Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the fee status is of Ukrainian refugees when applying for university; which fee level they fall under; and what financial support they are provided with.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Those who have been granted leave under one of the Ukraine schemes generally qualify for home fee status and higher education student support in England, without being required to meet the normal 3 year ordinary residence test.
Higher education providers set their own fees in line with the relevant legislation.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a GCSE in Ukrainian.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Woking to the answer of 2 April 2025 to Question HL5393.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a British Sign Language GCSE.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department is in the process of developing a British Sign Language (BSL) GCSE. This landmark GCSE is an important step towards greater recognition of BSL as a language and will foster better communication between Deaf and hearing communities.
The department published subject content for the BSL GCSE in December 2023. Ofqual, the independent qualifications regulator, is developing assessment arrangements and will launch a technical consultation on this in due course.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether Ukrainian students will be eligible for home fee status from the 2025-26 academic year.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In the 2022/23 academic year, the Student Support Regulations were amended so that persons granted leave under one of the Ukraine schemes (Homes for Ukraine, Ukraine family scheme and Ukraine extension scheme) would qualify for student support and home fee status in England without requiring them to meet the three-year ordinary residence requirement.
Following the recent launch of the Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme (UPES), the regulations have been further updated from the 2024/25 academic year, so that those who have been granted leave under UPES will also qualify for student finance and home fee status in line with those granted leave under one of the other Ukraine schemes.
This ensures that Ukrainians who have been affected by the war in Ukraine can access support on the same basis as those within other protection-based categories, such as refugees.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to ensure drug education is delivered effectively in private schools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Independent schools have a statutory duty to teach personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education, under the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014.
Independent schools have discretion over how they teach health education, but they are encouraged to read the statutory curriculum for health education, which is part of the statutory guidance on relationships, sex and health education (RSHE). The guidance sets out that pupils should be taught the facts about legal and illegal harmful substances and the associated risks to physical and mental wellbeing, including smoking, alcohol use and drug-taking.
Independent schools are subject to the relationships and sex education aspects of the RSHE statutory guidance, which is clear that pupils in secondary schools should understand how the use of alcohol and drugs can lead to risky sexual behaviour. The guidance also sets out that pupils should understand the law on criminal exploitation, including through involvement with gangs or ‘county lines’ drugs operations.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
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 planned increases to (a) National Insurance Contributions and (b) the National Minimum Wage on the viability of early years providers; and what steps she plans to take to ensure nurseries are supported to prevent closures.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Since July, this government has had to take some tough decisions to get our public finances back on track, but we are continuing to invest in the early years sector, supporting the delivery of the entitlements and recognising the vital role the sector plays in giving children the best start in life.
The department expects to provide over £8 billion for early years entitlements in the 2025/26 financial year, which is a more than 30% increase compared to 2024/25, as the department continues to rollout the expansion of the entitlements to eligible working parents of children aged from nine months.
On 10 December, the department published details of local authorities’ early years entitlements funding for 2025 to 2026. The funding rates for 2025/26 include funding to reflect the national living wage announced at the Autumn Budget 2024.
HM Treasury are also increasing the Employment Allowance to £10,500 and expanding this to all eligible employers, meaning some smaller providers may pay no National Insurance at all in the 2025/26 financial year. The government has confirmed that public sector employers, including those in the early years sector, will be compensated for the increase in their National Insurance contributions.
On top of over £8 billion through the core funding rates, the department is also providing an additional £75 million in an expansion grant for 2025/26 to support the sector in this pivotal year to grow the places and the workforce needed to deliver the final phase of expanded childcare entitlements from September 2025. This is in addition to the largest ever uplift in the early years pupil premium, increasing rates by over 45% to up to £570 per eligible child per year. This unprecedented increase is an investment in quality early education for those children who need it most, in the areas that need it most to tackle childcare deserts and give children the support they need to be ‘school ready’ at age 5 and go on to achieve and thrive.
The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing. Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, the department discusses what action the local authority is taking to address those issues and, where needed, supports the local authority with any specific requirements through our childcare sufficiency support contract.