Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure people without Maths and English GCSEs can access appropriate apprenticeship schemes.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not have entry requirements for apprenticeships, but we understand that employers may wish to set their own as apprentices are employees.
The department does have specific English and mathematics exit requirements which apprentices must meet, and we recognise the concerns that have been raised by learners, employers and providers about the barriers these can pose to accessing or completing an apprenticeship.
The department is considering how its English and mathematics exit requirements policy can be improved to make sure it recognises the benefits to upskilling in these subjects, while also being delivered in a way that supports people to achieve.
The department continues to fully fund apprentices who do not hold the required English and mathematics qualifications to achieve these as part of their apprenticeship.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential financial impact on state schools of the introduction of VAT on private school fees.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The impact on the state sector as a result of the introduction of VAT on private school fees is being carefully considered. HM Treasury will deliver the tax changes. Further details of the government’s assessment of the expected impact will be published at the Budget. A Tax Information and Impact Note will be published alongside the Finance Bill once the independent Office for Budget Responsibility has scrutinised and certified the impacts of the final policy.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 83 of the HM Treasury's policy paper entitled, Fixing the foundations public spending audit 2024-25, published on 29 July 2024, if she will take steps to ensure the 2024 pay award for teachers is funded at a school level and takes account of existing staffing costs.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
To support schools with overall costs, the department is providing almost £1.1 billion in 2024/25 through the new Core Schools Budget Grant (CSBG). This matches what the department has calculated is needed to fully fund, at a national level, the teacher pay award and the support staff pay offer in the 2024/25 financial year, over and above the available headroom in schools’ existing budgets. Guidance on the new CSBG can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/core-schools-budget-grant-csbg-2024-to-2025.
The department understands that the picture will be different for individual schools and that funding will not always match a school’s precise costs. The formula allocates funding based on schools’ pupil numbers and their characteristics. Schools can then decide how to use this funding, including how many teachers and support staff to employ. When the department allocates grant funding for additional costs, it calculates the cost across the whole system and then adds that cost into the formula. This approach keeps funding fair. If grant funding was based on each schools’ specific teacher costs, then funding would be disproportionately allocated to the schools that already spend the most on their teachers and support staff, rather than giving every school a fair increase in their spending power.