Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the 8.2 per cent fall in the number of boarding pupils at independent schools recorded in the 2026 Independent Schools Council’s annual census, published on 24 June; and whether they plan to review the policy of applying VAT to boarding fees as a result of this figure.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The decline in pupil numbers is not out of line with expectations given the removal of the VAT exemption, population decline and historical trends in private schools. There are no plans to make any related policy changes.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of figures in Schools, pupils and their characteristics Academic Year 2025/26, published on 4 June, showing that the decline in pupil numbers at independent schools is three times the level of the overall fall in the pupil population in England; and whether they are considering any policy changes as a result.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The data is in line with expectations given the removal the VAT exemption for private schools and decline in the number of school-age children. HMT have published the attached tax policy impact statement.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the evidence from the Get Information About Schools dataset about the closures of independent schools.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
’Get Information About Schools’ is an information base which holds detail of independent schools’ registration and closures as reported. The share of pupils in independent schools has stayed broadly consistent at 6.3%, and more private schools opened than closed in 2025.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many teachers were employed in state schools in English as of 1 January 2025.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information on the school workforce in England, including the number of teachers, is available in the ‘school workforce in England’ statistical publication.
Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) teacher numbers in state schools are shown here:
| State-funded nursery and primary | State-funded secondary | State-funded special or PRU | Centrally employed | Total state-funded schools |
2024/25 | 215,631.9 | 219,000.7 | 29,150.9 | 4,474.4 | 468,257.9 |
These figures were published on 5 June 2025.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what financial support they provide to state-funded schools to assist with copyright licensing costs and to ensure compliance with intellectual property regulations regarding printed music teaching materials.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
High-quality music education must not be for the privileged few but an entitlement for all. It is an essential part of the broad and rich education every child deserves. It is a decision for schools which resources they want to purchase and use to support them to teach the national and wider school curriculum, including musical scores and texts.
The department buys copyright licences for all state-funded schools in England covering almost all their copyright requirements. Funding for this comes from the Core Schools Budget.
Purchasing these licences directly saves schools money and administrative time, while ensuring that intellectual property rights are respected.
The department appreciates the importance of educational licences to the music publishing sector and negotiate with Copyright Management Organisations to obtain licences for an appropriate range of content and usage at a fair and transparent cost.
Guidance and advice for state schools in England on copyright licences is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/copyright-licences-information-for-schools.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what mechanisms they have in place to ensure that all state-funded schools have universal access to the musical scores and texts required to support the delivery of the national curriculum for music.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
High-quality music education must not be for the privileged few but an entitlement for all. It is an essential part of the broad and rich education every child deserves. It is a decision for schools which resources they want to purchase and use to support them to teach the national and wider school curriculum, including musical scores and texts.
The department buys copyright licences for all state-funded schools in England covering almost all their copyright requirements. Funding for this comes from the Core Schools Budget.
Purchasing these licences directly saves schools money and administrative time, while ensuring that intellectual property rights are respected.
The department appreciates the importance of educational licences to the music publishing sector and negotiate with Copyright Management Organisations to obtain licences for an appropriate range of content and usage at a fair and transparent cost.
Guidance and advice for state schools in England on copyright licences is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/copyright-licences-information-for-schools.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the importance of educational licensing agreements to the financial sustainability of the UK music publishing sector; and what steps they are taking to ensure that the use of copyright material in education continues to provide fair remuneration to rights holders.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
High-quality music education must not be for the privileged few but an entitlement for all. It is an essential part of the broad and rich education every child deserves. It is a decision for schools which resources they want to purchase and use to support them to teach the national and wider school curriculum, including musical scores and texts.
The department buys copyright licences for all state-funded schools in England covering almost all their copyright requirements. Funding for this comes from the Core Schools Budget.
Purchasing these licences directly saves schools money and administrative time, while ensuring that intellectual property rights are respected.
The department appreciates the importance of educational licences to the music publishing sector and negotiate with Copyright Management Organisations to obtain licences for an appropriate range of content and usage at a fair and transparent cost.
Guidance and advice for state schools in England on copyright licences is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/copyright-licences-information-for-schools.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the importance of access to state boarding school facilities for the children of armed forces personnel.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department maintains oversight of state boarding school policy, which is used to regulate standards in boarding provisions.
The Ministry of Defence oversees the Continuity of Education Allowance for eligible Service Personnel, which provides clearly defined financial support to ensure that the need for frequent mobility does not interfere with a child’s education. This includes supporting parents with the option of using a state boarding school.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have made an assessment of the long term sustainability of state boarding education.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department maintains oversight of state boarding school policy, which is used to regulate standards in boarding provisions.
The Ministry of Defence oversees the Continuity of Education Allowance for eligible Service Personnel, which provides clearly defined financial support to ensure that the need for frequent mobility does not interfere with a child’s education. This includes supporting parents with the option of using a state boarding school.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have made an assessment of the impact and effectiveness of state boarding education.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department maintains oversight of state boarding school policy, which is used to regulate standards in boarding provisions.
The Ministry of Defence oversees the Continuity of Education Allowance for eligible Service Personnel, which provides clearly defined financial support to ensure that the need for frequent mobility does not interfere with a child’s education. This includes supporting parents with the option of using a state boarding school.