Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have for (1) issuing revised and streamlined guidance to schools about sponsoring visas for overseas teachers of modern foreign languages, and (2) making the process of sponsoring those visas cost-free for schools, colleges and other educational establishments.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The department is continuing to look at how best to support schools to navigate the visa sponsorship processes to ensure that high quality international teachers can train and work as teachers in England. We have dedicated, school specific guidance to support schools that would like to employ international teachers. We regularly review this guidance to ensure it provides accurate, up to date and clear information. We have tested the content with schools and continue to engage with the sector for further feedback. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/recruit-teachers-from-overseas.

The costs of sponsoring a visa are charged at the same level across professions. There are no plans to introduce any new sector-based exemptions from these costs, or to provide funding to cover the cost of any processes related to domestic or international teacher recruitment, but there are lower rates for smaller employers.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what the basis was for the decision not to introduce an advanced languages premium to boost A level take-up.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

In our response to the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review we made a commitment to work with the sector to understand successful approaches to supporting the languages pipeline, starting at primary by reforming the curriculum, increasing take up at GCSE, and boosting demand at A level and degree level, to meet future social and economic needs.

We also want to learn from successful approaches such as the ‘Languages for All’ programme in partnership with Royal Holloway University of London, which has doubled the number of students studying modern languages at A level, through their pilot in Hounslow.

The department will support teachers to implement changes to the curriculum, though continued investment in the National Consortium for Languages Education, which provides high quality professional development and wraparound support for language teachers, with national reach.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the introduction of the advanced maths premium on take-up of A level maths.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Introduced in 2018, the advanced maths premium (AMP) provides 16 to 19 providers with £900 extra funding per additional student, over a baseline year, studying AS or A level maths and further maths. The AMP, alongside other 16 to 19 provider premiums such as the high value course premium, focuses on subjects that lead to higher economic return, to enable a more productive economy. The AMP aims to support schools and colleges to increase the number of level 3 maths students. Provision of the AMP has coincided with a 23% increase in A level maths entries between academic years 2018/19 to 2024/25 (years since AMP introduction), although entries are driven by a range of factors such as student choice, and we cannot attribute causality.

More details on AMP can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/16-to-19-funding-advanced-maths-premium.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions, if any, they have had with the Office for Students about priorities and criteria for category C1 strategic funding for university courses.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG) is one of our main higher education funding levers and provides support for high-cost subjects. Funding is allocated by the Office for Students (OfS) based on subject classifications. Subjects are grouped into price groups (A, B, C1.1, and C1.2), which reflect the cost of delivering those courses.

As set out in the 2025/26 SPG guidance letter from my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education to the OfS, we are working with the OfS to review and reform the high-cost subject funding, including price group C1, to ensure that it best aligns with the government’s growth mission and is targeted effectively towards provision that supports the industrial strategy and future skills needs.

We are working closely with the OfS to understand the impact of any changes to SPG funding, and the department will issue guidance to the OfS in due course setting out our funding priorities for 2026/27.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 8 January (HL Deb col 1407), what estimate they have made of the number of UK nationals training as modern foreign language teachers in the next five years, in the light of the reduction in university modern language courses.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

In academic year 2025/26, there were 765 UK nationals starting postgraduate initial teacher training in modern foreign languages. The department has not made any estimate of the impact of a reduction in university modern languages courses on UK national modern foreign languages trainee teachers.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 8 January (HL Deb col 1408), when the research that showed that bursaries and scholarships are more important to overseas trainee modern foreign language teachers than the international relocation payment was carried out.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The research was commissioned by the department in 2024 with fieldwork taking place between March and November of the same year. The attached report was published in June 2025 and is also available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/international-teacher-recruitment.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will continue to fund the Mandarin Excellence Programme beyond August.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Mandarin Excellence Programme is operating this academic year, and we are developing options for next and subsequent academic years, which we will set out in due course.

Found: The Chair of the APPG on Modern Languages is Tonia Antoniazzi MP (Labour), the Co-Chair is Baroness Coussins

Found: Letter dated 15/01/2026 from Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent to Baroness Coussins regarding a question