Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government which countries international students studying in the UK have come from in each of the last three years.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collects and publishes statistics on higher education (HE) at UK HE providers. Latest statistics refer to the 2021/22 academic year, and can be found at: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/table-11.
Table 11 of the HESA’s Student Data includes the number of Non-UK HE enrolments broken down by country of domicile between academic years 2014/15 to 2021/22. Domicile refers to the permanent home address of the student prior to entry of the course.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the total number of children for the 2021/22 academic year who could not swim upon leaving (1) primary, and (2) secondary, school.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not collect data on pupils’ swimming ability on leaving primary or secondary school or on schools’ access to swimming pools. By 31 July 2023, all schools in receipt of the primary PE and Sport premium are required to publish the percentage of their pupils in year 6 who met each of the three swimming and water safety national curriculum expectations.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the total number of schools that do not have access to a swimming pool to provide swimming and water safety lessons.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not collect data on pupils’ swimming ability on leaving primary or secondary school or on schools’ access to swimming pools. By 31 July 2023, all schools in receipt of the primary PE and Sport premium are required to publish the percentage of their pupils in year 6 who met each of the three swimming and water safety national curriculum expectations.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Barran on 8 March (HL5809), what are the percentages of each of the apprenticeship levels studied in each of the age groups.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The following table shows the proportion of participating apprentices in each age group studying at each apprenticeship level for the 2019/20 to 2021/22 academic years.
Age group | Level | Percentage Learner Participation for each age group | ||
2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | ||
Total | Total | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% |
Intermediate Apprenticeship | 31.3% | 26.0% | 23.7% | |
Advanced Apprenticeship | 47.1% | 45.8% | 44.6% | |
Higher Apprenticeship | 23.0% | 29.2% | 32.3% | |
Under 19 | Total | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% |
Intermediate Apprenticeship | 55.7% | 51.7% | 47.9% | |
Advanced Apprenticeship | 43.3% | 46.0% | 48.1% | |
Higher Apprenticeship | 3.9% | 4.1% | 5.1% | |
19-24 | Total | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% |
Intermediate Apprenticeship | 28.7% | 24.7% | 22.4% | |
Advanced Apprenticeship | 53.1% | 52.4% | 51.4% | |
Higher Apprenticeship | 20.1% | 24.2% | 27.0% | |
25+ | Total | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% |
Intermediate Apprenticeship | 23.4% | 18.1% | 16.1% | |
Advanced Apprenticeship | 44.1% | 40.9% | 38.6% | |
Higher Apprenticeship | 33.0% | 41.3% | 45.6% | |
Note:
(1) Percentages derived from volumes published here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/bc41867b-b0ad-4967-7403-08db2469d98f.
(2) As learners can study at more than one apprenticeship level in an academic year, the proportions at Intermediate level, Advanced level and Higher level may sum to be more than 100%.
Further apprenticeship statistics can be found in the Apprenticeships and traineeships statistics publication, which can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships-and-traineeships.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of young people aged 16 to 18 who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) in each of the core cities in England.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Anybody who is not in education or training and not in employment is considered to be NEET. Consequently, a person identified as NEET will always be either unemployed or economically inactive. The number of young people aged 16 to 18 NEET is therefore hard to measure, due to needing multiple data sources spanning education and the labour market.
The department’s most robust estimate of those aged 16 to 18 NEET in England combines departmental administrative data and the labour force survey, and is published in the national statistics release ‘Participation in education, training and employment age 16 to 18’. Latest data to the end of 2021 can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/participation-in-education-and-training-and-employment/2021. The next update of this release which includes estimates of those NEET to the end of 2022 will be published by July 2023.
The table below shows NEET numbers and rates; rates should also be considered due to the changes in overall population numbers:
Participation release estimates age 16-18 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
Population | 1,874,681 | 1,838,361 | 1,836,771 | 1,861,438 | 1,913,867 |
Number NEET | 120,864 | 120,512 | 122,997 | 124,702 | 123,016 |
% NEET | 6.4% | 6.6% | 6.7% | 6.7% | 6.4% |
In addition to these national statistics, the department has also published more timely NEET estimates from the labour force survey (LFS), with data to the end of 2022 being published on 2 March 2023. As this is survey data, associated confidence intervals (CIs)[1] should be used alongside the estimates, and these statistics should be used to see the latest trends in NEET rates. Caution should be used if considering in-year changes. The following table gives these estimates:
LFS estimates age 16-18 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
Population | 1,787,830 | 1,780,877 | 1,781,276 | 1,797,325 | 1,820,422 | 1,857,517 |
Number NEET | 111,418 | 124,410 | 133,297 | 108,232 | 85,470 | 151,851 |
CI number NEET | +/-17,640 | +/-18,745 | +/-20,196 | +/-19,537 | +/-16,988 | +/-26,480 |
% NEET | 6.2% | 7.0% | 7.5% | 6.0% | 4.7% | 8.2% |
CI % NEET | +/-1.0% | +/-1.1% | +/-1.1% | +/-1.1% | +/-0.9% | +/-1.4% |
Neither of the above sources provide robust estimates of NEET at city level, due to the methodologies or restrictions in sample sizes. However, as part of the raising participation age legislation, local authorities are tracking young people’s participation in education and training up to age 17. This information[2] is published annually at the following link: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/participation-in-education-training-and-neet-age-16-to-17-by-local-authority/2021-22. Below is a summary table which shows, to the end of 2022, the number of 16 to 17 year olds in each of the local authorities aligning with the core cities in England, and the number of those known to be NEET or who’s activity is not known.
Local authority | Cohort number (age 16-17) | Number NEET/activity not known (age 16-17) | Proportion NEET/activity not known (age 16-17) |
Newcastle upon Tyne | 5,767 | 390 | 6.8% |
Liverpool | 9,923 | 752 | 7.6% |
Manchester | 12,553 | 705 | 5.6% |
Leeds | 17,424 | 1,356 | 7.8% |
Sheffield | 12,172 | 834 | 6.8% |
Nottingham | 6,595 | 309 | 4.7% |
Birmingham | 31,660 | 2,085 | 6.6% |
Bristol, City of | 8,934 | 537 | 6.0% |
For further information on the sources above and methodological differences between them, please see the ‘Other NEET sources’ section at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/neet-statistics-annual-brief.
[1] Surveys, such as the LFS, provide estimates of population characteristics rather than exact measures. In principle, many random samples could be drawn, and each would give different results, since each sample would be made up of different people, who would give different answers to the questions asked. The spread of these results is the sampling variability, which generally reduces with increasing sample size. For example, with a 95% confidence interval, it is expected that in 95% of the survey samples, the resulting confidence interval will contain the true value that would be obtained by surveying the whole population.
[2] Some caution should be taken if using these figures due to the estimates being based on management information and there being considerable variation at local authority level in how well 16 and 17 year olds are tracked and hence not known proportions can impact on the estimates of the proportion NEET.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many young people aged 16 to 18 were not in education, employment or training (NEET) in each of the last five years.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Anybody who is not in education or training and not in employment is considered to be NEET. Consequently, a person identified as NEET will always be either unemployed or economically inactive. The number of young people aged 16 to 18 NEET is therefore hard to measure, due to needing multiple data sources spanning education and the labour market.
The department’s most robust estimate of those aged 16 to 18 NEET in England combines departmental administrative data and the labour force survey, and is published in the national statistics release ‘Participation in education, training and employment age 16 to 18’. Latest data to the end of 2021 can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/participation-in-education-and-training-and-employment/2021. The next update of this release which includes estimates of those NEET to the end of 2022 will be published by July 2023.
The table below shows NEET numbers and rates; rates should also be considered due to the changes in overall population numbers:
Participation release estimates age 16-18 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
Population | 1,874,681 | 1,838,361 | 1,836,771 | 1,861,438 | 1,913,867 |
Number NEET | 120,864 | 120,512 | 122,997 | 124,702 | 123,016 |
% NEET | 6.4% | 6.6% | 6.7% | 6.7% | 6.4% |
In addition to these national statistics, the department has also published more timely NEET estimates from the labour force survey (LFS), with data to the end of 2022 being published on 2 March 2023. As this is survey data, associated confidence intervals (CIs)[1] should be used alongside the estimates, and these statistics should be used to see the latest trends in NEET rates. Caution should be used if considering in-year changes. The following table gives these estimates:
LFS estimates age 16-18 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
Population | 1,787,830 | 1,780,877 | 1,781,276 | 1,797,325 | 1,820,422 | 1,857,517 |
Number NEET | 111,418 | 124,410 | 133,297 | 108,232 | 85,470 | 151,851 |
CI number NEET | +/-17,640 | +/-18,745 | +/-20,196 | +/-19,537 | +/-16,988 | +/-26,480 |
% NEET | 6.2% | 7.0% | 7.5% | 6.0% | 4.7% | 8.2% |
CI % NEET | +/-1.0% | +/-1.1% | +/-1.1% | +/-1.1% | +/-0.9% | +/-1.4% |
Neither of the above sources provide robust estimates of NEET at city level, due to the methodologies or restrictions in sample sizes. However, as part of the raising participation age legislation, local authorities are tracking young people’s participation in education and training up to age 17. This information[2] is published annually at the following link: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/participation-in-education-training-and-neet-age-16-to-17-by-local-authority/2021-22. Below is a summary table which shows, to the end of 2022, the number of 16 to 17 year olds in each of the local authorities aligning with the core cities in England, and the number of those known to be NEET or who’s activity is not known.
Local authority | Cohort number (age 16-17) | Number NEET/activity not known (age 16-17) | Proportion NEET/activity not known (age 16-17) |
Newcastle upon Tyne | 5,767 | 390 | 6.8% |
Liverpool | 9,923 | 752 | 7.6% |
Manchester | 12,553 | 705 | 5.6% |
Leeds | 17,424 | 1,356 | 7.8% |
Sheffield | 12,172 | 834 | 6.8% |
Nottingham | 6,595 | 309 | 4.7% |
Birmingham | 31,660 | 2,085 | 6.6% |
Bristol, City of | 8,934 | 537 | 6.0% |
For further information on the sources above and methodological differences between them, please see the ‘Other NEET sources’ section at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/neet-statistics-annual-brief.
[1] Surveys, such as the LFS, provide estimates of population characteristics rather than exact measures. In principle, many random samples could be drawn, and each would give different results, since each sample would be made up of different people, who would give different answers to the questions asked. The spread of these results is the sampling variability, which generally reduces with increasing sample size. For example, with a 95% confidence interval, it is expected that in 95% of the survey samples, the resulting confidence interval will contain the true value that would be obtained by surveying the whole population.
[2] Some caution should be taken if using these figures due to the estimates being based on management information and there being considerable variation at local authority level in how well 16 and 17 year olds are tracked and hence not known proportions can impact on the estimates of the proportion NEET.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the survey by the Association of Directors of Children's Services Ltd (ADCS) Elective Home Education Survey 2021, published in November 2021, which found that 115,542 children were home educated during the 2020/21 academic year, representing a 34 per cent increase from the 2019/20 academic year.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) Elective Home Education survey in 2021 was a data collection independent of the government. However, the department did review it with interest, at the point of publication.
The ADCS estimated cumulative total of electively home educated children in the 2020/21 academic year increased by 34% from the previous year to 115,542. The survey also reported that the most common reasons given for a child becoming electively home educated were health concerns around the COVID-19 pandemic, and other health or mental health reasons.
While the department knows most parents who choose home education for their children are committed and educate their children well, this survey did correspond with reports from local authorities at the time, about rising numbers of electively home educated children and that this increase was being driven by reasons other than a commitment to home education.
Similarly, the report noted local authorities’ concerns about being uncertain of the true size of the electively home educated cohort, due to the lack of a statutory register of electively home educated children.
The government remains committed to establishing statutory local authority registers of children not in school, and to progressing these measures at the next suitable legislative opportunity.
In the meantime, the department is continuing to work with local authorities to improve their non-statutory registers. In October 2022 and January 2023, the department also requested local authority aggregate data on Elective Home Education and Children Missing Education, to improve understanding of these cohorts.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will list the 39 schools in England that have been closed in the last three years due to safety concerns, including a breakdown of whether the closure is temporary or permanent; and for those closures that are temporary, (1) how long each closure is expected to last, and (2) where students are being educated while their school is closed.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
It is not department practice to publicise the names of individual schools that have turned to the department for help in managing an operational issue.
On average, schools that were closed between December 2019 and January 2023 were closed for two days.
The Department works closely with responsible bodies and schools to minimise the impact of closures and ensure continuity of education for pupils. This includes working closely with the responsible body, school and local authority to find alternative accommodation if pupils cannot be taught on site.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the age profile of apprentices in each of the last three years.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The following table shows apprenticeship learner participation by age with percentage breakdowns.
| Academic Year | ||
| 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 |
Learner Participation | |||
Total | 718,950 | 712,990 | 740,350 |
Under 19 | 135,670 | 118,590 | 126,420 |
19-24 | 250,870 | 248,870 | 255,260 |
25+ | 332,510 | 345,540 | 358,680 |
Percentage Learner Participation | |||
Total | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Under 19 | 18.9% | 16.6% | 17.1% |
19-24 | 34.9% | 34.9% | 34.5% |
25+ | 46.2% | 48.5% | 48.4% |
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of giving businesses greater control of the Apprenticeship Levy, in order to fund a wider range of courses which could be used to fill vacancies in sectors struggling with recruitment, such as hospitality and retail.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The apprenticeship levy is an important part of the government’s reforms to create a high-quality, employer-led apprenticeships system, and it supports employers of all sizes to invest in high-quality apprenticeship training. The government does not currently have any plans to review the apprenticeship levy.
The apprenticeships budget is used to fund training and assessment for new apprenticeship starts in levy and non-levy paying employers, and to cover the ongoing costs of apprentices already in training and any additional payments made to employers and providers. The table below shows the department’s ring-fenced apprenticeships budget against the apprenticeship expenditure for the last three financial years (FY).
(£ million) | FY 19/20 | FY 20/21 | FY 21/22 |
DfE Ring-fence Apprenticeships Budget | 2,469 | 2,467 | 2,466 |
Total Ring-fence Apprenticeships Spend | 1,919 | 1,863 | 2,455 |
Underspend against Ring-fenced Apprenticeships Budget | 550 | 604 | 11 |
In the 2021/22 financial year, 99.6% of the apprenticeships budget was spent. It is therefore important that the apprenticeships budget remains ring-fenced to support the demand by employers for high-quality apprenticeship training.
The government is increasing apprenticeship funding to £2.7 billion by the 2024/25 financial year and is continuing to improve the apprenticeships system to support employers fill their vacancies and train their workforces to address industry skills gaps.
The department has worked with employers to develop over 660 high-quality apprenticeship standards, including in hospitality and retail occupations. We have also created flexible training models, like flexi-job and accelerated apprenticeships, and improved the levy transfer system so it is easier for levy paying employers to make full use of their levy funds.