Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of including Level 2 qualifications for butchery and poultry dressing on the Free Courses for Jobs scheme.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The core Adult Skills Fund covers a very wide breadth of qualifications including those related to butchery and poultry dressing (for example the Level 2 Certificate for Proficiency in Meat and Poultry Industry Skills). The department sets funding rates which are designed to incentivise the delivery of “high value” courses in the Adult Skills Fund. Butchery courses (insofar as they are included in the Manufacturing Technologies Sector Subject Area) are in the “High” funding band which means providers receive more funding per learner than courses relating to other industries.
The government also funds training through the Level 2 Butcher apprenticeship standard and the Level 3 Advanced Butcher apprenticeship standard.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an impact assessment of the use of touchscreen devices in Reception Baseline Assessments.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The digital elements of the reception baseline assessment (RBA) have been in development since 2019 and subject to extensive trials with teachers and pupils, using the Standards and Testing Agency’s internationally recognised assessment development approach. This has included item validation trials in 2020, 2021 and 2023 involving 2,801 pupils across 277 schools, and a technical pre-test trial in 2022 where 2,406 assessments were completed across a nationally representative sample of 254 schools. In November and December 2024, a voluntary trial involving over 1,000 schools took place, and participating schools undertook key activities needed to administer the assessment, including completing a sample assessment with three pupils. Input from the trials and extensive review by early years experts and teachers has helped shape the content and the digital platform to meet the needs of schools and pupils.
The revised RBA remains interactive and play-based, retaining the use of small toys and verbal responses for other questions. Pupils can respond verbally to on-screen questions if they do not wish to interact with the screen, and a paper-based alternative is available where this is more suitable for the pupil.
Schools, trusts, and local authorities are responsible for making decisions that best meet their educational and operational needs regarding the use of technology in the classroom. The department does not set specific requirements for how often schools should use tablets. To help schools make informed decisions when procuring technology, the department has published advice and guidance to schools through the digital and technology standards and the plan technology for your school service.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has undertaken an impact assessment in relation to the use of touchscreen devices in Reception Baseline Assessments.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The digital elements of the reception baseline assessment (RBA) have been in development since 2019 and subject to extensive trials with teachers and pupils, using the Standards and Testing Agency’s internationally recognised assessment development approach. This has included item validation trials in 2020, 2021 and 2023 involving 2,801 pupils across 277 schools, and a technical pre-test trial in 2022 where 2,406 assessments were completed across a nationally representative sample of 254 schools. In November and December 2024, a voluntary trial involving over 1,000 schools took place, and participating schools undertook key activities needed to administer the assessment, including completing a sample assessment with three pupils. Input from the trials and extensive review by early years experts and teachers has helped shape the content and the digital platform to meet the needs of schools and pupils.
The revised RBA remains interactive and play-based, retaining the use of small toys and verbal responses for other questions. Pupils can respond verbally to on-screen questions if they do not wish to interact with the screen, and a paper-based alternative is available where this is more suitable for the pupil.
Schools, trusts, and local authorities are responsible for making decisions that best meet their educational and operational needs regarding the use of technology in the classroom. The department does not set specific requirements for how often schools should use tablets. To help schools make informed decisions when procuring technology, the department has published advice and guidance to schools through the digital and technology standards and the plan technology for your school service.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce Chinese state influence in UK universities.
Answered by Janet Daby
The UK welcomes international partnerships, including with China, which make a positive impact on the UK’s higher education (HE) sector, our economy and society as a whole. However, we will always protect our national security interests, human rights and values.
Any international arrangements made by registered HE providers in England must be within the law and comply with the registration conditions set by the Office for Students, including a commitment to their public interest governance principles. There are a set of further measures that protect against undue foreign interference in our universities. These range from the Academic Technology Approval Scheme, which vets students and researchers seeking to study in sensitive areas, to the provisions in the Higher Education Freedom of Speech Act 2023, which will offer a focussed route for concerns, including relating to foreign interference in academic freedom and free speech, to be escalated.
To support universities to maximise the opportunities of international collaboration whilst managing the risks, the government offers practical advice through the National Protective Security Authority, the National Cyber Security Centre and the Research Collaboration and Advice Team. The department works alongside these partners and engages directly with the sector to increase their understanding of the risks and their ability to respond to them.
This government will take a consistent, long-term and strategic approach to managing the UK’s relations with China, rooted in UK and global interests. We will co-operate where we can, compete where we need to and challenge where we must. The department is contributing towards the government’s audit of the UK’s relationship with China as a bilateral and global actor, to improve our ability to understand and respond to the challenges and opportunities China poses.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will ban the DeepSeek artificial intelligence model in educational settings because of its built-in censorship.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The government has a robust set of security policies in place to oversee how information is handled. We keep these policies under constant review to ensure they are applicable to new technologies.
The government's Generative artificial intelligence (AI) framework outlines that only corporately assured Generative AI tools should be used to process governmental information.
Everyone who works with government has a duty of confidentiality and a responsibility to safeguard any government information or data that they process, access or share, and all government departments are required to meet a range of mandatory security standards.
It is for educational bodies to make their own decisions on how to manage the use of Generative AI in their specific organisational and technology contexts.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the work of Confucius Institutes on freedom of speech in the higher education sector.
Answered by Janet Daby
This government is committed to ensuring our world leading universities remain free from foreign interference.
Any international arrangements English higher education (HE) providers who are registered with the Office for Students (OfS) make, including Confucius Institutes, should be within the law and comply with OfS registration conditions. These include a commitment to the public interest governance principles, which include academic freedom and freedom of speech. The OfS may take regulatory action if HE providers allow foreign governments to interfere in free speech or academic freedom.
The department expects the UK HE sector to be alert to a range of risks when collaborating with international partners and to conduct appropriate due diligence to comply with legislation and consider risks, including potential threats to freedom of speech and academic freedom.
The department’s proposals regarding the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 have reinforced our clear expectations that HE providers must uphold the principles of freedom of speech and academic freedom. The OfS can request information from HE providers registered with them about overseas arrangements, including financial transactions, if they believe registration conditions may have been breached. The measures we are now implementing through the Act will further strengthen opportunities for the OfS, by providing a new focused way for complaints about foreign interference on academic freedom to be escalated.
The department is also carrying out a full and comprehensive audit on the breadth of the UK’s relationship with China. This government, through the ongoing China audit, will take a consistent, long term and strategic approach to managing the UK’s relations with China, rooted in the UK’s and global interests. We will co-operate where we can, compete where we need to and challenge where we must.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 on Confucius Institutes.
Answered by Janet Daby
This government is committed to ensuring our world leading universities remain free from foreign interference.
Any international arrangements English higher education (HE) providers who are registered with the Office for Students (OfS) make, including Confucius Institutes, should be within the law and comply with OfS registration conditions. These include a commitment to the public interest governance principles, which include academic freedom and freedom of speech. The OfS may take regulatory action if HE providers allow foreign governments to interfere in free speech or academic freedom.
The department expects the UK HE sector to be alert to a range of risks when collaborating with international partners and to conduct appropriate due diligence to comply with legislation and consider risks, including potential threats to freedom of speech and academic freedom.
The department’s proposals regarding the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 have reinforced our clear expectations that HE providers must uphold the principles of freedom of speech and academic freedom. The OfS can request information from HE providers registered with them about overseas arrangements, including financial transactions, if they believe registration conditions may have been breached. The measures we are now implementing through the Act will further strengthen opportunities for the OfS, by providing a new focused way for complaints about foreign interference on academic freedom to be escalated.
The department is also carrying out a full and comprehensive audit on the breadth of the UK’s relationship with China. This government, through the ongoing China audit, will take a consistent, long term and strategic approach to managing the UK’s relations with China, rooted in the UK’s and global interests. We will co-operate where we can, compete where we need to and challenge where we must.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has given any funding to Confucius institutes since July 2024.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department has not provided any funding to Confucius Institutes under this government.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding her Department plans to provide for T-Level qualifications in each of the next three financial years.
Answered by Janet Daby
This government is committed to driving economic growth and supporting opportunity for all. To help achieve these missions, we announced an additional £300 million of funding in the 2025/26 financial year for further education at the Autumn Budget 2024.
T Level study programmes are funded as part of the wider funding for 16 to 19 education. The department is preparing the operational detail of the 16 to 19 funding rates and formula and the allocations timeline for the 2025/26 academic year. We aim to publish more information as soon as we can and will provide a further update in due course.
Future budgets are subject to the outcomes of the multi-year spending review which will take place later this year.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Stamford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing the new Neffy treatment for severe allergic reactions to schools when available on the NHS.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
Needle-free epinephrine nasal spray is not currently licensed for use in the United Kingdom. Consideration as to whether this could be used in schools would have to be taken once the medicine receives a marketing authorisation.
Since October 2017, the Human Medicines (Amendment) Regulations 2017 have allowed all schools to buy adrenaline auto-injector devices without a prescription for emergency use. The Department of Health and Social Care has published non-statutory guidance to accompany this legislative change, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/using-emergency-adrenaline-auto-injectors-in-schools.