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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

1713880

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	Education: Standards
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of the findings in the report by Action for Children in their report entitled Above and beyond, published on 25 April 2024, on the number of children that experience barriers to their education due to issues outside school.
tabling member constituency	York Central
tabling member printed	Rachael Maskell
uin	23758
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/05/2024 answer text <p>This government recognises the importance of providing early and timely help for children to support them to achieve their full potential at school so that they can thrive in adulthood.</p><p>At the last spending review, the department announced over £1 billion toward programmes to improve early help services from birth to adulthood, including delivering on Family Hubs and helping families facing multiple disadvantage through the Supporting Families and Holiday Activities and Food programmes.</p><p>The department’s statutory guidance, titled ‘Working together to safeguard children’, which was updated in 2023, confirms the expectation that local areas should have a range of evidence-based services available to provide early support for children and families who need it.</p><p>In ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’, the department announced plans to build on the strengths of early help services through the implementation of Family Help. In the Families First for Children Pathfinder, the department is investigating how multi-disciplinary family help teams can provide targeted support to help children and families overcome challenges at the earliest opportunity.</p><p>The department is spending more on children’s mental health services than ever before and working across government to ensure partnerships working across different sectors are delivering for children who need support.</p><p>The department is also continuing to roll out Mental Health Support Teams in education settings and supporting schools and colleges to train senior mental health leads, ensuring that as many young people as possible have access to the support they need.</p><p>Up to an additional £2.3 billion of additional funding a year since 2018/19 has been allocated to expand and transform mental health services. This is with the aim that 345,000 more children and young people will have been able to access NHS-funded mental health support by March 2024.</p><p>The department is making the ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance statutory from September 2024. This sets out how schools, local authorities and other services need to work together to support pupils at risk of poor attendance and how support provided to these families is consistent across the country.</p><p>The department’s package of wide-ranging reforms designed to support schools to improve attendance means there were 440,000 fewer children persistently absent or not attending in 2022/23 compared to 2021/22.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston grouped question UIN 23759 question first answered 01/05/2024 14:18:36 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
tabling member	4471 label Biography information for Rachael Maskell

1713883

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	Education: Standards
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the findings in the report by Action for Children in their report entitled Above and beyond, published on 25 April 2024 on the number of children that experience barriers to their education due to issues outside school, what steps her Department is taking to provide (a) early and (b) timely help to affected families.
tabling member constituency	York Central
tabling member printed	Rachael Maskell
uin	23759
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/05/2024 answer text <p>This government recognises the importance of providing early and timely help for children to support them to achieve their full potential at school so that they can thrive in adulthood.</p><p>At the last spending review, the department announced over £1 billion toward programmes to improve early help services from birth to adulthood, including delivering on Family Hubs and helping families facing multiple disadvantage through the Supporting Families and Holiday Activities and Food programmes.</p><p>The department’s statutory guidance, titled ‘Working together to safeguard children’, which was updated in 2023, confirms the expectation that local areas should have a range of evidence-based services available to provide early support for children and families who need it.</p><p>In ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’, the department announced plans to build on the strengths of early help services through the implementation of Family Help. In the Families First for Children Pathfinder, the department is investigating how multi-disciplinary family help teams can provide targeted support to help children and families overcome challenges at the earliest opportunity.</p><p>The department is spending more on children’s mental health services than ever before and working across government to ensure partnerships working across different sectors are delivering for children who need support.</p><p>The department is also continuing to roll out Mental Health Support Teams in education settings and supporting schools and colleges to train senior mental health leads, ensuring that as many young people as possible have access to the support they need.</p><p>Up to an additional £2.3 billion of additional funding a year since 2018/19 has been allocated to expand and transform mental health services. This is with the aim that 345,000 more children and young people will have been able to access NHS-funded mental health support by March 2024.</p><p>The department is making the ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance statutory from September 2024. This sets out how schools, local authorities and other services need to work together to support pupils at risk of poor attendance and how support provided to these families is consistent across the country.</p><p>The department’s package of wide-ranging reforms designed to support schools to improve attendance means there were 440,000 fewer children persistently absent or not attending in 2022/23 compared to 2021/22.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston grouped question UIN 23758 question first answered 01/05/2024 14:18:36 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
tabling member	4471 label Biography information for Rachael Maskell

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

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

1713075

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	T-levels: Student Wastage
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students who have started T-Level courses have not completed them in the last two years.
tabling member constituency	Bexleyheath and Crayford
tabling member printed	Sir David Evennett
uin	23141
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/05/2024 answer text <p>The department’s recently published 2023/24 T Level Action Plan outlines the developments and next steps for T Levels and includes the latest student data for the programme. It shows that 5,321 students began their T Level in 2021/22. In summer 2023, 3,592 of those students were retained (68%), and 3,510 were retained and assessed (66%). Further data about T Levels, as well as details of the methodology used in the above can be found here: <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66290c86b0ace32985a7e6d6/T_Level_action_plan_-_analytical_annex.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66290c86b0ace32985a7e6d6/T_Level_action_plan_-_analytical_annex.pdf</a>.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Thornbury and Yate answering member printed Luke Hall question first answered 01/05/2024 13:59:24 answering member 4450 label Biography information for Luke Hall
tabling member	1198 label Biography information for Sir David Evennett

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

1713078

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	Overseas Students: Finance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an estimate of the number of British National Overseas visa holders that are unable to access student finance.
tabling member constituency	Warwick and Leamington
tabling member printed	Matt Western
uin	23263
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/05/2024 answer text <p>Under the existing student support regulations, Hong Kong British National Overseas (BNO) visa holders would not have access to student finance until they have acquired a settled status in the UK and meet the three-year ordinary residence requirement. As the BNO route only opened in January 2021, the earliest a person is likely to become settled (and have access student finance) is in January 2026. As such, all persons who have been granted leave under the BNO route, are not currently able to access student finance.</p><p>Home Office statistics show that 140,300 people have arrived in the UK on the scheme since it began. However, not all of these people will go on to study in higher education.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Thornbury and Yate answering member printed Luke Hall question first answered 01/05/2024 13:57:32 answering member 4450 label Biography information for Luke Hall
tabling member	4617 label Biography information for Matt Western

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
hansard heading	Pre-school 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

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