Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Reform UK - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many school days were lost due to school closures during the Covid lockdowns.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department does not hold information on total school days lost due to school closures during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
However, during the COVID-19 pandemic the department did collect and publish information on attendance in education and early years settings. This information can be found in the following statistical release: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Reform UK - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 6 November 2024 to Question 11711 on Students: Loans, for what reason there was an increase in the amount of debt written off between 2022-23 and 2023-24.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The table below shows the amount that has been cancelled or written off in the 2022/23 and 2023/24 financial years, broken down by reason.
Reason | Amount cancelled or written off during the financial year (£m) | |
| 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
Because of death | 35.5 | 73.8 |
Because of age | 20.1 | 24.0 |
Because of disability | 2.9 | 2.8 |
Because of bankruptcy | - | - |
On completion of Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) | - | - |
Trivial balances | - | - |
Losses through fraud (including phishing) | 0.2 | 0.4 |
Other | - | - |
Total | 58.6 | 101.1 |
In the 2023/24 financial year, the department approved the Student Loans Company (SLC) to close or write off accounts confirmed as deceased by HMRC. Previously, when notifications were received from HMRC, SLC would be required to obtain the death certificate copy which would result in delays in closing the account formally (the account would sit at 'Deceased Notified'). The SLC are working through a backlog of cases, hence increased numbers of such write-offs in the 2023/24 financial year.
Write-offs do not include trivial balance write-offs. Trivial balance write-offs occur if there is a positive or negative balance on an account of £25 or less and no contact can be established with the borrower (customers can request for this to be reversed). In the context of these figures, these borrowers are considered fully repaid and are therefore not included. Cancellations involve the clearance of the remaining debt in line with the terms of the loan, for example, when reaching a specific age or becoming permanently disabled. Write-offs for bankruptcy, Individual Voluntary Arrangement or trust deed are no longer allowed against student loans balances. Any figures arise from retrospective clear up exercises.
These figures have been taken from SLC’s student loans in England publication which is updated in June each year. The publication, Student loans in England: 2023 to 2024 can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/student-loans-in-england-2023-to-2024.
The figures were published in ‘Table 1A’ here: https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.publishing.service.gov.uk%2Fmedia%2F6672d0e2f92bc4be25da7e13%2Fslcsp012024.xlsx&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Reform UK - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data his Department holds on the average class size at (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in (i) Great Yarmouth constituency and (ii) England in each of the last twenty years.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department holds data on average class sizes in the ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ publication, which is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics. This publication holds average class size at national level, local authority and school level. School level data from before 2010 is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/schools-pupil-and-their-characteristics-2002-to-2009-data.
Parliamentary constituencies are based on their boundaries at the time of the January school census each year. Therefore, the 2024 parliamentary boundaries do not reflect the changes made in the summer of 2024.
Where statistics were published prior to the changes in parliamentary constituency boundaries, they will be updated to reflect the new boundaries in the next publication of statistics. This is expected to be in June 2025 for the ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ publication.
Class size data is published at school level. This can be combined with information from the Get Information About Schools (GIAS) website to identify parliamentary constituency, which is available here: https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/. GIAS currently reflects the changes made following the general election parliamentary constituency changes. Updates to geographical data are made on a quarterly basis using data published by the Office for National Statistics.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Reform UK - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many apprentices there were in her Department in each of the last five years.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The table below is a breakdown of apprentices in the department for the last five financial years:
Date | Number of Apprentices |
31 March 2020 | 324 |
31 March 2021 | 468 |
31 March 2022 | 451 |
31 March 2023 | 540 |
31 March 2024 | 515 |
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Reform UK - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing parents to take their children out of school during term time for up to five days per year.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Tackling absence is at the heart of this government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity. If children are not in school, it does not matter how effective or well-supported teaching and learning is, they will not benefit. The government recognises school absence as a key barrier to learning.
Parents have a legal responsibility to ensure that their child of compulsory school age attends school regularly. Regular school attendance is vital for children’s attainment, mental wellbeing and long-term development.
Taking children out of school during term time can damage their education and cause unnecessary disruption for teachers and other pupils. There are 175 days per year when pupils are not expected to be in school which gives families various opportunities to enjoy holidays.
Thanks to the sector's efforts, more students are attending school this year compared to last. However, 1.6 million children remain persistently absent, missing 10% or more of lessons.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Reform UK - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of children in school in each constituency do not have English as their first language.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The information requested is in the attached table. Data for the proportion and number of children who do not have English as their first language can be found at school level in the school census publication: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics.
A pupil is recorded to have English as an additional language if they are exposed to a language at home that is known or believed to be other than English. This measure is not a measure of English language proficiency nor a good proxy for recent immigration.
As these figures are taken from the January 2024 school census, the Parliamentary constituencies are based on pre-election boundaries. Where statistics were published prior to the changes in Parliamentary constituency boundaries, they will be updated to reflect the new boundaries in the next publication of statistics. This is expected to be in June 2025 for the Schools, Pupils and their Characteristics publication.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Reform UK - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the value was of student loans that were written off in each of the last five years; and what this was as a proportion of all outstanding student loans.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The table below shows the amount that has been cancelled or written off during each financial year requested, the total amount outstanding at the start of the financial year including interest and loans not yet due for repayment (after adjustments) and the proportion that write offs or cancellations make out of the starting balance.
The reasons for cancelled or written off loans are the following: death of borrower, age of borrower, disability, trivial balances, losses through fraud (including phishing) and other.
Please note that write-offs do not include trivial balance write-offs. Trivial balance write-offs occur if there is a +/- balance on an account of £25 or less and no contact can be established with the borrower (customers can request for this to be reversed). In the context of these figures these borrowers are considered fully repaid and are therefore not included. Cancellations involve the clearance of the remaining debt in line with the terms of the loan, for example when reaching a specific age or becoming permanently disabled. Write-offs for bankruptcy, Individual Voluntary Arrangement or a trust deed, are no longer allowed against Student Loans balances. Any figures arise from retrospective clear up exercises.
These figures have been taken from Student Loans Company’s Student loans in England publication that is updated in June each year. The publication, ‘Student loans in England: 2023 to 2024’ can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/student-loans-in-england-2023-to-2024, and the figures were taken from ‘Table 1A’ here: https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.publishing.service.gov.uk%2Fmedia%2F6672d0e2f92bc4be25da7e13%2Fslcsp012024.xlsx&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK.
2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | |
Amount cancelled or written off during the financial year (£m) | 39.4 | 53.7 | 63.4 | 58.6 | 101.1 |
Total amount outstanding at the start of the financial year, including interest and loans not yet due for repayment (after adjustments) (£m) | 121,813.3 | 140,092.8 | 160,593.5 | 181,612.3 | 205,568.8 |
Percentage of those written off out of total amount outstanding | 0.03% | 0.04% | 0.04% | 0.03% | 0.05% |
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Reform UK - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to protect free speech for students in higher education.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is absolutely committed to freedom of speech and academic freedom. Higher education (HE) must be a space for robust discussion and intellectual rigour. This is outlined in the existing legislation, whereby universities have a legal obligation to protect lawful freedom of speech, and protections for free speech are also set out in the Office for Students’ registration conditions.
The government took the decision to pause the implementation of further parts of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act to ensure that it is workable in practice and that it protects freedom of speech for students.
The department is continuing to meet with a full range of stakeholders, including academics with concerns about constraints on freedom of speech and mission groups representing the voice of students in HE. This will feed into decision making on the future of the Act and this government’s longer-term policy on protecting freedom of speech across the HE sector.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Reform UK - Great Yarmouth)
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 interest rate system for student loans; and if she will meet the hon. Member for Great Yarmouth to discuss that system.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is determined that the higher education (HE) funding system should deliver for our economy, for universities and for students. The department is considering the system and will continue to engage with stakeholders on this.
The department believes that every young person, regardless of their background, should have the opportunity to attend university. That is why the department is dedicated to creating a sustainable HE funding system that supports students, expands opportunities, and upholds the excellence of our world-leading universities.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Reform UK - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many positions in her Department included (a) diversity, (b) inclusion, (c) equity and (d) equality in their job title in each of the last five years; and what the total cost of the salaries of each such job was in each of those years.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not routinely collate information on specific words and collating this information would come at a disproportionate cost.
Information on spending and staffing can be found in the department’s annual report and accounts.