Category: Education

  • Rishi Sunak – 2023 Interview on Failing Concrete in Schools

    Rishi Sunak – 2023 Interview on Failing Concrete in Schools

    The interview broadcast by Sky News with Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, on 4 September 2023.

    RISHI SUNAK

    New information came to light relatively recently and it’s important that once it had that, the Government acted on it as swiftly as possible. Of course, I know the timing is frustrating, but I want to give people a sense of the scale of what we’re grappling with here. There are around 22,000 schools in England and the important thing to know is we expect that 95% of those schools won’t be impacted by this. Around 50 schools have already been mitigated, another 100 are in the process of being so and our expectation is that in a matter of weeks the bulk of the remaining schools that will have this issue will be identified as well. Also, important context to know that in many cases, this could be limited to as a single classroom, for example, and so people should have a sense of the scale of what might be happening as well.

    INTERVIEWER

    The former Permanent Secretary of the Department for Education has said this morning that when they wanted to put more money into repairing schools, you as Chancellor didn’t allow that to go ahead and, in fact, cut that budget. Are you to blame for what’s happening now and you want to apologise to parents?

    RISHI SUNAK

    That is completely and utterly wrong. Actually one of the first things I did as Chancellor, in my first spending review in 2020, was to announce a new 10 year school rebuilding programme for 500 schools. Now that equates to about 50 schools a year that will be refurbished or rebuilt. If you look at what we’ve been doing over the previous decade, that’s completely in line with what we’ve always done, about 50 or so schools a year, refurbished or rebuilt. That’s what I announced as Chancellor in my first Spending Review. On top of that, I also invested 5 billion pounds to help our kids catch up with lost learning from COVID, the education recovery programme, that you’ll remember at the time, that was rightly a priority of the country to help our kids who’ve been disrupted by COVID with extra tutoring, for example, to help them catch up and that cost 5 billion pounds, which I invested in as Chancellor.

    INTERVIEWER

    But the former Permanent Secretary said 50 schools a year, yes, but they asked that they had funding initially for 100. They thought the total number that needed to be done per year was 300 to 400. Prime Minister, you talk a lot about trade offs, but isn’t this simply a trade off that if you choose to save money in this area and don’t put as much money into repairing schools as senior officials ask, then you run the risk of them having to shut down because of a risk of them falling down?

    RISHI SUNAK

    Well, if you look at what we’ve been doing over the past decade, we’ve been rebuilding or refurbishing about 50 schools a year. As Chancellor, I announced a new 10 year programme to refurbish and rebuild 500 schools over the decade, completely aligned with what historically we’ve done in this country. On top of that, I announced record funding for schools not just to help catch up our children with lost learning, 5 billion pounds it was an enormous amount invested in the largest ever tutoring programme that this country has seen, that was seen rightly at the time as the priority. Our kids’ learning had been hugely disrupted by COVID, it was important that we helped them catch up, particularly the most disadvantaged pupils were the ones that were impacted the most. So I thought it was right also to invest in that, as alongside just increasing the day to day schools budget back to the record levels that we had seen previously. Taken together there has been a very strong investment in schools and now we’re getting on with mitigating the issues that we’re seeing today in a way that will help children quickly get back into the classroom.

    INTERVIEWER

    And just finally on those mitigations. Can you promise that schools will get all the money they need on things like transport to new classrooms, or other costs to make sure that in the schools that are impacted, kids can go on learning in person and we won’t have a return to remote learning that we saw during the COVID pandemic?

    RISHI SUNAK

    The Chancellor has been crystal clear that schools will be given extra money for these mitigations, it won’t come from their existing school budget, there will be extra money to the school so the school budget won’t be impacted by this. They will be given the extra money to deal with the mitigations, and again, just for context is our expectation is 95% of schools won’t be impacted by this and then the 50 or so schools that have already been mitigated. What we’ve seen is in the majority of cases, children continue to go to school, they’re taught elsewhere on the school estate, and for those that do have to be home that on average, it’s been just for about six days or so. So hopefully people can get a sense that we can work through this relatively swiftly and we want to minimise disruption on kids’ learning.

  • Nick Gibb – 2023 Statement on School Funding: Provisional 2024-25 Allocations

    Nick Gibb – 2023 Statement on School Funding: Provisional 2024-25 Allocations

    The statement made by Nick Gibb, the Minister for Schools, in the House of Commons on 17 July 2023.

    Today I am confirming provisional funding allocations for 2024-25 through the schools, high needs and central school services national funding formulae (NFFs). Core schools funding includes funding for both mainstream schools and high needs. This is increasing by over £1.8 billion in 2024-25—from over £57.7 billion in 2023-24 to over £59.6 billion in 2024-25. This is on top of the over £3.9 billion increase in the core schools budget in 2023-24.

    The core schools funding increase for both this year and next year includes the additional funding for schools’ teacher pay costs, through the teachers’ pay additional grant (TPAG). On 13 July, we announced this funding to support schools with the September 2023 teachers’ pay award. The funding is being split between mainstream schools, special schools and alternative provision (AP), early years, and 16 to 19 provision. The part of the additional funding that goes to mainstream schools, special schools and alternative provision is worth £482.5 million in 2023-24 and £827.5 million in 2024-25. This funding will be paid on top of NFF funding in both 2023-24 and 2024- 25. Further information on the TPAG is published here:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teachers-pay-additional-grant-2023-to-2024.

    Funding for mainstream schools through the schools NFF is increasing by 2.7% per pupil compared to 2023-24. Taken together with the funding increases seen in 2023-24, this means that funding through the schools NFF will be 8.5% higher per pupil in 2024-25, compared to 2022-23.

    The minimum per pupil funding levels (MPPLs) will increase by 2.4% compared to 2023-24. This will mean that, next year, every primary school will receive at least £4,655 per pupil, and every secondary school at least £6,050. Academy trusts continue to have flexibilities over how they allocate funding across academies in their trust. This means, in some cases, an individual academy could receive a lower or higher per-pupil funding amount than the MPPL value. This may reflect, for example, activities that are paid for by the trust centrally, rather than by individual academies.

    The NFF will distribute this funding based on schools’ and pupils’ needs and characteristics. The main features in 2024-25 are:

    We are introducing a formulaic approach to allocating split sites funding. This ensures that funding for schools which operate across more than one site will be provided on a consistent basis across the country.

    The core factors in the schools NFF—such as basic per-pupil funding, and the lump sum that all schools attract—will increase by 2.4%.

    The funding floor will ensure that every school attracts at least 0.5% more pupil-led funding per pupil compared to its 2023-24 allocation.

    The 2023-24 mainstream schools additional grant (MSAG) has been rolled into the schools NFF for 2024-25. This is to ensure that the additional funding schools attract through the NFF is as close as possible to the funding they would have received if the funding was continuing as a separate grant in 2024-25, without adding significant complexity to the formula. Adding the grant funding to the NFF provides reassurance to schools that this funding forms part of schools’ core budgets and will continue to be provided.

    For the first time, in 2024-25 we will allocate funding to local authorities on the basis of falling rolls, as well as growth. Local authorities can use this funding to support schools which see a short-term fall in the number of pupils on roll.

    The 2023-24 was the first year of transition to the direct schools NFF, with our end point being a system in which, to ensure full fairness and consistency in funding, every mainstream school in England is funded through a single national formula without adjustment through local funding formulae. Following a successful first year of transition, we will continue with the same approach to transition in 2024-25. As in 2023-24, local authorities will only be allowed to use NFF factors in their local formulae, and must use all NFF factors, except any locally determined premises factors. Local authorities will also be required to move their local formulae factors a further 10% closer to the NFF values, compared to where they were in 2023-24, unless they are classed as already “mirroring” the NFF.

    Today we are also publishing local authority funding formula data for 2023-24. Following the first year of transition, the number of local authorities that mirror the schools NFF increased significantly from just over half in 2022-23, to just over two-thirds in 2023-24. Of the 72 local authorities that were not mirroring the NFF in 2022-23, 61 chose to move their local formula closer to the NFF than required.

    In 2024-25, high needs funding through the NFF is increasing by a further £440 million, or 4.3%—following the £970 million increase in 2023-24 and £1 billion increase in 2022-23. This brings the total high needs budget to over £10.5 billion. All local authorities will receive at least a 3% increase per head of their age two to 18 population, compared to their 2023-24 allocations, with some authorities seeing gains of up to 5%.

    The £10.5 billion funding includes the continuation of the £400 million high needs funding allocated to local authorities following the 2022 autumn statement, and the £440 million increase is provided on top of that. All special and alternative provision schools will continue to receive their share of that funding in 2024-25.

    Central school services funding is provided to local authorities for the ongoing responsibilities they have for all schools. The total provisional funding for ongoing responsibilities is £304 million in 2024-25. In line with the process introduced for 2020-21, to withdraw funding over time for the historic commitments local authorities entered into before 2013-14, funding for historic commitments will decrease by a further 20% in 2024-25.

    Updated allocations of schools, high needs and central schools services funding for 2024-25 will be published in December, taking account of the latest pupil data at that point.

  • Nick Gibb – 2023 Statement on the Minimum School Week

    Nick Gibb – 2023 Statement on the Minimum School Week

    The statement made by Nick Gibb, the Minister for Schools, on 17 July 2023.

    In March 2022, the Government announced in the Schools White Paper ‘Opportunity for All’ that to give every pupil the opportunity to achieve their full academic potential, all mainstream, state-funded schools would be expected to deliver a minimum school week of 32.5 hours by September 2023.

    Most schools already have a school week of at least this length, and others will have plans in hand to meet the minimum expectation by September 2023. However, in recognition of the pressures currently facing schools, the Government have decided to defer the deadline to September 2024. The Government are encouraging schools that are planning to increase their hours from this September to continue to do so.

    The Government have today published guidance and case studies:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/length-of-the-school-week-minimum-expectation to support those schools that are not yet meeting the minimum expectation.

  • Peter Bottomley – 2023 Speech on Higher Education

    Peter Bottomley – 2023 Speech on Higher Education

    The speech made by Sir Peter Bottomley, the Father of the House, in the Commons on 17 July 2023.

    I thank the Secretary of State. Those of us with long memories know that we either ration places by number or we give people choice. If she is giving people the choice of being able to discriminate between the courses and universities on offer, I congratulate her, as I do especially on the lifetime learning and the degree apprenticeship expansion, which has already happened, with more to come.

    However, can I also speak up for those who either got fourth-class degrees or failed to take a degree at all, including two of the three Governors of the Bank of England who went to King’s and who came out without a degree? Rabi Tagore left university, and many other poets, painters, teachers or ministers of religion—whether rabbis, imams or ministers in the Christian Church—do not show up highly on the earnings scale, but they might show up highly in their contributions to society. Can my right hon. Friend please make sure that she does not let an algorithm rate colleges, courses or universities?

    Gillian Keegan

    I thank my hon. Friend for his remarks, and I very much agree that this is about choice—the lifelong loan entitlement, degree apprenticeships and all of the other choices—and about people understanding that there are many different routes to success in life. We have asked the Office for Students to look at earnings, because I realise that is difficult and that some jobs will not earn people more. However, for his information, five years after graduating from some courses, people are earning less than £18,000. That is less than the minimum wage, and it is not acceptable.

  • Bridget Phillipson – 2023 Speech on Higher Education

    Bridget Phillipson – 2023 Speech on Higher Education

    The speech made by Bridget Phillipson, the Shadow Secretary of State for Education, in the House of Commons on 17 July 2023.

    I thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of her statement.

    Today’s statement tells us several stories about this Government. It tells a story about their priorities: why universities, and why now? It tells a story about their analysis: what they think is wrong and what they think is not. It tells a story about their competence: why these changes, when their own regulator has used a different approach for so long? It tells a story about their prejudice, about why they continue to reinforce a binary choice for young people: either academic or vocational, university or apprenticeship. Above all, it tells a story about values—about the choice to put caps on the aspirations and ambitions of our young people; about Ministers for whom opportunity is for their children, but not for other people’s children; about a Government whose only big idea for our world-leading universities is to put up fresh barriers to opportunity, anxious to keep young people in their place. It tells you everything you need to know about the Tories that this is their priority for our young people.

    This is the Tories’ priority when we are in the middle of an urgent crisis in this country; when families are struggling to make ends meet; when patients are facing the biggest waiting lists in NHS history; when children are going to school in buildings that Ministers themselves acknowledge are “very likely” to collapse; and when a spiral of low productivity, low growth, and low wages under the Tories is holding Britain back. It is because the Prime Minister is weak and he is in hock to his Back Benchers that we are not seeing action on those important priorities. Instead, after more than 13 years in power, the Government have shown what they really think of our universities, which are famous across the world, are core to so many of our regional economies and were essential to our pandemic response: that they are not a public good, but a political battleground.

    The Government’s concept of a successful university course, based on earnings, is not just narrow but limiting. I ask the Secretary of State briefly to consider the case of the right hon. Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Rishi Sunak). The Prime Minister has a degree in politics from one of our leading universities, yet his Government lost control of almost 50 councils this year, he was the second choice of his own party, and now he is on track to fail to deliver on the pledges he set himself publicly. Does the Secretary of State believe that the Prime Minister’s degree was in any sense a high-value course?

    Let us be clear what today’s announcement is really about. Many of our most successful newer universities—the fruits of the determination of successive Governments, Labour and Conservative, to spread opportunity in this country—often draw more students from their local communities. Many of those areas are far from London, far from existing concentrations of graduate jobs. Many of those students come from backgrounds where few in their family, if any, will have had the chance to go to university. Many of those young people benefit from extra support when they arrive at university to ensure they succeed. We on the Labour Benches welcome the success of those universities in widening participation and welcoming more young people into higher education, yet today, the Secretary of State is telling those young people—including those excited to be finishing their studies this year—that this Government believe their hard work counts for nothing. Can the Secretary of State be absolutely clear with the House, and tell us which of those universities’ courses she considers to be of low value?

    The Secretary of State is keen to trumpet her party’s record on apprenticeships, but let me set out what this Government’s record really is. Since 2015-16, apprenticeship starts among under-19s have dropped by 41%, and apprentice achievements in that age group are down by 57%. Since the Secretary of State entered this place, the number of young people achieving an apprenticeship at any level has more than halved, failing a generation of young people desperate to take on an apprenticeship.

    Lastly and most importantly, the values that this Government have set out today are clear: the Conservatives are saying to England’s young people that opportunity is not for them and that choice is not for them. The bizarre irony of a Conservative Government seeking to restrict freedom and restrict choices seems entirely lost on them. Labour will shatter the class ceiling. We will ensure that young people believe that opportunity is for them. Labour is the party of opportunity, aspiration and freedom. Let us be clear, too, that young people want to go to university not merely to get on financially, but for the chance to join the pursuit of learning, to explore ideas and undertake research that benefits us all. That chance and that opportunity matter too. Our children deserve better. They deserve a Government whose most important mission will be to break down the barriers to opportunity and to build a country where background is no barrier. They deserve a Labour Government.

    Gillian Keegan

    As usual, the hon. Lady has more words than actions. None of those actions was put in place either in Wales, where Labour is running the education system, or in the UK when it was running it in England. We have always made the deliberate choice of quality over quantity, and this is a story of a consistent drive for quality, whether that is through my right hon. Friend the Schools Minister having driven up school standards, so that we are the best in the west for reading and fourth best in the world, or through childcare, revolutionising the apprenticeship system—none of that existed before we put it in place—and technical education and higher education.

    I was an other people’s child: I was that kid who left school at 16, who went to a failing comprehensive school in Knowsley. I relied on the business, and the college and the university that I went to. I did not know their brand images and I knew absolutely nobody who had ever been there. I put my trust in that company, and luckily it did me very well. Not all universities and not all courses have the trusted brand image of Oxford and Cambridge, which I think is where the hon. Lady went, along with my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister. I have worked with many leaders all over the world in my many years in business, and the Prime Minister is a world-class leader.

    On apprenticeships, it is a case of quality always over quantity. What we found, and this is why I introduced the quality standards, is that, yes, the numbers were higher, but many of the people did not realise they were on an apprenticeship, many of the apprenticeships lasted less than 12 months and for many of them there was zero off-the-job training. They were apprenticeships in name only, which is what the Labour party will be when it comes to standards for education.

  • Gillian Keegan – 2023 Statement on Higher Education

    Gillian Keegan – 2023 Statement on Higher Education

    The statement made by Gillian Keegan, the Secretary of State for Education, in the House of Commons on 17 July 2023.

    With permission, Mr Speaker, I would like to announce the publication of the Government’s higher education reform consultation response. This country is one of the best in the world for studying in higher education, boasting four of the world’s top 10 universities. For most, higher education is a sound investment, with graduates expected to earn on average £100,000 more over their lifetime than those who do not go to university.

    However, there are still pockets of higher education provision where the promise that university education will be worthwhile does not hold true and where an unacceptable number of students do not finish their studies or find a good job after graduating. That cannot continue. It is not fair to taxpayers who subsidise that education, but most of all it is not fair to those students who are being sold a promise of a better tomorrow, only to be disappointed and end up paying far into the future for a degree that did not offer them good value.

    We want to make sure that students are charged a fair price for their studies and that a university education offers a good return. Our reforms are aimed at achieving that objective. That is why the Government launched the consultation in 2022, to seek views on policies based on recommendations made by Sir Philip Augar and his independent panel. The consultation ended in May 2022, and the Department for Education has been considering the responses received. I am now able to set out the programme of reforms that we are taking forward.

    I believe that the traditional degree continues to hold great value, but it is not the only higher education pathway. Over the past 13 years, we have made substantial reforms to ensure that the traditional route is not the only pathway to a good career. Higher technical qualifications massively enhance students’ skills and career prospects, and deserve parity of esteem with undergraduate degrees. We have seen a growth in degree-level apprenticeships, with over 188,000 students enrolling since their introduction in 2014. I have asked the Office for Students to establish a £40 million competitive degree apprenticeships fund to drive forward capacity-building projects to broaden access to degree apprenticeships over the next two years.

    That drive to encourage skills is why we are also investing up to £115 million to help providers deliver higher technical education. In March, we set out detailed information on how the lifelong learning entitlement will transform the way in which individuals can undertake post-18 education, and we continue to support that transformation through the Lifelong Learning (Higher Education Fee Limits) Bill, which is currently passing through the other place. We anticipate that that funding, coupled with the introduction of the LLE from 2025, will help to incentivise the take-up of higher technical education, filling vital skills gaps across the country.

    Each of those reforms has had one simple premise: that we are educating people with the skills that will enable them to have a long and fulfilling career. I believe that we should have the same expectation for higher education: it should prepare students for life by giving them the right skills and knowledge to get well-paid jobs. With the advent of the LLE, it is neither fair nor right for students to use potentially three quarters of their lifelong loan entitlement for a university degree that does not offer them good returns. That would constrain their future ability to learn, earn and retrain. We must shrink the parts of the sector that do not deliver value, and ensure that students and taxpayers are getting value for money given their considerable investment.

    Data shows that there were 66 providers from which fewer than 60% of graduates progressed to high-skilled employment or further study fifteen months after graduating. That is not acceptable. I will therefore issue statutory guidance to the OfS setting out that it should impose recruitment limits on provision that does not meet its rigorous quality requirements for positive student outcomes, to help to constrain the size and growth of courses that do not deliver for students. We will also ask the OfS to consider how it can incorporate graduate earnings into its quality regime. We recognise that many factors can influence graduate earnings, but students have a right to expect that their investment in higher education will improve their career prospects, and we should rightly scrutinise courses that appear to offer limited added value to students on the metric that matters most to many.

    We will work with the OfS to consider franchising arrangements in the sector. All organisations that deliver higher education must be held to robust standards. I am concerned about some indications that franchising is acting as a potential route for low quality to seep into the higher education system, and I am absolutely clear that lead providers have a responsibility to ensure that franchised provision is of the same quality as directly delivered provision. If we find examples of undesirable practices, we will not hesitate to act further on franchising.

    As I have said, we will ensure that students are charged a fair price for their studies. That is why we are also reducing to £5,760 the fees for classroom-based foundation year courses such as business studies and social sciences, in line with the highest standard funding rate for access to HE diplomas. Recently we have seen an explosion in the growth of many such courses, but limited evidence that they are in the best interests of students. We are not reducing the fee limits for high-cost, strategically important subjects such as veterinary sciences and medicine, but we want to ensure that foundation years are not used to add to the bottom line of institutions at the expense of those who study them. We will continue to monitor closely the growth of foundation year provision, and we will not hesitate to introduce further restrictions or reductions. I want providers to consider whether those courses add value for students, and to phase out that provision in favour of a broad range of tertiary options with the advent of the LLE.

    Our aim is that everyone who wants to benefit from higher education has the opportunity to do so. That is why we will not proceed at this time with a minimum requirement of academic attainment to access student finance—although we will keep that option under review. I am confident that the sector will respond with the ambition and focused collaboration required to deliver this package of reforms. I extend my wholehearted thanks to those in the sector for their responses to the consultation.

    This package of reforms represents the next step in tackling low-quality higher education, but it will not be the last step. The Government will not shy away from further action if required, and will consider all levers available to us if these quality reforms do not result in the improvements we seek. Our higher education system is admired across many countries, and these measures will ensure that it continues to be. I commend this statement to the House.

  • Claire Coutinho – 2023 Speech to Policy Exchange

    Claire Coutinho – 2023 Speech to Policy Exchange

    The speech made by Claire Coutinho, the Minister for Children, Wellbeing and Families, on 5 July 2023.

    As a former Senior Fellow of Policy Exchange, I am delighted to be here to speak on a topic for which you have been such strong champions in recent years.

    It was your report on ‘Academic Freedom in the UK’, that planted the seeds for our Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill – and I stand here, three years after the Bill was introduced, with the Act having received Royal Assent.

    At a time when many were closing their eyes to the problem and saying there was nothing to see, Policy Exchange’s research shone a light on why we needed to act.

    The quest for truth has long provided us with the moral coordinates for social and scientific progress.

    Where debate has been suppressed, it has only set us back.

    We now give thanks to the Galileos, the Darwins, the Keplers, the Newtons, for pushing forwards the frontiers of our knowledge.

    Our understanding of astronomy, mathematics, natural history or biology, wouldn’t be the same if those visionaries did not believe in freedom of speech and the pursuit of truth.

    And yet, today, we see free speech under threat in the very places where the most controversial debates should be taking place – on campus.

    The very purpose of a university is to create independent thinkers who are equipped with the tools to think about the world critically.

    They are important training grounds for the business, political and cultural leaders of tomorrow.

    And this generation will need the skills of critical thought more than ever.

    The pace of change we face is transforming the world at a speed not seen before.

    Take the onset of artificial intelligence (AI). The next generation of leaders will face even thornier questions than the ones we face today.

    What role should Large Language Models play in education?

    How do we integrate AI into the workforce without displacing human workers?

    And how do we navigate copyright disputes between human artists and AI?

    These are all challenging ethical and practical dilemmas with no immediate answer.

    The next generation will have to approach these, and so many other problems, with an open mind. A desire to hear other opinions, not silence them.

    We’re doing students a disservice if we shelter them from other points of view, and withhold the opportunity to develop their critical thinking.

    And we’re setting them up for failure if we let them think they can go through life shouting down people with different views.

    As J.S. Mill famously said, depriving ourselves of the chance to debate also denies us “the clearer perception of truth, produced by its collision with error”.

    And yet vigilance is needed as there are those who seek to stifle debate in our universities.

    Curious students are being deprived of attending events, visiting speakers are intimidated by aggressive protests, and in the worst cases, academics are losing their livelihoods – and their reputations – for the crime of expressing an opinion.

    All of this is driven by a small groups of activists who shout the loudest.

    Activists who can fire off a lot of tweets and draft open letters – not simply to express their own opinion, but to close down a wider debate – and by now, we’ve seen the dangers of how this manifests itself on campus.

    If you’re Tony Sewell, you’ll have your honorary degree rescinded because the university doesn’t like the conclusion of a report you wrote for the government.

    If you’re Kathleen Stock, you’ll be hounded out of your job by a toxic, organised campaign to get you fired.

    We’ve even heard of examples of research projects on the culture of censorship in universities being censored because they’re deemed ‘too dangerous’.

    In other words, we may be at the stage where research into censorship is itself being censored.

    It’s even spread to disciplines as far from politics as you can imagine, such as maths.

    I met with a group of mathematicians who were being pressured into ‘decolonising’ their maths curriculum by downplaying or magnifying the work of mathematicians depending on their race.

    They were deeply concerned but also fearful of speaking out, because of the potential for a backlash that could put their jobs at risk.

    However, when I studied maths, I used an Indian decimal system, Arabian-born algebra and imaginary numbers forged in Europe.

    At this meeting I thought of the words of the 20th Century mathematician David Hilbert, who said:

    “Mathematics knows no race or geographic boundaries; for mathematics, the cultural world is one country.”

    And yet some people see even this discipline – the purest of all sciences and one which has developed across borders for more than a millennium – as an outlet for their activism instead of being motivated by a love of their subject and the pursuit of truth.

    The experience of those mathematicians is one shared by many in academia. An insidious censorship bubbling away under the surface, where students and academics with mainstream views don’t say what they think because they’re scared of the consequences for their studies or their career.

    They’re censored by activists who dress up their oppression in the language of tolerance and emotional safety.

    I sympathise with those who worry about the effects of toxic, hate-filled debates. I don’t want to see freedom of speech used as an excuse to abuse.

    But a tolerant society isn’t one where everyone must conform to a narrow, ideological vision of moral virtue – where only those who take a certain point of view are allowed to speak their mind – a tolerant society is one which allows us to understand people we disagree with, and where minority and majority views are protected.

    It should be a university’s duty to stay neutral, to facilitate debate and to protect those who put minority views forward in good faith.

    Universities fail in that duty when they themselves take sides on these contested issues. They risk losing the trust of their staff and students when certain groups are made to feel that their views are not welcome.

    I have no doubt in my mind that there are many leaders at the top of universities who are personally committed to academic freedom. I have heard about this commitment first-hand.

    But Vice Chancellors and Leadership Boards must make sure they are not being undermined by well-intentioned internal processes that stand in the way of freedom of speech.

    This pressure to conform to a progressive monoculture – both from activists and internal processes – has a material effect.

    Research shows that a third of all academics in the UK self-censor.

    A third.

    Often, it’s academics approaching the end of their careers who are more likely to feel they can speak openly than their junior colleagues.

    Your right to free speech in academia shouldn’t rely on your years of experience. It should be a right for all.

    And from Policy Exchange’s own research we know that this is not just an issue for those on the political right.

    While those on the right are more likely to self-censor, 42% of left-leaning academics in the social sciences report that they don’t express their views due to a fear of backlash from their colleagues.

    This will have wider effects than those faced by the individuals involved. For example, there is even evidence that shows that academic freedom boosts innovation. When academic freedom rises, the number of patents filed two years later grows.

    This creep of self-censorship matters.

    If we don’t bring an end to this culture of intimidation, we’re allowing an intellectual sedative to be injected into the University experience.

    And that’s why we chose to take action.

    We legislated, as we promised in the manifesto, to defend and promote that centuries-old principle – the principle of free speech – that has been at the centre of so much of our progress as a nation.

    Our Freedom of Speech Act will hold universities accountable for the state of free speech on their campuses. It will protect staff, students, and visiting speakers who advocate viewpoints of all kinds.

    We’ve created a powerful new Director for Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom at the Office for Students. They will be able to investigate – and take action against – providers who are found to have breached their duties to uphold free speech.

    Our new complaints mechanism, along with the introduction of the right to go to court, means that anyone who feels their free speech rights have been wrongly infringed will have a clear path to redress.

    And for the first time, we’re requiring student unions to protect free speech.

    Freedom of speech is not an optional extra at university. It is central to the university experience.

    Our measures are designed to give people studying and working in universities the confidence and security to speak their mind.

    At every stage of this process, they have been at the forefront of our thinking.

    And I can think of no one better to fight their corner than the new Director of Free Speech and Academic Freedom, Professor Arif Ahmed.

    Arif is a professor of philosophy who has written passionately in the  defence of free speech in the media. He’s stood firm in the face of attempts to shut down his own speaking events, and campaigned to reform the free speech policy at his own university – with an astounding result in his favour.

    He has defended views on the left and on the right, and I have no doubt he will provide strong leadership in championing a culture of tolerance and open debate within our universities.

    As Arif has written himself: “Words are not a form of violence. They are an alternative to violence. Without that distinction we are lost.”

    Now this Act by itself is not enough, I don’t believe that any legislation by itself can change culture, however it’s already starting to have an effect.

    I’ve spoken to Vice Chancellors who are making plans to embed a culture of free speech at the beginning of a student’s academic journey.

    The Provost of University College London, Michael Spence, took the right approach when he made clear that ‘[a university] is not a participant in the public debate, but a forum in which that debate takes place.’

    We have already seen an emboldened approach from university leaders who are fighting back where cancel culture raises its head.

    I am delighted that Kathleen Stock – despite the best attempts of some – did in fact speak to curious and respectful students at Oxford University recently, backed by strong action from their Vice Chancellor.

    I am also pleased that students who disagreed were allowed to protest outside.

    Both are important.

    And that’s because a healthy society is one where people who disagree can do so whilst living alongside each other.

    If you think about how we used to get to know each other, it was often in congregations.

    In churches, local community events, even that bastion of British culture – the pub – where the young, old, conservative, liberal, could all rub alongside each other.

    Now, social media has made it easier than ever for us to become entrenched in our own tribes, surrounded by people who think just like us.

    It’s a vicious cycle. The more and more we use social media, the more its algorithms will feed us what we like to hear, from who we like to hear it from.

    We get hooked on the drip of dopamine hits from people agreeing with us. Those who disagree with us become the enemy.

    But the fundamental wellbeing of our society rests on our ability to tolerate each other. On an individual level, our ability to connect to each other is what makes us happy and well.

    And when we think about the next generation, the leaders of tomorrow, what do we want for them?

    To teach them that they should shut down every person they encounter who has a different view? Or to teach them to be able to understand, to connect, to persuade, to find common ground.

    But common ground only exists where discussion and debate are embraced.

    Free speech at university is an antidote to the toxic effects of social media. By instilling the next generation with a new appreciation for freedom of speech, we can make sure this attitude doesn’t define our society in the years to come.

    The Act will give students and academics the practical framework to put the exchange of ideas over ideology, discussion over division.

    But I will end on the words of the late, great, Sir Roger Scruton, another Policy Exchange alumnus and one of the lecturers I was lucky to have during my own university experience.

    “Free speech is not the cause of the tensions growing around us, but the only possible solution to them…”

    Thank you.

  • Robert Halfon – 2023 Speech at the National Education Opportunities Network

    Robert Halfon – 2023 Speech at the National Education Opportunities Network

    The speech made by Robert Halfon, the Minister for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education, on 6 July 2023.

    It’s great to be back in Exeter for the first time since I was re-appointed as Higher Education and Skills Minister. And in such great company! To be addressing the organisation of professionals for widening access to higher education is to address a crowd that shares my outlook. I want to thank Professor Graeme Atherton for inviting me here today, and for founding NEON back in 2012. The attendance today illustrates how access and participation has evolved from a peripheral tick-box exercise, to a central professional endeavour that all higher education (HE) institutions should take seriously.

    As far as I am concerned, social justice is fundamental to higher education. Universities should exist to facilitate the studies, progression and graduation of all students – including those from disadvantaged backgrounds – so they can go on to get good jobs and pursue worthwhile careers.

    Today, I want to talk to you about the golden thread of social justice that runs through my brief of Higher Education and skills. But I’d like to say at the outset that I’m not offering this summary of measures as the complete solution.

    While areas of deprivation and low achievement still exist, there will still be more work to do. And I really welcome your insights on how we’re doing. When it comes to sharing opportunities fairly, we haven’t reached the point where we can lean on our spades and say ‘job done’. Access and participation measures are not about patting ourselves on the back. Social justice demands we remain open to how we could all do better – and I include myself in that.

    Skills education is incredibly important to social justice – because gaining recognised skills helps a person succeed in the labour market when they don’t have other things that can help you get ahead, such as an education that maximises academic performance, family connections or an understanding of different work sectors.

    That’s why skills make-up the greater part of the Ladder of Opportunity. This framework outlines what we need for the skills system to support people of all backgrounds to ascend to the top rung: well-paid, secure and sustainable employment. This should be an attainable goal for everyone, not just those who start with some advantages in life. One of the pillars that holds-up the Ladder is opportunities and social justice. These need to be our foremost considerations in making quality, skilled employment widespread.

    And I won’t deny that there’s an economic argument for this too. Delivering skills for the country is central to driving the economy. Skilled jobs have the potential to contribute 1/3 of our future productivity growth. In short, there’s no downside to upskilling the nation.

    The Chancellor has his 4 ‘E’s for economic growth and prosperity: Enterprise, Education and Employment Everywhere. His focus is productivity – but we can’t have that without maximising opportunities to reach widespread abilities. The Lifelong Loan Entitlement will be a major catalyst for broadening the opportunity to train throughout a lifetime, which I’ll come to later.

    For now, given that ‘three is the magic number’ of this conference,

    I have three ‘P’s for social justice – Place, Privilege and Prestige.

    Let’s start with Place. Social justice is fundamentally rooted in the places people come from – where they grow up, gain their education and find a job.

    A virtuous cycle of growth can have a remarkable effect on a place. An area with great education and skills training will attract businesses looking for their future workforce. They set-up and invest in the area, which in turn creates more jobs and higher tax receipts – allowing for higher investment in local public services.

    Harlow College has an advanced manufacturing centre and renewable energy facility, which is doing exactly that – attracting relevant businesses to the skills pipeline it has created.

    That is why this government is focused on delivering for places that need a sustainable jobs and skills ecosystem. Last year’s Levelling Up white paper included a clear skills mission: by 2030, 200,000 more people each year will be completing high-quality skills training in England. But it’s not enough to raise skills levels if it only re-enforces current pockets of economic prosperity. So this number will include 80,000 annual course completions in the lowest skilled areas.

    Our 38 local skills improvement plans will support this, covering the whole of England. Each plan is led by an employer-representative body, ensuring that skills provision matches the needs of local employers. Wherever they are in the country, learners will have confidence that the skills they’re developing match those sought by local businesses.

    In all places, people need high-quality careers advice from an early age to help them fulfil their potential. This is the first rung of the Ladder of Opportunity, the beginning of their journey to good employment. We have worked hard to lay the foundations of a coherent careers system, with strong collaboration between educators, training providers and employers.

    The Careers and Enterprise Company work through local Careers Hubs to support schools, colleges and training providers to develop and improve their careers provision. Part of the battle is raising awareness of what’s on offer, so that young people aren’t given a false, binary choice of work or university. Our Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge programme communicates the benefits of apprenticeships, T Levels and other technical learning routes to older school pupils. It’s available nationwide but focusses on disadvantaged areas – places where its message could make the most difference.

    Later in life, the National Careers Service can provide free online guidance. But it also has community-based advisors to provide personal support to adults with recognised barriers to finding work. This includes career routes guidance on apprenticeships, traineeships, university and other technical and vocational routes. Last year it celebrated supporting 1 million adults into a job or learning outcome in 2022. These local, one-to-one interventions make a real difference to the paths taken by those who most need guidance to get back into education, training or work.

    Overall, we are determined that ‘place’ should strongly determine where additional funding is channelled. So, for example, where young people are taking the new T Levels in an economically deprived area, providers now receive additional funding to support their attainment.

    Focussing on place is absolutely necessary for social justice, but it is not sufficient. Because within places, there can be disparities in the opportunities available to different groups – such as those with disabilities or learning difficulties.

    My second P is privilege. Because the privilege of quality education and training opportunities should just not be for the privileged few. It should be available for everyone, regardless of their background or circumstance.

    Schools play a part in this, as I’ve described – but employers, FE colleges, universities and training institutions also need to reach down into their communities to lift the veil on post-16 routes. We’ve seen some great practice right here in this city, with Exeter University’s tutoring pilot run by undergraduates in St James School. This saw a 100% improvement in writing ability following a nine week intervention – a great example of universities working closely with schools to raise attainment. It is crucial that pupils are supported to achieve to a high standard before they’re required to make choices about their future.

    You’ll be aware that the Office for Students recently launched the Equality of Opportunity Risk Register, with 12 key risks to equality of opportunity across the student lifecycle. These have used evidence to determine where interventions can really move the dial on social justice. They’ll be an important tool for designing future initiatives to broaden access to HE, and I look forward to providers rewriting their upcoming Access and Participation plans to incorporate them.

    We should recognise where progress is being made. While a substantial gap remains between the most and least advantaged students, more disadvantaged English 18-year-olds than ever secured a university place last year. And black pupils have seen the greatest increase in the proportion going to university by age 19 – 62.1% in 2020-21, compared to 44.1% in 2009-10.

    In 2020, we met our targets to increase the proportion of apprentices who have learning difficulties and disabilities, or are from an ethnic minority background. This encouraging trend is continuing; halfway through this academic year, both groups’ apprenticeships starts had risen again by nearly 15% on last year.

    We want to further build on this momentum, so that no young person rules themselves out of positive future prospects because of their background or personal circumstances.

    Young people with learning difficulties and disabilities may need extra support to manage their training and complete their apprenticeship. Following some fantastic examples, we want to work with providers and employers so that they can offer more mentoring opportunities for these apprentices.

    My ambition is for every apprentice with a disability to benefit from access to a suitable mentor throughout their apprenticeship. This is why I am today announcing a new mentoring pilot, where a group of trailblazing providers will commit to expanding their mentoring offer to all disabled apprentices, enabled through a bespoke training and support offer. The pilot, which will launch later this year, will mean we can better understand what works for this cohort and set a clear direction of travel to expand the mentoring offer more widely across the sector.

    We are also investing up to £18 million to build capacity in the Supported Internships Programme, which hosts 16 to 24-year-olds with SEND in a substantial work placement. We aim to double the number of these internships to around 5,000 per year by 2025, supporting more disabled young people into employment. Again, this is about targeted support that brings opportunities to people who might otherwise be reluctant to take them. The Chancellor additionally allocated up to £3 million in the Spring Budget to test whether this might be an effective model for other learners.

    Apprenticeships offer a package of wages, training and sector induction which can be instrumental for a young person who has had a very difficult start in life. That’s why from August, we will increase the apprenticeships care-leavers’ bursary from £1,000 to £3,000. This allows these young people to start a new career, confident they can cover the living costs usually met by family. This is on top of the £1,000 available to both the employer and training provider who take on a care-experienced apprentice – making a total of £5,000 additional funding available to boost outcomes for this group.

    So I’ve described measures to spread opportunity across the country, and extend the privilege of quality education and training to everyone, regardless of background.

    But those interventions are not enough. We also need to do something that is in some ways more difficult – to revolutionise the way skills training is perceived.

    The perception is often that vocational education, such as apprenticeships, are somehow worth less than academic education or a university degree. This has always struck me as odd. These courses and training options give learners transferable skills that they can take to a hungry jobs market. Regarding them as ‘lesser’ is both illogical and slightly absurd. Anyone who wants to employ skilled people – whether in a restaurant, a silicon chip factory, or to rewire their kitchen – cannot afford to be dismissive of this education.

    That is why my third P – prestige – is crucial. I want technical education and training routes to have parity of prestige with academic routes. For parents to want their child to do an apprenticeship as much as they want them to go to university. For students to be excited at the prospect of learning a real technical skill that can get them a job. And for teachers to value pupils’ success equally, whether they accomplish a T Level or three A levels.

    I really believe degree apprenticeships can bridge this gap in a way that other initiatives haven’t managed – through their name, their course content, and the institutions that run them. As I said recently in another speech, HE needs to allow FE to leverage some of its prestige. And that is exactly what will happen if more great universities such as Exeter collaborate with industry to create new degree apprenticeships. I was very honoured to speak at the graduation of the first Exeter University Degree Apprentices back in 2021.

    We’ve seen year-on-year growth in these prestigious courses, with over 185,000 starts since their introduction – but we want to go much further. Up to £40 million will be available over the next two financial years [2023-24 and 2024-25] for Higher Education providers to expand degree apprenticeships and widen access to them. This funding will enable institutions to deliver degree apprenticeships for the first time, and broaden the existing range – prioritising new routes to professions previously reserved for traditional graduates.

    The Office for Students will conduct a competitive bidding process for funding later this year. I urge everyone here to look into this for your institution. Great universities like this one have already gone before you, demonstrating the success and social justice these courses can bring about.

    I also want to end the perception that FE colleges are somehow second-rate institutions.

    And that to finally emerge from the shadow of academia, there must be a ‘Skills Oxbridge’ we can point to. I have great respect for the academic excellence of Oxford and Cambridge, but we need to stop using them as a benchmark for everything else.

    I have visited colleges all over the country, from Harlow to Loughborough to Oldham – and I’m looking forward to visiting Exeter College tomorrow. I’ve seen the great work they’re doing – how for example, state-of-the-art T Levels in healthcare are creating a pipeline for future NHS medical staff.

    FE is supplying education solutions to real-world challenges. Its great institutions should be celebrated on their own merits, for preparing their students for good jobs and great careers.

    The way people access further and higher education also plays a part in how it is perceived. From next year, young people will be able to apply for apprenticeships through UCAS alongside undergraduate degree applications, putting technical and vocational education on an equal, accessible footing with academic routes. Our eventual aim is a one-stop-shop, where everyone can explore their career and training options at any point in their lives.

    To further break down the barriers between HE and FE, we are introducing the Lifelong Loan Entitlement to unify education finance under a single system. From 2025, financial support equivalent to 4 years post-18 education (£37,000 in today’s fees) will be available for individuals to use over their working lives. Learning and paying by module will present new opportunities for those unable to commit to a long course. Like getting on and off a train, learners can alight and board their post-school education when it suits them, building qualifications at their own pace. Each learner’s personal account will display their remaining education finance balance, but also act as a portal to guide their learning pathway.

    The LLE’s positive impact is likely to be greatest for disadvantaged students, who are 9 percentage points less likely than their peers to have a sustained education destination after 16-18 study. As a traditional three-year degree is not always a viable option, the Lifelong Loan Entitlement will provide an alternative to train, retrain and upskill, alongside other opportunities in the Government’s broader skills offer.

    I hope I’ve been able to demonstrate that channelling education measures to bring about social justice is a real mission for me. It’s not just about an ‘uplift in spending’ here, or a token initiative there. A coherent strategy runs through my department’s work, where we carefully consider what the key barriers are and how we address them – in order to spread opportunity to everyone, regardless of their background.

    And aside from the social good we can accomplish, there is a really positive story to tell about the tremendous technical and economic power of skills education in this country. Further Education is not second best – it’s at the centre of innovation, preparing young people for the jobs of the future. There are now almost 160 freshly developed apprenticeship standards at degree level, attached to roles at companies like Goldman Sachs and BAE systems.

    I know you are as keen as I am to bring about a future where education and social justice are synonymous. To make sure that talent from every background can find a path up the Ladder of Opportunity, we will persist with the 3 Ps:

    Ensuring that every place has skills training opportunities available.

    Spreading the privilege of quality education and training to everyone, not just the few.

    And raising the prestige of technical education routes to be valued equally with academic ones.

  • Gillian Keegan – 2023 Speech at the Local Government Association Conference

    Gillian Keegan – 2023 Speech at the Local Government Association Conference

    The speech made by Gillian Keegan, the Secretary of State for Education, in Bournemouth on 5 July 2023.

    Thank you, Kevin.

    It is a great pleasure to be here to address the LGA conference for the first time.

    I know how important the work, and the voice, of local government is.

    My first step into public life after a long business career was as a local councillor where I was also trained by the LGA.

    And now as an MP, a Minister, a Secretary of State, I see every day the hard work that councils up and down this country do.

    I often get asked what a “good” or a “great” start in life is for children and that looks like.

    Every child, every family, is different. But to me, there is a common thread.

    Every child needs stability plus parents or carers around them that are fully engaged, so that they can grow, they can learn, and they can thrive.

    This is something that we all worry about, how can we make sure that all children get the stability they need to set them up for life?

    You are often the first line of defence for children in your area and I want you to know that I know how vital your role is.

    What you do changes lives. You can’t ever be thanked enough for this.

    I want you to know that I am right behind you in your efforts.

    It is not lost on me that I am addressing you today while children and young people in schools across the country face disruption from industrial action.

    This disruption is undermining the stability we have been working so hard to recover after the pandemic.

    Let me be clear, we should not be having these strikes. In general, but certainly not now.

    Children have been through so much in the pandemic; I can’t think of a worst time to be willingly keeping them out of school.

    And we know that it’s critical to ensure children spend as much time in school as possible.

    Because we know that time spent in school is time well spent. School provides stability, it provides education, it provides support, it provides community.

    But there are significantly more children missing school than before the pandemic.

    Sadly, tragically, too many children are not attending school regularly, are persistently absent or, are missing education altogether.

    Some have labelled these “ghost children” – but I don’t like that label – they are real children, and their potential is being cut short.

    I’m determined we fix this, and I am grateful for the work you have already done with schools and families to ensure that they and their children get the right support.

    We are clear that the system needs to work together to improve attendance, focusing on a “support-first” approach.

    When we can we will put these new expectations on a statutory footing. Because this really matters.

    In the meantime, we continue to support you in your efforts.

    Our new data tool means you can respond quickly to trends in near real time, our attendance advisers are already working with around 115 local authorities, and our Attendance Action Alliance, which I chair, and which includes the Children’s Commissioner, the President of the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Children’s Mental Health lead from NHS England. Championing good attendance is top of our agenda.

    I’m delighted to say that bit by bit, little by little, our approach is working.

    And this is critical in the next few months as we know that children who miss the first few days of the new term, without good reason, are much more likely to miss long periods of their schooling than their peers.

    This is a critical period, but it is also an opportunity.

    By September we want to be welcoming as many children back to school as possible.

    I believe, truly, that not only can we get this right, but that working together, we will get this right.

    By supporting children, and families, to get kids into school, to get them learning.

    To get them the support they need, and the stability the deserve.

    Of course, there are children who face bigger challenges than others.

    When you look at vulnerable children, whether it’s because of their home life, a disability, or a previous experience, it’s often the same children, who are being counted and treated as vulnerable in three, four, five different systems.

    Nearly half of our children in need also have special educational needs, as do 57% of children who were looked after for at least 12 months.

    Those children, they are just as smart and have just as much potential as their peers. The only difference is that they got dealt a tougher hand in life.

    We all know that they need the support, the stability, and the help that will allow them to reach their potential.

    The reality is that for children with more complex needs, support often takes too long to arrive – and when it does – it is not always of the quality or consistency that they deserve.

    Families have to jump through hoops to get their children what they need, and providers and services are under increasing pressure to deliver.

    That’s why we’re investing, doubling high needs funding in the past four years, so that it now stands at a record £10 billion, and putting £2.6 billion into special and alternative provision school places.

    But it’s not just about funding. It’s about how we use this and that’s why our SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement plan outlines a mission to transform the system so that all children, whatever their needs, can fulfil their potential.

    These children face many challenges, not just one. This creates more need for support, even though they have less to draw on.

    That is why we are working with you to deliver consistent high-quality support, providing more social workers, more educational psychologists, and more support staff.

    We are going to deliver new national standards and practice guides, that will not only show what excellence looks like, but will provide a benchmark of support that every child with special needs can expect.

    We will set out clear roles and responsibilities across the system and end the bureaucratic battle that prevents families and children getting the support they need.

    A standardised EHCP template and national digital requirements will mean families can get the support your teams and partners provide, more simply and quicker.

    We will work with you, and with families, to develop and test these resources over the coming months.

    We will also announce details of how we will work together on testing our reforms through our Change Programme and the establishment of new Regional Expert Partnerships.

    So the good news is, we are definitely going in the right direction.

    But there will always be more to do, and I’m so grateful for your support on this journey.

    That brings me to the second area of partnership I want to speak about – and that’s our work together supporting families.

    You may well have heard the Prime Minister speak about how central family is to our vision of the future.

    But it’s hard for young families to balance both their children’s education and their own careers, especially with financial challenges and especially in the early years.

    Parents in 2022 were paying nearly 6% more for childcare for under 2s and 6.4% more for 2-year-olds than they were the previous year.

    This is why the Chancellor pledged the single biggest investment in childcare this country has ever seen, and why by 2028 we will have doubled spending on childcare with more than £8 billion every year on early years education. But I know you need extra support to deliver this.

    I know you want precise figures, and I’m pleased to say we’ll be confirming funding allocations for each local authority later this week.

    We have also announced £289m of investment to help you set up and deliver wraparound childcare, available from next year. And we’ll be seeking your views on how we make this scheme work effectively.

    This investment will make a real difference to families up and down the country, so that they can balance their lives and support their children.

    This is the support I would like every child to have. But the reality is, family life is often complex. Sometimes there are challenges, and families need extra support.

    In February this year, we set out how we will provide this and ensure children are kept safe and stay happy.

    We called it ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’, because love and stability are what every child craves and what they deserve.

    Our strategy sets out how we will work with families to help them manage challenges.

    We’ll shortly be announcing which local areas will participate in the first wave of our Families First for Children pathfinder.

    These areas will provide a vision of the future system, supporting families through new Family Help services and an expert child protection response, to ensure frontline workers have the knowledge and expertise to support children and their families. Where children need protection, we will ensure that services, we will give staff the skills and support to take decisive action.

    Where children cannot stay with their parents, we should look first at wider family networks and support them and care for the child.

    And, where a child needs to enter the care system we will provide the same foundation of love, stability, and safety.

    There are 82,000 children in care. They are in our family, they are in our care, and we owe it to them to ask ourselves everyday – are we doing the best we can?

    We must always be ambitious for children in care and care leavers and I’m proud of what we’re doing in Government to help these children thrive and achieve their potential in adulthood.

    One of my most rewarding parts of this job is seeing this first-hand and chairing our cross-government Care Leavers board.

    And I am proud to work in a Government that care so deeply about this and it is great to be working with my colleague Johnny Mercer who is working on taking the lessons we have learnt about supporting veterans, and joining-up support for care leavers in the same way.

    We have increased the leaving care allowance from £2,000 to £3,000 and have consulted on expanding our corporate parenting responsibilities, so that more public bodies provide the right support to care leavers and also businesses.

    These young people need support when they start out on their own. Our Staying Close and Staying Put programmes will enable young people to  stay with their foster carers or close to their children’s homes when they leave care.

    Working together is a huge part of the making sure that all children get the future they deserve.

    I have seen this myself whether through Family Hubs and Start for Life, working with 87 councils in England; or the Supporting Families programme which has helped over 650,000 families already.

    When we get it right, and work together, it leads to incredible outcomes.

    Let me take fostering for example.

    I know first-hand the role foster carers play because many of my aunties fostered children.

    I have also been privileged to meet plenty of inspiring people who open their homes and their hearts to children.

    People like Marites. Marites is a dedicated foster carer – like many other across the country.

    She told me about one of the children she fostered. A seven-year-old boy.

    When he first arrived with her, he didn’t say a word. In fact, he didn’t speak for weeks. They didn’t know what he had gone through in his short life, but his silence spoke volumes.

    But Marites never gave up in the time she supported him. She gave this silent little boy the love and care he needed and slowly he began to recover.

    Years passed and then by chance she caught up with him walking through her borough. Her silent little boy was now the mayor.

    What a story, and what a life changed because one person took a chance on one child.

    You will all have had similar rewarding stories.

    Our job is to make sure every child gets the stability and foundation in life they deserve.

    A child, wherever they are, should be able to feel safe with unconditional love. They should be supported so that they know anything is possible.

    I know we ask a huge amount of you; I know that you wrestle with difficult decisions and pressures every day.

    But let’s just think about the prize. Together, we can create a world where all children, regardless of where they come from, can get the start in life they really deserve.

    Where it truly doesn’t matter where you came from, only where you are going.

    Together, we have started to make that future possible. But there is a lot more work to do.

    Work we must do. Because those children deserve nothing less.

    For me and many of your I know this is personal and I know we’re doing this for the right reasons, and together we can change lives.

    And I promise you, when we see those children grow up, thrive, and deliver that same love and support to their own families.

    We will know that all of the effort we have put in will have been worth it.

    Indeed, it may be the best thing we ever do.

    Thank you.

  • Gillian Keegan – 2023 Speech at London Tech Week 

    Gillian Keegan – 2023 Speech at London Tech Week 

    The speech made by Gillian Keegan, the Secretary of State for Education, at London Tech Week on 14 June 2023.

    Good morning,

    I’d like to start by wishing London Tech Week a happy 10th birthday. So, 10 years, an awful lot happens in tech in 10 years, even in 2 years…

    10 years ago, for instance, Goldsmiths, University of London had just published a study that said 1 in 5 Brits were so worried about privacy that they wanted to ban Google’s new wearable tech Google Glass.

    Fast forward to the present day, we seem to have got over somewhat our reservations about sharing and tracking data, even if we didn’t all get behind Google Glass.

    Last year the market for wearable tech was worth around $61billion and is expected to grow 15% a year between now and 2030.

    But, as you know, the tech revolution isn’t just helping us to track our daily steps – it’s transformed every aspect of the way we live and the way we work.

    Take farming – it’s hardly the first industry you think of when you think of tech, but this week I was learning about how farmers are now using satellite imaging to analyse crop quality, and data modelling to predict when to move their livestock from one field to another to get the best grazing. Another example is medicine, where simulations in interactive wards help train the nurses and doctors of tomorrow. The speed, cost and increasingly ubiquitous nature of tech is extraordinary.

    I recently visited City of Liverpool College, where they have a mind-blowing state-of-the-art Mo-Cap or motion capture suite which is used to develop the next generation of games and animated films as well as many other utilities across business.

    When Walt Disney was creating animations in the 1930s, every second of film involved 20-30 drawings. The speed at which Mo-Cap allows current animators to produce content is breath-taking.

    Tech is reaching further and deeper than ever before.

    But if we are to harness its potential, our workforce has to be flexible and ready. Upskilling so that we can use tech to its full potential is one of the biggest challenges we face if we are to keep our economy growing and competitive in a global context.

    Artificial intelligence is transforming the world around us and will help grow the economy. The workforces that are best equipped in AI with the skills they need will be the ones that ride the wave. We must make sure education is not left behind.

    For that potential to be realised, we need to understand the opportunities, as well as the real risks new technology brings.

    That’s why we want to kick-start a conversation with experts from across education and technology to hear their views and learn from their experiences.

    From today we are opening a call for evidence, seeking the views and experiences of business leaders like you on the use of generative artificial intelligence. The scope of this review includes Large Language Models such as ChatGPT, Google Bard and others. We are also seeking views on the benefits and concerns around its use in education.

    And this will help us make the right decisions to get the best out of generative AI in a safe and secure way. So, I ask you, please, get involved with this conversation.

    Your experience and insights are essential to our mission to create an agile and responsive skills system, which delivers the skills needed to support a world-class workforce and drive economic growth.

    The UK is already a world leader in technology with the largest tech sector in Europe and the third largest in the world. We have a focus on the key growth sectors of digital, green industries, life sciences, advanced manufacturing, and creative industries, which is where we really excel. How are we going to make sure we stay ahead of the curve and are not playing catch-up? That will be the challenge for everyone in this room.

    In March this year, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology published a framework that sets out our approach to make the UK a science and technology superpower by 2030.

    We want to make sure there are more opportunities for people to enter the science and technology workforce.

    One of the reasons I went back to study in my 40s was because there’d been a digital tech revolution and I wanted to understand how to deal with it. Suddenly harvesting data about your customers was way more valuable than the actual product or service you were selling. I needed to take the time to understand this change and I spent a year at London Business School to upskill myself.

    For this reason, IT technicians and data scientists are among the professions that are going to be in very high demand, and we have already started to expand routes to these careers by investing in education at all levels to meet the need for these skills.

    Take T levels for example, T standing for tech. Thanks to our close relationship with industry, young people now have far more options to get further qualifications or into actual jobs.

    Yandiya Technologies for example, are among our T level flagbearers. They make sustainable heating solutions. They take T Level students on industry placements, 45-days, and they have done that for the past two years. They now have five apprentices, two of them purely as a result of these T Levels programmes. They are using T levels to make sure they get the pick of the crop. And many smart employers will do the same.

    But getting the skills that lead to great jobs isn’t just for young people. There is already a shortage of people who are coming into computing professions and this gap will only get bigger.

    Thanks to a skills bootcamp in coding, Dan Watson was able to upskill from a career as personal trainer to one as a digital project manager for tech company Wise. He said the experience was ‘priceless’ and has enabled him to future-proof his career.

    We have bootcamps all across the country in many different areas, including digital, which is the most popular bootcamp.

    Let’s not forget that worldwide there’s a massive need for more software engineers… 40 million of them. That’s equal to the entire population of Poland.

    If you think this sounds alarming, by 2030 this gap is expected to reach 85 million – bigger than Germany’s current population.

    Although AI will also have an impact on these numbers.

    This is why we have created the Digital and Computing Skills Education Taskforce. Its role will be to spot what computing and digital skills are needed for the economy, where the gaps are now, and what they’re likely to be in the future and how technology may change these.

    Most importantly the taskforce will make it easier for students to choose computing and digital pathways at school, colleges, Institutes of Technology and universities and we have invested over £100 million in the National Centre for Computing Education.

    To navigate these changes, we are determined to ensure that education and business work really closely together. The taskforce will call on a number of industry experts, from cyber security, artificial intelligence, quantum computing and big data.

    We have 12 Institutes of Technology across the country today with nine more in the pipeline. They are currently working with over a 100 employer partners, including world-leading businesses such as Microsoft, Nissan, Bosch, Babcock, Fujitsu, Siemens and many, many more. This number will continue to grow, ensuring we deliver the STEM skills that the industry needs – now and for the future. We’ve also made it easier for employers to recruit apprentices, as well as introducing a new Level 7, a masters level Apprenticeship Standard in AI and data science.

    I’ve already mentioned T Levels and we’re rolling out more of them including additional digital routes. Eleven T Levels are now available in STEM subjects, including Digital Business Services, which includes specialist content on data analysis.

    Digital skills matter. As tech accelerates, they’re likely to become as important to a person’s employability as English and maths, eventually being on a level pegging with those two core subjects. This will be the cornerstone of how we prepare people for the world of work.

    As part of these reforms, from September students will be able to study our new Digital Functional Skills Qualifications. These will provide a benchmark of digital skills for employers and will give everybody the opportunity to get the full range of essential digital skills they need to participate actively in life, work and society.

    Whether you’re a business or an investor, I want to assure you our workforce will be ready for the future, whatever that future looks like.

    Tim Berners Lee once said “The web as I envisage it? We have not seen it yet. The future is still so much bigger than the past.”

    For me, that is a challenge but an exciting one.

    None of us has a crystal ball but one thing I can promise you, we won’t be settling for anything less than a world-leading role.

    Last night it was announced that a French start-up developing generative AI products has raised a record-breaking seed funding of over 100 million euros. The start-up is only one month old.

    We have innovation woven into our DNA in this country, but in the global tech race, we can’t afford to slow down.  We must work together now to ensure that UK companies and organisations are at the forefront of AI and technological developments, and in the best possible position to take advantage of the transformative opportunities that these generate.

    The Department for Education is ready for that challenge, and we will be there as you face that challenge too.

    Thank you very much.