Department for Education

The repayment of student loans is governed by the Education (Student Loans) (Repayment) Regulations 2009 (as amended). The regulations set out the calculation formula to determine overseas repayment thresholds for student loan repayments. A change in the calculation formula would require a legislative amendment.

Ahead of each financial year, in line with the regulations, the department calculates the updated repayment thresholds to apply for English borrowers residing outside of the UK, including those resident in the USA, and provides these to the Student Loan Company (SLC), who administer the loan accounts.

Student loan repayments are income contingent. To take account of differences in living costs in different countries, overseas repayment thresholds are determined by each country’s price level index (PLI) data, as published by the World Bank and updated annually. PLI data provides a measure of the differences in the general price levels of countries and, therefore, represents a relative cost of living between countries, enabling a fair threshold to be set.

Based on PLI data, countries are placed into different “bands” reflecting their cost of living relative to other countries and to the UK. As the relative cost of living in different countries varies over time, individual countries may move between bands following an annual threshold update. Where PLI data for a country is not available, the department may determine the applicable PLI value for that country by reference to a comparable country.

The repayment of student loans is governed by the Education (Student Loans) (Repayment) Regulations 2009 (as amended). The regulations set out the calculation formula to determine overseas repayment thresholds for student loan repayments. A change in the calculation formula would require a legislative amendment.

Ahead of each financial year, in line with the regulations, the department calculates the updated repayment thresholds to apply for English borrowers residing outside of the UK, including those resident in the USA, and provides these to the Student Loan Company (SLC), who administer the loan accounts.

Student loan repayments are income contingent. To take account of differences in living costs in different countries, overseas repayment thresholds are determined by each country’s price level index (PLI) data, as published by the World Bank and updated annually. PLI data provides a measure of the differences in the general price levels of countries and, therefore, represents a relative cost of living between countries, enabling a fair threshold to be set.

Based on PLI data, countries are placed into different “bands” reflecting their cost of living relative to other countries and to the UK. As the relative cost of living in different countries varies over time, individual countries may move between bands following an annual threshold update. Where PLI data for a country is not available, the department may determine the applicable PLI value for that country by reference to a comparable country.

Although the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill received royal assent in May 2023, the main provisions of the Act will not come into force until 1 August 2024. This is because the Office for Students (OfS) will need to create the new free to use complaints scheme introduced by the Act and develop guidance on how providers and students’ unions can comply with their new duties, in consultation with the sector.

When in force, however, this Act will only apply to higher education providers in England registered with the OfS. The University of St Andrews will not, therefore, be in scope.

The new duties under the Act will give specific protections to academic staff and introduce routes of redress where an individual may not have clear contractual protections in place in respect of freedom of speech and academic freedom. The Act is clear that the job security of staff should not be undermined by the expression of lawful speech, including where they may question and test received wisdom, and put forward new ideas and controversial or unpopular opinions.

Demand for skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) is growing across the country. We must ensure that everyone, regardless of where they live or come from, has the opportunity to receive outstanding STEM education and pursue STEM-related careers in critical technology sectors such as artificial intelligence (AI), quantum, engineering biology, future telecoms, and semiconductors.

Participation in STEM skills programmes is also increasing. Since 2010, there has been a 35% increase in the number of STEM A level entries from girls in England: girls made up 44% of all STEM entries at A level in 2022 and 51% of all science entries at A level in 2022. Since 2018, there has been a 30% increase in the number of STEM A level entries from black, Asian and minority ethnic pupils in England: this compares to a 7% increase in overall entries over the same period. The department has also seen the number of STEM apprenticeship starts by women increase year-on-year, with 14,110 starts in the 2021/22 academic year, an increase of 56% compared to 9,020 starts in the 2017/18 academic year.

The department must build on this progress by continuing to expand opportunities for participation in STEM. That is why we are working with departments across government on the Talent and Skills strand of the UK Science & Technology Framework to ensure a diverse range of people enter the science and technology workforce by 2030. Actions contributing to this ambition include:

• The department funds the National Centre for Computing Education’s ‘I Belong’ programme to improve secondary schools’ awareness of barriers to girls’ engagement with computing and support them in taking sustained action to improve the take-up of computer science qualifications.
• UK Research and Innovation’s STEM Ambassadors programme inspires young people from under-served backgrounds to engage with STEM subjects by bringing to life the opportunities they open up. Approximately 45% of STEM Ambassadors are women and 15% are from minority ethnic backgrounds.
• The Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT)’s AI and Data Science Conversion Course programme, established in 2020, funds universities to develop master’s level AI or data science courses suitable for non-STEM students alongside 1,000 scholarships. Since then, over 6,300 students have enrolled on these courses. As of December 2022, 73% of scholarships on the programme had been awarded to women, 35% to black students, 24% to students from another ethnic minority background, and 26% to students with disabilities. DSIT is now working with employers to co-fund 2,000 more scholarships. For every scholarship that industry funds, the government will fund an additional three across the programme.
• The department will shortly publish a public consultation on the Advanced British Standard, a new Baccalaureate-style qualification which will harness the best of A levels and T Levels to support young people with the knowledge and skills they need for the future economy. The new qualification will provide more breadth and increased teaching time, ensuring all young people are prepared for employment and life.

As part of the commitment outlined in 'Stable Homes, Built on Love', the department is exploring the feasibility of introducing a new financial allowance for kinship carers. Further details will be shared in due course.

The department is in the final stages of drafting its kinship strategy, which outlines plans to enhance support for all kinship families in England. This strategy will complement the existing support initiatives offered by the department, such as the peer-to-peer support service and the upcoming training and support programme set to launch next year.

As set out in the ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’ implementation strategy, it is the department’s intention to increase provision and take-up of ‘supported lodgings’ models, where care leavers live in a family environment with support to develop independent living skills.

The current guidance, ‘Making a difference: Supported lodgings as a housing option for young people’, is available to all local authorities and aimed at advising on the planning and commissioning of supported lodgings. The guidance is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a79706aed915d04220686ea/makingadifference.pdf. The department will continue to encourage and support local authorities with the take-up of this provision and set out its plans for implementation of further support in due course.

All pupils deserve to be taught a knowledge-rich curriculum that promotes the extensive reading of books and other texts, both in and out of school. School libraries complement public libraries in allowing pupils to do this. It is for individual schools to decide how best to provide and maintain a library service for their pupils, including which books the library stocks, or whether to employ a qualified librarian.

Given this autonomy, which is granted to schools, the department does not collect information about book stocks.

​In February 2022, the department published guidance to help schools understand their legal duties regarding political impartiality. The law is clear that schools must remain politically impartial, not promote partisan political views and should ensure the balanced treatment of political issues.

The existing Music Hubs programme is monitored by Arts Council England and they publish a Hub Data Dashboard that contains annual survey data from 2012/13 onwards. The Dashboard can be found at: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/MusicEducationHubs/music-education-hubs-survey-and-data#t-in-page-nav-3. As set out in June 2023, as part of the Music Hubs Investment Programme, the department plans to commission an independent evaluation to measure and assess the impact of the Music Hub programme against the key aims, to track how the programme meets the overall aims and objectives, as set out in the National Plan for Music Education published in June 2022. This will inform how to improve delivery over the life of the programme.

The department does not hold data on the number of Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) secondary level teachers recruited as a result of the inclusion of MFL on the Shortage Occupation List (SOL). Primary level MFL teachers are not included on the SOL.

Schools have a duty to provide nutritious, free meals to pupils that meet the eligibility criteria, including being a registered pupil of a state funded school. Free School Meal (FSM) provision should be made to eligible pupils either on the school premises or at any other place where education is being provided. The department expects schools to act reasonably in ensuring that their food provision accounts for medical, dietary and cultural needs. The department has published statutory guidance (attached), which describes steps a school may take, including the establishment of individual healthcare plans which may include special diets.​

Local authorities are funded to support children with special educational needs, including those who are unable to attend school on a long-term basis. The department has published guidance to provide more information, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/illness-child-education. The department continues to keep its guidance under review to ensure that free school meal eligibility supports those who most need them.

Schools have a duty to provide nutritious, free meals to pupils that meet the eligibility criteria, including being a registered pupil of a state funded school. Free School Meal (FSM) provision should be made to eligible pupils either on the school premises or at any other place where education is being provided. The department expects schools to act reasonably in ensuring that their food provision accounts for medical, dietary and cultural needs. The department has published statutory guidance (attached), which describes steps a school may take, including the establishment of individual healthcare plans which may include special diets.​

Local authorities are funded to support children with special educational needs, including those who are unable to attend school on a long-term basis. The department has published guidance to provide more information, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/illness-child-education. The department continues to keep its guidance under review to ensure that free school meal eligibility supports those who most need them.

The department will allocate whatever resources necessary to support schools and colleges to manage and remove RAAC from their buildings. Every school and college with confirmed RAAC is assigned dedicated support from the department’s team of 80 caseworkers who work with them to assess what support is needed and implement mitigations plans that are right for them. Schools and colleges with confirmed RAAC are also being supported by the department’s ten Regional Directors and their teams across the country.

Project delivery teams are on site to support schools and colleges to minimise the disruption to teaching. A bespoke plan is put in place to ensure that each school and college receives the support that suits their circumstances. Project delivery, property, and technical experts are on hand to support schools to put face-to-face education measures in place.

Members of staff across the department work on RAAC across a range of policy and delivery areas as required. It is therefore not possible to give an accurate figure for numbers of staff working on RAAC.

An updated list of schools and colleges with confirmed cases of RAAC as at 16 October 2023 was published on 19 October and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-raac-management-information. This link contains a summary of the number of schools and colleges with confirmed RAAC and the status of education in place at these schools and colleges at the specified date.

The department will allocate whatever resources necessary to support schools and colleges to manage and remove RAAC from their buildings. Every school and college with confirmed RAAC is assigned dedicated support from the department’s team of 80 caseworkers who work with them to assess what support is needed and implement mitigations plans that are right for them. Schools and colleges with confirmed RAAC are also being supported by the department’s ten Regional Directors and their teams across the country.

Project delivery teams are on site to support schools and colleges to minimise the disruption to teaching. A bespoke plan is put in place to ensure that each school and college receives the support that suits their circumstances. Project delivery, property, and technical experts are on hand to support schools to put face-to-face education measures in place.

Members of staff across the department work on RAAC across a range of policy and delivery areas as required. It is therefore not possible to give an accurate figure for numbers of staff working on RAAC.

An updated list of schools and colleges with confirmed cases of RAAC as at 16 October 2023 was published on 19 October and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-raac-management-information. This link contains a summary of the number of schools and colleges with confirmed RAAC and the status of education in place at these schools and colleges at the specified date.

Data on the number of Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plans is published on GOV.UK at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans. The latest data was published on 8 June 2023. This includes the number of EHC Plans that were issued within a 20-week timeframe in North Northamptonshire.

The department and NHS England will continue to work with North Northamptonshire Council to monitor, and improve the quality, consistency and experience of completing EHC Plan needs assessments, and the issuing of completed Plans.

In the government’s Spring Budget, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced transformative reforms to childcare for parents, children and the economy. By the 2027/28 financial year, this government will expect to be spending in excess of £8 billion every year on free hours and early education, helping working families with their childcare costs. This represents the single biggest investment in childcare in England ever.

The department announced local authority allocations for the childcare expansion capital grant on 30 November 2023. Central Bedfordshire will receive £649,385 in capital funding to support them to expand early years and wraparound provision.

In addition, Central Bedfordshire is due to receive £1,576,036 to enable them to deliver additional wraparound places. Local authorities have also received a share of £12 million of local authority delivery support funding for this financial year to support with meeting programme and delivery costs associated with rolling out the expanded early years entitlements.

The department continues to monitor the sufficiency of Mid Bedfordshire and has regular contact with them and each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing. The key measure of sufficiency is whether the supply of available places is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents and children.

Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. Part B of the 'Early education and childcare' statutory guidance for local authorities highlights that local authorities are required to report annually to elected council members on how they are meeting their duty to secure sufficient childcare, and to make this report available and accessible to parents.

Where Mid Bedfordshire reports any sufficiency challenges, the department discusses what action local authority is taking to address those issues, and where needed, supports them with any specific requirements through the department’s childcare sufficiency support contract.

In February 2023 the department published its consultation and implementation strategy, ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’. This sets out the department’s plans for a system-wide transformation of children’s social care, and details how the department will help families overcome challenges, keep children safe, and make sure children in care have stable loving homes, long-term loving relationships, and opportunities for a good life.

To support local authorities to meet their statutory duty to ensure there is sufficient provision for children in their care, the department has announced £259 million capital funding to maintain capacity and expand provision in both secure and open children’s homes that provide high-quality, safe homes for some of the most vulnerable children and young people across England. The department has allocated a portion of the £259 million capital funding to open children’s homes enabling a total of 69 projects to be delivered, which will create an additional 350 beds across this sector.

The department has also committed to developing a core overarching set of Standards of Care for fostering, children’s homes, and supported accommodation. This will help simplify the regulatory landscape, raise quality, and ensure there are consistent safeguards across different types of settings.

The department will develop a programme to support improvements in the quality of leadership and management in children’s homes, including exploring proposals for a leadership programme to attract and train new talent.

In addition, the department is investing £10 million to develop Regional Care Co-operatives (RCCs) to plan, commission and deliver children’s social care placements. Through operating on a larger scale and developing specialist capabilities, the RCCs will be able to develop a wider range of places to meet children’s needs better.

The department is also making good progress on addressing challenges relating to the retention and recruitment of social workers, which is key to supporting the delivery of the wider children’s social care reforms. This includes introducing an Early Career Framework to better support newly qualified social workers to meet the challenges of child and family social work, increasing the number of social worker apprenticeships, and supporting local authorities with their retention and workload challenges. Alongside ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’, the department also published a consultation on a set of rules for local authority engagement of agency child and family social workers. The response to this consultation was published on 25 October 2023 and sets out a set of national rules intended to increase workforce quality and sustainability. The department will consult on statutory guidance on the technical detail in Spring 2024. These reforms are in addition to the department’s £50 million annual investment in recruiting, training and developing the workforce.

An updated list of schools and colleges with confirmed cases of RAAC as at 16 October 2023 was published on 19 October 2023 and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-raac-management-information. This link contains a summary of the number of schools and colleges with confirmed RAAC and the status of education in place at these schools and colleges at the specified date.

Every school or college with confirmed RAAC is assigned dedicated support from the department’s team of 80 caseworkers. Each school’s dedicated caseworker will support them to put in place a bespoke mitigation plan, and this will ensure that each school and college receives the support that suits their circumstances. The department has placed contracts with multiple suppliers of temporary accommodation to get to site quickly for emergency provision and is confident that it has sufficient supply of them to meet need. The department will support schools if there are any site-specific issues that need resolving in order to install temporary accommodation.

The department supports schools and colleges in a number of ways. This includes significant capital funding and providing guidance and support to help schools and responsible bodies manage their buildings effectively. On RAAC, the department will spend whatever it takes to keep children safe.

The government is funding the emergency work needed to mitigate the presence of RAAC, including installing alternative classroom space where necessary. All reasonable requests for additional help with revenue costs, like transport to locations or temporarily renting a local hall, are being approved. The government is funding longer-term refurbishment or rebuilding projects to address the presence of RAAC in schools. Schools and colleges will either be offered capital grants to fund refurbishment work to permanently remove RAAC, or rebuilding projects where these are needed, including through the school rebuilding programme. The department is working closely with responsible bodies to assess what the right solution is for each case.

An updated list of schools and colleges with confirmed cases of RAAC as at 16 October 2023 was published on 19 October 2023 and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-raac-management-information. This link contains a summary of the number of schools and colleges with confirmed RAAC and the status of education in place at these schools and colleges at the specified date.

Every school or college with confirmed RAAC is assigned dedicated support from the department’s team of 80 caseworkers. Each school’s dedicated caseworker will support them to put in place a bespoke mitigation plan, and this will ensure that each school and college receives the support that suits their circumstances. The department has placed contracts with multiple suppliers of temporary accommodation to get to site quickly for emergency provision and is confident that it has sufficient supply of them to meet need. The department will support schools if there are any site-specific issues that need resolving in order to install temporary accommodation.

The department supports schools and colleges in a number of ways. This includes significant capital funding and providing guidance and support to help schools and responsible bodies manage their buildings effectively. On RAAC, the department will spend whatever it takes to keep children safe.

The government is funding the emergency work needed to mitigate the presence of RAAC, including installing alternative classroom space where necessary. All reasonable requests for additional help with revenue costs, like transport to locations or temporarily renting a local hall, are being approved. The government is funding longer-term refurbishment or rebuilding projects to address the presence of RAAC in schools. Schools and colleges will either be offered capital grants to fund refurbishment work to permanently remove RAAC, or rebuilding projects where these are needed, including through the school rebuilding programme. The department is working closely with responsible bodies to assess what the right solution is for each case.

An updated list of schools and colleges with confirmed cases of RAAC as at 16 October 2023 was published on 19 October 2023 and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-raac-management-information. This link contains a summary of the number of schools and colleges with confirmed RAAC and the status of education in place at these schools and colleges at the specified date.

Every school or college with confirmed RAAC is assigned dedicated support from the department’s team of 80 caseworkers. Each school’s dedicated caseworker will support them to put in place a bespoke mitigation plan, and this will ensure that each school and college receives the support that suits their circumstances. The department has placed contracts with multiple suppliers of temporary accommodation to get to site quickly for emergency provision and is confident that it has sufficient supply of them to meet need. The department will support schools if there are any site-specific issues that need resolving in order to install temporary accommodation.

The department supports schools and colleges in a number of ways. This includes significant capital funding and providing guidance and support to help schools and responsible bodies manage their buildings effectively. On RAAC, the department will spend whatever it takes to keep children safe.

The government is funding the emergency work needed to mitigate the presence of RAAC, including installing alternative classroom space where necessary. All reasonable requests for additional help with revenue costs, like transport to locations or temporarily renting a local hall, are being approved. The government is funding longer-term refurbishment or rebuilding projects to address the presence of RAAC in schools. Schools and colleges will either be offered capital grants to fund refurbishment work to permanently remove RAAC, or rebuilding projects where these are needed, including through the school rebuilding programme. The department is working closely with responsible bodies to assess what the right solution is for each case.

The National Funding Formula (NFF) is used by the department to distribute funding fairly, based on schools’ and pupils’ needs and characteristics. Through the NFF, schools are funded on a lagged system, based on their pupil numbers in the previous October census. The department does not adjust school funding in-year based on the arrival or departure of individual pupils. This helps to give schools more certainty over funding levels and aids their financial planning.

Under the Children Act 1989, local authorities are required to provide services for children in need for the purposes of safeguarding and promoting their welfare. It is important that every local authority have clear criteria for taking action and providing help across the full continuum of need. The Local Safeguarding Children Partnership should agree with the local authority and their partners what services are to be commissioned and delivered so that the right help is given to children at the right time.

In addition to the role played by the police in investigating and intervening, the following agencies have a duty to assist local authorities in their enquiries by providing relevant information and advice if called upon to do so (unless it would be unreasonable, given all the circumstances of the case):

• Any local authority;
• Any local housing authority; and,
• Any local health board, special health authority, integrated care board, NHS trust.

The statutory guidance ‘Working together to safeguard children’ (2018) is also clear that effective sharing of information between professionals and local agencies is essential for effective identification, assessment and service provision. In the case where a parent may deny the existence of a partner, the social worker should use probing, challenging questions and work closely with other agencies, for example, the police.

To support all students taking GCSE exams in 2024, the department has confirmed that students will not need to memorise the usual formulae and equations for GCSE mathematics, physics and combined science, as they must in a normal year. Ofqual is holding a consultation on this proposal to provide formulae and revised equation sheets, which closes on 30 November.

For schools that are directly affected by RAAC, the department has asked Awarding Organisations (AOs) to provide as much flexibility as possible within the confines of their processes and regulations, for example by granting extensions to deadlines for coursework or non-examined assessments and sensitively considering the timing of moderation visits. The department has asked AOs to agree such arrangements in advance so schools have as much certainty as possible and can plan their timetabling and teaching accordingly. The department encourages schools that are having specific difficulties in delivering coursework or assessments to contact the relevant AO as soon as possible, if they have not already done so.

Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. Part B of the early education and childcare statutory guidance for local authorities highlights that local authorities are required to report annually to elected council members on how they are meeting their duty to secure sufficient childcare, and to make this report available and accessible to parents.

The department has regular contact with each local authority in England, including Bexley, about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues that they are facing.

Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, the department discusses what action the local authority is taking to address those issues and, where needed, the department will support the local authority with any specific requirements through its childcare sufficiency support contract.

A commitment has been made to ensure that 30 hours of funded childcare is available for every child over the age of 9 months with working parents by September 2025.

More parents are going to be able to return to work while balancing childcare commitments. This is thanks to the government’s £4 billion per year expansion of childcare in England. This is the largest expansion of funded childcare ever and will remove barriers to work for nearly half a million parents with a child under three in England.

Local authorities have received £12 million of delivery support funding for this financial year to support with meeting programme and delivery costs associated with rolling out the expanded early years entitlements. Bexley will receive money from this fund. Bexley Local Authority are due to receive £716,747.72 to enable them to deliver additional wraparound places.

The department is also allocating £100 million for local areas to use to make sure childcare settings in their areas have enough physical space. This funding is anticipated to add thousands of new places across the country. More detail on the £100 million capital funding, including allocation amounts to local authorities and accompanying guidance, will be published shortly.

All teachers are teachers of pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). Information on the school workforce, including the pupil to adult, and pupil to teacher ratios at national, regional, local authority and individual school level, is published in the ‘School Workforce in England’ statistical publication, which is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.

In 2022/23, there were 18.2 pupils for every teacher in North Yorkshire local authority.

The department is committed to ensuring all children and young people receive the right support to succeed in their education, to be proud of their achievements in their early years, at school and in further education, to find employment, to lead happy and fulfilled lives, and to experience choice and control as they move into adult life.

In the SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan, the department sets out its vision to improve mainstream education through setting standards for early and accurate identification of needs and timely access to support to meet those needs.

The department’s annual report and accounts sets out the amount the department has spent in a given financial year. The latest document covers the 2022/23 financial year. This details the department’s capital and revenue grants and includes funding that goes to local authorities to distribute. Further information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-for-education-consolidated-annual-report-and-accounts-2022-to-2023.

The largest elements of revenue funding the department pays directly to local authorities are through the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG). The published allocations show how much funding local authorities will receive for each of the four blocks of the DSG: the schools block, the central school services block, the high needs block, and the early years block. The latest publicly available allocations are for the 2023/24 financial year and are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2023-to-2024.

A large proportion of schools’ capital funding is delivered through annual allocations to local authorities and larger Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs). This includes high needs provision capital allocations and basic need funding to local authorities to meet their duty to ensure there are enough places for children in their areas, and annual allocations to local authorities and MATs to maintain the condition of estates.

The latest allocations are published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/basic-need-allocations, and here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/high-needs-provision-capital-allocations.

The 2021 Spending Review agreed funding for the department for the 2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years, with total funding rising to £91 billion by the 2024/25 financial year. As is common practice, when publishing allocations for individual grants these will show the recipients of funding.

The department publishes figures on the proportion of pupils who are eligible for free school meals (FSM) in England. The most recently published figures are available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics. In January 2023, 1,056 (11%) state-funded primary school pupils and 1,377 (11%) secondary school pupils were known to be eligible for FSM in the Mid Bedfordshire constituency. Of these eligible pupils, 852 primary school pupils and 919 secondary school pupils took a FSM on census day.

The government has invested billions in local services. This year alone, the total social care grant for local government is over £2 billion. In the ‘Stable Homes Built on Love’ Strategy, the department outlined its plans to build on the strengths of current early help and Child in Need services, through the creation of Family Help.

The department is investing £200 million in Children’s Social Care reforms, including £45 million for the Families First for Children Pathfinder programme, which will test how multi-disciplinary family help teams can improve the support that children and families receive. The pathfinder will inform the next stage of the department’s reform programme which will look to deliver transformation more widely.

The department also announced over £1 billion of funding for programmes to improve early help services, including delivering Family Hubs.

The department does not currently cap or restrict the number of teacher training positions offered by accredited Initial Teacher Training (ITT) providers. This enables them to recruit the highest number of candidates that they can whilst ensuring they are able to deliver high-quality training.

For the 2024/25 academic year recruitment cycle, the department has announced an ITT financial incentives package worth up to £196 million, which is a £15 million increase on the last cycle.

For trainees starting ITT in 2024/25, the department is offering a £28,000 tax-free bursary and £30,000 tax-free bursaries in mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing.

The department is also offering a £25,000 tax-free bursary for biology, design & technology, geography and languages (including ancient languages), and a £10,000 tax-free bursary for English, art and design, music and religious education.

The department reviews the bursaries on offer each year to take account of factors including historic recruitment, forecast economic conditions, and teacher supply need in each subject. This provides flexibility to respond to the need to attract new teachers, and means the department is spending money where it is needed most.

The department welcomes talented individuals from overseas to train to teach in England. For the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years, the department has extended bursary and scholarship eligibility to all non-UK national trainees in physics and languages. This means international physics and languages trainees are eligible for scholarships worth up to £30,000 and bursaries worth up to £28,000. The department is also piloting a new international relocation payment worth £10,000 to help teachers and trainees in languages and physics with the cost of visas and other expenses involved in moving to England.

The department is working closely with exam boards and subject experts to develop draft subject content for the natural history GCSE. We expect to launch the consultation in early 2024, ensuring it is of the highest quality and can meet regulatory standards.

The department wants to ensure that all students, regardless of their background, benefit from high quality, world-leading higher education (HE) that leads to excellent outcomes.

The Office for Students (OfS) has responsibility for monitoring quality and standards and acting where there is a breach of its conditions of registration. The OfS registration condition B3 sets minimum requirements for student outcomes, including course continuation, completion and progression onto graduate employment or further study.

Where courses perform below these thresholds, the providers could face investigation, enabling the OfS to understand the reasons for their performance. If a HE provider is found to be in breach of regulatory requirements, the OfS has the power to intervene and impose sanctions.

To date, the OfS has undertaken 18 investigations in relation to student outcomes (B3) performance. The OfS will publish the outcomes of those investigations in due course and will make decisions about whether regulatory action is appropriate. The department expects the OfS to take decisive action where there has been a clear breach of B3, including, where appropriate, through the use of recruitment limits. Recruitment limits will prevent the growth of courses that do not meet minimum expectations for student outcomes, where there is no justifiable explanation for them failing to do so.

Other sanctions available to the OfS include issuing a specific ongoing condition of registration requiring an improvement in performance, financial penalties and ultimately the suspension or removal of the HE provider from the register (and with it, access to student finance).

The department is deeply concerned about the increase in antisemitic incidents on campuses since the horrific 7 October 2023 terrorist attacks against Israel. This government takes antisemitism extremely seriously. That is why on 22 November, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced in his Autumn 2023 Statement an additional £7 million over 3 years to tackle antisemitism in education.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, and I wrote to all schools, colleges and universities on 11 October, urging them to respond swiftly to hate-related incidents and actively reassure Jewish students that they can study without fear of harassment or intimidation. I wrote again to Vice Chancellors on 16 November, further emphasising the use of disciplinary measures against perpetrators and the importance of police engagement, as well as the suspension of student visas where the student is a foreign national. This was one of the key actions I set out in the five-point plan for tackling antisemitism in higher education, which was published on 5 November. Details of the plan can be found here: https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2023/11/05/how-were-protecting-jewish-students-on-university-campuses/.

On 21 November, the Secretary of State and I attended a round table hosted by the Union of Jewish Students, at University College London, where we heard directly about the impact of antisemitism on campus.

The department continues to remind providers of their obligations under the Prevent duty, where they should be working to prevent people from being drawn into or supporting terrorism. Departmental officials have assessed evidence of antisemitism and racial hatred linked to incidents at English universities. There is an online ’Reporting Extremism’ form where members of the public can raise concerns to the department directly. Where concerns have arisen, officials have reached out to the relevant universities to understand what actions they have taken, including reporting issues to the police where appropriate.

The government understands the importance of lifelong learning, adult education and the need for adults to be able to train, re-train and upskill throughout their lives.

The department recognises that clear information and guidance is essential for learners, education providers and employers alike to navigate the government’s skills and adult education offer.

The department has launched the Skills for Life strategy and website, which is designed to support people to access the education and training they need and signposts them to the appropriate programmes. It targets adult learners in priority sectors to help them to access the skills they need to get the job they want, whatever their stage in life. The site showcases hundreds of government-funded skills opportunities to raise awareness and boost understanding among adults and help maximise uptake across the country.

The National Careers Service provides free, up-to-date, impartial information, advice and guidance on careers, skills, and the labour market in England. It offers intensive support for low-skilled adults without a qualification at Level 3, as one of six priority groups for the service. Professionally qualified careers advisers can support customers to explore the range of learning routes to determine the best route for them and to develop a careers action plan.

The government is committed to investing £2.5 billion across the financial years from 2022 to 2025 (£3 billion when including Barnett funding for devolved administrations) as a part of the department’s skills reforms to help adults learn valuable skills and prepare for the economy of the future.

The Adult Education Budget (AEB) provides £1.34 billon in the 2022/23 financial year to fund skills provision for adults to help them gain the skills they need for work, an apprenticeship or further learning. The department’s ‘essential skills’ legal entitlements, funded through the AEB, provide the opportunity of free study for adults who do not have essential literacy and numeracy skills up to and including Level 2 and digital skills up to and including Level 1.

Community Learning plays a vital role within AEB provision of supporting those furthest from the workplace, and in improving the health and well-being of learners. It is an important stepping-stone for learners who are not ready for formal accredited learning, or who would benefit from learning in a more informal way, particularly for (post-19) disadvantaged learners. It is a flexible and wide-ranging offer, responding to local needs and is delivered in nearly every local authority area across England through adult education services, further education colleges, Institutes of Adult Learning and Community Learning.

The Free Courses for Jobs offer gives eligible adults the chance to access high value Level 3 qualification for free, which can support them to gain higher wages or a better job. There has been strong uptake of over 45,000 cumulative enrolments between April 2021 and April 2023.

Skills Bootcamps offer free, flexible courses of up to 16 weeks, giving people the opportunity to build up sector-specific skills with a job interview upon completion. The department delivered 40,040 Skills Bootcamps starts in the 2022/23 financial year and has invested £550 million across the financial years from 2022 to2025 to significantly expand Skills Bootcamps further with a target of 64,000 learner starts a year in the2024/25 financial year so that more adults can get the skills they need for good jobs.

Apprenticeships are available for everyone over the age of 16 and provide a unique opportunity for people to develop the knowledge and skills needed to start, enhance, or change careers. There are high-quality apprenticeship routes into more than 680 occupations and the department is providing £2.7 billion of funding by the 2024/25 financial year to support employers to take up these opportunities. The Autumn 2023 Statement also announced a £50 million investment in a two-year apprenticeships pilot to explore ways to increase apprenticeship opportunities in growth sectors, and address barriers to entry in high-value apprenticeships.

From the 2025/26 academic year, the department will introduce the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE). This is a transformation of the student finance system which will provide individuals with a loan entitlement equivalent to four years of post-18 education to use over their working lives (£37,000 in today’s fees). The LLE will be available for both full years of study at Levels 4-6 as well as, for the first time, modules of high-value courses, regardless of whether they are provided in colleges or universities. Under this flexible system, people will be able to space out their studies and learn at a pace that is right for them, including choosing to build up their qualifications over time, within both further education and higher education providers.

Well-maintained, safe school buildings are a priority for the department in order that they support a high-quality education for all children.

Responsibility for keeping buildings safe and well-maintained lies with schools and their responsible bodies, such as local authorities, academy trusts and voluntary-aided bodies. The department supports them by providing access to annual capital funding, delivering major rebuilding programmes, and offering guidance and support.

The department has allocated over £15 billion since 2015 for keeping schools in England safe and operational, including £1.8 billion in 2023/24. This funding is informed by consistent data on the condition of the school estate. Devolved administrations received funding for education through the Barnett formula at the Spending Review 2021.

Responsible bodies in England, depending on their size and type, are either eligible to receive annual school condition allocation (SCA) funding to use on improving the condition of their schools, or are instead able to bid into the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) each year for specific capital projects. Schools in England also receive funding to spend on their capital priorities or contribute to larger projects through an annual devolved formula capital allocation (DFC). Details on SCA, DFC and CIF can be found on GOV.UK.

CIF eligible schools can apply for urgent capital support at any time in the year, if they have urgent building issues that need to be addressed. Details on how to apply for urgent capital support are available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/condition-improvement-fund.

The department provides extensive guidance for responsible bodies to help them make effective spending decisions and manage their estates strategically and safely through resources such as the ‘Good estate management for schools’ guidance. The guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/good-estate-management-for-schools.

In addition to condition capital funding, the school rebuilding programme (SRP) will transform buildings at 500 schools in Engand over the next decade, prioritising schools in poor condition and with evidence of potential safety issues. The department has announced 400 schools to date, including 239 in December 2022.

The department is providing targeted support for RAAC and will fund emergency mitigation work needed to make school and college buildings safe, including installing alternative classroom space where necessary. Where schools and colleges need additional help with revenue costs, the department expects all reasonable requests will be approved. The department will also fund refurbishment projects, or rebuilding projects where these are needed, to remove RAAC from the school estate, including through the SRP.

Deterring, detecting and addressing academic cheating and misconduct remains a high priority for the government.

There are strict rules in place, set by exam boards, to ensure pupils’ work is their own. Sanctions for cheating are serious, including being disqualified from a qualification. Schools and teachers know their pupils best and are experienced in identifying their individual pupils’ work.

Ofqual communicates regularly with exam boards about risks, including malpractice risks, and expects regulated awarding organisations to carefully consider the potential impacts artificial intelligence (AI) may have on their qualifications and where necessary make changes to the way in which their qualifications are designed or delivered in response.

The Joint Council for Qualifications published guidance earlier this year which reminds teachers and assessors of best practice in preventing and identifying potential malpractice, applying it in the context of AI use.

The department is building the evidence base for how generative AI is best used in education from the experience and expertise of the sector. The department will publish the response to the Call for Evidence on Generative AI in Education shortly. The department is conducting ongoing wider research to gather insight on how generative AI is being used in early year’s settings, schools, colleges, and universities, and how it could be used to support the sector in the future.

The department has endowed the Education Endowment Foundation with a further £137 million to encourage innovative and effective evidence-based teaching, including using technology such as Computer Adaptive Learning or AI. Their trials will explore teaching approaches using Education Technology and which features of the technology, and how they are used, may support academic attainment.

Regular attendance at school is vital for children’s education, wellbeing, and long-term development. School attendance is mandatory, and parents have a duty, under section 7 of the Education Act 1996, to ensure that their child of compulsory age receives an efficient full-time education between ages five and sixteen.

The department recognises that some children may face barriers to attendance due to diagnosed medical conditions, such as long COVID. Long COVID is an umbrella term for symptoms that persist or develop after someone recovers from COVID-19. The severity of these symptoms can vary significantly and the support for pupils should recognise this.

The department’s new attendance guidance makes it clear that children with long term medical conditions may require additional support and that schools should provide this support where necessary to help them access their full-time education. This should include having sensitive conversations with pupils and parents, making reasonable adjustments where necessary, and considering additional support from external partners (including the local authority or health services). The department expects schools to work with families to develop specific support approaches for attendance and ensuring effective pastoral support is in place.

In some circumstances, pupils’ symptoms may be so severe that they are unable to attend mainstream education. The guidance entitled ‘Ensuring a Good Education for Children who cannot attend school because of health needs’ sets out that a local authority must arrange suitable full-time education (or as much education as the child’s health condition allows) for children of compulsory school age who, because of illness, would otherwise not receive suitable education. A link to the guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/education-for-children-with-health-needs-who-cannot-attend-school.

The department’s expenditure, including consultancy fees, is published each year in the Annual Report and Accounts and can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/annual-reports-and-accounts-for-central-government-departments.

Since data collection is not part of Ofsted’s role, there have been no recent discussions on the steps Ofsted takes to collect data. Ofsted is a separate government department responsible for inspecting and reporting on the quality of post-16 education and training provided by further education colleges and training providers. As set out in Ofsted’s Further Education and Skills Handbook, the quality of provision for learners with high needs and with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) is always considered during the provision of any type of inspection. The handbook is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/further-education-and-skills-inspection-handbook-eif/further-education-and-skills-handbook-for-september-2022. Before making any final judgement on overall effectiveness, inspectors must evaluate the extent to which the education and training provided meets the needs of all learners, including learners with SEND and those who have high needs.

In the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan, the department set out its ambition for more children and young people to have their needs met effectively in mainstream settings where it is possible for this to happen. For those children and young people with SEND who do require an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan and specialist provision, the department will ensure that parents do not face an adversarial system to secure this.

The department will improve mainstream education by setting standards for the early and accurate identification of need, and for timely access to the support to meet those needs.

To deliver new national SEND and AP standards across EHC, the department is starting by building on existing best practice, including on early language support, autism and mental health and wellbeing. The department will publish three advisory practitioner standards by the end of 2025. The department will also publish a significant portion of the national standards by the end of 2025.

It is crucial that Speech Language and Communication Needs (SLCN) are identified early to enable the right support to be put in place. In partnership with NHS England, the department is funding the Early Language and Support for Every Child (ELSEC) pathfinders within its Change Programme.

Reaching over 70% of schools and further education colleges, the Universal Services Programme will help the education workforce to identify and meet the needs of children and young people with SEND, earlier and more effectively. The department is investing a further £21 million to train 400 more educational psychologists to increase capacity.

The department is introducing a leadership level new National Professional Qualification (NPQ) for SENCOs. This will replace the existing qualification and ensure that SENCOs receive consistent high-quality training. The department has also committed to funding training for up to 7,000 early years staff to gain an accredited Level 3 early years SENCO qualification.

The department has allocated a total of £1.9 billion in high needs capital funding to local authorities in England between 2018/19 and 2022/23. The department expects local authorities to use this funding to create new places and improve existing provision for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) or who require Alternative Provision. Local authorities can provide these places by expanding existing mainstream schools, special schools, or other specialist settings, or through new special schools.

On top of this, the department has opened 61 centrally delivered special free schools since 2018/19. The capital spend for these schools cannot be readily broken down for the last five years.

In addition to the funding for new places, high needs revenue funding for children and young people with complex needs is increasing to over £10.5 billion in the 2024/25 financial year, an increase of over 60% from the 2019/20 allocations. This funding will help local authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting children and young people with SEND, including those in special schools.

The department has allocated a total of £1.9 billion in high needs capital funding to local authorities in England between 2018/19 and 2022/23. The department expects local authorities to use this funding to create new places and improve existing provision for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) or who require Alternative Provision. Local authorities can provide these places by expanding existing mainstream schools, special schools, or other specialist settings, or through new special schools.

On top of this, the department has opened 61 centrally delivered special free schools since 2018/19. The capital spend for these schools cannot be readily broken down for the last five years.

In addition to the funding for new places, high needs revenue funding for children and young people with complex needs is increasing to over £10.5 billion in the 2024/25 financial year, an increase of over 60% from the 2019/20 allocations. This funding will help local authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting children and young people with SEND, including those in special schools.

Childcare is a vital enabler for parents to work. That is why the department has announced a number of wide-ranging childcare measures to support parents to return and stay in work. This will be transformative for parents, children and the economy.

By 2027/28, the government will expect to be spending in excess of £8 billion every year on free hours and early education, helping working families with their childcare costs. This represents the single biggest investment in childcare in England ever.

The department will also be providing over £4.1 billion by 2027/28 to fund 30 hours of free childcare per week (38 weeks per year) for working parents with children aged 9 months and above in England, from the term after they reach the relevant age (£1.7 billion in 2024/25, £3.3 billion in 2025/26, £4.1 billion in 2026/27, and £4.1 billion in 2027/28). Additionally, hundreds of thousands of children aged 3 and 4 are registered for a 30-hour place, saving eligible working parents up to £6,500 per child per year, helping even more working parents and making a real difference to the lives of those families.

Taken together this will make sure the system is sustainable, and where parents do need to pay directly for childcare, it is not at an inflated rate. Parents on Universal Credit now have access to higher caps in the amount they can claim back for childcare, and payments are upfront rather than backdated. Working families can also access support with the childcare costs through Tax Free Childcare worth up to £2,000 per year for children aged up to 11 years old, or £4,000 per year for children with disabilities aged up to 17 years old.

The Office for Budget Responsibility believes that this policy will have a significant impact, estimating that 60,000 more parents will enter the workforce as a result of this policy, while many will increase their hours.

Childcare is a vital enabler for parents to work. That is why the department has announced a number of wide-ranging childcare measures to support parents to return and stay in work. This will be transformative for parents, children and the economy.

By 2027/28, the government will expect to be spending in excess of £8 billion every year on free hours and early education, helping working families with their childcare costs. This represents the single biggest investment in childcare in England ever.

The department will also be providing over £4.1 billion by 2027/28 to fund 30 hours of free childcare per week (38 weeks per year) for working parents with children aged 9 months and above in England, from the term after they reach the relevant age (£1.7 billion in 2024/25, £3.3 billion in 2025/26, £4.1 billion in 2026/27, and £4.1 billion in 2027/28). Additionally, hundreds of thousands of children aged 3 and 4 are registered for a 30-hour place, saving eligible working parents up to £6,500 per child per year, helping even more working parents and making a real difference to the lives of those families.

Taken together this will make sure the system is sustainable, and where parents do need to pay directly for childcare, it is not at an inflated rate. Parents on Universal Credit now have access to higher caps in the amount they can claim back for childcare, and payments are upfront rather than backdated. Working families can also access support with the childcare costs through Tax Free Childcare worth up to £2,000 per year for children aged up to 11 years old, or £4,000 per year for children with disabilities aged up to 17 years old.

The Office for Budget Responsibility believes that this policy will have a significant impact, estimating that 60,000 more parents will enter the workforce as a result of this policy, while many will increase their hours.

The department has substantially uplifted the hourly rates paid to local authorities for childcare providers to deliver existing free entitlements offers. The department is also providing £204 million of additional funding in 2023/24 financial year, and a further £288 million in 2024/25 financial year.

The additional £204 million, coming on top of local authorities’ existing allocations, allows an average increase of 32% for the current 2-year-old entitlement, and an average increase of 6.3% for the 3-and 4-year-old entitlements, compared to original 2023/24 financial year rates.

For 2-year-olds, this means that the average hourly rate for local authorities has risen from the original £6 per hour in the 2023/24 financial year to an effective £7.95 per hour. The 3-and 4-year-old national average hourly rate has increased from £5.29 to an effective £5.62 from September 2023.

The Spring Budget also announced an additional £288 million for the 2024/25 financial year to allow for further uplifts next year. This will be rolled in within the early years funding streams via the dedicated schools grant as normal. Funding rates for 2024/25 will be confirmed shortly.

This funding is on top of the £4.1 billion that the government expects to provide by the 2027/28 financial year to facilitate the expansion of the new free hours.

The government funds local authorities to deliver the government-funded entitlements through the Early Years National Funding Formula (EYNFF) and the separate 2-year-old formula. These have been designed to allocate the record investment in early years entitlement funding fairly and transparently across the country.

The formula includes an area cost adjustment (ACA) multiplier to reflect variations in local costs. This uses the General Labour Market measure to reflect staff costs and a Rates Cost Adjustment to reflect premises related costs. Each local authority’s EYNFF rate will vary depending on their level of additional needs and their ACA values.

The department regularly surveys a representative sample of over 10,000 providers to gain insights into how they run their provision and the challenges they face. The department also regularly surveys over 6,000 parents to understand their usage of childcare. This data has informed departmental methodology and the uplift required to meet the pressures providers faced.

The government recently announced £100 million of capital funding for local authorities, to support the delivery of the expansion of the 30-hours early years entitlement for working families and of wraparound provision in maintained primary schools. More detail, including allocation amounts to local authorities and accompanying guidance will be published in the coming weeks.

Gloucestershire County Council has provisionally been allocated £97 million through the high needs national funding formula (NFF) in 2024-25, as published this July. This is a cumulative increase of 28% per head over the three years from 2021/22. The department will be publishing in December this year each local authority’s confirmed allocations for 2024/25, updated with the latest pupil number data, in their Dedicated Schools Grant allocations. The high needs NFF includes a factor based on local authorities’ historic spending, as of 2017/18. Gloucestershire is attracting £27 million in respect of that factor within its overall high needs NFF allocation for 2024/25.

Central Bedfordshire Council has decided to transition from a three-tier to a two-tier school system. In these instances, it is a local authority’s responsibility to manage such a transition.

The department provides capital funding through the Basic Need grant to support local authorities to meet their statutory duty to provide sufficient school places. While this funding is not designed to fund transitions from a three-tier to a two-tier system, it is not ringfenced (subject to published conditions), meaning local authorities are free to use this funding to best meet their local priorities. Central Bedfordshire Council will receive just under £36.1 million for places needed between May 2022 and September 2026, paid across the five financial years from 2021/22 to 2025/26. This takes their total funding allocated between 2011 and 2026 to just under £121.3 million.

It is ultimately the council’s responsibility to manage the three-tier to two-tier process. The department has a support, a challenge and a decision-making role for changes made to academies.