Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment has her Department made of the potential impact of the £1,000 financial incentive per T-Level industry placement for small and medium enterprises on placement numbers; and whether she plans to reintroduce this incentive.
Answered by Robert Halfon
As part of the department’s response to the impact of the pandemic, in May 2021 the department launched a short-term employer incentive fund to support employers to deliver T Level industry placements where they received £1,000 for every placement delivered. The majority of incentive funds were paid to small and medium size enterprises and impacted their ability to offer a number of high-quality industry placements.
The incentive fund ended on the 31 July 2022, and there is currently no intention to implement a further employer incentive fund, as it was always designed to be short-term. The department recognises that some employers may continue to incur costs when providing placement opportunities, and is considering what further support might need to be put in place to support the delivery of high-quality industry placements as we continue to rollout T Levels.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing a STEM education strategy.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Several government strategies are already in place to support our STEM ambitions, including the 2021 UK Innovation Strategy, the 2021 National AI Strategy, and the 2022 UK Digital Strategy. They set out how the department will strengthen its reserves of talent and skills in order to drive success.
The department is focused on delivery. We are encouraging more students to study science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects across all key stages, from primary school to further and higher education, ensuring a strong pipeline of qualified students for STEM careers. By developing employer-centred skills programmes such as apprenticeships, T Levels, and Higher Technical Qualifications, the department is empowering industry to shape our training offers to meet their needs and create more routes into skilled STEM roles.
We are investing in programmes that support science, technology, and digital skills, such as programmes that support teachers to improve the quality of science teaching. From autumn 2022, early careers teachers can claim a levelling up premium of £3,000 tax free per year for up to three years, to teach mathematics, physics, chemistry, or computing in state funded secondary schools that have been identified as having a high need for teachers.
Alongside this, the department is investing in Institutes of Technology, which are leaders in the provision of high quality, higher level technical education and training across a range of STEM occupations and industries.
Additionally, the department is investing in STEM in higher education, delivering a 12% increase in grant funding for strategically important, high-cost subjects such as medicine, engineering, and computing.
The government cannot achieve its ambition to be a science and technology superpower alone, and so efforts to work closely with businesses, including through the new Digital Skills Council, are being made to drive forward industry led action to address current and future demand for digital skills.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of apprenticeship levy funds spent by employers were spent on Level (a) 2, (b) 3, (c) 4, (d) 5, (e) 6 and (f) 7 apprenticeships in each year since the introduction of that levy.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The below table shows the proportion of the apprenticeship budget spent on apprenticeships by level since the 2017/18 financial year.
| 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 |
Level 2 | 43.9% | 34.6% | 27.4% | 20.1% |
Level 3 | 47.6% | 48.3% | 47.0% | 44.4% |
Level 4 | 3.6% | 6.1% | 8.0% | 9.7% |
Level 5 | 3.0% | 5.0% | 6.6% | 7.8% |
Level 6 | 1.5% | 3.7% | 5.9% | 9.3% |
Level 7 | 0.3% | 2.4% | 5.2% | 8.7% |
Total | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Apprenticeship budget spend for the 2021/22 financial year will be published in the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s annual report and accounts in due course.
Employers design apprenticeship standards, choose which apprenticeships they offer and when, in order to meet their skills needs.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of Level (a) 2, (b) 3, (c) 4, (d) 5, (e) 6 and (f) 7 apprenticeships started in each year since the introduction of the apprenticeship levy were employed by organisations that (i) did and (ii) did not pay the apprenticeship levy.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The attached file contains breakdowns of apprenticeship starts by detailed apprenticeship level and funding type, for example, whether an apprenticeship start was funded by apprenticeship service account (ASA) levy funds. Further information on apprenticeship starts can be found in the ‘Apprenticeships and traineeships’ statistics publication at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships-and-traineeships.
Note:
(1) Starts supported by ASA levy funds estimates are based on organisations registered with an Apprenticeship Service Account, who have access to levy funds, and have used them to fund an apprenticeship.
(2) Due to the transfer of unused apprenticeship levy funds from one business to another business, the starts supported by ASA levy funds estimates will include starts at non-levy-paying organisations arising a result of the transfer of levy-funds to the recipient's ASA and their subsequent use to fund an apprenticeship.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of the (a) level 2, (b) level 3, (c) level 4, (d) level 5, (e) level 6, and (f) level 7 apprenticeships started in each year since the introduction of the apprenticeship levy were commenced in each different region of England.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The attached file contains apprenticeship starts in England, reported to date, from the 2016/17 academic year onwards and broken down by detailed apprenticeship level and region.
Further information on apprenticeship starts can be found in the apprenticeships and traineeships statistics publication, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships-and-traineeships.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish a breakdown of all traineeships delivered in England by region in the last 12 months.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The table below contains traineeship starts in England, broken down by region for the 2020/21 full academic year and reported to date for the 2021/22 academic year, August 2021 to April 2022.
Further information on traineeship starts can be found in the Apprenticeships and traineeships statistics publication: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships-and-traineeships.
Region | Traineeship starts | |
2020/21 full year | 2021/22 (Aug to Apr, reported to date) | |
East Midlands | 780 | 780 |
East of England | 1,200 | 850 |
London | 5,070 | 3,220 |
North East | 880 | 620 |
North West | 2,760 | 2,650 |
South East | 1,660 | 1,010 |
South West | 1,070 | 760 |
West Midlands | 2,240 | 1,750 |
Yorkshire and The Humber | 1,670 | 1,450 |
Outside of England and unknown | 70 | 80 |
Total | 17,390 | 13,170 |
Note:
(1) Volumes are rounded to the nearest 10.
(2) 2021/22, August to April, figures are from in-year data returns and are provisional. Full final year headline data for 2021/22 will be published on 24 November 2022 in the Apprenticeships and traineeships: November 2022 statistics publication.
(3) Geography is based upon the home postcode of the learner. Where the postcode is outside of England or not known it is included in the 'Outside of England and unknown' category.
(4) Geographies are taken from the National Statistics Postcode Lookup based on boundaries as of May 2021.
(5) The data source is the Individualised Learner Record.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of the Year 1 (a) Health, (b) Healthcare Science and (c) Science T Level students (i) received each grade under the original marking system and (ii) received each grade following the regrading of the papers ordered by Ofqual on 8 September.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department does not, as a matter of course, publish partial results for T Level students who have a further year of study.
It is accepted practice that results are published on completion of a qualification or programme of study. This ensures a full and accurate representation of students’ attainment, rather than a partial and interim result which is subject to change through marking review, appeals, and in-programme retake opportunities.
Core results for the T Levels in Health, Healthcare Science, and Science have been reissued, given the issues with the examination papers identified by Ofqual. The results were reissued based on the employer set project grade (or initial grade if higher), rather than a regrading of examination papers. The students due to complete in summer 2023 have two additional retake opportunities on the remainder of their programme.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the oral question asked by the hon. Member for Chesterfield on 24 October 2022, when the Minister first become aware of the number of Level 3 BTEC students who were not going to get their results on 18 August 2022; and for what reason the number of students affected was not made public at the earliest opportunity.
Answered by Andrea Jenkyns
The department was notified on 18 August 2022 that some students had not received their level 3 BTEC results as they had expected to on A level results day, due to issues with finalising grades. Ministers were informed of this on the same day.
The department immediately contacted Ofqual. As the regulator, Ofqual are responsible for ensuring that awarding organisations deliver qualifications in line with their regulations. Ofqual is currently undertaking a review of the process with awarding organisations and centres to ensure that lessons are learnt from this year’s results. Recommendations will be published later in the autumn.
The awarding organisations held data on the number of students affected, and published updates on their own websites regularly.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what changes have been made to the first year (a) Heath, (b) Healthcare science and (c) science T Level exam paper following the serious issues identified by Ofqual with last year's papers.
Answered by Andrea Jenkyns
Ofqual has initiated an investigation into the Northern Council for Further Education’s (NCFE) production of assessment materials for the Health and Science T Level Technical Qualifications to identify how the issues with the Summer 2022 exams occurred.
Ofqual accepted an undertaking from NCFE, published on October 12 2022, as an interim measure, to minimise the risk of any issues in the upcoming core exam papers and to secure assurance that these issues will not be repeated in future assessment series for any of NCFE’s Technical Qualifications. This can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ncfe-undertaking-october-2022.
NCFE will review its Technical Qualification core exam papers and mark schemes before the autumn 2022 series to provide assurance to Ofqual that these assessments will be valid and of good quality.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of the Year 1 (a) Health, (b) Healthcare Science and (c) Science T Level exam papers were retrospectively removed from the paper before those papers were regraded further to Ofqual's announcement on 8 September 2022.
Answered by Andrea Jenkyns
Ofqual conducted a thorough review of the full range of questions in the Core examination papers for Health, Healthcare Science and Science T Levels and concluded that the assessments did not secure a sufficiently valid or reliable measure of student performance.
The department wrote to providers who started teaching T Levels in Health, Healthcare Science and Science in September 2021. The letter confirmed that in light of Ofqual’s findings, students’ grades for the core could be revised to be based entirely on their employer set project grade. To ensure that students were not unfairly penalised by this decision, any students who secured a higher grade in their overall core component than their employer set project were able to carry forward the higher mark.