Asked by: Calum Miller (Liberal Democrat - Bicester and Woodstock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on funding arrangements for local authority high needs Dedicated Schools Grant deficits ahead of the end of the statutory override in 2027-28.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government has set out plans to address deficits up to the end of 2025/26, providing grants to cover 90% of each council’s deficit once they have produced and received approval for a strong plan to drive sustained and energetic action in accordance with our new system set out in the Schools White Paper.
For deficits that arise in 2026/27 and 2027/28, local authorities can expect that the government will continue to take an appropriate and proportionate approach, though it will not be unlimited. Future support will take into account local authorities' successful delivery of their approved local special educational needs and disabilities reform plan.
Asked by: Calum Miller (Liberal Democrat - Bicester and Woodstock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans the Government has to help address local authority high needs Dedicated Schools Grant deficits ahead of the end of the statutory override in 2027-28.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government has set out plans to address deficits up to the end of 2025/26, providing grants to cover 90% of each council’s deficit once they have produced and received approval for a strong plan to drive sustained and energetic action in accordance with our new system set out in the Schools White Paper.
For deficits that arise in 2026/27 and 2027/28, local authorities can expect that the government will continue to take an appropriate and proportionate approach, though it will not be unlimited. Future support will take into account local authorities' successful delivery of their approved local special educational needs and disabilities reform plan.
Asked by: Calum Miller (Liberal Democrat - Bicester and Woodstock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to cover the remaining local authority share of high needs Dedicated Schools Grant deficits beyond 2025-26.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government has set out plans to address deficits up to the end of 2025/26, providing grants to cover 90% of each council’s deficit once they have produced and received approval for a strong plan to drive sustained and energetic action in accordance with our new system set out in the Schools White Paper.
For deficits that arise in 2026/27 and 2027/28, local authorities can expect that the government will continue to take an appropriate and proportionate approach, though it will not be unlimited. Future support will take into account local authorities' successful delivery of their approved local special educational needs and disabilities reform plan.
Asked by: Calum Miller (Liberal Democrat - Bicester and Woodstock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of changing the (i) interest rate, for example to CPI, for existing student loan borrowers and (ii) maximum period before student loans are written off for existing borrowers on the public finances.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Reducing the interest rate charged to existing student loan borrowers would lead to reduced future repayments due to some borrowers paying off their loans faster, and therefore represent a cost to the public purse.
Increasing the maximum period before student loans are written off for existing borrowers would generate a saving for public finances due to additional repayments being made by borrowers who would otherwise have had their loans written off.
Plan 5 loans were introduced by the previous government for new undergraduate students starting courses from the 2023/24 academic year onwards and, compared to the Plan 2 loans they replaced, combine reduced interest rates with a ten year extension to the loan repayment term and a lower repayment threshold. Impacts were published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-reform-equality-impact-assessment.
Asked by: Calum Miller (Liberal Democrat - Bicester and Woodstock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of freezing student loan repayment thresholds and interest rates from 2027 on the total amount repaid over the lifetime of a loan, broken down by graduate income decile.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
It was announced at the Autumn Budget that the repayment and interest thresholds for Plan 2 student loans will be frozen from the 2026/27 financial year until April 2030, when they will increase annually by inflation.
The department produced the following analysis regarding the impact of freezing the repayment and interest thresholds:
Average lifetime repayments (2024/25 financial year prices) | |||||
Baseline (£) | Post- policy (£) | Impact | |||
£ | % | ||||
Entire cohort | 27,000 | 28,300 | 1,300 | 5 | |
Average | |||||
Lifetime graduate earnings decile | 1 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 0 | 0 |
2 | 4,300 | 4,700 | 400 | 9 | |
3 | 7,700 | 8,100 | 400 | 5 | |
4 | 11,600 | 13,000 | 1,400 | 12 | |
5 | 16,900 | 18,500 | 1,600 | 9 | |
6 | 23,100 | 25,200 | 2,100 | 9 | |
7 | 31,300 | 33,600 | 2,300 | 7 | |
8 | 41,200 | 43,500 | 2,300 | 6 | |
9 | 54,500 | 56,100 | 1,600 | 3 | |
10 | 59,100 | 59,500 | 400 | 1 | |
No freeze has been announced relating to interest rates.
The department will release an equalities impact assessment, including the impact on lifetime repayments, alongside other borrower impacts for the Plan 2 repayment threshold and interest threshold freeze announced at the Autumn Budget. Published results may differ from those provided due to model and data updates.
Asked by: Calum Miller (Liberal Democrat - Bicester and Woodstock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many UK higher education institutions have approached the her Department for guidance following requests from the Chinese Embassy to alter language referring to Taiwan, in each year since 2020.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department engages regularly with representatives from the higher education sector on a range of international issues, working to support universities to maximise the opportunities of international collaboration whilst managing related risks. However, it would not be appropriate to comment on the specifics of any discussions with individual universities on sensitive diplomatic or national security matters.
If we are made aware of concerns from universities regarding undue foreign pressure, we can and would take appropriate action to support universities, alongside other partners, to maintain their independence and autonomy. In England, providers have a regulatory requirement to ensure that their decisions are taken, without direction, coercion or covert influence. The Office for Students’ freedom of speech advice, published in June 2025, shows how providers should protect academic freedom from foreign interference, and the department has announced further work to improve international due diligence and awareness of foreign interference risks.
Asked by: Calum Miller (Liberal Democrat - Bicester and Woodstock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions she has had with universities on foreign diplomatic pressure to (a) alter and (b) remove references to Taiwan in (i) academic and (ii) institutional communications.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department engages regularly with representatives from the higher education sector on a range of international issues, working to support universities to maximise the opportunities of international collaboration whilst managing related risks. However, it would not be appropriate to comment on the specifics of any discussions with individual universities on sensitive diplomatic or national security matters.
If we are made aware of concerns from universities regarding undue foreign pressure, we can and would take appropriate action to support universities, alongside other partners, to maintain their independence and autonomy. In England, providers have a regulatory requirement to ensure that their decisions are taken, without direction, coercion or covert influence. The Office for Students’ freedom of speech advice, published in June 2025, shows how providers should protect academic freedom from foreign interference, and the department has announced further work to improve international due diligence and awareness of foreign interference risks.
Asked by: Calum Miller (Liberal Democrat - Bicester and Woodstock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has had discussions with the Oxford-Cambridge Partnership on ensuring that business needs are met through the delivery of (a) apprenticeships and (b) technical skills by further education institutions.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department, through Skills England, is actively engaged in the Oxford-Cambridge growth corridor. This engagement is supported by local skills improvement plans (LSIPs), which cover all the areas within the Oxford-Cambridge corridor. LSIPs are overseen by Skills England, helping to ensure all parties play their part.
Skills England works closely with employer representative bodies who develop LSIPs to ensure that local technical skills priorities support employers, empower learners and enable regions to respond to future workforce needs.
Employers have consistently engaged with and contributed to the development of LSIPs to articulate skills needs, outline issues faced and establish solutions to tackle these.
Asked by: Calum Miller (Liberal Democrat - Bicester and Woodstock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the press notice entitled £740 million allocated for 10,000 new places for pupils with SEND, published on 25 March 2025, what steps her Department has taken to establish the criteria for prioritising spending for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities capital investment.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The department has published allocations for £740 million high needs capital funding in 2025/26 to support children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or who require alternative provision.
Of this funding, Oxfordshire Council has been allocated just under £8 million.
This funding is intended to support local authorities to adapt or create specialist facilities within mainstream schools that can deliver more intensive support adapted to suit pupils’ needs, and to create high quality special school places for pupils with the most complex needs.
The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places including for pupils with SEND, sits with local authorities. It is ultimately up to local authorities to determine how to best prioritise their high needs capital funding to address local priorities.
Asked by: Calum Miller (Liberal Democrat - Bicester and Woodstock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the press notice entitled £740 million allocated for 10,000 new places for pupils with SEND, published on 25 March 2025, what proportion of the £740 million has been allocated for building new special schools.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The department has published allocations for £740 million high needs capital funding in 2025/26 to support children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or who require alternative provision.
Of this funding, Oxfordshire Council has been allocated just under £8 million.
This funding is intended to support local authorities to adapt or create specialist facilities within mainstream schools that can deliver more intensive support adapted to suit pupils’ needs, and to create high quality special school places for pupils with the most complex needs.
The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places including for pupils with SEND, sits with local authorities. It is ultimately up to local authorities to determine how to best prioritise their high needs capital funding to address local priorities.