Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to continue the implementation of a new GCSE in Natural History.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Shipley to the answer of 17 December 2024 to Question 18517.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of a national bank of lesson and curriculum resources for primary and secondary school teachers.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department has provided funding to Oak National Academy (Oak), a non-departmental public body, to provide free, optional and adaptable curriculum and lesson resources for primary and secondary school teachers. These resources are available on Oak’s website at: https://www.thenational.academy/.
The government has commissioned an independent review of Oak. The review will include an assessment of whether Oak is delivering services that meet the needs of teachers and young people.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what number and proportion of pupils in (a) state and (b) independent schools had access arrangements for extra time during (i) GCSEs and (ii) A-Levels in the summer exams 2024.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
This is a matter for Ofqual, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation. I have asked its Chief Regulator, Sir Ian Bauckham, to write to the hon. Member directly and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will conduct a review into apprenticeships that includes taking representations from existing functional skills teachers.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department keeps all aspects of apprenticeships policy under review, including the English and mathematics requirements, to make sure it is striking the right balance in equipping apprentices with the right skills, without putting up unnecessary barriers to starting or completing an apprenticeship.
More widely, the government will be transforming the apprenticeships levy into a new growth and skills levy, which will offer greater flexibility to employers and learners and align with the government’s Industrial Strategy. Skills England will be working closely with employers, training providers, unions and other key partners to identify priority skills gaps, helping to ensure that levy-funded training delivers value for money, meets the needs of business and helps kick start economic growth. Details on Skills England engagement plans will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
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 providing funding for local authority teacher supply pools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Supply teachers perform a valuable role and make an important contribution to the smooth running of schools by filling posts on a temporary basis and covering teacher absences.
Schools and local authorities are responsible for the recruitment of their supply teachers. Local authority supply pools are one of the approaches to providing supply teachers, and local authorities have the autonomy to decide whether to operate supply teacher pools.
The department, in conjunction with the Crown Commercial Service, has established the agency supply deal, which supports schools to obtain value for money when hiring agency supply teachers and other temporary school staff. More information is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/deal-for-schools-hiring-supply-teachers-and-agency-workers.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department plans to take to help reduce the pay gap between (a) further education college teachers and (b) other teachers.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government does not set or recommend pay in further education (FE). This remains the responsibility of individual colleges who are free to implement pay arrangements in line with their local needs.
The department recognises the vital role that FE teachers play in developing the skills needed to drive the government’s missions to improve opportunity and economic growth. That is why the department is investing around £600 million across the 2024/25 and 2025/26 financial years. This includes extending retention payments of up to £6,000 after tax to eligible early career FE teachers in key subject areas. The department also continues to support recruitment and retention with teacher training bursaries worth up to £30,000 tax-free in certain key subject areas, and with support for industry professionals to enter the teaching workforce through the Taking Teaching Further programme.
My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor for the Exchequer, has announced a Budget on 30 October to be followed by a multi-year Spending Review in the spring of next year. Decisions about future post-16 funding and capital programmes will be subject to the outcomes of these fiscal events.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase public awareness of the required parental contributions when accessing student loans.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Guidance on ‘Understanding Student Living Costs’ from the Student Loans Company is available on GOV.UK and reviewed on a regular basis. More information on this guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/understanding-student-living-costs. This guidance makes it clear that students are expected to make up the difference between the maintenance loan amount available to them and their total living costs.
Students supplement their living costs support through a variety of means, including parental support, part-time employment, or savings. Students’ living costs vary widely, according to their individual circumstances and where they study and reside, so it is not possible to provide a single figure for any parental contribution.
Students can also find more information about some of the alternative sources of funding, and guidance on how to budget for university, at Student Space here: https://studentspace.org.uk/.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to reduce (a) bus, (b) coach and (c) other transport costs for schools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department’s home to school travel policy aims to make sure that no child is prevented from accessing education by a lack of transport. Local authorities must arrange free home to school travel, at the start and end of the school day. This is for children of compulsory school age, (5 to 16), who attend their nearest school and would not be able to walk there because of the distance, their special educational needs, disability or mobility problem, or because the nature of the route means it would be unsafe for them to do so.
At their discretion, some schools may choose to organise their own school travel, which they may or may not charge for. Local authorities may also choose to meet their statutory responsibilities for arranging school travel through local arrangements with schools in some cases. I am keen to understand how well home-to-school transport supports children to access educational opportunity and will be working with departmental officials on this.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether schools that were assessed before the announcement of the removal of single headline grades and which have not yet received their report will receive a single headline grade.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
This is a matter for His Majesty’s Chief Inspector at Ofsted, Sir Martyn Oliver. I have asked him to write to my hon. Friend, the Member for Shipley directly and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to reform children's care services to improve outcomes for (a) children in care and (b) care leavers.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Reforming children’s social care is critical to deliver the government’s Opportunity Mission, to ensure that no child or young person’s background limits their ambition or life chances.
The department recognises that children in care and care leavers have poorer outcomes than their peers across all aspects of their lives, and wants all those who are in care or leaving care to have stable homes, access to health services, support to build lifelong loving relationships, and help to engage in education, employment and training.
In the King’s Speech, the government committed to introduce a Children’s Wellbeing Bill, which will allow the government to take forward the legislative changes needed to improve the children’s social care system for children in care and care leavers, including through a clearer focus on improving the support provided by government departments and relevant public bodies.