Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department issues to local authorities on the timeframe for consulting on changes to home to school transport provision and the implementation of any proposed changes.
Answered by Olivia Bailey
The ‘Travel to school for children of compulsory school age’ statutory guidance makes clear that, where a local authority is proposing to make changes to their school travel policy which may affect children’s eligibility, they should consult locally for at least 28 working days during term time. The guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-to-school-travel.
The guidance also says they must make sure their policy is available by 19 September each year so that parents may take it into account when deciding which schools to apply for during the normal admissions round. Wherever possible, local authorities should phase in changes so that children who begin attending a school under one set of travel arrangements continue to benefit from those arrangements until they leave that school.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding for the Institute for Computational Cosmology.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Institute for Computational Cosmology (ICC) is in Durham University’s Department of Physics and is a leading centre in its field. The department has not made a specific assessment of funding for the Institute; however, it often receives funding from UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) through competitive funding processes. UKRI also supports key research infrastructure at the ICC, including COSMA 8, a supercomputer within the DiRAC High Performance Computing Facility. Over the last five full financial years, STFC has awarded around £26 million in grant funding to projects involving ICC-based staff.
The government also provides funding to providers, including Durham University, through the Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG) on an annual basis to support teaching and students in higher education. This includes funding to support teaching of expensive-to-deliver subjects, such as science and engineering, and access and participation of students from under-represented groups. The total recurrent (programme) SPG funding allocation for the 2025/26 academic year is £1.31 billion.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of universities at risk of insolvency in each of the last five years, broken down by Russell Group and non-Russell Group institutions.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Office for Students (OfS), the independent regulator of higher education in England, is responsible for monitoring the sector’s financial sustainability. Its most recent report on the sector’s financial health, published in May 2026, can be found here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/financial-sustainability-of-higher-education-providers-in-england-2026/.
While the OfS has statutory duties in relation to the financial sustainability of the sector, the government has a clear interest in understanding the level of risk across the sector. As such, we continue to work closely with the OfS to understand the sector’s changing financial landscape.
If a provider was at risk of failure, our priority would be to work with the OfS, the provider and other government departments to ensure the best interests of students and taxpayers are protected.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
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 international student levy on university incomes.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The International Student Levy will require higher education (HE) providers to pay a flat fee of £925 per international student per year. An impact analysis of the levy published in November 2025 estimated the income losses to the HE sector from the levy in isolation to be £270 million in its first year. The full impact analysis is available here: https://consult.education.gov.uk/international-student-levy-unit/international-student-levy/supporting_documents/international-student-levy-impact-analysispdf.
HE providers are independent from government and as such are responsible for managing their own finances. The department has announced increases to tuition fee limits in line with forecast inflation for the 2025/26, 2026/27, and 2027/28 academic years. We will also legislate, when parliamentary time allows, to increase tuition fee caps automatically for future academic years.
Over the next five years, tuition fee limit uplifts could generate an additional £6 billion for HE providers, significantly outweighing the currently projected less than £1 billion cost of the levy. This approach ensures the sector benefits from compounding annual increases, delivering growing resources to support quality education and innovation.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of trends in the levels of the risk of insolvency among universities in England.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
We are aware that some higher education (HE) providers are making difficult decisions about course consolidation and closures. As autonomous institutions, HE providers are responsible for managing their own finances. It is therefore right that they focus on ensuring their courses are financially sustainable.
The Office for Students (OfS) is responsible for monitoring and reporting on the HE sector’s financial sustainability. The department works closely with the OfS to understand the sector’s changing financial landscape and level of risk.
The government recognises that the sector's financial environment is challenging. This is why tuition fee caps were uplifted in line with forecast inflation for 2025/26, with further uplifts planned for 2026/27 and 2027/28. We will then legislate to increase tuition fee caps automatically for future academic years. The department has also appointed Professor Edward Peck as OfS Chair, where he will play a key role in strengthening its commitment to financial sustainability.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the number of course closures announced in higher education over the past year.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
We are aware that some higher education (HE) providers are making difficult decisions about course consolidation and closures. As autonomous institutions, HE providers are responsible for managing their own finances. It is therefore right that they focus on ensuring their courses are financially sustainable.
The Office for Students (OfS) is responsible for monitoring and reporting on the HE sector’s financial sustainability. The department works closely with the OfS to understand the sector’s changing financial landscape and level of risk.
The government recognises that the sector's financial environment is challenging. This is why tuition fee caps were uplifted in line with forecast inflation for 2025/26, with further uplifts planned for 2026/27 and 2027/28. We will then legislate to increase tuition fee caps automatically for future academic years. The department has also appointed Professor Edward Peck as OfS Chair, where he will play a key role in strengthening its commitment to financial sustainability.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the Disabled Children’s Partnership and the Speech, Language and Communication Alliance's 2025 report entitled How to spend less and get better outcomes for children with speech, language challenges.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department recognises that early identification and intervention is critical to improving outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. We are strengthening the evidence base of what works to improve early identification in mainstream settings. Recently published evidence reviews from University College London highlight the most effective tools and strategies to identify and support different types of needs. We recently announced new government-backed research which will aim to develop and test effective approaches to help early identification.
The department is also working with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England to improve access to community health services, including speech and language therapy.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she plans to take to improve a) universal, b) targeted and c) specialist speech, language and communication support.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Speech and Language Therapists (SaLTs) play a critical role in early intervention for children and young people. By breaking down communication barriers, they unlock learning, inclusion, and opportunity for every child.
The department is working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England to improve access to community health services, including speech and language therapy, for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. This includes extending the Early Language and Support for Every Child programme, trialling new ways of working to better identify and support children with speech, language and communication needs in early years settings and primary schools.
We are also continuing to grow the pipeline. In addition to the undergraduate degree route, speech and language therapists can also train via a degree apprenticeship. This route is now in its fourth year of delivery and offers an alternative pathway to the traditional degree route into a successful career as a speech and language therapist.
Further plans to bolster this critical workforce will be set out in the forthcoming Schools White Paper.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of making (a) critical thinking and (b) problem solving key competencies in the education system.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
It is important that young people are equipped with the key knowledge and skills to adapt to a rapidly changing world.
The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, which is evaluating the existing national curriculum and statutory assessment system in England, to ensure they are fit for purpose. It is considering whether there is sufficient coverage of knowledge and skills that are essential to sufficiently prepare children and young people for future life and to thrive.
The Review’s interim report, published in March 2025, notes the rise of artificial intelligence and trends in digital information, and states the curriculum must keep pace with these changes, including a renewed focus on digital and media literacy and critical thinking skills.
The Review’s final report and recommendations will be published in autumn, at which point the government will respond.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that PSHE education is consistently embedded as part of the curriculum in all year groups in secondary education.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
All schools should teach personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education, drawing on good practice, and this expectation is outlined in the national curriculum framework document.
The department published revised relationships, sex and health education statutory guidance on 15 July, which sets out a comprehensive and age-appropriate curriculum for all pupils in England. The revised guidance will become statutory on 1 September 2026, replacing the existing guidance which has been in force since 2020. The guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education. We know that many schools choose to teach some of the content from the curriculum in their PSHE or similarly described programme for their pupils.
The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, which wants to ensure a rich, broad, inclusive and innovative curriculum that readies young people for life and work. Their final report and recommendations will be published in the autumn, followed by the government’s response.