Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of students studying for a degree in video games.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The UK’s video games sector plays a vital role in the country’s thriving creative industries. The last budget included a commitment to extend our support for the UK Games Fund until 2020, a proven approach to mentoring and developing the games developers of the future.
In addition, the Department for Education is undertaking a range of initiatives to promote digital and computing skills, relevant to the computer games industry, more generally throughout the education system.
We are investing £84 million of new funding over the next five years to deliver a comprehensive programme to improve the teaching of the computing curriculum and increase participation in Computer Science GCSE.
We are also seeking to strengthen the role that Higher Education providers can play in providing digital and computing skills, including:
All of the above will help ensure that students who wish to pursue a degree in video game subjects have the necessary skills to do so and will help to continue the upward trend in numbers of students studying degrees in this area.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of students who have graduated with a degree in video games in each year since 2010.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Higher Education Statistics Agency collects and publishes statistics on enrolments and qualifications obtained at UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Latest statistics refer to the academic year 2016/17.
The table below shows the numbers of first degree qualifiers in computer games subjects for each year since 2012/13. Information on the number of qualifiers in these subjects has been available since the introduction of the third version of Joint Academic Coding System (JACS3) in 2012/13, hence figures cannot be provided for any year prior to that.
Full-person-equivalent[1] First Degree qualifiers in computer games subjects
UK HEIs
Academic years 2012/13 to 2016/17
Academic Year | Number of qualifiers in computer games subjects[2] |
2012/13 | 595 |
2013/14 | 625 |
2014/15 | 690 |
2015/16 | 900 |
2016/17 | 1,290 |
[1] Counts are on the basis of full-person-equivalents. Where a student is studying more than one subject, they are apportioned between the subjects that make up their course.
[2] Qualifiers in Games (principal category I6 of the JACS), which includes Games, Computer games programming, Computer game design and Computer games graphics. This code is only available since the introduction of JACS3 in 2012/13. More information on JACS codes can be found at the following link: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/support/documentation/jacs.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate he has made of the number of teachers specialising in physical education.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The latest available information shows that, as at November 2016, there were 23,500 teachers of physical education in state funded secondary schools. Of these 88.5% had a relevant post A level qualification. Equivalent information is not available for primary schools.
The source of this information is the School Workforce Census which is an annual survey collected in November each year. The information above is published in Table 12 of the statistical release, School Workforce in England, which is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/school-workforce-in-england-november-2016.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to provide guidance on how the sport premium can be used in schools.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The department published revised guidance for schools on the use of the physical education and sport premium in October 2017. This revised guidance can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pe-and-sport-premium-for-primary-schools.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make it his policy to increase the minimum number of hours training in physical education required as part of teacher training.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Physical education (PE) is a compulsory subject at all four key stages in the National Curriculum (2014). Through the primary PE and sport premium, the Government has invested over £600 million of ring-fenced funding to primary schools to improve PE and sport since 2013. An independent evaluation report into the premium was published in December 2015. It found that 87% of schools reported that the quality of PE teaching had increased since the introduction of the premium.
Providing the best possible initial teacher training (ITT) is at the heart of the Government’s drive to improve teaching standards. All programmes of ITT must prepare teachers to demonstrate that they have met the Teachers’ Standards (2011), and demonstrate good subject and curriculum knowledge. This includes physical education for all primary trainees, and for secondary PE subject specialists.
The amount of time that primary trainees spend in training on each of the subjects of the National Curriculum is not specified by Government. However, ITT providers must ensure that trainees meet all of the relevant standards by the end of their training.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people took a GCSE or equivalent qualification in Food Technology in each of the past 15 years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The total number of pupils, at the end of key stage 4[1], who entered GCSE (or equivalent) food technology between 2002/3 and 2016/17 is published as part of the Department’s key stage 4 statistical first release[2]. The figures are presented in the table below.
Year[3] | Number of pupils (thousands)[4] |
|
|
2016/17 | 29.8[5] |
2015/16 | 33.4 |
2014/15 | 38.4 |
2013/14[6] | 40.6 |
2012/13 | 43.4 |
2011/12 | 49.5 |
2010/11 | 54.0 |
2009/10 | 62.1 |
2008/09 | 66.7 |
2007/08 | 72.5 |
2006/07 | 80.1 |
2005/06 | 85.2 |
2004/05 | 93.8 |
2003/04 | 103.0 |
2002/03 | 103.8 |
[1] Pupils are identified as being at the end of key stage 4 if they were on roll at the school and in year 11 at the time of the January school census for that year. Age is calculated as at 31 August for that year, and the majority of pupils at the end of key stage 4 were age 15 at the start of the academic year. Some pupils may complete this key stage in an earlier or later year group.
[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/gcse-and-equivalent-results-2016-to-2017-provisional (Subject time series table). Figures for pre 2010 are accessible on the national archives website.
[3] In 2004/05 – 2007/08 an additional table provides a slightly different figure (varying by 1-300 from those provided in this table). This has no meaningful impact on the figures or trend.
[4] Includes pupils who were absent, whose results are pending and results which are ungraded or unclassified.
[5] 2017 figures are based on provisional data. Figures for all other years are final.
[6] In 2013/14, two major reforms were implemented which affect the calculation of key stage 4 performance measures data: 1) Professor Alison Wolf’s Review of Vocational Education recommendations which: restrict the qualifications counted; prevent any qualification from counting as larger than one GCSE; and cap the number of non-GCSEs included in performance measures at two per pupil, and 2) an early entry policy to only count a pupil’s first attempt at a qualification, in subjects counted in the English Baccalaureate.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will write to schools to remind them of their power to vary the dates of school terms.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Head teachers, school governors and local authorities are best placed to set school term and holiday dates, in the best interests of the pupils and parents in their local area. As such, term dates are determined locally by schools and local authorities. The Department for Education does not collect data on schools’ term-dates.
For maintained schools, community schools, community special schools, voluntary controlled schools, pupil referral units and maintained nursery schools, the governing body or local authority are responsible for setting term dates. This must be done in line with the requirements of the length of the school year, as set out in the Education (School Day and School Year) (England) Regulations 1999.
Academies, free schools, and other schools where the governing body is the employer of staff, such as foundation or voluntary-aided (church) schools, are free to set their own term and holiday dates. Some of these schools have already made innovative changes in the interests of pupils and parents.
Schools and local authorities can find guidance on the responsibilities for setting school term dates in the published School Attendance Guidance, which can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-attendance.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools have varied the dates of their school terms in the last three years.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Head teachers, school governors and local authorities are best placed to set school term and holiday dates, in the best interests of the pupils and parents in their local area. As such, term dates are determined locally by schools and local authorities. The Department for Education does not collect data on schools’ term-dates.
For maintained schools, community schools, community special schools, voluntary controlled schools, pupil referral units and maintained nursery schools, the governing body or local authority are responsible for setting term dates. This must be done in line with the requirements of the length of the school year, as set out in the Education (School Day and School Year) (England) Regulations 1999.
Academies, free schools, and other schools where the governing body is the employer of staff, such as foundation or voluntary-aided (church) schools, are free to set their own term and holiday dates. Some of these schools have already made innovative changes in the interests of pupils and parents.
Schools and local authorities can find guidance on the responsibilities for setting school term dates in the published School Attendance Guidance, which can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-attendance.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to communicate to the public the value of increases in the education budget.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The department has published the full detail of the school and high needs national funding formulae, which outlines the impact they will have for every local authority. We have also published notional school level allocations showing what each school would attract through the formula. This means that for the first time, everyone can see what the national funding formulae will mean for their school. The published documents can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-funding-formula-for-schools-and-high-needs.
When the department announced the final details of the formulae in September, the former Secretary of State, my right hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Justine Greening) made a statement in the House; we have also written to all hon. Members setting out the details of the formulae and the impact on schools in their constituencies.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the total education budget for Swindon was in each of the last seven years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The planned expenditure of Swindon local authority on schools and other education services in each of the last seven years was as follows:
| Total Schools Budget | Other Education and Community Budget |
| (Net) | (Net) |
| £000s | £000s |
2017-18 | 170,120 | 7,069 |
2016-17 | 164,072 | 7,159 |
2015-16 | 161,514 | 6,953 |
2014-15 | 146,933 | 6,005 |
2013-14 | 144,772 | 6,132 |
2012-13 | Not available on a consistent basis | 7,834 |
2011-12 | Not available on a consistent basis | 8,951 |
Source: Section 251 Budget returns. | ||
Figures shown are net of expected income. Income sources could include private sources, other local authorities’ fees, charges paid by parents (such as meals, music, board / lodging) and lettings.
Planned expenditure on schools, education and children’s services by local authorities in England is published at: