Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
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 awarding Qualified Teacher Status to PhD holders without requiring completion of a Postgraduate Certificate in Education.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Qualified teacher status (QTS) is the professional qualification for teachers in primary and secondary schools. Having a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) is not required to become a qualified teacher but many Initial Teacher Training (ITT) courses also offer an academic award such as a PGCE.
QTS is usually achieved following successful completion of an ITT Course. All ITT courses leading to QTS must incorporate the Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework in full. This framework is underpinned by the best independently verified evidence about what makes great teaching.
To achieve QTS, individuals must demonstrate all Teachers’ Standards. Subject expertise is a critical part of great teaching, but teachers also need to understand how children learn; how to plan a curriculum and structure lessons; how to adapt their teaching to the needs of the children in their classes, including those with special educational needs; and how to manage behaviour effectively.
Evidence shows that high-quality teaching is the most important in-school factor that improves outcomes for children, which is why we think it is right that only teachers who have met the Teachers’ Standards are awarded QTS.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support is available to help young people (a) develop skills and (b) access opportunities in South East Cornwall constituency.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As announced in the spending review, the department is making over £1.2 billion of additional investment per year in skills by 2028/29.
This will support and grow the wide range of technical routes and work-based training available for people of all ages, across the country, including South-East Cornwall. This includes:
There are a number of post-16 education and training providers in Cornwall delivering further education and skills provision. The largest of these is Cornwall College, judged as overall Outstanding in their latest Ofsted inspection, and which has campuses throughout Cornwall.
We have also strengthened legislation to ensure all secondary pupils have multiple opportunities for meaningful encounters with providers of technical education and apprenticeships.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the removal of Strategic Priorities Grant funding from journalism courses in the 2025–26 academic year on the accessibility of journalism education.
Answered by Janet Daby
The government provides funding through the Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG) on an annual basis to support teaching and students in higher education (HE). We are prioritising support for high-cost subjects that are essential to the delivery of our Industrial Strategy and for access to HE for disadvantaged groups. The removal of SPG funding for journalism courses aligns with this.
We are prioritising investment in science, engineering and technology subjects. Media studies, journalism, publishing and information services are all important and valued subjects, and the government acknowledges their importance, alongside numerous other subjects that do not attract SPG high-cost subject funding, such as history, languages, economics, mathematics and law.
Funding for all subjects, including journalism, will benefit from the increase in tuition fee limits in line with inflation. The maximum fee for a standard full-time undergraduate course in the 2025/26 academic year will increase by 3.1%, from £9,250 to £9,535.
HE providers are autonomous bodies, independent from government, and are responsible for deciding which courses to offer.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of students likely to be affected by the withdrawal of Strategic Priorities Grant funding for journalism courses in 2025–26.
Answered by Janet Daby
The government provides funding through the Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG) on an annual basis to support teaching and students in higher education (HE). We are prioritising support for high-cost subjects that are essential to the delivery of our Industrial Strategy and for access to HE for disadvantaged groups. The removal of SPG funding for journalism courses aligns with this.
We are prioritising investment in science, engineering and technology subjects. Media studies, journalism, publishing and information services are all important and valued subjects, and the government acknowledges their importance, alongside numerous other subjects that do not attract SPG high-cost subject funding, such as history, languages, economics, mathematics and law.
Funding for all subjects, including journalism, will benefit from the increase in tuition fee limits in line with inflation. The maximum fee for a standard full-time undergraduate course in the 2025/26 academic year will increase by 3.1%, from £9,250 to £9,535.
HE providers are autonomous bodies, independent from government, and are responsible for deciding which courses to offer.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the evidential basis was for the decision to remove Strategic Priorities Grant funding from journalism courses.
Answered by Janet Daby
The government provides funding through the Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG) on an annual basis to support teaching and students in higher education (HE). We are prioritising support for high-cost subjects that are essential to the delivery of our Industrial Strategy and for access to HE for disadvantaged groups. The removal of SPG funding for journalism courses aligns with this.
We are prioritising investment in science, engineering and technology subjects. Media studies, journalism, publishing and information services are all important and valued subjects, and the government acknowledges their importance, alongside numerous other subjects that do not attract SPG high-cost subject funding, such as history, languages, economics, mathematics and law.
Funding for all subjects, including journalism, will benefit from the increase in tuition fee limits in line with inflation. The maximum fee for a standard full-time undergraduate course in the 2025/26 academic year will increase by 3.1%, from £9,250 to £9,535.
HE providers are autonomous bodies, independent from government, and are responsible for deciding which courses to offer.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support journalism training that helps future journalists deal with AI-generated content and misinformation.
Answered by Janet Daby
Higher education providers are independent bodies responsible for designing their own journalism qualifications. However, the quality of courses is regulated by the independent regulator the Office for Students (OfS). Courses must be up-to-date and teach students skills relevant to the subject and level of the course. Relevant skills could include, but not be limited to, cognitive skills, practical skills, transferable skills and professional competences.
A course designed to lead to a particular profession should require students to demonstrate the skills necessary for success in that profession, including where specific skills are required for accreditation by a professional body.
For example, the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) and the Broadcast Journalism Training Council accredit courses delivered by providers in the UK. In addition, the NCTJ offers its own popular journalism diploma, which is also delivered in some further education colleges as well as other level 3 provision. It is for employers, providers and sector bodies to ensure that content meets learner and employer needs.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to continue funding Level 3 vocational qualifications in music and the arts beyond 2026; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of removing these qualifications on access to creative careers for students who do not follow A-Level routes.
Answered by Janet Daby
On 12 December 2024, the government published the review of level 3 qualifications reform which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-level-3-qualifications-reform-provisional-outcomes. The review aimed to ensure that qualifications reform supports the government’s missions of spreading opportunity and delivering economic growth, and considered all qualifications that were due to have funding removed in either 2024 or 2025.
The routes in scope of this review were:
Qualifications at level 3 in other subjects, such as music and the arts, will continue to be funded as before. No decisions have been made to defund these qualifications. When we published the results of this review, we were clear this provided certainty on which qualifications will remain funded up to 2027.
We will consider the future of level 3 qualifications following the recommendations from the Curriculum and Assessment Review, due later in 2025.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the recommendations of the Centre for Social Justice's report entitled Lost Boys, published in March 2025.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The department wants to ensure that every child and young person can achieve and thrive in education, work and life, regardless of their gender or background. Work to tackle the impacts of disadvantage is embedded throughout the Opportunity Mission. Ensuring all children, including boys, experience the best start in life is the foundation of the Mission, recognising that children’s earliest years are crucial to their health, development and future life chances.
High standards across education are the key to unlocking stronger outcomes and a better future for all children and young people. The department will drive high and rising standards in every school, delivered though excellent teaching, a high-quality curriculum and a school system which removes the barriers to learning that hold too many children back.
We are determined to break down barriers to opportunity for all our young people. One in eight 16 to 24-year-olds are not in education, employment or training and as the Lost Boys report highlights, the majority of these are young men. This number is too high, and we are taking the action needed to tackle it by investing in skills training and opening up access to apprenticeships.
This government’s focus on ‘Getting Britain Working’ is critical to growing the economy and aims to support young people through the new Youth Guarantee. This will ensure all young people aged 18-21 will have access to education, training or help to find a job or an apprenticeship.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help improve (a) education and (b) training for sustainable jobs in the renewable sector in South East Cornwall constituency.
Answered by Janet Daby
Areas right across the UK are benefitting from the transition to low carbon energy. The government’s investments in the skills system are promoting education and training that creates meaningful opportunities for all, including in areas such as renewable energy for South East Cornwall.
The department funds a range of programmes that develop green skills, including:
Moreover, green energy will be eligible for the first round of shortened apprenticeships that we recently announced as part of our skills reforms.
The recently created Skills England is working with partners to map out and address skills needs linked to clean energy.
Addressing local renewable energy and green skills needs are a priority set out in Local Skills Improvement Plans, including the plan covering South East Cornwall. With support from the department, local colleges are actively addressing green skills needs through various initiatives and programmes in key areas such as green construction, heat pump technologies and electric vehicles.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the provision available for young people with SEND who are at risk of becoming NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) (a) in Cornwall and (b) nationally; and what steps she is taking to ensure they receive support to enter education, employment, or training.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
All education and training providers, as with other related service providers, have a duty to make reasonable adjustments for people with disabilities, so they are not disadvantaged compared to non-disabled students. This includes people with a learning difficulty. This duty is set out under section 20 of the Equality Act 2010, which is available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/section/20.
Local authorities are also responsible for commissioning education for young people who have an education, health and care (EHC) plan and have high needs. Cornwall Council’s special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) offer is developed in partnership with parents, carers and stakeholders, which includes the two colleges in Cornwall. The Together for Family’s SEND strategy sets out Cornwall Council’s considerations for post-16 young people. Schools and colleges in Cornwall help young people prepare for adulthood and there are specific programmes of education to support young people in moving on to further education, independent living, training and/or employment.
The council provides further support for young people at risk of becoming not in employment, education or training (NEET) through the Cornwall Opportunities Initiative and the Youth Engagement Project for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, aimed at disadvantaged young people, which has received £2 million from the UK government through the Shared Prosperity Fund. The latter programme works with young people aged 16 to 24, with a specific focus on 16 to 18 year-olds who are NEET or are at risk of NEET, have special educational needs, or are in other vulnerable groupings.