Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to support the delivery of (a) adult education and (b) other lifelong learning programs.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
We are continuing to invest in education and skills training for adults through the Adult Education Budget (AEB) (£1.34 billion in 2021/22). The AEB fully funds or co-funds skills provision for eligible adults aged 19 and above from pre-entry to level 3, to support adults to gain the skills they need for work, an apprenticeship or further learning.
Starting this year, the government is investing £2.5 billion in the National Skills Fund in England.
Since 1 April this year, the government is supporting any adult who does not have A-level equivalent or higher qualifications, to access over 400 fully funded level 3 courses, with Free Courses for Jobs. This offer is a long-term commitment, backed by £95 million from the National Skills Fund in year one.
Complementing this support for adults, Skills Bootcamps offer free, flexible courses of up to 16 weeks, giving people the opportunity to build up sector-specific skills and fast-track to an interview with a local employer. We are now expanding the Skills Bootcamp programme across the country during the 2021-22 financial year, with £43 million from the National Skills Fund.
As part of the Lifetime Skills Guarantee, from 2025 we will introduce a Lifelong Loan Entitlement equivalent to four years of post-18 education. People will be supported to study throughout their life, with the opportunity to train, retrain and upskill as needed in response to changing skills needs and employment patterns. It will help transform post-18 study, delivering greater parity between further and higher education.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if his Department will take steps to ensure that young people leave school with an effective education in (a) democratic processes, (b) the rule of law and (c) respect for others.
Answered by Nick Gibb
All schools must offer a curriculum which is broad and balanced, and which prepares pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life. The Department expects all schools to promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance.
Through citizenship, which is a statutory subject at Key Stages 3 and 4 of the National Curriculum, pupils are taught about Parliament, voting and elections, the legal system in the United Kingdom, different sources of law and how the law helps society deal with complex problems. The subject helps to prepare pupils to play a full and active part in society and teaches them how to explore political and social issues, to weigh up evidence, to debate, and to make reasoned arguments. Pupils should also be taught about the diverse national, regional, religious and ethnic identities in the United Kingdom and the need for mutual respect and understanding.
Pupils are also taught about respect and tolerance through relationships education, which is compulsory for all school-aged pupils. The statutory guidance on relationships, sex and health education sets out the content to be covered for each subject, which includes teaching about treating everyone with respect regardless of their background and characteristics: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education. Pupils are also taught about their legal rights and responsibilities regarding equality, particularly with reference to the protected characteristics, as defined in the Equality Act 2010.
As with other aspects of the curriculum, schools have flexibility over how they deliver these subjects, so they can develop an integrated approach that is sensitive to the needs and background of their pupils.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what duties the Free Speech and Academic Freedom Champion will have to ensure adequate community engagement.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The Director for Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom will be responsible for overseeing the performance of the Office for Students’ (OfS) freedom of speech functions, including the monitoring and enforcement of freedom of speech registration conditions, the new complaints scheme and the new duties on students’ unions under the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill. Further details of the role will be available when the position is advertised in due course.
The OfS is anticipated to consult on regulatory changes, to develop the new complaints scheme and to draft guidance.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what financial assistance is available to support schools and colleges with the cost of essential maintenance work.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department has allocated £11.3 billion in capital funding since 2015 to improve the condition of the school estate, including £1.8 billion committed in this financial year. Allocations are informed by consistent data on the condition of the school estate.
Schools, and those responsible for school buildings, access condition funding through different routes depending on their size and type. Local authorities, large multi-academy trusts and large voluntary-aided school bodies, receive an annual formulaic school condition allocation to invest in the schools for which they are responsible.
Smaller multi-academy trusts, stand-alone academies, voluntary-aided schools not in large voluntary-aided school bodies and sixth form colleges are able to bid to the Condition Improvement Fund each year. All schools also receive funding to spend on their own capital priorities through an annual devolved formula capital allocation. Capital funding beyond the 2021/22 financial year will be determined at the Spending Review.
In addition, the Department delivers major rebuilding and refurbishment programmes centrally. My right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, announced a new, 10 year School Rebuilding Programme last June, which will replace school buildings in poor condition with modern, energy-efficient designs. The Department has announced the first 50 schools to benefit from this, as part of a commitment to 500 projects over the next decade. We expect to confirm a further 50 projects this year and plan to consult on the approach to prioritising future projects later in 2021.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to enhance access for veterans to a higher education.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The Department for Education co-funds two schemes with the Ministry of Defence (MOD). The Service Leavers Scheme (or Publicly Funded Further Education/Higher Education Scheme) and the Armed Forces Bereavement Scheme contribute to the delivery of the joint cross-government strategy of support for Service Leavers and their families as part of the Armed Forces Covenant, which emphasises the mutual obligation between the nation, the government and the Armed Forces. The Department for Education provides a grant of £5 million to MOD to support the higher education (HE) aspects of these schemes for study in England.
Furthermore, my right hon. Friend, Prime Minister, announced in September 2020 the government’s Lifetime Skills Guarantee, which promises to help people across England get the skills they need at every stage of their life. As part of this, the ‘free courses for jobs’ offer, which started in April 2021, gives an estimated 11 million adults in England who are 24 and over, and do not yet have A levels or equivalent qualifications, the opportunity to take their first level 3 qualification for free.
The Publicly Funded Further Education/Higher Education Scheme provides service leavers access to a first full level 3 (GCE A Level or vocational equivalent), or a first HE qualification (a foundation degree or first undergraduate degree or equivalent) with tuition fees funded to a maximum of £9,250 per year of study. Full details of this scheme can be found at the Enhanced Learning Credits Administration Service website: www.enhancedlearningcredits.com.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to help schools (a) set up and (b) grow onsite libraries.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department believes that all pupils deserve to be taught a knowledge-rich curriculum that promotes the extensive reading of books and other kinds of texts, both in and out of school. School libraries complement public libraries in allowing pupils to do this. It is for individual schools to decide how best to provide and maintain a library service for their pupils, including whether to employ a qualified librarian. Many head teachers recognise the important role school libraries play in improving literacy and encouraging pupils to read for pleasure and ensure that suitable library facilities are provided. These may take different forms and could be a book corner in a school classroom, rather than a separate space.
The Department is also committing £1.8 billion this financial year in capital funding to help maintain and improve the condition of school buildings, including primary school libraries. Local authorities, academy trusts, and other responsible bodies are best placed to prioritise capital allocations according to local need, including on library facilities where that is the priority.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to improve literacy rates among primary school-aged children.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government continues to drive improvements in literacy levels by ensuring high quality systematic synthetic phonics teaching in all our schools to give all children the firm foundation on which to progress through school, and to help them develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information.
England achieved its highest ever score in reading in 2016, moving from joint 10th to joint 8th in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) rankings. This improvement is largely attributable to increases in the average performance of lower performing pupils and boys. These are the first international assessment results from the cohort of pupils who benefited from the changes in primary curriculum and assessment introduced since the 2010 election.
In 2019, 82% of pupils in Year 1 met the expected standard in the phonics screening check, compared to just 58% when the check was introduced in 2012. For disadvantaged pupils, this has gone from 45% in 2012 to 71% in 2019. Furthermore, 2019 results showed that by the end of Year 2, 91% of pupils met the expected standard in the phonics screening check.
In 2018, the Department launched a £26.3 million English Hubs Programme to improve the teaching of reading. This focuses on supporting children making the slowest progress in reading, many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds, and is providing intensive support to over 875 partner schools. We have since provided a further £17 million in this school-to-school improvement programme, which focusses on systematic synthetic phonics, early language, and reading for pleasure.
Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, the English Hubs programme has continued to offer support and training to schools across the country by bringing much of their offer online. This has involved opening virtual training and professional development events to a wider pool of schools and distributing materials targeted specifically at remote education and recovery. The English Hubs have adapted to providing intensive support remotely and have delivered more than 1,400 days of specialist phonics training to over 875 partner schools this academic year.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that school-aged children have access to affordable extra-curricular sports activities.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It is up to schools to decide what sport and extra-curricular activities to offer to their pupils. The Government is committed to ensuring all children have access to high quality clubs, competitions and activities outside school, which are easy to find and participate in, and support their recovery from the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak. That is why £10.1 million of extra funding was recently announced to support schools to open their sports facilities outside of school hours, allowing them to work with local sports clubs to provide children with an increased selection of high quality extra-curricular activities. On top of wider economic support, the Government has announced a £100 million support fund for local authority leisure centres to ensure facilities remain available once public health restrictions are lifted. Sport England has provided £270 million directly to support community sport clubs and exercise centres through the COVID-19 outbreak.
Ministers recently hosted a roundtable with National Governing Bodies of Sport to discuss increasing opportunities for children to get active, including taking part in extra-curricular sport. This resulted in the launch of the new Active Recovery Hub. The hub provides schools and parents with activities from over forty sport providers to keep children of all ages active, including hundreds of ideas for extra-curricular activities.
The Department is also ensuring children have the opportunity to take part in extra-curricular sport during the school holidays. The Holiday Activities and Food Programme will provide children with the opportunity to take part in a range of engaging activities, including sport. We will also be providing funding to secondary schools to deliver a short summer schools programme blending academic education and enrichment opportunities, such as sport.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that schools deliver adequate financial education, including on debt management.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of increasing the length of time students spend in general education to ensure that (a) students with learning disabilities and (b) other students are not disadvantaged by the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on their development and progression.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government is committed to helping all children and young people make up education lost as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Department has appointed Sir Kevan Collins as Education Recovery Commissioner to oversee a long-term plan. Sir Kevan will engage with parents, pupils, and teachers in the development of this broader approach and review how evidence-based interventions can be used to address the impact the COVID-19 outbreak has had on education. We will share further details in due course.