Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the personal data of members of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme is (a) stored, (b) processed and (c) protected in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Details of how personal data is processed and stored are outlined in the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) privacy notice which is available here: https://www.teacherspensions.co.uk/-/media/documents/member/factsheets/gdpr/dfe-privacy-notice-gdpr-v12-march-2023-for-web.ashx?rev=a6788c6aa67e4ac7b3d3f4df74462add&hash=ACAAEF10BB57B5814744376B519FABA1.
The TPS complies fully with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2018 and the Data Protection Act 2018.
For members requiring additional communication support, the contact us page provides alternative communication options. The scheme also meets the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 and is committed to ensuring accessibility for all members and employers. The accessibility statement on the TPS website explains how the site is designed to be inclusive and is available here: https://www.teacherspensions.co.uk/public/accessibility.aspx.
To maintain service standards, the department monitors the administrator against agreed performance metrics, set out in the TPS administration contract, through established governance arrangements. If contract administration fails to meet established standards and performance metrics, the department can impose financial penalties on the administrator.
Where members believe service standards have not been met, they can use a dispute resolution process to raise this. If dissatisfied with the outcome, they may escalate their complaint to the Pensions Ombudsman for independent review.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what performance monitoring and enforcement mechanisms are in place to ensure that the administrative provider of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme delivers services to the agreed standard, and what recourse is available to members should those standards not be met.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Details of how personal data is processed and stored are outlined in the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) privacy notice which is available here: https://www.teacherspensions.co.uk/-/media/documents/member/factsheets/gdpr/dfe-privacy-notice-gdpr-v12-march-2023-for-web.ashx?rev=a6788c6aa67e4ac7b3d3f4df74462add&hash=ACAAEF10BB57B5814744376B519FABA1.
The TPS complies fully with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2018 and the Data Protection Act 2018.
For members requiring additional communication support, the contact us page provides alternative communication options. The scheme also meets the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 and is committed to ensuring accessibility for all members and employers. The accessibility statement on the TPS website explains how the site is designed to be inclusive and is available here: https://www.teacherspensions.co.uk/public/accessibility.aspx.
To maintain service standards, the department monitors the administrator against agreed performance metrics, set out in the TPS administration contract, through established governance arrangements. If contract administration fails to meet established standards and performance metrics, the department can impose financial penalties on the administrator.
Where members believe service standards have not been met, they can use a dispute resolution process to raise this. If dissatisfied with the outcome, they may escalate their complaint to the Pensions Ombudsman for independent review.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the service standards and accessibility requirements for the administrator of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme will include provisions to support members with hearing impairments or communication needs when accessing helpline or case-management support.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Details of how personal data is processed and stored are outlined in the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) privacy notice which is available here: https://www.teacherspensions.co.uk/-/media/documents/member/factsheets/gdpr/dfe-privacy-notice-gdpr-v12-march-2023-for-web.ashx?rev=a6788c6aa67e4ac7b3d3f4df74462add&hash=ACAAEF10BB57B5814744376B519FABA1.
The TPS complies fully with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2018 and the Data Protection Act 2018.
For members requiring additional communication support, the contact us page provides alternative communication options. The scheme also meets the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 and is committed to ensuring accessibility for all members and employers. The accessibility statement on the TPS website explains how the site is designed to be inclusive and is available here: https://www.teacherspensions.co.uk/public/accessibility.aspx.
To maintain service standards, the department monitors the administrator against agreed performance metrics, set out in the TPS administration contract, through established governance arrangements. If contract administration fails to meet established standards and performance metrics, the department can impose financial penalties on the administrator.
Where members believe service standards have not been met, they can use a dispute resolution process to raise this. If dissatisfied with the outcome, they may escalate their complaint to the Pensions Ombudsman for independent review.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of existing funding levels for the Music and Dance Scheme; and whether she plans to (a) uplift bursary rates in line with inflation and (b) provide multi-year funding settlements to give greater certainty to participating schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Bedford, to the answer of 23 October 2025 to Question 78882.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support the arts and humanities in the higher education sector.
Answered by Janet Daby
The government is committed to supporting creative subjects, such as the arts and humanities, in higher education (HE).
For the 2024/25 academic year, the department has allocated around £12.9 million in high-cost subject funding from the Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG) towards creative and performing arts courses to cover course costs. This increases the per student funding rate to £130.54, which is an increase of 3.8%.
The department has also maintained SPG funding for world-leading small and specialist providers at £58 million for the 2024/25 academic year. Of the 20 providers recognised in this way, 12 are creative and performing arts providers.
The department knows that the HE sector needs a secure financial footing to face the challenges of the next decade, and to ensure that all students can be confident they will receive the world-class HE experience they deserve. That is why, after seven years of frozen fee caps under the previous government, we have taken the difficult decision to increase maximum tuition fee limits for the 2025/26 academic year by 3.1%, in line with the forecast rate of inflation.
The department will continue to work with the Office for Students to ensure that costs of provision are assessed.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of (a) revising the school calendar and (b) reducing the length of the school summer holidays.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The department does not currently have any plans to propose changes to the school calendar or to the setting of school holidays.
School holidays are not determined at national level, they are decided locally by trusts, schools and local authorities depending on school type. The department believes that they are best placed to set school term and holiday dates in the interests of the pupils at their schools and their parents.
If schools, trusts or local authorities decide to change their term dates, it is expected that they will act lawfully and reasonably, giving parents notice and considering the impact on those affected. This includes pupils, teachers, the local community, parents’ work commitments and childcare options for both parents and teachers.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of supporting further education institutions to offer (a) apprenticeship and (b) course placements to students on a Homes for Ukraine visa that may expire before the course conclusion.
Answered by Janet Daby
In determining student eligibility for 16 to 19 funding, including for Ukrainians aged 16 to 19 living in the UK under the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme (Homes for Ukraine), institutions must satisfy themselves that there is a reasonable likelihood that the student will be able to complete their study programme before seeking funding for the student. However, when a student applies for a study programme where their current legal permission to remain in the UK expires six months or more after they start, then institutions may allow them to enrol. The department considers it sufficient for institutions to rely on confirmation from the student, and/or family, that they intend to apply for the necessary extension to their permission to remain for the duration of their study programme.
The situation is similar for adult learners. Providers should only fund a learner if their visa has enough time for the learner to complete their course. However, where the learner’s visa will expire before the end of the course, the provider can use their discretion to fund the learner where they have a high degree of certainty that the learner intends to renew their visa. The department would expect that individuals who are not yet eligible to apply for the Ukraine Permission Extension scheme, but intend to apply for it, would be eligible for funding under this rule.
The department’s apprenticeship funding rules state that an individual must be able to complete the apprenticeship within the time they have available. Where the learner’s residency permit does not extend to the entire length of the apprenticeship, they are not eligible for funding. The department must be mindful when spending taxpayers’ funds on training and it wants learners to be able to complete their apprenticeships within the time they have available. The department will keep this under review as it does with all of its rules.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to review licensing arrangements for children's homes in densely populated residential areas.
Answered by Janet Daby
It is essential that there are enough children’s homes for those vulnerable children who need residential care, and that these homes are in the areas children live so they can stay as part of their wider communities.
All homes must register with Ofsted and in order to register as a children’s home, providers are required to undertake a location assessment which must show the steps that have been taken to ensure the location is safe and promotes positive opportunities for children. Ofsted will take a view on whether these requirements have been met.
The department is developing options in regard to planning of children’s homes, including considering the location of new homes and registration requirements.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason non-specialist teachers who teach core subjects eligible for levelling up premium payments are excluded from the scheme; and what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of this exclusion on the morale of those teachers.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The Levelling Up Premium (LUP) is designed to incentivise the recruitment and retention of specialist teachers in chemistry, computing, mathematics, and physics. It is too early to evaluate its overall impact, but it is informed by previous pilots. An evaluation of Early Career Payments found they reduced the likelihood of teachers leaving by 37% for the £5,000 payments, and 58% for the £7,500 payments.
The eligibility criteria for the LUP defines a subject specialist as a teacher who either holds a degree in the eligible subject or has completed an initial teacher training (ITT) course specialising in the eligible subject. Most hours of teaching in the eligible subjects are taught by a teacher with a relevant post A level qualification.
The quality of teaching is the single most important in-school factor for improving pupil outcomes. Although the department recognises that some teachers are not subject specialists, it is vital that we retain subject specialists in the LUP-eligible subjects in the early years of their career.
Last year the department accepted in full the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) recommendations for the 2023/24 pay award for teachers and leaders. This means that teachers and leaders in maintained schools received a pay award of 6.5%, which is the highest pay award for teachers in over thirty years. The 2023/24 award also delivered the manifesto commitment of a minimum £30,000 starting salary for school teachers in all regions of the country.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment has been made of the potential impact of the withdrawal of the WJEC Level 3 qualification in Criminology on the (a) diversity and (b) inclusivity of post-16 education (i) for students from (A) disadvantaged backgrounds and (B) underrepresented groups and (ii) generally.
Answered by Luke Hall
Qualifications reform aims to streamline the qualifications landscape, simplify choices for students and only fund qualifications that are necessary, high-quality and lead to good progression outcomes.
Between October 2020 and January 2021, the government consulted on proposals to reform post-16 technical and academic qualifications at Level 3. A subsequent policy statement, published in July 2021, considered all the evidence submitted by consultation respondents. This can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reforms-to-post-16-qualifications-at-level-3-in-england.
Qualification reform places A levels and T Levels at the heart of study programmes, which evidence shows provide the best foundation to progress, either into higher education (HE) or skilled employment. The department recognises there is a need for alternative academic qualifications (AAQs) in a small range of subjects aimed at progression to HE, to support the A level offer. The department will fund small AAQs where they are necessary because there is no A level in the sector subject area or where it is strategically important to do so.
Qualifications reforms are being undertaken in cycles. Criminology qualifications will be considered in cycle 2. An announcement, on which qualifications will be approved and which will see funding removed, will be made in 2025 and implemented from 1 August 2026. Criminology is contained in the sector subject area of sociology and social policy which also contains a sociology A level that will serve students wishing to progress to HE. For those wishing to progress into other careers, such as police or prison officer, they could undertake small AAQs in subjects such as uniformed protective services alongside A levels such as physical education and sociology. Our reforms also allow for technical occupational entry qualifications to be developed. Consequently, criminology has not been listed as an area where the department would accept a small AAQ.
An impact assessment was undertaken to consider the post-16 reforms at Level 3 as a whole, which can be read here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1091841/Revised_Review_of_post-16_qualifications_at_level_3_in_England_impact_assessment.pdf.
For students from disadvantaged backgrounds and underrepresented groups, the department expects the impact to be generally positive, as those learners will see the biggest improvement in the quality of qualifications, and their outcomes thereafter. Students are expected to benefit from a more rigorous qualification system, with qualifications that better equip students with the necessary skills for progression into employment or further study. This in turn should help improve their economic returns and employability. However, the department recognises that for a small minority of students, Level 3 may not be achievable in future. That is why the department is raising the quality of qualifications at Level 2 and below so that there is plenty to offer students from all backgrounds who cannot access Level 3 straightaway, or for students who wish to exit into valuable occupations at Level 2.
There will also be provision available for students who require additional help and support to reach Level 3. This includes the academic progression programme pilot and the T Level foundation year, where the department has seen 49% of students progress to Level 3 or higher from the first cohort.