Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many days of school closure were there in 2025 due to adverse weather conditions.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Decisions about school closures are made by individual settings and responsible bodies based on local risk assessments. Closure should be a last resort, with schools expected to remain open where it is safe. If a school must close unexpectedly, such as due to adverse weather, no attendance register is taken and the session is recorded as ‘not possible’ for statistical purposes.
During temporary closures, schools should consider providing remote education in line with departmental guidance. Pupils receiving remote education are still recorded as absent using the appropriate absence code. Schools should monitor engagement with remote education, although this is not formally recorded in attendance data.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what accountability measures her Department has put in place for the nutritional content of breakfasts provided by schools participating in the Free Breakfast Club scheme.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department is committed to delivering on the pledge to provide free breakfast clubs in every state-funded school with primary-aged children. Since April 2025, we have delivered 2.6 million breakfasts and offered places to almost 180,000 pupils across the country. We are investing a further £80 million to fund approximately 2,000 additional schools between April 2026 and March 2027.
Compliance with the School Food Standards is mandatory for maintained schools, academies and free schools. School governors have a responsibility to ensure compliance and should appropriately challenge the senior leadership team to ensure obligations are met.
Alongside the School Food Standards statutory guidance, we published updated breakfast club guidance in November, which provides guidance on which foods should be served at breakfast clubs to ensure that the School Food Standards are met.
We are working to revise the School Food Standards to ensure they support our work to create the healthiest generation of children in history.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that food provided by schools participating in the Free Breakfast Club scheme meets nutritional and quality standards.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department is committed to delivering on the pledge to provide free breakfast clubs in every state-funded school with primary-aged children. Since April 2025, we have delivered 2.6 million breakfasts and offered places to almost 180,000 pupils across the country. We are investing a further £80 million to fund approximately 2,000 additional schools between April 2026 and March 2027.
Compliance with the School Food Standards is mandatory for maintained schools, academies and free schools. School governors have a responsibility to ensure compliance and should appropriately challenge the senior leadership team to ensure obligations are met.
Alongside the School Food Standards statutory guidance, we published updated breakfast club guidance in November, which provides guidance on which foods should be served at breakfast clubs to ensure that the School Food Standards are met.
We are working to revise the School Food Standards to ensure they support our work to create the healthiest generation of children in history.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of requiring schools to fund extended periods of education following exclusion on safeguarding.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
It is for local authorities, under Section 19 of the Education Act 1996, to arrange and fund suitable education for children of compulsory school age who, because of exclusion, illness or other reasons, may otherwise not receive suitable education. Local authorities are required to arrange alternative provision for a permanently excluded child as soon as possible, and at the latest by the sixth school day of the child’s absence.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason her Department holds meetings with commercial lenders to discuss the finances of higher education institutions.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department meets regularly with a variety of stakeholders to hear their views on the English higher education sector. This includes commercial lenders, given that the sector’s external borrowing totalled £13.3 billion in 2023/24.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department keeps records of meetings with commercial lenders on the finances of higher education institutions.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department meets regularly with a variety of stakeholders to hear their views on the English higher education sector. This includes commercial lenders, given that the sector’s external borrowing totalled £13.3 billion in 2023/24.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many meetings her Department has held with commercial lenders to discuss the finances of higher education institutions in each year since 2020.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department meets regularly with a variety of stakeholders to hear their views on the English higher education sector. This includes commercial lenders, given that the sector’s external borrowing totalled £13.3 billion in 2023/24.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the independent report entitled Independent review of children's social care: final report, published on 23 May 2022, how much of the recommended new spending of £2.6 billion has been allocated to date.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is driving the biggest transformation of children’s social care in a generation. Long-term investment is essential to shift the system away from high-cost crisis responses towards earlier support.
In 2025/26, the department more than doubled direct investment in children’s social care prevention services through the Children’s Social Care Prevention Grant. Now we are going even further to reform children’s social care. We are continuing the £523 million available for the Families First Partnership programme in 2025/26 for each year of the Local Government Finance Settlement to 2028/29. We have invested a further £300 million over two years (2026/27 and 2027/28) from the Transformation Fund announced at the Spending Review, and £547 million of new funding announced in the Local Government Funding Policy Statement, meaning £2.4 billion over three years, all ringfenced for prevention and de-escalation. Together this will help to reduce reliance on costly acute services, strengthen earlier intervention and drive forward reforms to children’s social care.
We are also investing £560 million capital funding to refurbish and expand children’s homes and provide more high-quality foster care placements.
Additional funding beyond 2027/28 is subject to the next Spending Review.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding her Department has committed to implement the recommendations of the Independent review of children's social care: final report, published on 23 May 2022, in each of the next five years.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is driving the biggest transformation of children’s social care in a generation. Long-term investment is essential to shift the system away from high-cost crisis responses towards earlier support.
In 2025/26, the department more than doubled direct investment in children’s social care prevention services through the Children’s Social Care Prevention Grant. Now we are going even further to reform children’s social care. We are continuing the £523 million available for the Families First Partnership programme in 2025/26 for each year of the Local Government Finance Settlement to 2028/29. We have invested a further £300 million over two years (2026/27 and 2027/28) from the Transformation Fund announced at the Spending Review, and £547 million of new funding announced in the Local Government Funding Policy Statement, meaning £2.4 billion over three years, all ringfenced for prevention and de-escalation. Together this will help to reduce reliance on costly acute services, strengthen earlier intervention and drive forward reforms to children’s social care.
We are also investing £560 million capital funding to refurbish and expand children’s homes and provide more high-quality foster care placements.
Additional funding beyond 2027/28 is subject to the next Spending Review.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of additional revenue raised by freezing student loan repayment thresholds.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
At the Autumn Budget 2025, the government announced the repayment threshold for Plan 2 student loans will be frozen at £29,385 for three years from April 2027.
This measure is currently forecast to generate additional revenue of £54 million in the 2027/28 financial year, £93 million in 2028/29, £115 million in 2029/30 and £90 million in 2030/31. This reflects an expected increase in the value of Plan 2 student loan repayments compared to if the threshold had been allowed to increase by inflation.