Oral Answers to Questions

Eleanor Smith Excerpts

Monday 11th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Nadhim Zahawi]

I thank the hon. Lady for her question. The relationships curriculum addresses these online harms directly. We also have the online harms White Paper that is to be issued imminently.

[Eleanor Smith (Wolverhampton South West) (Lab)]

9. What recent assessment he has made of the effect on universities of increased teachers’ pension scheme costs.

[The Minister for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation (Chris Skidmore)]

The Department’s public consultation to gather evidence on the impacts of increased contributions to the teachers’ pension scheme for all TPS employers, including universities, for 2019-20 closed on 12 February 2019. Final funding decisions will be made in due course when the consultation evidence has been reviewed.

[Eleanor Smith]

Modern universities across the country are deeply anxious about the upcoming charges to the teachers’ pension scheme, with one institution forecasting a 5% cut in staff members if the Government do not act. Will the Secretary of State urgently commit to supporting universities with these huge additional costs that have been earmarked for schools and colleges?

[Chris Skidmore]

The Department’s initial analysis of each sector—state schools, further education, higher education, and independent schools—suggested that state schools and further education colleges would be most affected by the increase in employer contributions, so prioritised funding has been made available for them on this basis. However, final funding decisions will be made when the consultation evidence has been reviewed.

Oral Answers to Questions

Eleanor Smith Excerpts

Monday 14th May 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)]

1. What assessment he has made of trends in the level of apprenticeship starts since the introduction of the apprenticeship levy.

[Eleanor Smith (Wolverhampton South West) (Lab)]

2. What assessment he has made of trends in the level of apprenticeship starts since the introduction of the apprenticeship levy.

[Judith Cummins (Bradford South) (Lab)]

21. What assessment he has made of trends in the level of apprenticeship starts since the introduction of the apprenticeship levy.

--- Later in debate ---

[Damian Hinds]

The hon. Gentleman’s constituency has leading apprenticeship employers, including Centrica, Mars and Telefónica-O2, and they play a leading role in showing what it is possible to do with apprenticeships. The IFA has brought forward a programme called “Faster and Better” to make sure that standards are approved more quickly, and we have seen the number of apprenticeship starts on standards rising sharply. We continue to monitor that.

[Eleanor Smith]

Last year, the Government set a target of 2.3% of the workforce for public bodies on employing apprentices, yet following a series of parliamentary questions by the shadow Education team we have discovered that the vast majority of Departments, including the Department for Education, are failing to hit that target. If the Department is unable to meet such targets internally, how are we supposed to believe that it is going to meet the 3 million target by 2020?

[Damian Hinds]

The hon. Lady is right to identify the important role that the public sector plays and to say that we have to try additionally hard. She mentioned my Department, and we have opportunities for training assistants and graduates through the teaching apprenticeship.