Asked by: Darren Henry (Conservative - Broxtowe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment his Department has made of the extent to which schools who have had students physically attending have been covid-secure during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It continues to be the Department’s aim that all pupils, in all year groups, remain in school full time. Returning to school full time has been vital for children’s education and for their wellbeing. The risk to children themselves of becoming severely ill from COVID-19 is low and there are negative health impacts of being out of school. Senior clinicians, including the Chief Medical Officers of all four nations, still advise that school is the very best place for children to be.
The leaders and staff of nurseries, schools and colleges have been doing an extraordinary job to remain open, keep settings safe and provide education.
The Department published guidance to support schools to welcome back all children from the start of the autumn term. This guidance can be viewed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools.
Schools have implemented a range of protective measures to minimise risk of transmission. The measures set out in the Department’s guidance have been endorsed by Public Health England. These include regular handwashing, promoting good respiratory hygiene, keeping groups separate and maintaining distance and minimising contact between individuals. This can be achieved through keeping groups separate and through maintaining the distance between individuals.
Schools must comply with health and safety law and should continue to undertake risk assessments and implement the system of controls set out in this guidance.
Any concerns in respect of the protective measures in place should be raised initially with the school. If that does not resolve the issue, the concern can be raised with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). From the start of this term, the HSE has also carried out spot checks, via telephone, of schools to evaluate their understanding and awareness of the relevant guidance. Where calls raise concerns about a school’s approach, it will be referred for a further intervention which may include a visit to the school.
Asked by: Darren Henry (Conservative - Broxtowe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to support young people into apprenticeships and training during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
We recognise the particular impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak on the employment prospects of young people and the disproportionate effect that the economic impact of COVID-19 is likely to have on this group. We have introduced a number of interventions to support young people into employment and training.
Apprenticeships will be more important than ever in helping businesses to recruit the right people and develop the skills they need to recover and grow. In the 2020-21 and 2021-22 financial years, we are making available £2.5 billion for apprenticeships, double that spent in 2010-11. As my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced in the Spending Review, we are extending the incentive payments available to employers taking on new apprentices until the end of this financial year, boosting job creation and supporting employers to invest in skills as the economy recovers from the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak. Employers are now able to claim £2,000 for every new apprentice they hire under the age of 25, and £1,500 for new apprentices aged 25 and over, before 31 March 2021. We are working closely with the Department for Work and Pensions to enable Kickstart placements to turn into apprenticeships, where that is the right thing for the employer and the individual.
We are also tripling the scale of traineeships, providing an additional 30,000 places in the 2020/21 academic year, to ensure that more young people have access to high-quality training. To encourage employers to create new traineeship work placements, we have introduced incentive payments of £1,000 per learner for the 2020/21 academic year.
For the 2020/2021 academic year, we are investing £101 million in a brand-new offer to give 18 and 19-year-old school and college leavers the opportunity to study high-value level 2 and 3 courses when there are no employment opportunities available to them.
To help young people understand the options available to them, we have reformed and improved careers advice in schools. Schools are now under a duty to enable providers to speak to pupils about the apprenticeships and technical education qualifications they offer.
Asked by: Darren Henry (Conservative - Broxtowe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that home-educated students are taken account of when his Department is forming its policy on the sitting of GCSE, AS and A-level examinations due to take place in 2021.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Examinations are the best and fairest way of judging pupils’ performance, and it is the Department’s intention that next year’s GCSE, AS and A level exam series will go ahead.
The Department is working with Ofqual to engage with the sector, including those representing home-educated pupils, to develop contingencies if disruption as a result of COVID-19 affects pupils’ ability to sit examinations. Following a period of engagement, more details will be published later in the autumn.
Asked by: Darren Henry (Conservative - Broxtowe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that primacy school pupils can take part in physical education safely when they return to school as covid-19 restrictions are eased.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is working to ensure that schools are fully supported as pupils return now and are able to give pupils opportunities to be physically active during the school day. Schools are free to organise and deliver a PE curriculum that suits the needs of all their pupils whilst following COVID-19 government guidelines. The latest guidance for schools can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-for-schools-and-other-educational-settings. The Government’s intention is for all children to return to school from September and will publish guidance soon. The Department is considering what further advice to provide on PE and school sport in that guidance.
The Department has worked closely with nurseries, schools, physical activity experts and sport providers so that pupils who have not yet been able to return to school have advice and resources to participate in regular exercise. The Department has published online educational resources approved by subject experts for schools and parents, to help children to learn at home; these resources include those for PE.
The Government remains committed to supporting schools to make good use of their sports facilities and to promote physical literacy and competitive sport. We plan to update the School Sport Activity Action Plan with longer-term proposals to support schools and providers to work together to support children’s activity levels to continue to rise after they return to school.
Asked by: Darren Henry (Conservative - Broxtowe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department has taken to include Black British history in the national curriculum for primary and secondary school pupils.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is committed to an inclusive education system which recognises and embraces diversity and supports all pupils and students to tackle racism and have the knowledge and tools to do so.
The national curriculum is a framework setting out the content of what the Department expects schools to cover in each subject. The curriculum does not set out how curriculum subjects, or topics within the subjects, should be taught. The Department believes teachers should be able to use their own knowledge and expertise to determine how they teach their pupils, and to make choices about what they teach.
As part of a broad and balanced curriculum, pupils should be taught about different societies, and how different groups have contributed to the development of Britain, and this can include the voices and experience of Black people. The flexibility within the history curriculum means that Black British history can already be included in the teaching of the curriculum. For example, at key stage 1, schools can teach about the lives of key Black historical figures such as Mary Seacole or others; at key stage 2, pupils can be taught about Black Romans, as part of teaching that era in history or Black history within the requirement for a study of an aspect or theme in British history that extends pupils’ chronological knowledge beyond 1066; and at key stage 3, we give an example for a more in-depth study on the topic of the impact through time of the migration of people to, from and within the British Isles, and this key stage can include the development and end of the British Empire and Britain’s transatlantic slave trade, its effects and its eventual abolition. Additionally, local history is an element across key stages. The teaching of Black history need not be limited to these examples.
Asked by: Darren Henry (Conservative - Broxtowe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that (a) further education colleges and (b) sixth forms are supported during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
I am very grateful for how sixth forms and FE colleges have responded to the unique challenge of COVID-19.
We have confirmed that the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) will continue to pay grant funded providers their scheduled monthly profiled payments for the remainder of the 2019/20 funding year. Allocations for 2020/21 have also now been confirmed and payments will be made as scheduled. Up to date details are contained in operational guidance available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-further-education-provision. For colleges in significant financial difficulties, the existing support arrangements remain in place, including short-term emergency funding.
My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has also announced a series of wider measures to support employers and employees, recognising the significant impacts caused by COVID-19. We have confirmed that FE providers can apply to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) for non grant-funded employees. The CJRS has been extended until August 2020. Up to date details of this support are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-employers-and-businesses-about-covid-19/covid-19-support-for-businesses.
As announced last summer, we will next year be increasing investment in education and training of 16-19 year olds by £400 million, including an increased base rate, and more funding for high cost and high value subjects, which will help the sector to deliver in the difficult circumstances we are facing during the pandemic. In March, we also announced an investment of £1.5 billion over five years in capital spending for further education colleges.
For sixth forms, our priority is to ensure that Year 13 students can progress as planned, including starting university, moving into apprenticeships or securing a job, and to support Year 12 students to prepare for examinations next year.
We have published a planning guide for secondary schools (including those with sixth forms)?to help school leaders to prepare and decide arrangements:
These are rapidly developing circumstances and we will continue to keep the situation under review and to keep Parliament updated accordingly.