Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with (1) representatives of the devolved governments, and (2) trade unions, regarding the geographical discrepancies in starting salaries for teachers across the UK.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) makes recommendations on Teachers’ Pay and Conditions in maintained schools in England. If my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, agrees to these recommendations they are implemented through the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document.
In 2023/24, the government fully accepted the STRB’s recommendations for teachers’ and leaders’ pay awards.
This means that teachers and leaders in maintained schools received a pay award of 6.5% this academic year, the highest pay award for teachers in over thirty years.
This award also delivered the government’s manifesto commitment of a minimum £30,000 starting salary for school teachers in all regions of the country, with a pay award of up to 7.1% for new teachers outside London.
Teacher pay is a devolved matter in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and is not affected by this pay award. Any decisions on pay within the education sector of devolved administrations is a matter for their national governments to decide upon. Departmental officials have regular contact and discussions with their devolved administration counterparts on developments on respective pay and conditions policy.
The department engages with unions regarding pay and other matters throughout the year. Furthermore, all statutory consultees (including unions) have the opportunity to provide written and oral evidence to the STRB and are consulted on the department’s proposals for pay and conditions.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions ministers have had with the Department for Education in Northern Ireland regarding the shortfall in school places for children with special educational needs.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
Ministers meet with Cabinet colleagues regularly to discuss a variety of topics.
In March this year, the department published the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan. This applies to England only, but the department shared a draft with the devolved administrations ahead of publication, to help build understanding of the proposals.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with (1) teaching unions, and (2) the devolved administrations, regarding making teaching a more attractive profession in all four nations of the United Kingdom.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Recruitment and retention of teachers is a devolved matter. Ministers and officials from the Department for Education regularly engage with the teaching unions and hold UK wide discussions on issues around the recruitment and retention of teachers.
It is for each nation to develop its own recruitment and retention policies to meet local and national need. In England, the department published a recruitment and retention strategy in 2019 which was co-designed with stakeholders, including teaching unions. We regularly and routinely meet with teaching unions to discuss the implementation of our strategy. Engagement with stakeholders, such as teaching unions is a key part of our policy development and delivery processes.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they plan to have with the devolved administrations to agree a four-nation approach to broadening skills in the fashion and textiles sectors.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Skills provision is a devolved matter. It is for each nation to develop its own skills policies to meet local and national need. In England, we have introduced a range of skills polices and also published the ‘Skills for Jobs’ White Paper in January 2021, which sets out our blueprint to reform post-16 education and training. It is focused on giving people the skills they need, in a way that suits them, so they can get great jobs in sectors the economy needs and boost this country’s productivity. By 2030, almost all technical courses will be on employer-led standards, ensuring that the education and training people receive are directly linked to the skills needed for jobs.
Our polices and reforms are aimed at delivering high-quality provision across a range of sectors, including fashion and textiles.
The introduction of T Levels will boost access to high quality technical education for thousands of 16-19 year olds. T Levels in Craft and Design, developed by relevant employers including the British Fashion Council and UK Fashion & Textile Association, will be available for first teaching from September 2023. While T Levels are currently an England only offer, we are exploring the possibility of extending T Levels outside of the English market, giving opportunity to other administrations to benefit from the quality and ingenuity of T Levels where this fits with their overall post-16 provision
We are also committed to supporting more people to benefit from the high quality training that apprenticeships offer, including those at the start of their career or those looking to retrain. The department is responsible for apprenticeships policy in England only. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland receive a share of levy funding and it is the responsibility of the devolved administrations to decide how they spend this share to fund and operate their apprenticeship programmes.
In England there are currently 54 high quality employer-designed apprenticeship standards available for the creative and design sector, including 6 for fashion related opportunities. As of 3 August, we have introduced a £7 million fund to help employers in England set up flexi-job apprenticeships agencies, to support sectors such as agriculture, construction and the creative industries.
The government is investing £3 billion in the National Skills Fund, which includes £500 million in Barnett funding for the devolved administrations. We have not had any discussions with the devolved nations about a joint approach to broadening skills in the fashion and textiles sectors through the National Skills Fund, but in England, the government is supporting any adult who does not have A level equivalent or higher qualifications, to access over 400 fully funded level 3 courses, with Free Courses for Jobs. The offer includes qualifications that can support adults to progress in the fashion and textiles industry.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking (1) to procure, and (2) to deliver, (a) laptops, and (b) home internet access, to disadvantaged students in Leeds during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The department has provided laptops, tablets and connectivity support to schools and social care services during the COVID-19 outbreak to enable them to support disadvantaged and vulnerable children. Over the summer, over 220,000 laptops and tablets were provided to allow schools and social care services to support disadvantaged pupils in year 10, children with a social worker, and care leavers.
This term, the department has bolstered this support by providing laptops and tablets to schools where face to face education has been disrupted in order to enable them to support pupils in years 3 to 11. We will have made over 500,000 devices available by the end of the year and invested nearly £200 million to support remote education. The devices and connectivity support are provided to local authorities, trusts and schools. They are best placed to know which pupils need access and are responsible for onward distribution.
The department publishes delivery data periodically. We therefore have two snapshots, summer term as of 27 August and current term as of 23 October.
As of 27 August 2020, 3,016 laptops and tablets had been delivered to Leeds Council and schools. Delivery data reflecting support provided over the summer is published here:
Given that devices for non-maintained schools were provided to academy trusts, and that these can span multiple local authorities, we cannot provide a precise figure for the number of devices received by schools in Leeds during summer term.
Information on the laptops and tablets provided this term to schools, local authorities and academy trusts as of 23 October 2020 is published below. We have delivered 105,508 nationally: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/929064/Ad-hoc_stats_note_shipped_data_231020_FINAL.pdf
We will be publishing further delivery data after the end of term.
For deliveries during both the summer and autumn term, the department has allocated a number of laptops and tablets to each school. This term, schools are invited to order from this allocation when face to face education is disrupted.
To arrive at this allocation of devices, the department used data on the number of pupils eligible for free school meals in each school. The department expects that pupils’ device needs will be met to some extent by existing school laptops and tablets that the school already owns.
To identify the number of children who require support to access the internet, the department used data on pupils eligible for free school meals in each school, taking into consideration estimations by Ofcom and reflecting that some pupils would already have access to a private internet connection.
Schools, local authorities and academy trusts can request additional devices if their allocation from the department does not meet their needs. These requests can be submitted to covid.technology@education.gov.uk.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many laptops they committed to provide to schools in (1) England, and (2) Leeds, during the COVID-19 pandemic; and how many have been delivered.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The department has provided laptops, tablets and connectivity support to schools and social care services during the COVID-19 outbreak to enable them to support disadvantaged and vulnerable children. Over the summer, over 220,000 laptops and tablets were provided to allow schools and social care services to support disadvantaged pupils in year 10, children with a social worker, and care leavers.
This term, the department has bolstered this support by providing laptops and tablets to schools where face to face education has been disrupted in order to enable them to support pupils in years 3 to 11. We will have made over 500,000 devices available by the end of the year and invested nearly £200 million to support remote education. The devices and connectivity support are provided to local authorities, trusts and schools. They are best placed to know which pupils need access and are responsible for onward distribution.
The department publishes delivery data periodically. We therefore have two snapshots, summer term as of 27 August and current term as of 23 October.
As of 27 August 2020, 3,016 laptops and tablets had been delivered to Leeds Council and schools. Delivery data reflecting support provided over the summer is published here:
Given that devices for non-maintained schools were provided to academy trusts, and that these can span multiple local authorities, we cannot provide a precise figure for the number of devices received by schools in Leeds during summer term.
Information on the laptops and tablets provided this term to schools, local authorities and academy trusts as of 23 October 2020 is published below. We have delivered 105,508 nationally: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/929064/Ad-hoc_stats_note_shipped_data_231020_FINAL.pdf
We will be publishing further delivery data after the end of term.
For deliveries during both the summer and autumn term, the department has allocated a number of laptops and tablets to each school. This term, schools are invited to order from this allocation when face to face education is disrupted.
To arrive at this allocation of devices, the department used data on the number of pupils eligible for free school meals in each school. The department expects that pupils’ device needs will be met to some extent by existing school laptops and tablets that the school already owns.
To identify the number of children who require support to access the internet, the department used data on pupils eligible for free school meals in each school, taking into consideration estimations by Ofcom and reflecting that some pupils would already have access to a private internet connection.
Schools, local authorities and academy trusts can request additional devices if their allocation from the department does not meet their needs. These requests can be submitted to covid.technology@education.gov.uk.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of (1) the total number, and (2) the percentage, of schoolchildren in (a) England, and (b) Leeds, currently without access to a laptop at home.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The department has provided laptops, tablets and connectivity support to schools and social care services during the COVID-19 outbreak to enable them to support disadvantaged and vulnerable children. Over the summer, over 220,000 laptops and tablets were provided to allow schools and social care services to support disadvantaged pupils in year 10, children with a social worker, and care leavers.
This term, the department has bolstered this support by providing laptops and tablets to schools where face to face education has been disrupted in order to enable them to support pupils in years 3 to 11. We will have made over 500,000 devices available by the end of the year and invested nearly £200 million to support remote education. The devices and connectivity support are provided to local authorities, trusts and schools. They are best placed to know which pupils need access and are responsible for onward distribution.
The department publishes delivery data periodically. We therefore have two snapshots, summer term as of 27 August and current term as of 23 October.
As of 27 August 2020, 3,016 laptops and tablets had been delivered to Leeds Council and schools. Delivery data reflecting support provided over the summer is published here:
Given that devices for non-maintained schools were provided to academy trusts, and that these can span multiple local authorities, we cannot provide a precise figure for the number of devices received by schools in Leeds during summer term.
Information on the laptops and tablets provided this term to schools, local authorities and academy trusts as of 23 October 2020 is published below. We have delivered 105,508 nationally: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/929064/Ad-hoc_stats_note_shipped_data_231020_FINAL.pdf
We will be publishing further delivery data after the end of term.
For deliveries during both the summer and autumn term, the department has allocated a number of laptops and tablets to each school. This term, schools are invited to order from this allocation when face to face education is disrupted.
To arrive at this allocation of devices, the department used data on the number of pupils eligible for free school meals in each school. The department expects that pupils’ device needs will be met to some extent by existing school laptops and tablets that the school already owns.
To identify the number of children who require support to access the internet, the department used data on pupils eligible for free school meals in each school, taking into consideration estimations by Ofcom and reflecting that some pupils would already have access to a private internet connection.
Schools, local authorities and academy trusts can request additional devices if their allocation from the department does not meet their needs. These requests can be submitted to covid.technology@education.gov.uk.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of (1) the total number, and (2) the percentage of schoolchildren in (a) England and (b) Leeds who are currently without home internet access.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The department has provided laptops, tablets and connectivity support to schools and social care services during the COVID-19 outbreak to enable them to support disadvantaged and vulnerable children. Over the summer, over 220,000 laptops and tablets were provided to allow schools and social care services to support disadvantaged pupils in year 10, children with a social worker, and care leavers.
This term, the department has bolstered this support by providing laptops and tablets to schools where face to face education has been disrupted in order to enable them to support pupils in years 3 to 11. We will have made over 500,000 devices available by the end of the year and invested nearly £200 million to support remote education. The devices and connectivity support are provided to local authorities, trusts and schools. They are best placed to know which pupils need access and are responsible for onward distribution.
The department publishes delivery data periodically. We therefore have two snapshots, summer term as of 27 August and current term as of 23 October.
As of 27 August 2020, 3,016 laptops and tablets had been delivered to Leeds Council and schools. Delivery data reflecting support provided over the summer is published here:
Given that devices for non-maintained schools were provided to academy trusts, and that these can span multiple local authorities, we cannot provide a precise figure for the number of devices received by schools in Leeds during summer term.
Information on the laptops and tablets provided this term to schools, local authorities and academy trusts as of 23 October 2020 is published below. We have delivered 105,508 nationally: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/929064/Ad-hoc_stats_note_shipped_data_231020_FINAL.pdf
We will be publishing further delivery data after the end of term.
For deliveries during both the summer and autumn term, the department has allocated a number of laptops and tablets to each school. This term, schools are invited to order from this allocation when face to face education is disrupted.
To arrive at this allocation of devices, the department used data on the number of pupils eligible for free school meals in each school. The department expects that pupils’ device needs will be met to some extent by existing school laptops and tablets that the school already owns.
To identify the number of children who require support to access the internet, the department used data on pupils eligible for free school meals in each school, taking into consideration estimations by Ofcom and reflecting that some pupils would already have access to a private internet connection.
Schools, local authorities and academy trusts can request additional devices if their allocation from the department does not meet their needs. These requests can be submitted to covid.technology@education.gov.uk.