Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will ask Sheffield Hallam University to reconsider its proposal to close its Collegiate nursery provision.
Answered by Olivia Bailey
I would like to say how sorry I was to read of the proposed closure of Sheffield Hallam’s nursery. I know how devastating such closures can be and the impact this can have on families and the wider community.
Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area.
The department does not regulate the contracts between private businesses and parents buying childcare from them, and it would not be appropriate to become involved in local decision making. We are therefore unfortunately unable to directly intervene in individual cases.
The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing. Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, we discuss what action they are taking to address those issues and where needed support them with any specific requirements through our childcare sufficiency support contract. No local authorities
Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress she has made on the commitment to review early years funding, including national funding formulae, and consult the sector on changes by summer 2026; and when the consultation will launch.
Answered by Olivia Bailey
We remain committed to engaging closely with stakeholders and launching the early years funding consultation in line with our stated timeframe of summer 2026. Further details on the date of publication will be confirmed in due course.
Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department collects data on (a) track closures, (b) number of races and (c) attendance for greyhound racing.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS engages regularly with the governing body for greyhound racing, the Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB), to keep abreast of developments in the sport, including those relating to tracks, races and attendance.
Data on tracks and attendances are available on the GBGB website.
Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the net cost to her Department of the student loans system associated with the student loan outlay provided to English Plan 2/Plan 5 undergraduate borrowers in England in (i) 2022/23, (ii) 2023/24, (iii) 2024/25 and (iv) in the future.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Details of the expected government subsidy in the financial years requested, in respect of student loan outlay when all future forecasted and discounted repayments are accounted for and otherwise known as Resource Accounting and Budgeting charge, can be found below.
2022/23 financial year: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/b2347ffa-4373-417c-f41c-08deb23852d3. This data is from table 4.1 in the fuller publication: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/student-loan-forecasts-for-england/2022-23.
2023/24 financial year: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/14f870b6-e141-4285-c5a6-08deb20526ae. This data is from table 4.1 in the fuller publication: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/student-loan-forecasts-for-england/2023-24
2024/25 financial year and forecasts: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/fae8f4af-58bf-4647-c5a7-08deb20526ae. This data is from table 4.1 in the fuller publication: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/student-loan-forecasts-for-england/2024-25.
Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the £10 billion figure cited in her speech of 5 March 2026 on the Earned Settlement proposals represents direct savings to public finances, or a long-term estimate of the fiscal cost of a specific group of migrants over their lifetime.
Answered by Mike Tapp
Proposals for introducing an earned settlement model, as set out in the Command Paper “A Fairer Pathway to Settlement” (CP1448), were subject to a public consultation, which opened on 20 November 2025 and closed on 12 February 2026.
We are currently considering the results of that consultation, and have been and continue to work closely with other departments across government on the impacts of Earned Settlement, including with the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Education in relation to the Child Poverty Strategy.
The Home Secretary’s speech on 5 March 2026 referred to the lifetime net fiscal costs of care workers and their adult dependants expected to settle between 2026 and 2030. This is based on findings from the Migration Advisory Committee published here: Estimated lifetime net fiscal costs for care workers and their adult dependants - GOV.UK.
As with all significant policy changes, the proposals will be subject to both economic impact assessments and equality impact assessments, which we will make available when the full response to the consultation is published.
Once the final model has been decided, the Government will communicate the outcome publicly.