Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the document entitled The UK's Modern Industrial Strategy, published on 23 June 2025, what steps she is taking to provide (a) targeted apprenticeship and (b) reskilling opportunities to people living in rural areas.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is transforming the apprenticeships offer into a new growth and skills offer, which will give greater flexibility to employers and learners and increase access to talent across the eight industrial strategy sectors.
The department will continue to rollout shorter duration and foundation apprenticeships to give more people across the country the opportunity to learn and earn in industrial strategy sectors. The first seven foundation apprenticeships will be available from August 2025, supporting young people into careers such as digital, engineering and manufacturing.
The department will also introduce short courses, funded through the growth and skills levy. These will also support industrial strategy sectors starting from April 2026.
The department will work with Skills England to identify the short courses which will be prioritised for the initial and subsequent rollouts and how these sit alongside apprenticeships and other training routes. We will set out further information in due course.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the document entitled The UK's Modern Industrial Strategy, published on 23 June 2025, what steps her Department is taking to support further education colleges in rural areas to deliver training in (a) AI, (b) clean energy and (c) advanced manufacturing.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is making additional investment of over £1 billion per year in skills for young people by 2028/29. This is additional to the over £400 million extra funding already planned for 16-19 education in the 2025/26 financial year, as well as £155 million to support schools, colleges and local authorities with increased national insurance contributions. Taken together this investment demonstrates this government’s commitment to support further education, including in rural areas.
We are introducing Technical Excellence Colleges to specialise in training skilled workforces for priority sectors. Further information on locations will be published in due course.
The UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy published on 23 June 2025 confirmed £200 million capital investment to tackle sector specific shortages. This is in addition to £375 million of capital investment to support post-16 capacity to accommodate additional learners entering the system and £1.7 billion from 2026/27 to 2029/30 to help colleges maintain the condition of their estate.
Local Skills Improvement Plans are collaborations with local employers and providers across the country, including in rural areas, which set out priorities to better meet local skills needs. They must consider the skills needed to meet net zero, climate adaptation, and wider environmental goals.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of provision of Relationship and Sex Education for young people aged 16 to19 in post-16 education settings.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department recognises the importance of promoting healthy relationships to young people. This is why relationships and sex education (RSE) is a standard element of the personal development tutorial system in further education.
These regular tutorials allow students to hear about and discuss subjects important to their lives as responsible, active citizens, such as British values, resilience and how to navigate the world of work.
Education in healthy relationships is at the core of each college’s programme. Students participate in debates about respect, consent, misogyny, gender stereotyping, coercive control, sexual violence and sexual health, and consider the impact of negative behaviours.
Ofsted’s personal development judgement evaluates a college’s intent to provide for the personal development of learners, and the quality of the way in which it does this. Education in healthy relationships is one of the areas of focus.
The department has engaged an expert college leader, Polly Harrow, to develop a toolkit for colleges to drive the quality and consistency of RSE. The toolkit, to be launched in November, will provide tutorial materials and delivery advice, giving all colleges the skills and confidence to deliver on personal development effectively, and to tackle misogyny head on.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to make Relationship and Sex Education mandatory in post-16 education settings.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department recognises the importance of promoting healthy relationships to young people. This is why relationships and sex education (RSE) is a standard element of the personal development tutorial system in further education.
These regular tutorials allow students to hear about and discuss subjects important to their lives as responsible, active citizens, such as British values, resilience and how to navigate the world of work.
Education in healthy relationships is at the core of each college’s programme. Students participate in debates about respect, consent, misogyny, gender stereotyping, coercive control, sexual violence and sexual health, and consider the impact of negative behaviours.
Ofsted’s personal development judgement evaluates a college’s intent to provide for the personal development of learners, and the quality of the way in which it does this. Education in healthy relationships is one of the areas of focus.
The department has engaged an expert college leader, Polly Harrow, to develop a toolkit for colleges to drive the quality and consistency of RSE. The toolkit, to be launched in November, will provide tutorial materials and delivery advice, giving all colleges the skills and confidence to deliver on personal development effectively, and to tackle misogyny head on.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the higher education admissions system takes into account the frequent relocations of military service children.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Universities are autonomous bodies, independent from government and are responsible for their own admissions decisions.
Universities and colleges decide who to offer a place to by considering a range of factors detailed within an applicant's UCAS application. In addition to their predicted grades, this can include their personal statement, teacher references, contextual factors and, for certain courses that have an October application deadline, their performance in admissions tests. This is a process that differs between providers and even between different courses at the same providers.
Admissions teams are accustomed to considering a wide range of personal circumstances when making decisions.
Higher education (HE) providers registered with the Office for Students (OfS) intending to charge higher level tuition fees must have an Access and Participation Plan approved by the OfS. Providers are expected to take into account the OfS Equality of Opportunity Risk Register in developing a plan. The Register identifies service children as a group in particular need of support.
The government takes a close interest in ensuring that the system is fair. We work closely with HE providers and sector bodies to make sure the system works well for students.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to increase (a) school and (b) college funding per pupil above the rate of inflation in each financial year until 2029.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Across the spending review, core schools funding, including special educational needs and disabilities investment, will increase from £65.3 billion in the 2025/26 financial year (including the additional funding announced in May 2025) to £69.5 billion by the 2028/29 financial year. Taken together, this grows per-pupil spending over this spending review period by 2.7% in real terms.
This government is making a substantial investment in skills, with over £1 billion of additional funding by the 2028/29 financial year, on top of the phase 1 settlement for the 2025/26 financial year. This funding protects opportunity, delivers the workforce needed for the Plan for Change, and fuels future growth. It includes funding to support 1.3 million 16 to 19-year-olds, including 65,000 additional learners by financial year 2028/29.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of (a) school and (b) college funding per pupil in Wiltshire in 2024–25.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Through the dedicated schools grant (DSG), Wiltshire received £364.5 million for mainstream schools in the 2024/25 financial year. This represented an increase of 2.3% per pupil compared to 2023/24, excluding growth funding. On top of that, they received £20.9 million in additional grant funding to support teacher and support staff pay rises as well as increases in teachers’ pension employer contribution rates.
Funding for 16 to 19-year-olds uses the same funding formula regardless of whether the student is studying at a school sixth form, general further education college, or other provider type for their study programme or T Level.
The department publishes details of 16 to 19 Total Programme Funding allocations by academic year, with academic year 2024 to 2025 available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-allocation-data-2024-to-2025. This can be filtered by local authority to identify the funding for Wiltshire.
Allocations for the Adult Skills Fund, formerly the Adult Education Budget, are also published annually and are available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/adult-education-and-skills-funding-allocations#published-allocations. Whilst they cannot be filtered by local authority, they can be filtered by individual provider.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding has been allocated to post-16 skills and vocational training in Wiltshire since 2020.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department publishes details of 16 to 19 Total Programme Funding allocations by academic year. These are available for each academic year since 2020, and can be accessed at the following pages:
Each publication can be filtered by local authority to identify the funding for Wiltshire.
Allocations for the Adult Skills Fund, formerly the Adult Education Budget, are also published annually, and can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/adult-education-and-skills-funding-allocations#published-allocations.
Whilst they cannot be filtered by local authority, they can be filtered by individual provider.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of using degree classification as an eligibility criterion for teacher training bursaries in shortage subjects.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Initial teacher training (ITT) bursaries are designed to incentivise more applications to ITT courses from high-achieving graduates. As such, for postgraduate bursaries, we take account of the grade of the trainee’s highest academic qualification. These bursaries are only awarded to trainees with at least a 2:2 undergraduate degree classification, unless the trainee possesses a higher academic qualification, such as a doctoral or master’s degree.
Graduates who do not hold a 2:2 degree can apply for student finance in the form of a tuition fee loan and a maintenance loan to support their living costs. Additional funding is also available depending on individual circumstances, such as the childcare grant.
Subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) courses are designed to provide candidates for ITT with the minimum knowledge required to train to teach their chosen subject. Completion of a SKE course is not a requirement for all ITT candidates. The ITT provider determines whether it is requirement of the candidate’s offer after assessing their prior subject knowledge. Completion of SKE is not a factor in postgraduate ITT bursary eligibility.
ITT providers determine whether their trainees are eligible for a bursary, using the eligibility criteria set by the department. The department only holds data on trainees who are eligible for bursaries, alongside data on the overall number of trainees by subject and ITT provider. The department does not hold data on why trainees were ineligible for a bursary.
Asked by: Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the completion of a Subject Knowledge Enhancement course is considered as part of the eligibility criteria for postgraduate teacher training bursaries.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Initial teacher training (ITT) bursaries are designed to incentivise more applications to ITT courses from high-achieving graduates. As such, for postgraduate bursaries, we take account of the grade of the trainee’s highest academic qualification. These bursaries are only awarded to trainees with at least a 2:2 undergraduate degree classification, unless the trainee possesses a higher academic qualification, such as a doctoral or master’s degree.
Graduates who do not hold a 2:2 degree can apply for student finance in the form of a tuition fee loan and a maintenance loan to support their living costs. Additional funding is also available depending on individual circumstances, such as the childcare grant.
Subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) courses are designed to provide candidates for ITT with the minimum knowledge required to train to teach their chosen subject. Completion of a SKE course is not a requirement for all ITT candidates. The ITT provider determines whether it is requirement of the candidate’s offer after assessing their prior subject knowledge. Completion of SKE is not a factor in postgraduate ITT bursary eligibility.
ITT providers determine whether their trainees are eligible for a bursary, using the eligibility criteria set by the department. The department only holds data on trainees who are eligible for bursaries, alongside data on the overall number of trainees by subject and ITT provider. The department does not hold data on why trainees were ineligible for a bursary.