Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of higher education providers in i) England ii) Sussex are expected to record an operating a deficit over the next financial year.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Office for Students (OfS), as the independent regulator of higher education (HE) in England, is responsible for monitoring the sector’s financial sustainability. Its most recent report on the sector’s financial health, published in May 2026, is available at: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/financial-sustainability-of-higher-education-providers-in-england-2026/.
The OfS report found that 42.7% of HE providers are forecast to be in deficit in 2025/26. However, these deficits alone do not provide a complete picture of an institution’s financial health.
The department does not hold information on universities categorised by county, but key information on the financial position of individual providers is publicly available through their published financial statements.
Universities are autonomous and are responsible for their own business and staffing decisions. While the government does not intervene in these matters, we expect universities to engage constructively with their workforce when making decisions that may affect them.
The government remains committed to creating a secure future for our universities so they can deliver for students, taxpayers, workers and the economy. That is why, after being frozen for eight years, we increased tuition fee caps in line with inflation in 2025/26. We are also increasing tuition fee caps in line with forecast inflation in 2026/27 and 2027/28. We will then legislate, when parliamentary time allows, to increase tuition fee caps automatically for future academic years.
Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help prevent job reductions in higher education.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Office for Students (OfS), as the independent regulator of higher education (HE) in England, is responsible for monitoring the sector’s financial sustainability. Its most recent report on the sector’s financial health, published in May 2026, is available at: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/financial-sustainability-of-higher-education-providers-in-england-2026/.
The OfS report found that 42.7% of HE providers are forecast to be in deficit in 2025/26. However, these deficits alone do not provide a complete picture of an institution’s financial health.
The department does not hold information on universities categorised by county, but key information on the financial position of individual providers is publicly available through their published financial statements.
Universities are autonomous and are responsible for their own business and staffing decisions. While the government does not intervene in these matters, we expect universities to engage constructively with their workforce when making decisions that may affect them.
The government remains committed to creating a secure future for our universities so they can deliver for students, taxpayers, workers and the economy. That is why, after being frozen for eight years, we increased tuition fee caps in line with inflation in 2025/26. We are also increasing tuition fee caps in line with forecast inflation in 2026/27 and 2027/28. We will then legislate, when parliamentary time allows, to increase tuition fee caps automatically for future academic years.
Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support her Department is giving to research-intensive universities.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government recognises the vital role that universities play in supporting the UK’s world‑leading research base and delivering the Industrial Strategy, and is therefore investing a record £86 billion in research and development between 2026/27 and 2029/30, the largest ever investment made by any UK Government, to help fund the vital research our universities lead the world in.
Additionally, the government provides funding through the Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG) annually to support teaching and students in higher education (HE). The total recurrent (programme) SPG funding allocation for the current 2025/26 academic year is £1.3 billion. Research-intensive universities that are on the approved Office of Students (fee cap) register will benefit from all SPG funding streams for which they are eligible.
The government also provides over £11.1 billion in subsidised fee loans to support all universities, including research-intensives.
Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the contract for the National school breakfast club programme prohibits the use of ultra-processed cereals and breads; and if she will set out the nutritional and processing specification of that contract.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The National School Breakfast Programme (NSBP) is an inherited scheme from the previous government and the contract will end in July 2026. The contract with the supplier Family Action stipulates that all food available for schools to purchase must meet the School Food Standards, which already restrict foods high in fat, salt and sugar, as well as low-quality reformed or reconstituted foods. To ensure quality and nutrition in meals for the future, we are revising the School Food Standards and are engaging with experts across the sector.
This government is committed to delivering a free breakfast club in every state-funded school with primary-aged pupils in England. All NSBP schools with primary-aged pupils will have the opportunity to transition onto the free breakfast clubs programme from September 2026. NSBP secondary schools will be provided with continued support at an equivalent value to what they receive on the NSBP for the 2026/7 academic year. Further details for secondary schools will follow shortly.
Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a maximum five per cent threshold for ultra-processed foods (Nova Group 4) in the updated School Food Standards.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition has considered the impact of processed foods on health in 2023 and 2025, and recommends that on balance, most people are likely to benefit from reducing their consumption of processed foods high in energy, saturated fat, salt and free sugars and low in fibre.
The School Food Standards already restrict foods high in fat, salt and sugar, as well as low-quality reformed or reconstituted foods, but to ensure quality and nutrition in meals for the future, we are revising the School Food Standards. We are engaging experts across the sector, such as nutritionists, and are developing our plans to consult on the changes.
Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what mechanisms she is putting in place to ensure that proposed agency fee caps under the new Supply Teachers and Temporary Staffing framework are effectively monitored and enforced.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The responsibility for monitoring adherence to the agency fee caps, and all requirements of the framework agreement, sits with Crown Commercial Service (CCS). As part of the framework terms and conditions, agencies must provide data reporting, with potential consequences of non-compliance resulting in removal from the framework agreement.
To support CCS, the department will review spend across the sector, comparing it with the management information reported by suppliers to CCS through the framework.
Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason the new Supply Teachers and Temporary Staffing framework makes no provision for ensuring that supply teachers can access the teachers’ pension scheme.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The Teachers’ Pensions Regulations currently provide for supply teachers to participate in the teachers’ pension scheme (TPS) where they are employed by a scheme employer. These are local authorities, academies and further education colleges. This includes supply teachers who are recruited by a supply agency but then employed directly, under a contract of employment, by the scheme employer.
Where supply teachers are self-employed or remain employed by a supply agency and their services are provided under a ‘contract for services’, it is not possible for them to participate in the TPS as there is no organisation to undertake the employer role, including remitting contributions to the scheme.
Supply teachers employed by agencies will continue to have access to alternative workplace pensions.
Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve supply teachers’ access to the teachers’ pension scheme under the new Supply Teachers and Temporary Staffing framework.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The Teachers’ Pensions Regulations currently provide for supply teachers to participate in the teachers’ pension scheme (TPS) where they are employed by a scheme employer. These are local authorities, academies and further education colleges. This includes supply teachers who are recruited by a supply agency but then employed directly, under a contract of employment, by the scheme employer.
Where supply teachers are self-employed or remain employed by a supply agency and their services are provided under a ‘contract for services’, it is not possible for them to participate in the TPS as there is no organisation to undertake the employer role, including remitting contributions to the scheme.
Supply teachers employed by agencies will continue to have access to alternative workplace pensions.
Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking ensure education on gambling harm is provided by organisations independent of the gambling industry; and whether targeted interventions are planned to educate children on gambling harms.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The updated Relationships and sex education (RSE) and health education (RSHE) guidance is clear that children and young people should be taught about the risks associated with gambling, including the accumulation of debt. This guidance can be read in full here:
Content is taught at both primary and secondary education and in reviewing the guidance, the department worked with ‘Gambling With Lives’ as part of the stakeholder engagement process.
Schools have flexibility over how they teach issues and the materials they use, however the guidance is clear that schools should check that external resources are accurate and unbiased.
As part of the statutory gambling levy prevention programme, the Gambling Harms Prevention Grant Fund was launched this month. This may include education programmes and interventions for children and young people, and competing organisations will be required to sign up to demonstrate their commitment to moving towards a new public health approach, independent of industry funding.
Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department provides to schools on gambling-like features in video games, including loot boxes and in-game spending, as part of online safety education.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Statutory relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) supports children and young people to manage risk and make informed decisions in relation to their mental wellbeing and online behaviour.
The updated RSHE statutory guidance is clear that children and young people should be taught the risks relating to online gaming, video game monetisation, scams, fraud and other financial harms, and that gaming can become addictive.
Curriculum content also includes the risks related to online gambling and gambling-like content within gaming, including the accumulation of debt.
The departments online safety guidance covers how to teach about all aspects of internet safety and includes content on gaming and gambling, and can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teaching-online-safety-in-schools.
As with other aspects of the curriculum, schools have flexibility over how they deliver important topics and use their autonomy and local community knowledge to do this.