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Written Question
Apprentices: Wolverhampton
Monday 9th September 2019

Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many apprenticeships have been created in Wolverhampton North East constituency under the apprenticeship levy in each of the last 12 months.

Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation


Written Question
Assessments: Autism
Monday 9th September 2019

Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of (a) the adequacy of support available to autistic children sitting exams for Ofqual regulated qualifications in (i) secondary schools and (ii) sixth form colleges and (b) whether autistic children are disadvantaged by the exams set for Ofqual regulated qualifications; and what discussions his Department has had with (A) Ofqual and (B) examination boards on designing exams that are better suited to the needs of autistic children.

Answered by Nick Gibb

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.


Written Question
Free School Meals: Wolverhampton North East
Wednesday 15th May 2019

Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) primary and (b) secondary pupils received free school meals in Wolverhampton North East constituency in each year since 2010.

Answered by Nadhim Zahawi

The number of pupils eligible for and claiming free school meals (FSM) in England is published in the annual ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ statistical release. This information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2018.

Information for earlier years (from 2010 onwards) can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-school-and-pupil-numbers.


Written Question
Apprentices: Wolverhampton North East
Monday 13th May 2019

Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education,how many apprenticeships have been created in each month since the introduction of the apprenticeship levy in Wolverhampton North East constituency.

Answered by Anne Milton

The attached table provides figures for apprenticeship starts for each month since May 2017, when significant structural changes to the apprenticeship funding system were implemented following the introduction of the apprenticeship levy and apprenticeship service.

The profile of apprenticeship starts changed significantly both in the run-up to the introduction of the levy and subsequently. Care should be taken when comparing individual months between academic years as they are unlikely to provide a meaningful year-on-year trend. Numbers of reported starts are likely to change as the reforms to apprenticeship funding continue to bed in and employers engage with the new system.


Written Question
Further Education: West Midlands
Thursday 11th April 2019

Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students were enrolled in further education colleges in (a) the West Midlands and (b) England in each year since 2010 and how many of those students were aged (i) 16-18, (ii) 18-21 and (iii) over 21.

Answered by Anne Milton

The number of learners participating at further education (FE) providers is published in the FE data library, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fe-data-library. The attached table provides the number of FE providers in the West Midlands region where learners have been participating in some form of FE provision from the 2010/11 academic year onwards. The attachment also includes the number of learners studying at general FE colleges in England and the West Midlands from the 2010/11 academic year onwards, broken down into age groups.


Written Question
Further Education: West Midlands
Thursday 11th April 2019

Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many further education providers are operating in the West Midlands; and how such providers there were in each year since 2010.

Answered by Anne Milton

The number of learners participating at further education (FE) providers is published in the FE data library, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fe-data-library. The attached table provides the number of FE providers in the West Midlands region where learners have been participating in some form of FE provision from the 2010/11 academic year onwards. The attachment also includes the number of learners studying at general FE colleges in England and the West Midlands from the 2010/11 academic year onwards, broken down into age groups.


Written Question
Further Education: West Midlands
Thursday 11th April 2019

Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many further education colleges in the West Midlands region have closed due to insolvency in each year since 2010.

Answered by Anne Milton

No further education college in the West Midlands region has closed due to insolvency since 2010 to 9 April 2019.


Written Question
Pupil Exclusions
Monday 11th March 2019

Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when his Department plans to publish its response to the school exclusions review call for evidence; and what steps his Department plans to take in response to that call for evidence.

Answered by Nick Gibb

In March 2018, the Government launched an externally led review of exclusions practice, led by Edward Timpson CBE. The review is exploring how head teachers use exclusion, and why pupils with particular characteristics are more likely to be excluded from school.

The review has gathered substantial evidence, including over 900 submissions to the call for evidence. Edward Timpson has also chaired a series of roundtables and the review has met with over 100 organisations and individuals, including schools, local authorities, parents and children.

The review, along with the Government response, will be published in due course.


Written Question
Apprentices: Taxation
Monday 18th February 2019

Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of apprenticeship levy-paying employers have hired apprentices.

Answered by Anne Milton

The attached table shows the figures for apprenticeship starts for Wolverhampton North East constituency for each month by academic year from 2015/16 to 2018/19 (quarter 1 reported to date).

In May 2017, there were significant structural changes to the apprenticeship funding system, including the introduction of the apprenticeship levy and apprenticeship service. The profile of apprenticeship starts changed significantly, both in the run-up to the introduction of the levy and subsequently. Care should be taken when comparing individual months with previous years as they are unlikely to provide a meaningful year-on-year trend. Numbers of reported starts are likely to change as the reforms to apprenticeship funding continue to bed in and employers engage with the new system.

The information requested is not held centrally regarding the proportion of levy-paying firms that have taken on apprentices. However, the department holds information on the number of apprenticeship service accounts (ASAs) registered. As of 31 December 2018, there were 16,100 ASAs registered on the apprenticeship service.

Since the introduction of the levy, 268,500 levy-supported starts have been recorded for England. Levy-supported learners are those supported by levy-paying organisations using at least £1 of their own levy funds. For context, there have been 555,800 total starts for England since the levy (from quarter 4 of 2016/17 to quarter 1 of 2018/19).

In addition, in January 2018, we published that 91.7 percent of those who had PAYE schemes with apprenticeship levy declarations in England of over £150,000 had registered on the apprenticeship service.


Written Question
Apprentices: Taxation
Monday 18th February 2019

Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much money his Department estimates is dormant in apprenticeship levy accounts.

Answered by Anne Milton

Employers who pay the apprenticeship levy are able to create an apprenticeship service account to access levy funds, which will be held for 2 years after entering their account. We apply a 24-month expiry period on funds after they enter an account to encourage employers to plan and spend funds in good time. Any unspent funds from apprenticeship service accounts after the 24-month expiry period will be used to pay for apprenticeship training for non-levy paying employers. We do not therefore consider funds held in apprenticeships service accounts to be ‘dormant’.

Spending on the apprenticeship programme is demand-led. Employers choose which apprenticeships they offer and at what level, how many apprenticeships to offer and when to offer them in order to meet their current and future skills needs. We do not anticipate that all employers who pay the levy will need or want to use all the funds in their accounts. However, any unspent funds are used to support existing apprenticeship learners and levy-paying employers who spend more than the funds available in their accounts and to fund training with employers that do not pay the levy.