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: 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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|
| ||
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: 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.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding hi Department provided for programmes that promote the use of artificial intelligence in schools.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department does not mandate or promote any specific materials or programmes as it is for schools to decide what to use. The department has provided over £6 million of funding since July 2024 to support safe and effective use of artificial intelligence (AI) in schools, including £2 million for Oak National Academy to develop its AI lesson planning assistant, Aila, and joint-funding the Education Content Store pilot along with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
The department has also funded free support materials for staff in schools and colleges, developed by the Chiltern Learning Trust and the Chartered College of Teaching.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions have (a) ministers, and (b) officials had with the Office for Students on the presence of Confucius Institutes in the UK.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Ministers and officials regularly meet with the Office for Students to discuss a wide range of topics, including international partnerships. The government welcomes these partnerships, including with China, many of which make strong contributions to our society. Universities have a responsibility to ensure that any partnership, including with a Confucius Institute, is managed appropriately and is compliant with their legal duties and regulatory requirements.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
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 ringfencing receipts from the international student levy for funding in higher education and skills.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As set out in the Budget Document, the income raised by the Levy will be fully reinvested into higher education and skills, including to fund maintenance grants for disadvantaged students studying priority courses.
Asked by: Charlie Maynard (Liberal Democrat - Witney)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to help specialist independent SEND schools remain open in in response to independent school closures in the last year.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Independent special schools are private enterprises. Local authorities have the discretion to make support, training and resources available to them. As private enterprises, the proprietor of the school is responsible for its financial viability.
The department recognises that independent special schools can play an important role in the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system, particularly in meeting highly complex needs and building capacity in the system. Independent special schools should be part of local authorities’ strategic planning of SEND provision, and the department works to support local authorities to ensure that every local area has sufficient school places for children that need them.
Where a pupil’s place in a private school is funded by the local authority because the private school is named in the pupil’s education, health and care plan, the local authority is able to reclaim the VAT they are charged on the fees of these pupils via the Section 33 VAT Act 1994 Refund Scheme.
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.