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 assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of reducing funding for International Baccalaureate qualifications on the range of (a) subjects and (b) educational choices available to state school pupils.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire to the answer of 24 October 2025 to Question 83028.
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 assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of reducing funding for International Baccalaureate qualifications on state schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire to the answer of 24 October 2025 to Question 83028.
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 her Department is taking to ensure state school pupils can access International Baccalaureate programmes.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire to the answer of 24 October 2025 to Question 83028.
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, with reference to pages 12 and 19 of the report published by the Office for Students entitled Financial sustainability of higher education providers in England: 2025, published on 8 May 2025, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the potential impact of market competitiveness on (a) regional higher education provision and (b) access to higher education for students from underrepresented backgrounds.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Market competitiveness is a longstanding feature of our independent and autonomous higher education (HE) sector.
The regional and local provision of HE, and access to HE for students from underrepresented backgrounds, are both important components of our strategy for HE.
HE providers have duties to co-operate in the development and review of Local Skills Improvement Plans and have regard to the plan when making decisions in relation to their technical education or training provision.
The department will support the aspiration of every person who meets the requirements and wants to go to university, and will act to address the persistent gaps for different student groups and to break down the barriers to opportunity.
The department will soon publish its plans for HE reform as part of the post-16 Skills White Paper.
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, when she plans to publish the criteria for universities to meet to ensure appropriate reasonable adjustments for disabled students, following the withdrawal of Assistive Technology funding; and whether these criteria will be in place before the start of the academic year in September 2025.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department has not withdrawn funding for assistive technology under the Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA). Students who require assistive software and training due to their disability will continue to receive support through DSA. Universities remain responsible for making reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010. No new criteria are planned for publication ahead of the 2025/26 academic year.
The department reviewed the provision of non-specialist spelling and grammar software and found that the required functionality to meet students’ disability-related support needs is available through free-to-access software. As a result, the department does not expect that this change will lead to additional costs for universities in supporting disabled students. Therefore, no formal assessment of the impact on university support costs was undertaken.
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 assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of cuts to funding for non-specialist software under the Disabled Students’ Allowance on costs for universities to support disabled students.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department has not withdrawn funding for assistive technology under the Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA). Students who require assistive software and training due to their disability will continue to receive support through DSA. Universities remain responsible for making reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010. No new criteria are planned for publication ahead of the 2025/26 academic year.
The department reviewed the provision of non-specialist spelling and grammar software and found that the required functionality to meet students’ disability-related support needs is available through free-to-access software. As a result, the department does not expect that this change will lead to additional costs for universities in supporting disabled students. Therefore, no formal assessment of the impact on university support costs was undertaken.
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 recent assessment her Department has made of the potential implications for its policies of the report by the Education Committee on Support for childcare and the early years, published on 26 July 2023.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The department recognises the valuable work of the Education Committee through its report on support for childcare and early years. We have considered the report’s findings and recommendations carefully and have since expanded access to childcare. We are further expanding childcare entitlements so that from September 2025, eligible working parents can access 30 hours of early education and childcare a week from the term after their child turns nine months.
The government’s Plan for Change set out the department’s commitment to give children the best start in life, breaking the link between background and opportunity. This month, we published our landmark strategy, ‘Giving every child the best start in life’, putting children’s first years at the heart of work to improve life chances. This is a fundamental step change in how government drives up quality in early education, ensuring places are available in every community, and restores crumbling family services for the next generation, as the government places £1.5 billion of cash behind the reforms.
Insights from the report, committee members and wider experts, alongside engagement with parents and the early years and families sectors, have been invaluable in informing the contents of our Best Start in Life strategy.
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 universities have had debt restructuring packages facilitated by the Office for Students involving (a) the Department for Education, (b) external consultants and (c) commercial lenders since 2018.
Answered by Janet Daby
The Office for Students (OfS) has not facilitated debt restructuring packages of any university since 2018.
Universities are independent from government and as such are responsible for managing their finances. This includes negotiations with commercial lenders.
While the OfS has statutory duties in relation to the financial sustainability of the higher education (HE) sector, the government has a clear interest in understanding the sector’s level of risk. As such, the department continues to work closely with the OfS in order to better understand the sector’s changing financial landscape.
This government is committed to supporting the sector in moving towards a more stable financial footing. That is why we have made the difficult decision to increase tuition fee limits by 3.1%, in line with inflation, from the 2025/26 academic year.
Moreover, we have appointed Professor Edward Peck as OfS Chair, where he will play a key role in strengthening the OfS’s commitment to financial sustainability while also expanding opportunities in HE.
We aim to publish our plans for HE reform soon as part of the Post-16 Skills White Paper, and work with the sector and the OfS to deliver the change that the country needs.
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 role her Department has in facilitating agreements between financially distressed universities and their commercial lenders.
Answered by Janet Daby
The Office for Students (OfS) has not facilitated debt restructuring packages of any university since 2018.
Universities are independent from government and as such are responsible for managing their finances. This includes negotiations with commercial lenders.
While the OfS has statutory duties in relation to the financial sustainability of the higher education (HE) sector, the government has a clear interest in understanding the sector’s level of risk. As such, the department continues to work closely with the OfS in order to better understand the sector’s changing financial landscape.
This government is committed to supporting the sector in moving towards a more stable financial footing. That is why we have made the difficult decision to increase tuition fee limits by 3.1%, in line with inflation, from the 2025/26 academic year.
Moreover, we have appointed Professor Edward Peck as OfS Chair, where he will play a key role in strengthening the OfS’s commitment to financial sustainability while also expanding opportunities in HE.
We aim to publish our plans for HE reform soon as part of the Post-16 Skills White Paper, and work with the sector and the OfS to deliver the change that the country needs.
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 support Skills England will provide to improve further education provision in (a) Mid Cambridgeshire and (b) other places where this is limited.
Answered by Janet Daby
Skills England will support the delivery of government policy, driving forward the Plan for Change and industrial strategy by identifying skills gaps in the economy and using this insight to improve provision so that people and businesses can access the right training.
Skills England’s first report, published September 2024, sets out the key skills challenges that limit economic growth and opportunity and an initial assessment of skills needs in the economy – and moving forward, Skills England will work in partnership with stakeholders, including employers and further education and higher education providers, to co-create the right training products to boost growth and opportunity.
Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs), overseen by Skills England, are specifically designed to drive local economic growth by better aligning provision of post-16 technical education and training with local labour market needs.
The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough LSIP is helping to identify and respond to gaps in provision and support learners to gain the skills they need to get good jobs, including in key local sectors, such as Green Construction, Green Engineering and Manufacturing, and Digital. By identifying opportunities for local innovation and growth, LSIPs are helping to ensure every part of the country can succeed in its own unique way.