Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, to provide a breakdown in the total value of student loan repayments received by (i) non-UK nationals and (ii) UK nationals in each of the last five financial years.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The following table gives the Student Loan Company (SLC) payments in millions for the 2020/21 to 2024/25 financial years and covers Fee Loans and Maintenance Loans (full time and part time) for undergraduates only domiciled in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and the EU (Scotland's applications are not administered by SLC). These figures are split by the UK National indicator on the application form. Student support eligibility is determined by residency and not nationality and the UK National indicator field on the application form can be left blank by the applicant.
| Payments (£ million) | |||
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|
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Financial Year | UK National indicator | Non-UK National | Unknown | Grand Total |
2020/21 | 16,358.5 | 2,395.3 | 341.8 | 19,095.7 |
2021/22 | 16,832.2 | 2,798.7 | 442.7 | 20,073.6 |
2022/23 | 16,690.2 | 3,069.9 | 551.7 | 20,311.8 |
2023/24 | 16,534.0 | 3,360.9 | 643.2 | 20,538.1 |
2024/25 | 16,605.7 | 3,770.5 | 706.2 | 21,082.4 |
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what response she has to the recommendation of the October 2025 final report of the Poverty Strategy Commission for Government to consult with parents and childcare providers on increasing payment rates to providers to ensure that they do not have to introduce optional charges for meals or other aspects of care to top up state funding of free hours.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
In financial year 2025/26 alone, the government has provided over £8 billion for the early years entitlements, increasing to over £9 billion in 2026/27. We have announced the largest ever increase to early years pupil premium since its introduction and have delivered a significant tranche of supplementary funding of £75 million through the early years expansion grant.
Government funding for the entitlements does not cover consumables like meals so providers are able to ask parents to pay for these things. However, the statutory guidance is clear that these charges must not be mandatory or a condition of accessing an entitlements place.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will ban the use of smart phones in schools.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
Phones have no place in our schools, and leaders already have the power to ban phones. The department’s guidance on mobile phones in schools, published in February 2024, is clear that schools should prohibit the use of devices with smart technology throughout the school day, including during lessons, transitions and breaks. The department expects all schools to take steps in line with this guidance to ensure mobile phones do not disrupt pupils’ learning.
Research from the Children’s Commissioner, with responses from nearly all schools and colleges in England, shows that the overwhelming majority of schools, 99.8% of primary schools and 90% of secondary schools, already have policies in place that limit or restrict the use of mobile phones during the school day.
Asked by: John Slinger (Labour - Rugby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what evidence her Department has on the potential impact of banning smartphone use in schools.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Mobile phones have no place in school and school leaders already have the power to ban them. The department’s guidance on mobile phones in schools, published in February 2024, is clear that schools should prohibit the use of devices with smart technology throughout the school day, including during lessons, transitions and breaks.
The department expects all schools to take steps in line with this guidance to ensure mobile phones do not disrupt pupils’ learning.
Research from the Children’s Commissioner, with responses from nearly all schools and colleges in England, shows that the overwhelming majority of schools (99.8% of primary schools and 90% of secondary schools) already have policies in place that limit or restrict the use of mobile phones during the school day.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many knives and other weapons were confiscated in schools in England in the most recent year for which data is available.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Every child must be safe and the government is committed to making schools safer places for every child by tackling the root cause of serious violence.
The department does not hold data on the number of knives and other weapons confiscated in schools in England. Confiscations are operational matters managed at school level and are not part of statutory data returns to the department. Guidance on searching, screening and confiscation is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/62d1643e8fa8f50bfbefa55c/Searching__Screening_and_Confiscation_guidance_July_2022.pdf.
However, findings from the School and College Panel survey indicate that in March 2024, 27% of secondary school leaders noted a known incident of weapon possession by a pupil on school premises since the beginning of the year, compared to only 2% of primary school leaders.
The department also monitors a range of data related to children’s risk of violence, including education, social care and police national computer data. Our published dashboard can be accessed at: https://department-for-education.shinyapps.io/childrens-social-care-and-offending/.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help ensure that early years educators can have long, fulfilling and fairly-paid careers in the early years sector.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The early years workforce is at the heart of the government’s mission to give every child the best start in life and deliver our Plan for Change. The Best Start in Life strategy sets out our plans to work with the early years sector and local authorities to tackle challenges in recruitment and retention and make early years a career people are proud to start and rewarding to pursue.
This includes investing in opportunities to become an early years teacher, by aiming to more than double the number of funded places on early years initial teacher training by 2028. It also sets out financial support for employers delivering the new degree apprenticeship route, and financial incentives for early years teachers working in disadvantaged areas. Plans to co-design a new professional register are designed to raise the value of the profession and give all early educators the recognition they deserve.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department holds on school attendance rates in Fylde constituency.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department publishes figures from the school census on pupil absence in England. The latest data covers the autumn and spring terms of the 2024/25 academic year and is published here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england/2024-25-autumn-and-spring-term. Local authority data is available in the release. School level data is also available in this release and includes school identifiers that can be used to link the parliamentary constituency for the school using the ‘Get Information About Schools’ website: https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/. This absence release has been available since 23 October 2025.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, at what geographical level deprivation criteria will be applied in Phase 3 of the School-based Nurseries programme.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
High quality early years is central to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity, give every child the best possible start in life and is essential to our Plan for Change. School-based nurseries are one part of our diverse and vibrant early years landscape, and this government is boosting availability and access to early years places through the school-based nursery programme. Maintained nursery schools are eligible to apply for funding in Phase 2.
Phase 3 of the programme will launch in early 2026, when the department will publish guidance covering eligibility criteria and our approach to funding.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether maintained nursery schools will be eligible for capital funding in Phase 3 of the School-based Nurseries programme.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
High quality early years is central to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity, give every child the best possible start in life and is essential to our Plan for Change. School-based nurseries are one part of our diverse and vibrant early years landscape, and this government is boosting availability and access to early years places through the school-based nursery programme. Maintained nursery schools are eligible to apply for funding in Phase 2.
Phase 3 of the programme will launch in early 2026, when the department will publish guidance covering eligibility criteria and our approach to funding.
Asked by: Darren Paffey (Labour - Southampton Itchen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of adding veterinary medicine to the list of second-degree courses eligible for tuition fee loans, including the potential impact on (a) access to the veterinary profession and (b) the UK’s veterinary workforce.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
To ensure the student finance system remains sustainable, students who already hold a qualification at an equivalent or higher-level qualification (ELQ) to that of their current course are not normally eligible for tuition fee or maintenance loans. An exception has been made to these rules to encourage access to certain professions, including veterinary medicine. Students undertaking a full-time second degree in veterinary medicine starting before 1 January 2027 will qualify for maintenance support for the duration of their course.
This position will change under the Lifelong Learning Entitlement, which will replace higher education student finance loans from 1 January 2027. An additional loan entitlement will be made available for a limited number of priority subjects, such as medicine. These are courses required to address priority skills needs and that align with the government’s Industrial Strategy.