Asked by: Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that employers in the screen industry use more of the apprenticeship levy funding they receive.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
We are working closely with the screen industry so that it can benefit from apprenticeships.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Education are working with the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education to support the development of apprenticeship standards. Currently there are 48 approved standards available for delivery in the creative and digital sectors.
From discussions with the screen sector, we recognise that it faces some challenges in spending available levy funds due to the dominance of project-based working in the sector. To overcome these challenges, we are working with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and ScreenSkills on an innovative Film and TV Apprenticeships pilot which will enable around 20 apprentices to benefit from hands-on experience on the sets of major films and TV shows. Launching in 2020, it will explore a new model for how high-quality apprenticeships can be used to deliver multiple placements on film and TV productions, as well as addressing skills shortages.
In addition, we have increased the transfer cap from 10% to 25% enabling levy-paying employers to transfer funds to smaller employers or charities in order to support the development of skills in their supply chains or respond to skills shortages in their sectors.
Asked by: Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when he plans to publish the review of post-18 education and funding.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The independent panel will report shortly. The government will then conclude the overall review later this year.
Asked by: Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to promote and support the development of design skills as part of STEM education.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department has worked with organisations such as the James Dyson Foundation and the Royal Academy of Engineering to reform the design and technology (D&T) A level, GCSE and curriculum. The content emphasises the iterative design processes at the heart of modern industry practice. There is also more mathematical and science content that students must use and relate closely to D&T, and a much greater use of design equipment such as 3D printers and robotics. Under the new national curriculum, reformed in 2014, D&T remains a compulsory subject in all maintained schools from Key Stage 1 to 3. Maintained schools are also required to offer it as a subject at Key Stage 4. Academies can use the national curriculum as a benchmark for what they teach. The D&T GCSE counts towards the Progress 8 secondary accountability measure.
The new qualification will prepare students for further study and careers in design. To ensure the subject is taught well, the Department supports recruitment of D&T teachers through bursaries of up to £12,000 for eligible candidates.
For post-16 students, the Government is introducing T Levels, based on learning from the best international examples. Once fully introduced, many of the new T Level programmes will focus on core science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) occupations, including in the engineering and manufacturing sectors. Designed by employers, T Levels will give students access to high quality technical study programmes, which will prepare them for employment and higher level study in STEM occupations.
Asked by: Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the effect on the budgets of Oxfordshire primary and secondary schools of (a) changes to business rates, (b) the apprenticeship levy, (c) changes to national insurance contributions and (d) the withdrawal of the education services grant.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The National Audit Office published an estimate of the cost pressures faced by schools between 2015-16 and 2019-20 in December 2016, available at: https://www.nao.org.uk/report/financial-sustainability-in-schools/.
On 17 July 2017, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, announced that the Department will provide an additional £1.3 billion for schools and high needs across 2018-19 and 2019-20, on top of the spending plans considered in the NAO report. Core funding for schools will rise from almost £41 billion in 2017-18 to £42.4 billion in 2018-19, and £43.5 billion in 2019‑20. This represents an increase of over 6%. As the Institute for Fiscal Studies has confirmed, this means that overall funding for schools and high needs will be maintained in real terms per pupil over the next two years.
We will be publishing an updated assessment of cost pressures for schools, taking account of this additional funding, which will include consideration of the withdrawal of the Education Services Grant and the introduction of the apprenticeship levy, and any planned changes to national insurance. Schools are funded to meet the costs of business rates on the basis of actual charges.
Asked by: Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent representations she has received on funding for schools in Oxfordshire; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Ministers and officials from the Department have met with a range of stakeholders from across the country to discuss school funding, as part of our consultation on a schools and high needs national formulae. They have engaged with members from across the house, as well as representatives from local authorities.
We received over 25,000 responses to the consultation, which we are analysing in detail. We are grateful to all those who expressed their views on school funding and the proposed formula as part of this process. We will publish the response to the consultation in due course.
Asked by: Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to publish the consultation on flexible admission to schools for summer-born children.
Answered by Nick Gibb
We are concerned that the parents of summer born children sometimes feel forced to send them to school before they are ready or risk them missing the reception year where the essential teaching of early reading and arithmetic takes place. However, it is important that we take the time to consider how to implement any possible changes and what new arrangements we might put in place. We need to be careful not to create any unintended consequences elsewhere in the system. Any changes we do make will be subject to a full statutory process.