Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to prepare young people to participate in the knowledge economy.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
We agree that the Knowledge Economy is important, and we are making key reforms across education which will give young people the opportunities to gain the education, skills and knowledge they will need in the Knowledge Economy.
In 2016 the government published a white paper, ‘Success as a Knowledge Economy’, which set out our proposals to help support the UK succeed as a knowledge economy. This can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-success-as-a-knowledge-economy-white-paper.
Following this white paper, we introduced the Teaching Excellence Framework, which aims to assess, recognise and reward high quality teaching in higher education. Its purpose is to drive up the standard of teaching, give students clear information about where teaching quality is best and information about where students have achieved the best outcomes.
Through the Higher Education Research Act (2017), the Office for Students, a new regulator for the higher education sector was established. Its focus is to ensure that any student with the ability to benefit from higher education is supported in doing so, and that they have a positive experience and receive worthwhile outcomes.
Building on the apprenticeship programme, which provides employment and high quality training in a range of professions, we have also established degree apprenticeships. They sit alongside the higher education academic offer and provide another route for people to gain the knowledge and skills that they need.
We are also making key reforms to technical education by introducing T levels which will provide high quality, technical qualifications to rival traditional academic options. We are addressing technical needs at level 4 and 5, looking at how classroom-based education - particularly technical education - meets the needs of learners and employers. In addition, we have announced our intention to establish a system of employer-led national standards for higher technical education.
In schools we have overhauled a curriculum that was denying pupils the core academic knowledge, reformed the examination system, are actively encouraging take-up of science, technology, engineering and maths subjects, improving the quality of the schools teaching profession and raising standards.
These polices help provide young people with a wide range of opportunities to gain the education, skills and knowledge they need to be successful in their chosen path.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of young people that attended further education colleges went on to attend a Russell Group university in each of the last nine years.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The table below shows the percentages of young people attending further education colleges (including sixth form colleges) that went on to sustained destinations at Russell Group Universities after 16 to 18 study (taking A level or other level 3 qualifications) in academic years 2010/11 to 2016/17 (the last 7 years for which data is available).
Destination year | Number of pupils | Any education or employment destination | Russell Group destinations |
2010/11 | 178,680 | 84% | 5% |
2011/12 | 170,910 | 85% | 6% |
2012/13 | 176,390 | 85% | 6% |
2013/14 | 186,330 | 87% | 6% |
2014/15 | 189,210 | 86% | 6% |
2015/16 | 183,265 | 88% | 7% |
2016/17 | 180,330 | 87% | 7% |
Information on pupil destinations is published annually at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/destinations-of-ks4-and-ks5-pupils-2017.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of young people that attended school-based sixth forms went on to attend Russell Group universities in each of the last nine years.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The table below shows the percentages of young people attending state-funded mainstream school sixth forms that went on to sustained destinations at Russell Group Universities after 16 to 18 study (taking A level or other level 3 qualifications) in academic years 2010/11 to 2016/17 (the last 7 years for which data is available).
Destination Year | Number of Pupils | Overall Destinations | Russell Group Destinations |
2010/11 | 162,520 | 89% | 12% |
2011/12 | 164,580 | 91% | 15% |
2012/13 | 169,395 | 90% | 15% |
2013/14 | 172,635 | 91% | 17% |
2014/15 | 173,720 | 90% | 17% |
2015/16 | 182,880 | 91% | 17% |
2016/17 | 191,925 | 90% | 17% |
Information on pupil destinations is published annually at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/destinations-of-ks4-and-ks5-pupils-2017.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people in post-16 education are currently working towards (a) level two, (b) level three, (c) level four and (d) level five qualifications.
Answered by Anne Milton
The attached table shows the official participation estimates and highest qualification aims for 16 to 18 year olds in full and part-time education in England for the latest 5 years.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information his Department holds on the proportion of students granted a place at (a) Russell Group, (b) University Alliance, (c) Million Plus and (d) Guild HE universities having obtained three D grades or lower at A-level in each of the last three years.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) publish data on the number of English 18 year-olds accepted into full-time higher education (HE) by A level points score.
The table below shows the number of 18 year-olds in England who held at least three A levels and were accepted into HE with A level points equivalent to DDD or below:
Year | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
Acceptances | 6,605 | 7,095 | 7,505 |
These figures are not published at an institution level.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information his Department holds on the number of students who have been granted a university place after obtaining three D grades or lower at A-level in each of the last three years.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) publish data on the number of English 18 year-olds accepted into full-time higher education (HE) by A level points score.
The table below shows the number of 18 year-olds in England who held at least three A levels and were accepted into HE with A level points equivalent to DDD or below:
Year | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
Acceptances | 6,605 | 7,095 | 7,505 |
These figures are not published at an institution level.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of students study (a) law, (b) medicine, (c) engineering, (d) social sciences at university after obtaining 3 D's or lower at A-level.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The Higher Education Statistics Agency publishes data on the number of entrants to full-time first degree courses by subject and qualifications held on entry in Table WP2 of the ‘Widening participation: UK Performance Indicators 2016/17’, which is published at the following link: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/news/01-02-2018/widening-participation-tables.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what additional financial support his Department makes available to (a) primary and (b) secondary schools with high numbers of SEND children.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Local authorities are required to provide schools with sufficient funds to enable them to provide additional support up to the value of £6,000 for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). This is provided through the local school formula. When the costs of supporting an individual pupil are more than £6,000 per year, the local authority provides top-up funding from its high needs budget. It is for the local authority to determine what level of top-up funding is required for each pupil.
In addition, local authorities have the discretion to give schools additional funding from the high needs budget, for example to support schools which are particularly inclusive of pupils with SEND. Authorities in England are planning to provide £41 million to primary schools and £16 million to secondary schools in such funding, in addition to the funding provided through their local formula and through top-ups.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding his Department has allocated to Southampton City Council to support children with SEND needs in each of the last eight years.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Local authorities are legally required to provide schools with sufficient funds to enable schools to meet the additional cost of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), up to £6,000 per annum per pupil. Within their local schools formula, local authorities use factors such as low prior attainment and free school meals to do this. This funding is provided from the local authority’s schools budget.
When the costs of additional support required for a pupil with SEN exceed £6,000, the authority should also allocate additional top-up funding to cover the excess costs. In addition, the local authority pays the full costs for all children who are placed in special schools. This funding comes from the authority’s high needs budget.
The department has allocated funding in separate blocks for schools and high needs since 2013-14. Southampton’s allocations for each of these years are shown below. These were taken from the dedicated schools grant allocations for each year. Allocations for 2018-19 can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2018-to-2019.
Year | Schools Block (in millions) | High Needs Block (in millions) |
2013-14 | £125.0 | £17.1 |
2014-15 | £126.9 | £18.1 |
2015-16 | £130.4 | £18.4 |
2016-17 | £135.3 | £18.9 |
2017-18 | £136.1 | £22.6 |
2018-19 | £139.0 | £23.3 |
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what financial support is available to schools from local authorities to support SEND children.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
A mainstream school’s funding is calculated through a local funding formula decided by the local authority in consultation with its schools. Local authorities are required to provide schools with sufficient funds to enable schools to meet the additional cost of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) and disabilities, up to £6,000. The local formula often uses factors such as low prior attainment and free school meals to do this. The local authority can also give additional funding from its high needs budget to schools that have a disproportionate number of pupils with SEN whose additional support costs up to £6,000.
When the costs of additional support required for a pupil with SEN exceed £6,000, the local authority should allocate additional top-up funding to cover the excess costs. This funding comes from the local authority’s high needs budget. The local authorities’ high needs funding allocation also covers the costs of provision in special schools, and alternative provision. Nationally, high needs funding has risen from a total of £5 billion in 2013 to just under £6 billion this year. Allocations to individual local authorities for this year can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2018-to-2019.