Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the need for a dedicated senior official to lead on (a) coordination of policy to support state boarding schools, (b) securing sustainable funding for state boarding provision, and (c) cross-departmental engagement with the Ministry of Defence and the Department for Health and Social Care; and what steps her Department is taking to ensure state boarding schools remain a viable option for Armed Forces and mobile families.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Ministry of Defence oversees the Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) for eligible service personnel, which provides clearly defined financial support to ensure that the need for frequent mobility does not interfere with a child’s education. This includes supporting parents with the option of using a state boarding school. Further information can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/61684e30e90e07197867eb2b/20211007-DCS_CEAS_INFO_02-CEA_AND_BOARDING_SCHOOL_CONSIDERATIONS_INFORMATION_V4.pdf.
Senior officials maintain oversight of state boarding school policy and coordinate, as appropriate, with relevant teams across the department and other government departments on matters such as the national minimum standards for boarding and day pupil fees.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of state boarding schools in supporting the education of children from Armed Forces families and other mobile families as an affordable alternative to independent boarding provision.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Ministry of Defence oversees the Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) for eligible service personnel, which provides clearly defined financial support to ensure that the need for frequent mobility does not interfere with a child’s education. This includes supporting parents with the option of using a state boarding school. Further information can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/61684e30e90e07197867eb2b/20211007-DCS_CEAS_INFO_02-CEA_AND_BOARDING_SCHOOL_CONSIDERATIONS_INFORMATION_V4.pdf.
Senior officials maintain oversight of state boarding school policy and coordinate, as appropriate, with relevant teams across the department and other government departments on matters such as the national minimum standards for boarding and day pupil fees.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to introduce (a) free and (b) subsidised meal provision in (i) private, (ii) voluntary and (iii) independent early years settings for children from low-income households.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity and tackling child poverty. We have introduced the Best Start in Life strategy, and the Child Poverty strategy was published on 5 December 2025.
The department is extending free school meals to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit from September 2026.
This significant extension of support will also apply to children attending school-based nurseries and maintained nursery schools.
Whilst children attending a private nursery do not currently receive free school meals, the department has tightened statutory guidance to make clear that while providers can charge parents who are accessing entitlement hours for certain optional extras, including food, these charges must not be mandatory or a condition of accessing their entitlements. If parents do not wish to purchase these from their provider, they should discuss with their provider what alternative options are available, including potentially supplying their own food and consumables.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support small and specialist universities who receive a high proportion of their total income from charitable sources and operate at a deficit due to low levels of cost recovery on that income.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Higher education (HE) providers are independent from government and are responsible for ensuring their business models provide long-term sustainability.
The Office for Students (OfS) has statutory duties regarding the sector's financial sustainability, but the department has a clear interest in understanding the sector's level of risk. We work closely with the OfS to understand the sector’s changing financial landscape.
This government is committed to creating a secure future for our world leading HE sector, demonstrated by our decision to increase tuition fee caps in line with forecast inflation and our refocusing of the OfS on monitoring the sector’s financial health.
Moreover, the government provides annual funding through the Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG), supporting the teaching of high-cost subjects such as science and promotes access and participation for students from under-represented groups. For 2025-26, the recurrent SPG allocation for world-leading small and specialist providers will be maintained at £57.4 million.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of reintroducing a milk strategy for 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
Milk is an excellent food for children’s growth and development. As part of the School Food Standards, lower fat milk or lactose reduced milk must be available to children who want it for drinking at least once a day during school hours. It is a legislative requirement that milk is provided free of charge to pupils who meet the free school milk criteria, and schools may charge all other pupils.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs leads the School Milk Scheme Strategy, which supports the provision of milk in schools. The strategy aims to support the consumption of dairy products by children from an early age to promote healthy eating habits and good nutritional health, and support efforts to tackle child obesity by part subsidising, or reimburse in full where relevant, the cost of a daily portion of dairy in line with national guidance. The Strategy also sets out who the support is targeted at and the eligible products that can be supported.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of managing and attending healthcare appointments on children's school attendance.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
In the 2024/25 academic year, over 4 million days of school were lost due to time off for a medical or dental appointment. For children to achieve and thrive, they need to be in school. The national absence codes include a code for leave of absence for the purpose of attending a medical or dental appointment, meaning, when monitoring pupils’ attendance, schools will be able to take into consideration any absences due to this.
Parents are encouraged to make appointments out of school hours, but we acknowledge that children with medical needs may need to attend medical appointments during the school day and the school attendance framework allows for such absences to be granted by the school. Parents should get the school’s agreement in advance, and the pupil should only be out of school for the minimum amount of time necessary for the appointment.
The department has also worked in conjunction with the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and the Royal College of Nursing who endorsed a statement on supporting school attendance, which included suggestions for clinics to support pupils returning to school after medical appointments.
Asked by: Lord Cashman (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to review (1) the application of compound interest, (2) the length of repayment periods, and (3) the overall operation of the student loans system.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government keeps the student finance system under continuous review to ensure that it delivers good value for both students and taxpayers. We set out our plan for higher education (HE) reform through the Post-16 education and skills white paper, published on 29 September.
We are determined that the HE funding system should deliver for our economy, for universities and for students and the government is committed to supporting the aspiration of every person who meets the requirements and wants to go to university.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what consideration her Department has given to including milk in government-funded breakfast clubs without reducing funding for existing milk provision schemes.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department funds schools taking part in the free breakfast clubs programme to buy breakfast foods and drinks, as well as to cover staffing and delivery costs.
Schools are required to provide a breakfast adhering to the school food standards, which could include a glass of lower fat milk. However, it is up to schools to decide what they serve in line with the standards. Where schools provide milk, they can also choose whether to participate in the national school milk subsidy scheme which can be used to reduce the cost of the milk
Additionally, the Nursery Milk Scheme is operated and funded by the Department of Health and Social Care and provides free milk to children under five at participating schools and childcare settings.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for the total spend on (i) LinkedIn membership fees (ii) other subscriptions by her Department in the last financial year.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
During the period of 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, the department spent £0.00 on LinkedIn membership fees.
During the same period, the department and its executive agencies spent £274,988.24 on services that fit the broad description of ‘subscription’.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing a new right to kinship care leave.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government has launched a review of the parental leave system, which represents a much-needed opportunity to consider the department’s approach to the system of parental leave and pay. This will consider whether the support available meets the needs of working families, such as kinship carers.
In 2023, the department published ‘Kinship Carers in the Workplace: Guidance for Employers’, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/kinship-carers-in-the-workplace-guidance-for-employers. This sets out best practice for supporting kinship carers at work, including how to adapt internal policies, signpost existing entitlements and create a culture of support to meet the needs of kinship carers. The department has since implemented our own Kinship Leave and Pay offer and we encourage all organisations to review their guidance and explore what changes they can make.