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1712839

	registered interest
	date	22/04/2024
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Childcare: Lone Parents
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the availability of flexible childcare for single parent families.
	tabling member constituency	York Central
	tabling member printed	Rachael Maskell
	uin	22983
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/04/2024 answer text <p>The department is providing over £4.1 billion by the 2027/28 financial year to fund 30 hours of free childcare per week (38 weeks per year) for working parents with children aged 9 months to 3 years in England. This will remove one of the biggest barriers to parents working by vastly increasing the amount of free childcare that working families can access. This is set to save working families using the full 30 funded hours up to £6,900 per year from when their child is nine months until they are five years old by September next year.</p><p>Already, hundreds of thousands of children aged 3 and 4 are registered for a 30-hour place, which can save eligible working parents up to £6,000 per child per year. Expanding this entitlement will help even more eligible working parents with the cost of childcare and make a real difference to the lives of those families.</p><p>To be eligible for the expanded 30 hours entitlement, as with the current 30 hours offer, parents will need to earn the equivalent of 16 hours a week at national minimum wage or living wage (£183 per week/ £9,518 per year in 2024/2025), and less than £100,000 adjusted net income per year. For families with two parents, both must be working to meet the criteria, unless one is receiving certain benefits. In a single-parent household, the single parent must meet the threshold. This offer aims to support parents to return to work or to work more hours if they wish.</p><p>In addition to the expanded entitlements, the government has also taken action to support parents on Universal Credit with childcare costs upfront when they need it, rather than in arrears. The department has increased support for these parents by increasing the childcare cost maximum amounts to £950 for one child and £1630 for two children.</p><p>Tax-Free Childcare remains available for working parents of children aged 0 to 11, or up to 17 for eligible disabled children. This can save parents up to £2,000 per year, or up to £4,000 for eligible children with disabilities and has the same income criteria as 30 hours free childcare.</p><p>The department is committed to improving the cost, choice, and availability of childcare and government funding schemes are designed to be flexible enough to support families’ different situations.</p><p>For the 2024/25 financial year, the department’s funding rates for the York local authority will be £10.30 per hour for under 2s, £7.59 per hour for the 2 year old entitlements and £5.20 per hour for 3 and 4 year olds.</p><p>The government is also investing £289 million in a new wraparound childcare programme. The government’s ambition is for all parents of primary school children who need it to be able to access childcare in their local area from 8am to 6pm. Parents will still be expected to pay to access this provision, but support will be available to eligible parents through Universal Credit childcare and Tax-Free Childcare.</p><p>Parents should expect to see an expansion in the availability of wraparound care from September 2024, with every parent who needs it able to access term-time wraparound childcare by September 2026. The department is also providing over £200 million a year for the continuation of the Holiday Activities and Food programme and the department is investing a transformational £560 million in youth services in England over the next 3 years. This is part of a wider package the government has provided long term, to support young people facing the greatest challenges.</p><p>The department will also continue to monitor the sufficiency of childcare places across the sector. The department’s Childcare and Early Years Provider Survey shows that both the number of places available and the workforce has increased since 2022.</p><p>Local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, the department discusses what action the local authority is taking to address those issues and where needed support the local authority with any specific requirements through our childcare sufficiency support contract.</p><p>The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston grouped question UIN 22982 question first answered 30/04/2024 16:42:36 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
	tabling member	4471 label Biography information for Rachael Maskell

1712836

	registered interest
	date	22/04/2024
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Childcare: Costs
	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 ensure that the cost of childcare is affordable for single parent families.
	tabling member constituency	York Central
	tabling member printed	Rachael Maskell
	uin	22982
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/04/2024 answer text <p>The department is providing over £4.1 billion by the 2027/28 financial year to fund 30 hours of free childcare per week (38 weeks per year) for working parents with children aged 9 months to 3 years in England. This will remove one of the biggest barriers to parents working by vastly increasing the amount of free childcare that working families can access. This is set to save working families using the full 30 funded hours up to £6,900 per year from when their child is nine months until they are five years old by September next year.</p><p>Already, hundreds of thousands of children aged 3 and 4 are registered for a 30-hour place, which can save eligible working parents up to £6,000 per child per year. Expanding this entitlement will help even more eligible working parents with the cost of childcare and make a real difference to the lives of those families.</p><p>To be eligible for the expanded 30 hours entitlement, as with the current 30 hours offer, parents will need to earn the equivalent of 16 hours a week at national minimum wage or living wage (£183 per week/ £9,518 per year in 2024/2025), and less than £100,000 adjusted net income per year. For families with two parents, both must be working to meet the criteria, unless one is receiving certain benefits. In a single-parent household, the single parent must meet the threshold. This offer aims to support parents to return to work or to work more hours if they wish.</p><p>In addition to the expanded entitlements, the government has also taken action to support parents on Universal Credit with childcare costs upfront when they need it, rather than in arrears. The department has increased support for these parents by increasing the childcare cost maximum amounts to £950 for one child and £1630 for two children.</p><p>Tax-Free Childcare remains available for working parents of children aged 0 to 11, or up to 17 for eligible disabled children. This can save parents up to £2,000 per year, or up to £4,000 for eligible children with disabilities and has the same income criteria as 30 hours free childcare.</p><p>The department is committed to improving the cost, choice, and availability of childcare and government funding schemes are designed to be flexible enough to support families’ different situations.</p><p>For the 2024/25 financial year, the department’s funding rates for the York local authority will be £10.30 per hour for under 2s, £7.59 per hour for the 2 year old entitlements and £5.20 per hour for 3 and 4 year olds.</p><p>The government is also investing £289 million in a new wraparound childcare programme. The government’s ambition is for all parents of primary school children who need it to be able to access childcare in their local area from 8am to 6pm. Parents will still be expected to pay to access this provision, but support will be available to eligible parents through Universal Credit childcare and Tax-Free Childcare.</p><p>Parents should expect to see an expansion in the availability of wraparound care from September 2024, with every parent who needs it able to access term-time wraparound childcare by September 2026. The department is also providing over £200 million a year for the continuation of the Holiday Activities and Food programme and the department is investing a transformational £560 million in youth services in England over the next 3 years. This is part of a wider package the government has provided long term, to support young people facing the greatest challenges.</p><p>The department will also continue to monitor the sufficiency of childcare places across the sector. The department’s Childcare and Early Years Provider Survey shows that both the number of places available and the workforce has increased since 2022.</p><p>Local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, the department discusses what action the local authority is taking to address those issues and where needed support the local authority with any specific requirements through our childcare sufficiency support contract.</p><p>The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston grouped question UIN 22983 question first answered 30/04/2024 16:42:36 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
	tabling member	4471 label Biography information for Rachael Maskell

1714478

	registered interest
	date	23/04/2024
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support the early learning and development of children at home.
	tabling member constituency	Rother Valley
	tabling member printed	Alexander Stafford
	uin	902536
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/04/2024 answer text <p>The department is investing over £300 million to enable 75 local authorities to create family hubs, and to improve vital services to give every baby the best start in life, including support for parenting, perinatal mental health and parent infant relationships, and infant feeding. An additional £29 million has been made available to these local authorities to improve early language development, by supporting parents to help their children learn at home through the provision of evidence-based support with home learning.</p><p>In January 2024, the department launched a national campaign ‘Little Moments Together.’ It offers free resources and advice for parents to enhance children’s language and communication development on the NHS Better Health Start for Life website at: <a href="https://www.nhs.uk/start-for-life/early-learning-development/" target="_blank">https://www.nhs.uk/start-for-life/early-learning-development/</a>. The department’s focus is on educating parents about brain development in the first five years of life, and the crucial role they play. The campaign encourages parents to chat, play, and read more with their children, suggesting ways to fit opportunities into their busy schedules in and around the home. The ‘Little Moments Together’ campaign can be viewed online at: <a href="https://campaignresources.dhsc.gov.uk/campaigns/better-health-start-for-life/better-health-start-for-life-home-learning-environment-2024/" target="_blank">https://campaignresources.dhsc.gov.uk/campaigns/better-health-start-for-life/better-health-start-for-life-home-learning-environment-2024/</a>.</p><p>In addition, the department is working with early years national voluntary and community sector partners, including the National Literacy Trust, to assist family hubs to deliver home learning support to disadvantaged and low-income families. The department has provided £4.5 million in grant funding for partners to develop resources using the ‘Little Moments Together’ campaign messaging, offer peer-led activities directly to parents, and to engage with disadvantaged groups locally on home learning through the developing family hub networks.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston question first answered 30/04/2024 16:00:50 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
	tabling member	4866 label Biography information for Alexander Stafford

1713076

	registered interest
	date	23/04/2024
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Business: Training
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department are taking to encourage businesses to invest in skills training.
	tabling member constituency	Bexleyheath and Crayford
	tabling member printed	Sir David Evennett
	uin	23142
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/04/2024 answer text <p>This government is committed to delivering a world-leading skills system which is employer-focused, high-quality, and fit for the future. The department’s reforms are backed with an investment of £3.8 billion over the course of this Parliament to strengthen higher and further education to help more people get good jobs, upskill and retrain throughout their lives and to improve national productivity.</p><p>Over 5,000 employers have been involved in the development of nearly 700 high-quality apprenticeships to meet their industry skills needs. To support employers of all sizes offer apprenticeships, the government has increased investment in apprenticeships to over £2.7 billion in the 2024/25 financial year. This includes investing a further £60 million to meet overall increased employer demand for apprenticeships and encourage small-medium enterprises (SMEs) to take on young apprentices.</p><p>From April, the department pays 100% of training costs when SMEs take on new apprentices aged 16-21. Additionally, larger employers can now transfer more of their levy funds (50% increased from 25%) to support businesses of all sizes, which will help more employers to invest in apprenticeship training.</p><p>Skills Bootcamps offer free, flexible courses of up to 16 weeks, giving people the chance to build sector-specific skills with an offer of a job interview on completion. Training providers work with employers to ensure training is designed to teach the skills employers need. To date, over 1000 employers have been involved in Skills Bootcamps. Employers play a range of roles from supporting the design and delivery of the training, to recruiting learners that complete training into a job, or an apprenticeship. Employers can also use Skills Bootcamps to upskill their existing employees, subject to a 10% contribution for SMEs and 30% contribution for large employers.</p><p>Institutes of Technology bring education and business closer together, creating unique collaborations between colleges, universities and industry which deliver higher-level technical education with a clear route to high skilled employment. The department has provided £300 million of capital funding for infrastructure and industry standard equipment to increase capacity to deliver level 4/5 technical skills. In addition, employer partners were encouraged to provide additional support (monetary and in kind) which for the wave 2 competition was set at 35% of value of capital expenditure.</p><p>In October 2023, the department launched a new website called Skills for Careers that provides a single digital front door to information about skills training options and careers. A link to Skills for Careers can be found here: <a href="https://www.skillsforcareers.education.gov.uk/pages/skills-for-life" target="_blank">https://www.skillsforcareers.education.gov.uk/pages/skills-for-life</a>. From Skills for Careers, users are guided through government’s skills offer from apprenticeships to Skills Bootcamps, A levels to Multiply. The website provides an overview of each option along with information about writing job applications and CVs.</p><p>Across all areas of England, employer-led Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs) have helped engage thousands of local businesses and have brought them together with local providers and stakeholders to collaboratively agree and deliver actions to address local skills needs. By giving employers a more strategic role in the skills system, LSIPs are helping to drive greater employer investment in skills and ensure businesses are more actively involved in the planning, design and delivery of skills provision.</p><p>Departmental officials are also working with the Office for Investment and Department for Business and Trade to provide support for investors to navigate the skills system at a national and local level and encourage take-up of government funded skills programmes and employer investment in skills, as well as build strategic partnerships with local education and training providers. Whilst it is not a core part of their role, some of the designated employer representative bodies leading the LSIPs have engaged with inward investors as part of developing and implementing their LSIPs.</p> answering member constituency Thornbury and Yate answering member printed Luke Hall question first answered 30/04/2024 14:21:54 answering member 4450 label Biography information for Luke Hall
	tabling member	1198 label Biography information for Sir David Evennett

1713842

	registered interest
	date	25/04/2024
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Assessments: Writing
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the process used by examination boards to award marks for spelling, punctuation and grammar for children who use a scribe in exams.
	tabling member constituency	St Albans
	tabling member printed	Daisy Cooper
	uin	23804
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/04/2024 answer text <p>This is a matter for the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual). The department has asked its Chief Regulator, Sir Ian Bauckham CBE, to write to the hon. Member for St Albans and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds question first answered 30/04/2024 14:15:11 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds
	tabling member	4769 label Biography information for Daisy Cooper

1713651

	registered interest
	date	24/04/2024
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her planned timetable is for publication of the latest Relationships, Sex, Health and Education statutory guidance.
	tabling member constituency	Upper Bann
	tabling member printed	Carla Lockhart
	uin	23622
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/04/2024 answer text <p>The department aims to be in a position to publish a draft of the guidance for the consultation very shortly so that the new guidance will be available as soon as possible this year.</p> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds question first answered 30/04/2024 14:09:15 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds
	tabling member	4857 label Biography information for Carla Lockhart

1713475

	registered interest
	date	24/04/2024
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Pupil Premium
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of not increasing pupil premium funding in line with inflation on disadvantaged students.
	tabling member constituency	Preston
	tabling member printed	Sir Mark Hendrick
	uin	23390
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/04/2024 answer text <p>Pupil premium funding is rising to over £2.9 billion in 2024/25, an increase of around £90 million from 2023 to 2024. In 2024/25 the pupil premium funding rate for primary pupils is £1,480, and £1,050 for secondary pupils. Looked-after, and previously looked-after, children attract a higher rate of £2,570.</p><p> </p><p>These rates for 2024/25 were an increase of 1.7% on those for 2023/24. This increase was in line with inflation as measured by the GDP deflator forecasts when the rates were announced for 2024/25. As the inflation forecast for 2024/25 has since reduced, the increase in pupil premium rates of 1.7% is now higher than the latest inflation forecast.</p><p> </p><p>This increase ensures that this target funding continues to help schools to support disadvantaged pupils and close attainment gaps.</p> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds question first answered 30/04/2024 14:05:43 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds
	tabling member	473 label Biography information for Sir Mark Hendrick

1713163

	registered interest
	date	23/04/2024
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Department for Education: Civil Servants
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish her Department's results in the civil service people survey questions on leadership and managing change for each of the last 14 years.
	tabling member constituency	Houghton and Sunderland South
	tabling member printed	Bridget Phillipson
	uin	23184
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/04/2024 answer text <p>The department’s results for each of the questions in the Civil Service People Survey relating to leadership and managing change are published online:</p><ul><li>Results from 2010 to 2018 can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-for-education-people-survey-results" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-for-education-people-survey-results</a>.</li><li>Results from 2019 to 2023 can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/civil-service-people-surveys" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/civil-service-people-surveys</a>.</li></ul> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds question first answered 30/04/2024 13:59:06 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds
	tabling member	4046 label Biography information for Bridget Phillipson

1712871

	registered interest
	date	22/04/2024
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Higher Education: Greater Manchester
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of increases in the cost of living on the accessibility of higher education for students in Greater Manchester.
	tabling member constituency	Stockport
	tabling member printed	Navendu Mishra
	uin	23060
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/04/2024 answer text <p>The government publishes an Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) is each year to analyse the impact of changes to higher education (HE) student support in England on students with protected characteristics and those from low-income families. The EIA for the 2024/25 academic year was published on GOV.UK on 26 January 2024 and is available at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-student-finance-2024-to-2025-equality-analysis" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-student-finance-2024-to-2025-equality-analysis</a>.</p><p>The department has continued to increase maximum loans and grants for living and other costs for undergraduate and postgraduate students each year with a 2.8% increase for the current academic year, 2023/24, and a further 2.5% increase announced for 2024/25.</p><p>In addition, the department has frozen maximum tuition fees for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years. By 2024/25, maximum fees will have been frozen for seven successive years. The department believes that the current fee freeze achieves the best balance between ensuring that the system remains financially sustainable, offering good value for the taxpayer, and reducing debt levels for students in real terms.</p><p>The government understands the pressures people have been facing with the cost of living and has taken action to help. The department has already made £276 million of student premium and mental health funding available for the 2023/24 academic year to support successful outcomes for students including disadvantaged students.</p><p>The department has also made a further £10 million of one-off support available to support student mental health and hardship funding for 2023/24. This funding will complement the help universities are providing through their own bursary, scholarship and hardship support schemes. For this financial year, 2024/25, the department has increased the Student Premium (full-time, part-time, and disabled premium) by £5 million to reflect high demand for hardship support. Further details of this allocation for the academic year 2024/25 will be announced by the Office for Students (OfS) in the summer.</p><p>Overall, support to households to help with the high cost of living is worth £108 billion over 2022/23 to 2024/25, an average of £3,800 per UK household. The government believes this will have eased the pressure on family budgets and so will in turn enable many families to provide additional support to their children in HE to help them meet increased living costs.</p><p>English domiciled 18 year olds from the most disadvantaged areas are now 74% more likely to enter HE than they were in 2010, and the department is working to close the disadvantage gap with our access and participation reforms.</p><p>The department has tasked the OfS to include support for disadvantaged students before entry to HE in new access and participation plans. Providers should be working meaningfully with schools to ensure that pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds are encouraged and supported to achieve the highest possible grades and follow the path that is best for them, whether that be an apprenticeship or higher technical qualification, or a course at another university.</p> answering member constituency Thornbury and Yate answering member printed Luke Hall question first answered 30/04/2024 13:51:57 answering member 4450 label Biography information for Luke Hall
	tabling member	4811 label Biography information for Navendu Mishra

1713271

	registered interest
	date	23/04/2024
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Academies: Faith Schools
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to remove the 50% cap on faith-based admissions at (a) academies and (b) free schools.
	tabling member constituency	Liverpool, West Derby
	tabling member printed	Ian Byrne
	uin	23353
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/04/2024 answer text <p>The diversity of schools in this country is one of our education system’s most valuable assets and faith schools play a pivotal role in that by providing high-quality school places and choice for parents. This government remains committed in its support for faith schools.</p><p>Faith school providers, including churches, are among the largest providers of academy trusts. As the department moves to an education system that is increasingly based on schools being part of strong academy trusts, the department needs to ensure that it is making the best and full use of the talents of all trusts. This includes having mechanism in place for all providers to open new schools.</p><p>As the department continues to uphold diversity and quality education for all, it is keeping all policies, including the 50% faith admissions cap for free schools with a faith designation, under review to ensure that this country’s education system is world leading.</p> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds question first answered 30/04/2024 13:49:00 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds
	tabling member	4831 label Biography information for Ian Byrne