Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of young people out of work, education and training in (a) Gloucester and (b) Gloucestershire in the last five years.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department publishes statistics on those not in education, employment or training (NEET) for England from the labour force survey for young people aged 16-24. This is available at the following link: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/neet-statistics-annual-brief. The number of 16 to 24-year-olds estimated as NEET in England for the last five years can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/d9b4d0bf-3a58-4907-5a37-08dd3479441b.
However, these estimates are only published at national level due to limitations with sample sizes for lower-level geographies. Therefore, NEET rates for young people aged 16-24 in Gloucester and Gloucestershire cannot be provided.
However, local authorities are required to encourage, enable or assist young people’s participation in education or training and return management information for young people aged 16 and 17. This data is published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/neet-and-participation-local-authority-figures. The data shows that of the young people aged 16 and 17-years-old who were known to Gloucestershire local authority in the link below for the last five years: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/fb35cd74-1667-4de1-ab38-08dd34489990.
These statistics are published as transparency data so some caution should be taken if using these figures.
In addition, 16-18 destination measures are published. These official statistics show the percentage of pupils not continuing to a sustained education, apprenticeship or employment destination in the year after completing 16-18 study, that is 6 months of continual activity. This can be used as a proxy for the number of young people out of work, education and training at age 18. The latest publication includes destinations in 2022/23 by Parliamentary constituency boundaries at that time. Data can be found here for Gloucester parliamentary constituency for the last five years here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/365fe966-b823-4406-ab39-08dd34489990.
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help increase the availability of childcare in Gloucester.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Giving children the best start in life is key to the government’s Opportunity Mission. Good parenting and high-quality early education provide the foundation for children to achieve and thrive. This government is determined to ensure that parents have access to high-quality, affordable and flexible early education and childcare.
The department is rolling out more government-funded childcare entitlements to help millions of families, working hand in hand with the early years sector to build a system that works for them, parents and above all, children. This includes delivering 3,000 new and expanded school-based nurseries to make high-quality childcare accessible and available. As a first step, primary schools have been able to apply for up to £150,000 of a total £15 million capital funding, with the first stage of the plan set to support up to 300 new or expanded nurseries across England. High-quality, school-based nursery provision is popular with parents, especially families with multiple children. It can help schools upgrade spare space whilst also providing early support to children and families, supporting their transition into primary school. School-based nursery settings have proportionally higher qualified staff and see lower staff turnover, providing more consistency of care for children. Proportionally, school-based nurseries also look after more children with special educational needs and disabilities and offer a higher proportion of places in the most deprived areas.
In the 2024/25 financial year, early years providers are set to benefit from over £2 billion extra investment compared to last year, to support the rollout of 30 hours of government-funded early education from next September, rising in 2027/28 to over £4.1 billion. As announced in the Autumn Budget 2024, the department expects to provide over £8 billion for the early years entitlements in 2025/26, which is around a 30% increase compared to 2024/25, as we continue to deliver the expansion to eligible working parents of children aged from nine months.
The department has confirmed funding rates for 2024/25 and has also announced a new £75 million expansion grant to support nurseries, childminders and other providers to deliver the 35,000 additional staff and 70,000 places required to meet demand for next September. The government will also deliver the largest ever uplift to the early years pupil premium, increasing rates by over 45% to up to £570 per eligible child per year. This unprecedented increase is an investment in quality early education for those children who need it most, in the areas that need it most, to give them the support they need to be school ready at age five and go on to have the best life chances.
Department hourly funding rates for Gloucester have been confirmed at, £5.47 for 3-4-year-olds, £7.60 for 2-year-olds and £10.33 for under 2s.
This government is committed to delivering the expansion to 30 hours government funded childcare for eligible working families from September 2025 but there will be challenges including providers securing enough staff and places to meet demand, with the capacity needed varying across the country. The department is supporting the sector to attract talented staff and childminders to join the workforce by creating conditions for improved recruitment. We are urging the public to ‘do something BIG’ and start a career working with small children through our national recruitment campaign. Our dedicated website also helps people find out more about gaining qualifications and search for existing job vacancies. Skills Bootcamps for the early years are available and lead to an accelerated apprenticeship, and we are funding Early Years Initial Teacher Training as a route for new and existing staff to gain Early Years Teacher Status. To support childminders to join and stay in the profession, we have implemented new flexibilities to work with more people and spend more time working from non-domestic premises.
The department is working closely with local areas and the early years sector to do everything we can to ensure there are enough places and the sector has the workforce needed to provide those places and to bridge local gaps ahead of September 2025.
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help improve children's oracy in Gloucester.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
High and rising school standards are at the heart of the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and give every child the best life chances.
The government’s Curriculum and Assessment Review will seek to deliver a cutting-edge curriculum that ensures children and young people leave compulsory education ready for life and ready for work, building the knowledge, skills and attributes young people need to thrive.
The department agrees that children’s oracy is very important. The Education Endowment Foundation has found that the average impact of oral language interventions is approximately an additional six months’ progress over the course of a year. Approaches that focus on speaking, listening and a combination of the two all show positive impacts on attainment, most notably on reading outcomes. Impact in early years (seven months additional progress) and primary schools (six months additional progress) tends to be higher than in secondary schools (six months additional progress).
In the early years, developing language skills is vital to enable children to thrive.
The department has also invested over £20 million in the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI), improving the language skills of reception age children needing extra support with their speech and language development. More than 170 primary schools in Gloucestershire have benefited from this support.
The English Hubs Programme is dedicated to improving the teaching of reading, with a focus on phonics, early language development and reading for pleasure. The English Hub for schools in Gloucester is Mangotsfield English Hub. Further information can be found here: https://www.mpenglishhub.co.uk/.
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve educational outcomes for (a) children in social care and (b) care-experienced young people in Gloucester.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Reforming children’s social care is critical to giving all our children and young people the start in life they deserve. The government is committed to working in partnership with local government to support children who have experienced the care system across all settings, and to improving their educational outcomes.
In July, the King’s Speech set out the government’s plans to introduce a Children’s Wellbeing Bill, which will help raise standards for children in care and ensure that every child can thrive in a safe, loving home as part of the government’s commitment to deliver high and rising standards in education for children and young people in England. The Bill is expected to be introduced within the first session of Parliament and will be a crucial step in breaking down barriers to opportunity for children and young people.
Children in care and care leavers in Gloucester will also benefit from the almost £1 billion we have put into the high needs budget for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in 2025/26 given the high levels of SEND in the cohort, and the £300 million of funding we are putting into further education to ensure young people are developing the skills they need to succeed.
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that disabled children are included in the Children's Wellbeing Bill.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The Children’s Wellbeing Bill will remove barriers to opportunity for every child, by raising school standards and delivering our commitment on children’s social care.
The precise content of the Bill will be confirmed upon the Bill’s introduction, which will be as soon as Parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve opportunities for young people in Gloucester.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The Opportunity Mission will build opportunity for all by giving every child, including children across Gloucester the best start in life, helping them achieve and thrive, and building skills for opportunity and growth. This will be underpinned by family security, and we must tackle the underlying barriers to opportunity that hold too many young people back.
That is why the department is committed to recruiting 6,500 additional teachers, creating 3,000 new or expanded school-based nurseries, expanding childcare entitlements for eligible working families, providing free breakfast clubs in every primary school and launching Skills England to transform opportunities and drive growth. We are also investing more in children’s services to set them on a sustainable trajectory and have announced new funding for kinship care and fostering to keep children safe and provide family security for our most vulnerable children.
We will also introduce the youth guarantee, which will help 18 to 21-year-olds to access education, training, or apprenticeships opportunities and receive employment support. This will give all young people the best start in their career, so they can secure good, skilled jobs in the future, both in Gloucester and across the country.
The government will also introduce new foundation apprenticeships for young people in targeted and growing sectors. Foundation apprenticeships are a work-based training offer that will give more young people a foot in the door and will support clear progression pathways into further work-based training and employment. We will work closely with the sector to ensure the design is fit for purpose and meets employers’ needs and further detail will be set out in due course.