Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to increase access to adult education on media literacy.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The adult skills fund (ASF) fully funds or co-funds education and skills training for eligible adults aged 19 and above from pre-entry to level 3, including media literacy education.
Currently, approximately 62% of the ASF is devolved to 9 mayoral strategic authorities and the Greater London Authority. These authorities are responsible for the provision of ASF-funded adult education for their residents and allocation of the ASF to learning providers to best meet their local needs. The department is responsible for the remaining ASF in non-devolved areas. In non-devolved areas, adults who earn less than £25,000 in annual gross salary are eligible for full funding, but it is the responsibility of providers to decide what training to offer.
More broadly, civil society and community organisations are instrumental in delivering media literacy programmes to adults, leveraging their expertise to support diverse and vulnerable groups.
The Digital Inclusion Action Plan outlines steps toward delivering digital inclusion and media literacy for everyone in the UK, including supporting local and community initiatives to increase digital participation.
Under updated media literacy duties, Ofcom is developing a ‘place-based’ model to embed media literacy into community digital strategies, working with the Good Things Foundation to support Digital Inclusion Hubs.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will ensure that media literacy becomes a core component of the Curriculum and Assessment Review in the context of generative AI.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central to the answer of 1 May 2025 to Question 47184 .
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students are studying an applied general qualification of 720 guided learning hours or more in a T level route.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government has affirmed its commitment to T Levels as a high quality qualification and that these should be the qualifications of choice for 16 to 19-year-olds wishing to study large qualifications.
In the 2022/23 academic year there were 63,840 16 to 19-year-olds, enrolled on a study programme taking an Applied General Qualification over 720 guided learning hours, which appear on performance tables in the same sector subject areas as a T Level. The data is the total number of enrolled students on those qualifications, so will include students on the multiple years of study.
Students deserve high quality qualifications that meet their needs, and the department must continue to develop and improve qualifications so that they support the government’s key missions of spreading opportunity and supporting economic growth. Through our work on the qualifications reform rapid review and the Curriculum and Assessment Review, we will ensure a curriculum that meets the needs of students and employers, which is backed up by high quality qualifications that deliver strong outcomes.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average programme funding is for 16 to 19 year olds studying T levels and other Level 3 qualifications.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Autumn Budget 2024 provided an additional £300 million revenue funding for further education (FE) for the 2025/26 financial year to ensure young people are developing the skills this country needs.
The department uses the 16 to 19 funding formula to calculate an allocation of funding to each institution, each academic year. The starting point for these allocations are the funding rates, which depend on the size of students’ study programmes or T Levels. The rates for 2024/25 can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/16-to-19-funding-information-for-2024-to-2025#national-funding-rate-for-2024-to-2025. The other elements of the funding formula are then applied, which include a number of adjustments, including for higher cost programmes. Further detail on how the funding formula works can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/16-to-19-funding-how-it-works#funding-formula.
The average total programme funding per 16 to 19 student is £6,219 in the 2024/25 academic year, according to published allocations.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of reducing tuition fees for foundation year in-classroom-based subjects on the finances of universities.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
On 20 January 2025, the department published a regulatory impact assessment covering the reduction in tuition fee and loan limits for higher education foundation years in classroom-based subjects, which is available here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukia/2025/13/pdfs/ukia_20250013_en.pdf.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions her Department has had with the Teachers Pension Scheme on delays in providing Remediable Service Statements to retired teachers.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Delays have been encountered with the approach to calculating the remediable service statement (RSS) values for retired members of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme whilst cross-scheme issues were resolved.
130,000 retired teachers require a rectification RSS. The scheme administrator estimates that approximately 100,000 will be issued by 31 March 2025.
Whilst the delays have been out of the scheme administrator’s control, the department continues to have daily discussions about reducing the timescales for the RSSs that will not have been issued by then, focusing on operations, resources, processes and IT. Progress is also discussed with the administrator, Teachers’ Pensions, at dedicated weekly and monthly meetings.
Whilst the department is working to ensure that all RSSs are issued as soon as practically possible, the department would like to reassure that any adjustment to pension that is in payment as a result of the member’s choice will be inclusive of interest.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of secondary schools have an exclusion policy for packed lunches and snacks.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not hold statistics on the proportion of primary schools or secondary schools that have an exclusion policy for packed lunches and snacks.
School governing boards are responsible for setting their school food policies, including food brought in from home.
The school food standards regulate the food and drink provided at both lunchtime and at other times of the school day. The standards restrict foods high in fat, salt and sugar, which includes snacks and confectionary high in fat, sugar and salt. Compliance with the school food standards is mandatory for maintained schools, academies and free schools.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of primary schools have an exclusion policy for packed lunches and snacks.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not hold statistics on the proportion of primary schools or secondary schools that have an exclusion policy for packed lunches and snacks.
School governing boards are responsible for setting their school food policies, including food brought in from home.
The school food standards regulate the food and drink provided at both lunchtime and at other times of the school day. The standards restrict foods high in fat, salt and sugar, which includes snacks and confectionary high in fat, sugar and salt. Compliance with the school food standards is mandatory for maintained schools, academies and free schools.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Children’s Wellbeing Bill will include provisions to help schools provide up to date allergy awareness education for pupils and staff.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Children’s Wellbeing Bill will ensure our education and children’s social care systems transform life chances for millions of children and young people in England.
The precise content of the Bill will be confirmed upon the Bill’s introduction, which will be as soon as parliamentary time allows.
Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 places a duty on maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions, including allergies.
The accompanying statutory guidance ‘Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions’ makes clear to schools what is expected of them in taking reasonable steps to fulfil their legal obligations and to meet the individual needs of pupils with medical conditions. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3. Schools should ensure they are aware of any pupils with medical conditions and have policies and processes in place to ensure these can be well managed. Policies should set out how staff will be supported in carrying out their role to support pupils, including how training needs are assessed and how training is commissioned and provided. Any member of school staff providing support to a pupil with medical needs should have received suitable training.
From September 2020, relationships education became compulsory for all primary school-aged pupils, relationships and sex education compulsory for all secondary school-aged pupils, and health education compulsory for all pupils in state-funded schools in England. The statutory guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education.
This guidance states that by the end of primary school, pupils should be taught the facts and science relating to allergies, immunisation and vaccination.
The department is currently reviewing the relationships, sex and health education statutory guidance. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has been clear that children’s wellbeing must be at the heart of this guidance for schools. As such the department will look carefully at the consultation responses, discuss with stakeholders and consider the relevant evidence before setting out next steps.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 11 October 2024 to Question 6377 on Children in Care, whether her Department plans to collect data on the number of children removed from a family who have previously had a child removed from their care.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department recognises the need to improve the data available about children’s social care, including making it more relevant to the experience of children, young people and families. A core part of this work includes understanding the data needs of the children’s social care sector as a whole and scoping ways in which data gaps may be addressed over time.
Existing statutory data is captured about the child and does not capture the complex nature of families such as those where siblings do not live in the same family home. Addressing data gaps in children’s social care will be a long-term endeavour due to the need to agree data definitions and standards, as well as to redesign local authority and departmental systems before rolling out nationally.