Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-03-17.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they plan to encourage more females into STEM professions.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

Government continues to work with partners to raise awareness and interest in STEM careers, including among females.

The Government launched the £30m Inspiring Science Capital Fund in January 2016, in partnership with the Wellcome Trust. The fund will help UK science centres invest in exhibitions and education spaces, and reach those who think science is not for them.

We also support STEM Ambassadors, a nationwide volunteer network of over 32,000 people from STEM companies or academia, who visit schools to encourage more young people into STEM.

In 2014 the Government helped to establish the industry-led Your Life campaign. Your Life has built a strong social media presence to inspire young people, particularly young girls, to study maths and physics as a gateway to exciting and wide-ranging careers.

DfE is funding programmes such as the Stimulating Physics Network (£2.15m in 2015-16) and the Further Maths Support Programme (£5m in 2015-16) to support schools and colleges to increase take up of maths and physics with a particular focus on engaging more girls.

109, 000 women were accepted onto STEM higher education courses in 2015. This represents an increase of 19.1% since 2010.