Asked by: Andrew Ranger (Labour - Wrexham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to improve access to opportunity in disadvantaged areas to promote social mobility for students from low-income backgrounds.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
For too many children and young people in Britain, their background, where they come from or their parents' income limits the life they are able to build. The government’s Opportunity Mission aims to break this link between a child’s background and their future success.
To achieve the department’s overall mission objective of closing the opportunity gap, we have set a milestone of a record proportion of children starting school ready to learn.
As the Plan for Change set out, the department will measure our progress through 75% of 5-year-olds reaching a good level of development in the Early Years Foundation Stage assessment. We are already making good progress to deliver this first milestone, we have announced the largest ever uplift to the Early Years Pupil Premium, confirmed the first wave of 300 school-based nurseries and are on track to deliver the final increase in childcare entitlement from September. This first milestone is only the beginning of our ambition for children and young people.
The department’s first step for the Opportunity Mission is recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers across our schools, both mainstream and specialist, and our colleges over the course of this Parliament. The quality of teaching is the single most important in-school factor in improving outcomes for children, especially for those from disadvantaged backgrounds. The department has already made good early progress towards this key pledge, including providing a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools, announcing a £233 million initial teacher training financial incentives package for the 2025/26 recruitment cycle, and confirming targeted retention incentives for shortage subjects worth up to £6,000 after tax.
More widely the department has already shown commitment to supporting the most disadvantaged by confirming over £3 billion will be provided to state-funded schools in England through the pupil premium in the 2025/26 financial year, an increase of almost 5% from 2024/25, to help disadvantaged pupils achieve and thrive in education and remove the barriers to learning that hold too many children back.
Asked by: Andrew Ranger (Labour - Wrexham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to increase access to careers education in (a) schools and (b) further education.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
High-quality careers provision is an essential part of the government’s missions to break down barriers to opportunity and to drive economic growth. The department is creating more opportunities for young people to develop skills and improve work readiness through our commitments to improve careers advice in schools and colleges and to guarantee two weeks’ worth of work experience for every young person.
The department will publish updated careers statutory guidance this spring that sets out our expectations of what schools, colleges and independent training providers should do to raise the quality of careers provision and work experience for young people. The Gatsby Benchmarks of Good Career Guidance, a standard for world-class careers guidance for young people, are a cornerstone of our approach. Building on the widespread adoption and impact of the benchmarks in recent years, the framework has been updated following extensive research and consultation, for implementation from September 2025.
Inclusion and impact for each and every young person is a prominent theme that emerged from evidence to the benchmark review. Updates to the benchmarks emphasise the importance of tailoring programmes to the needs of each young person. Particular attention is given to any additional or different support that may be needed by vulnerable or disadvantaged young people and those with special educational needs and disabilities.
The department is continuing to fund The Careers and Enterprise Company to support schools and colleges to deliver careers programmes in line with the Gatsby Benchmarks and to plan towards the delivery of two weeks’ worth of work experience for every young person. 95% of secondary schools and colleges are part of a local Careers Hub, connecting careers provision to the needs of local economies through strategic partnerships with mayoral combined authorities, local authorities and employers. A network of 400 leading employers and over 3,700 business volunteers inspire young people about a range of exciting career opportunities, including in priority growth sectors.
The National Careers Service helps young people, aged 13 to 18, to discover their careers options. The website includes around 800 job profiles and young people can access information and advice via webchat and a telephone helpline which is supported by local community-based career advisers. The website can be found here: https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/.
In addition, the Skills for Life campaign, ‘It all starts with skills’, promotes a range of priority skills programmes to young people, including apprenticeships, T Levels and Higher Technical Qualifications.
Asked by: Andrew Ranger (Labour - Wrexham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help improve access to (a) higher education opportunities and (b) apprenticeships to students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Too many people across our country do not get the chance to succeed. This government is committed to supporting the aspiration of every person who meets the requirements and wants to go to university or pursue an apprenticeship, regardless of their background, where they live and their personal circumstances.
All English higher education (HE) providers registered with the Office for Students (OfS) that intend to charge higher level tuition fees are required to have an Access and Participation Plan approved by the OfS. These plans articulate how providers will improve equality of opportunity for underrepresented groups. In creating their plans, providers should consider the Equality of Opportunity Risk Register which details 12 key sector risks across the student lifecycle and the student groups most likely to experience these, including students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Whilst many HE providers have demonstrated positive examples of widening access, including targeted outreach and bursaries, we want to see the sector go further.
In the summer the department will set out our plan for HE reform and we expect providers to play an even stronger role in improving access and outcomes for all disadvantaged students.
The department also wants to ensure that more young people can undertake apprenticeships. We are introducing foundation apprenticeships for young people, a work-based offer providing high-quality progression pathways into further work-based training and employment, including occupationally specific apprenticeships. The department is continuing to provide employers and providers with additional funding to support more apprenticeship opportunities for young people, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds. We provide £1,000 to both employers and training providers when they take on apprentices aged 16 to 18, and up to age 24 for apprentices with an education, health and care plan or who have been in local authority care. These payments can be used to support costs such as work equipment, uniforms or travel.