Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether applicants to higher education whose families are settled in the UK through the EU Settlement Scheme (pre-settled and settled) will be eligible for (a) home fee status and (b) undergraduate, postgraduate, and advanced learner financial support from Student Finance England for courses starting in the academic year 2021-22.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Current EU principles of equal treatment will continue to apply for those covered by the citizens’ rights provisions in the Withdrawal Agreement, the European Economic Area-European Free Trade Association (EEA-EFTA) Separation Agreement and the Swiss Citizens’ Rights Agreement. This means that EEA and Swiss nationals, and their family members, who are covered by the relevant agreements, and who have been granted settled or presettled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, will be eligible for support on broadly the same basis as now, subject to meeting the residency requirements. Close family members living overseas will be able to join an EEA or Swiss citizen resident here after the end of the transition period, where the relationship existed on 31 December 2020 and continues to exist when the person wishes to come to the UK. Children born or adopted after December 2020 are also eligible if their parent is covered by one of the Withdrawal Agreements.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools have made successful bids for additional funding from the fund for exceptional costs associated with coronavirus in (a) Cambridgeshire and (b) the UK from March to July 2020.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The first window for schools to claim funding back for exceptional costs due to the COVID-19 outbreak incurred between March and July closed on 21 July. Payments against claims made within the scope of the fund were made for schools and academies in September.
Claims were also permitted for costs outside of the published scope of the fund. An assessment is currently being undertaken to determine which of these other costs can be included. To avoid a further delay in paying the standard costs in any claim still being assessed, we paid those to schools and academies in November. We expect to write out to schools and academies in November to confirm the outcome of the assessment and will arrange further payments at that time.
The data in the following table shows the number of claims made in total in both England and Cambridgeshire. The table also shows how many of those claims have had some level of payment made against them, and how many claims contain an element that is currently being assessed. As such, there are no unsuccessful claims at this stage. As education is a devolved power, the claims data is only representative of schools in England.
| Total number of claims received | Number of claims with some level of payment made | Number of claims with some element of ongoing assessment |
Cambridgeshire | 189 | 184 | 56 |
England | 14,075 | 13,420 | 6,435 |
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether EU citizens with (a) pre-settled and (b) settled status will be eligible for home fee status, undergraduate, postgraduate and advanced learner financial support from Student Finance England for courses starting in the academic year 2021-22.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
EU nationals with settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, and who meet the relevant eligibility requirements in force at the time of course commencement, will have access to home fee status and student financial support.
We have agreed with the EU that current EU principles of equal treatment will continue to apply for those covered by the citizens’ rights provisions in the Withdrawal Agreement. This means that EU nationals resident in the UK before the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020 will be eligible for support on a similar basis to domestic students. They have until 30 June 2021 to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme.
EU nationals (and their family members) living in the UK before the end of the transition period who are migrant or frontier workers, or who are self-employed, as well as those who have the right of permanent residence (settled status), will also be eligible for maintenance support, subject to meeting the usual residence requirements.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make it his policy to mandate universities to publish publicly their covid-19 risk assessments.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Higher education (HE) providers have a legal responsibility to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of their employees, students and other people on site.
As part of the process of opening buildings and campuses to staff and students, HE providers should produce risk assessments for both working and communal environments. These will vary significantly based on the needs and circumstances of individual providers. Risk assessments will inform the risk mitigations to ensure all areas of the institution are COVID-19 secure.
HE providers are autonomous institutions and it is not for the government to mandate publication of these risk assessments. However, on 10 September, the department published updated guidance for providers on reopening buildings and campuses which states that providers should share their risk assessments with staff and staff unions. The guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-reopening-buildings-and-campuses/higher-education-reopening-buildings-and-campuses#risk-assessments.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children have been enrolled for elective home education in September (a) 2019 and (b) 2020.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The information requested is not held by this Department. It does not currently collect data on numbers of home educated children.
Parents are not under a duty to register if they are home educating their children and therefore there is not a robust basis on which the Department can reliably collect statistics on home education.
In relation to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Department is working closely with local authorities to encourage a return to full attendance in school and is monitoring the situation. Initial conversations with local authorities indicate that the majority have noticed an increase in enquiries from parents about home education. Where parents are anxious about the safety of their children returning to school, local authorities and school leaders are reinforcing that it is in the best interests of pupils to return to school.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking abroad to demonstrate that Britain is open and welcoming to international students.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The government has been clear that our world-leading universities, which thrive on being global institutions, will always be open to international students. Engaging closely with other government departments and the higher education sector, the department is working to reassure prospective international students that the UK higher education is ‘open for business’, remains world-class and is a safe and tolerant place to study. This includes continued work with Study UK (the government’s international student recruitment campaign led by the British Council), support for the sector-led #WeAreTogether campaign and a package of bespoke communications that will directly target prospective international students, making clear our world-leading UK offer.
Furthermore, on 22 June, with my counterparts in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, I wrote to prospective international students to outline the support and guidance that is available to international students who are considering studying in the UK from the autumn: https://study-uk.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/letter_to_prospective_international_students.pdf. This letter reiterates a number of flexibilities that the government has already announced for international students including, amongst other mitigations, confirmation that distance/blended learning will be permitted for the 2020/21 academic year, provided that international students’ sponsors intend to transition to face-to-face learning as soon as circumstances allow, and steps to further promote the new graduate route.
The government is committed to continuing to improve our offer to international students, which is why we have announced the new graduate route, which will be introduced in summer 2021. The graduate route will be simple and light-touch and it will permit graduates at undergraduate and masters level to remain in the UK for 2 years and PhD graduates to remain in the UK for 3 years after they have finished their studies in order to work or to look for work at any skill level. This represents a significant improvement in our offer to international students and will help ensure the UK higher education sector remains competitive internationally.
The government is also in discussions with Universities UK and other sector representatives on a regular basis to ensure that we are united in welcoming international students to the UK. In particular, we expect international students - especially those who will be subject to the 14-day self-isolation period - to be appropriately supported upon arrival by their chosen university during these unprecedented times.
In addition, on Friday 5 June, the government announced Sir Steve Smith as the UK’s new International Education Champion. Sir Steve will assist with opening up export growth opportunities for the whole UK education sector, which will include attracting international students to UK Universities. Alongside Sir Steve’s appointment, our review of the International Education Strategy this autumn will respond to the new context and the challenges that are posed by COVID-19 across all education settings to ensure we can continue to welcome international students in the future.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has made an estimate of the amount of income lost by schools that usually raise funds through building lettings during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department does not hold data specifically on the income schools generate through building lettings.
We know that around 4% of schools’ total income is self-generated and in 2018-19 around half of this came from facilities and services. This includes letting premises and wrap around childcare services among other things.
We recognise that over the last three months, schools may have lost some of this income and this could put pressure on budgets.
Where schools have members of staff delivering these services, we have advised that they should first look to redeploy these staff or use existing budgets to absorb the cost. Having looked at all other options, schools can then consider using the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to ease this pressure. The Department has provided additional guidance for schools in this situation:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-financial-support-for-education-early-years-and-childrens-social-care/coronavirus-covid-19-financial-support-for-education-early-years-and-childrens-social-care.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if final year healthcare students who worked in healthcare due to the covid-19 outbreak will have to repay their student loans for tuition fees accrued in that year.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Healthcare students will continue to be required to repay student loans for tuition fees for the current year. Students who have opted in to paid clinical placements to support the COVID-19 response are receiving a salary and automatic NHS pension entitlement at the appropriate band. Time spent on paid placements as part of the COVID-19 response counts towards the requirement for students to complete a specified number of training hours in order to successfully complete their degrees.
Student loan borrowers are only required to make repayments from the April after they have finished their course, and once they are earning over the relevant repayment threshold. The amount borrowers are required to repay each week or month is linked to their income, not the interest rate or the amount borrowed. Repayments are calculated as a fixed percentage of earnings above the repayment threshold, and any outstanding debt is written off at the end of the loan term with no detriment to the borrower.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what financial support his Department plans to make available to schools to enable them to temporarily hire other premises to allow for more social distancing during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nick Gibb
We have published guidance on the additional funding we are providing to schools to cover unavoidable costs incurred due to the COVID-19 outbreak that cannot be met from their existing resources. The fund is targeted towards the costs we have identified as the biggest barrier to schools operating as they need to at this challenging time.
The cost categories covered by the fund are clearly set out in the guidance below - increased premises related costs of opening over school holidays; support for free school meals for eligible children who are not in school, where schools are not using the national voucher scheme; and additional cleaning costs relating to cases or suspected cases of coronavirus, above the cost of existing cleaning arrangements.
Each school's circumstances will be slightly different. Any schools that cannot achieve the small group sizes set out in the protective measures guidance (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-implementing-protective-measures-in-education-and-childcare-settings) should discuss options with their local authority or academy trust. If necessary, schools have the flexibility to focus first on continuing to provide places for priority groups and then, to support children’s early education, settings should prioritise groups of children as follows:
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason schools with a budget surplus in the current financial year are not able to reclaim the costs of providing free school meal vouchers to eligible students where it has not been possible for them to use the National Voucher Scheme; and what assessment he has made of the effect of that policy on schools that have a budget surplus with a high number of children eligible for free school meals.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Schools will continue to receive their budgets for the coming year, as usual. We are providing additional funding to schools, on top of their existing budgets, to cover unavoidable costs incurred due to the COVID-19 outbreak that cannot be met from their existing resources.
It is reasonable for taxpayers to expect that further public funding through this period is not adding to existing surpluses that are held by schools. In this context, schools are not eligible to make a claim for additional funding if they expect to be able to add to their existing historic surpluses in their current financial year, regardless of their school context or pupil characteristics.
However, schools are eligible for reimbursement where the additional costs associated with COVID-19 would result in a school having to use historic surpluses; would increase the size of a historic deficit; or prevent the planned repayment of a historic deficit.
Where schools have exceptional circumstances, we will consider extending limits on a case by case basis. This is set out in the guidance on the fund which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-financial-support-for-schools/school-funding-exceptional-costs-associated-with-coronavirus-covid-19-for-the-period-march-to-july-2020.