Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps his Department has taken to increase the number of pupils studying STEM subjects.

The Government tracks the number of people studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) at different stages, such as A Level[1], Higher Education[2] and Apprenticeships[3], which are all published online.

The Government has taken focused action to increase the take-up of STEM subjects across educational stages. For example, the Department is funding programmes in schools and colleges to increase the take-up of maths (such as the Advanced Maths premium), computing and physics; and to support better teaching of maths, science and computing in schools, including a new £84 million programme to improve computing teaching.

The Department is committed to improving STEM careers advice in schools in the recently published Careers Strategy by updating school and college statutory guidance to ensure that students have opportunities to engage with STEM employers and apprenticeships as part of school career programmes.

The Department is also involved with and supporting wider government initiatives such as the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy’s (BEIS) STEM Ambassador programme. BEIS’s and the Department for Education’s programmes (such as STEM Inspiration) include measures to increase participation among under-served groups, such as girls and women.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/a-level-and-other-16-to-18-results-2016-to-2017-revised.

[2] https://www.ucas.com/data-and-analysis/undergraduate-statistics-and-reports/statistical-releases-daily-clearing-analysis-2018.

[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-apprenticeships#apprenticeship-starts-and-achievements.