Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department plans to take to increase the number of school places in areas where there exists a shortage.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places sits with local authorities. The department collects pupil forecasts and school capacity data from local authorities annually through the School Capacity survey. The department provides capital funding through the Basic Need grant to support local authorities to provide school places, based on the data they provide.
Nearly £1.5 billion of allocations have already been confirmed to support local authorities to create school places needed over the next three academic years, up to and including the 2026/27 academic year. This represents £745 million for September 2024, £195 million for September 2025 and over £520 million for September 2026.
The department also engages with local authorities on a regular basis to review their plans for creating additional places and to consider alternatives where necessary. When local authorities are experiencing difficulties, the department supports them to find solutions as quickly as possible. Published guidance makes clear the expectation that schools, academy trusts, dioceses, parents and other civic partners work collaboratively with local authorities to support them in the delivery of their place planning responsibilities. This government is reviewing this further to ensure it meets the needs of local areas.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the number school places in Liverpool.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Data on state-funded school places is published at local authority level in the annual school capacity statistics publication. The latest data available shows that, as at 1 May 2023, there were 75,150 state-funded school places, (39,570 primary and 35,580 secondary), in Liverpool. The annual school capacity statistics publication can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-capacity.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department plans to take to help ensure Kings Leadership Academy in Liverpool is ready to accept pupils from September 2025.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
To open a free school, the department must be satisfied that the site is suitable and deliverable. The department has acquired the site for the school. However, there are a number of planning conditions that the department needs to satisfy before the school opens. The department is working closely with the Local Planning Authority, Liverpool City Council and the Great Schools Trust to address the planning requirements for the school.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many service sector apprenticeships were available in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department is increasing investment in the apprenticeships system in England to £2.7 billion by the 2024/25 financial year to support employers of all sizes and in all sectors, including the service sector, to benefit from the high-quality training that apprenticeships offer.
The department has removed the limit to the number of apprentices that small and medium sized enterprises can take on and have cut by a third the number of steps needed to register to take on an apprentice.
The department continues to promote apprenticeships in schools and colleges through the Apprenticeships Support and Knowledge Programme, supported by £3.2 million of investment each year. The Career Starter Apprenticeships campaign is also promoting apprenticeships at Levels 2 and 3, including Level 2 Hospitality Team Member, which offer great opportunities for those leaving full-time education. In addition, students can now see apprenticeship vacancies on their University and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) hub and later this year they will be able to apply for apprenticeships on UCAS.
Apprenticeship starts by sector are published as part of the department’s apprenticeship statistics releases. The statistics released also show the number of apprenticeship vacancies published on the department’s Find an Apprenticeship service. These statistics are accessible at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships#explore-data-and-files.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support service sector apprenticeships.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department is increasing investment in the apprenticeships system in England to £2.7 billion by the 2024/25 financial year to support employers of all sizes and in all sectors, including the service sector, to benefit from the high-quality training that apprenticeships offer.
The department has removed the limit to the number of apprentices that small and medium sized enterprises can take on and have cut by a third the number of steps needed to register to take on an apprentice.
The department continues to promote apprenticeships in schools and colleges through the Apprenticeships Support and Knowledge Programme, supported by £3.2 million of investment each year. The Career Starter Apprenticeships campaign is also promoting apprenticeships at Levels 2 and 3, including Level 2 Hospitality Team Member, which offer great opportunities for those leaving full-time education. In addition, students can now see apprenticeship vacancies on their University and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) hub and later this year they will be able to apply for apprenticeships on UCAS.
Apprenticeship starts by sector are published as part of the department’s apprenticeship statistics releases. The statistics released also show the number of apprenticeship vacancies published on the department’s Find an Apprenticeship service. These statistics are accessible at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships#explore-data-and-files.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing (a) financial grants, (b) interest free and (c) lower interest loans to students in the context of rises in the cost of living.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The government recognises the cost of living pressures that are impacting students. The department has made £276 million of student premium and mental health funding available for the 2023/24 academic year to support students who need additional help to succeed, including disadvantaged students.
We have continued to increase maximum loans and grants for living and other costs each year, with a 2.3% increase for the 2022/23 academic year, and a further 2.8% increase for 2023/24. In addition, students eligible for benefits, such as those who are responsible for a child, qualify for higher rates of loans to help them with their living costs at university.
Students who have been awarded a loan for living costs for the 2022/23 academic year that is lower than the maximum, and whose household income for the 2022/23 tax year has dropped by at least 15% compared to the income provided for their original assessment, have been able to apply for their entitlement to be reassessed.
The government has no plans to reintroduce maintenance grants, as it believes that income-contingent student loans are a fair and sensible way of financing higher education. In 2022, we had record numbers of 18-year-olds going to university, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds. An English 18-year-old from a disadvantaged background today is 86% more likely to go to university than in 2010.
The student funding system must provide value for money for all at a time of rising costs. It is important that a sustainable student finance system is in place, that is fair to both students and taxpayers. Interest is an important part of this. If interest payments were removed altogether, it would increase the burden to taxpayers, not all of whom will attend university. The government does not plan to further reduce interest rates on student loans. In 2022/23, student loan interest reduced public sector net debt by around £4.8 billion according to published data from the Spring 2023 Office for Budget Responsibility Economic Outlook.
Student loans are different to commercial personal loans. Monthly student loan repayments are calculated by income rather than by interest rates or the amount borrowed. No borrower will be repaying more per month as a result of changes to interest rates. Borrowers are protected. If income is below the relevant repayment threshold, or a borrower is not earning, repayments stop. Any outstanding loan balance, including interest accrued, is written off after the loan term ends, or in case of death or disability, at no detriment to the borrower. Student loans are subsidised by the taxpayer, and the government does not make a profit from the loan scheme.
To further protect borrowers, where the government considers that the student loan interest rate is too high in comparison to the prevailing market rate, it will reduce the maximum Plan 2, Plan 3 and Plan 5 interest rate by applying a cap.
New students who start courses on or after 1 August 2023 will receive their loans on new Plan 5 terms. Students with Plan 5 loans will benefit from a reduction in the interest rate to Retail Price Index only. This change ensures that borrowers on the new Plan 5 terms will not repay more than they originally borrowed over the lifetime of their loans, when adjusted for inflation.
Decisions on student finance have had to be taken alongside other spending priorities to ensure the system remains financially sustainable and the costs of higher education are shared fairly between students and taxpayers, not all of whom have benefited from going to university.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what additional support her Department is providing in the educational setting to children and young people housed in temporary accommodation.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The department’s guidance on school attendance sets out clear expectations of schools, trusts and local authorities in relation to improving school attendance. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance. This guidance recognises that issues with housing (such as being in temporary accommodation) can impact on children’s ability to attend school regularly, and highlights the importance of effective multi-disciplinary support for the family to address attendance problems where that is the case.
The government provides a range of help to schools to support disadvantaged pupils, which may include those in temporary accommodation. The Pupil Premium, rising to around £2.9 billion next financial year, is supporting schools to improve outcomes for disadvantaged pupils. School leaders use this extra funding to tailor support, based on the needs of their disadvantaged pupils, and to invest in proven practices that improve outcomes. Currently 1.9 million of the most disadvantaged children are eligible for and claiming a free nutritious meal. In addition, the government is committed to continuing support for school breakfasts. In November 2022, the department extended the National School Breakfast Programme for an additional year until the end of the summer term in 2024.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department issues guidance to school leadership teams on supporting children housed in temporary accommodation.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The department’s guidance on school attendance sets out clear expectations of schools, trusts and local authorities in relation to improving school attendance. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance. This guidance recognises that issues with housing (such as being in temporary accommodation) can impact on children’s ability to attend school regularly, and highlights the importance of effective multi-disciplinary support for the family to address attendance problems where that is the case.
The government provides a range of help to schools to support disadvantaged pupils, which may include those in temporary accommodation. The Pupil Premium, rising to around £2.9 billion next financial year, is supporting schools to improve outcomes for disadvantaged pupils. School leaders use this extra funding to tailor support, based on the needs of their disadvantaged pupils, and to invest in proven practices that improve outcomes. Currently 1.9 million of the most disadvantaged children are eligible for and claiming a free nutritious meal. In addition, the government is committed to continuing support for school breakfasts. In November 2022, the department extended the National School Breakfast Programme for an additional year until the end of the summer term in 2024.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps her Department has taken to provide funding for mental health services for children in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
While it is not for schools to provide clinical mental health services and teachers should not be expected to diagnose or treat mental health, schools are best placed to decide what pastoral support to put in place to support their pupils.
To help schools to make informed decisions on what support to provide, the department is funding all schools and colleges in England to train senior mental health leads who can put in place effective whole school approaches to mental health and wellbeing. This includes how to ensure they are including robust processes for identifying students or specific groups who need additional mental health support. Two thirds of schools and colleges will have been able to access funding by April 2023, backed by a £10 million investment for the 2022/23 financial year. The department is also providing over £1 billion Recovery Premium funding for schools for the 2021/22 and 2023/24 academic years which, on top of pupil premium, can be used to support pupil mental health and wellbeing, including providing counselling services.
The department is working with the Department for Health and Social Care and NHS England to increase the number of Mental Health Support Teams working in schools and colleges. These teams offer support to children and young people experiencing common mental health issues and facilitate smoother access to external specialist support. As of Spring 2022, there are 287 Mental Health Support Teams covering 26% of pupils in schools and learners in further education. More teams are on the way, with over 500 planned to be up and running by 2024.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of child mental health provision in (a) primary and (b) secondary school settings.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
I refer the hon. Member for Liverpool Wavertree to the answer I gave on 25 January 2023 to Question 126752.