The Secretary of State was asked— STEM Teachers: Disadvantaged
Areas Claire Coutinho (East Surrey) (Con) 1. What steps his
Department is taking to attract science, technology, engineering
and mathematics teachers to disadvantaged areas. (900832) The
Secretary of State for Education (Nadhim Zahawi) From this autumn,
the levelling-up premium will provide early career teachers in
maths, physics, chemistry and computing with a bonus of up to
£3,000 tax-free...Request free trial
The Secretary of State was asked—
STEM Teachers: Disadvantaged Areas
(East Surrey) (Con)
1. What steps his Department is taking to attract science,
technology, engineering and mathematics teachers to disadvantaged
areas. (900832)
The Secretary of State for Education ()
From this autumn, the levelling-up premium will provide early
career teachers in maths, physics, chemistry and computing with a
bonus of up to £3,000 tax-free annually if they teach
disadvantaged children in disadvantaged schools. That is in
addition to tax-free bursaries worth £24,000 and tax-free
scholarships worth £26,000.
Maths skills are one of the surest ways to ensure higher future
earnings for students, so I welcome this package; it is the right
thing to do to try to get high-quality teachers into
disadvantaged schools. I also support the specialist maths
schools agenda, which ensuring that aim in a different way. Will
the Secretary of State update the House on its progress?
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for the work that she does to
promote maths to girls. I believe she was previously a maths
captain—we have a lot to learn from her. We have three great
specialist maths schools, with some of the best A-level results
nationally. We are on track to have 10 regional maths schools by
2025, including one in Surrey.
(Huddersfield)
(Lab/Co-op)
Does the Secretary of State agree that in order really to deliver
this provision, we need partnerships with local and regional
universities? Does it disturb him that some universities seem to
want to go back to the past and only teach science and
engineering, and not the arts and humanities? If levelling up is
to mean anything, we need universities to be there for local
communities.
I know that the hon. Gentleman is passionate about the topic,
including through his think-tank’s work. He is right that
universities, including the Open University, will play a key
role. The work that I have witnessed in the collaboration between
further education and higher education—the fungibility of both
together—in our institutes of technology is equally important to
ensure that we produce different runways from which young
people’s careers can take off.
Further Education Estate
(Waveney) (Con)
2. What steps his Department is taking to upgrade the further
education estate. (900833)
(Bethnal Green and Bow)
(Lab)
23. What assessment he has made of the quality of further
education buildings in England. (900856)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education ()
We want all colleges in England to be able to provide a
world-class education, which is why we are delivering our
manifesto commitment to offer £1.5 billion to upgrade the further
education college estate over the next six years. We have
surveyed the condition of FE estates—all colleges received their
own survey—and we intend to publish a national overview of the
results in the next academic year.
Significant investment has taken place and is taking place at
East Coast College, with the energy skills centre in Lowestoft
and the civil engineering and construction campus at Lound.
However, a long-term strategic approach is required to ensure
that local people have the full opportunity to acquire the
necessary skills for the many jobs emerging in low-carbon energy
along the East Anglian coast. Will my hon. Friend meet East Coast
College and myself to go through its strategy and agree a plan
for its implementation?
I thank my hon. Friend for his interest in this agenda. I would
be delighted to meet him and his college.
The match funding required for major works is unaffordable for
colleges such as New City College. We have two of its campuses in
Tower Hamlets, and the college no longer has the facilities to
provide the education required for the modern workplace because
of redevelopment costs. The maximum grant available through the
FE capital transformation fund for this one college is £20
million, but the redevelopment work on the college’s buildings is
estimated at £85 million. Will the Minister meet me and the
principal of New City College to discuss a way forward, and will
the Secretary of State take a close interest in addressing this
major outstanding issue for FE college funding?
I was delighted to visit New City College during Education World
Forum week. I took a number of Education Ministers from across
the world there to see its excellent facilities and the
wonderful, world-class education it offers its students. I was
pleased that it received, I think, £5 million in phase 1 of the
FE capital transformation fund. We continue to be in dialogue
with the college into the next rounds. I am obviously happy to
talk to the hon. Lady and the principal at any time. We are
committed to doing whatever we can to make the necessary upgrades
and improvements to the FE college estate.
Mr Speaker
I call the SNP spokesperson.
(Glasgow North West)
(SNP)
Last week, Scottish schools broke up for the summer holidays, so
I am sure that Members across the House will join me in thanking
the staff for the work they have done and wish all the youngsters
a very happy and safe summer holidays.
The Scottish Government have invested more than £800 million
since 2007 on the further education estate in Scotland. An
equivalent investment in FE in England would be £8 billion, not
the £1.5 billion that the Government have committed. Can the
Minister detail how the college estate in England will be brought
up to the standard of the world class Scottish FE buildings
without a far greater investment?
In our manifesto in 2019, we said that we would upgrade the FE
college estate. We set £1.5 billion aside to do that. I am afraid
that I am not in a position to comment on the condition of the
Scottish FE estate. It may well be that the Scottish estate was
in a considerably worse state of repair after several years of
SNP rule.
Dorset Schools: Quality of Classrooms
(West Dorset) (Con)
3. What steps he is taking to improve the quality of classrooms
in schools in Dorset. (900834)
The Minister for School Standards ( )
Improving the condition of schools is a priority for the
Department, which is why we have allocated more than £13 billion
for that purpose since 2015, including £1.8 billion committed
this year. Dorset local authority was allocated £2.3 million to
invest in maintained schools this year and there were five
successful condition improvement fund projects approved.
I hope I am not giving my hon. Friend the Minister a headache by
keeping on reminding him about The Gryphon School in Sherborne,
but it desperately needs its temporary classrooms to be replaced.
I shall be grateful to hear from him on that. Furthermore, will
he help me with Dorchester Middle School? The school, which is
nearly 100 years old, has lodged a bid to replace boilers that do
not work, and its bid for capital improvement funds has been
rejected. Will he help me with expediting these issues?
Mr Walker
I know that my hon. Friend has passionately and repeatedly made
the case to Ministers for investment in replacing temporary
buildings at The Gryphon School. Nominations to the school
rebuilding programme are being assessed, and we expect to confirm
up to 300 schools this year. He will understand that I cannot
make commitments to an individual school at this stage. I
understand that the Dorchester Middle School submitted an appeal
to its unsuccessful condition improvement fund application. All
appeals are now being carefully considered, and we expect to
announce outcomes shortly.
(Sefton Central) (Lab)
I know that schools in Dorset applied to the schools rebuilding
programme. I know, too, that the Minister appreciates the
importance of informing schools of their place on the programme
as soon as possible. However, Under-Secretary of State for
Education told me that schools will
be informed later this year. Can the Minister say when schools in
Dorset and Lydiate Primary School in my constituency will be told
whether they will receive the money that they desperately
need?
Mr Walker
I recognise that the hon. Gentleman has also pressed the case for
Lydiate Primary School previously. The Department has engaged
with the school and Sefton local authority, and we are aware that
it was disappointed not to be included in the first two rounds of
the rebuilding programme. All local authorities, including Sefton
Council, were contacted about how they can nominate schools for
the next round. We do expect to announce schools that were
successful later this year, but some of them will be informed
sooner.
Affordable and Accessible Childcare
(Reading East) (Lab)
4. What steps he is taking to ensure that childcare is (a)
affordable and (b) accessible. (900836)
The Secretary of State for Education ()
We are committed to improving the cost, choice and availability
of childcare. We have spent more than £3.5 billion in each of the
past three years in the Department for Education on both
education and tax-free childcare. On the childcare element of
universal credit, we spend between £4 billion and £5 billion each
year. Today, we have announced further measures to increase
take-up of childcare support and to reduce the cost and
bureaucracy facing both parents and providers.
The Secretary of State has described the Government policy very
eloquently, but given the soaring cost of childcare and the
enormous pressure on parents and, indeed, on the sector, would it
not be so much better to introduce a childcare recovery plan to
invest properly in the sector, giving it the resources that are
needed and substantially increasing the funds available, rather
than cutting costs and looking at staff to child ratios? Will he
also look again at the funding of specific parts of the sector,
such as the excellent maintained nursery sector; we have three
excellent maintained nurseries in Reading. Will he also consider
an independent review into this important sector?
On the maintained nurseries, the hon. Gentleman is quite right.
When I was children and families Minister, I saw the great work
they do. We have announced £10 million of additional support for
maintained nurseries. We are investing up to £180 million
specifically on early years recovery to address the impacts of
the pandemic. That includes £153 million investment in
evidence-based professional development for early years
practitioners, which are equally important for the sector,
because, clearly it is a tight labour market at the moment.
(Winchester) (Con)
I thank the Secretary of State and his excellent Minister for
their drive for quality in this sector. Those of us on the
all-party parliamentary group on childcare and early education
will study carefully the consultation put out today, but can the
Secretary of State say what discussions he has had with Ofsted
regarding the proposed changes to staffing ratios in early years
settings that we have heard about today, and when the Department
might be able to publish further details of the wider package of
childcare reforms that the Minister for Children and Families
alluded to on Sky News this morning?
Ofsted has been central to our work and we are consulting on the
ratio issue that he mentions. We are also looking closely at
childminders, a market that could do with some tender loving care
at the moment, and seeing not only how we can help childminders
to come into the sector by helping them with fees, but, once they
have registered, how we ensure that inspections are proportionate
and that they feel they are well rewarded for the work they do so
brilliantly.
Mr Speaker
I call shadow Minister .
(Dulwich and West Norwood)
(Lab)
Instead of delivering meaningful reform of their broken childcare
system, the Government have announced a consultation on allowing
staff in early years settings to look after more children.
Pregnant Then Screwed reports that four out of five childcare
providers said that changing ratios would not be of any financial
benefit to their organisation, and only one in 12 said that any
cost savings would be passed on to parents. Can the Secretary of
State guarantee that this proposal will make a meaningful
difference to the cost of childcare for families—yes or no?
If the hon. Lady reads the announcement and the case study we put
forward, she will see that if the cost is passed on to parents,
it is about £40. Crucially, however, it is not a silver bullet.
This is part of a package of measures we are taking, which
includes making sure that the 1.3 million people who are not
currently claiming their tax-free childcare, where they can get
20% of their childcare or up to £2,000 paid for them, or the
childcare element of universal credit, do so. That will make a
real difference to them, as well as the consultation—bearing in
mind that the consultation is also about ensuring that we
continue the drive for quality that this Government have
delivered in the childcare system and that safety is paramount
for every child.
SEND Review
(City of Durham) (Lab)
5. What steps he is taking to ensure that the SEND review
provides adequate support for disabled children and their
families. (900837)
(Easington) (Lab)
21. What steps he is taking to ensure that the SEND review
provides adequate support for disabled children and their
families. (900854)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education ()
The special educational needs and disabilities and alternative
provision Green Paper aims to ensure that the right support is
delivered in the right setting at the right time for all children
and young people with SEND, including disabled children. To help
to achieve that, it proposes nationally consistent SEND standards
be set across education, health and care.
At a virtual parliamentary event I hosted with the Disabled
Children’s Partnership a few weeks ago, I heard from parent
carers who had to fight tooth and nail to get the right school
for their disabled child, one that met their needs. I have also
heard those experiences from constituents in Durham. That is why
it is so concerning that in the SEND Green Paper the Government
are proposing to stop carers’ being able to specify a school for
their disabled child, making the process even harder. Can the
Minister outline how families with a disabled child will still be
able to get the right education under this proposed policy?
I thank the hon. Lady for her question and I encourage everyone
to take part in the SEND review consultation, which will expire
on 22 July. The specific point she raises, on the tailored list
of settings for parents in our proposal, is absolutely not about
reducing costs; it is designed to support parents and carers in
making an informed choice about which setting they would like
their child to go to. I would be very happy to set out the policy
in further detail in a meeting with her.
I commend research carried out by the Disabled Children’s
Partnership, whose findings are quite disturbing. It is essential
that the SEND Green Paper that the Minister refers to improves
accountability in the system. I have also consulted with my
constituents in east Durham, who say that not only must disabled
young people be able to get the support that they need and have a
legal right to, but service providers must be held to account
when they miss legal targets. What plans do the Government have
to directly intervene when service providers do not meet their
legal duties in respect of providing health, care and support to
disabled young people in their care?
The hon. Gentleman is right that accountability has to be at the
heart of our proposals, and everyone who provides support for
children and young people with SEND has a responsibility to
deliver it effectively. That is why we are creating new national
standards, and creating local and national dashboards so that
local authorities, organisations and those who provide SEND
services can be held to account. He is absolutely right that
accountability and redress mechanisms are at the heart of our
proposals. This is a consultation, and it is live until 22 July.
We are consulting because we genuinely want to hear the views of
the sector and all the parents and carers of children with SEND.
Of course I would be very happy to meet him.
(Hemel Hempstead) (Con)
My hon. Friend the Minister knows my passion for looking after
children and young people around the SEND sector. I welcome the
Green Paper and the consultation, because this is a debate that
we have needed to have for some considerable time. But the issue
in Hertfordshire is going to be around capacity, because the
special educational needs schools in my constituency, which are
brilliant, are full and double-oversubscribed. This is not all
about money—it is sometimes about how it is provided—but there
are serious financial problems in Hertfordshire, and I wonder if
he would look at that seriously for me.
My right hon. Friend has raised this issue with me on numerous
occasions. He is a doughty champion for children with SEND and
their parents and carers in his constituency. Of course I will
look at this very closely. These are not just words: we are
backing this up with £2.6 billion of capital funding to build
about 33,000 or 34,000 SEND places across our country, including
in Hertfordshire.
(West Suffolk) (Con)
I thank the Minister and the Minister for School Standards, who
jointly hosted a roundtable on how we better identify children
with dyslexia. Can I invite the Minister to support my private
Member’s Bill, which will have its Second Reading on 16
September, to make sure that we get the data from early screening
so that we can identify children’s and young people’s needs and
give them the help and support, and the knowledge that they have
that support, to enable them to go on to thrive, flourish and
make the most of their lives?
I thank my right hon. Friend for all his work in this area. It
was a pleasure to join him at that roundtable. We want all
children with SEND to get the right support in the right setting
at the right time. At the heart of our reforms is early
identification, early diagnosis and early support. Of course I
will continue to work with him as we develop our plans as part of
the review.
Children who lose Parents to Suicide
Dame (Gosport) (Con)
6. What steps his Department is taking to support children who
lose parents to suicide. (900839)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education ()
Losing a parent to suicide is a devastating loss for any child.
Our covid response provided additional information to schools on
supporting pupils with bereavement, drawing on specialist
provision where necessary. Senior mental health lead training
will help schools to include this in their pastoral support. We
are also expanding specialist mental health support, backed by an
extra £2.3 billion per year.
Dame
I was really disturbed to learn recently that there is evidence
to suggest that children who lose a parent to suicide have a much
greater risk of going on to take their own life as they grow
older. With that in mind, I really want to put this on to the
Minister’s radar and ask whether any particular suicide
bereavement training, resources or signposting is provided to the
staff who work in education settings to help them to support
children effectively after they lose a family member such as a
parent or sibling to suicide.
I thank my hon. Friend for bringing this to my attention. It is
indeed a worrying state of affairs. Senior mental health lead
training, which is backed by an additional £10 million this year,
supports schools to establish a whole-school approach to mental
health and mental wellbeing and provide a supportive environment
for children experiencing bereavement. This will also include how
to identify where staff need further training to understand
children’s needs and offer support. However, I understand that we
probably need to go further in this area, and of course I would
be happy to meet her to discuss it at greater length.
Children’s Social Care Services: Reform
(West Ham) (Lab)
7. What steps he is taking to reform children’s social care
services. (900840)
(Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Lab)
20. What steps he is taking to reform children’s social care
services. (900853)
The Secretary of State for Education ()
We will publish an ambitious implementation strategy later this
year following three important pieces of work: first, the
independent review of social care—the MacAlister review—and then
the Competition and Markets Authority study on the children’s
social care market, and the national panel review of the deaths
of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and Star Hobson.
Ms Brown
Many years ago, as a residential social worker, I saw the pain
and despair of many children in care, alongside their talents,
their ambitions and their amazing resilience. None of this has
changed, and we know that the most dangerous and difficult time
for a child is the transition into leaving care. Too often
services are just cut off and the child is left adrift. Will the
Secretary of State promise me today that he will look at what
more can be done to provide care leavers with consistent, quality
support during and beyond those transitions, enabling them to
live with foster families into their adulthood?
As the hon. Lady will know—and as she probably remembers from
when I was Children and Families Minister—we launched the care
leaver covenant, which has made a significant difference to many
of our young people in care as they transition out of care. There
is also the work we are doing to support those 300,000 families
who need that additional support. The work of MacAlister will
make a huge difference. The hon. Lady knows that we have “staying
put” and “staying close” to help those young people as they
transition through, but I give her a pledge that we are serious
about implementing the MacAlister review.
(Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Lab)
This weekend, as the Secretary of State will have seen, the
Swedish Government announced a review into the profit motive in
children’s education. Can he confirm, perhaps with yes or no,
that the profit motive must be taken out of the care of our most
vulnerable children?
I am grateful for the hon. Lady’s question. Part of why I
mentioned the Competition and Markets Authority review to make
sure that the system is working properly is that it is something
I am concerned about. I would focus on profiteering rather than
profit, because I think people will want to go into this sector
to help children, and I do not have a problem with their making a
profit. It is excessive profiteering that I am certainly
concerned about.
(Blackpool North and
Cleveleys) (Con)
Councils from across the country continue to send children and
young people on out-of-area placements to Blackpool, often with
good reason—to keep those children safe—but they do not notify
Blackpool Council or Lancashire constabulary that these children
are in the area. Often we find out when it is too late and
something has gone wrong. What more can the Government do as part
of their review of children’s social services to make sure that
out-of-area placements made by councils are communicated to the
host areas’ statutory agencies?
My hon. Friend asks an important question, and he will know that
we are looking at how we help local authorities to commission and
buy places much more efficiently with the regional care
co-operatives. There is also the work of the MacAlister review,
after which hopefully out-of-area placements will become a
rarity, rather than where we are today.
Literature Taught in Schools
(Don Valley) (Con)
8. What assessment he has made of the adequacy of the variety of
literature taught in schools. (900841)
The Secretary of State for Education ()
The national curriculum states that pupils should read a wide
range of books, poems and plays to appreciate our rich literary
heritage and to develop a love for literature, as I did as a
teenager. That includes pre-1914 contemporary prose, poetry and
drama, Shakespeare and seminal world literature. Schools have
freedom to select texts meeting those criteria.
Does my right hon. Friend agree that caution is needed with books
that encourage a child to question their biological sex and to
believe they were born in the wrong body because of gender
nonconformity and not conforming to society’s stereotypes?
Parents should be able to see what is being shared with children,
whether in lessons or the school library.
I want to be clear: parents should know what their children are
being taught in school. There are clear requirements on schools
about providing parents with information about their school’s
curriculum. We appreciate that parents have particular concerns
about gender nonconformity, which is why we are developing very
clear guidance for the frontline for schools to be able to deal
with that issue.
Student Mental Health
(Watford) (Con)
9. What steps his Department is taking to help support students
with their mental health. (900842)
The Minister for Higher and Further Education ()
I have been relentlessly focused on this area, allocating £15
million to student mental health services to support the
transition from school to university via the Office for Students.
I have worked with the Office for Students to deliver and to keep
student space and with the Department of Health and Social Care.
I held a summit just last week with the Minister for Care and
Mental Health, my hon. Friend the Member for Chichester (), investing £3 million in
bridging the gaps between NHS and university services.
During Prime Minister’s questions recently, the whole House and
the Prime Minister joined in wearing blue ribbons as part of the
anti-bullying campaign for the Diana Award. This week I am
writing to all schools in Watford to raise awareness of an
anti-bullying roundtable I will be hosting for students and
teachers to share their experiences of tackling bullying. Will my
right hon. Friend share what other measures the Government are
taking to tackle bullying and to support students’ mental health
more broadly?
My hon. Friend has done an exceptional job of caring for his
Watford constituents’ mental health, and I am sure that all hon.
Members can get behind and copy his first aider programme.
Bullying can have long-term effects on mental health. Between
2021 and 2023, the Department is providing more than £2 million
to organisations, including the Diana Award, to support schools
to tackle bullying.
(Barnsley Central) (Lab)
One in six kids in my constituency struggles with their mental
health; it is a deeply concerning situation. What plans does the
Minister have to increase specialist mental healthcare support in
every school, so that all kids in my constituency have access to
the support that they need?
The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right that this agenda is
incredibly important, and the Government care passionately about
it. As a ministerial team, we are focused on supporting mental
health and wellbeing. We are funding training for senior mental
health leads in two thirds of state schools and colleges by March
2023 and in all by 2025.
Mr Speaker
I call the shadow Minister.
(Warwick and Leamington)
(Lab)
If I may, I start by offering a warm welcome to students from
Myton School in my constituency, who join us in the Gallery.
In a recent survey by the mental health charity HUMEN, 57% of
students said that they had access to university mental health
services, while the charity Mind reports that one in five
students has been diagnosed with a mental health condition. The
Minister was appointed two and a half years ago. Can she honestly
say that she has successfully dealt with the crisis on our
campuses?
We have, of course, had a pandemic in that time. The Government
have ensured that we place mental health at the top of the
agenda, and we work in partnership with universities to deliver
those services. A summit that I held with the Department of
Health and Social Care last week shows that we are working in a
joined-up way to ensure that no student falls between the
cracks.
Technical Qualifications
(Grantham and Stamford)
(Con)
10. What steps his Department is taking to improve the quality of
technical qualifications. (900843)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education ()
We are reforming technical education to ensure that all post-16
students have access to technical options that support
progression and meet employer needs. That means that we are
creating a generation of technical qualifications designed with
employers that will give students the skills that the economy
needs.
Does my hon. Friend agree that robust technical qualifications,
together with fantastic new facilities, such as the new institute
of technology at Grantham College, mean that we can finally
dispel the myth that a degree is the only path to success in our
country?
That is absolutely right. I was delighted that Grantham College
got £3 million to upgrade its facilities. My hon. Friend is right
on the button to say that it is not just “degree or bust”, as it
was once described by the Opposition. It is now not just about
getting 50% into university and 50% into work; there is a third
way called apprenticeships, which are the best of both worlds and
lead young people into a new way of work.
Colleges and Employers: Collaboration
(Broadland) (Con)
12. What steps his Department is taking to help facilitate
collaboration between colleges and employers. (900845)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education ()
The roll-out of new local skills improvement plans will forge new
relationships between employers and the providers of skills to
ensure that we have not only the right qualifications but the
right qualifications in the right places.
The Government envisage as many as 600,000 heat pumps being
installed every year, yet heating companies in my constituency
are struggling to train or recruit sufficient staff for that
growth sector. Does my hon. Friend agree that that is a real
opportunity for further education colleges to collaborate with
local businesses and provide that training?
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Local skills improvement
plans, drawn up by employer representative bodies, will start to
bring about that collaboration. There are already excellent
training options for aspiring heat pump installers, such as the
level 3 heat pump engineering technician apprenticeship or the
T-level in building services engineering for construction—both of
which are backed by Government funding.
(Luton North) (Lab)
The fantastic Luton Sixth Form College in my constituency is
successfully offering BTECs for biomedical science. What is the
Department doing to promote that qualification with universities,
medical colleges and employers, so that more BTEC students can
become the much-needed doctors that we need them to be?
I thank the hon. Lady for her question. As she will know, we are
currently reviewing level 3 qualifications. The overlap list was
published a couple of months ago, and we will be responding to it
in the new year. We are going through technical qualifications at
the moment to make sure they provide students both with a route
into work and with experience while they are studying for their
qualification. That is what T-levels are all about.
(Rugby) (Con)
Entirely rightly, we are getting more youngsters and young people
into training in technical subjects, but at a recent meeting with
Warwickshire College CEO Angela Joyce, I learned that it is a
real challenge to find lecturers to teach those subjects. What is
my hon. Friend doing to persuade businesses that it is in their
own interests to release some of their people into colleges to do
some of that training?
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. These closer collaborations
between employers and providers are going to make sure that we
have both the workforce and the experience in colleges to give
students the skills that the economy needs.
Mr Speaker
I call the shadow Minister.
(Chesterfield) (Lab)
Nine out of 10 T-level providers have failed to meet even the
Government’s own modest recruitment targets, and an FE Week
investigation found that employers’ refusal to offer work
placements was cited as a key reason for that failure. Labour
wants T-levels to be a success, but courses in crucial areas such
as digital, health and science have the lowest enrolment, and
employers and students are being failed. We know that the
Secretary of State wears the T-level badge with great style, but
does he actually understand why the policy is failing? Can the
Minister assure the House that, in 2022, the Government will meet
the enrolment targets that have been set?
I thank the hon. Gentleman for his support for T-levels in
principle. T-levels are going extremely well, and we have very
good uptake. The first year of T-levels was conducted in perhaps
the harshest circumstances imaginable during covid, but thanks to
the hard work of my officials and the hard work of principals, we
managed to get almost all students—well over 90% of
students—their work placements. If we can do it in the conditions
of covid, I think we can do it at other times.
Children with SEND: Provision of Support
(Chesham and Amersham) (LD)
13. What steps his Department is taking to improve the (a)
identification of and (b) provision of support to children with
SEND.(900846)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education ()
We are currently consulting on the special educational needs and
disabilities and alternative provision Green Paper. This includes
our proposal to establish a single national SEND and alternative
provision system, setting nationally consistent standards. It
will set out how needs should be identified and assessed, and the
appropriate provision should be made available to meet those
needs.
I thank the Minister for his answer. I have spoken to multiple
parents in my constituency whose disabled children are entering
the summer holidays without knowing where they are going to be in
September or whether the support they need will be in place
because of a lengthy delay for an appointment with an educational
psychologist. While I welcome the Government’s announcement about
increasing funding for educational psychologists, the 2023 intake
is too late to help young people who need this support now. How
do the Government intend to tackle the backlog in this support
and ensure that the SEND Green Paper addresses the funding gap in
disabled children’s services?
The SEND Green Paper will go some way to addressing that issue. I
thank the hon. Lady for her question; she is right to say that
educational psychologists play a critical role in identifying
need and advising on appropriate support through their statutory
role in the education, health and care plan process. Since 2020,
we have increased the number of educational psychologists and the
trainees we fund to more than 200 from 160 per annum, and we
recently announced that we are investing over £10 million to
train over 200 more from September 2023.
Higher Education Courses
(Leigh) (Con)
14. What progress he has made on improving the quality of higher
education courses.(900847)
The Minister for Higher and Further Education ()
For the first time, universities will be subject to stringent
minimum thresholds for student outcomes on completion rates and
graduate jobs. Boots-on-the-ground inspections have begun, and
through our transparency drive to give students all the
information that they need and a focus on participation and
outcomes, we are driving out the pockets of poor quality in our
world-leading higher education sector.
Would my right hon. Friend congratulate Leigh College in my
constituency on becoming a campus of the Greater Manchester
Institute of Technology, offering the opportunity to study
degree-equivalent STEM—science, technology, engineering and
maths—courses to local students and bringing £13 million in
educational investment to the local borough?
I know how hard my hon. Friend has campaigned for that
investment. The Greater Manchester Institute of Technology, once
open, will play a critical role in filling the local skills gaps
in key sectors such as construction, digital and advanced
manufacturing, as well as in getting local people high-paid local
jobs.
School Budgets: Impact of Inflation
(Kingston upon Hull North)
(Lab)
15. What assessment his Department has made of the impact of
inflation on school budgets. (900848)
(Halifax) (Lab)
18. What assessment his Department has made of the impact of
inflation on school budgets. (900851)
(Brentford and Isleworth)
(Lab)
19. What assessment his Department has made of the impact of
inflation on school budgets. (900852)
The Minister for School Standards ( )
This year core school funding increased by £4 billion, which is a
7% per pupil boost in cash terms. I recognise the pressure that
rising inflation has created. We are constantly considering what
further support we can provide schools to reduce their costs, and
any additional support will sit alongside our range of school
resource management tools, to help schools save on regular
purchases and reduce non-teaching costs.
I recently visited Hall Road Primary School, which was built in
the 1920s. It is in a disadvantaged part of Hull, but it provides
an excellent education to local pupils. The headteacher told me
that rising costs in energy were really hitting his limited
budget for the school. Is the Minister willing to meet me to
discuss what emergency funding could be given to the school to
help it, and also so that I can lobby for a new school
building?
Mr Walker
As I have mentioned a number of times, the school rebuilding
programme will be making announcements about schools that need
that, and of course I would be happy to meet the right hon. Lady
and hear about the particular conditions in that school. I
recognise that much of our school estate faces the challenges of
aging buildings, and it is important that we continue to invest
to support schools where they can spend to save.
I have spoken to local headteachers who report that due to
inflation, staffing costs have increased by 12%, with gas costs
increasing by 20%, and electricity by 30%. One headteacher
said,
“please ask the Secretary of State what am I supposed to cut in
order to meet inflation costs: the mental health first aider
we’ve had to recruit because of the backlog at CAMHS, or the
resources we’ve had to put into a community kitchen because so
many children were going without meals? Should I turn off the
heating in the winter, or simply cut teaching staff?”
What would the Minister like me to say to that headteacher?
Mr Walker
It is important that we invest to support schools. That is why we
are putting in a £4 billion—7%—increase in the funding of
schools. The Department also helps schools to get best value from
their resources through a range of resource management tools.
Those include recommended deals for energy, and support for
schools in switching and entering new energy contracts. I
encourage schools to engage with that programme, and of course we
all want to ensure that those important priorities for schools
can be addressed.
Schools are telling us that standstill funding, inflation and
rising energy costs mean that they are having to limit the
numbers of healthy options in schools meals. The Government agree
with Labour that good healthy school meals are essential for
children to thrive, especially as for more and more children the
school dinner is their only hot meal. The Minister for Children
and Families said about school meals that it was up to schools to
“manage their own” individual budgets. Is that the best the
Government can serve up?
Mr Walker
Our increases in school funding have been front-loaded to get
money to schools rapidly, so this year core schools funding is
increasing by £4 billion—a 7% cash boost per pupil. Our national
formula also targets that funding towards areas of deprivation.
It includes an FSM factor, which means that all pupils on free
school meals will attract additional funding. The total amount
allocated through deprivation factors in the national formula is
increasing by £225 million, or 6.7%, in the next year, compared
with last year.
(Redcar) (Con)
The TS6 postcode area in my constituency is one of the most
disadvantaged in Teesside, and there are not enough secondary
school places for TS6 children this year, next year or the year
after that, with kids having to travel miles to the nearest
school with capacity. While understanding the inflationary
pressures on schools, will the Minister work with me to ensure
that there are enough school places for young people in the TS6
area in the years ahead?
Mr Walker
The Department provides funding to local authorities in order to
provide additional places where they are needed, and I would be
happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss that further.
(North West Durham)
(Con)
Inflation is hitting all schools and colleges hard across my
constituency, but unlike academies, councils, schools and other
education providers, colleges cannot claim back VAT on supplies
and services. Will the Minister speak with officials in other
Departments to consider that issue, and to ensure that colleges
such as Derwentside College in my constituency are able to do the
best they can with the price pressures they are facing at the
moment?
Mr Walker
I am sure my hon. Friend the Minister for Skills will be happy to
take up that issue on behalf of my hon. Friend. As Minister for
Schools Standards, of course I want to ensure that our whole
educational estate is able to invest effectively for the
future.
Mr Speaker
I call the shadow Minister.
(Portsmouth South) (Lab)
Skyrocketing energy bills are squeezing school budgets. The
latest data suggests that prices have almost doubled in the first
quarter of the year alone. With cost pressures putting children’s
learning at risk, will the Minister publish the results of his
Department’s survey on the experience of schools? When does he
plan to bring forward the additional support that schools need to
keep the lights on?
Mr Walker
The Department’s analysis of the cost increases that schools face
is published annually in the school costs note, and it includes
the impact of inflation. That was last published in March, and we
will continue to publish it annually.
More broadly, it is important to recognise the additional
money—the £4 billion that I have talked about numerous
times—going in this year on the back of published figures that
show that, at the end of the last academic year, 97% of academy
trusts were in cumulative surplus or breaking even, and 92% of
local authority maintained schools were in that situation. That
was, in both cases, an improvement on the year before.
Topical Questions
(Edmonton) (Lab/Co-op)
T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental
responsibilities.(900857)
The Secretary of State for Education ()
On 7 June, day two of Arriva’s bus strikes in Leeds, a group of
year 10 pupils at the John Smeaton Academy in Leeds faced a
dilemma. They had an exam, but their school bus was not running.
What is more, they live in a hotel 4.2 miles from the school—that
is because they are resettled Afghan refugees. They woke up very
early and walked the 4.2 miles to school so that they could sit
their exams. Those children are exemplary students. They are very
welcome in Britain, and their example should inspire us all and
shame those whose striking has jeopardised young people’s
futures.
The Secretary of State has suggested that it would be
unforgiveable for teachers to go on strike. What is unforgiveable
is that teachers’ pay has fallen by a fifth in real terms in the
past 12 years of Conservative rule. At the same time, they have
been crushed under an unsustainable workload, hurting mental
health and wellbeing. It is no wonder that seven in 10 have
considered quitting in the past year. Will he commit to giving
teachers the above-inflation pay increase they so richly
deserve?
I do not think that any teacher would want to strike after the
damage that covid did with students being out of school. In my
evidence to the pay review body, I talked about wanting to
deliver almost 9%—it was 8.9%—for new teachers this year and a
7.1% uplift next year to take their starting salary to £30,000 a
year. My recommendation for more senior teachers was 5% over two
years.
(Birmingham, Northfield)
(Con)
T4. The Minister will know that I have been hugely concerned
about the state of special educational needs and disabilities
services in Birmingham for quite some time, and the recent
damning report only confirms the fears of parents whose children
are on long waiting lists for education, health and care plans,
and concerns about staff being told that they are too busy to
respond to emails. Will the Minister assure me and parents and
children back home in Birmingham that he will be doing everything
possible to ensure that SEND services, which look after our most
vulnerable children, are improved in Birmingham?(900860)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education ()
I certainly agree with the SEND commissioner’s recommendations
for Birmingham City Council to take responsibility for its SEND
provision and rapidly make changes for improvement. I will of
course continue to work closely with the commissioner and the
council to monitor progress, and the Department will not hesitate
to intervene further if Birmingham does not deliver on its plan
to implement real lasting change. I have no doubt that my hon.
Friend will hold it to account.
Mr Speaker
We come to the shadow Secretary of State.
(Houghton and Sunderland
South) (Lab)
Last week, the Secretary of State’s flagship Schools Bill was
left in tatters as he pulled 18 out of 69 clauses. Will he
explain whether that was because he was bamboozled by his
officials, he did not understand his own legislation, or he
planned it all along? Or was it just the incompetence that we
have all come to expect?
At least I am not missing in action. If the hon. Lady had looked
at the detail of my White Paper rather than attempted to play
politics with it, she would know that I always promised a review
of clauses 1 to 18 because we are taking what is in contract with
multi-academy trusts and putting it in statute. I have now
launched that review to ensure that we get it right so that
clauses 1 to 18 come to this place and the Bill gets through to
deliver the outcomes that we all want to see for all
children.
That really is quite hard to believe.
Parents will know that the cost of care is skyrocketing, yet even
the Children’s Minister himself—the Under-Secretary of State for
Education, the hon. Member for Colchester ()—admitted that the changes the
Government are considering are
“not going to significantly change costs”.
Labour has already set out how its children’s recovery plan would
tackle this vital issue and provide immediate help to families
now. What will it take for the Secretary of State to find some
fresh ideas that actually address this growing crisis?
The hon. Lady again misses the point. The package is not just
about the ratios. It is about looking at how we encourage and
grow the childminder market, how we ensure the 1.2 million
parents who are eligible to get tax-free childcare make that
claim and, of course, how we support teachers, both in our
brilliant maintained nurseries and across the system, to do much
more for the children we want to see them deliver for.
(Penrith and The Border)
(Con)
T6. Currently, 16 to 18-year-olds must legally continue education
or training but are not entitled to transport. That penalises
young folk living in rural areas such as Alston Moor, where the
nearest college is 20 miles away and public transport is poor. I
have started a petition calling for fair post-16 transport. Does
the Minister agree with my petitioners that transport should not
be a barrier to accessing education? Will the Government address
the problem through legislation?(900862)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education ()
I thank my hon. Friend for his question. He will know that it is
local authorities, rather than the Department for Education, that
have responsibility for transport to education. I understand that
Cumbria County Council already provides some support for travel
to college for students who are disadvantaged. It is also
possible to top that money up with our 16 to 19 bursary, but I am
happy to discuss the matter with him further.
Mr Speaker
We now come to SNP spokesperson .
(Glasgow North West)
(SNP)
The number of graduates owing more than £100,000 in student loans
has gone up by more than 3,000% in a single year, with over 6,500
graduates now having six-figure balances. Next year, with
inflation, things could be even worse. Will the Secretary of
State detail what urgent action he is considering to tackle the
huge levels of graduate debt?
The Minister for Higher and Further Education ()
As the hon. Member will know only too well, we responded to the
Augar report in full a few months ago. We tried to get the right
balance in who pays, between the graduate and the taxpayer, so
that we have a fair system in which no student will pay back more
in real terms than they borrowed. This Government are focused on
outcomes, making sure that degrees pay and deliver graduate
jobs.
(Brigg and Goole) (Con)
T8. It is now over a decade since I worked with the new
Conservative North Lincolnshire Council to introduce the
Imagination Library free book gifting scheme for all under-fives.
Now, with nine out of 10 local children signed up and nearly 1
million books delivered in that period, our year 1 phonics
screening shows that children who receive the free books are
doing better at school than their peers who do not. Will the
Secretary of State, or any Minister, engage with my local council
to look at the benefits of the scheme more widely?(900864)
Indeed, the Secretary of State will engage with my hon. Friend on
his passion for this subject. He knows we are investing £17
million in the Nuffield Early Language Intervention programme to
improve language skills in reception-age children who most need
that help. I would just like to also take this opportunity,
because I know—
Mr Speaker
Order. Come on, I’ve got to get through these questions. I call
.
(Wythenshawe and Sale East)
(Lab)
T2. The brilliant Sale High School in my constituency is in
desperate need of refurbishment. To that end, I have been working
with local partners to put a deal on the table. With the help of
the Minister in the other place, the deal went to the
Department’s playing field strategy committee in June. Will the
Minister please apprise the House of the outcome?(900858)
The Minister for School Standards ( )
I recognise that the hon. Gentleman has been pressing my noble
Friend in the other place on this matter. The case for the high
school did not go to the playing field panel in June, because
queries requiring further information from the applicant were
raised by the Department’s design team. The applicant has been
fully updated on the request and the information required. The
case should now be going to the panel in September and I will
ensure we update him at that stage.
Mr Speaker
I call , the Chair of the Select
Committee on Education.
(Harlow) (Con)
I hope my right hon. Friend will see this book I have here, “The
Children’s Inquiry” by Liz Cole and Molly Kingsley, about the
damage to children during lockdown. The number of ghost children
is still rising: it has risen by 100,000 to 1.7 million absent
children. I know my right hon. Friend set up the Attendance
Alliance Group, but the fact is that we need to get those
children back to school, and the numbers are rising. What will he
do to ensure those children get back to school in September?
I am grateful to the Chair of the Select Committee. Those are not
just ghost children; they are flesh and blood. We must make sure
that we do everything in our power to get them back into school.
The national register will identify where those children are, so
that we can really focus on that.
(Erith and Thamesmead)
(Lab)
T3. Many of my constituents who are in the UK legally and have
lived in this country for many years are denied access to student
finance because of unnecessary and unfair residency rules. Many
applicants find it difficult to provide the evidence required,
and Home Office delays mean that some people cannot even apply in
the first place. Will the Minister please look into that issue
and see whether any changes can be made that could help with
student finance, particularly when it comes to eligibility
rules?(900859)
I am more than happy to meet the hon. Member, but at the heart of
our system are fairness and ensuring that our policy and rules
are straightforward. I am more than happy to explain that to
her.
(Warrington South) (Con)
Will the Secretary of State join me in congratulating the team at
Penketh High School on its ever improving standards? Ofsted
recently improved its rating of the school, there was the sports
gold award last week, and year 9 student Leon Stretton has signed
for Warrington Wolves—a huge success in the town. However, the
school’s problem is the poor state of its estate. Will my right
hon. Friend look carefully at its recent application to improve
the standard of the SEND building?
I very much welcome the success of the school that my hon. Friend
has highlighted and will be happy to meet him to discuss the
issues further.
Ms Lyn Brown (West Ham) (Lab)
T5. Our further education colleges in Newham give real
opportunity to children from the second poorest part of the
country, but now our colleges face increasing national insurance
contributions and skyrocketing utility bills. What is more, pay
increases may be essential for the recruitment and retention of
school staff. What are the Government doing to engage properly
with the Association of Colleges to keep these engines of social
mobility and growth going?(900861)
The hon. Lady is absolutely right that FE colleges are engines of
social mobility, and we are well aware of the pressures that they
are under. We are engaging constantly with the Association of
Colleges, principals and colleagues across Government to make
sure that we can help them.
(Bexleyheath and Crayford)
(Con)
Does my right hon. Friend agree that improving the quality and
depth of technical qualifications is vital to our levelling-up
agenda and also to helping everyone improve social mobility?
Yes I do. The more runways that we can build from which people’s
careers can take off, the better.
(Luton North) (Lab)
T9. I am sure that I am not alone in hearing worrying reports of
faith-based bullying and sexual harassment in schools. If this
week has taught us anything, it is that we need to lead by
example. Will the Secretary of State tell us when the Department
for Education’s own bullying and harassment policies were last
reviewed and updated?(900865)
I recently spoke in a Westminster Hall debate on relationships
and sex education, and I made it clear that we regularly review
our guidance, both on keeping children safe in education and on
safeguarding.
(New Forest East) (Con)
Do the Government share my concern at the injection of vast
quantities of communist cash from countries such as China and
Vietnam into our universities—Oxbridge colleges in particular?
Will they set up a taskforce to examine the problem and make
recommendations?
We have recently added a further clause to our Higher Education
(Freedom of Speech) Bill to ensure that there is more
transparency when it comes to the donations that our universities
receive.
(City of Durham) (Lab)
T10. The National Education Union has calculated that teacher pay
has fallen by a fifth in real terms since 2010, while average
teacher salaries are at their lowest in more than 40 years
compared with average earnings across the economy. Despite that,
the majority of teachers look set to be offered a 3% rise—a
real-terms pay cut. Teachers in Durham deserve a proper pay rise.
How on earth can the Secretary of State justify not giving them
one?(900866)
I am grateful to the hon. Lady. We will wait to see the work of
the pay review bodies. We have submitted our recommendation, and
we will wait to hear what they say about it.
(Bexhill and Battle) (Con)
At a roundtable at Heathfield Community College last week, the
Secretary of State’s adviser and I heard a number of great ideas
from a group of headteachers and governors. One was that there is
surely a need for the proposed parents’ pledge, to outline not
only what parents can expect from teachers but what teachers can
expect from parents. Would that idea help us to help teachers
teach?
We want to ensure that every child across the country has a
complete and well rounded education, receiving targeted support
where needed. We have made the pledge to parents to make that
happen. If a child falls behind in English or maths, they will
receive targeted support to get back on track and parents will be
kept up to date with their progress. We expect parents to engage
constructively with schools and to give support in terms of both
attendance and behaviour, which will of course maximise their
children’s opportunities.
(South Shields) (Lab)
A total of 800,000 children, more than 35,000 of whom live in the
north-east, are in poverty and are being denied free school meals
owing to punitive, Government-imposed eligibility criteria.
Despite cross-party calls for eligibility to be extended to all
families on universal credit, the Government have refused.
Why?
About 1.9 million children receive benefit-related free school
meals, with provision supporting the most disadvantaged.
Eligibility has been extended to more groups of children under
this Government than under any other over the past half century,
and that includes the introduction of universal infant free
school meals and further education free meals.
(Milton Keynes North)
(Con)
With the school holidays cantering up to us, can my right hon.
Friend confirm that helping parents with the cost of childcare is
a key priority for his Department? What impact does he expect the
decision to pay up to 85% of the cost of childcare for those on
universal credit to have, as opposed to the 70% that was provided
under the previous regime?
The purpose of the important package announced today is to ensure
that parents on universal credit, or the tax-free childcare
element, claim what is rightfully theirs. We are spending between
£4 billion and £5 billion on helping parents with childcare.
(Walthamstow) (Lab/Co-op)
Ministers keep telling us that it is important for parents to
claim the tax breaks for childcare. Last year the Government
spent just £150,000 on advertising them, saving the Treasury £3
billion. What additional funding has the Department secured for
advertising child tax credit spending?
The hon. Lady and I have discussed this before. Today’s
announcement was all about increasing accessibility, availability
and affordability. We want to see an increase in tax-free
childcare. There is going to be a big comms campaign, so watch
this space.
(Eastleigh) (Con)
At the YMCA young carers festival which was held at Fairthorne
Manor on Saturday, I learned that there was no central Government
guidance for schools on providing support for young carers.
Attendance policies can have a detrimental impact on their
education and mental health. How will the Minister bring central
guidance to schools to help these vulnerable people?
Mr Walker
We are updating our attendance guidance, and I should be happy to
meet my hon. Friend to discuss further the specific issue of
young carers. Having met young carers groups in my own
constituency, I know how important it is to engage with them
properly and effectively, and we should do that throughout our
school system.
(Weaver Vale) (Lab)
On Friday I visited Hartford Manor Primary School in my
constituency. Like many schools up and down the country, it is
suffering as a result of the escalating cost of energy bills.
What are the Minister and the Department going to do about it, as
a matter of urgency?
Mr Walker
As I have said many times already, we have put £4 billion in for
next year. We want to work with schools to support them. There is
support through our school resource management system, and
specifically through the “Get help buying for schools” system. We
will continue—[Interruption.]
Mr Speaker
Order. Did the hon. Member for Weaver Vale () hear the answer?
No.
Mr Speaker
Will the Minister repeat the answer? I could not hear it for the
cheering when the Prime Minister came into the Chamber.
Mr Walker
I said that there was support through our school resource
management system and “Get help buying for schools”, and we will
continue to support the sector and help it with the costs that it
is facing.
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