To match an exact phrase, use quotation marks around the search term. eg. "Parliamentary Estate". Use "OR" or "AND" as link words to form more complex queries.


Keep yourself up-to-date with the latest developments by exploring our subscription options to receive notifications direct to your inbox

Written Question
Universities: Freedom of Expression
Friday 20th May 2022

Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that freedom of speech is protected in UK universities.

Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology

The government believes that freedom of speech and academic freedom are fundamental pillars of our higher education (HE) system and that protecting these principles should be a priority for universities.

The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill, introduced on 12 May 2021, will strengthen existing freedom of speech duties and directly address gaps within the existing law. This includes the fact there is no clear way of enforcing the current law when an HE provider breaches it, as well as applying the duties directly to students’ unions and constituent colleges including those at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The Bill introduces a role on the Office for Students board, with responsibility for overseeing its strengthened duties to promote freedom of speech and investigate where potential breaches of the duties occur.

The changes will introduce clear consequences for breaches of the new duties and ensure that these principles are upheld.

The Bill will reach report stage in the House of Commons shortly.


Written Question
Music: Coronavirus
Tuesday 10th November 2020

Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether one to one music lessons can continue during the November lockdown, provided that they are covid secure.

Answered by Nick Gibb

On Saturday 31 October 2020, my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, announced new national restrictions from Thursday 5 November 2020 until Wednesday 2 December 2020 to control the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak. On 4 November 2020, the Department for Education published guidance for schools and nurseries regarding the impact of these restrictions. The guidance can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/education-and-childcare-settings-new-national-restrictions-from-5-november-2020.

The Government continues to prioritise the wellbeing and long-term futures of children and young people and will not be closing early years settings, schools, further education colleges or universities.

The Government is committed to all pupils receiving a high-quality education. Music, including one-to-one lessons, can be undertaken in school, college, or university so long as safety precautions are undertaken.

Advice is provided in the full opening guidance which sets out how teaching music can be conducted safely in schools. This includes visits by peripatetic teachers for the purposes of one-to-one music lessons, such as tutors from music education hubs.

Where provision is taking place before or after the school day, this should only operate where the provision is reasonably necessary to enable parents to work, search for work, or attend education or training, or where the provision is used for the purposes of respite care, including for vulnerable children.

Out-of-school activities that are primarily used by home educating parents as part of their arrangements for their child to receive a suitable full-time education (which could include, for example, private tutors, tuition centres, supplementary schools) may also continue to operate.

All other out of school activities, not being primarily used by parents for these purposes, should close for face to face provision but can offer remote education for the duration of the national restrictions.


Written Question
Schools: Technology
Monday 2nd March 2020

Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)

Question to the Department for Education:

What steps he is taking to increase the use of technology by schools.

Answered by Nick Gibb

The Department for Education's EdTech Strategy, 'Realising the potential of technology in education', aims to support educational providers to embed and use technology effectively to support teacher workload reductions, cost savings and improved student outcomes. This includes supporting schools and colleges to spread best practice in effective technology use through our Demonstrator Programme, which is due to launch in the Spring.

The Demonstrator Programme will help tech enabled schools and colleges to provide peer-to-peer support to other schools to help them use technology in the most effective way.


Written Question
Apprentices: Small Businesses
Tuesday 4th September 2018

Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department has taken to support small providers of apprenticeship training.

Answered by Anne Milton

Since May 2017, all providers who want to deliver apprenticeship training must be on the register of apprenticeship training providers (RoATP). The introduction of the RoATP, which currently has over 2,600 providers listed, has made it easier for new providers, including small providers, to enter the apprenticeship training market. Ahead of the opening of the RoATP, the Education and Skills Funding Agency raised awareness of the requirement to register and the application process. This included providing webinars, direct engagement and information through representative bodies. Providers who are not on the RoATP, including small providers, are able to operate as a sub-contractor to a main provider who is on the RoATP, up to a limit of £100,000 a year.


Written Question
Apprentices
Tuesday 4th September 2018

Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department has taken to encourage new entrants into the apprenticeship training market.

Answered by Anne Milton

Since May 2017, all providers who want to deliver apprenticeship training must be on the register of apprenticeship training providers (RoATP). The introduction of the RoATP, which currently has over 2,600 providers listed, has made it easier for new providers, including small providers, to enter the apprenticeship training market. Ahead of the opening of the RoATP, the Education and Skills Funding Agency raised awareness of the requirement to register and the application process. This included providing webinars, direct engagement and information through representative bodies. Providers who are not on the RoATP, including small providers, are able to operate as a sub-contractor to a main provider who is on the RoATP, up to a limit of £100,000 a year.


Written Question
Apprentices: Taxation
Tuesday 4th September 2018

Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of contracts awarded through the apprenticeship levy were valued at less than £500,000.

Answered by Anne Milton

The Education and Skills Funding Agency do not award contracts through the apprenticeship levy; providers are admitted to the register of apprenticeship training providers and employers select them to deliver the training that they need.

In regards to non-levy contracts awarded under the recent non-levy apprenticeship procurement, 351 contracts, approximately 49 per cent of contracts granted were for values under £500,000.


Written Question
ICT and STEM Subjects: Higher Education
Friday 20th July 2018

Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of trends in the number of pupils taking up STEM and ICT higher education courses in the last five years.

Answered by Sam Gyimah

The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service publishes data on the number of applicants accepted to full-time undergraduate courses at UK higher education providers by subject group.

The number of UK domiciled 18 and 19 year olds accepted to full-time undergraduate courses in each science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subject group is shown in the attached Table 1. It shows that total acceptances to STEM subjects for UK 18 and 19 year olds had increased by 24% between 2012 and 2017. This compares to an increase of 14% for all subjects over the same period.


Written Question
University Technical Colleges
Thursday 19th July 2018

Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department has taken to promote University Technical Colleges.

Answered by Anne Milton

The University Technical Colleges (UTC) programme has an important role to play in our reforms to technical education, with strong UTCs succeeding in equipping young people with the skills businesses need, getting them into employment and supporting social mobility.

There are regulations in place that require local authorities to write to parents of pupils in Year 9 to notify them of schools with atypical ages of admission within reasonable travelling distance, which includes UTCs, to make sure they are aware of the choices available to them. Early indications suggest that these letters have had a positive impact on awareness of UTCs and supported their recruitment.

Recent changes to the Careers Guidance legislation also requires maintained schools and academies to provide opportunities for providers of technical education, such as UTCs, to visit schools to talk to students in Years 8-13, to inform them of their offer.

UTCs are sponsored by employers and they are essential to marketing efforts by UTCs to promote their offer. Employers can demonstrate to pupils how attending the UTC can lead to a successful career. Employers taking a sustained and embedded role in supporting the UTC programme is crucial to their success.


Written Question
Vocational Education
Tuesday 17th July 2018

Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department has taken to put technical courses on parity with academic courses.

Answered by Anne Milton

The government is transforming technical education to create a high quality system that meets the skills needs of businesses and is held in the same high esteem as our academic option. 15 prestigious technical routes will set a clear path to skilled employment through reformed apprenticeships and the new flagship T Level programmes. T Levels are a central part of the greatest shake-up of technical education for 70 years and builds on the recommendations made by the Independent Panel on Technical Education, chaired by Lord Sainsbury. They will provide a distinctive and rigorous technical alternative to A levels.

They are, however, just one strand of our ambitious new technical education offer. We also intend to undertake a review of qualifications at Level 3 and below so that those we fund serve a genuine and useful purpose, are of high quality and enable students to progress to meaningful outcomes.


Written Question
Business: Education
Wednesday 7th February 2018

Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to increase entrepreneurship and business education in schools.

Answered by Nick Gibb

Schools are free to cover enterprise and entrepreneurship within their personal, social, health and economic education.

The Government’s careers strategy, published in December 2017, aims to give young people from all backgrounds the opportunity to learn from employers about work and the skills that are valued in the workplace: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/careers-strategy-making-the-most-of-everyones-skills-and-talents.

Statutory guidance sets out further details about the ambition that every school should offer every young person at least seven encounters with employers, including those who are self-employed, during their education as part of a high quality careers programme: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/careers-guidance-provision-for-young-people-in-schools. The Careers & Enterprise Company’s network of Enterprise Advisers will support the delivery of this ambition. Enterprise Advisers are senior business volunteers who help schools to work with local businesses.