Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve the completion rate of apprenticeships.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
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. Our reforms have made apprenticeships longer and more rigorous, with more off-the-job training and with an independent assessment at the end.
We recognise that some apprentices may not complete their apprenticeship. This can be for a variety of reasons; including personal circumstances, leaving for other employment or training opportunities, being promoted, or sometimes changing apprenticeships.
Programmes such as traineeships provide a pipeline to apprenticeships for young people who are not yet ready to do an apprenticeship, giving them the the skills and work experience they need to access these opportunities, and helping them to make informed career choices.
Last year, we worked with the Quality Alliance, made up of the bodies responsible for the quality of apprenticeships and provider representative bodies, to publish a quality strategy. This set out the expectations for a high-quality apprenticeship experience to help ensure that apprenticeships meet apprentice and employers’ needs and delivers successful outcomes.
We are continuing to take steps to improve our understanding of the apprentice experience and how the department, employers and providers can better support apprentices throughout their journey.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure employees of all ages are gaining new skills.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
We are working with employers to jointly design and deliver policies and programmes which will develop the skills that individuals of all ages need to be successful and that employers want.
These include apprenticeships, with our reforms benefiting people of all ages and backgrounds, including adults developing their skills.
This also includes Adult Education Budget (AEB) funded provision. The AEB fully funds or co-funds skills provision for eligible adults aged 19 and above from pre-entry to level 3 (including traineeships) to help them gain the skills they need for work, an apprenticeship or further learning.
Advanced Learner Loans support clear routes into work, progression within work and progression to higher education (HE), by providing fees support for level 3 to level 6 qualifications. Access to multiple Advanced Learner Loans enables adults to progress or re-skill.
We are developing the National Retraining Scheme to support working adults to prepare for future changes to the economy, including those brought about by automation, and help them retrain into better jobs.
The government is also developing a new £3 billion National Skills Fund to upskill workers and prepare for the economy of the future.
Flexible and part-time HE also has a key role in terms of widening choice and participation. To reduce barriers for entering HE, our part-time undergraduate tuition fee loans are available to eligible prospective students of all ages. We have asked the Office for Students to continue to focus on part-time and flexible learning to deliver choice and flexibility.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of people beginning apprenticeships were existing employees of the organisation they undertook the apprenticeship with, in the last year for which figures are available.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The department does not collect this information directly.
According to the 2017 apprenticeship evaluation learner survey, 56% of all level 2 and 3 apprentices were recruited specifically with the intention of completing an apprenticeship. Just over two-fifths of level 2 and 3 apprenticeships (42%) were undertaken by those in existing roles already working for their employer.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when the national retraining scheme will be rolled out across England.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The government has initiated rolling out the first part of the National Retraining Scheme, Get Help to Retrain. This service helps users to understand their current skills, explore alternative occupations that they could do and find and sign up to the training they need to access opportunities for a broad range of good jobs.
Since the start of the roll out of Get Help to Retrain in the Liverpool City Region in July, more features have been added to the service, and it has been rolled out to users in a further five areas. The service will be further tested and improved in 2020.
Alongside Get Help to Retrain, we are developing other products that will collectively make up the full National Retraining Scheme service.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people participated in the initial pilot rollout of the national retraining scheme.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The government has started to roll out 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 that they could do and find and sign up to the training they need to access opportunities for a broad range of good jobs.
Since the start of the roll out of Get Help to Retrain in July 2019, over 1,000 users have tested the service. The service will be further tested and improved in 2020.
Other products are being developed that will sit alongside Get Help to Retrain, collectively making up the full National Retraining Scheme service.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what support they provide to those who wish to retrain but do not meet the stated criteria for the national retraining scheme.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The National Retraining Scheme will support working adults to prepare for future changes to the economy, including changes brought about by automation, and help them to retrain into better jobs.
In addition to the National Retraining Scheme, our wider adult skills system seeks to improve productivity, employment levels and social inclusion. Programmes including apprenticeships, funded or co-funded skills provision through the Adult Education Budget and access to Advanced Learner Loans enable adults to gain the skills that they need to progress or reskill.
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, further to the Written Answer by Lord Agnew of Oulton on 4 February (HL598), what progress they have made with the review of the support system for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities; and when they will publish a report on that review.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The government is committed to carrying out the SEND review, first announced on 6 September 2019. In announcing that we are reviewing the system of support for children with special educational needs and disabilties, we acknowledged the challenges the system faces. We are committed to setting out plans to tackle these issues and build on our 2014 reforms which gave vital support to more children.
The review is ongoing and we will provide an update in due course. It is right that we take the time to consider how best to ensure support in different local areas is consistent, joined up across health, care and education services, and that high-quality health and education support is available across the country.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they plan to publish a response to the consultation on children not in school, which closed on 24 June 2019.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
In the spring of 2019, a consultation was held on proposals for a mandatory register of children not attending state or registered independent schools to help local authorities carry out their responsibilities in relation to children not in school.
Almost 5000 responses were received to the consultation which closed in June 2019. They have now been considered and a formal government response document setting out next steps will be issued in due course.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that all teachers are trained in understanding and educating children and young people with autism.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The government welcomed the recent ‘Autism and education in England 2017’ report from the All Party Parliamentary Group on Autism (APPGA), which recommended the creation of a national strategy for autism. We will consider the recommendations of the report carefully, alongside those of other recent reports such as the attached ‘Lenehan Review’ of residential special schools. These reports will inform our plans for supporting children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Officials are meeting representatives from the National Autistic Society in January 2018 to discuss the APPGA’s report.
Local councils have a statutory duty, under the Children and Families Act 2014, to identify needs in their local area and to commission, together with partner agencies, services to support children and young people with SEND and their families. This includes services for children and young people with autism. These services must be included in each council’s ‘local offer’ of available services, which must be reviewed regularly, in consultation with local families, taking their views into consideration.
The department has funded the Autism Education Trust (AET) since 2012 to deliver autism training to early years, schools and post-16 education professionals in England. The AET has now trained more than 150,000 education staff. This includes head teachers, teachers and teaching assistants, as well as support staff such as receptionists and dining hall staff, encouraging a ‘whole school’ approach to supporting children and young people with autism. The department will shortly begin discussions with the AET to consider an extension to their current contract.
The department published a new framework for Initial Teacher Training (ITT) content in July 2016. The framework, attached, includes specific content on SEND, including autism, and is available for training providers to use. This twin approach of ongoing work in schools to increase awareness of autism through training, while also ensuring that new teachers are equipped to support pupils with autism from the outset, is designed to ensure that children and young people can succeed in their education. The department does not hold data on the numbers of teachers who have been trained by the AET or who have been through ITT courses that reflect the new ITT framework.
All academies and local authority maintained schools in England are expected to admit children and young people with SEND, including those with autism, whether or not they have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan. They cannot refuse to admit a pupil simply because he or she has a SEND. In 2016, there were 630 maintained special schools and 32 non-maintained special schools in England approved to make provision for pupils with autistic spectrum disorder. In addition, under the department’s free schools programme, there are now 29 special free schools open in England, including 17 which cater specifically for children with autism. These include the Rise Free School in Hounslow and the Lighthouse Free School in Leeds. A further 22 special free schools are due to open in future, 12 of which will specialise in provision for children with autism, including the Cumbria Academy for Autism and a second National Autistic Society free school, the Vanguard School in Lambeth. The other schools will offer some places for children with autism.
In March, the government announced that it would make available £215 million of capital funding to support the expansion of existing provision as well as the development of new schools for pupils with EHC plans.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many teachers in England have received training on educating children and young people with autism.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The government welcomed the recent ‘Autism and education in England 2017’ report from the All Party Parliamentary Group on Autism (APPGA), which recommended the creation of a national strategy for autism. We will consider the recommendations of the report carefully, alongside those of other recent reports such as the attached ‘Lenehan Review’ of residential special schools. These reports will inform our plans for supporting children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Officials are meeting representatives from the National Autistic Society in January 2018 to discuss the APPGA’s report.
Local councils have a statutory duty, under the Children and Families Act 2014, to identify needs in their local area and to commission, together with partner agencies, services to support children and young people with SEND and their families. This includes services for children and young people with autism. These services must be included in each council’s ‘local offer’ of available services, which must be reviewed regularly, in consultation with local families, taking their views into consideration.
The department has funded the Autism Education Trust (AET) since 2012 to deliver autism training to early years, schools and post-16 education professionals in England. The AET has now trained more than 150,000 education staff. This includes head teachers, teachers and teaching assistants, as well as support staff such as receptionists and dining hall staff, encouraging a ‘whole school’ approach to supporting children and young people with autism. The department will shortly begin discussions with the AET to consider an extension to their current contract.
The department published a new framework for Initial Teacher Training (ITT) content in July 2016. The framework, attached, includes specific content on SEND, including autism, and is available for training providers to use. This twin approach of ongoing work in schools to increase awareness of autism through training, while also ensuring that new teachers are equipped to support pupils with autism from the outset, is designed to ensure that children and young people can succeed in their education. The department does not hold data on the numbers of teachers who have been trained by the AET or who have been through ITT courses that reflect the new ITT framework.
All academies and local authority maintained schools in England are expected to admit children and young people with SEND, including those with autism, whether or not they have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan. They cannot refuse to admit a pupil simply because he or she has a SEND. In 2016, there were 630 maintained special schools and 32 non-maintained special schools in England approved to make provision for pupils with autistic spectrum disorder. In addition, under the department’s free schools programme, there are now 29 special free schools open in England, including 17 which cater specifically for children with autism. These include the Rise Free School in Hounslow and the Lighthouse Free School in Leeds. A further 22 special free schools are due to open in future, 12 of which will specialise in provision for children with autism, including the Cumbria Academy for Autism and a second National Autistic Society free school, the Vanguard School in Lambeth. The other schools will offer some places for children with autism.
In March, the government announced that it would make available £215 million of capital funding to support the expansion of existing provision as well as the development of new schools for pupils with EHC plans.