Asked by: Baroness Garden of Frognal (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of including PhD students in the international student levy on the UK’s ability to attract global research talent.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The international student levy will fund the reintroduction of maintenance grants for disadvantaged students studying level 4 to 6 courses aligned with the government’s missions and the Industrial Strategy.
Higher education (HE) providers are independent from government and responsible for managing their own finances, including any impact from the international student levy. To support providers’ financial planning, the levy will be introduced in 2028/29 and paid one year in arrears, with an allowance of 220 students applying per provider per year.
We have also announced tuition fee cap increases in line with forecast inflation for the 2025/26, 2026/27 and 2027/28 academic years, and will legislate, when parliamentary time allows, to increase caps automatically for future years. Over the next five years, these uplifts could generate an additional £6 billion for HE providers, significantly outweighing the currently projected less than £1 billion levy cost.
Asked by: Baroness Garden of Frognal (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of including PhD students in the international student levy on their ability to realise their industrial strategy.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The international student levy will fund the reintroduction of maintenance grants for disadvantaged students studying level 4 to 6 courses aligned with the government’s missions and the Industrial Strategy.
Higher education (HE) providers are independent from government and responsible for managing their own finances, including any impact from the international student levy. To support providers’ financial planning, the levy will be introduced in 2028/29 and paid one year in arrears, with an allowance of 220 students applying per provider per year.
We have also announced tuition fee cap increases in line with forecast inflation for the 2025/26, 2026/27 and 2027/28 academic years, and will legislate, when parliamentary time allows, to increase caps automatically for future years. Over the next five years, these uplifts could generate an additional £6 billion for HE providers, significantly outweighing the currently projected less than £1 billion levy cost.
Asked by: Baroness Garden of Frognal (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on economic growth of including PhD students in the international student levy.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The international student levy will fund the reintroduction of maintenance grants for disadvantaged students studying level 4 to 6 courses aligned with the government’s missions and the Industrial Strategy.
Higher education (HE) providers are independent from government and responsible for managing their own finances, including any impact from the international student levy. To support providers’ financial planning, the levy will be introduced in 2028/29 and paid one year in arrears, with an allowance of 220 students applying per provider per year.
We have also announced tuition fee cap increases in line with forecast inflation for the 2025/26, 2026/27 and 2027/28 academic years, and will legislate, when parliamentary time allows, to increase caps automatically for future years. Over the next five years, these uplifts could generate an additional £6 billion for HE providers, significantly outweighing the currently projected less than £1 billion levy cost.
Asked by: Baroness Garden of Frognal (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to exempting PhD students from the international student levy.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The International Student Levy will require higher education providers to pay a flat fee of £925 per international student per year. The income raised by the levy will be reinvested into skills.
Providers will be given an allowance for the first 220 international students per year. This is to mitigate the levy having a disproportionate impact on smaller providers, particularly those operating specialist and resource intensive models with limited other means of cross-subsidisation. The levy will not be introduced until 2028/29 to give providers time to plan for its introduction. Providers will pay the levy one year in arrears, to help with their financial planning.
Asked by: Baroness Garden of Frognal (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had, if any, with parties involved in the sale of the City & Guilds of London Institute prior to the sale of its charitable assets in October 2025.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
City & Guilds of London Institute is an independent organisation. The government has no role in its governance or commercial decisions, including the sale of its charitable assets in October 2025.
The department did not hold discussions with parties involved in that sale prior to it taking place.
Following the sale of City and Guilds Ltd, the organisation has confirmed they will continue to deliver qualifications within the further education sector and work constructively with providers as usual.
Asked by: Baroness Garden of Frognal (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of commissioning an inquiry by Ofqual into the sale of the City & Guilds of London Institute, given the implications for the qualifications system.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
City and Guilds of London Institute is an independent organisation. The government has no role in its governance or commercial decisions, including the sale of its charitable assets in October 2025.
Following the sale of City and Guilds Ltd, the organisation has confirmed they will continue to deliver qualifications within the further education sector and work constructively with providers as usual.
Ofqual remain actively engaged with City and Guilds Ltd.
Asked by: Baroness Garden of Frognal (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, regarding the Charity Commission’s statutory inquiry into the sale of the City & Guilds of London Institute, whether they will examine the conduct of the Executive and Trustee Board throughout the sale.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Charity Commission for England and Wales announced, on 9th January, that it had opened a statutory inquiry into City and Guilds of London Institute. The independent regulator is examining information about the charity’s sale of its City and Guilds awards operation to a private company in October 2025. The inquiry is looking at information provided by the charity to the Charity Commission regarding the sale, and the trustees’ decision making regarding the sale.
Anyone with relevant information about matters under investigation is encouraged to share it with the Charity Commission, and the Charity Commission has said that it may extend the scope of the inquiry if additional regulatory issues emerge. It is the Charity Commission’s policy, after it has concluded an inquiry, to publish a report detailing the issues examined, action taken, and the inquiry’s outcomes.
Asked by: Baroness Garden of Frognal (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the proposed international student levy on universities’ capacity to support artificial intelligence research, skills development and commercialisation, and the Government's ambitions for AI-driven economic growth.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government will set out further details on the international student levy at the Autumn Budget. This will include setting out the amount of the levy and the way in which proceeds will be reinvested into our higher education (HE) and skills system through targeted means-tested maintenance grants for students studying courses that support our missions and Industrial Strategy.
The department has engaged with many HE providers and representative bodies regarding the levy since the publication of the Immigration White Paper, and we will set out our plans for further engagement on the levy in due course.
We will also publish an impact analysis of the levy in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Garden of Frognal (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the alignment between the proposed international student levy and their wider objectives for economic growth, innovation and skills.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government will set out further details on the international student levy at the Autumn Budget. This will include setting out the amount of the levy and the way in which proceeds will be reinvested into our higher education (HE) and skills system through targeted means-tested maintenance grants for students studying courses that support our missions and Industrial Strategy.
The department has engaged with many HE providers and representative bodies regarding the levy since the publication of the Immigration White Paper, and we will set out our plans for further engagement on the levy in due course.
We will also publish an impact analysis of the levy in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Garden of Frognal (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to publish the methodology, data sources and modelling assumptions used in any Treasury impact assessment on the proposed international student levy.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government will set out further details on the international student levy at the Autumn Budget. This will include setting out the amount of the levy and the way in which proceeds will be reinvested into our higher education (HE) and skills system through targeted means-tested maintenance grants for students studying courses that support our missions and Industrial Strategy.
The department has engaged with many HE providers and representative bodies regarding the levy since the publication of the Immigration White Paper, and we will set out our plans for further engagement on the levy in due course.
We will also publish an impact analysis of the levy in due course.