Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what consultation has been conducted with colleges and providers on her Department's proposals to withdraw funding for Access to Higher Education diplomas.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Access to higher education (HE) diplomas remain an important pathway to support adults to go into HE.
These qualifications are designed for those over 19 years old. We are not removing funding for students aged 19 or over, who remain funded through Advanced Learner Loans (ALLs). Students who take out an ALL for an Access to HE diploma will have the outstanding balance written off if they complete an eligible HE course, such as an undergraduate degree.
Following the completion of our post-16 pathways qualification reforms, students aged 16 to 19 will have a clear choice between A Levels, V Levels and T Levels at level 3. The department is working in close partnership with the sector to support the development and implementation of the reforms and will continue to engage widely with providers, representative bodies and employers to share learning, respond to feedback and refine delivery over time.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason she proposes to withdraw funding for Access to HE Diplomas; and what assessment has been made of the potential impact on levels of participation in further education.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Access to HE Diplomas remain an important pathway to support adults to go into higher education. That is why we are retaining funding for students aged 19+ through Advanced Learner Loans (ALLs). Students who take out an ALL for an Access to HE Diploma will have the outstanding balance written off if they complete an eligible higher education course, such as an undergraduate degree.
Following the completion of our post-16 pathways qualification reforms, students after 16 will have a clear choice between A Levels, V Levels and T Levels at level 3. The equalities impact assessment published alongside the government response to the Post-16 Level 3 and below pathways consultation sets out our analysis of impacts for students aged 16 to 19 with protected characteristics, and anticipates positive impacts for students from clearer choices and progression routes.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of flu on pupils’ attendance over winter 2022-23.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Regular school attendance is important for pupils’ educational progress, their wellbeing, and their wider development.
As this is the first winter without pandemic restrictions in two years, pupils and adults may be more susceptible to the usual winter bugs and viruses this year. December saw high levels of illness in pupils and young people including flu, scarlet fever, group A streptococcus and COVID-19 that will have contributed to high levels of absence. In previous years, there has been more seasonal spread of these infections. For example, group A streptococcus usually peaks in March. More recently there have been reductions in the incidence of these infections, but it cannot yet be predicted if there will be further resurgences.
During the week commencing 12 December, the weekly illness absence rate was at its highest level since the start of 2022 autumn term. The illness absence rate was 9.1%, which was up from 7.5% in the previous week and 2.6% at the start of term. In the latest data between 6 to 10 February 2023, the total weekly illness absence rate was 3.9%.
In the 2022 autumn term, all primary school aged pupils in England were offered a flu vaccination by the NHS school-aged immunisation service to manage the spread of some winter illnesses, such as flu. The Department has also provided over 8,000 air cleaning units to schools that identified poorly ventilated spaces. These devices filter airborne respiratory aerosols from the air. The Department hopes this will have a positive impact on sickness absence going forward.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when he will set a budget for the next phase of the Uni Connect scheme; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
The Uni Connect outreach programme operated by the Office for Student (OfS) has, since its inception in 2017, established 29 regional partnerships of universities, colleges, employers and other local partners, to provide sustained outreach to young people in schools and colleges in areas with low or unexplained gaps in higher education (HE) participation. The programme has been successful in addressing cold spots in outreach and enabling engagement from schools and colleges. Funding this programme has embedded a collaborative approach to widening access and enabled local partners to galvanise action around HE outreach to complement the funding already spent by Higher Education Providers on outreach as part of their Access and Participation Plans.
The initial investment in the Uni Connect programme to establish a collaborative model and set up a regional infrastructure comes to an end in July 2021, and so this is an appropriate time to consider the scope and objectives of the programme, including funding other areas of increasing importance for students and prospective students.
The OfS is currently consulting on the future of the programme. Whilst it has not undertaken individual discussions with Shaping Futures regarding the next phase of funding for Uni Connect, programme-wide updates have been provided to partnerships at regular meetings with the Programme Leads and Chairs.
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, writes annually to the OfS, setting out the available teaching grant funding, and will issue the letter for 2021/2022 in due course.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will publish a Letter of Strategic Direction to the Office for Students in respect of the next phase of the Uni Connect programme; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
The Uni Connect outreach programme operated by the Office for Student (OfS) has, since its inception in 2017, established 29 regional partnerships of universities, colleges, employers and other local partners, to provide sustained outreach to young people in schools and colleges in areas with low or unexplained gaps in higher education (HE) participation. The programme has been successful in addressing cold spots in outreach and enabling engagement from schools and colleges. Funding this programme has embedded a collaborative approach to widening access and enabled local partners to galvanise action around HE outreach to complement the funding already spent by Higher Education Providers on outreach as part of their Access and Participation Plans.
The initial investment in the Uni Connect programme to establish a collaborative model and set up a regional infrastructure comes to an end in July 2021, and so this is an appropriate time to consider the scope and objectives of the programme, including funding other areas of increasing importance for students and prospective students.
The OfS is currently consulting on the future of the programme. Whilst it has not undertaken individual discussions with Shaping Futures regarding the next phase of funding for Uni Connect, programme-wide updates have been provided to partnerships at regular meetings with the Programme Leads and Chairs.
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, writes annually to the OfS, setting out the available teaching grant funding, and will issue the letter for 2021/2022 in due course.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions the Office for Students has had with Shaping Futures, the Liverpool City Region arm of the Uni-Connect programme, on what budget it can expect to have for the next phase of the programme from August 2021.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
The Uni Connect outreach programme operated by the Office for Student (OfS) has, since its inception in 2017, established 29 regional partnerships of universities, colleges, employers and other local partners, to provide sustained outreach to young people in schools and colleges in areas with low or unexplained gaps in higher education (HE) participation. The programme has been successful in addressing cold spots in outreach and enabling engagement from schools and colleges. Funding this programme has embedded a collaborative approach to widening access and enabled local partners to galvanise action around HE outreach to complement the funding already spent by Higher Education Providers on outreach as part of their Access and Participation Plans.
The initial investment in the Uni Connect programme to establish a collaborative model and set up a regional infrastructure comes to an end in July 2021, and so this is an appropriate time to consider the scope and objectives of the programme, including funding other areas of increasing importance for students and prospective students.
The OfS is currently consulting on the future of the programme. Whilst it has not undertaken individual discussions with Shaping Futures regarding the next phase of funding for Uni Connect, programme-wide updates have been provided to partnerships at regular meetings with the Programme Leads and Chairs.
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, writes annually to the OfS, setting out the available teaching grant funding, and will issue the letter for 2021/2022 in due course.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether schools in Garston and Halewood constituency can order additional digital devices during the January 2021 covid-19 lockdown period.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government is investing over £400 million to support access to remote education and online social care services, including securing 1.3 million laptops and tablets for disadvantaged children and young people. This includes over 750,000 laptops and tablets that have already been delivered to schools, trusts and local authorities by the end of last week.
Figures on the number of devices delivered is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/laptops-tablets-and-4g-wireless-routers-progress-data. These figures are broken down by local authority and academy trust, depending on which organisation ordered devices. Information on delivery by constituency is not available.
We announced on 12 January 2021 that we are purchasing 300,000 more laptops and tablets, bringing the total to 1.3 million. The Get Help with Technology scheme will email all schools with information on the number of additional devices allocated to them, and when they will be able to order. Devices will be available from early February 2021.
We have also partnered with the UK’s leading mobile operators to provide free data to help disadvantaged children get online as well as delivering 4G wireless routers for pupils without connection at home.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many G4 routers have been supplied to schools in Garson and Halewood constituency to help families who do not have affordable broadband or data to access online learning during the January 2021 covid-19 lockdown.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government is investing over £400 million to support access to remote education and online social care services, including securing 1.3 million laptops and tablets for disadvantaged children and young people. Over 750,000 laptops and tablets had been delivered to schools, academy trusts and local authorities by the end of last week, nearly 140,000 of which had been delivered this month.
We have also provided over 54,000 4G wireless routers, with free data for the academic year so that children have access to remote education. Routers have been distributed to schools, academy trusts and local authorities, who are responsible for allocating them to the families that need them most. For this reason, figures on the number of routers provided at constituency level is not available.
The Department has also partnered with some of the UK’s leading mobile network operators to provide free data to disadvantaged families, which will support access to education resources, including Oak National Academy, and other websites.
Families will benefit from this additional data until July 2021. Schools are able to request free mobile data uplifts via the Get Help with Technology service.
A number of mobile network providers are also progressing the zero-rating of educational resources, such as Oak Academy and BBC Bitesize.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on the ability of school pupils to prepare for examinations in 2021.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Our priority is that there is a consistent approach to what is taught and will be assessed across schools. We know schools will be making every effort, including in areas where there is a high prevalence of COVID-19, to deliver high quality teaching, including through remote education. All schools are expected to plan to ensure any pupils educated at home for some of the time are given the support they need to master the curriculum and make good progress.
The changes to assessments in certain subjects that were announced by Ofqual in the summer, alongside the later starting date for exams in summer 2021, will give schools and colleges extra time to plan teaching and pupils extra time to study. Combined with our £1 billion catch-up package, including a 'Catch-Up Premium' worth a total of £650 million, these changes give young people the best chance of being ready for their exams without undermining the value of the qualifications they receive.
The Department is working with Ofqual and engaging widely with the education sector to identify any risks to examinations at a national, local, and individual student level, and to consider measures needed to address any potential disruption. This could be a student unable to sit examinations due to illness or self-isolation, or schools affected by a local COVID-19 outbreak during the examination season resulting in examination centres not being able to open. More details will be published later in the autumn.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the ability of schools to prepare for Ofsted inspections in 2021; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The COVID-19 outbreak has had a profound impact on schools across the country. The Department acknowledges the continued hard work of all school staff in ensuring that pupils receive a high quality education that enables them to thrive and progress whilst putting in place proportionate protective measures for children and staff.
It is important for school inspections to start up again in the new year, but at the right time and in the right way. The Department is working with schools and Ofsted to decide the best way to achieve this in a sensitive and gradual way.
The Department and Ofsted are clear that schools are not expected to prepare for Ofsted inspections.