Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which consultations published by their Department are awaiting a response; and when each of those responses (a) were initially planned to and (b) will be published.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Policy teams across the Department consult regularly during the policy development and implementation cycle.
Information is available on GOV.UK on all open and closed consultations published by the Department, including the closing date for open consultations and, where available, the Government response.
The Cabinet Office has published best practice ‘consultation principles’ for government departments.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish the (a) number and (b) destinations of all domestic flights taken by officials in her Department in each of the last 5 years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department makes quarterly transparency publications which includes the number of domestic flights and destinations. These can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dfe-business-expenses-and-hospitality-for-senior-officials.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an estimate of the number of students in British universities who have opted to study abroad as a part of their degree in each of the last five years.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collects and publishes statistics on higher education (HE) at UK Higher Education Providers (HEPs). Latest statistics refer to the 2021/22 academic year.
HESA has included a new table in their Open Data resources from this year, showing HE student enrolments by their location of study, which includes if the student was abroad for the whole or proportion of the year. This data item displays actual participation in a placement abroad rather than the students’ intent at the start of the course, and the information is available for individual HEPs.
The numbers of student enrolments studying abroad in the latest five years is provided in table 60, which can be found here:https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/table-60.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what was the total cost of orders of period products through the Period Products Scheme in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.
Answered by Nick Gibb
In January 2020, the Department launched a new scheme to make free period products available for state funded primary schools, secondary schools, and colleges in England. This scheme was extended in July 2022 for a further two years.
Since the scheme launched, 97% of secondary schools, 92% of post 16 colleges, and 68% of primary schools have signed up. This is an important step to ensure that period health does not present a barrier to education.
A full breakdown of the data for each year of the scheme to date is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/period-products-scheme-management-information.
The tables below provide a the number schools with multiple orders through the scheme, the number of schools who have ordered products through the scheme, and the total cost of orders through the scheme from 2020 to 2022.
Number of schools with multiple orders through the scheme | |
2020 | 2,499 |
2021 | 2,415 |
2022 | 2,303 |
Number of schools who have ordered period products through the scheme | |
2020 | 9,702 |
2021 | 10,213 |
2022 | 7,473 |
Total cost of orders through the scheme | |
2020 | £3,192,000 |
2021 | £3,915,000 |
2022 | £2,862,000 |
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools ordered period products through the Period Products Scheme in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.
Answered by Nick Gibb
In January 2020, the Department launched a new scheme to make free period products available for state funded primary schools, secondary schools, and colleges in England. This scheme was extended in July 2022 for a further two years.
Since the scheme launched, 97% of secondary schools, 92% of post 16 colleges, and 68% of primary schools have signed up. This is an important step to ensure that period health does not present a barrier to education.
A full breakdown of the data for each year of the scheme to date is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/period-products-scheme-management-information.
The tables below provide a the number schools with multiple orders through the scheme, the number of schools who have ordered products through the scheme, and the total cost of orders through the scheme from 2020 to 2022.
Number of schools with multiple orders through the scheme | |
2020 | 2,499 |
2021 | 2,415 |
2022 | 2,303 |
Number of schools who have ordered period products through the scheme | |
2020 | 9,702 |
2021 | 10,213 |
2022 | 7,473 |
Total cost of orders through the scheme | |
2020 | £3,192,000 |
2021 | £3,915,000 |
2022 | £2,862,000 |
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools made multiple orders through the Period Products Scheme in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.
Answered by Nick Gibb
In January 2020, the Department launched a new scheme to make free period products available for state funded primary schools, secondary schools, and colleges in England. This scheme was extended in July 2022 for a further two years.
Since the scheme launched, 97% of secondary schools, 92% of post 16 colleges, and 68% of primary schools have signed up. This is an important step to ensure that period health does not present a barrier to education.
A full breakdown of the data for each year of the scheme to date is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/period-products-scheme-management-information.
The tables below provide a the number schools with multiple orders through the scheme, the number of schools who have ordered products through the scheme, and the total cost of orders through the scheme from 2020 to 2022.
Number of schools with multiple orders through the scheme | |
2020 | 2,499 |
2021 | 2,415 |
2022 | 2,303 |
Number of schools who have ordered period products through the scheme | |
2020 | 9,702 |
2021 | 10,213 |
2022 | 7,473 |
Total cost of orders through the scheme | |
2020 | £3,192,000 |
2021 | £3,915,000 |
2022 | £2,862,000 |
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she has made an assessment of the suitability of the GCSE Chinese, Cantonese stream, syllabus on students from Hong Kong.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department’s published GCSE subject content for modern foreign languages (MFL) sets out the knowledge, understanding and skills required for these GCSEs.
The MFL subject content does not set out the specific languages that exam boards can offer. Instead, exam boards decide which languages they wish to offer and develop detailed specifications in these languages that meet both the Department’s subject content requirements and Ofqual’s separate requirements for MFL qualifications. AQA offers a GCSE in Chinese (spoken Mandarin) and Pearson offers a GCSE in Chinese (spoken Mandarin/spoken Cantonese).
Exam boards are responsible for setting out the specific grammar requirements in the specifications for each of the languages they offer. These grammar requirements should represent a level of challenge and breadth that is comparable to the grammar requirements for French, German, and Spanish. These requirements are set out in the Department’s subject content. The specification must be accredited by Ofqual before it can be taught in schools. Exam boards are also responsible for recruiting examiners.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of recruiting Chinese language teachers from Hong Kong to be GCSE examiners.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department’s published GCSE subject content for modern foreign languages (MFL) sets out the knowledge, understanding and skills required for these GCSEs.
The MFL subject content does not set out the specific languages that exam boards can offer. Instead, exam boards decide which languages they wish to offer and develop detailed specifications in these languages that meet both the Department’s subject content requirements and Ofqual’s separate requirements for MFL qualifications. AQA offers a GCSE in Chinese (spoken Mandarin) and Pearson offers a GCSE in Chinese (spoken Mandarin/spoken Cantonese).
Exam boards are responsible for setting out the specific grammar requirements in the specifications for each of the languages they offer. These grammar requirements should represent a level of challenge and breadth that is comparable to the grammar requirements for French, German, and Spanish. These requirements are set out in the Department’s subject content. The specification must be accredited by Ofqual before it can be taught in schools. Exam boards are also responsible for recruiting examiners.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made a recent assessment of the relevance of Putonghua's grammar in GCSE Cantonese oral assessment on its marking scheme.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department’s published GCSE subject content for modern foreign languages (MFL) sets out the knowledge, understanding and skills required for these GCSEs.
The MFL subject content does not set out the specific languages that exam boards can offer. Instead, exam boards decide which languages they wish to offer and develop detailed specifications in these languages that meet both the Department’s subject content requirements and Ofqual’s separate requirements for MFL qualifications. AQA offers a GCSE in Chinese (spoken Mandarin) and Pearson offers a GCSE in Chinese (spoken Mandarin/spoken Cantonese).
Exam boards are responsible for setting out the specific grammar requirements in the specifications for each of the languages they offer. These grammar requirements should represent a level of challenge and breadth that is comparable to the grammar requirements for French, German, and Spanish. These requirements are set out in the Department’s subject content. The specification must be accredited by Ofqual before it can be taught in schools. Exam boards are also responsible for recruiting examiners.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of childcare providers in each region of England in each of the last five years.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Minister (Equalities)
This is a matter for His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.