Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of levels of (a) graduate debt and (b) recent media reports on levels of children from low-income households choosing to study at university.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is committed to addressing the persistent disadvantage gap in access to higher education (HE) and we are encouraged by the fact that disadvantaged young people continue to choose this pathway.
We are introducing targeted, means-tested maintenance grants of up to £1,000 per year from the 2028/29 academic year. These will be paid on top of existing loan amounts, increasing the cash in students’ pockets without increasing their debt.
Repayments are based on income, not loan amount or interest. Borrowers earning below the earnings threshold make no repayments. Any outstanding loan, including interest, is cancelled at the end of the term, with no detriment to the borrower, and debt is never passed to family members or descendants.
HE providers intending to charge higher level tuition fees must have an Office for Students approved access and participation plan articulating how they will improve equality of opportunity for underrepresented groups, including students from low-income backgrounds.
We have gone further and asked Professor Kathryn Mitchell to lead an HE Access and Participation Task and Finish Group to consider how to tackle systemic barriers across the journey into HE for disadvantaged students.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that students from low-income households are encouraged to consider university education.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is committed to addressing the persistent disadvantage gap in access to higher education (HE) and we are encouraged by the fact that disadvantaged young people continue to choose this pathway.
We are introducing targeted, means-tested maintenance grants of up to £1,000 per year from the 2028/29 academic year. These will be paid on top of existing loan amounts, increasing the cash in students’ pockets without increasing their debt.
Repayments are based on income, not loan amount or interest. Borrowers earning below the earnings threshold make no repayments. Any outstanding loan, including interest, is cancelled at the end of the term, with no detriment to the borrower, and debt is never passed to family members or descendants.
HE providers intending to charge higher level tuition fees must have an Office for Students approved access and participation plan articulating how they will improve equality of opportunity for underrepresented groups, including students from low-income backgrounds.
We have gone further and asked Professor Kathryn Mitchell to lead an HE Access and Participation Task and Finish Group to consider how to tackle systemic barriers across the journey into HE for disadvantaged students.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has considered taking additional steps to facilitate further Parliamentary scrutiny of amending the terms of student loan repayments administrated by Student Finance England.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Parliamentary scrutiny is occurring in relation to the student loan system. For example, there has recently been a Westminster Hall Debate, as well as through the various mechanisms of parliamentary questions.
It is worth remembering that these loans were designed and implemented by previous governments, and the department is having to make hard choices to balance taxpayer and borrower interests to ensure that the student finance system remains sustainable. It is important that we have a sustainable student finance system that is fair to students and the taxpayer. We will continue to keep the terms of the system under review to ensure this remains the case.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she expects to provide a response to the letter sent by the hon. Member for Ellesmere Port and Bromborough on 12th November 2025.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department attaches great importance to the handling of correspondence from parliamentarians. Correspondence often raises complex and serious concerns, as it has in this instance, and as a department we aim to provide high quality, tailored responses to the points raised. I can confirm that a response to the correspondence of 12 November 2025 from my hon. Friend, the Member for Ellesmere Port and Bromborough was sent on 17 March 2026.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many of the school-based nursery pilots originally scheduled to open in September 2025 had opened by 9 September 2025.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
High quality early years is central to our mission to break down the barriers to opportunity and give every child the best possible start in life and is essential to our Plan for Change. This government is boosting availability and access through the school-based nurseries programme, supporting school led provision and private, voluntary and independent providers and childminders operating from school sites.
Phase 1 is already delivering results. We awarded £37 million to 300 schools, creating up to 6,000 new childcare places with the majority available in the 2025/26 academic year. Schools have reported that 160 of these nurseries have opened on or before 9 September and we remain on track to have more than 4,000 additional childcare available places by the end of September.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether any ministerial redundancy payments have been repaid to her Department since 2019.
Answered by Damian Hinds
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to allow people who are aged 18 and 19 and not in (a) education and (b) training to resit maths GSCE for free.
Answered by Damian Hinds
This government recognises the importance of numeracy skills for adults, both in work and everyday life. That is why the department is continuing to support participation in mathematics provision, including retaking GCSEs, for all 16 to 19 year olds and adults who need it.
The department introduced the mathematics and English Condition of Funding in 2014 which ensures all 16 to 19 year olds continue to study English and mathematics to level 2 (GCSE grade 4+ or equivalent) as part of their study programme.
The Adult Education Budget also supports all adults (19+) in England who do not yet hold a relevant qualification or have Level 2 skills the right to study for a qualification in mathematics for free.
Under the Education Skills and Funding Agency funding rules, a learner will not be fully-funded to just resit an examination where no extra learning takes place.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of ending funding for the National Tutoring Programme on the attainment gap in 2024.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The department has invested over £1 billion in the National Tutoring Programme (NTP), which runs from the 2020/21 academic year to the 2023/24 academic year. The NTP is a time limited, four-year programme to support pupils to catch up following the Covid-19 pandemic.
The department remains committed to the objective that tutoring should be embedded across schools in England, following the end of the NTP.
Schools are best placed to decide how to spend their funding, depending on their unique circumstances and priorities, which may include spend on tutoring.
Tutoring is included in the menu of approaches in the pupil premium guidance for school leaders.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the availability of childcare for children with special educational needs in each constituency.
Answered by David Johnston
The department recognises the importance of ensuring that local authorities provide sufficient childcare services for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The department continues to work closely with local authorities to monitor sufficiency of places for children in early years, including for those children with SEND.
The local authority statutory guidance on early education and childcare sets out a clear requirement that local authorities must report annually to elected council members on how they are meeting their duty to secure sufficient childcare and make this report available and accessible to parents. The statutory guidance is clear that the report should include a specific reference to how they are ensuring sufficient childcare is available to children with SEND.
The department is introducing Local Area Inclusion Plans (LAIPs) which are 3 year plans that explain how the needs of children and young people with SEND aged 0 to 25 in an area will be met. LAIPs will be monitored and reviewed by the department and be underpinned by strengthened accountabilities and improved use of data for all those responsible for local delivery of places.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions her Department has had with early years providers on (a) additional charges for (i) meals and (ii) other consumables and (b) taking steps to assess the impact of those charges on parents.
Answered by David Johnston
The department’s statutory guidance is clear that all eligible parents should have access to a free of charge place at an early years provider. The full guidance is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/658309fd23b70a000d234d34/Early_education_and_childcare_statutory_guidance_-_April_2023.pdf. This means that a provider cannot charge parents “top-up” fees, which includes any fees covering the difference between a provider’s normal charge to parents and the funding they receive from the local authority to deliver free places. Providers must not require parents to pay a registration fee as a condition of taking up their child’s free place.
Regarding charges for consumables, government funding is intended to deliver 15 or 30 hours a week of free, high-quality, flexible childcare for eligible 2 to 4 year olds. It is not intended to cover the costs of meals, other consumables, additional hours or additional services, and providers are able to charge parents for these. However, such charges should not be made a condition of accessing a free place.
Providers should also ensure that they have a policy in place to consider the impact of charges on disadvantaged parents and those who are unable to pay additional charges.
As set out in the department’s guidance, to ensure that parents can make informed decisions on their choice of childcare, providers should publish a statement of how they deliver the free entitlements and any additional charges for optional activities outside of the entitlements. This should set out clearly the charges for meals, optional activities or additional hours.
There have been no recent discussions regarding this subject between the department and early years providers, beyond the reiteration of the guidance to local authorities who manage local relationships with providers.