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.
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 potential merits of requiring universities to conduct human rights due diligence checks when offering security-related courses to organisations based in countries listed as a human rights priority in the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office's report entitled Human Rights and Democracy Report 2022, published on 13 July 2023.
Answered by Janet Daby
The UK is a leading advocate for human rights around the world, and we remain committed to the promotion of universal human rights. Universities attract international engagement from across the world, and this global reach plays an important part in promoting British values, such as the rule of law and respect for human rights.
Higher education (HE) providers are autonomous bodies, independent from government, and therefore responsible for their own policies and procedures.
However, English HE providers must uphold applicable public interest governance principles, including on free speech, and we expect the sector to be alert to regulatory risks when collaborating with international partners, conducting appropriate due diligence to comply with all legislation, including the Human Rights Act 1998. The Office for Students (OfS) have introduced a further registration condition on harassment and sexual misconduct, which will come into force on 1 August 2025. This condition is important in ensuring HE students are free from harassment and sexual misconduct that would otherwise adversely affect their ability to benefit from their studies.
As the independent regulator, it is the role of the OfS to monitor and assess registered providers’ compliance with all its conditions of registration.
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 is developing plans to require universities to develop institution-wide human rights policies and procedures.
Answered by Janet Daby
The UK is a leading advocate for human rights around the world, and we remain committed to the promotion of universal human rights. Universities attract international engagement from across the world, and this global reach plays an important part in promoting British values, such as the rule of law and respect for human rights.
Higher education (HE) providers are autonomous bodies, independent from government, and therefore responsible for their own policies and procedures.
However, English HE providers must uphold applicable public interest governance principles, including on free speech, and we expect the sector to be alert to regulatory risks when collaborating with international partners, conducting appropriate due diligence to comply with all legislation, including the Human Rights Act 1998. The Office for Students (OfS) have introduced a further registration condition on harassment and sexual misconduct, which will come into force on 1 August 2025. This condition is important in ensuring HE students are free from harassment and sexual misconduct that would otherwise adversely affect their ability to benefit from their studies.
As the independent regulator, it is the role of the OfS to monitor and assess registered providers’ compliance with all its conditions of registration.
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 Questions (a) 36322, (b) 36323 and (c) 36324, tabled by the hon. Member for Bicester and Woodstock on 6 March 2025.
Answered by Janet Daby
The answers to Written Parliamentary Questions 36322, 36323 and 36324 were published on 20 March 2025.
Asked by: Calum Miller (Liberal Democrat - Bicester and Woodstock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the time taken to confirm Adoption Support Fund funding does not lead to gaps in therapy provision for adopted children with additional needs.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department will shortly be finalising business planning decisions on the allocation of the department’s budget for the next financial year. All decisions regarding the future of the adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF), including issues linked to inflation, are being considered as part of these discussions. An announcement will be made as soon as possible. We will always consider the impact of decisions on vulnerable children.
To ensure there are no gaps in therapy, including for children with additional needs, ASGSF applications are generally permitted to extend up to 12 months, allowing children and families to receive continuing therapy across financial years. Where applications are approved, therapy which starts during March 2025 may therefore continue into the next financial year under previously agreed transitional funding arrangements.
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 the time taken to confirm the Adoption Support Fund budget on children receiving therapy through that fund.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department will shortly be finalising business planning decisions on the allocation of the department’s budget for the next financial year. All decisions regarding the future of the adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF), including issues linked to inflation, are being considered as part of these discussions. An announcement will be made as soon as possible. We will always consider the impact of decisions on vulnerable children.
To ensure there are no gaps in therapy, including for children with additional needs, ASGSF applications are generally permitted to extend up to 12 months, allowing children and families to receive continuing therapy across financial years. Where applications are approved, therapy which starts during March 2025 may therefore continue into the next financial year under previously agreed transitional funding arrangements.