Asked by: Naz Shah (Labour - Bradford West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 10 May 2023 to Question 182611 on Teachers: Qualifications, if she will take steps to make the Education Accreditation Scheme available to online education providers for adult learners.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The Online Education Accreditation Scheme (OEAS) was launched by the department in April 2023. The objective of the scheme is to bring regulatory oversight to an unregulated part of the education sector. The scheme is not designed to cover all forms of online education but to focus where the need for quality assurance is most pronounced, which is to pupils of compulsory school age. The OEAS is only open to applications from those providers offering full-time education online to pupils of compulsory school age. The government has no plans to expand the scheme to online education providers for adults.
Asked by: Naz Shah (Labour - Bradford West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to introduce an alternative student finance product for Muslim students.
Answered by Robert Halfon
I refer the hon. Member for Bradford West to the answer of 24 March 2023 to Question 167263.
Asked by: Naz Shah (Labour - Bradford West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that teaching provided by distance and online remote learning education providers meet the required teaching standards.
Answered by Nick Gibb
On 20 March 2023, the Department launched the Online Education Accreditation Scheme (OEAS). This scheme provides for the voluntary accreditation of full-time, online-only education providers. The OEAS is non-statutory, but the Department’s aim is that commissioners of full-time online education for school-age pupils in England should use accredited providers for new places wherever possible.
As a condition of accreditation under the OEAS, applicants must consistently meet the Online Education Standards. These standards are modelled on the Independent School Standards, which ensure the safety and suitability of education provided in registered independent schools.
Asked by: Naz Shah (Labour - Bradford West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has plans to require (a) distance, (b) remote learning and (c) online education providers to make information on the qualifications of their teachers and tutors publicly available.
Answered by Nick Gibb
On 20 March 2023, the Department launched the Online Education Accreditation Scheme (OEAS). This scheme provides for the voluntary accreditation of full-time, online-only education providers. The OEAS is non-statutory, but the Department’s aim is that commissioners of full-time online education for school-age pupils in England should use accredited providers for new places wherever possible.
As a condition of accreditation under the OEAS, applicants must consistently meet the Online Education Standards. These standards are modelled on the Independent School Standards, which ensure the safety and suitability of education provided in registered independent schools.
Asked by: Naz Shah (Labour - Bradford West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to release advance information on GCSE and A Level Exams in 2023.
Answered by Nick Gibb
On 29 September, the Department and Ofqual confirmed examinations will largely return to well-established, pre-pandemic arrangements in summer 2023.
The Department confirmed that advance information will not be provided for any examinations taken in summer 2023. The Department has, however, decided that formulae and equation sheets for GCSE mathematics, physics and combined sciences examinations should be provided in summer 2023, as was the case for examinations in 2022. Ofqual has also confirmed a return to pre-pandemic grading in 2023. To protect pupils against the disruption of recent years, and in case pupils’ performance is slightly lower than before the COVID-19 pandemic, senior examiners will use the grades achieved by previous cohorts of pupils, along with prior attainment data, to inform their decisions regarding where to set grade boundaries.
These decisions reflect that while the 2023 cohort may have experienced some disruption due to the pandemic over the course of their qualifications, it has not been as significant as that experienced by pupils who received qualifications in 2022. Pupils will, for example, have had more time to cover the curriculum, practise assessments and use education recovery programmes and interventions.
Asked by: Naz Shah (Labour - Bradford West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to help ensure that school staff are adequately equipped to support the mental health of Afghan refugee children.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
This financial year, the government is offering 7,800 schools and colleges in England grants to train a senior mental health lead in their setting. The training will equip senior mental health leads with the knowledge and skills to implement effective processes for identifying students, or specific groups, who need additional mental health support. Furthermore, we have provided additional funding to accelerate the roll out of Mental Health Support Teams linked to schools and colleges, who provide early intervention on mild to moderate mental health issues, to cover approximately 35% of pupils in England by 2023.
For those who need immediate access to specialist support or help, all NHS Mental Health Trusts are providing 24/7 support. Furthermore, to help parents and carers, front line workers and volunteers support children and young people in emergency or crisis situations, the UK Health Security Agency, formally Public Health England, has developed a psychological first aid e-learning training package. The training aims to support those working directly with children and young people to help them access appropriate support needed during and after crisis situations: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/psychological-first-aid-for-children-and-young-people.
Asked by: Naz Shah (Labour - Bradford West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average income is of families with at least one parent in work who are (a) eligible and (b) ineligible for the 30-hour early education entitlement for three and four year olds.
Answered by Will Quince
All three and four-year-olds are eligible for 15 hours free early education, regardless of parental income or working status. An additional 15 hours is available to parents who are working at least 16 hours a week at national minimum wage or living wage, but earn under £100,000 per year. This applies to single-parent households as well as both parents in a two-parent household, unless one partner is in receipt of certain benefits (Incapacity Benefit, Severe Disablement Allowance, Carer’s Allowance or contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance).
The department holds some data on parental income levels from the 2019 Childcare and Early Years Survey of Parents, but not the relevant data to be able to assess against eligibility for the 30 hours entitlements. We are currently collecting our next set of data through the 2021 Childcare and Early Years Survey of Parents, scheduled for release in July 2022.
Asked by: Naz Shah (Labour - Bradford West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has made an estimate of the number of families who are in work but unable to access the 30-hour early education entitlement for three and four year-olds.
Answered by Will Quince
All three and four-year-olds are eligible for 15 hours of free early education, regardless of parental income or working status.
Families are entitled to 30 hours free childcare if the sole parent in a single parent family, or both parents in a two-parent household, are working at least 16 hours a week at national minimum wage or living wage, but earns under £100,000 per year. Approximately 72% of eligible families were registered to take up a 30 hours free childcare place in January 2021.
The number of children eligible for 30 hours changes each year due to changing cohort size and parental employment changes. An estimated 460,000 children may have been eligible in January 2021, although this estimate does not account for the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on parental employment.
In 2019, the childcare and early years survey of parents found that of those not taking up the 30 hour entitlement offer, 52% gave reasons relating to eligibility, such as being unable to meet the income thresholds by either working too little or earning above £100,000 per year. The remaining 48% gave reasons unrelated to eligibility, mostly relating to not requiring the free childcare. However, 7% of parents surveyed said their provider did not offer the 30 hours of free childcare. Further statistics from the survey can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-and-early-years-survey-of-parents-2019.
Asked by: Naz Shah (Labour - Bradford West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Workforce Development Fund will be extended to (a) maintained nurseries and (b) early year settings.
Answered by Will Quince
The Workforce Development Fund is funding from the Department of Health and Social Care to support the continuing professional development (CPD) of staff across the adult social care sector. There are no plans to extend it to maintained nursery schools or early years settings.
Separately, the Department for Education is investing up to £180 million to build a stronger, more expert workforce in the early years sector, where we know that the COVID-19 outbreak has exacerbated the outcomes gap and set back children’s learning and development, particularly in language and maths, hitting those from disadvantaged backgrounds the hardest. This funding comprises the Early Years Education Recovery Programme, the Nuffield Early Language Programme and a further investment in the Professional Development Programme.
These initiatives complement our reforms to the Early Years Foundation Stage to accelerate and embed real change for young children, which is more important than ever in light of the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. This recovery package aims to target disadvantaged areas and will largely be available to maintained nursery schools and childminders.
Asked by: Naz Shah (Labour - Bradford West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to consult teachers and schools before further changes are made to the school year.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government recognises the COVID-19 outbreak and associated education restrictions have had an impact on children and young people’s education.
The Government has appointed Sir Kevan Collins as Education Recovery Commissioner to oversee the long-term plan. Sir Kevan will engage with parents, pupils and teachers to develop this proposal and review how evidence-based interventions can be used to address the impact the COVID-19 outbreak has had on education. We are considering all options to address lost education to ensure the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak is addressed as comprehensively as possible.
Term dates for the current and next academic year have already been set and published by local authorities, governing bodies, and academy trusts, but schools are free to offer summer activities to pupils should they so wish. We are making £200 million available to secondary schools to fund a short summer school, offering a blend of academic teaching and enrichment activities. We are recommending a focus on incoming Year 7 pupils, but schools are free to target those most in need of support.