Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to ensure funding is made available for skills programmes that provide pre-engineering training for young people.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
All young people should have access to high-quality education and training that meets their needs and provides them with opportunities to thrive.
Over £7 billion of 16-19 programme funding will be invested during academic year 2024/25, to ensure there is a place in education or training for every 16- to 18-year-old who wants one. The department calculates the basic funding for institutions using lagged student volumes and funding rates, which depend on the size of their students’ study programmes or T Levels. These rates are regardless of which type of institution they study at or what they study.
The Adult Skills Fund (ASF) is worth £1.34 billion this year, and funds education and skills training for those 19 and above to help them gain the skills they need for work, an apprenticeship or further learning. Learners aged 19-23 can get their first full level 2 and level 3 fully funded under the ASF legal entitlements.
For the 2024/25 academic year we have introduced five new funding rates that apply to the ESFA funded ASF. Under these new funding rates, 78% of qualifications are seeing an increase in funding.
The government’s reformed growth and skills levy will deliver greater flexibility for learners and employers, including through new foundation apprenticeships that will give more young people a foot in the door and will support clear pathways into work-based training and employment.
Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of a requirement for local authorities to have a local offer for kinship care on the lines of those that required for care leavers and disabled children.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Local authorities have been expected to publish a policy detailing their approach towards meeting the needs and supporting children living in kinship care since the Family and Friends Care guidance was published in 2011. The department will soon be releasing updated guidance, called Kinship Care statutory guidance, which will restate that requirement.
Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she plans to take to ensure a consistent approach to calculating special guardianship allowances.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department recognises the valuable and important role that kinship carers, including special guardians, play in caring for some of the most vulnerable children. The government is committed to working with local government to support children in care, including through kinship arrangements.
Statutory guidance issued to local authorities makes it clear that children and young people should receive the support that they and their carers need to safeguard and promote their welfare. There is no limit on the level of support, including financial support, that local authorities can provide.
Financial support is paid at the discretion of the local authority and in accordance with their model for assessing support needs. All local authorities should have in place clear eligibility criteria in relation to the provision of support services.