Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of issuing emergency visas to students in Gaza who have confirmed UK university places; and whether her Department has had recent discussions with UK universities on facilitating safe passage for affected students.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government provided exceptional support to enable the departure of Chevening Scholars and fully funded scholarship students from Gaza, for students whose courses began before 31 December 2025. This support was for students who met the relevant requirements of the Immigration Rules.
The Government is reviewing the impact of the policy implemented to-date, and any decision on further support will depend on the evolving international situation. We will continue to keep the policy under review.
This has been a cross-Government initiative and the Home Office, Department for Education and the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office have engaged with Higher Education Institutions throughout this process.
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: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield Hallam)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to provide support for young people with EHCPs who stay in academic education after the age of 18.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Our forthcoming special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reforms will improve both access to and the quality of the support provided to enable children and young people with SEND to achieve and thrive at all stages of statutory education. It is already the case that those young people with education, health and care plans (EHCPs) who need more time to complete their learning can retain their EHCP and, where necessary, remain in statutory education until age 25. The EHCP will continue to be reviewed regularly and will set out the support and provision the young person needs to achieve and thrive.
Disabled learners who go on to study in higher education will receive individual reasonable adjustments made by their university or other higher education provider under the Equality Act 2010 and can access Disabled Students’ Allowance for more specialist support.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help improve triaging by Accident and Emergency departments at Basildon Hospital.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises that urgent and emergency care performance has fallen short in recent years. We are committed to restoring accident and emergency waiting times to the National Health Service constitutional standard.
Our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26 sets out clear actions to deliver improvements and make services better. The plan commits to reducing the number of patients waiting over 12 hours for admission or discharge to less than 10% of the time. This is supported by almost £450 million of capital investment for Same Day Emergency Care, Mental Health Crisis Assessment Centres, and new ambulances, avoiding unnecessary admissions to hospital and supporting the faster diagnosis, treatment, and discharge for patients.
The NHS Medium-Term Planning Framework sets out a further trajectory to improve urgent and emergency care performance year-on-year toward the constitutional standard, reducing long waits and improving patient experience. The plan focuses on practical steps such as expanding urgent treatment centres, improving patient flow, and reducing 12-hour waits, to make emergency departments safer and more efficient.
NHS England provides regional oversight to support local delivery of services and improvement. The Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust’s One Team Improvement Plan has a focus on improving urgent and emergency care outcomes. The programme group looking at quality and patient safety has been focusing on reviewing processes and the fundamentals of care in wards and in the trust’s emergency departments. The trust has also introduced additional consultant cover during the weekends to increase the number of people discharged at the weekend. This helps to keep the emergency department safe as it allows for the movement of people who need to be admitted into the right beds.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help reduce the number of patients waiting over 12 hours to be admitted to, or discharged from, Basildon Hospital’s Accident and Emergency Department.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises that urgent and emergency care performance has fallen short in recent years. We are committed to restoring accident and emergency waiting times to the National Health Service constitutional standard.
Our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26 sets out clear actions to deliver improvements and make services better. The plan commits to reducing the number of patients waiting over 12 hours for admission or discharge to less than 10% of the time. This is supported by almost £450 million of capital investment for Same Day Emergency Care, Mental Health Crisis Assessment Centres, and new ambulances, avoiding unnecessary admissions to hospital and supporting the faster diagnosis, treatment, and discharge for patients.
The NHS Medium-Term Planning Framework sets out a further trajectory to improve urgent and emergency care performance year-on-year toward the constitutional standard, reducing long waits and improving patient experience. The plan focuses on practical steps such as expanding urgent treatment centres, improving patient flow, and reducing 12-hour waits, to make emergency departments safer and more efficient.
NHS England provides regional oversight to support local delivery of services and improvement. The Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust’s One Team Improvement Plan has a focus on improving urgent and emergency care outcomes. The programme group looking at quality and patient safety has been focusing on reviewing processes and the fundamentals of care in wards and in the trust’s emergency departments. The trust has also introduced additional consultant cover during the weekends to increase the number of people discharged at the weekend. This helps to keep the emergency department safe as it allows for the movement of people who need to be admitted into the right beds.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure an adequate number of university places for students studying doctorates in Clinical Psychology.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Universities are autonomous bodies, independent from government, and are responsible for their own admissions decisions, including provision for doctoral places.
NHS England commissions taught doctorate programmes for Clinical Psychologists. NHS funded trainees receive placement funding at the national tariff rate and are funded at 100 per cent of salary cost at AFC band 6. NHS funded trainees also receive tuition support from NHS England, as well as contribution to travel and accommodation costs necessary to support trainees.
The Higher Education Statistics Agency does not collect information on places available on courses but publishes data on student entrants across UK higher education (HE) providers. This includes data on students entering courses in different subjects, categorised using the HE Classification of Subjects system. In the 2024/25 academic year, there were 913 entrants to doctorates in clinical psychology in UK HE providers.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many university places there are for doctorates in Clinical Psychology.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Universities are autonomous bodies, independent from government, and are responsible for their own admissions decisions, including provision for doctoral places.
NHS England commissions taught doctorate programmes for Clinical Psychologists. NHS funded trainees receive placement funding at the national tariff rate and are funded at 100 per cent of salary cost at AFC band 6. NHS funded trainees also receive tuition support from NHS England, as well as contribution to travel and accommodation costs necessary to support trainees.
The Higher Education Statistics Agency does not collect information on places available on courses but publishes data on student entrants across UK higher education (HE) providers. This includes data on students entering courses in different subjects, categorised using the HE Classification of Subjects system. In the 2024/25 academic year, there were 913 entrants to doctorates in clinical psychology in UK HE providers.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled UK leads global efforts to help communities save the ocean and beat poverty, published on 26 January 2026, whether funding awarded for LED lighting on fishing nets will provide research applicable to fishing in UK waters.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The funding awarded for the ‘Illuminar el Mar’ project in Ecuador through the UK’s OCEAN Grants Programme will support research applicable to fishing in UK waters. In partnership with University College London, the project will use low-cost LED bycatch-reduction technology that operates through visual deterrence. The research is designed to support global replication and will be made open access.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the answer of 29 January 2026 to Question 101938, how many meetings her Department has held with commercial lenders where the financial position of a specific named university was discussed since 2020.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As set out in our response on 29 January 2026, the department meets with a variety of stakeholders, including commercial lenders, to hear their views on the higher education sector. Where individual providers experience financial difficulties, the department engages with them to understand the pressures they face. This has included meeting commercial lenders to hear their position.
The department keeps records of its engagements with external stakeholders, including meetings with commercial lenders. However, any discussions relating to the financial position of providers would be commercially sensitive and therefore inappropriate to discuss publicly.
As My noble Friend, the Minister for Skills told the Education Select Committee in November 2025, the government does not intervene in the interests of providers. However, if a provider was at risk of unplanned closure, the department would work with the OfS, the provider and other government departments to ensure students' and taxpayers’ best interests were protected. This might involve supporting the transfer of students, exploring potential partnerships, or addressing relevant operational issues, such as how student loan payments are administered.
Higher education providers are independent from government and as such must continue to make the necessary and appropriate financial decisions to ensure their long-term sustainability.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has indicated to commercial lenders that the Government would take steps to prevent the failure of a financially distressed university since 2020.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As set out in our response on 29 January 2026, the department meets with a variety of stakeholders, including commercial lenders, to hear their views on the higher education sector. Where individual providers experience financial difficulties, the department engages with them to understand the pressures they face. This has included meeting commercial lenders to hear their position.
The department keeps records of its engagements with external stakeholders, including meetings with commercial lenders. However, any discussions relating to the financial position of providers would be commercially sensitive and therefore inappropriate to discuss publicly.
As My noble Friend, the Minister for Skills told the Education Select Committee in November 2025, the government does not intervene in the interests of providers. However, if a provider was at risk of unplanned closure, the department would work with the OfS, the provider and other government departments to ensure students' and taxpayers’ best interests were protected. This might involve supporting the transfer of students, exploring potential partnerships, or addressing relevant operational issues, such as how student loan payments are administered.
Higher education providers are independent from government and as such must continue to make the necessary and appropriate financial decisions to ensure their long-term sustainability.