Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the answer of 29 January 2026 to Question 101938, how many meetings her Department has held with commercial lenders where the financial position of a specific named university was discussed since 2020.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As set out in our response on 29 January 2026, the department meets with a variety of stakeholders, including commercial lenders, to hear their views on the higher education sector. Where individual providers experience financial difficulties, the department engages with them to understand the pressures they face. This has included meeting commercial lenders to hear their position.
The department keeps records of its engagements with external stakeholders, including meetings with commercial lenders. However, any discussions relating to the financial position of providers would be commercially sensitive and therefore inappropriate to discuss publicly.
As My noble Friend, the Minister for Skills told the Education Select Committee in November 2025, the government does not intervene in the interests of providers. However, if a provider was at risk of unplanned closure, the department would work with the OfS, the provider and other government departments to ensure students' and taxpayers’ best interests were protected. This might involve supporting the transfer of students, exploring potential partnerships, or addressing relevant operational issues, such as how student loan payments are administered.
Higher education providers are independent from government and as such must continue to make the necessary and appropriate financial decisions to ensure their long-term sustainability.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the answer of 29 January 2026 to Question 101938, for what reasons are meetings between her Department and commercial lenders on the higher education sector are kept confidential.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As set out in our response on 29 January 2026, the department meets with a variety of stakeholders, including commercial lenders, to hear their views on the higher education sector. Where individual providers experience financial difficulties, the department engages with them to understand the pressures they face. This has included meeting commercial lenders to hear their position.
The department keeps records of its engagements with external stakeholders, including meetings with commercial lenders. However, any discussions relating to the financial position of providers would be commercially sensitive and therefore inappropriate to discuss publicly.
As My noble Friend, the Minister for Skills told the Education Select Committee in November 2025, the government does not intervene in the interests of providers. However, if a provider was at risk of unplanned closure, the department would work with the OfS, the provider and other government departments to ensure students' and taxpayers’ best interests were protected. This might involve supporting the transfer of students, exploring potential partnerships, or addressing relevant operational issues, such as how student loan payments are administered.
Higher education providers are independent from government and as such must continue to make the necessary and appropriate financial decisions to ensure their long-term sustainability.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has indicated to commercial lenders that the Government would take steps to prevent the failure of a financially distressed university since 2020.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As set out in our response on 29 January 2026, the department meets with a variety of stakeholders, including commercial lenders, to hear their views on the higher education sector. Where individual providers experience financial difficulties, the department engages with them to understand the pressures they face. This has included meeting commercial lenders to hear their position.
The department keeps records of its engagements with external stakeholders, including meetings with commercial lenders. However, any discussions relating to the financial position of providers would be commercially sensitive and therefore inappropriate to discuss publicly.
As My noble Friend, the Minister for Skills told the Education Select Committee in November 2025, the government does not intervene in the interests of providers. However, if a provider was at risk of unplanned closure, the department would work with the OfS, the provider and other government departments to ensure students' and taxpayers’ best interests were protected. This might involve supporting the transfer of students, exploring potential partnerships, or addressing relevant operational issues, such as how student loan payments are administered.
Higher education providers are independent from government and as such must continue to make the necessary and appropriate financial decisions to ensure their long-term sustainability.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the answer of 29 January 2026 to Question 101939, whether her Department keeps records of meetings with commercial lenders on higher education institutions.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As set out in our response on 29 January 2026, the department meets with a variety of stakeholders, including commercial lenders, to hear their views on the higher education sector. Where individual providers experience financial difficulties, the department engages with them to understand the pressures they face. This has included meeting commercial lenders to hear their position.
The department keeps records of its engagements with external stakeholders, including meetings with commercial lenders. However, any discussions relating to the financial position of providers would be commercially sensitive and therefore inappropriate to discuss publicly.
As My noble Friend, the Minister for Skills told the Education Select Committee in November 2025, the government does not intervene in the interests of providers. However, if a provider was at risk of unplanned closure, the department would work with the OfS, the provider and other government departments to ensure students' and taxpayers’ best interests were protected. This might involve supporting the transfer of students, exploring potential partnerships, or addressing relevant operational issues, such as how student loan payments are administered.
Higher education providers are independent from government and as such must continue to make the necessary and appropriate financial decisions to ensure their long-term sustainability.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many meetings her Department has held with commercial lenders to discuss the finances of higher education institutions in each year since 2020.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department meets regularly with a variety of stakeholders to hear their views on the English higher education sector. This includes commercial lenders, given that the sector’s external borrowing totalled £13.3 billion in 2023/24.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason her Department holds meetings with commercial lenders to discuss the finances of higher education institutions.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department meets regularly with a variety of stakeholders to hear their views on the English higher education sector. This includes commercial lenders, given that the sector’s external borrowing totalled £13.3 billion in 2023/24.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department keeps records of meetings with commercial lenders on the finances of higher education institutions.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department meets regularly with a variety of stakeholders to hear their views on the English higher education sector. This includes commercial lenders, given that the sector’s external borrowing totalled £13.3 billion in 2023/24.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to review its policy on the Disabled Students' Allowance.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department keeps all support funded through the Disabled Students’ Allowance under regular review to ensure that it continues to meet the needs of disabled students. Any future changes will be communicated publicly.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to (a) encourage people into the educational psychologist profession and (b) retain educational psychologists in the profession.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Educational psychologists play a critical role in the support available to children and young people, including those with special educational needs and disabilities. That is why the department is already investing more than £21 million to train 400 more educational psychologists over two cohorts, starting their studies in 2024 and 2025. This is in addition to the £10 million currently being invested in the training of more than 200 educational psychologists who began their training in September 2023.
As these trainees complete their studies, they will join the workforce to support local authority educational psychology services, including contributing to statutory assessments. Trainees who have had their training funded by the department are required to remain in local authority employment for a minimum period. For trainees beginning their course in September 2024, this period is three years.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what percentage of students who gained the Large Programme Uplift as a result of studying 4 A-levels in 2025 or most recently available year and would be eligible for the LPU under the revised guidance for 2026 to 2027, are (a) female; or (b) eligible for Free School Meals.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Institutions delivering 16-19 education have received the Large Programme Uplift (LPU) in the 2025/26 academic year. There were 6,755 students eligible for the LPU as a result of studying 4 or more A levels, of which:
Of those 6,755 students that attracted the LPU in the 2025/26 academic year due to studying 4 or more A levels, 3,968 (58.74%) would be eligible under the revised guidance for the 2026/27 academic year, of which:
Notes about the data: