Asked by: Calum Miller (Liberal Democrat - Bicester and Woodstock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to answer Question (a) 115147, (b) 115148 and (c) 115149 tabled by the hon. Member for Bicester and Woodstock on 23 February 2026.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The response to Written Parliamentary Question 115148 was published on 2 March 2026. The responses to Written Parliamentary Questions 115147 and 115149 were published on 31 March 2026.
Asked by: Calum Miller (Liberal Democrat - Bicester and Woodstock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate of the potential impact to the public pursue of (a) cancelling all outstanding student loan balances on existing borrowers; (b) cancelling all outstanding student loan balances for particular occupations for existing borrowers; and (c) cancelling all outstanding student loan balances for particular subjects studied, for existing borrowers.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Cancelling all outstanding student loan balances for existing student loan borrowers would lead to reduction of the fair value of the entire loan book to zero. The fair value of the student loan book, published in the most recent annual accounts, as at 31 March 2025 was £157.9 billion.
The department has not estimated the impact to the public purse of cancelling all outstanding student loan balances for subsets of graduates who studied particular subjects or work in specific professions.
Asked by: Calum Miller (Liberal Democrat - Bicester and Woodstock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate of the potential impact to the public purse of (a) changing the student loan repayment rates for existing borrowers and (b) changing the income threshold at which student loans are repaid for existing borrowers.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Reducing the repayment rate for existing student loan borrowers would reduce expected future repayments and therefore be a cost to the public purse. Increasing the income threshold at which student loans are repaid for existing borrowers would also reduce expected future repayments.
To support the long-term sustainability of the student loan system, we announced at the Autumn Budget 2025 that the Plan 2 repayment threshold will be increased to £29,385 in April 2026 and then frozen at that level for three years beginning April 2027.
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 she has made of the impact on local authority finances of accumulated high needs Dedicated Schools Grant deficits ahead of the statutory override ending in 2027-28.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department has set out plans for a reformed special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system in the recent Schools White Paper. The department's assessment of future SEND spending will be updated following the SEND consultation.
We have set out plans to address high needs 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, which will begin to improve outcomes for children and bring costs under control through effective early intervention stopping needs from escalating.
For deficits that arise in 2026/27 and 2027/28, local authorities can expect that we will continue to take an appropriate and proportionate approach, though it will not be unlimited.
From 2028/29, SEND spending will be covered by the overall government DEL budget, meaning local authorities are not expected to fund future SEND costs from general funds, once the Statutory Override ends at the end of 2027/28.
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, 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, 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 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.