PE), sport and physical activity through COVID-19 restrictions. Schools have the flexibility to decide how PE, sport and physical activity will be provided to pupils while following the measures in their system of controls.
It is this government’s ambition that 30 minutes of the 60 minutes of physical activity a day recommended by the Chief Medical Officers should be done at school. This can include all forms of activity such as PE, active travel, after-school activities, play and sports. The School Sport and Activity Action Plan, which aims to make sport and physical activity an integral part of both the school day and after-school activities, enabling all children have the opportunity to take part in at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day, will be updated this year. Primary schools have also continued to receive the £320 million PE and sport premium, supporting improvements in the quality of the PE, sport and physical activity which they offer.
In October 2021 the government also announced nearly £30 million a year will go towards improving the teaching of PE at primary school, as well as to improve and opening up school sport facilities in England.
Asked by: Lord Naseby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why the Professional and Career Development Loans scheme has not been re-opened for HGV drivers.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Commercial providers of Professional and Career Development Loans have withdrawn from the scheme over the last few years. The scheme ended for new lending when the contract between the government and The Co-operative Bank expired in early 2019.
The department is providing support for Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) driver training through other routes. We are investing up to £17 million to create new Skills Bootcamps to offer 5,000 training places in HGV driving to help tackle the current HGV driver shortage. The free, intensive courses will train drivers to be road ready and gain a category C or category C&E licence or additional qualifications, for example to haul fuel, as well as refresher courses to help drivers who have left the profession to return. An additional 1,000 people are expected to be trained through courses accessed locally and funded by the government’s adult education budget.
Asked by: Lord Naseby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of Department for Education staff based in central London were working from their office desks on 2 September.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
Staff in the department have been working remotely since the middle of March and have been focused on dealing with the challenges posed by COVID-19.
In recent months, the Department for Education has been working to ensure all our buildings are Covid-secure and putting in place plans to welcome staff safely back to the office.
Phase 1 saw a small number of volunteer staff return to the larger offices in August. Phase 2 started on 1 September, opening up to 20% capacity across our 7 largest offices. Phase 3 is being planned and will enable 30-40% of capacity to be opened up, including at the department’s smaller sites.
We continue to see an increase in number of staff returning and on Wednesday 2 September, a total of 4% of staff who are contracted as London based worked in Sanctuary Buildings, Westminster.
As of Wednesday 9 September, 5.5% of London based staff were working from Sanctuary Buildings, Westminster.