Asked by: Luke Myer (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department is taking steps to increase funding for (a) vocational education and (b) apprenticeships for young people in Teesside.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is investing over £7.5 billion in 16 to 19 funding during the 2024/25 academic year, and announced an additional £100 million investment in 16 to 19 education in the 2025/26 financial year on top of the £300 million announced at the Autumn Budget 2024. This £400 million spend will ensure enough funding is available given the very significant increase in student numbers and other pressures on the system and 16 to 19-year-olds in Teesside will benefit from this.
The department will provide approximately £1.4 billion in funding for the adult skills fund (ASF) in the 2025/26 academic year and will have devolved 68% of the ASF to mayoral strategic authorities. These authorities, including Tees Valley Combined Authority which covers Teesside, have autonomy in deciding how to use their funding to make decisions that are best for their areas.
This government also wants to support more young people to benefit from apprenticeship training. Future spending will be subject to the outcome of the spending review.
As part of the new Growth and Skills offer, the department is introducing foundation apprenticeships to provide young people with clear progression pathways into further work-based training and employment. Construction will be one of the key sectors that will benefit from this new offer, launching in August 2025, and employers will be provided with £2,000 for every foundation apprentice they take on and retain in construction.
Asked by: Luke Myer (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking with local businesses to ensure that (a) schools and (b) colleges in the north of England have adequate resources to provide effective lifelong learning opportunities.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government recognises the value of lifelong learning and creating opportunities for individuals across their working lives. That is why the department has committed to introducing the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE), a transformation to the existing higher education student finance system. The LLE will launch in the 2026/27 academic year for learners studying courses starting on or after 1 January 2027.
Under the LLE, new learners will be able to access a full entitlement equal to four years of full-time tuition. This is currently equal to £38,140 based on the 2025/26 academic year fee rates.
Learners will be able to use this new entitlement more flexibly than ever before to fund individual modules as well as full courses at levels 4 to 6, regardless of whether they are provided in colleges, universities or independent providers.
Working closely with local and national employers to fully understand their needs is a key part of the successful delivery of the department’s ambition for the LLE. This is demonstrated through our existing piloting activity, the Modular acceleration programme, which is a two-year programme designed to accelerate the supply and delivery of individual modules of Higher Technical Qualifications. Through this programme, successful providers in the North West and Yorkshire and the Humber, seven colleges in the combined regions in this case, received funding to enable demand raising which included engagement with local employers.
Schools will also play a key part in the successful delivery of the LLE by communicating key messages about the programme to leaders, career-guidance practitioners, learners and their parents. This will be key in ensuring learners are well informed about the new flexibilities offered by the LLE.
In addition, local skills improvement plans, led by a designated employer representative body, are bringing together employers and providers across England to set out a clear articulation of employers’ skills needs and the priority changes required in the local area.
Asked by: Luke Myer (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to ensure that teaching on the climate emergency is given greater priority in the revised national curriculum; and whether existing guidance that encourages teaching of the positive impacts of climate change will be reviewed.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, covering ages 5 to 18, chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE.
The Review’s interim report sets out that rapid social, environmental and technological change necessitates that the curriculum keep pace, including a greater focus on sustainability and climate science. The report can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/curriculum-and-assessment-review-interim-report. New opportunities and challenges, including those relating to climate change, will require particular knowledge and skills to address. The Review is considering whether there is sufficient coverage of these within subjects, and how content can remain relevant and support young people to thrive in a fast-changing world. This could involve further embedding various knowledge and skills across different parts of the curriculum. The Review is looking at all subjects, including subjects that currently contain content on climate science and sustainability, such as science, geography and citizenship.
The Review’s final report and recommendations will be published in autumn with the government’s response.
Asked by: Luke Myer (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support kinship carers in (a) financial and (b) other ways.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland to the answer of 25 February 2025 to Question 31239.