Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 9 February 2022 to Question 117005 on Teachers: Workplace Pensions, what new regulations were implemented following engagement with the independent education sector.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Teachers’ Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 were implemented following engagement with the independent private sector.
These Regulations amended the participation rules for independent schools to allow phased withdrawal from the Teachers’ Pension Scheme.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps his Department has taken to develop of new early years training routes to support workforce development and retention in early years education and childcare.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
As part of work to support recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the department has announced up to £180 million in programmes to support workforce development, including increasing the number of places available for early years initial teacher training. Training for up to 5,000 special educational needs coordinators is also part of the development programmes
The department is also developing new early years training routes. Employer trailblazer groups have developed level 2 and 3 apprenticeships, and in August 2021, we launched a level 5 apprenticeship
Free level 3 early years qualifications are available through the Lifetime Skills Guarantee for adults without a level 3 or higher qualification. From April 2022, eligibility was expanded to include adults who are unemployed or earning below the National Living Wage annually, or £18,525, regardless of any other qualifications held.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the consultation on Childcare: regulatory changes published on 4 July 2022, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of increasing childcare ratios on safety of children; and when he expects to announce the result of that consultation.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The consultation on ‘Childcare: regulatory changes’ closed on 16 September, and the department will respond in due course. Responses from this consultation will help to build the evidence base, including understanding more around the potential effect of safeguarding in the event that department guidelines are changed.
Alongside the consultation the department ran a survey of early years providers to establish the likely impact of the changes on providers. This survey will be published in due course.
The department’s priority continues to be to provide safe, high-quality early years provision for our youngest children.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of BTEC qualifications in widening professional and educational opportunities available to disadvantaged students.
Answered by Andrea Jenkyns
As part of the post-16 qualifications review, the department has considered the available evidence about outcomes for students who have taken BTECs and other Applied General qualifications (AGQs), which many students from disadvantaged backgrounds take.
The evidence suggests that after taking into account a student’s background characteristics and prior attainment, those who followed an A level-only route generally experience better outcomes in terms of attainment and future employment impacts. Considering access to higher education (HE) and reformed AGQs, the department found that across different prior attainment bandings, students with A levels were consistently more likely to enter HE than those just holding AGQs. For those with the lowest prior attainment, mixed A level and AGQ programmes were slightly more likely to lead to HE than those with a study programme consisting only of A levels.
The department will continue to fund some alternative level 3 qualifications including BTECs where they do not overlap with A levels or T Levels, and where they meet the new quality criteria being implemented as part of the funding approval process for 2025 and beyond. Details of this will be published in due course. Qualifications such as BTECs will continue to play an important role for 16-to-19-year-olds and adults. This includes students taking these qualifications in mixed programmes alongside A levels, or as an alternative programme in areas that may be less well-served by A levels or T Levels.
The updated impact assessment published alongside the response to the second-stage consultation looked at the potential impact of the review on students, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds. This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-post-16-qualifications-at-level-3-in-england.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department has to introduce a compulsory register of home educated children.
Answered by Will Quince
The government is committed to a form of local authority register for children not in school, which would require parents to register with local authorities should they want to home educate. Further details on this are in the Children Not In School consultation response, which was published on 3 February 2022. This can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/children-not-in-school.
The department hopes to legislate on this measure at the next suitable opportunity.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to discourage employers in the independent schools sector from using dismissal and re-engagement to withdraw teachers from the Teachers’ Pension Scheme.
Answered by Robin Walker
Independent schools participate in the Teachers’ Pension Scheme voluntarily and are therefore free to leave the scheme if they wish to do so. The way they manage such a move, with their teaching staff, is an employment matter rather than a pension related one. The department does not have any powers to interfere but does encourage encourage employers to consult with their staff appropriately, including over alternative pension arrangements, through the Teachers’ Pension Scheme administrator. Employers are also encouraged to take employment law advice before proceeding with moves to leave the scheme.
The department has recently implemented new regulations, following engagement with the independent education sector, to support independent schools to continue in the Teachers’ Pension Scheme.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the support available to adoptive families and birth parents engaging in letterbox contact.
Answered by Will Quince
Local authorities have a legal duty to provide a comprehensive adoption service.
This specifically includes assistance, including mediation services, in relation to arrangements for contact between an adoptive child and a natural parent, natural sibling, former guardian or a related person of the adoptive child.
As set out in our recently published ‘Adoption Strategy: achieving excellence everywhere’ we will be working with local authorities and regional adoption agencies to improve support around contact with birth relatives, including letterbox contact. This will include working closely with birth parents and those with lived experiences. More details on how funding from the Spending Review will be used will be confirmed in due course.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to involve people with lived experience in the Adoption Strategy review of contact arrangements between adopted children and birth parents.
Answered by Will Quince
Local authorities have a legal duty to provide a comprehensive adoption service.
This specifically includes assistance, including mediation services, in relation to arrangements for contact between an adoptive child and a natural parent, natural sibling, former guardian or a related person of the adoptive child.
As set out in our recently published ‘Adoption Strategy: achieving excellence everywhere’ we will be working with local authorities and regional adoption agencies to improve support around contact with birth relatives, including letterbox contact. This will include working closely with birth parents and those with lived experiences. More details on how funding from the Spending Review will be used will be confirmed in due course.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how the £7 million made available in the 2021 Spending Review to improve adoption support will be spent; and what proportion will be allocated to improving the letterbox contact system.
Answered by Will Quince
Local authorities have a legal duty to provide a comprehensive adoption service.
This specifically includes assistance, including mediation services, in relation to arrangements for contact between an adoptive child and a natural parent, natural sibling, former guardian or a related person of the adoptive child.
As set out in our recently published ‘Adoption Strategy: achieving excellence everywhere’ we will be working with local authorities and regional adoption agencies to improve support around contact with birth relatives, including letterbox contact. This will include working closely with birth parents and those with lived experiences. More details on how funding from the Spending Review will be used will be confirmed in due course.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the accessibility of the Government’s free childcare offer to student nurses who are required to work a weekly minimum of 16 hours in the NHS but do not receive a job-related income.
Answered by Will Quince
All three and four-year-olds are eligible for 15 hours free early education per week, which includes children of parents undertaking full or part time study. This entitlement provides young children with high quality early education and helps to prepare them for school.
Students on a low income, or whose children have special educational needs, may also be eligible for the government’s 15 hours free childcare per week entitlement for disadvantaged two-year-olds. The full criteria for this entitlement can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/help-with-childcare-costs/free-childcare-2-year-olds.
30 hours free childcare is an entitlement for working parents of three and four-year-olds, with the aim of helping working parents with childcare costs so that they can take up paid work or can work additional hours if they want to.
The Childcare Bill policy statement, published in December 2015, sets out that students are not eligible for the government’s 30 hours free childcare entitlement, unless they are in work. Students who undertake paid work in addition to their studies and meet the income requirements will be eligible. To qualify, students do not have to physically work 16 hours a week, but they do need to earn the equivalent of a weekly minimum of 16 hours at national minimum wage or national living wage (currently just over £7,400 a year for parents aged over 23).
With regards to student nurses, the government keeps the funding arrangements for all NHS health professionals’ education under close review, to ensure that students are appropriately supported.
The government has already introduced new maintenance funding for many healthcare courses. In September 2020, the Department of Health and Social Care introduced the new, non-repayable, training grant of at least £5,000 per academic year, for all eligible new and continuing pre-registration nursing, midwifery and most allied health profession students studying at English universities.
There is a further £2,000 available for parental support, available for eligible students attending a full-time pre-registration healthcare course. More information can be found here: https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/nhs-learning-support-fund/parental-support-formerly-child-dependants-allowance. This grant is in addition to funding provided by the Students Loans Company.
This generous support package enables healthcare students to focus on their studies and placements and contributes to alleviating any financial pressures students might be facing.