Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the potential impact of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder on SEND provision.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government is prioritising early, local support for families by strengthening family services and access to high quality early education for children with additional needs. Officials from the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Education are working together through the 10 Year Health Plan, Best Start Family Hubs, Healthy Babies and neighbourhood health. New clinical guidelines on alcohol treatment released in November includes guidance on supporting mothers to reduce alcohol use to improve maternal outcomes.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of Home Office decisions on the finances of universities.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The new International Education Strategy reflects the positive impact of international students. It confirms our continued commitment to welcoming students who meet the requirements to study in the UK.
The system must, however, ensure that international students make a positive contribution to the communities in which they study. The ‘Restoring control over the immigration system’ White Paper contains measures that will achieve a reduction in net migration, whilst maintaining the UK’s globally competitive position and boosting our skills base.
The department expects the UK to remain an attractive study destination. The most recent data shows that applications from Sponsored Study visa main applicants in the year ending January 2026 were 2 per cent higher than the previous year. The data is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/monthly-entry-clearance-visa-applications-january-2026/monthly-entry-clearance-visa-applications-january-2026.
Whilst we recognise international students’ value, reliance on international fee income is a risk to some providers' income. HE providers must ensure their business models provide long-term sustainability.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of her Department's immigration criteria on the number of international students attending universities in (a) the UK and (b) York.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The new International Education Strategy reflects the positive impact of international students. It confirms our continued commitment to welcoming students who meet the requirements to study in the UK.
The system must, however, ensure that international students make a positive contribution to the communities in which they study. The ‘Restoring control over the immigration system’ White Paper contains measures that will achieve a reduction in net migration, whilst maintaining the UK’s globally competitive position and boosting our skills base.
The department expects the UK to remain an attractive study destination. The most recent data shows that applications from Sponsored Study visa main applicants in the year ending January 2026 were 2 per cent higher than the previous year. The data is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/monthly-entry-clearance-visa-applications-january-2026/monthly-entry-clearance-visa-applications-january-2026.
Whilst we recognise international students’ value, reliance on international fee income is a risk to some providers' income. HE providers must ensure their business models provide long-term sustainability.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on the impact of her policies on the supply of international students for Higher Education.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The new International Education Strategy reflects the positive impact of international students. It confirms our continued commitment to welcoming students who meet the requirements to study in the UK.
The system must, however, ensure that international students make a positive contribution to the communities in which they study. The ‘Restoring control over the immigration system’ White Paper contains measures that will achieve a reduction in net migration, whilst maintaining the UK’s globally competitive position and boosting our skills base.
The department expects the UK to remain an attractive study destination. The most recent data shows that applications from Sponsored Study visa main applicants in the year ending January 2026 were 2 per cent higher than the previous year. The data is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/monthly-entry-clearance-visa-applications-january-2026/monthly-entry-clearance-visa-applications-january-2026.
Whilst we recognise international students’ value, reliance on international fee income is a risk to some providers' income. HE providers must ensure their business models provide long-term sustainability.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of total university fee income has been derived from international students in each of the past five years.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The new International Education Strategy reflects the positive impact of international students. It confirms our continued commitment to welcoming students who meet the requirements to study in the UK.
The system must, however, ensure that international students make a positive contribution to the communities in which they study. The ‘Restoring control over the immigration system’ White Paper contains measures that will achieve a reduction in net migration, whilst maintaining the UK’s globally competitive position and boosting our skills base.
The department expects the UK to remain an attractive study destination. The most recent data shows that applications from Sponsored Study visa main applicants in the year ending January 2026 were 2 per cent higher than the previous year. The data is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/monthly-entry-clearance-visa-applications-january-2026/monthly-entry-clearance-visa-applications-january-2026.
Whilst we recognise international students’ value, reliance on international fee income is a risk to some providers' income. HE providers must ensure their business models provide long-term sustainability.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the financial return to the UK economy of public investment in higher education.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Graduates make a significant economic and financial contribution to the UK economy. A report commissioned by Universities UK and published in 2024 suggests that the UK higher education sector contributes around £265 billion to the UK economy and that every £1 of public funding invested in the sector’s teaching activities generated a total of some £13 in wider economic impact across the UK.
The Universities UK commissioned report can be found here: https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/sites/default/files/field/downloads/2024-09/LE-UUK-Impact-of-university-TL-and-RI-Final-Report.pdf.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with Vice Chancellors on the impact of Government policy on university finances.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Higher education (HE) providers are independent from government and as such are responsible for managing their finances and ensuring their business models provide long-term sustainability.
However, this government is committed to helping put the HE sector on a secure financial footing so that it can face the challenges of the next decade. Our decision to raise tuition fees annually in line with inflation, alongside refocusing the Office for Students (OfS) on monitoring the sector’s financial health, demonstrates this commitment.
Although the OfS is responsible for monitoring the sector’s financial sustainability, the government has a strong interest in understanding the sector’s level of risk. My department continues to engage closely with the OfS, other government departments and sector representative groups, as well as individual providers, to better understand the changing financial landscape.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what was the number of redundancies announced in higher education over the past year.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for York Central to the answer of 11 March 2026 to Question 117322.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has undertaken a review of the tuition fee-based funding model for higher education.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government set out its plans for tuition fees as part of the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper, published on 20 October 2025.
To provide long-term certainty over future funding for the sector so that it can focus on reform, we will increase tuition fee caps for all higher education (HE) providers in line with forecast inflation in 2026/27 and 2027/28 and then legislate when parliamentary time allows to increase tuition fee caps automatically for future academic years.
Maximum fee limits for undergraduate courses in the 2026/27 and 2027/28 academic years will increase by forecast inflation of 2.71% (to £9,790) and 2.68% (to £10,050) respectively, based on the retail price index (exclusive of mortgage interest payments).
In future years, we will link inflationary fee uplifts to judgements on HE providers’ quality and restrict fee income where high quality cannot be demonstrated.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will review the financial situation of Higher Education institutions.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Higher education (HE) providers are independent from government and as such are responsible for managing their finances and ensuring their business models provide long-term sustainability.
However, this government is committed to helping put the HE sector on a secure financial footing so that it can face the challenges of the next decade. Our decision to raise tuition fees annually in line with inflation, alongside refocusing the Office for Students (OfS) on monitoring the sector’s financial health, demonstrates this commitment.
Although the OfS is responsible for monitoring the sector’s financial sustainability, the government has a strong interest in understanding the sector’s level of risk. My department continues to engage closely with the OfS, other government departments and sector representative groups, as well as individual providers, to better understand the changing financial landscape.