Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the British Medical Association's press release entitled Medical student poverty worsened by financial drought as student loans fall short over summer, published on 9 August 2025, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social care on the potential impact of extending eligibility to the full entitlement for student finance maintenance on students in receipt of the NHS Bursary during their (a) final undergraduate year and (b) later years of a post-graduate medical degree.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government needs to ensure that the student funding system is financially sustainable, and funding arrangements are reviewed each year. The department will continue to engage with the Department for Health and Social Care to consider the financial support that medical students receive.
The cost of studying medicine is one of the important factors deterring working class students from applying to medicine. The Department for Health and Social Care is exploring options to improve financial support to students from the lowest socio-economic background so they are able to thrive at medical school.
Students attending years 5 and 6 of undergraduate medical courses and years 2 to 4 of graduate entry medical courses qualify for NHS bursaries. The government has increased the NHS Bursary tuition fee contributions, maintenance grants and all allowances for the current academic year, 2025/26, by forecast inflation, 3.1%, based on the RPIX inflation index.
Medical students qualifying for NHS bursaries support also qualify for reduced rate non-means tested loans for living costs from the department. The government has increased reduced rate loans by 3.1% for the 2025/26 academic year, in line with percentage increases to maximum loans for living costs in non-bursary years.
To help students from the most disadvantaged backgrounds progress and excel in higher education, the government will introduce targeted, means-tested maintenance grants before the end of this Parliament. These grants will support students studying courses aligned with the government’s missions and the Industrial Strategy, funded by a levy on income from international student fees. We will also future proof our maintenance loan offer by increasing loans for living costs in line with forecast inflation every academic year from 2026/27 onwards, and provide extra support for care leavers, who will automatically become eligible to receive the maximum rate of maintenance loan.
We will confirm the percentage increase to loans for living costs for the 2026/27 academic year in-line with updated inflation forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility published alongside the Autumn Budget.
Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to (a) the levy on higher education provider income from international students proposed in her Department's white paper entitled Restoring Control over the Immigration System, published in May 2025, CP 1326 and (b) bullet 32 in in her Department's publication entitled Restoring Control over the Immigration System, Technical Annex, published in May 2025, what assessment she has made of potential price elasticities for non-EU students.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department has engaged with the Home Office regarding the international student levy, including on its design and impacts. We will set out further details on the levy at the Autumn Budget.
The Immigration White Paper included an illustrative example that a 6% levy could reduce student inflows by up to 7,000 per year. We expect the UK to remain a highly attractive study destination. Our world-class higher education (HE) sector can offer a fulfilling and enjoyable experience to international students from around the world.
In recognition of the sector’s challenging financial environment, we have increased tuition fee limits in this academic year and refocused the Office for Students to monitor the sector’s financial health.
We have published our new plan for HE reform through the Post-16 education and skills white paper, which sets out our ambition for a world leading and financially sustainable HE sector.
Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to (a) the international student fee levy proposed in the Restoring Control over the Immigration System and (b) paragraph 32 of the Restoring Control over the Immigration System Technical Annex, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on price elasticities in relation to non-EU students; what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the proposed international student fee levy on (a) international student numbers in UK universities and (b) financial sustainability in the sector.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department has engaged with the Home Office regarding the international student levy, including on its design and impacts. We will set out further details on the levy at the Autumn Budget.
The Immigration White Paper included an illustrative example that a 6% levy could reduce student inflows by up to 7,000 per year. We expect the UK to remain a highly attractive study destination. Our world-class higher education (HE) sector can offer a fulfilling and enjoyable experience to international students from around the world.
In recognition of the sector’s challenging financial environment, we have increased tuition fee limits in this academic year and refocused the Office for Students to monitor the sector’s financial health.
We have published our new plan for HE reform through the Post-16 education and skills white paper, which sets out our ambition for a world leading and financially sustainable HE sector.
Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the use of the Transparent Approach to Costing methodology by the higher education sector.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The data collected using the Transparent Approach to Costing (TRAC) methodology is an important part of the evidence base, which the department uses to understand the financial sustainability of the higher education sector and the teaching of UK students who are publicly funded.
The TRAC sector analysis, published annually by the Office for Students, was most recently used to support the strategic case for uplifting tuition fees for the 2025/26 academic year. This was set out in the regulatory impact assessment, published in January 2025 and accessible at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukia/2025/40/pdfs/ukia_20250040_en.pdf.
The department continues to consider the interaction between TRAC and policy decisions in our policy development.
Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of the number of higher education institutions that are forecast to have a deficit in the 2024-25 financial year on the economy.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Office for Students (OfS), the independent regulator of higher education (HE) in England, monitors the financial health of providers to ensure it has an up-to-date understanding of the sustainability of the sector. Its latest report, published in May 2025, highlighted a decline in financial performance across the sector in 2023/24, with 44% of institutions forecasting a deficit in 2024/25. HE providers are independent from government and as such must continue to make the necessary and appropriate financial decisions to ensure their long-term sustainability.
The department is committed to creating a secure future for our universities so that they can deliver for students, taxpayers, workers and the economy. To put the sector on a firmer financial footing, Professor Edward Peck has been appointed as substantive chair of the OfS to continue its focus on financial sustainability and increasing opportunities in HE. We also took the difficult decision to increase tuition fee limits by 3.1% in the 2025/26 academic year, in line with inflation.
We will continue to work closely with the OfS and other relevant parties to understand the sector’s changing financial landscape.
Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the net financial impact of international students to the economy.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
International students make a very significant contribution to the UK economy. Departmental statistics on education-related exports, published in June, estimated that international students contributed £21.06 billion to the UK economy in 2022 through their tuition fees and living expenditure.
Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 8 April 2025 to Question 42191 on University of Sussex: Disciplinary Proceedings and with reference to her oral statement of 15 January 2025 on Higher Education Regulatory Approach, Official Report, column 379-382, when the parts of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 not being amended will come into force; and when she plans to introduce legislation to amend that Act.
Answered by Janet Daby
On Monday 28 April, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education signed commencement regulations for the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023. These regulations commence the following provisions in the Act from 1 August 2025:
We are seeking a suitable legislative vehicle to amend and repeal the remaining elements of the Act in due course.
Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the number of local authority employees working with home educating families that are only employed during school term time; and whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill on the working hours these staff will need to undertake in the future.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The department does not hold information on the number of local authority employees working with home-educating families that are only employed during term time. Local authorities determine their own approaches to staffing.
Additional local authority resource will be required to undertake the new duties created by the Children Not in School measures detailed in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. We are considering these additional requirements and will conduct a full new burdens assessment as is required.
Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to the School Attendance Order process in the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill on local authority staff time.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The department is legislating through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to make School Attendance Orders a more efficient remedy to ensure that children are in receipt of suitable education. This includes making it an offence for parents to withdraw a child subject to a School Attendance Order from school without following the proper procedure. This means that parents convicted of breaching a School Attendance Order can be prosecuted again if they continue to breach it without local authorities having to restart the process from the beginning, which will save resources.
Other measures which will impact on local authority staff time include additional statutory timelines on parts of the process, a new requirement for local authorities to consider the home and other learning environments, and a new power for local authorities to request to see the child in their home(s).
Where additional local authority resources will be required to undertake new duties created by these School Attendance Order changes, the department is considering these additional requirements and will conduct a full new burdens assessment as is required.
Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when draft guidance on the Children Not In School measures in the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill will be published for consultation.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill introduces a duty on local authorities to maintain registers of children who are not in school, and a duty on parents to provide certain information for those registers. Parents must only provide details of their child’s name, date of birth, address, the parents’ names and addresses, the details of where the child is receiving education and who is providing it. All other information is optional to provide. Parents will only be expected to notify their local authority of that information when they first begin home-educating, or their circumstances change, such as a move to a new area or a new education provision.
The department will share clear guidance on what information parents should provide to their local authority to avoid irrelevant information being given. This will form part of the statutory guidance we will issue following a public consultation. That consultation will take place following the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill reaching Royal Assent.
In the published regulatory impact assessment for the ‘Children not in school’ measures, it is stated that we will request data from local authorities concerning the use of school attendance orders and how many result in a conviction for breach. We believe that a higher use of such orders would indicate a lack of compliance with the registration duties and higher numbers of parents who have opted to home educate but have been unable to provide a suitable education, who in the absence of a mandatory register, would have gone unknown to their local authority. A lower rate may indicate high compliance with the registration duties and parents being able to provide a suitable education, potentially through take-up of the support duty on their local authorities. Both outcomes would inform further policy development in this area.
The department began a termly collection of data relating to home education in autumn 2022. The data collection includes an annual return of the usage of school attendance orders. Data for the 2022/23 and 2023/24 academic years can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/elective-home-education.
In reference to the request to publish historic data on the usage of school attendance orders, the department does not hold information on the use of fines for breach of those orders. Fines for non-compliance are a result of a criminal conviction, and that data is recorded and held by the Ministry of Justice.