Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the impact of the Initial Teacher Training provider reaccreditation process on the even distribution of teacher training across the regions in England.
Answered by Nick Gibb
In the 2019 Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy, the Department committed to reviewing the Initial Teacher Training (ITT) market, with the aim to make it work more effectively. Reforms to the ITT market will help all trainees across the country receive quality ITT provision and further support at every stage of their teaching career.
179 providers have been accredited to deliver ITT from September 2024, following an accreditation process designed to drive up the quality and consistency of ITT which leads to Qualified Teacher Status. These providers will cover all regions of the country and include new entrants to the market. As the market develops over the next two years, the Department will continue to monitor the availability of provision across England to ensure the ITT market is ready and able to deliver teacher training programmes in every part of the country from September 2024.
Safeguarding teacher supply is a priority. The Department has funded recruitment and retention to attract applications to ITT and continually monitors provision levels to ensure that there are enough ITT places to meet teacher recruitment targets. This involves working with a wide range of stakeholders to ensure there are sufficient ITT places across the country from the 2024/25 academic year.
In addition, the Department is focusing on utilising local knowledge and relationships as well as prioritising a sector led approach to sufficiency. This includes working with a range of sector stakeholders to ensure a wide range of views are represented, including those of the Universities Council for the Education of Teachers (UCET), the National Association of School-Based Teacher Trainers (NASBTT) and different Higher Education Institutions (HEI) representative groups.
To support these partnership conversations, the Department published guidance on 12 December 2022 and confirmed that funding will be available to support the costs of developing partnerships in key regions. The guidance can be accessed at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1123075/Initial_teacher_training__ITT__-_forming_partnerships.pdf.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the impact of the Initial Teacher Training provider reaccreditation process on the level of teacher (a) supply and (b) recruitment.
Answered by Nick Gibb
In the 2019 Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy, the Department committed to reviewing the Initial Teacher Training (ITT) market, with the aim to make it work more effectively. Reforms to the ITT market will help all trainees across the country receive quality ITT provision and further support at every stage of their teaching career.
179 providers have been accredited to deliver ITT from September 2024, following an accreditation process designed to drive up the quality and consistency of ITT which leads to Qualified Teacher Status. These providers will cover all regions of the country and include new entrants to the market. As the market develops over the next two years, the Department will continue to monitor the availability of provision across England to ensure the ITT market is ready and able to deliver teacher training programmes in every part of the country from September 2024.
Safeguarding teacher supply is a priority. The Department has funded recruitment and retention to attract applications to ITT and continually monitors provision levels to ensure that there are enough ITT places to meet teacher recruitment targets. This involves working with a wide range of stakeholders to ensure there are sufficient ITT places across the country from the 2024/25 academic year.
In addition, the Department is focusing on utilising local knowledge and relationships as well as prioritising a sector led approach to sufficiency. This includes working with a range of sector stakeholders to ensure a wide range of views are represented, including those of the Universities Council for the Education of Teachers (UCET), the National Association of School-Based Teacher Trainers (NASBTT) and different Higher Education Institutions (HEI) representative groups.
To support these partnership conversations, the Department published guidance on 12 December 2022 and confirmed that funding will be available to support the costs of developing partnerships in key regions. The guidance can be accessed at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1123075/Initial_teacher_training__ITT__-_forming_partnerships.pdf.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress she has made towards implementing the streamlining of funding set out in the Skills Act 2022.
Answered by Robert Halfon
In July 2021, the department first consulted on proposals to reform the adult skills further education (FE) funding and accountability systems. The views from this consultation shaped the next phase of the reform proposals and a second consultation set out in greater detail the proposed reforms and how these could be implemented.
In the second consultation, the department set out proposals to simplify the funding system through a single Skills Fund. This will include funding for Adult Education Budget (AEB) provision, Community Learning and Free Courses for Jobs - Level 3. To give sufficient time, the department will introduce the Skills Fund in academic year 2024/2025 and will be maintaining the AEB in 2023/2024. This was announced on 14 December 2022 in an ESFA Update. More information on this can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/esfa-update-14-december-2022/esfa-update-further-education-14-december-2022.
The second consultation also set out proposals to simplify funding which supports new investment, by moving to a Single Development Fund for all development funding in the next Spending Review; and the creation of a new set of funding rates for adult skills, to both simplify, and boost, funding for training in areas of greatest skills need.
The second consultation closed in October 2022 and the responses have helped to shape the reforms that the department will make to adult skills funding and the accountability system for FE in England. A formal response will be published in due course.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with further education colleges on the reclassification of colleges as public sector institutions by the Office for National Statistics.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Since the Office for National Statistics (ONS) announced in May 2022 their review of the classification of the further education sector in England, departmental officials have engaged with colleges and the college sector representative bodies, and we have taken account of their feedback throughout.
On 29 November 2022, when the ONS announced the outcome of their review, the department wrote to college principals setting out how the changes to classification would affect them and how the government would support colleges. The department has also since spoken to representatives from the Association of Colleges and the Sixth Form College Association and to a number of college principals. The Education and Skills Funding Agency wrote to all college accounting officers with more detail on new processes and departmental officials published a government response on GOV.UK. We have held webinars attended by over 300 college representatives, and attended and spoke at the Landex conference.
The department is continuing to keep the sector informed as we move beyond the announcement into a more business as usual state, and will be working closely with colleges to inform development of a new college financial handbook.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment has she made of the impact of the apprenticeship levy on the number of people starting an apprenticeship starts since 2018.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Since 2017/18 there has been over 1.7 million apprenticeship starts. An annual breakdown is provided in the table below:
Academic Year | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 |
Apprenticeship Starts | 375,760 | 393,380 | 322,530 | 321,440 | 349,190 |
It is encouraging to see last year’s strong recovery in apprenticeship starts, supported by incentive payments for employers and training flexibilities, which gave employers confidence to offer new apprenticeships and to deliver them in the way that works best for their business.
The department has created flexible training models, such as flexi-job and accelerated apprenticeships, to make apprenticeships accessible for all sectors. We have also developed ‘career starter’ standards to attract more young people to apprenticeships. The department is supporting employers to make greater use of their levy funds and have improved the transfer system to make it easier to find employers who wish to take on apprentices with transferred funds.
The department is increasing apprenticeship funding to £2.7 billion by the 2024/25 financial year to support more employers and apprentices to benefit from high-quality apprenticeship training.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the efficacy of the T-Levels transition programme.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The T Level Transition Programme is being phased in alongside T Levels. It is too early to make an overall assessment of the programme based on available evidence from the first year. The programme is new and the first year was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. T Levels are also new, and providers will still be learning what works in supporting progression onto T Levels. The department has published two research reports relating to the first year of teaching. These can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/research-on-early-delivery-of-the-t-level-transition-programme, and: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/technical-education-learner-survey.
The programme has been updated from September 2022 and the department will continue monitoring the programme as it is rolled out.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy on ensuring that businesses understand the T-level qualification.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Departmental officials have engaged directly with officials from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) business engagement forum to raise awareness of T Levels.
The department’s employer engagement strategy is designed to raise awareness of T Levels and support employers to deliver high quality industry placements. The department has engaged with a broad range of employers and employer associations, including the wider public sector and other government departments to raise awareness. We also have a comprehensive package of support available offering online guidance, webinars, and direct hands-on support to help employers understand what T Levels are and prepare them for industry placements.
The department has established a T Level Ambassador Network of employers who engage with others in their industries on T Levels and placements, and our communications campaigns are continuing to raise the profile of the programme to all employer audiences.
The department will continue to work with other government departments to ensure that we continue to raise the profile of T Levels.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the withdrawal of funding for some BTEC courses on the number of (a) 16-to-19 year olds and (b) other adults taking up a post-16 qualification in the next five years.
Answered by Robert Halfon
As part of the post-16 qualifications review, the department has considered the available evidence about outcomes for students who have taken BTECs as well as other Applied General qualifications (AGQs).
The evidence suggests that, after taking into account a student’s background characteristics and prior attainment, those who followed an A level only route generally experienced better outcomes in terms of attainment and future employment impacts. Considering access to higher education and reformed AGQs, the review found that across different prior attainment bandings, students with A levels were consistently more likely to enter higher education than those holding AGQs. For those with the lowest prior attainment, mixed A level and AGQ programmes were slightly more likely to lead to higher education than those with a study programme consisting of A levels.
Therefore, the department will continue to fund some alternative level 3 qualifications, including BTECs where they do not overlap with A levels or T Levels, and where they meet the new quality criteria being implemented as part of the funding approval process for 2025 and beyond, details of which will be published in due course. Qualifications such as BTECs will continue to play an important role for 16 to 19-year-olds and adults. This includes for students taking these qualifications in mixed programmes alongside A levels or as an alternative programme in areas that may be less well-served by A levels or T Levels.
The updated impact assessment published alongside the response to the second stage consultation looked at the potential impact of the review including the removal of funding for some BTEC qualifications on both 16 to 19-year-old and adult students, including those with protected characteristics. This can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-post-16-qualifications-at-level-3-in-england.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of increased funding to schools announced in the Autumn Statement 2022 will be distributed to Further Education.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The additional revenue funding announced at the Autumn Statement is for the core schools budget, which covers primary and secondary phases of education, and high needs.
However, those engaged in further education, as part of the 2021 Autumn Budget, may benefit from the £1.6 billion investment in the National Skills Fund over the years 2022-25, including £550 million investment to significantly expand Skills Bootcamps.
Further decisions on future funding rates for 16-19 education and other budgets for further education colleges, will be taken in light of overall needs, and pressures across the department’s funded sectors, and will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps his Department has taken to help reduce the number of 16 and 17 year olds who are not in education, employment or training.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department monitors young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) data and liaises with local authorities regarding their duty to track and support young people who are, or are at risk of becoming, NEET.
The department is working with local authorities to support the use of data tools to identify young people at an increased risk of becoming NEET, based on characteristics such as a learning difficulty, disability, or poor school attendance so they can be given extra support.
Funding is provided for a range of support for young people to help minimise time spent NEET, such as the support provided by Youth Hubs.
The department also works with the youth sector to gain further insight into the issues and barriers faced by young people.
We have introduced a range of skills reforms, outlined in the Skills for Jobs White Paper in January 2021, which set out the department’s blueprint to reform post-16 education and training to support young people to get the skills they need to succeed throughout their lives, wherever they live in the country. The Paper is focused on giving people the skills they need now and in the future, in a way that suits them. This is why the department is investing £3.8 billion in further education and skills to ensure young people can access high-quality training and education that leads to good jobs, addresses current and future skills gaps, boosts productivity, and supports levelling up.
This investment will support the department’s aim to ensure that every young person has an opportunity to gain high-quality, hands-on training to start and progress in work and get them on the ladder of opportunity. Providers can also make better decisions around what courses they offer and focus on delivering the skills needed for a thriving and productive economy and society, with a particular emphasis on levelling up.
The department has been undertaking a series of reviews at level 3, level 2 and below, of academic and technical qualifications. These reviews will ensure that every funded qualification has a clear purpose, is high-quality, and will lead to good outcomes for students.
The department is investing approximately £100 million in the 2022/23 financial year to help young people and adults to get high-quality careers provision. Through the Skills and Post-16 Education Act 2022, we are strengthening the law so that all pupils have the opportunity for six encounters with providers of approved technical education qualifications and apprenticeships, as they progress through school years 8 to 13.
The department has introduced T Levels, boosting access to high-quality technical education for thousands of 16 to 19-year-olds. Young people are now benefitting from these pioneering new qualifications, designed by employers to ensure students get the skills they need for great jobs. We have also introduced the T Level Transition Programme, for students who would benefit from additional study time and preparation before starting their T Level.
Apprenticeships provide an excellent career pathway for young people to gain the skills and experience they need to start climbing the career ladder. The department provides £1,000 to both employers and training providers when they take on apprentices aged between 16 and 18-years-old. To support young people in accessing apprenticeships, the department is promoting apprenticeships in schools and colleges through the Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge programme.
In January, the department launched the Get the Jump campaign to help young people aged 14-19 to understand their education and training choices, how they compare, and where these choices can lead. Details of the campaign are available at: https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/explore-your-education-and-training-choices.