Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether guidance on screen time and social media use will include the potential impact of excessive use of screens on sight loss.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department and the Department of Health and Social Care are jointly working to produce and publish new practical, evidence-informed guidance on screen time for early years. An early years screen time advisory group of child health and development specialists has been convened to shape the guidance, which will also be informed by the perspectives of parents and carers. And as I committed to in the House, I will consider how we will support children with eye conditions.
In addition, amid concerns that young people’s lives are dominated by time in front of devices, the government will support families by producing evidence-based screen time guidance for parents of children aged five to 16. Experts are considering a wide range of evidence, and the guidance will be published in due course.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield Hallam)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to make an assessment of the potential impact of student loan repayments on those with multiple plans and postgraduate loans.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Unlike commercial loans, student loans carry significant protections for borrowers. Student loan repayments are linked to income, not to the amount borrowed or interest applied. Repayments are made at a constant rate of 9% above the earnings threshold for undergraduate loans (borrowers with multiple undergraduate loans have their contributions apportioned to the relevant loans), and 6% above the earnings threshold for postgraduate loans.
Postgraduate loans are made concurrently with any outstanding undergraduate loan. If a borrower’s income drops below the repayment threshold, or they are not earning, their repayments will stop.
Any outstanding loan including interest built up, is cancelled at the end of the loan term with no detriment to the borrower, and debt is never passed on to family members or descendants.
The government appreciates that making student loan repayments does have an impact on individuals. This is why there are unique protections for borrowers, and the finance system is heavily subsidised by taxpayers.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled Students given stronger protections against extremism on campus, published on 8 March 2026, whether the updated guidance includes safeguards to protect free speech.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The updated guidance will include safeguards to protect freedom of speech within the law and will clearly signpost higher education providers to the Office for Students’ guidance related to freedom of speech here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/regulatory-advice-24-guidance-related-to-freedom-of-speech/. Further guidance will be issued in the Spring on Managing External Speakers and Events to ensure providers can meet their Prevent duty obligations while upholding freedom of speech.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the answer of 3 November 2025, to Question 84664, on Universities: Admissions, if she will publish the terms of reference of the task and finish group into higher education admissions; and what the definition is of disadvantaged backgrounds.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Terms of Reference of the Access and Participation Task and Finish Group were published on GOV.UK in February 2026:
The Task and Finish Group’s remit is to consider regional disparities and how to tackle the most systemic barriers across the journey into higher education for disadvantaged students.
The department has not issued direct guidance to the group on the definition of disadvantage for admission purposes.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of assessing the income of a parent’s cohabiting partner who is not (a) a legal parent and (b) step-parent when determining eligibility for student maintenance loans on access to higher education.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
For most full-time undergraduate students under the age of 25, the Student Loans Company (SLC) assess the income of students’ parents and, where applicable, parental partners to determine household income. This ensures that the highest levels of support are targeted at students from the lowest income families.
Entitlement to maintenance loans based on the income of students’ parents or, where their parents have separated, the income of the more appropriate parent (usually the parent with whom the student normally lives) and, where applicable, that of the parent’s partner.
The household income assessment allows the SLC to process around 1.4 million applications for student support each year in time for the start of the relevant academic year.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the answer of 13 January 2026, to Question 101069, on Erasmus+ Programme, what is the estimated ratio of the number of UK students who will visit the European Union, and the number of EU students who will visit the UK, in the first year of the programme.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In 2018/19, there were approximately 31,000 inbound higher education (HE) student mobilities via the Erasmus+ Programme. There were approximately 16,000 outbound HE student mobilities in the same year.
The department expects there will be a greater number of HE mobilities on reassociation, given the expansion of the programme.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the Plan 2 student loan system on graduates whose repayments do not cover the interest added to their balance.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Plan 2 student loans were designed and implemented by previous governments and students in England starting degrees under this government have different arrangements.
Plan 2 loans interest rates are applied at the Retail Price Index (RPI) only, then variable up to RPI +3% depending on earnings. Interest rates do not impact monthly repayments made by student loan borrowers, which stay at a constant rate of 9% above an earnings threshold to protect lower earners.
Any outstanding loan and interest written off at the end of the loan term, and debt is never passed on to family members or descendants.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled Students given stronger protections against extremism on campus, published on 8 March 2026, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Prevent duty in higher education institutions.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Higher education (HE) providers are subject to the Prevent duty to have “due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism.” To comply with the Prevent duty, providers must demonstrate they have effective policies and procedures in place to safeguard individuals susceptible to radicalisation. This includes assessing the risk of learners becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. Under the Prevent duty, the Office for Students (OfS) monitors and evaluates whether universities and other HE providers have due regard to the need to prevent people being drawn into terrorism. The OfS has assessed that HE providers are broadly compliant with their Prevent duty requirements. The latest assessment of Prevent monitoring in HE is available here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/prevent-monitoring-summary-of-2023-24-accountability-and-data-returns/.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled Students given stronger protections against extremism on campus, published on 8 March 2026, what protections will be available for university staff who report concerns relating to extremism and intimidation on campus.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Universities are autonomous institutions and therefore have their own policies and procedures for handling employee concerns.
In addition, the government will work with the Department for Business and Trade to add the Office for Students (OfS) to the list of prescribed bodies under the Public Interest Disclosure (Prescribed Persons) Order 2024. This change will help ensure that whistleblowers can report wrongdoing related to registered higher education providers with confidence.
The OfS will also strengthen how it monitors universities’ efforts to prevent individuals from becoming involved in terrorism or supporting it. It will publish a new monitoring framework and accompanying guidance in September, which will come into effect at the beginning of 2027.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what consideration her Department has given to paying national non-domestic rates on behalf of early years education settings.
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.
The small business rate relief scheme provides up to 100% relief for eligible businesses occupying one property with a rateable value of £12,000 or below and reduces bills up to £15,000. Furthermore, if a nursery is a charity, charitable rate relief provides 80% off rates bills, which can be topped up to 100% by the local authority.
The government funds local authorities to deliver the early years entitlements through the early years national funding formula for the three and four-year-old entitlement and a separate formula for the two-year-old and below entitlement. The hourly funding rate paid to local authorities for these entitlements is designed to recognise the average costs across different provider types and is intended to reflect staff and non-staff costs, including business rates. The national average three and four-year-old hourly funding rate of local authorities is increasing by 4.1%, the two-year-old hourly funding rate is increasing by 3.3%, and the nine months to two-year-old hourly funding rate is increasing by 3.4%.
There are no current plans to extend the centralised payment system to private, voluntary, or independent early years settings or to make these settings exempt.