Asked by: Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of how many people will benefit from the UK's participation in the Erasmus+ scheme in 2027, from the UK and abroad; and how those people will benefit from that scheme.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We expect over 100,000 UK participants to benefit from mobility and partnership opportunities from participation in 2027. Participants from the EU and other countries associated to the programme will also benefit from the UK’s association through being able to undertake a mobility to the UK or build partnerships with UK institutions. We will have detailed information on the UK’s Erasmus+ beneficiaries after our first year of participation.
Through Erasmus+, learners will have more chances to study, train, work, or volunteer abroad. They will gain language skills, build intercultural ties, and develop real-world skills employers value. For teachers, youth workers, sports sector professionals and other staff, Erasmus+ brings professional development and access to new and innovative practice. For schools, colleges, universities and other education providers, Erasmus+ re-opens structured partnerships and networks that drive quality, encourage research links and enhance international reputation.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the cost of Erasmus+ in each year between 2027 and 2032.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Negotiations with the European Commission on the UK’s association to Erasmus+ in 2027 have now concluded. We have secured significantly improved financial terms compared to default arrangements, ensuring a fairer balance between the UK’s contribution to the EU and the number of UK participants who receive funding. We negotiated a 30% discount, securing participation for 2027 at a cost of approximately £570 million, saving UK taxpayers around £240 million while securing the benefits of participation for young people in the UK and across the EU.
This commitment covers the 2027/28 academic year. Any participation in Erasmus+ into the next Multiannual Financial Framework from 2028-34 will need to be agreed in the future and be based on a fair and balanced contribution.
Asked by: Clive Jones (Liberal Democrat - Wokingham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what is her estimate of the number of days of education lost during 2025 as a result of water leaks in school buildings.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Schools and their responsible bodies are not obliged to report school closures to the department and therefore the department does not hold the information requested. Many responsible bodies manage school closures locally and without central government support.
Where the department is notified of a significant event or issue with a school or college building that cannot be managed with local resources, we consider additional support on a case-by-case basis. We work closely with these responsible bodies and schools to minimise the impact of any closures and ensure continuity of education for pupils.
Effective and proactive estate management is key to maintaining a high-quality estate and preventing issues materialising that can disrupt education, like leaks. We already set out clear expectations in our School Estate Management Standards and, in February, launched a new digital service to bring together estates-related guidance, data, tools, programmes and funding in one place. From this autumn, we will ask responsible bodies to make an annual return to confirm they are meeting those standards. For those that are not, we will put in place an estate management capability support plan in agreement with the responsible body.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to hold universities to account on their duty of care to students.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department’s position is that a duty of care in higher education (HE) may arise in certain circumstances. Such circumstances would be a matter for the courts to decide, based on the specific facts and context of the case being considered, and will be dependent on the application by a court of accepted common law principles.
The department continues to work closely with students, parents, mental health experts and the HE sector to drive meaningful change in mental health practice through the HE mental health implementation taskforce. The taskforce published its second stage report, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/higher-education-mental-health-implementation-taskforce.
Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the average amount of extra charges paid by parents who claim 30 hours of free childcare; and what steps they are taking to enforce guidance that prevents providers from making mandatory charges a condition of accessing free hours of childcare.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
It is our ambition that all families have access to high-quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life and delivering on our Plan for Change.
As part of the childcare experience survey and the childcare and early years survey of parents, parents who claim 30 hours childcare are asked to indicate any additional charges they pay to their provider. The survey does not ask whether paying the fixed charges is conditional for taking up a place.
The department has recently updated statutory guidance for local authorities. This guidance reinforces that there must be no mandatory charges. The statutory guidance is clear that there must not be any mandatory charges for parents in relation to the free hours. We explain in the statutory guidance that while providers can charge for consumables, food and optional extra activities, as well as additional hours beyond the entitlements, that these must be voluntary for the parent. We furthermore provide a non-exhaustive list of items and services that providers cannot charge for.
Local authorities are empowered to ensure that providers follow this guidance through their provider agreements. How that will be enforced is a matter for the local authority to decide.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 27 January (HL13548), how many special educational needs and disabilities places in schools were provided as a result of mental health, anxiety and depression factors in each of the past five years.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government is committed to supporting local areas to create high-quality places that are suitable to meet the needs of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). We want more pupils to access the right support in a local mainstream setting, enabling them to learn alongside their peers and siblings, instead of travelling a long way to a special school.
The department is investing at least £3.7 billion in high needs capital funding between 2025/2026 and 2029/2030, to support local authorities to provide places for children and young people with SEND, or who require alternative provision.
Specialist places for pupils with special educational needs are not provided on the basis of specific distinct needs. The department publishes data on the breakdown of pupils by their recorded primary need type and school type on gov.uk although this may not fully reflect the total number of pupils who experience mental health difficulties, anxieties or depression. The department also publishes data on specialist placement capacity on gov.uk since 2023 but this is not broken down by type of need.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the standard time interval after graduation at which employment outcomes are measured for higher education leavers; whether that interval varies by subject area; and what assessment they have made of whether the 15-month Graduate Outcomes survey measurement point adequately captures career trajectories in subjects characterised by freelance, self-employed and portfolio working, including fine art, craft and design.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Higher education (HE) employment outcomes are measured at multiple points after graduation, including after 15 months in the Graduate Outcomes survey, and after 3, 5 and 10 years in the HE Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) publication data. Together these datasets provide evidence to inform policy. The HE LEO publication can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/leo-graduate-and-postgraduate-outcomes/2022-23.
The department recognises that employment trajectories differ by occupation and industry sector and takes the full range of data and evidence into account in its research and policy design.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how current higher education outcome metrics for creative subjects align with their plans to grow the creative industries as a priority sector as part of the Industrial Strategy 2025; and whether the Department for Education plans to review, in consultation with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, whether existing measurement methodologies adequately reflect the labour market structures and earnings patterns of the creative economy.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department works with Skills England to identify which occupations are the highest priority to the creative industries and which educational pathways lead to these occupations. These occupations cover many skill sets, such as IT, alongside those in creative subjects.
The Creative Industries Sector Plan is a 10-year plan to tackle barriers to growth and maximise opportunities across the sector, with the aim of making the UK the number one destination for creativity and innovation. It sets out how government is partnering with industry to build a skills landscape that meets business needs and ensures that our creative workforce is fit for the future. This includes policies such as short courses, funded through the Growth and Skills Levy, in areas such as digital and artificial intelligence.
The department has had discussions with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on ways of measuring the wider value of higher education subjects, including on matters of culture and heritage.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what employment and earnings data they hold for graduates in (1) fine art, (2) craft, (3) design, and (4) other creative industries, at (a) 15 months, (b) three years, (c) five years, and (d) 10 years, after graduation; and how that data are used in assessing the long-term economic contribution and student loan repayment profiles of those graduates.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department holds employment and earnings data for graduates across all industries in various datasets and at multiple points after graduation. This includes the Graduate Outcomes survey at 15 months after graduation, and the higher education (HE) Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) publication data at up to 10 years after graduation.
The LEO data will be used alongside Labour Force Survey data to estimate the longer-term economic contribution of graduates in this year’s upcoming update of the Institute for Fiscal Studies report on the impact of undergraduate degrees on lifetime earnings. LEO data is also used alongside the Student Loans Company and HMRC data to inform the department’s forecasts of student loan repayments, as detailed in the methodology accompanying to the department’s published student loan forecasts. The forecasts and methodology are available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/student-loan-forecasts-for-england/2024-25.
Asked by: Baroness Falkner of Margravine (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Department for Education has declined to lay before Parliament a draft statutory code submitted by an arm's-length body between January 2015 and December 2025, where that code has not been subject to litigation.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department has not declined to lay a draft statutory code submitted by an arm’s length body. The government is currently considering a submitted code and, if the decision is taken to approve it, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education will lay it before Parliament. Parliament will then have a 40-day period to consider the draft code.