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758145

registered interest
date	06/09/2017
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Adult Education: Finance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she and her officials had with learndirect Ltd on the withdrawal of its submitted bid for the Adult Education budget procurement for 2017-18.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
uin	9273
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/09/2017 answer text <p>Education and Skills Funding Agency officials have had regular discussions with Learndirect over the last year on a wide range of financial, contractual and quality issues. The Department’s priority is to protect learners and users of other services run by Learndirect.</p><p> </p><p>Once Learndirect made the decision to withdraw from the Adult Education Budget (AEB) procurement, they were informed that they would be treated in the same way as other providers who have not been awarded a contract as a result of the AEB procurement. This includes a clear contractual end date for provision, which is 31 July 2018.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Guildford answering member printed Anne Milton question first answered 11/09/2017 12:20:08 answering member 1523 label Biography information for Anne Milton
tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

758153

registered interest
date	06/09/2017
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education: Public Appointments
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she expects to appoint a permanent chief executive of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
uin	9299
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/09/2017 answer text <p>The Institute for Apprenticeships is responsible for appointing its Chief Executive in consultation with the Secretary of State for Education, and the Institute remains committed to filling the post as soon as possible.</p><p>Peter Lauener is the first Chief Executive for the Institute and an experienced senior leadership team supports him. Mr Lauener will remain in post until the new Chief Executive is appointed to ensure continuity of leadership.</p> answering member constituency Guildford answering member printed Anne Milton question first answered 11/09/2017 12:17:31 answering member 1523 label Biography information for Anne Milton
tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

756753

registered interest
date	04/09/2017
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Learndirect
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding has been allocated to learndirect Ltd from the Adult Education budget between 1 November 2017 and 31 July 2018.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
uin	8411
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/09/2017 answer text <p>Learndirect is a large provider of adult education and training under contract to the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA). It also provides services to other government departments, including the professional skills test for prospective teachers for the Department for Education, the ‘Life in the UK’ citizenship test for the Home Office and the work programme for the Department for Work and Pensions. In all it delivers training for around 80,000 people a year, and tests for more than 150,000 people. Our priority is to protect those learners and avoid disruption to testing services.</p><p> </p><p>In order to protect provision for learners and ensure an orderly rundown of contracts, all existing Adult Education Budget (AEB) contract holders who did not participate in the recent procurement or who were unsuccessful have been offered a contract extension for the period 1 November 2017 to 31 July 2018. The extensions are equivalent to 49% of their 2016/17 allocation. Learndirect Ltd originally submitted a bid for this procurement but withdrew it before its conclusion, so were offered an extension on this basis, which equates to £29.19m. All providers offered this extension are not able to secure any further extension after July 2018.</p><p>We have agreed to extend Learndirect’s contract for adult education in order to protect the large number of learners and avoid disruption to other government services delivered by this provider. This decision also reflects the fact that Learndirect’s adult education provision, and their leadership and management, was graded 3 by Ofsted at the recent inspection. Learndirect’s provision will be subject to regular monitoring arrangements during the rundown, and if we have any concerns about the quality of delivery we will take action. If we had not agreed to extend Learndirect’s contract in this way the large number of learners currently on courses and other government services could have been at risk. The ESFA will closely monitor Learndirect’s performance during the extended contract and will take action if there are any concerns.</p><p> </p><p>AEB funding levels for 2017/18 for individual contract-based providers were determined either by the outcome of the procurement, or the standard methodology that applies to run down contracts that is set out above. There were separate arrangements in place for allocating funding to grant-based providers, which includes most colleges.</p><p> </p><p>In order to ensure continuity of provision for learners, all existing AEB contract holders, including Learndirect Ltd, were issued with a three-month contract extension for the period 1 August to 31 October 2017 to bridge the period between the end of the previous funding year and the commencement of the period after the procurement. All providers were offered the same percentage (26%) of their 2016/17 allocation. For Learndirect Ltd this equates to £15.96m.</p> answering member constituency Guildford answering member printed Anne Milton grouped question UIN 8409 8410 8412 question first answered 07/09/2017 16:02:19 answering member 1523 label Biography information for Anne Milton
tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

756754

registered interest
date	04/09/2017
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Learndirect
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reasons learndirect Ltd is being permitted to recruit additional adult education learners in the light of its Grade 4 assessment by Ofsted.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
uin	8412
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/09/2017 answer text <p>Learndirect is a large provider of adult education and training under contract to the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA). It also provides services to other government departments, including the professional skills test for prospective teachers for the Department for Education, the ‘Life in the UK’ citizenship test for the Home Office and the work programme for the Department for Work and Pensions. In all it delivers training for around 80,000 people a year, and tests for more than 150,000 people. Our priority is to protect those learners and avoid disruption to testing services.</p><p> </p><p>In order to protect provision for learners and ensure an orderly rundown of contracts, all existing Adult Education Budget (AEB) contract holders who did not participate in the recent procurement or who were unsuccessful have been offered a contract extension for the period 1 November 2017 to 31 July 2018. The extensions are equivalent to 49% of their 2016/17 allocation. Learndirect Ltd originally submitted a bid for this procurement but withdrew it before its conclusion, so were offered an extension on this basis, which equates to £29.19m. All providers offered this extension are not able to secure any further extension after July 2018.</p><p>We have agreed to extend Learndirect’s contract for adult education in order to protect the large number of learners and avoid disruption to other government services delivered by this provider. This decision also reflects the fact that Learndirect’s adult education provision, and their leadership and management, was graded 3 by Ofsted at the recent inspection. Learndirect’s provision will be subject to regular monitoring arrangements during the rundown, and if we have any concerns about the quality of delivery we will take action. If we had not agreed to extend Learndirect’s contract in this way the large number of learners currently on courses and other government services could have been at risk. The ESFA will closely monitor Learndirect’s performance during the extended contract and will take action if there are any concerns.</p><p> </p><p>AEB funding levels for 2017/18 for individual contract-based providers were determined either by the outcome of the procurement, or the standard methodology that applies to run down contracts that is set out above. There were separate arrangements in place for allocating funding to grant-based providers, which includes most colleges.</p><p> </p><p>In order to ensure continuity of provision for learners, all existing AEB contract holders, including Learndirect Ltd, were issued with a three-month contract extension for the period 1 August to 31 October 2017 to bridge the period between the end of the previous funding year and the commencement of the period after the procurement. All providers were offered the same percentage (26%) of their 2016/17 allocation. For Learndirect Ltd this equates to £15.96m.</p> answering member constituency Guildford answering member printed Anne Milton grouped question UIN 8409 8410 8411 question first answered 07/09/2017 16:02:19 answering member 1523 label Biography information for Anne Milton
tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

756755

registered interest
date	04/09/2017
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Learndirect
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding from the Adult Education budget was requested by learndirect Ltd for 2017-18.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
uin	8409
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/09/2017 answer text <p>Learndirect is a large provider of adult education and training under contract to the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA). It also provides services to other government departments, including the professional skills test for prospective teachers for the Department for Education, the ‘Life in the UK’ citizenship test for the Home Office and the work programme for the Department for Work and Pensions. In all it delivers training for around 80,000 people a year, and tests for more than 150,000 people. Our priority is to protect those learners and avoid disruption to testing services.</p><p> </p><p>In order to protect provision for learners and ensure an orderly rundown of contracts, all existing Adult Education Budget (AEB) contract holders who did not participate in the recent procurement or who were unsuccessful have been offered a contract extension for the period 1 November 2017 to 31 July 2018. The extensions are equivalent to 49% of their 2016/17 allocation. Learndirect Ltd originally submitted a bid for this procurement but withdrew it before its conclusion, so were offered an extension on this basis, which equates to £29.19m. All providers offered this extension are not able to secure any further extension after July 2018.</p><p>We have agreed to extend Learndirect’s contract for adult education in order to protect the large number of learners and avoid disruption to other government services delivered by this provider. This decision also reflects the fact that Learndirect’s adult education provision, and their leadership and management, was graded 3 by Ofsted at the recent inspection. Learndirect’s provision will be subject to regular monitoring arrangements during the rundown, and if we have any concerns about the quality of delivery we will take action. If we had not agreed to extend Learndirect’s contract in this way the large number of learners currently on courses and other government services could have been at risk. The ESFA will closely monitor Learndirect’s performance during the extended contract and will take action if there are any concerns.</p><p> </p><p>AEB funding levels for 2017/18 for individual contract-based providers were determined either by the outcome of the procurement, or the standard methodology that applies to run down contracts that is set out above. There were separate arrangements in place for allocating funding to grant-based providers, which includes most colleges.</p><p> </p><p>In order to ensure continuity of provision for learners, all existing AEB contract holders, including Learndirect Ltd, were issued with a three-month contract extension for the period 1 August to 31 October 2017 to bridge the period between the end of the previous funding year and the commencement of the period after the procurement. All providers were offered the same percentage (26%) of their 2016/17 allocation. For Learndirect Ltd this equates to £15.96m.</p> answering member constituency Guildford answering member printed Anne Milton grouped question UIN 8410 8411 8412 question first answered 07/09/2017 16:02:19 answering member 1523 label Biography information for Anne Milton
tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

756756

registered interest
date	04/09/2017
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Learndirect
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding her Department allocated to learndirect Ltd from the Adult Education budget between 1 August and 31 October 2017.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
uin	8410
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/09/2017 answer text <p>Learndirect is a large provider of adult education and training under contract to the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA). It also provides services to other government departments, including the professional skills test for prospective teachers for the Department for Education, the ‘Life in the UK’ citizenship test for the Home Office and the work programme for the Department for Work and Pensions. In all it delivers training for around 80,000 people a year, and tests for more than 150,000 people. Our priority is to protect those learners and avoid disruption to testing services.</p><p> </p><p>In order to protect provision for learners and ensure an orderly rundown of contracts, all existing Adult Education Budget (AEB) contract holders who did not participate in the recent procurement or who were unsuccessful have been offered a contract extension for the period 1 November 2017 to 31 July 2018. The extensions are equivalent to 49% of their 2016/17 allocation. Learndirect Ltd originally submitted a bid for this procurement but withdrew it before its conclusion, so were offered an extension on this basis, which equates to £29.19m. All providers offered this extension are not able to secure any further extension after July 2018.</p><p>We have agreed to extend Learndirect’s contract for adult education in order to protect the large number of learners and avoid disruption to other government services delivered by this provider. This decision also reflects the fact that Learndirect’s adult education provision, and their leadership and management, was graded 3 by Ofsted at the recent inspection. Learndirect’s provision will be subject to regular monitoring arrangements during the rundown, and if we have any concerns about the quality of delivery we will take action. If we had not agreed to extend Learndirect’s contract in this way the large number of learners currently on courses and other government services could have been at risk. The ESFA will closely monitor Learndirect’s performance during the extended contract and will take action if there are any concerns.</p><p> </p><p>AEB funding levels for 2017/18 for individual contract-based providers were determined either by the outcome of the procurement, or the standard methodology that applies to run down contracts that is set out above. There were separate arrangements in place for allocating funding to grant-based providers, which includes most colleges.</p><p> </p><p>In order to ensure continuity of provision for learners, all existing AEB contract holders, including Learndirect Ltd, were issued with a three-month contract extension for the period 1 August to 31 October 2017 to bridge the period between the end of the previous funding year and the commencement of the period after the procurement. All providers were offered the same percentage (26%) of their 2016/17 allocation. For Learndirect Ltd this equates to £15.96m.</p> answering member constituency Guildford answering member printed Anne Milton grouped question UIN 8409 8411 8412 question first answered 07/09/2017 16:02:19 answering member 1523 label Biography information for Anne Milton
tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

752936

registered interest
date	17/07/2017
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Sixth Form Education
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 13 July 2017 to Question 3811, what discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the use of the £267 million underspend in the budget for 16 to 19 year old education.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
uin	5438
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/07/2017 answer text <p>The 16-19 budget set for each financial year is a forecast of anticipated spend. Actual spend varies from this because it is based on set funding rates per student. If actual student numbers are lower than forecast, the department works in conjunction with the Treasury to try to reallocate any underspends to other priorities in a way that maximises value for money. This could include a proposal to redeploy the funding to the next financial year. If alternative value for money activities cannot be identified, the funding is returned to the Treasury to support the overall fiscal position.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Guildford answering member printed Anne Milton question first answered 20/07/2017 16:46:08 answering member 1523 label Biography information for Anne Milton
tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

752938

registered interest
date	17/07/2017
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Higher Education: Part-time Education
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 reasons for the decline in part-time undergraduate study among (a) higher-income households and (b) lower-income households.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
uin	5437
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/07/2017 answer text <p>Studying part-time brings enormous benefits for individuals, the economy and employers. Government regularly assesses the reasons for the decline in part-time undergraduate numbers since their peak in 2008 but does not hold data on their household income background.</p><p> </p><p>We are committed to helping people from all backgrounds enter higher education in a way that suits them and we have taken action to support those who to choose to study part-time. These actions include:</p><p> </p><ul><li>From 2012, the offer of up-front fee loans for eligible part-time students, to level the playing field with undergraduate study;</li></ul><p> </p><ul><li>From academic year 2018/19, the introduction of undergraduate part-time maintenance loans, to bring greater parity of support between part-time and full-time;</li></ul><p> </p><ul><li>From 2015, the relaxation of Equivalent or Lower Qualification rules, so students who already hold an honours degree qualification and wish to study part-time on a second honours degree course in engineering, technology or computer science, have qualified for fee loans for their course. This is being extended for academic year 2017/18 to graduates starting a second part-time honours degree course in any STEM subject.</li></ul> answering member constituency Orpington answering member printed Joseph Johnson question first answered 20/07/2017 16:48:35 answering member 4039 label Biography information for Lord Johnson of Marylebone
tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

751740

registered interest
date	13/07/2017
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, what estimate she has made of the fall in the number of (a) overall applications, (b) mature student applications and (c) EU student applications to UK universities for the 2017-18 academic year.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
uin	4904
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/07/2017 answer text <p>The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) publish data on the number of applicants by the 30 June deadline. Note that UCAS data covers applications to full-time undergraduate courses only.</p><p>Data for the 2017 cycle is available here:</p><p><a href="https://www.ucas.com/corporate/data-and-analysis/ucas-undergraduate-releases/2017-cycle-applicant-figures-june-deadline-0" target="_blank">https://www.ucas.com/corporate/data-and-analysis/ucas-undergraduate-releases/2017-cycle-applicant-figures-june-deadline-0</a></p><p>Figures on the overall number of applicants and EU applicants are in Table I.2 of the <em>Summary statistics of applicants</em> file:</p><p><a href="https://www.ucas.com/file/115901/download?token=bzdJIyHR" target="_blank">https://www.ucas.com/file/115901/download?token=bzdJIyHR</a></p><p>Figures on the number of applicants by age are in Table I.7.2 of the <em>Analysis of applicants by single age</em> file:</p><p><a href="https://www.ucas.com/file/115936/download?token=xzHV52xz" target="_blank">https://www.ucas.com/file/115936/download?token=xzHV52xz</a></p><p>Widening access to higher education (HE) is a priority for this Government, and everyone with the talent and potential to succeed in HE should have the opportunity to do so, regardless of their background. Good progress has been made, with 18 year olds from disadvantaged backgrounds 43% more likely to go to university now than in 2009, but we want to do more.</p><p>That is why we continue to push for improvement in these areas. Through the Higher Education and Research Act 2017, the Office for Students will have a statutory duty to promote equality of opportunity in access and participation for all students. The Act introduces a Transparency Duty that will require HE institutions to publish data on the access and success of certain groups of students. Greater transparency will push universities to build on what has already been achieved.</p><p>Our guidance to the Director for Fair Access in 2016 asked him to encourage institutions to make more effort in the area of recruiting more mature learners and this is reflected in guidance to institutions on access agreements. We are removing barriers to the growth of accelerated courses, which particularly appeal to mature students.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is listening to the sector’s concerns about Brexit and has taken action to provide greater certainty. We have announced that EU students starting their courses in the academic year 18/19 or before will continue to be eligible for student loans and home fee status for the duration of their course.</p> answering member constituency Orpington answering member printed Joseph Johnson question first answered 19/07/2017 11:44:25 answering member 4039 label Biography information for Lord Johnson of Marylebone
tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

751763

registered interest
date	13/07/2017
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education: Finance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the (a) current annual budget is of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education and (b) the anticipated budget for the 2018-19 financial year.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
tabling member printed	Gordon Marsden
uin	4907
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/07/2017 answer text <p>The budget for the Institute for Apprenticeships for 2017-18 is £9,656,000. The department has yet to agree a budget for the Institute for 2018-19 financial year.</p><p> </p><p>The Institute employs 87.5 full-time equivalent permanent staff.</p> answering member constituency Guildford answering member printed Anne Milton grouped question UIN 4908 question first answered 18/07/2017 09:17:16 answering member 1523 label Biography information for Anne Milton
tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden