Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of (a) linking student maintenance support to inflation, (b) changing eligibility criteria for Universal Credit to increase the number of students that are eligible, (c) capping student rent, (d) providing funding to education providers to deliver improved hardship funds and (e) adjusting maintenance loan thresholds, in the context of increases in the cost of living.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The government reviews the support provided to cover students’ living costs on an annual basis and recognises the additional cost of living pressures that have arisen this year which have impacted students.
The department has boosted our student premium by £15 million to help students who need extra support. This extra funding, now totalling £276 million, will complement the help universities are providing through their own bursary, scholarship and hardship support schemes. The department works with the Office for Students (OfS) to ensure universities support students using both hardship funds and drawing on the student premium.
In the 2022/23 academic year, there has been an increase of 2.3% in loans for living costs, and there will be a further increase of 2.8% for the 2023/24 academic year. Decisions on student finance have had to be taken alongside other spending priorities to ensure the system remains financially sustainable and that the costs of higher education are shared fairly between students and taxpayers, not all of whom have benefited from going to university. Students who have been awarded a loan for living costs for the 2022/23 academic year that is lower than the maximum, and whose household income for the 2022/23 tax year has dropped by at least 15% compared to the income provided for their original assessment, can apply for their entitlement to be reassessed.
Loans for living costs are a contribution towards students’ living costs while attending university. The highest levels of support are targeted at students who need it the most, such as students from low-income families.
The primary source of financial help for students is provided through the student support system. As such, students on full-time higher education courses cannot normally satisfy the entitlement conditions for Universal Credit.
Exceptions are only made where students have additional needs that are not met through the student support system, for example, if they are responsible for a child.
Further details on claiming Universal Credit as a student which includes a list of students who may qualify for Universal Credit can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/universal-credit-and-students.
The government plays no role in the provision of student residential accommodation. Universities and private accommodation providers are autonomous and are responsible for setting their own rent agreements. We encourage universities and private landlords to review their accommodation policies to ensure that they are fair, clear, and have the interests of students at heart. This includes making accommodation available at a range of affordable price points, where possible.
More widely, the government does not support the introduction of rent controls in the private rented sector to set the level of rent at the outset of a tenancy. The White Paper, ‘A Fairer Private Rented Sector’, published on 16 June 2022 outlines the proposed reforms which will help prevent unfair rent increases for tenants, while ensuring landlords can continue to make necessary changes to rent. The measures include only allowing increases to rent once per year, ending the use of rent review clauses, and improving tenants’ ability to challenge excessive rent increases through the First Tier Tribunal.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to respond to correspondence dated 24 October 2022 from the hon. Member for Putney, case reference FA18772.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department has been unable to find a record of receiving correspondence from the hon. Member for Putney with the case reference FA18772.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 20 July 2022 to Question 37614 on Schools: Buildings, which schools in Putney constituency had at least one construction element in (a) condition grade C and (b) condition grade D when that data was collated; and which of those schools (i) have already received funding from the School Rebuilding Programme and (ii) are expected to receive funding from the School Rebuilding Programme in the next two years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Condition Data Collection (CDC) is one of the largest and most comprehensive data collection programmes in the UK’s public sector. It collected data on the building condition of government funded schools in England. It provides a robust evidence base to enable the Department to target capital funding for maintaining and rebuilding school buildings.
The key, high level findings of the CDC programme were published in May 2021 in the ‘Condition of School Buildings Survey: Key Findings’ report. This is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/989912/Condition_of_School_Buildings_Survey_CDC1_-_key_findings_report.pdf.
Individual CDC reports have been shared with every school and their responsible body to use alongside their existing condition surveys to plan maintenance schedules and investment plans. The Department plans to publish detailed school level CDC data. The data is being prepared and will be published as soon as possible.
Well maintained, safe school buildings are a priority for the Department. Our funding is directed both to maintaining the condition of the school estate and rebuilding schools. The Department has allocated over £13 billion for improving the condition of schools since 2015, including £1.8 billion committed this financial year.
The ten year School Rebuilding Programme (SRP) is condition led. 400 of the 500 available places on the programme have been provisionally allocated. A list of these schools and the methodology used to select them is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme-schools-in-the-programme.
Of the 400 so far selected, none are in Putney constituency. There are two schools in Wandsworth local authority.
The 239 schools announced in December 2022 will enter delivery at a rate of approximately 50 per year, over a five year period from 2023. The Department is currently undertaking due diligence on these schools prior to scheduling them, with schools prioritised according to the condition of their buildings, readiness to proceed, and efficiency of delivery. The scope and funding for each project will be confirmed following detailed feasibility studies and condition surveys of buildings.
Where a school identifies significant safety issues with a building, that cannot be managed within local resources, the Department considers additional support on a case-by-case basis. This includes applications for Urgent Capital Support (UCS) from eligible institutions. Schools eligible for Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) can apply for UCS where there are urgent health and safety issues that threaten school closure and cannot wait until the next CIF bidding round.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has taken steps to prevent job reductions at Birkbeck, University of London; and if she will meet with unions and management together.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Higher Education (HE) providers are independent, autonomous institutions responsible for their own decisions on staffing issues, including how they structure themselves to deliver research and teaching priorities. Where it is necessary to reshape their activities, it is important that universities carefully consider the impact of job losses on staff and students, and the overall sustainability of teaching and research in this country.
The department will continue to work closely with the Office for Students and various parties, including a variety of HE providers across the sector, mission groups and other government departments to understand the ongoing impacts and changing landscape of financial sustainability in the HE sector.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Government is taking steps to increase support for parents through (a) improvements in state funded childcare provision, (b) expanding and improving flexible working and (c) improvements to maternity and paternity leave.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The department is committed to improving the cost, choice, and availability of childcare. We have spent more than £20 billion over the last five years to support families with the cost of childcare, and thousands of parents are benefitting from government childcare support.
To support public sector providers in particular, the department has announced an additional investment of £10 million into Maintained Nursery School supplementary funding from 2023/24, and are consulting on proposals to create a fairer distribution of this funding. This is on top of the increase in 2022/23, where the department has increased the Maintained Nursery School supplementary hourly funding rate by 3.5%, equivalent to the increase in the 3 and 4-year-old hourly funding rates. The department has also confirmed the continuation of Maintained Nursery School supplementary funding throughout the spending review period, providing the sector with long-term certainty.
The government’s response to its consultation on flexible working set out our position on expanding and improving flexible working. We have committed to make the right to request flexible working a day-one right, require employers to consult with employees before rejecting their requests, enable employees to make two flexible working requests a year and speed up the decision period. These measures will be taken forward through regulations and through the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill.
Regarding Maternity and Paternity Leave, our Maternity Leave entitlement is generous, qualifying employed women are offered 52 weeks of maternity leave, of which 39 weeks are paid. This is more than three times the EU minimum requirement. As set out in our Manifesto, the government is committed to making it easier for fathers to take paternity leave.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps his Department has taken to help ensure that students from low-income households who are not eligible for free school meals are able to eat healthy and enjoyable school lunches every school day, in the context of the cost of living crisis.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department continues to monitor the consequences of the rising cost of living and is working with other Government Departments to provide support. The Department keeps free school meal (FSM) eligibility under review to ensure that these meals are supporting those who most need them. In setting a threshold, the Department believes that the current level, which enables pupils to benefit from FSM while remaining affordable and deliverable for schools, is the right one.
The Department spends around £600 million per year to ensure an additional 1.25 million infants enjoy a free, healthy, and nutritious meal at lunchtime, following the introduction of the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy in 2014. Under this policy, all pupils in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 in England’s state funded schools receive a free meal.
The Government encourages schools to promote healthy eating and provide healthy and nutritious food and drink. Compliance with the School Food Standards is mandatory for all maintained schools, including academies and free schools.
The Government spends approximately £1 billion annually on FSM and remains committed to supporting children, including through the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme and school breakfast clubs. The Government funds over £200 million a year on HAF, which provides healthy meals and holiday club places to children from low income families. The Government is allocating £24 million over two years for the national school breakfast programme, which benefits over 2,000 schools across the country.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to increase the free school meals income eligibility in line with inflation.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department continues to monitor the consequences of the rising cost of living and is working with other Government Departments to provide support. The Department will continue to keep free school meal (FSM) eligibility under review to ensure that these meals are supporting those who most need them. In setting a threshold, the Government believes that the current level, which enables children to benefit from FSM, while remaining affordable and deliverable for schools, is the right one.
The latest published statistics show that around 1.9 million pupils are claiming benefits-related FSM. This equates to 22.5% of all pupils, up from 20.8% in 2021. Together with a further 1.25 million infants supported through the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy, 37.5% of school children are now provided with FSM.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much ministerial severance pay has been (a) paid out by her Department and (b) accepted since 1 June 2022.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The provision of severance payments for Ministers is set out in legislation.
Details of the severance payments made to ministers when leaving office are published in Departments’ annual reports and accounts.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of trends in the level of interest on student loans on people repaying those loans during the cost of living crisis.
Answered by Robert Halfon
No student loan borrower will be paying more per month as a result of changes to interest rates. Monthly repayments are calculated as a fixed percentage of earnings above the relevant repayment threshold and do not change based on interest rates or the amount borrowed.
The mechanism for setting student loan interest rates is set out in legislation. Interest rates for post 2012 (Plan 2) and Postgraduate (Plan 3) loans are set annually with reference to the Retail Price Index (RPI) from the previous March. The rates take effect from 1 September each year.
Student loans offer unique protections to borrowers. Monthly student loan repayments are calculated by income rather than by interest rates, or the amount borrowed. If income is below the relevant repayment threshold, or a borrower is not earning, then they do not have to make repayments at all. Any outstanding debt, including interest accrued, is written off at the end of the loan term, or in case of death or disability, at no detriment to the borrower. There are no commercial loans that offer this level of protection.
To further protect borrowers, the government, by law, must cap maximum student loan rates to ensure the interest rate charged on the loan is in line with market rates for comparable unsecured personal loans. The government monitors student loan rates against the Bank of England’s data series for the effective interest rates on new and existing unsecured personal loans.
In June 2022 the government set interest rates at a maximum ceiling of 7.3%, for the duration of the 2022/23 academic year, in line with forecast market rates, to protect student loan borrowers on Plan 2 and Plan 3 loans. The government confirmed that should the actual Prevailing Market Rate (PMR) turn out to be lower than forecast, a further cap would be implemented to reduce student loan interest rates accordingly. From 1 September 2022 to 30 November 2022, reflecting a lower than forecast PMR, the maximum interest rate is set at 6.3% for all Plan 2 and Plan 3 borrowers.
On 9 November it was further announced that from 1 December 2022 to 28 February 2023 the maximum interest rate will be set at 6.5% for all Plan 2 and Plan 3 loans, reflecting the most recent PMR.
From the 2023/24 academic year, student loan borrowers starting new courses will benefit from interest rates of RPI only. This change ensures that, under the new Plan 5 loan terms, new borrowers will not repay more than they originally borrowed, when adjusted for inflation.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of increasing the age limit for student loans for master’s degrees to 70 years old.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The student finance system has to be both fair and sustainable, and ensure that costs are split fairly between graduates and the taxpayer.
In determining the current postgraduate master’s loan eligibility criteria, the department consulted widely on the proposed terms of the new loan and considered its duty under the Equality Act 2010. A copy of that analysis can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/526274/bis-16-289-postgraduate-masters-loans-equality-analysis.pdf.
The upper age limit of 60 years old was put in place to ensure that the overall scheme remains affordable to the taxpayer and offers value for money. The age limit is designed to restrict eligibility to those statistically most likely to continue in long-term employment and be able to repay the loan. The department believes that the current age restriction strikes the right balance between addressing the repayment challenge of older students and encouraging a broad range of individuals to undertake postgraduate study.
The department is closely monitoring take up of the loan and the response by students, the sector and employers. However, at present there are no plans to amend the loan eligibility criteria or undertake any impact assessments.