Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the length of time it takes on average for a child to travel to a special school compared with a child travelling to a mainstream school.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
Information published in November 2019 by the Local Government Association in conjunction with census data indicates that more than 98% of pupils aged 5-16 attending special schools receive free home to school transport. This compares with around 5% of pupils attending mainstream school.
We have not carried out an assessment of the length of time it takes for a child to travel to a special school compared with a child travelling to a mainstream school.
The statutory home to school transport guidance suggests that good practice journey times should not exceed 45 minutes for primary aged pupils or 75 minutes for secondary aged pupils. It also acknowledges that journeys for children with special educational needs and disabilities may be more complex and, therefore, take longer. The guidance is available at the following link and attached: www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-to-school-travel-and-transport-guidance.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many children use home-to-school transport to attend special schools compared with children attending mainstream school.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
Information published in November 2019 by the Local Government Association in conjunction with census data indicates that more than 98% of pupils aged 5-16 attending special schools receive free home to school transport. This compares with around 5% of pupils attending mainstream school.
We have not carried out an assessment of the length of time it takes for a child to travel to a special school compared with a child travelling to a mainstream school.
The statutory home to school transport guidance suggests that good practice journey times should not exceed 45 minutes for primary aged pupils or 75 minutes for secondary aged pupils. It also acknowledges that journeys for children with special educational needs and disabilities may be more complex and, therefore, take longer. The guidance is available at the following link and attached: www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-to-school-travel-and-transport-guidance.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) pupils are in special schools, and (2) special schools there are.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
In January 2019, there were 125,410 pupils in 1,044 state-funded and non-maintained special schools in England.
Information on the number of pupils and schools, including by school type, is published in the annual 'Schools, pupils and their characteristics' statistical release published at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-school-and-pupil-numbers and is attached. A time series is provided in table 1a of the 2019 release and tables 1b and 1c provide this information by local authority. Figures relating to January 2020 will be publish in June 2020.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the Skill India Mission to upskill people through public-private partnerships, and (2) the SkillsFuture initiative in Singapore to provide career-long learning opportunities; and whether they have considered adopting a similar model in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The government recognises that there are a number of international examples, including in Singapore and India, which provide useful insights to inform the development of our adult skills reforms.
We are also taking steps to improve productivity, employment levels and social inclusion. Programmes including Apprenticeships, funded or co-funded skills provision through the Adult Education Budget, access to Advanced Learner Loans and the National Retraining Scheme enable adults to gain the skills that they need to progress or reskill.
The government has started testing the first part of the National Retraining Scheme, Get Help to Retrain, in 6 areas across England. Get Help to Retrain is a digital service that will help users to understand their current skills, explore alternative occupations and find and sign up to training. We will continue to test and further improve the service in 2020. The government is also providing an extra £3 billion to develop a National Skills Fund that helps adults to learn new skills and to prepare for the economy of the future.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they are giving to the recommendations of the report on the adult skills gap by the City and Guilds Group Missing Millions, published in February; and what plans they have to review adult education.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
Our adult skills system seeks to increase productivity, support employment and promote social inclusion. The Adult Education Budget fully funds or co-funds skills provision for eligible adults aged 19+ from pre-entry to level 3 and includes funding to help learners to overcome barriers which prevent them from taking part in learning.
The attached City and Guilds Group report, ‘Missing Millions’, states that adult skills are becoming increasingly important due to adults being economically active for longer as well as automation and technological change. The department is committed to improving the offer for adults through user research and delivering the flexibility in training that adults tell us that they need.
Moreover, over the course of this Parliament, we are providing an extra £3 billion for a new National Skills Fund to help people learn new skills and to prepare for the economy of the future.
The City and Guilds Group report also highlights the important role that employers have in investing in training their workforces.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking to improve the statistic set out in the report by Boston Consulting Group Decoding Global Trends in Upskilling and Reskilling, published on 5 November 2019, that the number of Britons who spent a few weeks a year on learning were below the global average of those in training and work in 2019.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The government recognises that there are a number of international examples, including in Singapore and India, which provide useful insights to inform the development of our adult skills reforms.
We are also taking steps to improve productivity, employment levels and social inclusion. Programmes including Apprenticeships, funded or co-funded skills provision through the Adult Education Budget, access to Advanced Learner Loans and the National Retraining Scheme enable adults to gain the skills that they need to progress or reskill.
The government has started testing the first part of the National Retraining Scheme, Get Help to Retrain, in 6 areas across England. Get Help to Retrain is a digital service that will help users to understand their current skills, explore alternative occupations and find and sign up to training. We will continue to test and further improve the service in 2020. The government is also providing an extra £3 billion to develop a National Skills Fund that helps adults to learn new skills and to prepare for the economy of the future.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what support they are giving to employers to upskill all workers.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The government is taking steps to improve productivity, employment levels and social inclusion. Programmes including reforms to technical education such as apprenticeships, funded or co-funded skills provision through the Adult Education Budget, access to Advanced Learner Loans and the National Retraining Scheme enable adults to gain the skills that they need to progress or reskill.
The government has started testing the first part of the National Retraining Scheme, Get Help to Retrain, in 6 areas across England. Get Help to Retrain is a digital service that will help users to understand their current skills, explore alternative occupations and find and sign up to training. We will continue to test and further improve the service in 2020.
We are also providing an extra £3 billion to develop a National Skills Fund that helps adults to learn new skills and to prepare for the economy of the future. We are planning to consult widely on the fund and will be keen to hear the views of employers.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to introducing industry-wide skills forecasts to enable employers to anticipate workforce gaps and skills mismatches.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
In February the department published labour market projections for the period to 2027. The published report and results outline the future shape and size of the labour market and employment prospects by industry, occupation, qualification level, gender and employment status. The report is attached and is also available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/labour-market-and-skills-projections-2017-to-2027.
The results will enable employers to anticipate workforce gaps and skills mismatches; training providers to understand skills needs and consider their future provision; and individuals to understand the prospects for different occupations and qualification requirements when making career choices. To further support individuals with their careers decisions, the results are also made available through DfE’s Labour Market Information for All open data service that was a commitment in the department’s careers strategy and is available at the following page: https://www.lmiforall.org.uk/.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how they intend to increase the number of (1) intermediate apprenticeships, and (2) apprenticeships, for those under the age of 19.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
Increasing the number of apprenticeships further is a priority, and we are actively considering how to do so. We have introduced a wide range of reforms to improve the quality of apprenticeships and to encourage employers across England to create more high-quality apprenticeship opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds. In 2019-20, the funding available for investment in apprenticeships in England is over £2.5 billion, which is double what was spent in 2010.
For the smallest employers (fewer than 50 staff) who take on apprentices under 19, we pay 100% of apprenticeship training costs.
Apprenticeship starts in 2018-19 were 393,400, of which 37% (143,600 starts) were at intermediate level (level 2). 25% of starts (97,700 starts) were by apprentices aged under 19.
To ensure that young people hear about the education and employment options available to them, in January 2018 we introduced a legal requirement for schools to give training providers the chance to talk to pupils about technical qualifications and apprenticeships. We offer a free service to schools through the Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge (ASK) project to ensure that teachers have the knowledge and support to enable them to promote apprenticeships to their students. In the last academic year, ASK reached over 300,000 students.
Traineeships are also helping thousands of young people to get the skills and experience that they need to obtain apprenticeships and other jobs. We are strengthening our communications with employers, providers, parents and young people to raise awareness of traineeships and the benefits that they offer. 62% of those who completed a traineeship in 2016-17 progressed to positive destinations, including apprenticeships.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are planning any reviews of the apprenticeship levy.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
We continue to engage closely with businesses and listen to their views about the apprenticeships programme and the operation of the apprenticeship levy.
We are committed to making sure the apprenticeship programme continues to provide opportunities for people of all backgrounds, while meeting the needs of employers of all sizes and delivering benefits for the economy.