Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what evidence her Department used to conclude that free university tools can adequately replace specialist assistive technology funded by the Disabled Students Allowance to support disabled students with their studies.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Supporting disabled students to access and succeed in higher education is a government priority. Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) provides support to remove disability-related barriers to learning, enabling students to access academic opportunities. DSA-funded support is designed to meet disability-related needs and promote independence in study through appropriate equipment, assistive software and support.
The department’s consultation on assistive software funded through DSA seeks to gather evidence on how best to modernise the support provided, taking into account the significant advances in technology in recent years.
A key purpose of the consultation is to understand the extent to which advances in mainstream functionality can appropriately meet disability-related needs and where specialist software continues to be required. The intention is to ensure provision is appropriately targeted and represents value for money.
The department has not made a final assessment of the adequacy of free-to-access tools as we are seeking evidence of this through the consultation process.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact on disabled students, including on educational outcomes and equality, of proposals to restrict funding for specialist assistive software through Disabled Students’ Allowances in favour of free tools.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Supporting disabled students to access and succeed in higher education is a government priority. Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) provides support to remove disability-related barriers to learning, enabling students to access academic opportunities. DSA-funded support is designed to meet disability-related needs and promote independence in study through appropriate equipment, assistive software and support.
The department’s consultation on assistive software funded through DSA seeks to gather evidence on how best to modernise the support provided, taking into account the significant advances in technology in recent years.
A key purpose of the consultation is to understand the extent to which advances in mainstream functionality can appropriately meet disability-related needs and where specialist software continues to be required. The intention is to ensure provision is appropriately targeted and represents value for money.
The department has not made a final assessment of the adequacy of free-to-access tools as we are seeking evidence of this through the consultation process.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that the enrichment entitlement is received by young people in Leeds Central and Headingley constituency.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government is committed to ensuring all young people across England can access a variety of enrichment opportunities at school and college as part of our mission to break down barriers to opportunity.
To support delivery of the enrichment entitlement set out in the government’s response to the Curriculum and Assessment Review, and the 'Every Child Achieving and Thriving’ schools White Paper, we are developing a new Enrichment Framework for publication this academic year. Developed with the department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), and experts across education, youth, sports and the arts, the framework will set out benchmarks to help schools and colleges plan high-quality enrichment more intentionally and strategically and will include case studies and signposting to tools and resources.
We recognise schools and colleges cannot do this on their own and are putting in place support for wider provision including Music Hubs, and the £22.5 million programme developed with DCMS to support the enrichment offer of up to 400 schools in disadvantaged communities.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps Student Loans Company is taking to ensure that borrowers repaying through PAYE are not issued incorrect repayment demands.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
UK-based student loan repayments are collected by HMRC through the tax system. Employers deduct repayments for employees with a student loan when their earnings are above the relevant student loan repayment threshold. Employers will pass the collected repayments to HMRC, and HMRC pass details of the repayments to the Student Loans Company (SLC).
SLC may write to a customer directly if they have been paid more student loan or grant than they are entitled to. Overpayments are due to be repaid separately from the customer’s main student loan balance, and it is right that the SLC seek repayment of such sums.
If a borrower thinks they have received a letter in error, we encourage them to engage with SLC. Customer satisfaction is important to SLC, and they continue to invest in systems to provide customers with a more intuitive and comprehensively digital service. SLC welcomes feedback from customers to further improve their service.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support the financial sustainability of childminders in the context of the removal of the wear and tear allowance.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
This department is taking a range of measures to support the financial sustainability of childminding businesses and other early years providers. From April 2026, local authorities will be required to pass at least 97% of their funding directly to providers, an increase from 96%.
We are also working with local authorities and others to ensure that childminders and other early years providers can be paid monthly for the funded hours they provide, making their income more stable. From 1 November 2024, the government introduced new flexibilities to help childminders join and stay in the profession, supporting the government’s commitment to roll out expanded childcare entitlements and give children the best start in life.
In addition, the expansion of the early years entitlements will benefit childminders in different ways. The national average three and four-year-old hourly funding rate of local authorities is increasing by 4.1%, the two-year-old hourly funding rate is increasing by 3.3%, and the nine months to two-year-old hourly funding rate is increasing by 3.4%.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of raising the minimum income threshold for student maintenance loans in line with inflation.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to supporting the aspiration of every person who meets the requirements and wants to attend higher education. We are future proofing our maintenance loan offer by increasing maintenance loans in line with forecast inflation every academic year from 2026/27 onwards, and making all care leavers automatically eligible for the maximum maintenance loan regardless of their income from 2026/27.
We are also introducing new targeted maintenance grants from the 2028/29 academic year, which will provide disadvantaged students with up to £1,000 extra per year, on top of existing maintenance loans, increasing cash in student’s pockets, without increasing their debt.
We need to ensure that student funding system is financially sustainable. Around £20.7 billion of student loans administered by the Student Loans Company were issued in the 2024/25 financial year, of which £9.1 billion of maintenance loans were issued to undergraduate students.
The current system targets the highest levels of support at students with household incomes of £25,000 or less, who need it most.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the period product scheme will continue within schools in the year 2025-26.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Leeds and Central Headingley to the answer of 4 March 2025 to Question 30133.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the period product scheme will continue within schools in the year 2025-26.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The period products scheme is confirmed for the 2024/25 academic year. The department will make further announcements on the scheme soon.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will renew the Adoption and special guardianship support fund for 2025.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department will shortly be finalising business planning decisions on how we will allocate the department’s budget for the next financial year. All decisions regarding the adoption and special guardianship support fund are being made as part of these discussions. An announcement will be made as soon as possible.
All future funding decisions will be considered as part of the next spending review.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of supporting schools to train staff to support (a) autistic students and (b) students with pathological demand avoidance.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life. The department is committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, as well as ensuring special schools cater to those with the most complex needs.
All teachers are teachers of SEND, and high quality teaching is central to ensuring that pupils with SEND are given the best possible opportunity to achieve at school. Consideration of SEND underpins the Initial Teacher Training (ITT) Core Content Framework (CCF) and Early Career Framework (ECF). These frameworks were produced with the support of sector experts and have been designed to support all pupils to succeed, including those identified within the four areas of need set out in the SEND Code of Practice.
All mainstream schools must have a special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO) who must be a qualified teacher, or the headteacher, working at the school. On 1 September 2024, the government introduced a new mandatory leadership level National Professional Qualification (NPQ) for SENCOs. The NPQ will play a key role in improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND by ensuring SENCOs consistently receive high quality, evidence-based training. This is crucial given the central role SENCOs play in supporting pupils with SEND.
Universal SEND Services brings together SEND-specific continuing professional development and support for the school and further education workforce. The programme aims to improve outcomes for children and young people, including those with autism. The contract offers autism awareness training and resources. Over 200,000 professionals have received autism training from an Autism Education Trust training partner since the programme launched in May 2022.