Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Haltemprice and Howden)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of good school places in Yorkshire and the Humber.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Delivering good quality school places is a top priority. The Government has committed £7 billion between 2015 and 2021 to deliver new school places, which is on top of investment in the free schools programme. The Government is on track to create 1 million places this decade (2010 to 2020), the largest increase in school capacity in at least two generations.
Yorkshire and the Humber has been allocated £855 million to create new places between 2011 and 2021. There are now 61,527 more school places in Yorkshire and the Humber than in 2010. As at December 2018, there are over 170,000 more pupils in good or outstanding schools in Yorkshire and the Humber than in 2010.
As at 24 April, there are 30 open free schools and six University Technical Colleges (UTCs) in Yorkshire and the Humber and a further 13 free schools and one UTC have been approved. In addition, the Department will run competitions to find strong providers to open and run five additional special schools in Yorkshire and the Humber. This includes five additional special schools in Yorkshire and the Humber.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Haltemprice and Howden)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding his Department has allocated to improving technology in school classrooms.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government is working on a number of initiatives to improve the use technology in school classrooms. As highlighted in the Education Technology Strategy published on 3 April, the Department has allocated £10 million to support innovation, generate evidence, and improve the use of technology in schools, colleges and universities across England. The full strategy can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/791931/DfE-Education_Technology_Strategy.pdf.
As announced at Autumn budget, the Department is working with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and the National Productivity Investment Fund, to deploy full fibre internet in rural locations, starting with primary schools.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Haltemprice and Howden)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that university students receive value for money from student fees.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
We have a world-class higher education system and the Higher Education and Research Act 2017 sets the foundation for further improvements to the system. We have established the Office for Students to operate a new register of providers and ensure minimum standards. We have also enacted the Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF) to hold universities to account for the teaching and outcomes they deliver for students, and are encouraging further diversity within the system with new providers and shorter degrees delivered at a lower cost to students.
These important achievements are being built on with the post-18 review of education and funding looking further at how we can ensure our post-18 education system is joined up and supported by a funding system that works for students and taxpayers.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Haltemprice and Howden)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department has taken to increase the take-up of STEM subjects.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is committed to addressing the shortage of science, technology engineering mathematics (STEM) skills so it can grow the workforce needed for a dynamic economy. The Department is doing this by encouraging more young people into STEM education and training at all stages from primary school to higher education, improving teaching, and highlighting the variety of careers that STEM pathways have to offer.
As part of the Industrial Strategy, the Government has committed substantial spending on Maths, digital and technical education and is funding programmes to increase the take-up and better teaching of Maths, Science and computing in schools. This includes a new £84 million programme to improve computing teaching and the Advanced Maths Premium to encourage more schools and colleges to teach pupils maths post-16.
The Department is also improving STEM careers advice in schools. The Government’s careers strategy asks that STEM activities, including employer talks and work visits, are built into school career programmes. The Careers & Enterprise Company funds opportunities for young people to meet a wide range of STEM employers. In areas where STEM qualification uptake is lowest, they are working with Local Enterprise Partnerships to make sure that STEM opportunities are built into careers and enterprise plans.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Haltemprice and Howden)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps his Department has taken to raise standards in schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Since May 2010 the Government has been determined to drive up academic standards. The proportion of children in good or outstanding schools has risen from 66% in 2010 to 84% in August 2018, which means 1.9 million more children are in good or outstanding schools. The Department has introduced a new, world class national curriculum and reformed statutory assessment in primary schools to help ensure that children have the knowledge and skills they need to succeed at secondary school. Rigorous new qualifications have been introduced so that employers, universities and young people themselves can feel full confidence in them.
Teaching quality is critical to raising standards and the Department has recently published a strategy to ensure the very best teachers are recruited and retained in the profession. National centres and networks of regional hubs in priority subjects have been established to better support teachers to develop excellent practice. Through the national funding formula and pupil premium targeted funding is being allocated where it is most needed to tackle disadvantage and ensure all children and teachers are fully supported.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Haltemprice and Howden)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the annual cost was of medical education per student in each of the last five years.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
All undergraduate and postgraduate (taught and research) students receive upfront government funding to help cover the costs of their tuition fees and living expenses. The current amount of support they can receive for academic year 2018/19 and earlier years can be found on the Student Finance England website at: https://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/policy/.
Publicly funded higher education providers also receive direct funding, in the form of a teaching grant, to help support the provision of those subjects where costs typically exceed the amount received through tuition fees. Subjects are assigned to price bands with higher-cost subjects, including medicine and most science, engineering and technology related subject receiving the highest rates of top-up funding. The funding rates for academic year 2018/19 can be found on the Office for Students website at: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/1448/ofs2018_21.pdf.
Information on how funding has been allocated in earlier years by the former Higher Education Funding Council for England can be found at:
https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20180319114434/http://www.hefce.ac.uk/funding/annallocns/.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Haltemprice and Howden)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of the number of grammar schools on levels of social mobility.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Grammar schools are popular and oversubscribed. 98% of grammar schools are rated good or outstanding by Ofsted; 84% are rated outstanding.
Research shows that disadvantaged children attending grammar schools gain the greatest benefit in terms of their attainment.[1]
The Selective Schools Expansion Fund will fund selective school expansion only if there is a need for places and the schools have deliverable and ambitious plans in place to admit more disadvantaged pupils. Previous administrations permitted selective schools to expand without placing any requirements upon them to admit more disadvantaged children. Sixteen grammar schools have successfully secured funding to expand via the SSEF and a second bidding round has been launched.
In order to promote greater social mobility, the Department has also agreed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Grammar School Heads Association under the terms of which the Association has agreed to work with its members to increase the number of disadvantaged pupils on roll.
[1] Atkinson and Gregg ‘Who Benefits from Grammar Schools’ 2004 (http://www.bristol.ac.uk/media-library/sites/cmpo/migrated/documents/bulletin11.pdf) ‘Poor pupils who make it into grammar schools do exceptionally well, getting nearly eight grade points more – equivalent to eight GCSEs being raised from a C to a B. Those not attending grammar schools do no worse than their peers in non-selective LEAs. It is clear from this that selection does indeed work in favour of bright pupils from poor backgrounds’. Jon Andrews, Jo Hutchinson and Rebecca Johnes (2016), also found that ‘for children entitled to free school meals and attending grammar schools the estimated effect is larger than for non-FSM children – at around half a grade higher in each of eight GCSEs. However, it is important to note that this is based on just 500 grammar school pupils out of almost 90,000 FSM pupils in any single year group’ ‘Grammar schools and social mobility’, (Education Policy Institute) (http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/29308/1/Grammar_schools_and_social_mobility_policy_options_v2-1.pdf).
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Haltemprice and Howden)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the annual cost was of social media studies education per student in higher education in each of the last five years.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
All undergraduate and postgraduate (taught and research) students receive upfront government funding to help cover the costs of their tuition fees and living expenses. The current amount of support they can receive for academic year 2018/19 and earlier years can be found on the Student Finance England website at: https://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/policy/.
Publicly funded higher education providers also receive direct funding, in the form of a teaching grant, to help support the provision of those subjects where costs typically exceed the amount received through tuition fees. Subjects are assigned to price bands with higher-cost subjects, including medicine and most science, engineering and technology related subject receiving the highest rates of top-up funding. The funding rates for academic year 2018/19 can be found on the Office for Students website at: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/1448/ofs2018_21.pdf.
Information on how funding has been allocated in earlier years by the former Higher Education Funding Council for England can be found at:
https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20180319114434/http://www.hefce.ac.uk/funding/annallocns/.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Haltemprice and Howden)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the annual cost was of dental education per student in higher education in each of the last five years.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
All undergraduate and postgraduate (taught and research) students receive upfront government funding to help cover the costs of their tuition fees and living expenses. The current amount of support they can receive for academic year 2018/19 and earlier years can be found on the Student Finance England website at: https://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/policy/.
Publicly funded higher education providers also receive direct funding, in the form of a teaching grant, to help support the provision of those subjects where costs typically exceed the amount received through tuition fees. Subjects are assigned to price bands with higher-cost subjects, including medicine and most science, engineering and technology related subject receiving the highest rates of top-up funding. The funding rates for academic year 2018/19 can be found on the Office for Students website at: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/1448/ofs2018_21.pdf.
Information on how funding has been allocated in earlier years by the former Higher Education Funding Council for England can be found at:
https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20180319114434/http://www.hefce.ac.uk/funding/annallocns/.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Haltemprice and Howden)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the annual cost was of veterinary education per student in higher education in each of the last five years.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
All undergraduate and postgraduate (taught and research) students receive upfront government funding to help cover the costs of their tuition fees and living expenses. The current amount of support they can receive for academic year 2018/19 and earlier years can be found on the Student Finance England website at: https://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/policy/.
Publicly funded higher education providers also receive direct funding, in the form of a teaching grant, to help support the provision of those subjects where costs typically exceed the amount received through tuition fees. Subjects are assigned to price bands with higher-cost subjects, including medicine and most science, engineering and technology related subject receiving the highest rates of top-up funding. The funding rates for academic year 2018/19 can be found on the Office for Students website at: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/1448/ofs2018_21.pdf.
Information on how funding has been allocated in earlier years by the former Higher Education Funding Council for England can be found at:
https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20180319114434/http://www.hefce.ac.uk/funding/annallocns/.