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519039

	registered interest
	date	18/05/2016
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Business: Education
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to increase entrepreneurship and business education in schools.
	tabling member constituency	Windsor
	tabling member printed	Adam Afriyie
	uin	37151
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/05/2016 answer text <p>Entrepreneurship and business education are important components of both high quality careers education and guidance as well as a broad education offer for pupils.</p><p>The careers statutory guidance places a responsibility on schools in England to offer pupils the opportunity to develop entrepreneurial skills and have access to advice on options available post-16, including entrepreneurship. While it is for schools to decide how best to provide entrepreneurship education, we know that contact with entrepreneurs themselves and businesses more widely is essential. That is why we are funding The Careers &amp; Enterprise Company to increase the number and quality of contacts between young people and businesses, including entrepreneurs.</p><p>We have revised the business GCSE, so that from September 2017 there is greater depth and breadth and a clearer focus on the overall purpose, features and workings of businesses and how to apply this knowledge in a business context.</p> answering member constituency East Surrey answering member printed Mr Sam Gyimah question first answered 25/05/2016 11:49:02 answering member 3980 label Biography information for Mr Sam Gyimah
	tabling member	1586 label Biography information for Adam Afriyie

938571

	registered interest
	date	11/07/2018
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	ICT and STEM Subjects: Higher Education
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of trends in the number of pupils taking up STEM and ICT higher education courses in the last five years.
	tabling member constituency	Windsor
	tabling member printed	Adam Afriyie
	uin	163058
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/07/2018 answer text <p>The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service publishes data on the number of applicants accepted to full-time undergraduate courses at UK higher education providers by subject group.</p><p>The number of UK domiciled 18 and 19 year olds accepted to full-time undergraduate courses in each science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subject group is shown in the attached Table 1. It shows that total acceptances to STEM subjects for UK 18 and 19 year olds had increased by 24% between 2012 and 2017. This compares to an increase of 14% for all subjects over the same period.</p> answering member constituency East Surrey answering member printed Mr Sam Gyimah question first answered 20/07/2018 13:51:35 answering member 3980 label Biography information for Mr Sam Gyimah attachment 1 file name 163058_UK_domiciled_18_and_19_year_old_acceptances_by_STEM_subject.pdf title 18_and_19_year_old_acceptances_by_STEM_subject
	tabling member	1586 label Biography information for Adam Afriyie

833186

	registered interest
	date	29/01/2018
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Universities
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions the Government has had with UK universities on the negotiations for the UK leaving the EU.
	tabling member constituency	Brentwood and Ongar
	tabling member printed	Alex Burghart
	uin	903685
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/02/2018 answer text <p>We regularly engage with a wide range of higher education (HE) stakeholders – including universities and representative bodies such as Universities UK – at both ministerial and official levels to ensure we fully understand the sector’s priorities for EU exit. This engagement includes the High Level Stakeholder Working Group on EU Exit, Universities, Research and Innovation, which I chair as Minister for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation. This group brings together voices from across the HE and research sector, and is also attended by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Department for Exiting the European Union. We value this close engagement and we want to maintain a dialogue with the sector as discussions on the UK’s future relationship with the EU progress.</p> answering member constituency East Surrey answering member printed Mr Sam Gyimah grouped question UIN 903681 question first answered 01/02/2018 16:20:49 answering member 3980 label Biography information for Mr Sam Gyimah
	tabling member	4613 label Biography information for Alex Burghart

982652

	registered interest
	date	08/10/2018
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Students: Plagiarism
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to crack down on the use of essay mill cheating services amongst students.
	tabling member constituency	Cheltenham
	tabling member printed	Alex Chalk
	uin	176451
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/10/2018 answer text <p>Cheating is unacceptable. It undermines the reputation of the sector, and devalues the hard work of those succeeding on their own merit. We are currently focussing on non-legislative options, but remain open to the future need for legislation, and will continue to investigate all options available. We should only legislate where it is absolutely necessary – the government’s preferred approach is to tackle this issue through a sector-led initiative – which is why the department has worked with Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), Universities UK and the National Union of Students to publish guidance last October, for all UK Universities on how best to tackle contract cheating.</p><p> </p><p>Time is needed to fully evaluate the effectiveness of the new guidance and this is underway. The QAA is running a series of seminars to evaluate how the sector is using the guidance.</p><p> </p><p>Through the Higher Education and Research Act (2017), we have given the Office for Students the power to take action if higher education providers are found to be, in any way, complicit in cheating. This includes imposing fines or ultimately de-registration, the highest possible punishment. I expect Vice Chancellors to play their part by adopting robust anti plagiarism and cheating policies which exclude students who use essay mills and by tackling the advertising of these services in their institutions.</p><p> </p><p>I welcome the swift action YouTube took to remove videos containing adverts promoting the EduBirdie essay-writing service, in response to the recent 'BBC Trending' investigation on academic cheating, in which I made it very clear that YouTube had a moral responsibility to take action.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Surrey answering member printed Mr Sam Gyimah question first answered 16/10/2018 12:20:01 answering member 3980 label Biography information for Mr Sam Gyimah
	tabling member	4481 label Biography information for Alex Chalk

816846

	registered interest
	date	05/01/2018
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Students: Loans
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the reason is for the difference in the repayment thresholds for Plan 1 and Plan 2 loan schemes.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds North West
	tabling member printed	Alex Sobel
	uin	121273
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/01/2018 answer text <p>Plan 1 and Plan 2 income contingent repayment student loans are separate loan products with different terms and conditions, including different interest rates, repayment thresholds and write-off periods.</p> answering member constituency East Surrey answering member printed Mr Sam Gyimah question first answered 15/01/2018 17:56:30 answering member 3980 label Biography information for Mr Sam Gyimah
	tabling member	4658 label Biography information for Alex Sobel

816847

	registered interest
	date	05/01/2018
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Students: Loans
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason students with a Student Loan living in countries with higher tax rates are subject to a lower repayment threshold than students living in the UK.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds North West
	tabling member printed	Alex Sobel
	uin	121274
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/01/2018 answer text <p>The repayment of student loans is governed by the Education (Student Loans) (Repayment) Regulations 2009 (as amended). All borrowers, including those resident in the UK and overseas, are liable to make student loan repayments calculated on the basis of pre-tax income.</p><p>Overseas repayment thresholds are calculated using World Bank cost of living data (which is used to compare differences between the cost of living in the UK and other countries), not the tax rates of countries of residence. This means that if a borrower is resident in a country calculated as having a lower cost of living than the UK, the repayment threshold applied to their loan will be lower than would be the case if they were residing in the UK.</p> answering member constituency East Surrey answering member printed Mr Sam Gyimah question first answered 15/01/2018 17:55:10 answering member 3980 label Biography information for Mr Sam Gyimah
	tabling member	4658 label Biography information for Alex Sobel

816848

	registered interest
	date	05/01/2018
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Students: Loans
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reasons the Student Loan repayment rate is calculated using gross salary levels.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds North West
	tabling member printed	Alex Sobel
	uin	121275
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/01/2018 answer text <p>The repayment of student loans is governed by the Education (Student Loans) (Repayment) Regulations 2009 (as amended). The amount that a borrower is required to repay is calculated on the basis of income subject to National Insurance contributions (for UK-resident PAYE borrowers) or income subject to tax (for borrowers required to complete a Self Assessment Tax form or borrowers resident overseas). This provides equal treatment of borrowers. An individual’s effective tax rate can be dependent on a variety of factors, such as investment income or pension contributions, and does not provide a simple link to earnings.</p> answering member constituency East Surrey answering member printed Mr Sam Gyimah question first answered 15/01/2018 17:55:41 answering member 3980 label Biography information for Mr Sam Gyimah
	tabling member	4658 label Biography information for Alex Sobel

820911

	registered interest
	date	11/01/2018
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Arts: Ethnic Groups
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to assist people from BAME backgrounds to be better represented in university arts courses and stage schools.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds North West
	tabling member printed	Alex Sobel
	uin	122329
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/01/2018 answer text <p>The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has commissioned research to understand the existing barriers that prevent people from lower income households and under-represented groups, such as those from Black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, specifically from becoming professionals in the performing arts. It is important that the performing arts are representative of society as a whole.</p><p> </p><p>One of the ways this can be achieved is by doing more to ensure more people from BAME backgrounds go on to higher education. We now see record numbers of 18 year olds from all ethnicities entering full-time higher education according to data published by The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service.</p><p> </p><p>However, for some groups of students from ethnic minorities there is more to do to improve their participation - their retention, success and progression to higher education.</p><p> </p><p>That is why the most recent guidance to the Director of Fair Access in February 2016, asked him to focus on activity to continue to improve access and participation into higher education for students from disadvantaged and under-represented backgrounds.</p><p>We are also introducing sweeping reforms through legislation. The Higher Education and Research Act includes the creation of the Office for Students, which has a statutory duty to consider the promotion of equality of opportunity for students as it relates to access and participation. It also includes a transparency duty requiring all universities to publish applications, offers, acceptance and retention rates broken down by gender, ethnicity and social economic background. This will help to hold universities to account for their records on access and retention.</p> answering member constituency East Surrey answering member printed Mr Sam Gyimah question first answered 19/01/2018 14:00:35 answering member 3980 label Biography information for Mr Sam Gyimah
	tabling member	4658 label Biography information for Alex Sobel

824439

	registered interest
	date	17/01/2018
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Universities: Sexual Offences
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of reports by university students of sexual assaults taking place on campus; and how many such reports there have been in (a) 2015, (b) 2016 and (c) 2017 to date.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds North West
	tabling member printed	Alex Sobel
	uin	123240
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/01/2018 answer text <p>The department does not hold information regarding the number of reports by university students of sexual assaults taking place on campus.</p><p> </p><p>Government takes any form of violence and sexual harassment, including in higher education, extremely seriously. That is why we asked Universities UK (UUK) to set up a sexual violence and harassment taskforce. The Taskforce published their report ‘Changing the Culture’ in October 2016: <a href="http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-analysis/reports/Documents/2016/changing-the-culture.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-analysis/reports/Documents/2016/changing-the-culture.pdf</a>.</p><p> </p><p>Government expects institutions to take a proactive response to sexual harassment and ensuring that students feel confident and able to report any issues.</p><p> </p><p>The Taskforce also undertook a review of the ‘Zellick Guidelines’ on how higher education institutions should handle student misconduct which may constitute a criminal offence and published new guidelines alongside the report: <a href="http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-analysis/reports/Documents/2016/guidance-for-higher-education-institutions.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-analysis/reports/Documents/2016/guidance-for-higher-education-institutions.pdf</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The Taskforce’s report raises that underreporting of harassment incidents can often be an issue and clearly sets out the need for institutions to break down barriers to reporting, and ensure that clear, accessible and robust reporting mechanisms are in place. As the report makes clear, low numbers of disclosures do not necessarily mean that incidents do not occur, and this is a factor to consider when making judgments on any changes in levels of disclosure.</p><p> </p><p>To support this work, the department has asked the Higher Education Funding Council to prioritise working with UUK in 2017-2018 on these important issues, including surveying the sector’s progress to make sure universities are doing all they can to protect the safety and security of their students. This will be reported on in due course.</p><p> </p><p>Meanwhile, they have provided over £4 million funding for projects to tackle harassment and hate crime. This includes £2.45 million for projects addressing concerns about sexual violence and harassment.</p> answering member constituency East Surrey answering member printed Mr Sam Gyimah question first answered 25/01/2018 16:34:45 answering member 3980 label Biography information for Mr Sam Gyimah
	tabling member	4658 label Biography information for Alex Sobel

832978

	registered interest
	date	29/01/2018
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Universities: Admissions
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department plans to encourage universities in the Russell Group to recognise vocational qualifications as part of their admissions process; and if he will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds North West
	tabling member printed	Alex Sobel
	uin	125294
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/02/2018 answer text <p>Higher education institutions (HEIs) are independent, autonomous bodies and as such, they are responsible for their own admissions decisions. HEIs are best placed to decide on the information that will help to identify the candidates with the talent and potential to succeed at that institution or on a particular course, including vocational qualifications.</p><p> </p><p>In 2017, 3.5% of UK 18-year-old students were accepted into full-time undergraduate higher education with BTEC qualifications only, including to the most selective institutions – a 1.1% points increase since 2012. In developing new T-levels, technical study programmes that will be akin to A-levels, we have been clear that they must support progression to higher education options, including technical degrees.</p><p> </p><p>This government is committed to widening participation to higher education for students from disadvantaged and under-represented groups.</p><p> </p><p>Following the introduction of the Higher Education and Research Act, from January 2018, the Office for Students (OfS), with a new Director for Fair Access and Participation appointed by the Secretary of State, will take on responsibility for widening participation in higher education. The OfS will have a statutory duty to promote equality of opportunity across the whole lifecycle for disadvantaged students, not just access. As a result, widening access and participation will be at the core of the OfS’ functions.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, our reforms will introduce a Transparency Duty requiring higher education providers to publish application, offer, acceptance, dropout and attainment rates of students broken down by ethnicity, gender and socio-economic background. This will highlight those higher education institutions that need to go further and faster to widen participation in higher education.</p> answering member constituency East Surrey answering member printed Mr Sam Gyimah question first answered 01/02/2018 16:18:18 answering member 3980 label Biography information for Mr Sam Gyimah
	tabling member	4658 label Biography information for Alex Sobel