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1140175

registered interest
date	18/07/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Further 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 the potential merits in extending consumer protection law to cover further education courses.
tabling member constituency	Canterbury
tabling member printed	Rosie Duffield
uin	279134
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/07/2019 answer text <p>An assessment of the potential merits of extending consumer protection law to cover further education (FE) courses has not been made. However, the government promotes high quality FE within a regulatory framework, that aims to protect the rights of learners accessing FE courses.</p><p> </p><p>FE college corporations operate as independent charities and are subject to robust accountability arrangements for the public funding they receive. Ofsted inspects and publicly reports on the quality of education within FE providers. The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) allocates significant annual funding to providers of education and skills training for young people and adults. ESFA holds providers to account for their performance to ensure they consistently raise standards.</p><p> </p><p>The FE Choices learner satisfaction survey 2017-18 captures learners’ experiences of their college or training organisation. The most recent survey was published by the department on 19 July and reports that 82% of learners were ‘likely’ or ‘extremely likely’ to recommend their learning provider to friends or family.</p><p>FE providers must also ensure that complaint handling processes and practices are accessible, clear and fair to learners.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Guildford answering member printed Anne Milton question first answered 23/07/2019 07:13:04 answering member 1523 label Biography information for Anne Milton
tabling member	4616 label Biography information for Rosie Duffield

1140224

registered interest
date	18/07/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Adoption: Finance
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 respond to the recommendations in the all-party Parliamentary group on adoption and permanence’s report entitled Investing in Families, published 16 July 2019.
tabling member constituency	South Shields
tabling member printed	Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck
uin	279068
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/07/2019 answer text <p>There are no plans for the department to formally respond to the recommendations in the All-Party Parliamentary Group on adoption and permanence’s report entitled ‘Investing in Families’ at this time.</p><p>We welcome the fact that the report shows how thousands of children have had their lives transformed by therapeutic support provided by the Adoption Support Fund as they settle in to their new homes. The government has spent more than £124 million through the fund which has benefitted more than 44,500 families.</p><p>The report has helpfully identified a number of areas for improvement in the delivery of the Adoption Support Fund that will be considered carefully over the coming months and be incorporated into our Spending Review plans.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 23/07/2019 15:36:40 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
tabling member	4277 label Biography information for Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck

1140229

registered interest
date	18/07/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children: Food Poverty
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has made an estimate of the number of children who are at risk of experiencing hunger during the school summer holidays in 2019.
tabling member constituency	Liverpool, West Derby
tabling member printed	Stephen Twigg
uin	278892
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/07/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is not held centrally.</p><p>In 2018, the department announced a programme of work to explore ways of supporting disadvantaged families during school holidays. We received 94 applications for funding from organisations across the country, for a share of £2 million.</p><p>The 2018 programme saw charities and community groups provide meals and activities such as football, play sessions, and cooking classes for more than 18,000 children across the country. Building on this, the department has quadrupled funding and strengthened the programme to encourage coordination in local communities, so that even more disadvantaged children can benefit from the programme. Applications were invited from organisations to act as coordinators in a specific local authority area. The 2019 programme received 92 applications and selected 11 locations for funding, including at least one in each of the 9 regions of England. This summer, around 50,000 disadvantaged children will be offered free meals and activities over the upcoming summer holidays, funded by £9.1 million.</p><p>The purpose of this programme is to allow us to gather more evidence about the scale of the issue, the most effective ways of tackling it, and the costs and delivery challenges associated with doing so. As a result, the department will be able to make an evidence based decision about whether and how we should intervene in the longer term.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi grouped question UIN 278893 question first answered 23/07/2019 15:27:47 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
tabling member	167 label Biography information for Stephen Twigg

1140230

registered interest
date	18/07/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Children: Food Poverty
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support her Department is providing to families with children who are at risk of experiencing hunger during the school summer holidays in 2019.
tabling member constituency	Liverpool, West Derby
tabling member printed	Stephen Twigg
uin	278893
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/07/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is not held centrally.</p><p>In 2018, the department announced a programme of work to explore ways of supporting disadvantaged families during school holidays. We received 94 applications for funding from organisations across the country, for a share of £2 million.</p><p>The 2018 programme saw charities and community groups provide meals and activities such as football, play sessions, and cooking classes for more than 18,000 children across the country. Building on this, the department has quadrupled funding and strengthened the programme to encourage coordination in local communities, so that even more disadvantaged children can benefit from the programme. Applications were invited from organisations to act as coordinators in a specific local authority area. The 2019 programme received 92 applications and selected 11 locations for funding, including at least one in each of the 9 regions of England. This summer, around 50,000 disadvantaged children will be offered free meals and activities over the upcoming summer holidays, funded by £9.1 million.</p><p>The purpose of this programme is to allow us to gather more evidence about the scale of the issue, the most effective ways of tackling it, and the costs and delivery challenges associated with doing so. As a result, the department will be able to make an evidence based decision about whether and how we should intervene in the longer term.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi grouped question UIN 278892 question first answered 23/07/2019 15:27:47 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
tabling member	167 label Biography information for Stephen Twigg

1140336

registered interest
date	18/07/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pupils: Incontinence
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information his Department holds on the number of pupils who experience bowel and bladder problems; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the needs of those pupils are met.
tabling member constituency	Wythenshawe and Sale East
tabling member printed	Mike Kane
uin	279070
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/07/2019 answer text <p>The information requested regarding the number of pupils who experience bowel and bladder problems is not held centrally. However, the government is committed to ensuring that pupils with medical conditions are properly supported at school so that they have full access to education.</p><p> </p><p>In 2014, the government introduced a new duty on schools to support pupils with all medical conditions, and has published statutory guidance on this for schools and others. The guidance can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The guidance does not specify which medical conditions should be supported in schools. Instead, it focuses on how to meet the needs of each individual child and the impact of their medical condition on school life.</p><p> </p><p>Schools also have duties under the Equality Act (2010) to make reasonable adjustments and not to discriminate against disabled children, including those with long-term health conditions such as bowel and bladder conditions, in relation to their access to education and associated services. Schools must make reasonable adjustments to their practices, procedures and policies to ensure that they are not putting those with long term health problems at a disadvantage.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 23/07/2019 14:52:55 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
tabling member	4316 label Biography information for Mike Kane

1140357

registered interest
date	18/07/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Higher Education: Admissions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of requiring universities in England to use contextual admissions tools to widen participation in higher education.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
uin	278922
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/07/2019 answer text <p>Widening access and participation in higher education is a priority for this government. This means that everyone with the capability to succeed in higher education should have the opportunity to participate, regardless of their background or where they grew up.</p><p>We have made real progress in ensuring universities are open to all, with record rates of disadvantaged 18 year olds in higher education. However, we are aware that more needs to be done to ensure that background isn’t a barrier to realising potential in higher education.</p><p>Many higher education providers are already using contextual admissions, to support widening access, and the government supports this.</p><p>It’s important that higher education providers use good quality and meaningful data to identify disadvantage and under-representation. We encourage institutions to use a range of measures to identify disadvantage and under-representation, including individual-level indicators, area data (such as POLAR, Index of Multiple Deprivation or ACORN), school data, intersectional data such as the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service's (UCAS) Multiple Equality Measure and participation in outreach activities. The department is continuing to work with the Office for Students, UCAS and sector representatives to further explore how we can support universities to improve and enhance access to data.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 23/07/2019 07:33:37 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1140360

registered interest
date	18/07/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Schools: Admissions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps he has taken to widen access to the highest performing schools in England and Wales.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
uin	278923
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/07/2019 answer text <p>86% of schools in England are good or outstanding.</p><p>The Department has committed £7 billion to create new school places between 2015 and 2021, the vast majority of which are being created in the best existing schools or through good new schools. The Department is on track to create 1 million places this decade, the largest increase in school capacity in at least two generations.</p><p>Of the mainstream free schools approved between 2014 and 2017, 86% have been in areas where there was a need for more school places. 84% of free schools with inspection reports published by the end of May are rated good or outstanding.</p><p> </p><p>98% of grammar schools are also good or outstanding and the Department wants more disadvantaged pupils to be able to access a place at them. That is why it has made £100 million available through the Selective Schools Expansion Fund to create additional places, where needed, in selective schools that commit to a plan to improve access for disadvantaged children. In 2018 the Department announced 16 selective schools to be funded to expand, and it launched a second bidding round in 2019.</p><p>Education is a devolved matter and it is for the Welsh national assembly to decide on education in Wales.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 23/07/2019 15:45:06 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1140381

registered interest
date	18/07/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Citizenship: Education
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has plans to make citizenship education a priority subject for teacher training.
tabling member constituency	Walthamstow
tabling member printed	Stella Creasy
uin	278987
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/07/2019 answer text <p>The Department is committed to ensuring that teaching remains an attractive profession and that graduates can access high quality teacher training across all subjects. That’s why in January the Department launched the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy. Designed collaboratively with the sector, the centrepiece of the strategy is the Early Career Framework (ECF) which will underpin a fully-funded, two-year support package for new teachers, providing them with the early career support enjoyed by other top professionals.</p><p> </p><p>The Government offers student finance for all tuition fee funded citizenship teacher training courses, including a tuition fee loan which means that trainee teachers do not need to pay fees upfront. Citizenship trainee teachers can also apply for a maintenance loan to support their living costs. Those considering citizenship Initial Teacher Training (ITT) are eligible for one to one support from Teacher Training Advisers, to guide them through their journey into teaching. They can access this support by registering with Get into Teaching.</p><p> </p><p>For some subjects, the Department provide bursaries to incentivise applications. The Department has had to take difficult decisions about where to focus this bursaries budget. As schools enter more pupils for English Baccalaureate (EBacc) subjects, it is expected that there will be more demand for specialist teachers in these subjects. The Department has therefore focused the bursaries budget on EBacc subjects to secure as many applicants as possible in the subjects where schools are likely to devote the most teaching time.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 23/07/2019 15:49:40 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
tabling member	4088 label Biography information for Stella Creasy

1140386

registered interest
date	18/07/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	National Retraining Scheme
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the get help to retrain scheme, whether the digital service will include the assessment of adults' (a) qualifications and (b) skills.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
uin	278909
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/07/2019 answer text <p>Get Help to Retrain is the first of a series of products that will make up the full National Retraining Scheme (NRS). We are expecting the NRS to evolve and grow as we learn better what best works.</p><p>With support from qualified National Careers Service advisers, the service will support adults to understand which skills they have from their current role and which further skills would be required for a potential new, better job.</p><p>In addition, the service helps people to find training opportunities that may help the user to bridge the skills gap to a new role, initially consisting of training currently available and later including more bespoke offerings. It will also direct users to local job opportunities that could be within their reach.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Guildford answering member printed Anne Milton question first answered 23/07/2019 07:27:21 answering member 1523 label Biography information for Anne Milton
tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

1140389

registered interest
date	18/07/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Further Education: Fees and Charges
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions he has had with the office for students on registration fees for further education colleges.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
uin	278910
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/07/2019 answer text <p>All providers are being treated equitably.</p><p> </p><p>We consulted with all providers, including further education (FE) colleges, twice, on the introduction of registration fees (from December 2016 until March 2017, and from October 2017 until December 2017). The Office for Students (OfS) separately consulted on the model for deciding how student numbers should be determined to inform the fee levels. It published the outcomes of this consultation in October 2018. Following the consultation processes, a number of additional bands were added for smaller providers compared with the original proposal. The costs for a very small provider have decreased from the second phase of the consultation, where a provider with 0-50 full-time equivalent student numbers, the lowest band, was proposed to pay £18,200. Providers with full-time equivalent student numbers of no more than 25 will now pay £12,300, and providers with more than 25 but no more than 50 (full time equivalent) will pay £15,350.</p><p> </p><p>We also considered the impact of fees more widely and published an impact assessment in March 2019. The impact assessment considered higher education providers – including FE colleges – taxpayers, the government and students. The impact assessment report stated:</p><p>‘We have … analysed Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) college accounts data for 120 FE colleges with Higher Education Funding Council for England funded learners, that have applied to register and found that FE colleges would be paying on average 0.2% of their total income in registration fees. This ranges from 0.05% to 1.3% of total income but with just one provider paying more than 1%. … these proportions are very small and highly unlikely to impede competition in the higher education market.’</p><p> </p><p>We have committed to a full review of registration fees after 2 years, when the impact of the fees on all providers will be clearer.</p><p> </p><p>I meet regularly with the Chair and officials from the OfS to discuss a wide range of issues, including the financial health of all parts of the higher education sector, which is kept under constant review by the OfS.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore grouped question UIN 278912 278913 question first answered 23/07/2019 07:17:32 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden