Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve accessibility to higher education for people with progressive neurological conditions such as Friedreich’s ataxia.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to ensuring that all students are supported to both access higher education (HE) and to thrive while they are there. For example, in our recent Skills White Paper we committed to significantly increasing the take-up of the Adjustment Planner. This allows all individuals to go through the support that they think would be right for them and discuss this with the people they are studying with.
It also remains the case that HE providers have responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments for all their disabled students.
Wherever possible, disabled students should expect to have their needs met through inclusive learning practices and individual reasonable adjustments made by their provider.
In addition to reasonable adjustments, the Disabled Students’ Allowance is available for the provision of more specialist support. For students with progressive neurological conditions, such as Friedreich’s ataxia, this may include assistive technology.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of trends in the number of students with SEND being excluded from school on the economy in the long-term.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department regularly monitors trends in suspension and permanent exclusion rates for various pupil groups and undertakes regular reviews of the evidence concerning the long-term outcomes of pupils who have experienced a suspension or permanent exclusion. We are aware that there is an association with adverse life outcomes for pupils who have been excluded.
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Department has taken to monitor the progress of children whose education has been disrupted by long COVID.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department does not hold data on the number of children absent specifically due to long COVID.
Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 places a duty on maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions. As set out in the ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ and ‘Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions’ guidance, schools and local authorities should work together to ensure that pupils at school with medical conditions, including long COVID, should be properly supported so that they have full access to education.
Both sets of guidance are available here:
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department tracks the number of children whose education has been disrupted by long COVID.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department does not hold data on the number of children absent specifically due to long COVID.
Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 places a duty on maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions. As set out in the ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ and ‘Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions’ guidance, schools and local authorities should work together to ensure that pupils at school with medical conditions, including long COVID, should be properly supported so that they have full access to education.
Both sets of guidance are available here:
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the level of fee increases for (a) independent and (b) non-maintained special schools in each year since 2020.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department does not monitor increases to private school fees. This is a matter for individual schools.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help increase early years workforce recruitment and retention in Windsor and Maidenhead; and whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of her proposed funding rate increases on provider ability to offer competitive wages in that area.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department is supporting recruitment through our national ‘Do something Big’ marketing campaign and financial incentives to new and returning educators in areas of most need. Our delivery support contractor, Childcare Works, is supporting local authorities and providers with one-to-one targeted support.
We are committed to strengthening career pathways and championing early years teachers as part of our Best Start in Life strategy. To boost retention and attract new talent, we plan to more than double the number of funded training places on early years initial teacher training by 2028, and roll out a new degree apprenticeship route, with financial support for employers to deliver this.
In 2026/27, we expect to provide over £9.5 billion for the early years entitlements, more than doubling the government’s commitment to funded childcare since 2023/24. This will fund a full year of the expanded entitlements and an above inflation increase to funding rates. These increases also continue to reflect in full forecast cost pressures on the early years sector, including National Living Wage increases announced at the Autumn Budget 2025. Early education is delivered by a mixed market who set their own rates of pay. It is then up to those providers how they choose to spend this funding.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her planned timetable is for implementation of the free speech complaints scheme.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
On 28 April, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education signed commencement regulations, bringing the following provisions into force on 1 August 2025:
The department is seeking a suitable legislative vehicle to amend and repeal other elements of the Act in due course, including in relation to the complaints scheme.
In the meantime, as well as the new provider duties in place, the OfS Director for Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom continues to work with the sector to offer advice and share best practice, so providers can protect free speech and academic freedom more effectively.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what safeguards are now in place to prevent malpractice in English language proficiency tests used for university entrance, following the issues identified by Ofqual with Pearson’s PTE Academic Online test.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Universities are autonomous bodies, independent from government, and responsible for their own admissions decisions.
Where English is not an applicant's first language, it is right that a provider assures themselves that the applicant has a reasonable likelihood of successfully meeting the academic requirements of the course.
Universities are free to decide their entry criteria, including which language proficiency tests they require applicants to sit, with many higher education providers able to self-assess the English ability of their students.
Additionally, the UK’s student visa arrangements specify the level of English required by those coming here to study. This standard is rigorously enforced by the Home Office.
The online version of this test was introduced by Pearson in response to both the significant disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to international students and has since been discontinued.
Asked by: Amanda Hack (Labour - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of (a) treating stipends for PhD students as income for the purposes of calculating benefit entitlement and (b) not treating when calculating entitlement to free childcare hours on PhD students.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
It is our ambition that all families have access to high quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life and delivering on our Plan for Change.
Student parents are eligible for the universal 15 hours of free early education which is available to all 3 and 4-year-olds regardless of family circumstances.
Students who work in addition to studying may be eligible for 30 hours free childcare if they meet the income requirements. PhD stipends are non-taxable income and therefore do not count towards the income requirements of the 30 hours childcare entitlement.
Students in full time higher education are eligible for the childcare grant to support childcare costs for children under 15, or under 17 if they have special educational needs. Further information is available here: https://www.gov.uk/help-with-childcare-costs/support-while-you-study.
Parents eligible for Universal Credit childcare offer can be reimbursed up to 85% of registered childcare costs each month, up to the maximum amounts (caps).
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department's policy paper entitled Giving every child the best start in life, updated on 12 September 2025, whether the review of early years funding will include an assessment of food costs within the funding formula.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
To make sure that the early years (EY) funding system properly supports those children and parts of the country that have higher levels of additional need, the department will review EY funding, including the EY national funding formulae, consulting on a set of changes and publishing full details by Summer 2026.
Within EY, free school meals (FSM) applies to school-based nurseries (SBNs) for children who attend both before and after lunch. As part of the expansion of FSM, the department has announced that children in SBNs whose household is in receipt of Universal Credit, will be eligible for FSM from September 2026.
Beyond the provision of FSM, the statutory guidance makes clear that funding for the entitlements does not cover consumables like meals, so providers can ask parents to pay, provided they are not mandatory or a condition of accessing an entitlements place. As such, the cost of consumables will not fall within the scope of the planned review of EY funding.