Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps schools, colleges and local education authorities are taking to ensure that teaching staff from EU countries are aware of what their citizenship status will be post-Brexit.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department continues to plan for EU Exit and to ensure that we are best prepared for all potential scenarios. As part of our planning, we are taking steps to ensure that our schools, further education and higher education institutions, and local authorities are similarly prepared.
The department published guidance to provide information and advice to our stakeholders on how to best prepare. The notices include information on the EU Settlement Scheme and on the arrangements that apply to EU, European Economic Area and Swiss citizens arriving after EU Exit. The notices form part of the government's public information campaign which can be viewed at this link: https://euexit.campaign.gov.uk/. This campaign ensures that UK citizens and organisations, EU citizens living in the UK, and UK nationals living in the EU are well informed about how EU Exit will affect them and about the practical steps they will need to take to be ready for it.
The department has shared guidance with a large number of our stakeholders across the education sector. This includes the document ‘EU exit: no deal preparations for schools in England’, attached[1].
It also includes ‘EU exit: no deal preparations for higher education institutions’ guidance, attached,[2] and ‘EU exit: no deal preparations for further education and apprenticeship providers’ guidance’, also attached[3].
The document ‘EU Exit: No deal preparations for local authority children's services[4]’, which will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/eu-exit-no-deal-preparations-for-schools-in-england.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many teachers in UK schools are EU nationals.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department does not collect information on nationality in the school workforce census for teachers in England. In the Migration Advisory Committee’s European Economic Aarea (EEA) migration report, published in September 2018, it was estimated that there are 11,400 and 13,100 EEA-born primary and secondary school teachers, respectively, working in the UK. This accounts for 2.6% (primary) and 3.0% (secondary) of the total numbers. This compares to around 5% of the general population. The full report can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/741926/Final_EEA_report.PDF.
For the first time in the 2018-19 Initial teacher training (ITT): trainee number census, the Department published data on the nationality of ITT trainees. In academic year 2018-19, there were 28,570 postgraduate new entrants to ITT whose nationality was known. Of these, 93% were UK nationals (26,525), 5% were EEA nationals (1,405) and 2% were nationals of other countries (635). These are the same proportions as in academic years 2017-18 and 2016-17. The census results can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/initial-teacher-training-trainee-number-census-2018-to-2019.
Asked by: Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the difficulty faced by public service providers in differentiating between citizens of other EU countries who have (1) applied for, (2) received, and (3) not applied for settled status; and what steps they will take to prevent discrimination against such citizens by (a) employers, (b) landlords, (c) schools and colleges, (d) the NHS, and (e) providers of other public services, following the UK’s departure from the EU, (i) during a transition period, (ii) following a no-deal exit, and (iii) in any circumstance before the deadline for application for settled status.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government has made clear that the current arrangements for conducting checks on EU nationals, involving the use of national passports and identity cards, will not change before the introduction of the future skills-based immigration system in 2021
The bodies responsible for conducting statutory eligibility checks, including employers, landlords, the NHS and colleges, will not be required to differentiate between citizens of EU countries resident in the UK who have applied for, been granted or have yet to apply for status under the EU Settlement Scheme during any transitional period, including in the event the UK leaves the EU without a deal. The Government’s published White Paper on the UK’s future skills-based immigration system states that we will not require employers to undertake retrospective right to work checks on existing employees when the new system is introduced.
The Government will ensure the position on the status and eligibility of EU citizens to access work and services during this period is clear in guidance to employers and other bodies. All residents of the UK continue to be protected against unlawful discrimination by the Equality Act 2010 and equivalent legislation in Northern Ireland, and we will work with the statutory equality bodies to monitor the operation of these arrangements. The Home Office has engaged with a wide range of groups, including UK employers, landlords and financial service providers, on the EU Settlement Scheme and the future skills-based immigration system.
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent comparative assessment he has made of the level of funding for education in (a) England and (b) EU member states.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department uses internationally comparable data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to assess how our funding compares internationally.
This data shows that the UK is among the higher spenders on education at primary and secondary level. The UK government spends 3.8% of GDP on primary and secondary educational institutions, compared to an EU22 average of 3.0%. Within the EU, only Belgium (4.1%) and Finland (4.0%) spend a higher proportion of GDP on primary and secondary educational institutions than the UK. The OECD data also shows that the UK is the top spender in the G7 on schools and colleges delivering primary and secondary education, as a percentage of GDP.
Total expenditure on primary and secondary educational institutions as a percentage of GDP, from government sources (2015) in EU countries in the OECD analysis can be found in the table below:
Country | Expenditure as a percentage of GDP |
Austria | 3.0 |
Belgium | 4.1 |
Czech Republic | 2.4 |
Denmark | Missing |
Estonia | 2.7 |
Finland | 4.0 |
France | 3.4 |
Germany | 2.6 |
Greece | 2.7 |
Hungary | 2.7 |
Ireland | 2.5 |
Italy | 2.8 |
Latvia | 3.3 |
Luxembourg | 2.8 |
Netherlands | 3.2 |
Poland | 2.9 |
Portugal | 3.4 |
Slovak Republic | 2.6 |
Slovenia | 3.0 |
Spain | 2.7 |
Sweden | 3.6 |
United Kingdom | 3.8 |
EU22 average | 3.0 |
The data on expenditure on educational institutions as a percentage of GDP by source of funds is available in Table C2.2 of the OECD’s Education at a Glance 2018 publication at the following link: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/education-at-a-glance-2018/total-expenditure-on-educational-institutions-as-a-percentage-of-gdp-by-source-of-funds-2015_eag-2018-table140-en.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of teachers who are nationals of other EU countries who have left employment in schools in England in the last 12 months.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how they plan to train additional medical staff from the UK to replace existing staff from other EU countries who have left or might leave the NHS.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
In October 2016, the Government announced a historic expansion of medical school places increasing medical school places in England by 1,500. The first 500 places have already been allocated and will be available to students in September 2018. The remaining 1,000 additional medical school places would be available to medical schools in England via a competitive bidding process managed jointly by the Higher Education Funding Council for England and Health Education England.
We have also announced a 25% increase in nurse training places to provide at least 5,000 extra nurse training places every year from 2018/19 - 25,850 from 2018/19 compared to 20,680 in 2016/17.
National Health Service workforce training in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are matters for the devolved administrations in each of those countries.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many language teachers in UK schools are nationals from other EU countries in the 2017-18 academic year.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The information requested is not collected centrally.
Asked by: Sarah Wollaston (Liberal Democrat - Totnes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to prevent London medical schools from cross-subsidising the education of international students from their Service Increment for Teaching fund allocated to students from the UK and other EU countries.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The Education and Training tariff guidance document for 2017-18 is clear that funding for placements commissioned by Health Education England (HEE) must not be used to subsidise any element of the cost of placements for non-National Health Service funded students/trainees.
The responsibility for implementing these funding arrangements resides with HEE which commissions the placement activity from the provider.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential effect on teacher recruitment of the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department has not historically collected data on EU nationals in the schools workforce. On 27 July, the Government commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to gather evidence on patterns of EU migration and the role of migration in the wider economy, ahead of our exit from the EU. The MAC’s independent advice will inform decisions on future immigration arrangements. Crucially, this commission will enable business, public and voluntary sector employers to submit evidence and views. We are carefully considering the implications over time for future recruitment of teachers from EEA countries, and we will work to ensure that schools continue to be able to recruit the teachers they need.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of overseas students currently studying at UK (a) schools and (b) universities.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
(a) The Department does not have any data source that separately identifies the number of ‘overseas students’ attending schools in the UK where an overseas student is defined as a student who is not normally resident in the UK but has travelled to the UK to study.
(b) Data published by the Higher Education Statistics Authority (HESA) shows that in 2015/16, 438,000 international students (from both EU and Non-EU countries) were enrolled in UK Higher Education Institutions. Enrolment data for 2016/17 is currently unavailable.