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Written Question
Schools: Protest
Tuesday 28th November 2023

Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the implications for her policies of the organising of strikes during the school day by (a) teachers, (b) parents and (c) students in connection with the Israel-Hamas war.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

Children should be in school. While the department recognises young people should be able to peacefully express their views, the department does not condone missing out on their education to protest.

Missing school only disrupts lessons and adds to teachers’ workloads. The department will continue talking to the local authorities affected to offer support where needed. Any absence of this nature will be recorded as ‘unauthorised’, and parents may be given a penalty notice or prosecuted as a result. The department also expects teachers to fulfil their contractual requirements. It would be completely inappropriate for teachers to attend such protests during working hours.

Earlier this week the department wrote to schools, expressing our strong support for headteachers and local authorities in setting clear expectations that pupils should be in school and in enforcing them appropriately, including using fixed penalty notices where applicable.

It is the priority of the department that all students and young people learn in a safe and supportive environment. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, wrote to all schools and colleges on 17 October to provide advice on how to respond to the Israel-Hamas conflict in the classroom. To help schools navigate teaching about political issues, the department has also published guidance for teachers and leaders around political impartiality. Now is not the time for divisive, politically motivated rhetoric. Now is the time to do everything possible to ensure that students, staff and young people, many of whom will be personally affected by the ongoing conflict, are supported and feel safe in education settings.

The department will continue to monitor the situation closely.


Written Question
Educational Institutions: Antisemitism
Wednesday 8th December 2021

Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department plans to take steps against (a) universities and (b) other bodies receiving funding from his Department who (i) refuse to accept the IHRA definition of antisemitism and (ii) take insufficient action to protect Jewish students on campus.

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

On 10 November 2021, the Office for Students (OfS) published a list of higher education (HE) providers who have adopted the definition. I am pleased to report good progress in the last year: an increase from around 30 to over 200 providers have adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition. This includes the vast majority of universities and I continue to urge all providers to adopt this definition.

The government has also asked the OfS to undertake a scoping exercise, to identify providers that are reluctant to adopt the definition and find out why. The department has asked them to consider introducing mandatory reporting of antisemitic incident numbers by providers, with the aim of ensuring a robust evidence base, which the OfS can then use to effectively regulate in this area.

Adoption of the IHRA definition is only a first step towards ridding HE of antisemitism. I want to be very clear that, whilst the government considers that adoption of the definition is crucial, it is not enough on its own. That is why I will continue to work with the sector to ensure it better understands antisemitism and does more to end it.

Universities also have clear responsibilities to ensure that there is no place for antisemitism.  All HE providers should discharge their responsibilities fully and have robust policies and procedures in place to address hate crime, including any antisemitic incidents that are reported.

The department and I are keen to hear from Jewish groups about what more can be done to make Jewish students and staff feel safe on campus. As part of this, we intend to set up a round table in the new year, specifically focused on tackling antisemitism in HE.


Written Question
Higher Education: Private Sector
Monday 8th November 2021

Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has made an assessment of the accuracy of statistics on (a) employment and (b) further education used by private higher education providers when advertising their courses to self-funded students.

Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The government is clear that we expect providers to ensure they are fully complying with their consumer law obligations, including ensuring any advertisement of courses is accurate and transparent.

Where a private higher education (HE) provider chooses to register with the Office for Students (OfS), the regulator plays an important role in ensuring students are better able to exercise their consumer rights. It is an OfS registration condition that providers have due regard to relevant guidance about how to comply with consumer protection law. It is a further condition that all registered providers co-operate with the requirements of the student complaints scheme run by the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education, and that they make students aware of their ability to use the scheme.

In addition, the OfS aims to ensure that all students can access, succeed in, and progress from higher education by ensuring students have access to relevant information to help them make choices that are right for them, and to also ensure students will receive a baseline level of quality. Statistics about student outcomes at OfS regulated providers are included in ‘Discover Uni’, which is owned and operated by the UK higher education funding and regulatory bodies and is an official, reliable source of information to guide student choices.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published advice on consumer law for all HE providers (including those not on the OfS register), setting out its view on how the law operates to help students understand their rights and help providers treat their students fairly. This is available via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-consumer-law-advice-for-providers. The CMA has been clear that there are obligations under the law and providers must ensure they are meeting them.

The Advertising Standards Authority is the UK’s independent self-regulator of advertising across all media. Its work includes acting on complaints and proactively checking the media to take action against misleading, harmful or offensive advertisements that contravene its Advertising Codes. The Advertising Codes cover advertising and marketing communications, which are likely to include HE providers’ course information on websites, leaflets and posters directed at prospective students.


Written Question
Schools: Bullying
Friday 6th November 2020

Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to tackle bullying in schools.

Answered by Vicky Ford

The government has sent a clear message that bullying should never be tolerated and we are committed to supporting schools to tackle it. All schools are legally required to have a behaviour policy, with measures to prevent all forms of bullying, and have the freedom to develop their own anti-bulling strategies and monitoring approaches, to best suit their environment.

The department provides advice for schools, which outlines schools’ responsibilities. The advice makes clear that schools should make appropriate provision for a bullied child's social, emotional, and mental health needs. It is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/preventing-and-tackling-bullying.

Where bullying is reported to the school, it is important that school staff take prompt action to support the bullied pupil and prevent the bullying from happening again. On 7 June, we announced more than £750,000 for the Diana Award, the Anti-Bullying Alliance and the Anne Frank Trust in order to help hundreds of schools and colleges build relationships between pupils, boost their resilience, and continue to tackle bullying both in person and online. Further information is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/extra-mental-health-support-for-pupils-and-teachers.

We are also making sure that all children in England will learn about respectful relationships, in person and online, as part of new mandatory Relationships, Sex and Health Education. This includes content on the different types of bullying, the impact it has, the responsibility of bystanders, and how to get help.

In our drive to tackle behaviour issues and bullying, we have strengthened teachers' power to enforce discipline and promote good behaviour. This includes giving teachers powers to discipline pupils for poor behaviour which takes place outside of the school gates, and extending their searching powers so they can search for, and in certain circumstances delete, inappropriate images (or files) on electronic devices, including mobile phones.

We are investing £10 million through behaviour hubs. Schools with exemplary positive behaviour cultures can work closely with schools that want to turn around their behaviour, alongside a central offer of support and a taskforce of advisers. The aim is to improve their culture and spread good practice across the country. The first hubs are planned to launch in Spring 2021 and will run for an initial period of 3 years.

The hubs programme builds on Tom Bennett’s independent review of behaviour in schools, Creating a Culture: how school leaders can optimise behaviour (2017). In November 2018 we published Respectful School Communities, a self-review and signposting tool to support schools to develop a whole-school approach which promotes respect and discipline. This can combat bullying, harassment and prejudice of any kind, including sexual bullying and sexual harassment. It will help schools to identify the various elements that make up a whole school approach, consider gaps in their current practice and get further support.


Written Question
Textbooks: Middle East
Tuesday 5th November 2019

Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department provided guidance to the authors of the Pearson Edexcel textbook, The Middle East: Conflict, Crisis and Change, before publication of that book.

Answered by Nick Gibb

The content of textbooks is a matter for individual publishers. The Department is aware concerns have been raised about this textbook and that Pearson has launched an independent review and will take action if necessary.


Written Question
STEM Subjects: Higher Education
Tuesday 3rd September 2019

Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to encourage more working class young people to take up STEM subjects at university.

Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone

To maintain a dynamic and growing economy, the government is committed to tackling science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills shortages. The department is encouraging more students into STEM education and training, at all stages, from primary school to higher education (HE).

To support more students to take STEM subjects at university, the government has increased investment in maths and digital subjects within schools, including a new post-16 maths premium and a new £84 million programme to improve the teaching of computing. Both of these initiatives aim to increase the number of young people taking these subjects, from all backgrounds.

This school-level investment programme is complemented by increasing efforts from the university sector to encourage more disadvantaged students to enter HE. The Office for Students (as the regulator for HE in England) has a duty to promote equality of opportunity in relation to access and participation in HE. In 2018, 18 year olds from disadvantaged backgrounds were proportionally 52% more likely to enter full-time HE than in 2009.


Written Question
STEM Subjects: Females
Tuesday 3rd September 2019

Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many women have started courses in STEM subjects at university in each of the last five years.

Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone

The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collects and publishes data on students enrolled in higher education in the UK. Statistics broken down by subject area and sex are available in Figure 14 of the Statistical Bulletin published in January 2019, which can be found at the following link:

https://www.hesa.ac.uk/news/17-01-2019/sb252-higher-education-student-statistics/subjects.

Over the academic years 2013-14 to 2017-18, the number of female entrants to science subjects in UK higher education institutions (HEIs) has increased by 10% from 218,375 to 240,285. The number of male entrants to science subjects in UK HEIs has increased by 4% from 196,960 to 204,065.

Notes

  • Counts are on the basis of full-person-equivalents. Where a student is studying more than one subject, they are apportioned between the subjects that make up their course.
  • Science subjects are defined by HESA as subject groups A to K under the JACS3 classification: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/support/documentation/jacs/jacs3-detailed.
  • Figures have been rounded to the nearest 5.

Written Question
Engineering: Young People
Wednesday 20th February 2019

Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of young people taking engineering qualifications (a) before and (b) after the 2018 Year of Engineering.

Answered by Nick Gibb

At GCSE, the majority of students study mathematics and science, and entries to computer science continue to rise quicker than for any other subject. In 2018, 32,879 pupils aged 16-18 entered A level physics and 82,070 entered A levels in mathematics (including all mathematics subjects). Computer science A level saw the biggest increase in entries for any A level subject in 2018, up 26% (to 9,506) since the previous year. 780 pupils aged 16-18 entered an applied general qualification in engineering, 1,238 entered a Tech level in engineering, 2,319 entered a Tech certificate in engineering, and 7,929 entered a level 2 vocational qualification in engineering.

It is too early to assess the impact that the Year of Engineering has had on the take-up of engineering qualifications. However, it is positive that the Government’s broader science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programmes are having a positive impact on STEM progression, and the Department hopes that the efforts of the year will continue to add to this positive trend.


Written Question
STEM Subjects: Females
Wednesday 20th February 2019

Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to encourage more young women to consider entering careers in STEM.

Answered by Nick Gibb

The Government announced substantial spending commitments in the Autumn Budget 2017 on maths, digital and technical education. The Department is funding programmes to increase the take-up and better teaching of maths, science and computing in schools. These include a new £84 million programme to improve computing teaching and the advanced maths premium, to encourage more schools and colleges to teach pupils maths post 16.

The Department is committed to addressing low female participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects and, in particular, improving girls’ take-up of maths, computing and physics. Not all STEM subjects have a gender imbalance, and entries by girls to science A levels have increased by 14,822 (27%) comparing 2010 to 2018. However, physics take-up is notably low and the Department has invested in the Stimulating Physics Network, which has a programme dedicated to increasing the number of girls studying physics A level.

The Department will be launching a Gender Balance in Computing Pilot Programme, to identify effective interventions that schools can implement to improve girls’ take-up of computer science GCSE and A level, as part of the £84 million investment to improve teaching of computing and drive up participation in computer science.

The Department has committed to improving STEM careers advice in schools. The Government’s careers strategy asks that STEM experiences, such as with employers and apprenticeships, are built into school career programmes. The Department is also funding at least 500 Careers Leader training bursaries for schools and colleges in 2018/19 and 2019/20 and doubling the number of Careers Hubs from 20 to 40 in 2019.

The Government is also supporting the STEM Ambassadors programme, a nationwide network of over 30,000 volunteers from a wide range of employers. STEM Ambassadors, 44% of whom are women, engage with young people to increase their interest and awareness of the range of careers that STEM qualifications offer.


Written Question
Students: Plagiarism
Wednesday 5th December 2018

Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to tackle the increase in essay mill services.

Answered by Anne Milton

The use of companies that sell bespoke essays to students who submit them as their own work undermines the reputation of the sector and devalues the hard work of those succeeding on their own merit. We are currently focussing on non-legislative options to address this problem, but remain open to the future need for legislation, and will continue to investigate all options available. We should only legislate where it is absolutely necessary. The government’s preferred approach is to tackle this issue through a sector-led initiative, which is why the department has worked with Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), Universities UK and the National Union of Students to publish guidance last October for all UK Universities on how best to tackle contract cheating.

Time is needed to fully evaluate the effectiveness of the new guidance and this is underway. The QAA is running a series of seminars to evaluate how the sector is using the guidance.

Officials are also working closely with the QAA on proposals for a UK Centre for Academic Integrity that would help the UK government and the higher education sector to better understand the scale of the problem and identify new ways to tackle the issue.

Through the Higher Education and Research Act 2017, we have given the Office for Students the power to take action if higher education providers are found to be, in any way, complicit in cheating. This includes imposing fines or ultimately de-registration, the highest possible punishment. We expect Vice-Chancellors to play their part by adopting robust anti plagiarism and cheating policies which exclude students who use essay mills and by tackling the advertising of these services in their institutions.

We welcome the swift action YouTube took to remove videos containing adverts promoting the EduBirdie essay-writing service, in response to recent the BBC Trending investigation on academic cheating, in which it was made very clear that YouTube had a moral responsibility to take action.