Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support for funding is available to international students from (a) India and (b) China to study at UK universities.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
Overseas students and staff make an important contribution to our universities and it is testament to our system that so many international students choose to come and study here.
The government welcomes international students and we actively promote study in the UK through the GREAT Campaign and to over 100 countries through the British Council. The government also announced on 21 January that the Department for Education and the Department for International Trade will produce an international education strategy in early 2019. The strategy will set out the government’s ambition for international education, in which international students play a key role.
Chevening is the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s flagship international scholarship programme offering fully funded post-graduate study to exceptional future leaders from around the world. This year we have 1790 scholars from across 140 countries, including 75 from China and 57 from India. There are also various scholarships offered by a number of UK institutions.
The Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC) in the UK awards scholarships and fellowships to Commonwealth citizens for postgraduate study and professional development. In 2018/19, the CSC is supporting some 798 students to study in the UK, of which 83 are from India.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
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 studying at overseas campuses of UK universities in (a) India and (b) China in the latest period for which figures are available.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
In the academic year 2017/18 the number of students studying in India and China, for awards or courses of UK universities overseas, without coming to the UK, was 17,135 students and 75,995 respectively.
Further information can be found at: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/where-from.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many international students in higher education from (a) India and (b) China went on to (i) post-graduate education, (ii) employment and (iii) left the UK at the end of their studies in (A) 2015, (B) 2016, (C) 2017 and (D) 2018.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The department has published employment/further study outcomes for international students based on Longitudinal Educational Outcomes data in the publication, ‘Graduate outcomes (LEO): 2015 to 2016’, at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/graduate-outcomes-2015-to-2016.
The employment outcomes categories are grouped as follows:
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance his Department has issued to schools on the amount of time required to advise pupils on food and nutrition.
Answered by Nick Gibb
All schools are required to teach a balanced and broad curriculum that helps provide young people with knowledge, skills and understanding to prepare them to play a full and active part in society.
The National Curriculum requires maintained schools to teach children about food, nutrition, healthy eating and how to cook a repertoire of dishes as part of design and technology. The science curriculum requires pupils to be taught about the principles of a healthy and varied diet and its impact on the way our bodies work. The national curriculum can be used as a benchmark for Free Schools and Academies.
The Department does not prescribe how many hours schools should teach of any subject and believe that individual schools are best placed to decide this for themselves.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance his Department has issued to schools on the amount of time to be allocated to pupils for emotional well-being help and support.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Schools and colleges have an important role to play in supporting the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people. They are best placed to make decisions on the types of pastoral support their pupils need and the time allocated to it. Different pupils will need different amounts of support and the Government does not issue guidance on the time that should be allocated.
The green paper, ‘Transforming children and young people’s mental health provision’, set out proposals to provide significant further support to schools, supported by over £300 million of funding. This will include new clinically-supervised Mental Health Support Teams to provide evidence-based early intervention for mental health problems and better links to specialist NHS services.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance he has issued to schools on the amount of time to be allocated to physical activity for pupils.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The UK chief medical officers’ recommend that all children and young people should engage in moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity for at least 60 minutes every day. Schools play an important role in supporting children to achieve the physical activity recommendations. The Childhood Obesity Plan recommended that at least 30 minutes should be delivered in school every day through active break times, physical education (PE), extra-curricular clubs, active lessons, or other sport and physical activity events, with the remaining 30 minutes supported by parents and carers’ outside of school time.
The government does not set a target for how much curriculum time schools must dedicate to PE or specify the sports and activities that must be taught in schools. However, all maintained schools must teach a full programme of study for PE for all their pupils.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support is provided by his Department to children who are absent from school as a result of diabetes.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The department has published statutory guidance on supporting pupils with medical conditions at school, including diabetes, which is clear that schools, local authorities, health professionals, commissioners and other support services should work together to ensure that children with medical conditions receive a full education.
Local authorities should be ready to take responsibility for any child whose illness will prevent them from attending school for 15 school days or more, either in one absence or over the course of a school year, and where suitable education is not otherwise being arranged.
I am hosting a roundtable with the Health Conditions in Schools Alliance in May 2018 where issues such as this will be discussed.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department will take in 2018 to ensure that schools in England are (a) aware of and (b) comply with the statutory guidance on pupils with medical conditions at school.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Last year the department promoted the statutory guidance on ‘supporting pupils with medical conditions in school’ through the department’s social media channels. This reached over 32,000 people.
We keep the statutory guidance under review and plan to host a roundtable with the Health Conditions in Schools Alliance in May 2018 where issues such as awareness and compliance will be discussed.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information his Department holds on the number of school catering programmes which received nutritional and dietary training prior to setting menus in 2017.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The department does not hold this information.
Our department supports the provision of nutritious food in schools to enable pupils to be well nourished, develop healthy eating habits and to concentrate and learn in school. Our school food standards regulate the food and drink provided during the school day, and foods high in fat, salt and sugar, as well as low quality reformed or reconstituted foods, are restricted. Resources such as the school food plan website can be used by schools and school caterers to ensure their menus comply with the standards.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools received a visit from a qualified and registered nutritionist in each of the last three years.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
I am sorry, but the department does not collect this information.
If specialist advice is required from a nutritionist then schools would handle the matter at a local level.