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1713024

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	Apprentices: Small Businesses
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many level 7 apprenticeship starts there have been in small and medium sized businesses in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Walthamstow
tabling member printed	Stella Creasy
uin	23193
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/04/2024 answer text <p>The most recent statistics on apprenticeship starts by business size relate to the 2020/21 academic year and are available here: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships-in-england-by-industry-characteristics" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships-in-england-by-industry-characteristics</a>.</p><p>The following table shows the number of apprenticeship starts at Level 6 and above by business size in the last five academic years for which data is available. Apprenticeships at Level 6 and 7 are not split out within published data so the figures are a combined total.</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>2016/17</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2017/18</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2</strong><strong>018/19</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2</strong><strong>019/20</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2</strong><strong>020/21</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>S</strong><strong>mall (0-49 employees)</strong></p></td><td><p>240</p></td><td><p>1,430</p></td><td><p>2,880</p></td><td><p>3,870</p></td><td><p>5,540</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>M</strong><strong>edium (50-249 employees)</strong></p></td><td><p>80</p></td><td><p>850</p></td><td><p>1,550</p></td><td><p>1,850</p></td><td><p>2,390</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>Data for 2021/22 will be published in July 2024.</p><p>Apprenticeship starts are defined as the count of apprenticeship programmes that begin in an academic year, showing the take-up of programmes. An apprentice is counted for each apprenticeship they start at a provider.</p><p>More details on the methodology can be found here: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/methodology/apprenticeships-in-england-by-industry-characteristics-methodology#content-section-4-content-1" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/methodology/apprenticeships-in-england-by-industry-characteristics-methodology#content-section-4-content-1</a>.</p> answering member constituency Thornbury and Yate answering member printed Luke Hall question first answered 26/04/2024 12:07:53 answering member 4450 label Biography information for Luke Hall
tabling member	4088 label Biography information for Stella Creasy

1713027

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	Terrorism: Higher Education
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking with the Secretary of State for the Home Department to help prevent people (a) promoting, (b) encouraging and (c) glorifying terrorism at universities.
tabling member constituency	St Ives
tabling member printed	Derek Thomas
uin	23258
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/04/2024 answer text <p>Higher education (HE) providers must comply with the statutory Prevent duty to have 'due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism'. The statutory Prevent duty can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prevent-duty-guidance/prevent-duty-guidance-for-england-and-wales-accessible" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prevent-duty-guidance/prevent-duty-guidance-for-england-and-wales-accessible</a>.</p><p> </p><p>HE providers should have effective policies and procedures in place to safeguard individuals susceptible to radicalisation. This includes assessing the risk of learners becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. The Office for Students has delegated responsibility from the Secretary of State for Education for monitoring compliance of the Prevent duty in Registered HE Bodies.</p><p> </p><p>The department has a team of Prevent Regional Education Co-ordinators who work directly with HE institutions in England to provide advice, support and training to ensure providers are well equipped to prevent people from being drawn into or supporting terrorism. Further guidance, including bespoke training material for HE providers, can be found on GOV.UK.</p><p> </p><p>In the 'Independent Review of Prevent: One year on' progress report, the department announced that it is committed to publishing research on the implementation of the Prevent duty in HE, and guidance for universities on managing external speakers on campus. The Independent Review of Prevent can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-review-of-prevents-report-and-government-response/independent-review-of-prevent-one-year-on-progress-report-accessible" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-review-of-prevents-report-and-government-response/independent-review-of-prevent-one-year-on-progress-report-accessible</a>.</p> answering member constituency Thornbury and Yate answering member printed Luke Hall question first answered 26/04/2024 12:13:17 answering member 4450 label Biography information for Luke Hall
tabling member	4532 label Biography information for Derek Thomas

1712766

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	Criminology and Sociology: Education
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 assessment of the capacity on A level Sociology courses in the context of the planned defunding of level 3 Criminology.
tabling member constituency	Stockton North
tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
uin	22942
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/04/2024 answer text <p>This government is committed to ensuring that students in post-16 education have access to a high quality suite of qualifications that are easy to choose from and which provide the best chances for progression into higher study, or into a skilled job. The department firmly believes that, until the Advanced British Standard (ABS) is introduced, A Levels and T Levels are the best route at Level 3 to achieving those outcomes. A Levels are world class qualifications that provide the best preparation for higher education in most academic subject areas, including the social sciences.</p><p> </p><p>The government’s view is that A Levels should be the academic qualifications of choice at Level 3. This is based on evidence about progression and attainment for students who study A Levels compared to those who study other academic qualifications at Level 3. Students who study A Levels tend to both do better and have higher completion rates at university than students who studied other qualifications, even when taking into account background characteristics.</p><p> </p><p>An impact assessment was undertaken to consider the post-16 reforms at Level 3 as a whole, which can be read here: <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1091841/Revised_Review_of_post-16_qualifications_at_level_3_in_England_impact_assessment.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1091841/Revised_Review_of_post-16_qualifications_at_level_3_in_England_impact_assessment.pdf</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The study of criminology at Level 3 is not generally an entry requirement for criminology and other related degree courses. A Level sociology, which is in the same sector subject area of sociology and social policy, will serve students wishing to progress to criminology degrees. Students wishing to progress into other careers in criminal justice and national security, such as legal, policing or prison and probation services, could also undertake other A Levels such as law, combined with small alternative academic qualifications in approved subjects such as uniformed protective services.</p><p> </p><p>Development of the ABS is a decade long reform programme. Therefore, removal of funding from technical qualifications overlapping with T Levels is continuing as planned. The technical parts of the ABS are much closer to the T Level than any other qualification, meaning that T Levels will be the most future proof qualification for students at 16 to 19.</p><p> </p><p>As the department reforms applied general qualifications, it will be up to colleges to decide what they offer to ensure that students have access to a wide range of publicly funded qualifications. As education is a devolved matter, the devolved administrations may take a different approach to post-16 education.</p> answering member constituency Thornbury and Yate answering member printed Luke Hall grouped question UIN 22939 22940 22941 question first answered 25/04/2024 16:28:10 answering member 4450 label Biography information for Luke Hall
tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1712773

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	Teachers: Warwick and Leamington
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 trends in the number of teachers in Warwick and Leamington constituency.
tabling member constituency	Warwick and Leamington
tabling member printed	Matt Western
uin	23006
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/04/2024 answer text <p>Information on the school workforce, including the number of teachers in each school, is published in the ‘School workforce in England’ statistical publication, which is available here: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england</a>.</p><p>As of November 2022, which is the latest data available, there were over 468,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers in state-funded schools in England, an increase of 27,000 (6%) since 2010. This is the highest number of FTE teachers since the school workforce census began in 2010.</p><p>As of November 2019, there were 609.9 FTE teachers in state-funded schools in Warwick and Leamington constituency. This increased to 651.2 FTE teachers in state-funded schools in Warwick and Leamington constituency in November 2022. Figures for November 2023 will be published in June 2024. School workforce figures for 2024 have not yet been collected.</p> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds question first answered 29/04/2024 11:19:18 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds
tabling member	4617 label Biography information for Matt Western

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

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

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

1712873

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	Educational Visits: Theatres
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to take steps to ensure that pupils from low income families are able to participate in school visits to theatres.
tabling member constituency	Nottingham East
tabling member printed	Nadia Whittome
uin	23074
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/04/2024 answer text <p>All state-funded schools should teach a broad and balanced curriculum that promotes pupils' cultural development. The best schools combine creative subjects with core subjects, and the department is committed to ensuring that all pupils have access to both.</p><p>Cultural education is therefore integral to a high-quality education. Alongside drama as part of the English curriculum and dance as part of the physical education curriculum, music and art and design, remain important pillars of the knowledge-rich National Curriculum.</p><p>Drama is not an individual subject within the English National Curriculum, but it is an important part of a pupil’s school experience. The main introduction of drama to the primary programmes of study details the type of drama opportunities pupils should be given and acknowledges the artistic practice of drama. Teachers will use their professional judgement as to how and when such opportunities are created.</p><p>On 10 February 2017, the department announced an update to the content for the GCSE in drama and the A level in drama and theatre studies to specify that all pupils will now have the entitlement to experience live theatre, reaffirming the government’s commitment to providing pupils with an enriching arts education.</p><p>A parent’s income should not be a barrier to a pupil participating in a school trip. Schools may not charge for school trips that take place during school hours, or which take place outside school hours but are part of the National Curriculum, part of religious education, or part of the syllabus for a public exam that the pupil is being prepared for at the school. Parents can be asked for contributions towards the cost of a trip, but schools must make clear that contributions are voluntary. The published advice, ‘Charging for School Activities’, is clear that no pupil should be excluded from an activity simply because their parents are unwilling or unable to pay. The advice can be found at: <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/706830/Charging_for_school_activities.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/706830/Charging_for_school_activities.pdf</a>.</p><p>Finally, pupil premium funding will rise to over £2.9 billion in the 2024/25 academic year. The increase will ensure that this targeted funding continues to help schools to support the educational outcomes of disadvantaged pupils. As set out in the menu of approaches, schools are able to use pupil premium to fund extracurricular activities, including school trips to theatres.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds grouped question UIN 23078 question first answered 25/04/2024 16:45:24 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds
tabling member	4869 label Biography information for Nadia Whittome

1712878

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	Educational Visits: Theatres
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to ensure every (a) primary and (b) secondary pupil in England can visit the theatre at least once in their school career.
tabling member constituency	Nottingham East
tabling member printed	Nadia Whittome
uin	23078
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/04/2024 answer text <p>All state-funded schools should teach a broad and balanced curriculum that promotes pupils' cultural development. The best schools combine creative subjects with core subjects, and the department is committed to ensuring that all pupils have access to both.</p><p>Cultural education is therefore integral to a high-quality education. Alongside drama as part of the English curriculum and dance as part of the physical education curriculum, music and art and design, remain important pillars of the knowledge-rich National Curriculum.</p><p>Drama is not an individual subject within the English National Curriculum, but it is an important part of a pupil’s school experience. The main introduction of drama to the primary programmes of study details the type of drama opportunities pupils should be given and acknowledges the artistic practice of drama. Teachers will use their professional judgement as to how and when such opportunities are created.</p><p>On 10 February 2017, the department announced an update to the content for the GCSE in drama and the A level in drama and theatre studies to specify that all pupils will now have the entitlement to experience live theatre, reaffirming the government’s commitment to providing pupils with an enriching arts education.</p><p>A parent’s income should not be a barrier to a pupil participating in a school trip. Schools may not charge for school trips that take place during school hours, or which take place outside school hours but are part of the National Curriculum, part of religious education, or part of the syllabus for a public exam that the pupil is being prepared for at the school. Parents can be asked for contributions towards the cost of a trip, but schools must make clear that contributions are voluntary. The published advice, ‘Charging for School Activities’, is clear that no pupil should be excluded from an activity simply because their parents are unwilling or unable to pay. The advice can be found at: <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/706830/Charging_for_school_activities.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/706830/Charging_for_school_activities.pdf</a>.</p><p>Finally, pupil premium funding will rise to over £2.9 billion in the 2024/25 academic year. The increase will ensure that this targeted funding continues to help schools to support the educational outcomes of disadvantaged pupils. As set out in the menu of approaches, schools are able to use pupil premium to fund extracurricular activities, including school trips to theatres.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds grouped question UIN 23074 question first answered 25/04/2024 16:45:24 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds
tabling member	4869 label Biography information for Nadia Whittome

1712889

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	Universities: Freedom of Expression
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 universities uphold the right to freedom of expression for students campaigning on matters relating to the (a) war in Gaza and (b) rights of Palestinians.
tabling member constituency	Nottingham East
tabling member printed	Nadia Whittome
uin	23081
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/04/2024 answer text <p>The right to freedom of speech, freedom of expression and academic freedom in higher education (HE) is one this government takes very seriously, and one that it has legislated to further protect.</p><p> </p><p>Universities should be places where academics, students and visiting speakers can express a diverse range of views without fear of repercussion. The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act received Royal Assent on 11 May 2023 and is now an Act of Parliament. The main provisions in the Act will come into force on 1 August 2024.</p><p> </p><p>The Act will strengthen HE providers’ duties to secure freedom of speech and will create a new duty to promote the importance of freedom of speech. The Act will also extend the duties to secure freedom of speech to students’ unions and will establish new routes of redress if the duties are breached.</p><p> </p><p>It is important to note that the Act only covers speech that is within the law. The right to freedom of speech is not an absolute right and it does not include the right to harass others or incite them to violence or terrorism. Encouraging terrorism and inviting support for a proscribed terrorist organisation are criminal offences, and HE providers should not provide a platform for these offences to be committed. In addition, providers should be very clear that any antisemitic abuse or harassment will not be tolerated.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston question first answered 25/04/2024 12:48:28 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
tabling member	4869 label Biography information for Nadia Whittome