Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to encourage outdoors learning in schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department believes all children and young people should have access to a broad and balanced curriculum and a variety of enrichment opportunities at school.
The value of nature for outdoor learning and for learners’ wellbeing is fundamental
to the department Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy and it is woven throughout initiatives such as the National Education Nature Park. Delivered by the Natural History Museum, it provides curriculum aligned resources and encourages children and young people to get outside and take action to improve the biodiversity of their school grounds. It also supports the development of physical and mental wellbeing through active, hands-on engagement with the natural world.
The value of outdoor learning is being recognised and promoted through our upcoming Enrichment Framework, which includes 'Nature, outdoors and adventure' as one of five categories that schools and colleges should seek to cover in a broad and well-rounded enrichment offer.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what evidential basis her Department is using to promote internal SEND units for pupils with specialist needs in mainstream schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
This government is committed to encouraging schools and local authorities to set up resourced provision and special educational needs (SEN) units to increase capacity in mainstream schools.
The department has carried out wide stakeholder engagement and reviewed the existing evidence base, including academic literature, public datasets and third-party reports.
We know there are many great examples of mainstream schools delivering specialist provision through resourced provision and SEN units. They have an important role to play in a more inclusive mainstream system, enabling children to achieve and thrive in a mainstream school.
We are committed to building the evidence base. For example, the ‘What Works in SEND’ programme is undertaking a research project on SEN units and resourced provision, including a systematic review of existing UK and international literature and research into operational models in primary and secondary schools in England.
The department is also working with the Council for Disabled Children and the National Association for Special Educational Needs to develop guidance to help mainstream settings deliver high quality support for children accessing SEN units, resourced provision, and pupil support units.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, further to the Cabinet Office press release entitled Young people from all backgrounds to get opportunity to study abroad as UK-EU deal unlocks Erasmus+, published on 17 December 2025, on what basis was the £570 million a year cost calculated; and what estimate he has made of the potential cost to the public pursue of (a) EU students studying in the UK and (b) UK students studying in the EU.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Kingswinford and South Staffordshire to the answer of 2 February 2026 to Question 107708.
Asked by: Zöe Franklin (Liberal Democrat - Guildford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that proposals in the SEND White Paper do not reduce the rights of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities as set out in the Children and Families Act 2014.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Guildford to the answer of 20 January 2026 to Question 98569.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps Student Loans Company is taking to ensure that borrowers repaying through PAYE are not issued incorrect repayment demands.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
UK-based student loan repayments are collected by HMRC through the tax system. Employers deduct repayments for employees with a student loan when their earnings are above the relevant student loan repayment threshold. Employers will pass the collected repayments to HMRC, and HMRC pass details of the repayments to the Student Loans Company (SLC).
SLC may write to a customer directly if they have been paid more student loan or grant than they are entitled to. Overpayments are due to be repaid separately from the customer’s main student loan balance, and it is right that the SLC seek repayment of such sums.
If a borrower thinks they have received a letter in error, we encourage them to engage with SLC. Customer satisfaction is important to SLC, and they continue to invest in systems to provide customers with a more intuitive and comprehensively digital service. SLC welcomes feedback from customers to further improve their service.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she intends to publish statutory guidance or a code of practice setting out the duty of care owed by higher education providers to their students.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Universities are already required to comply with their duties under the common law and legislation such as the Equality Act 2010, which includes an anticipatory duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled students, including those with mental health conditions which meet the definition set out within the Equality Act. The government has no plans to publish statutory guidance or a code of practice on a duty of care owed by higher education providers to their students.
Our focus is on ensuring that providers adopt consistent, evidence‑based approaches to student safety and wellbeing by embedding the recommendations of the national review of higher education student suicide deaths and other best practice identified through the Higher Education Mental Health Implementation Taskforce’s wider outputs and sector-led guidance.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate on the number of international students in British universities she expects to be part of Erasmus scheme exchanges after the UK rejoins the scheme.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In 2018/19, there were approximately 31,000 inbound higher education student mobilities via the Erasmus+ Programme. There were approximately 16,000 outbound higher education student mobilities in the same year.
The department expects there will be a greater number of higher education mobilities on reassociation, given the expansion of the programme.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the phonics screener for the early identification of dyslexia in primary schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Early identification of need and support is critical to improving outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with dyslexia.
There are several assessments in place to measure progress and help teachers to identify where pupils may require additional support with literacy. These include the phonics screening check, the end of key stage 1 non-statutory assessments and the key stage 2 statutory assessments. The phonics screening check helps teachers to identify pupils who may need extra help and enables schools to benchmark their pupils against national performance. This is not specifically designed to test for dyslexia.
The English Hubs programme is dedicated to improving the teaching of reading, with a focus on supporting children making the slowest progress in reading. Reading Ambition for All is a continuous professional development programme to support the lowest attaining children in reading, with a particular focus on those with SEND. This programme is delivered by 34 English hubs, reaching more than 600 schools, this academic year.
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of outstanding Plan 2 student loan debt in the year the first loans become eligible to be written off; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of that debt on Government finances.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The oldest Plan 2 loans will become eligible for cancellation in 2046. For the England-domiciled 2012/13 cohort, the first to receive Plan 2 loans, we forecast a total of £17,036 million in loan balances (including interest) will be cancelled at the end of their 30-year repayment periods.
These cancellations are accounted for at the point of loan outlay. The future cancelled debt is reflected in both the national accounts and the department’s accounts in the year the loan is issued and is then updated annually. It will not result in further losses when the loans reach the end of their 30-year write-off period.
The treatment of student loans in the national accounts is in line the methodology published by the Office for National Statistics and can be found here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/governmentpublicsectorandtaxes/publicsectorfinance/methodologies/studentloansinthepublicsectorfinancesamethodologicalguide.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure schools tackle gender-specific online harm.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The updated relationships, sex and health education guidance ensures that, from September 2026, schools will address gender‑based online harms including from pornography, deepfakes, sextortion and misogynistic content. It places new emphasis on challenging misogyny and supporting pupils to recognise and report harmful behaviours and to understand the impact of harmful online influencers.
In December 2025, the government published a new strategy to tackle violence against women and girls. We want to protect young people and drive forward education on healthy relationships. We will invest £11 million to pilot the best interventions in schools over the next three years.
‘Keeping children safe in education’, the statutory safeguarding guidance which schools must have regard to, has been strengthened significantly in recent years to reflect evolving online risks. Online safety is embedded throughout, making clear the importance of ensuring a whole school approach to keeping children safe both online and offline.