Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department has regarding the inclusion of RSL vocational qualifications, specifically at levels 1 and 2, in future school and college performance measures; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
RSL Technical Award qualifications at levels 1 and 2 will count toward 2022 and 2023 performance tables.
In autumn 2020, the department introduced a new approval process for technical awards. Only those technical qualifications that meet stretching requirements as outlined in the technical guidance and in Ofqual’s new qualification level conditions, and that have been reviewed by Ofqual and approved by the department, are recognised for the purposes of the 2024 key stage 4 performance tables alongside academic qualifications.
In December 2021 the department published an interim list of qualifications approved for the 2024 key stage 4 performance tables, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/key-stage-4-qualifications-discount-codes-and-point-scores. The interim list is subject to an appeals process which is currently underway. As the appeals process is ongoing, the department is unable to comment on the inclusion of individual qualifications in the final list of performance table qualifications at this stage.
There will be future opportunities for awarding organisations to submit qualifications for inclusion in performance tables for 2026 and beyond.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Government's Levelling Up White Paper, if he will publish details of the additional funding that St Helens Metropolitan Borough will receive as a result of having been identified as an Education Investment Area.
Answered by Robin Walker
We are making over £100 million of funding available to support Education Investment Areas over the course of the Spending Review period.
Our Schools White Paper will set out further details on the funding available to Education Investment Areas, as well our plans to make a wider programme of support available to a priority subset of these areas.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with teaching professionals in (a) St Helens North constituency and (b) nationally on the future of RSL vocational qualifications as they relate to school and college performance measures.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
There are currently five RSL qualifications included in the 16 to 18 performance tables for 2022 awarding. Of these, one is at level 2 and four are at level 3.
The department is streamlining and improving the quality of the post-16 qualifications system at level 3 and below. We set out our plans for reform of level 3 qualifications in July 2021. We have not pre-judged which subject areas will be funded in future but there are several areas where we see a clear role for qualifications alongside A levels and T Levels. These include performing and creative arts. These must meet new quality criteria to be approved for funding. Full details of the process for adding qualifications to the performance tables, performance points and approach to discounting will be published alongside the funding approval criteria later this year. RSL, like other awarding organisations, will be able to submit qualifications that meet these criteria for approval.
We will shortly set out our proposals for qualifications at level 2 and below.
The north-west regional delivery team are in regular dialogue with St Helen’s College and discuss their curriculum and strategy through these channels. As part of the annual strategic conversations they are having with all further education colleges, they pick up any key strategic risks and issues, as well as opportunities and strengths. These have not yet been held with St Helen’s or Carmel College, but both are likely to take place early in 2022. Curriculum, quality, and performance measures will also be part of the annual strategic conversations.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, in the context of the rise of omicron covid-19 variant cases, what additional support he has made available to education providers in (a) St Helens North constituency and (b) the North West region to improve ventilation in the various sets of teaching environments.
Answered by Robin Walker
Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, the department has emphasised the importance of ventilation and provided guidance to education providers on ventilation requirements. The department has always stated that where an education provider is in operation it is important to ensure that it is well ventilated and that a comfortable teaching environment is maintained.
During the autumn term, the department provided CO2 monitors to all state-funded education providers, including early years, schools, and further education providers, backed by £25 million in government funding. The department has now delivered on its public commitment with over 353,000 monitors delivered. The programme provided schools and other education providers with sufficient monitors to take representative readings from across their estate. Feedback suggests that schools are finding the monitors helpful to manage ventilation and, in the majority of education providers, existing ventilation measures are sufficient.
For the very few cases where maintaining good ventilation is not possible, the department is supplying up to a total of 7,000 air cleaning units in response to this feedback to settings. This is in addition to the 1,000 department-funded air cleaning units that we announced on 18 November for special educational needs and disabilities and alternative provision providers. Providers can apply for funded units via an online form. Applications are open until 9am on 17 January. Applications will be assessed against strict criteria for their setting type. We will prioritise spaces with the poorest ventilation to receive units based on criteria such as CO2 levels and occupation density.
The department has also launched an online marketplace, which provides education providers with a route to purchasing air cleaning units directly from suppliers at a suitable specification and competitive price. Further information is available here: https://s107t01-webapp-v2-01.azurewebsites.net/list/air-cleaning. In future, we may review this list and as more products which meet our specification become available, these will be added.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions he has had with education leaders in (a) St Helens North constituency and (b) the North West region on improving the (i) recruitment and (ii) retention of newly-qualified teachers.
Answered by Robin Walker
Ensuring that every child has a great teacher in front of them is why we published our Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy in 2019.
There are now more than 461,000 full time equivalent teachers working in schools across the country to inspire the next generation of young people. Over 41,000 new trainee teachers were recruited to start training in academic year 2020/21, which is 23% higher than the previous year, showing that teaching continues to be an attractive profession.
In the 2019/20 North West cohort, there were 4,382 total trainees. Provisional figures for the 2020/21 cohort show an increase to 6,750 total trainees.
The department recognises there is more to do to ensure this success is not short-lived and that we continue to attract and retain talented individuals in our classrooms. From September 2021, we are delivering the national rollout of the Early Career Framework reforms. New teachers will benefit from a 2-year, fully funded, comprehensive programme of training and support, including access to a trained mentor and a 5% reduction in contact time in their second year. This will build on initial teacher training to provide a solid foundation for a successful career in teaching, backed by over £130 million a year in funding when fully rolled out.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with representatives of FE colleges and providers in (a) St Helens North constituency and (b) the North West on the withdrawal of Government funding for certain BTEC qualifications.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
We set out the qualifications we intend to fund alongside A levels and T Levels at level 3 in July 2021. We will continue to fund some BTECs and other Applied General qualifications (AGQs) in future, and these qualifications will continue to play an important role for 16 to 19 year olds and adults as they do now.
Whilst we want clearer, simpler choices for students, we are not moving towards a binary system of just A levels and T Levels. Students will continue to be able to study BTECs and other AGQs as part of mixed programmes alongside A levels, where they meet new quality standards and support progression to higher education, for example in areas such as engineering, applied science and IT. Students will also be able to study qualifications like BTECs as their full programme of study where there is no A level or T Level, in areas such as performing and creative arts and sports science.
T Levels are challenging qualifications developed with 250 leading employers, have significantly longer teaching hours and include a meaningful nine-week industry placement that sets them apart from many current vocational qualifications. We believe that it is the right thing to do to remove funding for technical qualifications that overlap with T Levels when they become nationally available.
The North West regional delivery team are in regular dialogue with St Helen’s College and through this discuss their curriculum and strategy. As part of the Annual Strategic Conversations, they are having with all FE Colleges, they pick up any key strategic risks and issues, as well as opportunities and strengths. These have not yet been held with St Helen’s or Carmel Colleges, but both are likely to take place early in 2022.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people aged (a) 16 to 18 years old and (b) over 19 years old studied for a level 3 BTEC in (a) St Helens Metropolitan Borough and (b) Liverpool City Region in each year since 2010.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The data in the attached table covers level 3 learning aim enrolments that have BTEC in the title.
The data is broken down by St Helens and Liverpool City Region (Halton, Liverpool, Sefton, Knowsley, St Helens and Wirral) and by age groups of under 19 years and those over 19 years old.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect on levels of inequality in the North West region of the withdrawal of funding for certain BTEC qualifications.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
We set out the qualifications we intend to fund alongside A levels and T Levels at level 3 in July 2021. We will continue to fund some BTECs and other Applied General qualifications (AGQs) in future, and these qualifications will continue to play an important role for 16 to 19 year olds and adults as they do now.
Whilst we want clearer, simpler choices for students, we are not moving towards a binary system of just A levels and T Levels. Students will continue to be able to study BTECs and other AGQs as part of mixed programmes alongside A levels, where they meet new quality standards and support progression to higher education, for example in areas such as engineering, applied science and IT. Students will also be able to study qualifications like BTECs as their full programme of study where there is no A level or T Level, in areas such as performing and creative arts and sports science.
T Levels are challenging qualifications developed with 250 leading employers, have significantly longer teaching hours and include a meaningful nine-week industry placement that sets them apart from many current vocational qualifications. We believe that it is the right thing to do to remove funding for technical qualifications that overlap with T Levels when they become nationally available. However, whilst we want clearer, simpler choices for students, we are not creating a binary system of just A levels and T Levels and will continue to fund qualifications such as BTECs and other AGQs in a number of areas. These include performing and creative arts, sport, health, and STEM subjects such as engineering, applied science, and IT.
The impact assessment published alongside our final plans in July recognised that at a national level some students may find it more difficult to achieve level 3 in future, but we expect these changes to have a generally positive impact. We are clear that students taking qualifications that are no longer funded in future will have the most to gain from these changes because they are more likely to be taking qualifications that do not deliver the skills employers need. These students will have access to higher quality qualifications in the future, including new T Levels, putting them in a stronger position to progress onto further study or skilled employment.
Alongside our reforms to level 3 qualifications, we want to improve study at level 2 and below, which has been neglected for too long. Getting level 2 and below right is key to making sure that every student has a clear progression route, whether that is to high quality level 3 qualifications, apprenticeships, traineeships, or directly into skilled employment at level 2. We are considering feedback to the call for evidence which ran from 10 November 2020 to 14 February 2021 and will consult on proposals for reform later this year.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the Social Mobility Commission's strategy is for improving social mobility for white working class boys.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The Social Mobility Commission is an Arm’s Length Body, whose statutory responsibility is to monitor social mobility in the United Kingdom and promote social mobility in England. They carry out this responsibility by appraising action on social mobility via their annual monitoring report laid in Parliament, making recommendations to the government and conducting other evidence-based research reports they publish throughout the year. The Social Mobility Commission also carry out important work with frontline delivery partners to help drive change, and put evidence on best practice into action alongside employers, local regional leaders, social mobility charities, and reaching out to young people through digital channels.
The Social Mobility Commission’s work has a key focus on understanding the drivers of poor outcomes for individuals from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, as part of an overarching strategy to understand the drivers of poor social mobility through high-quality research.
The Social Mobility Commission also recently contributed to the Education Select Committee inquiry on ‘Left Behind White Pupils from Disadvantaged Backgrounds’. Their written evidence can be found here: https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/12557/default.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to tackle educational disadvantage amongst white working class boys in (a) St Helens, (b) Merseyside and (c) England.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Educational achievement is at the heart of our commitment to ensure no young person is left behind because of the place or circumstances of their birth. Most pupils now attend Good or Outstanding schools. As of March 2020, 86% of schools are Good or Outstanding compared to just 68% in 2010.
We are aware that pupils of all backgrounds have been affected by the COVID-19 outbreak and we are providing schools with the resources and tools to address lost education so that all pupils can catch up. Our £1 billion COVID-19 catch-up package is providing additional funding so that schools can support pupils who have been negatively affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. As part of this, the £650 million universal Catch-Up Premium is enabling all schools to identify and prioritise support for pupils to address their needs. This complements the National Tutoring Programme which is targeting £350 million to accelerate the academic progress of disadvantaged pupils by making high quality tutors available to schools in all regions at a greatly reduced rate.
Recognising that disadvantaged children may not have access to the resources they need to learn remotely, we have invested more than £195 million to support access to remote education and online social care. As part of this, we are making more than 340,000 laptops and tablets available this term to support disadvantaged children in Years 3 to 11 whose face-to-face education may be disrupted. This supplements more than 220,000 laptops and tablets and 50,000 4G wireless routers which were delivered during the summer term.
English schools continue to receive the pupil premium, worth £2.4 billion again this financial year, to enable them to arrange extra personalised support for disadvantaged pupils of all abilities. This year, schools in St Helens are sharing £9.7 million provided through this grant, with schools in the five local authorities in Merseyside sharing £82.4 million.
We founded the Education Endowment Foundation in 2011 to research and disseminate the most effective ways to improve disadvantaged pupil progress. So far, it has conducted 190 trials in 13,000 English schools leading to the publication of a comprehensive range of internationally recognised effective practice. The research shows schools effectively implementing the best evidence-based approaches can make a difference to every pupil’s future.