Asked by: Lord Willis of Knaresborough (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the briefing The Cost of Delaying Reform to Children’s Social Care, published in May, which summarised analysis commissioned by the children charities Action for Children, Barnardo’s, the Children’s Society, the NSPCC, and the National Children’s Bureau.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
There needs to be a fundamental shift away from crisis intervention and towards earlier intervention, and the ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’ Implementation Strategy and Consultation sets out how the department intend to achieve that. The consultation can be found attached. These are complex reforms, with complicated systemic interactions, and it is critical that we take a test and learn approach and make sure we have models that can be rolled out effectively.
Alongside the Implementation Strategy, the department has announced we are investing £200 million by 2024/25 to address urgent issues facing children and families, to lay the foundations for whole system reform and set national direction for change. This is on top of the £142 million invested by 2024/25 to take forward reforms to unregulated provision in children’s social care, the £160 million as announced in March 2022 to deliver our Adoption Strategy over the next three years, the £259 million to maintain capacity and expand provision in secure and open residential children’s homes over the Spending Review 21 period, and the £230 million over the same period to support young people leaving care.
This is all in addition to the £3.85 billion social care grant that the government is providing to local authorities for adults and children’s social care this year.
After two years, the department will refresh the ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’ strategy, and seek to scale up the new approaches we have tested and developed, including bringing forward new legislation where necessary (subject to parliamentary time).
Asked by: Lord Willis of Knaresborough (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure the future sustainability of the Open University.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Higher education institutions are autonomous bodies. The government and the Higher Education Funding Council England (HEFCE) monitor the financial sustainability of the higher education sector. HEFCE monitors the financial sustainability of individual providers in receipt of public funding, including The Open University. However, a provider’s business model and financial plans are a matter for the governing body of that institution. The Office for Students will replace HEFCE and will have a duty to monitor and report on the financial sustainability of higher education providers that receive grant funding, or provide courses that are designated for student support, once the relevant provisions of the Higher Education and Research Act 2017 are brought into force.
The government is taking steps to help people who want to study part-time, enabling individuals to gain new skills and advance their careers, and supporting the wider economy. Part-time study and distance learning are clearly central to The Open University’s business model.
We introduced tuition fee loans for eligible part-time students in 2012/13. We are working towards launching a new maintenance loan for part-time students studying, in attendance, on degree level courses in 2018/19. The government is considering extending this maintenance loan to eligible students studying distance learning courses part-time, more generally in 2019/20. This will be subject to the development of a robust control regime to manage the particular risks and challenges associated with this mode of study.
Asked by: Lord Willis of Knaresborough (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many UK-domiciled students commenced undergraduate nursing degree courses in UK higher education institutions in each of the years 2010–11 to 2016–17.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Higher Education Statistics Authority (HESA) collects data on students enrolled and qualifying from courses at UK Higher Education Institutions, including information on subject of study.
The following table contains the numbers of full person equivalent entrants to undergraduate (first degree and other undergraduate) courses in nursing, as defined by the Joint Academic Coding System (JACS). More information on JACS codes can be found at https://www.hesa.ac.uk/support/documentation/jacs/jacs3-principal.
UK domiciled entrants to undergraduate nursing courses by level of study
UK Higher Education Institutions
Academic Years 2010/11 to 2015/16
Year | First degree entrants | Other undergraduate entrants | Total entrants |
2010/11 | 21,605 | 53,635 | 75,240 |
2011/12 | 28,590 | 44,425 | 73,020 |
2012/13 | 29,060 | 33,165 | 62,230 |
2013/14 | 30,210 | 33,165 | 63,380 |
2014/15 | 31,785 | 32,965 | 64,750 |
2015/16 | 32,245 | 32,285 | 64,530 |
Source: Department for Education analysis of the HESA student record
Counts rounded to the nearest 5 so may not sum exactly to totals
Information for 2016/17 will become available in January 2018.
Asked by: Lord Willis of Knaresborough (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education guidance on <i>Academic credit arrangements in higher education in England</i>, published in August 2008, how many universities have a published framework for credit transfer between institutions in England.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Unfortunately, the Government is not able to provide this information as we do not gather this data. The QAA Higher Education Credit Arrangements for England offers universities guidance that is not compulsory, so data is not collected.
Asked by: Lord Willis of Knaresborough (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will place in the Library of the House, in addition to the published summary, a copy of the responses to the call for evidence on accelerated courses and switching university or degree.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government does not believe it would be in the public interest to publish in full the responses to our recent Call for Evidence. To do so would risk damaging our relationships with universities by releasing information directly related to them and their operations, potentially limiting our capability to gather evidence from these institutions in the future.
Asked by: Lord Willis of Knaresborough (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government which universities responded to the call for evidence on accelerated courses and switching university or degree; and, of those, how many allowed credits for previous study.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We received responses to the Call for Evidence from 30 universities, out of a total of 44 responses from higher education providers. Of these 30 university respondents, 25 (83%) said they take students who transferred to their institution from other providers.
Publishing a list of those universities who responded to our recent Call for Evidence and details of their responses would risk damaging our relationships with them, as we would be releasing information directly related to them and their operations. This would not be in the public interest as it could potentially limit our capability to gather evidence from these institutions in the future.
Asked by: Lord Willis of Knaresborough (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many students dropped out of their graduate degree course in each of the years from 2012 to 2015.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collects and publishes data on students enrolled at UK higher education institutions (HEIs). The percentage of UK domiciled full-time first degree entrants at UK HEIs who did not continue their studies in the following year are published as part of the ‘UK Performance Indicators for Higher Education’ and can be found at:
https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/performance-indicators/non-continuation.
The latest available statistics, found in Table T3a, show that 27,580 UK domiciled full-time first degree entrants at UK HEIs in the 2013/14 academic year were no longer in higher education in the following year. The equivalent statistic for entrants in 2012/13 showed that 24,745 entrants were no longer in higher education in the following year.
Asked by: Lord Willis of Knaresborough (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps are being taken to ensure that all higher education institutions have published credit transfer arrangements in place; and how those arrangements are monitored.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information gathered through our recent Call for Evidence on accelerated courses and switching university or degree has provided valuable data and insight. It has highlighted the key barriers to the take-up of credit transfer opportunities, including a general lack of information and awareness. We are now fully considering the available evidence before deciding on next steps.
Asked by: Lord Willis of Knaresborough (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many students who dropped out of English universities in 2010–11 returned to higher education within three years.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested can only be made available at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Willis of Knaresborough (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which students have been admitted to Russell Group universities having had their prior learning from other institutions accredited to allow entry mid-course; and what evidence they used to support that assessment.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Higher Education Funding Council for England and Higher Education Statistics Agency do not gather information on students who have had their prior learning from other institutions accredited to allow entry mid-course. The issue of improving understanding of student transfer was raised during our recent the call for evidence on Accelerated Courses and Switching University or Degree. We received over 4,500 responses to this and published a summary of the evidence we gathered on 20 December 2016.