Louise Ellman

To date, the Green Investment Bank (GIB) has helped finance two projects in the Merseyside area.

In December 2013, GIB committed £20m to the design, build and operation of a new ‘energy from waste’ plant on behalf of the Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority. The facility, located in Teesside, will each year convert into energy more than 420,000 tonnes of residual waste from six boroughs in the Merseyside and Halton area. I understand the project is expected to create 49 permanent jobs and 2 apprenticeships at the Teesside plant and another 20 permanent jobs and 1 apprentice at the Merseyside rail freight facilities as well as many more jobs (approximately 100) during the construction phase.

In November 2014, GIB committed £30.1m to a new Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Plant in Widnes, the North West’s largest waste wood renewable power facility. I understand the project is expected to create 20 permanent jobs and many more jobs (approximately 200) during construction.

The Government is determined to improve the energy efficiency of homes and businesses.

We need a long-term, coherent and affordable policy framework for households which ensures that Government support is targeted at those who need it most. The Department is already working closely with consumer groups and industry alike to test and develop ideas, based on evidence of what works and I look forward to setting out our approach in due course

We also recognise the significant potential for businesses to improve energy efficiency. Policies such as the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) encourage energy efficiency in business. This is in addition to a range of offers including the Enhanced Capital Allowance tax scheme for businesses and the voluntary Climate Change Agreements for the energy intensive sectors which allow up to 90% reduction from the Climate Change Levy in return for signing up to stretching energy efficiency improvement targets agreed with Government.

As noted in the replies to Questions 1656 and 1849, the Skills Funding Agency allocates funding based on learner demand and the majority of this Department’s £450m savings in 2015-16 will be delivered through known underspends and releasing unallocated funding.

FE savings will also be found by cutting low-value expenditure but one of the areas where the FE budget has the greatest impact, apprenticeships, is protected so apprentices in Liverpool, and elsewhere, will not be affected.

Officials in my Department are working with the Skills Funding Agency to determine how other savings can best be achieved in line with ministers’ priorities.

We understand that there are pressures across the sector and we have been working through the FE Commissioner to support any colleges that need to redevelop their business plans.

As noted in the replies to Questions 1656 and 1849, the Skills Funding Agency allocates funding based on learner demand and the majority of this Department’s £450m savings in 2015-16 will be delivered through known underspends and releasing unallocated funding.

FE savings will also be found by cutting low-value expenditure but one of the areas where the FE budget has the greatest impact, apprenticeships, is protected so apprentices in Liverpool, and elsewhere, will not be affected.

Officials in my Department are working with the Skills Funding Agency to determine how other savings can best be achieved in line with ministers’ priorities.

We understand that there are pressures across the sector and we have been working through the FE Commissioner to support any colleges that need to redevelop their business plans.

The skills funding agency allocates funding in response to learner demand and in accordance with Government priorities, including the importance of growing apprenticeships.

The majority of the Department’s £450m savings will be delivered through known underspends and releasing unallocated funding. Officials in my Department are working with the appropriate funding bodies to determine how other savings can best be achieved in line with ministers’ priorities. .

The Skills Funding Agency allocates funding in response to learner demand and in accordance with Government priorities, including the importance of growing apprenticeships.

Between financial years 2013/14 and 2014/15 over £160,000 of funding has been provided to the Electoral Registration Officer for Liverpool City Council to support activities aimed at increasing the completeness and accuracy of their register.

Up to £2.5 million is being used to fund national activity, including promoting registration among under registered groups like students and overseas voters. Online registration makes registering to vote more accessible than ever before.

When Advanced Learning Loans were introduced, the Department carried out a thorough Regulatory Impact Assessment, and used survey data to understand the likely change in participation as a result of loans. This is published at the link below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/32315/12-873-further-education-advanced-learning-loans-regulatory-impact.pdf

Information available for 2013/14 is provisional and as such does not allow us to show changes to the level of participation in further education with certainty. But the introduction of 24+ Loans appears to have been successful for those studying at Level 3 and 4. Latest data available showed that the total number of applications received, from 8 April 2013 to 31 July 2014, to fund provision in the 2013/14 academic year was 70,940.

The Equality Analysis is currently being updated in light of information and evidence provided by stakeholders and will be published alongside the regulations when they are laid.

The proposed changes to Disabled Students' Allowances will be subject to an Equality Analysis, which will consider their impact in relation to protected characteristics. Extensive discussions are underway with a wide range of stakeholders to help inform this.

I will consider a final version of the Equality Analysis before any final decisions are made and regulations are laid before the House.

The department counts the numbers of pupils eligible for pupil premium using a single census point in January to enable it to allocate pupil premium to schools by June. This gives certainty to schools about their pupil premium budget to allow them to plan it’s use effectively.

To make in-year adjustments to reflect the movement of pupils would introduce uncertainty. The EVER6 FSM measure is designed as a proxy measure to reflect relative deprivation in schools and is not intended to allocate a specific amount to an individual pupil. Schools have the ability to use their pupil premium allocation flexibly to meet the various needs of all eligible pupils. The funding model does take into account growing pupil numbers for schools that are newly opened or are continuing to grow by year group following opening. The department rarely receives queries from schools on this issue.

The department counts the numbers of pupils eligible for pupil premium using a single census point in January to enable it to allocate pupil premium to schools by June. This gives certainty to schools about their pupil premium budget to allow them to plan it’s use effectively.

To make in-year adjustments to reflect the movement of pupils would introduce uncertainty. The EVER6 FSM measure is designed as a proxy measure to reflect relative deprivation in schools and is not intended to allocate a specific amount to an individual pupil. Schools have the ability to use their pupil premium allocation flexibly to meet the various needs of all eligible pupils. The funding model does take into account growing pupil numbers for schools that are newly opened or are continuing to grow by year group following opening. The department rarely receives queries from schools on this issue.

The pupil premium provides schools with additional funding to raise the attainment of disadvantaged students of all abilities. This complements our work since 2010 to raise standards through reforms to the curriculum, assessment and accountability. The pupil premium, worth almost £2.5 billion this year alone, has so far provided about £11 billion of further funding for schools to improve the outcomes of their disadvantaged pupils.

As well as £1,900 for each pupil who is in care or who has left care through specific routes, schools receive £1,320 for primary-aged pupils and £935 for secondary-aged pupils who are currently or have been registered for free school meals (FSM) at any point in the last six years (‘Ever 6 FSM’). Ever 6 FSM was one of several eligibility options set out in the 2010 public consultation on the pupil premium, and was adopted as the clear public preference. Analysis shows that pupils who have claimed FSM at any point in the past six years often under-achieve in comparison with their peers.

Schools have worked hard to identify eligible pupils who have not registered for FSM. We have published effective practice, including guidance and a model registration form at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/free-school-meals-and-pupil-premium-registration-form that seeks to help schools increase the proportion of eligible pupils that register for FSM; this will in turn lead to an increase in the pupil premium allocation awarded to the school.

A response has been provided to the hon. Member for Liverpool Riverside on this matter on 23 November. The unique identification number was 113589: http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2017-11-16/113589/.

The Institute for Apprenticeships is independent of the department and determines its own processes. The Institute wrote to the hon. Member for Liverpool Riverside directly on 28 November responding to the question regarding the commencement of the Building Services Engineering Technician. A copy of that response has been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

The Institute for Apprenticeships is an independent body with responsibility for the development and approval of apprenticeship standards. I have asked the Institute to write to The hon. Member for Liverpool Riverside directly responding to this question regarding the Building Services Engineering Technician apprenticeships scheme.

A copy of that response will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses when it is available.

The Department commissioned an evaluation of four targeted interventions to increase the supply of maths and physics teachers and upskill existing teachers, which were delivered for the first time to participants in 2015/16.

The full findings from this research were published at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/maths-and-physics-teacher-supply-package.

Recruitment in Science, technology, engineering, and maths subjects has historically been challenging but in 2016/17 (the last year for which we have data) we had the highest number of trainees in science and maths since 2011/12.

We review our recruitment strategies every year and will continue to evaluate options on how best to incentivise recruitment to the profession. Analysis of past recruitment shows that increasing bursaries in subjects that are difficult to recruit to has a positive influence on recruitment performance.

The Government has introduced a new postgraduate master’s degree loan to eligible students for the Academic Year 2016/17. The loan scheme makes £10,000 available to eligible students as a contribution towards the costs of their study and can be used for tuition fees or living costs.

Data provided by the Student Loans Company (SLC) shows that 109 postgraduate students who were offered the new loan have had that offer withdrawn. Regrettably these students were assessed in error as eligible for the loan product, and were then subsequently re-assessed as ineligible.

We expect the majority of the savings to come from departmental underspends in demand-led budgets.

No savings will be made from protected schools funding, and we have no plans to change the allocations for the education of 16 to 19-year-olds in the 2015/16 academic year that were announced in March 2015.

The savings announced by the Chancellor will come from a variety of measures including expected departmental underspends in demand-led budgets, efficiencies and some small budgetary reductions.

The Holocaust remains a compulsory part of the new national curriculum for history which was introduced in September 2014. On 13 January the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that the Government is committed to continuing to fund the Holocaust Educational Trust’s valuable ‘Lessons from Auschwitz’ project in the next Parliament.

To mark the 70^th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, and with the help of the Holocaust Educational Trust, the Department held an event for staff on 15 January for Holocaust Memorial Day. A Holocaust survivor and two of the Holocaust Educational Trust’s young ambassadors gave presentations to staff.

The Holocaust remains a compulsory part of the new national curriculum for history which was introduced in September 2014. On 13 January the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that the Government is committed to continuing to fund the Holocaust Educational Trust’s valuable ‘Lessons from Auschwitz’ project in the next Parliament.

To mark the 70^th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, and with the help of the Holocaust Educational Trust, the Department held an event for staff on 15 January for Holocaust Memorial Day. A Holocaust survivor and two of the Holocaust Educational Trust’s young ambassadors gave presentations to staff.

The responsibility for engaging with parents and staff on improving standards in underperforming academies lies with the sponsor or trust.

The Department for Education will intervene in cases where we are concerned that sponsors are not bringing about rapid, sustained educational improvements.

In the case of the University of Chester Academies Trust (UCAT), which is the sponsor of the University Academy Liverpool (UAL), the Department has already intervened. Officials have been closely monitoring the performance of the sponsor since the publication of examination results in 2013. In April 2014, my noble Friend Lord Nash issued UCAT with a pre-warning notice letter as a result of our overall concerns about the performance of the Trust and our particular concerns about three of its academies, including UAL. The Trust has responded with an action plan to address these issues.

We do not tolerate underperformance. Where an academy is not making urgent sustained progress, we will work closely with the school and sponsor to secure whatever changes are necessary to make improvements. This might include a change of leadership, or a new partnership with a successful strong academy, sponsor or school.

We continue to monitor the situation at UAL closely against its action plan and will not hesitate to intervene further at both school and Trust level if results in 2014 do not improve.

The responsibility for engaging with parents and staff on improving standards in underperforming academies lies with the sponsor or trust.

The Department for Education will intervene in cases where we are concerned that sponsors are not bringing about rapid, sustained educational improvements.

In the case of the University of Chester Academies Trust (UCAT), which is the sponsor of the University Academy Liverpool (UAL), the Department has already intervened. Officials have been closely monitoring the performance of the sponsor since the publication of examination results in 2013. In April 2014, my noble Friend Lord Nash issued UCAT with a pre-warning notice letter as a result of our overall concerns about the performance of the Trust and our particular concerns about three of its academies, including UAL. The Trust has responded with an action plan to address these issues.

We do not tolerate underperformance. Where an academy is not making urgent sustained progress, we will work closely with the school and sponsor to secure whatever changes are necessary to make improvements. This might include a change of leadership, or a new partnership with a successful strong academy, sponsor or school.

We continue to monitor the situation at UAL closely against its action plan and will not hesitate to intervene further at both school and Trust level if results in 2014 do not improve.

EU students make a powerful contribution to our world-class higher education sector. The government wants that contribution to continue and we are confident – given the quality of our higher education sector – that it will. We are similarly committed to the English language teaching sector and recognise the opportunities and value this brings to institutions in both the UK and abroad.

The government is undertaking a comprehensive and wide-ranging programme of ongoing analysis in support of our EU exit negotiations and preparations. In addition, the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) recently published its report on the impact of international students in the UK, which highlighted the important part that international students play in the UK education sector, the economy and our society. The MAC report will inform our decision-making and we will consider their recommendations carefully before setting out further detail on the UK’s future immigration system; the government plan to publish a white paper on the future immigration system later this year.

In the meantime, to help provide certainty for prospective students and the sector, we have given assurances on student finance for EU students starting courses in 2019/20 academic year or before. We have also reached an agreement with the EU guaranteeing the rights of EU citizens living in the UK and of UK nationals living in the EU. EU citizens living in the UK by 31 December 2020, along with their family members, will be able to stay with the same access to work, study, benefits and public services that they enjoy now.