Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 12 October to Question 100465 on Apprentices; how many apprenticeships were available at (a) level 2 and (b) level 3 through apprenticeship (i) standards and (ii) frameworks in the latest period for which figures are available.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
The number of learners starting apprenticeships for the 2019/20 academic year in England is published here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships-and-traineeships. The table attached provides figures for level and type of apprenticeship.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the decision not to include Early Years providers in the short term Covid Workforce Funding offered to schools and colleges.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The government recognises the importance of supporting the early years sector financially during the COVID-19 outbreak, which is why we are continuing to fund childcare for the autumn term at the same level as before the COVID-19 outbreak, giving nurseries and childminders another term of secure income, regardless of how many children are attending.
Given the uncertain times ahead, we are keeping our plans for the funding of spring term 2021 under close review. Further details will be announced as soon as possible.
In addition to this, the government has provided a package of support for individuals and businesses which is directly benefitting providers of childcare. This includes business rates relief and grants, the extended Self-Employment Income Support Scheme and the extended Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which will remain open until March 2021.
Early years settings will continue to benefit from a planned £3.6 billion funding in the 2020-21 financial year to create free early education and childcare places. On 25 November, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced a £44 million investment in the 2021-22 financial year, for local authorities to increase hourly rates paid to childcare providers for the government’s free childcare entitlement offers. This will pay for a rate increase that is higher than the costs nurseries may face from the uplift to the national living wage in April. Further information on how this will be distributed will be made available as soon as possible.
The Covid Workforce Fund aims to support schools and colleges to remain open, even when they face significant workforce pressures caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.
The number of early years providers has remained broadly stable throughout the COVID-19 outbreak. An estimated 80% of early years settings were open on 26 November and we estimate that 826,000 children were attending early years settings. The attendance in education data and Ofsted data on joiners and leavers in the childcare sector, contains further information.
The attendance in education data is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak. Ofsted data on joiners and leavers in the childcare sector is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/joiners-and-leavers-in-the-childcare-sector.
Data published on 26 October in the latest parent survey by Ipsos MORI showed that, in September, 94% of parents whose child received formal childcare before the COVID-19 outbreak were either using formal childcare now or were intending to return their child to formal childcare if they could by January 2021. The Ipsos MORI parent survey is available here: https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/childcare-and-home-learning-families-0-4-year-olds-during-covid-19-0.
We continue to work with the early years sector to understand how they can best be supported to ensure that sufficient safe, appropriate and affordable childcare is available for those returning to work now, and for all families who need it in the longer term.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the implications for his polices of the Early Years Alliance’ survey which found that one in six early years providers could close by Christmas 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic without additional funding.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The government recognises the importance of supporting the early years sector financially during the COVID-19 outbreak, which is why we are continuing to fund childcare for the autumn term at the same level as before the COVID-19 outbreak, giving nurseries and childminders another term of secure income, regardless of how many children are attending.
Given the uncertain times ahead, we are keeping our plans for the funding of spring term 2021 under close review. Further details will be announced as soon as possible.
In addition to this, the government has provided a package of support for individuals and businesses which is directly benefitting providers of childcare. This includes business rates relief and grants, the extended Self-Employment Income Support Scheme and the extended Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which will remain open until March 2021.
Early years settings will continue to benefit from a planned £3.6 billion funding in the 2020-21 financial year to create free early education and childcare places. On 25 November, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced a £44 million investment in the 2021-22 financial year, for local authorities to increase hourly rates paid to childcare providers for the government’s free childcare entitlement offers. This will pay for a rate increase that is higher than the costs nurseries may face from the uplift to the national living wage in April. Further information on how this will be distributed will be made available as soon as possible.
The Covid Workforce Fund aims to support schools and colleges to remain open, even when they face significant workforce pressures caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.
The number of early years providers has remained broadly stable throughout the COVID-19 outbreak. An estimated 80% of early years settings were open on 26 November and we estimate that 826,000 children were attending early years settings. The attendance in education data and Ofsted data on joiners and leavers in the childcare sector, contains further information.
The attendance in education data is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak. Ofsted data on joiners and leavers in the childcare sector is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/joiners-and-leavers-in-the-childcare-sector.
Data published on 26 October in the latest parent survey by Ipsos MORI showed that, in September, 94% of parents whose child received formal childcare before the COVID-19 outbreak were either using formal childcare now or were intending to return their child to formal childcare if they could by January 2021. The Ipsos MORI parent survey is available here: https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/childcare-and-home-learning-families-0-4-year-olds-during-covid-19-0.
We continue to work with the early years sector to understand how they can best be supported to ensure that sufficient safe, appropriate and affordable childcare is available for those returning to work now, and for all families who need it in the longer term.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what amount of apprenticeship levy funding expired each month since January 2020.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
The funds in apprenticeship service accounts are available for levy-paying employers to use for 24 months before they begin to expire on a rolling, month-by-month basis. This means the expiry figures in the months from January to October 2020 relate to the funds which entered levy-paying employer accounts from January to October 2018.
£1,961 million entered employer accounts between January and October 2018 and between January and October 2020, £1,038 million expired. This accounts for 53%. The table below provides a monthly breakdown.
Month | Levy expired (in millions of pounds) |
Jan-20 | £91 |
Feb-20 | £92 |
Mar-20 | £96 |
Apr-20 | £140 |
May-20 | £96 |
Jun-20 | £98 |
Jul-20 | £105 |
Aug-20 | £104 |
Sep-20 | £105 |
Oct-20 | £110 |
Total | £1,038 |
The figures in the table refer to the total value of expired levy funds in accounts registered with the apprenticeship service. Levy-paying employers are not obliged to register for an account. Expiry in January 2020 relates to unused levy declared in January 2018. Levy declarations in April 2018 were higher than prior months, as employers made upwards adjustments in this month to correct the total levy declarations for the 2017-18 financial year. This therefore results in a higher amount of expired funds in April 2020.
We do not anticipate that all employers who pay the levy will need or want to use all the funds in their accounts, though they are able to do so. Funds raised by the levy are used to support the whole apprenticeship system. This means that employers’ unused funds are not lost, but are used to support apprenticeships in smaller employers and to cover the ongoing costs of apprentices already in training,
The apprenticeship budget is not affected by the value of any funds which may expire from employers’ accounts each month. As my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, set out in the Spending Review, we will again be making available £2.5 billion for investment in apprenticeships in the 2021-22 financial year, which is double that spent in 2010-11.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of apprentices have not had the required amount of training in the workplace necessary to complete their apprenticeship; and what steps he is taking to ensure apprentices receive the training they require.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
We are committed to supporting apprentices and employers to safely continue with, and complete, their programmes during the COVID-19 outbreak while maintaining quality. Provisional figures show that 46,930 apprentices achieved their apprenticeships (frameworks and standards) between 23 March and the end of July 2020.
In recognition of the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, we introduced a number of flexibilities in March to ensure that apprenticeships can continue where possible. These includes flexibilities to off-the-job training to support remote learning and making it possible for furloughed apprentices to continue their apprenticeships and undertake end-point assessments.
For apprentices who have experienced disruption to their training due to the COVID-19 outbreak, employers are able to extend the planned duration of the apprenticeship to accommodate this. 54,330 breaks in learning were recorded from the 23 March to the end of July 2020.
Where apprentices are continuing with their apprenticeships, they should continue to receive the minimum 20% off-the-job training requirements, and their training must remain relevant to their apprenticeship. Where a provider is able to do so safely, apprenticeship training can be delivered in the workplace where that workplace meets COVID-19 secure guidelines on ensuring the workplace is secure. Apprentices are only put forward for end-point assessment when the employer and training provider judge them to display occupational competence and meet the minimum requirements of the apprenticeship, including for off-the-job training.
We continue to engage with providers and employers to understand the situation for their apprentices and help them make the most of the existing flexibilities to best deliver training.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many current apprentices are not able to complete their apprenticeship because there is no digital functional skills offering available; and what steps he is taking to ensure the availability of that qualification.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
The department is committed to supporting apprentices, employers, and training providers to deal with the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak. Where Functional Skills assessments have been disrupted, we have been clear that providers, employers, and Awarding Organisations must work together in the best interests of apprentices. In addition to wider programme flexibilities, we have expanded the Examination Support Service to include apprenticeship training providers. They can now use this service to book COVID-19 secure exam space, and invigilators, and claim additional funding where this exceeds their normal delivery costs. The departmental guidance about providing apprenticeships during the COVID-19 outbreak is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-apprenticeship-programme-response/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-for-apprentices-employers-training-providers-end-point-assessment-organisations-and-external-quality-assurance-pro.
We continue to work closely with Ofqual, awarding organisations, and sector representatives to monitor the situation and agree how we can, together, identify and support apprentices that are unable to take their functional skills exam.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on funding Phase 3 of the Uni Connect programme.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Uni Connect is a 4-year programme which has established 29 regional partnerships between universities, colleges, employers, and other local partners to provide sustained outreach to young people in schools and colleges in areas of low or unexplained gaps in higher education (HE) participation.
The programme is funded at a level of £60 million per academic year, until July 2021, and has enabled local partners to galvanise action around HE outreach, as a supplement to the significant funding that is already spent by HE providers on outreach, as part of their access and participation plans.
The department is considering the approach to future funding of outreach. Decisions about the longer term remain under review.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Education and Skills Funding Agency plans to clawback any unspent adult education budget funding from the 2020-21 financial year from further education providers.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
We fully appreciate the steps being taken by further education providers to continue to support adult learners and acknowledge their achievements in responding to the challenge posed by COVID-19.
We know that many providers have been able to continue delivery very successfully during the COVID-19 outbreak, including remotely, and would expect that all providers should now be able to function adequately under the current restrictions.
The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) Adult Education Budget (AEB) funding and performance management rules for academic year 2020/21 (covering the period 1 August 2020 to 31 July 2021) set out the funding arrangements for ESFA AEB providers, including the criteria for clawback of funds in cases of under-delivery. At present, we are not planning to further amend the ESFA AEB funding and performance rules for academic year 2020/21, but this will be kept under review.
Currently, approximately 50% of the AEB is devolved to 7 Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) and the Mayor of London, acting where appropriate through the Greater London Authority (GLA). These authorities are now responsible for the provision of AEB-funded adult education for their residents and allocation of the AEB to providers. MCAs and the GLA are responsible for considering any flexibilities to their funding rules, in their respective areas.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of Sate for Education, what assessment she has made of (a) the level of childcare provision available during the covid-19 outbreak; and what assessment she has made of the effect of available childcare on the number of mothers taking redundancy since March 2020 to date.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Since April 2020, we have been collecting weekly data from all English local authorities to monitor the availability of early years childcare. We collect and publish information on the number of open and closed early years providers as well as the number of children attending. This information contributes to our regular publication, ‘Attendance in education and early years settings during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak’, which is available here:
https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.
Term-time attendance at early years settings has been increasing since September. On a typical day in the autumn term, we estimate attendance to be around 887,000 children, due to different and part-time patterns of childcare during the week. We estimate that 753,000 children attended early years settings on 8 October, which is approximately 85% of the usual daily level, and an increase of almost 340,000 from at the end of the summer term. 80% of early years settings were estimated to be open on 8 October.
From 4 July, wraparound childcare providers and other providers of out-of-school activities have been able to care for all children, with protective measures in place. We have published further updated guidance for providers who run before and after-school clubs, tuition and other out-of-school settings for children on the protective measures that should be put in place to ensure they are operating as safely as possible. This is also to ensure that with the introduction of our new local COVID-19 alert levels, that wraparound childcare is able to remain open, to support parents to continue to work. The guidance is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/protective-measures-for-holiday-or-after-school-clubs-and-other-out-of-school-settings-for-children-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak/protective-measures-for-out-of-school-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.
We also know that many schools operate their own breakfast and after school clubs, and they should be working to resume this provision, if they have not already. As part of our guidance to schools on full opening, we have provided schools with guidance to support them in reopening this valuable provision. The guidance is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools.
The department does not hold information on the reasons for redundancy. However, the poll of 1000 parents of 0-4 year old children in May 2020 showed only 7% of critical worker families disagree that ‘the hours their child(ren) can access childcare or school at the time of the poll fits with the working hours of the adults in the household’. Of all parents surveyed who previously used childcare and were not intending to return to formal childcare after the wider reopening on 1 June, only 6% said this was because their usual provider or school was remaining closed and 4% stated their child’s usual provider is only open for some children and their child is not eligible. More details on the poll are available here:
https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/parents-0-4-year-olds-and-childcare-1st-june-2020.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on ensuring that people who are made redundant are able to access suitable education and training between October 2020 and when the lifetime skills allowance is rolled out.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has worked closely with Cabinet colleagues to ensure that a robust package of support is available for adults to learn and reach their potential in the labour market.
The government is providing £2.5 billion (£3 billion when including Barnett funding for devolved administrations) for the National Skills Fund.
My right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, as part of his Lifetime Skills Guarantee, announced that for adults who do not currently have a level 3 qualification, we will be fully funding their first full level 3, focusing on the valuable courses that will help them get ahead in the labour market. The offer will be funded from the National Skills Fund and offered from April 2021.
The Prime Minister also announced digital bootcamps to support local regions and employers to fill in-demand vacancies by providing valuable skills. Adults in the West Midlands, Greater Manchester and Lancashire, and Liverpool City Region can now register their interest to take part in the digital bootcamps. In early 2021 the digital bootcamps will also be available in Leeds City Region, Heart of the South West and Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. We are planning to expand the bootcamps to more of the country from spring 2021 and we want to extend this model to include other technical skills training.
Alongside the National Skills Fund, the department has been working to provide further support in response to the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak. In his Summer Economic Update, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced investment of over £500 million to deliver a package of support for people to access the training and develop the skills they will need to go on to high-quality, secure and fulfilling employment. The Skills Recovery Package included:
In addition, the recently announced expansion of The Skills Toolkit means that people can now choose from over 70 courses, covering digital, adult numeracy, employability and work readiness skills, which have been identified as the skills employers need the most. These courses will help people stay in work, or take up new jobs and opportunities.
In response to COVID-19, the Department for Work and Pensions has also established an alternative service to their usual face to face offer. People will be able to access redundancy help and job search advice on the department’s new Job Help campaign website. There is also information on GOV.UK and updated information packs provided to employers to help them signpost employees to the support that is available. The support available includes:
In addition to this, the new Kickstart scheme is underway. This is a £2 billion programme which will create thousands of new jobs for young people aged between 16-24 who will be offered 6 month work placements with wages paid by the UK government.
The government appreciates the importance of adult education to improving people’s life chances. We will continue to explore options within adult education to aid the post COVID-19 recovery.