Asked by: James Grundy (Conservative - Leigh)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Department is taking to support students experiencing financial difficulty who wish to undertake an unpaid placement year at university.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
The government recognises that this academic year has been incredibly difficult for students. As a result of these exceptional circumstances, some students are facing financial hardship. Students experiencing financial hardship as a result of COVID-19 or for other reasons should contact their higher education (HE) provider.
We have made an additional £85 million of student hardship funding available to HE providers in the 2020/21 academic year. Providers have flexibility in how they distribute the funding to their students, in a way that best prioritises those in greatest need.
This is in addition to the £256 million of government-funded student premium funding already available to HE providers to draw on towards student hardship funds for the 2020/21 academic year.
We know that not all students will face financial hardship. The current measures aim to target support for students in greatest need and the government continues to monitor the situation to look at what impact this funding is having.
Undergraduate students undertaking work placement years with private employers receive a reduced-rate non-means tested loan for living costs from Student Finance England, on the expectation that the private employer who benefits from the student’s work should provide support for the student rather than the taxpayer.
The government, however, makes an exception for many work placements in the public sector by making available the full-rate partially means-tested loan for living costs package to encourage students to gain work experience in these areas. This ensures that low-income students undertaking working placements in the public sector receive targeted support through the student support system.
Asked by: James Grundy (Conservative - Leigh)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment has been made of the effect of the increase in students undertaking unpaid work placement years.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
The government recognises that this academic year has been incredibly difficult for students. As a result of these exceptional circumstances, some students are facing financial hardship. Students experiencing financial hardship as a result of COVID-19 or for other reasons should contact their higher education (HE) provider.
We have made an additional £85 million of student hardship funding available to HE providers in the 2020/21 academic year. Providers have flexibility in how they distribute the funding to their students, in a way that best prioritises those in greatest need.
This is in addition to the £256 million of government-funded student premium funding already available to HE providers to draw on towards student hardship funds for the 2020/21 academic year.
We know that not all students will face financial hardship. The current measures aim to target support for students in greatest need and the government continues to monitor the situation to look at what impact this funding is having.
Undergraduate students undertaking work placement years with private employers receive a reduced-rate non-means tested loan for living costs from Student Finance England, on the expectation that the private employer who benefits from the student’s work should provide support for the student rather than the taxpayer.
The government, however, makes an exception for many work placements in the public sector by making available the full-rate partially means-tested loan for living costs package to encourage students to gain work experience in these areas. This ensures that low-income students undertaking working placements in the public sector receive targeted support through the student support system.
Asked by: James Grundy (Conservative - Leigh)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress he is making on plans for the safe return of students on heavily vocational BTEC courses to colleges.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
To support the return to college of all students from 8 March, the department has worked closely with Public Health England to develop and refresh the system of controls for education settings to reduce and mitigate the risk of transmission of COVID-19. New measures include asymptomatic testing and recommending the increased use of face coverings.
In addition, to prepare for return, colleges should update their risk assessments and ensure they are implementing the system of controls, this includes assessing the risks particular to their setting and provision.
For those students whose courses are more vocational in nature (for example, for courses that require close contact, require access to specialist equipment or are taught in non-traditional classroom environments such as workshops), the further education COVID-19 guidance sets out additional steps and considerations colleges can take, details of which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-further-education-provision. Colleges are advised to put greater emphasis on the other measures outlined in the systems of controls, such as increased use of face coverings, increased ventilation, in addition to the use of screens or barriers and follow the relevant working safely during COVID-19 guidance to reduce the risk of transmission, details of the guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19.