Asked by: Baroness Deech (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what guidance and expectations relating to political activity apply to (1) teaching unions, and (2) staff, in educational settings to ensure that they do not enable harassment or discrimination against Jews and Zionists.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There is no place for antisemitism in our society.
On 18 January, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education announced a review into antisemitism in schools and colleges. It will examine whether institutions have the right systems to identify and address antisemitism and prejudice effectively. The review will be launched as soon as possible.
The department has already committed £7 million to support programmes that build confidence and resilience in tackling antisemitism across schools, colleges and universities.
Teachers should not promote partisan political views and should present issues in a factual, balanced way so that pupils can learn how to think critically and independently. We have published guidance for schools on political impartiality, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/political-impartiality-in-schools/political-impartiality-in-schools.
Universities must have strong systems to prevent and address harassment. Under Condition E6, providers must implement clear policies for preventing, investigating and responding to harassment of all kinds. If the Office for Students finds a breach of E6, it can use a range of sanctions, including financial penalties and de-registration.
Asked by: Baroness Deech (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what enforcement-related action they will take in relation to educational institutions that fail to protect Jewish and Israeli pupils, staff and students.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There is no place for antisemitism in our society.
On 18 January, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education announced a review into antisemitism in schools and colleges. It will examine whether institutions have the right systems to identify and address antisemitism and prejudice effectively. The review will be launched as soon as possible.
The department has already committed £7 million to support programmes that build confidence and resilience in tackling antisemitism across schools, colleges and universities.
Teachers should not promote partisan political views and should present issues in a factual, balanced way so that pupils can learn how to think critically and independently. We have published guidance for schools on political impartiality, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/political-impartiality-in-schools/political-impartiality-in-schools.
Universities must have strong systems to prevent and address harassment. Under Condition E6, providers must implement clear policies for preventing, investigating and responding to harassment of all kinds. If the Office for Students finds a breach of E6, it can use a range of sanctions, including financial penalties and de-registration.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Sheffield (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 16 September 2025 (UIN HL10060), what plans they have to amend the International Education Strategy; and what the anticipated timeline for the publication of a revised strategy is.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government’s International Education Strategy (IES) was launched on 20 January 2026.
The strategy backs UK providers at all levels to expand overseas, strengthening global partnerships and giving millions more students access to a world-class UK education on their doorstep, all whilst boosting growth at home. It sets a clear ambition to grow the value of education exports to £40 billion a year by 2030.
We want to increase the UK’s international standing through education and make the UK the global partner of choice at every stage of learning. The IES is now co-owned between the Department for Education, the Department for Business and Trade and the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office.
Asked by: Baroness Deech (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what actions they are taking to tackle the causes of antisemitism and anti-Zionist intimidation and harassment in schools and universities; and what the timetable is for those actions.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There is no place for antisemitism in our society.
On 18 January, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education announced a review into antisemitism in schools and colleges. It will examine whether institutions have the right systems to identify and address antisemitism and prejudice effectively. The review will be launched as soon as possible.
The department has already committed £7 million to support programmes that build confidence and resilience in tackling antisemitism across schools, colleges and universities.
Teachers should not promote partisan political views and should present issues in a factual, balanced way so that pupils can learn how to think critically and independently. We have published guidance for schools on political impartiality, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/political-impartiality-in-schools/political-impartiality-in-schools.
Universities must have strong systems to prevent and address harassment. Under Condition E6, providers must implement clear policies for preventing, investigating and responding to harassment of all kinds. If the Office for Students finds a breach of E6, it can use a range of sanctions, including financial penalties and de-registration.
Asked by: Baroness Freeman of Steventon (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what support they are giving to nursery providers to help to support children to stop using nappies at an appropriate age.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department is committed to giving every child the best start in life, and we are investing in Best Start Family Hubs across the country. These will offer parenting and home learning environment support and are well placed to provide parents toilet training advice.
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework sets the standards and requirements that early years providers must meet to ensure that children have the best start in life and are kept healthy and safe.
Within the EYFS, children’s personal, social and emotional development is a prime area of learning. Children are expected to learn how to manage personal needs independently, including going to the toilet.
The department has published toilet training guidance, which can be accessed here: https://help-for-early-years-providers.education.gov.uk/health-and-wellbeing/toilet-training. This will help educators to support babies and young children with toilet training in early years settings and signposts the Potty Training Guide. The department will continue to promote this guidance through its online platforms and engagement with the sector. Parents can access the Potty Training Guide from the Best Start in Life website at: https://beststartinlife.gov.uk/.
Asked by: Sureena Brackenridge (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve staff (a) pay and (b) conditions in further education colleges.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Further education (FE) colleges, rather than government, are responsible for setting and negotiating staff pay and terms and conditions within colleges.
In May 2025, the department announced a further £190 million investment for colleges and other 16 to19 providers in addition to the £400 million of extra funding we already planned to spend on 16 to 19 education in the 2025/26 financial year.
Across the Spending review period, we will provide £1.2 billion of additional investment per year in skills by 2028/29. This significant investment will ensure there is increased funding to colleges and other 16 to 19 providers to enable the recruitment and retention of excellent staff, including expert teachers in high value subject areas, and interventions to retain top teaching talent.
Targeted Recruitment Incentives of up to £6,000 (after tax) are available for eligible early career FE teachers working in key science, technology, engineering and mathematics and technical shortage subjects, in disadvantaged schools and colleges, including in sixth form colleges. This payment is separate to teachers’ usual pay.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to start the consultation on the proposed natural history GCSE.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We plan to consult on the subject content for the new natural history GCSE this year. The public consultation will be an opportunity to gather views on the proposed subject content before it is finalised.
The Curriculum and Assessment Review’s final report and the government’s response were published on 5 November 2025. We are working to ensure the natural history GCSE aligns with the Review’s recommendations, is high-quality, and distinct from other GCSEs such as geography and the sciences.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the level of interest rates on student loans.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Student loans are subject to interest to ensure that those who can afford to do so contribute to the full cost of their degree.
Interest rates do not impact monthly repayments made by student loan borrowers. Regular repayments are based on a borrower’s monthly or weekly income, not on interest rates or the amount borrowed. Outstanding debt, including interest built up, is cancelled after the loan term ends (or in case of death or disability) at no detriment to the borrower.
A full equality impact assessment of how the student loan reforms may affect graduates under Plan 5, was produced and published in February 2022 and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-reform-equality-impact-assessment.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the total non-capital resource spend on special educational needs pupils in England in (1) 2023–24, and (2) 2024–25, and what is the projected non-capital resource spend in 2025–26.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Mainstream schools are not required to record or report to the department how much they spend specifically on pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), so this information is not available. Local authorities are required, however, to identify a notional budget for each school, intended as a guide to how much they might need to spend on supporting their pupils with SEN, for annual costs up to £6,000 per pupil.
Local authorities allocate high needs funding for SEND support costs in excess of £6,000 and make provision and services available for other children and young people with complex needs. Their actual high needs expenditure is set out in the table below, including a small amount of high needs funding allocated directly by the department to schools and colleges, alongside the notional SEN budget total for mainstream schools. For the financial year 2025/26 we have included a forecast of high needs expenditure that the department provided to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) and that was included in their forecasts published at the autumn 2025 Budget.
Financial year | 2023/24 | 2024/25 | 2025/26 |
Total amount identified as notional SEN budget for mainstream schools | £4.8 billion | £5.4 billion | £5.8 billion |
Total high needs actual expenditure by local authorities and the separtment | £11.1 billion | £13.1 billion | |
High needs forecast expenditure for financial year 2025/26 | £14.8 billion | ||
Totals (rounded) | £15.9 billion | £18.5 billion | £20.7 billion |
Neither the OBR nor the department have finalised projections of spend over the next three financial years that take into account reforms to the SEND system from 2026/27.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the projected additional non-capital resource spend on special educational needs pupils in England in each of the next three financial years.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Mainstream schools are not required to record or report to the department how much they spend specifically on pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), so this information is not available. Local authorities are required, however, to identify a notional budget for each school, intended as a guide to how much they might need to spend on supporting their pupils with SEN, for annual costs up to £6,000 per pupil.
Local authorities allocate high needs funding for SEND support costs in excess of £6,000 and make provision and services available for other children and young people with complex needs. Their actual high needs expenditure is set out in the table below, including a small amount of high needs funding allocated directly by the department to schools and colleges, alongside the notional SEN budget total for mainstream schools. For the financial year 2025/26 we have included a forecast of high needs expenditure that the department provided to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) and that was included in their forecasts published at the autumn 2025 Budget.
Financial year | 2023/24 | 2024/25 | 2025/26 |
Total amount identified as notional SEN budget for mainstream schools | £4.8 billion | £5.4 billion | £5.8 billion |
Total high needs actual expenditure by local authorities and the separtment | £11.1 billion | £13.1 billion | |
High needs forecast expenditure for financial year 2025/26 | £14.8 billion | ||
Totals (rounded) | £15.9 billion | £18.5 billion | £20.7 billion |
Neither the OBR nor the department have finalised projections of spend over the next three financial years that take into account reforms to the SEND system from 2026/27.