Asked by: Lord Bishop of Lincoln (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan for the Minister for Skills to take a lead responsibility for social mobility.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government’s Opportunity Mission is focused on breaking the link between a child’s background and their future success, through coordinated action to improve social and income mobility. It sets priorities to give children the best start in life, ensure they achieve and thrive at school, strengthen post‑16 skills and opportunities, and support family security. Social mobility and opportunity are shared priorities across government. As the Minister for Skills, I promote the core objectives around social mobility, by helping to expand high‑quality skills, training and progression routes so that more young people can move into good employment, education or training.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they are giving to ensure equity for children in households with no recourse to public funds in the expansion of eligibility for free school meals from September.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department has permanently extended free school meal eligibility to children in all households with no recourse to public funds (NRPF), provided they meet income thresholds set out in public guidance.
This ensures that children can access support regardless of their background or circumstances, including the immigration status of their parents.
The income thresholds for NRPF households were designed to account for the differences in household income between NRPF households and those with access to additional state support to ensure parity.
The government has set out plans to extend free school meals to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit from September 2026. We continue to keep all aspects of the free school meals system, including the guidance for families with no recourse to public funds, under review.
Asked by: Laura Trott (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to Answer of 14 January 2026 to Question 104334, how many students with settled status obtained a student loan in 2024-25; and how much was spent on repaying these loans in the same time period.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is not able to provide the requested data on settled status in the required timescale.
Settled status is a residency category, which is data held by the Student Loans Company (SLC).
However, changes in the application process over time, including the transition to electronic applications and introduction of new products, systems and processes in line with the legislation, mean that data held for earlier cohorts is held differently across multiple SLC systems.
As a result, it is not currently possible to produce robust settled status data within the required timescales. The department and the SLC are undertaking work to improve the quality and consistency of data provided.
Once this work is complete, the department expects to be able to provide information in response to such questions.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of student loans issued in each of last five years for which data is available were for students with settled status, expressed in (a) monetary terms and (b) number of students.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is not able to provide the requested data on settled status in the required timescale.
Settled status is a residency category, which is data held by the Student Loans Company (SLC).
However, changes in the application process over time, including the transition to electronic applications and introduction of new products, systems and processes in line with the legislation, mean that data held for earlier cohorts is held differently across multiple SLC systems.
As a result, it is not currently possible to produce robust settled status data within the required timescales. The department and the SLC are undertaking work to improve the quality and consistency of data provided.
Once this work is complete, the department expects to be able to provide information in response to such questions.
The department is not able to provide the requested data on immigration status. The SLC does not hold immigration status data. Immigration status data is held by the Home Office and is used by the SLC as part of the assessment for loan eligibility. However, as the SLC does not hold immigration status data in their own systems, this breakdown cannot be provided.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of student loans issued in each of the last five years for which data is available were for students with a non-Common Travel Area immigration status.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is not able to provide the requested data on settled status in the required timescale.
Settled status is a residency category, which is data held by the Student Loans Company (SLC).
However, changes in the application process over time, including the transition to electronic applications and introduction of new products, systems and processes in line with the legislation, mean that data held for earlier cohorts is held differently across multiple SLC systems.
As a result, it is not currently possible to produce robust settled status data within the required timescales. The department and the SLC are undertaking work to improve the quality and consistency of data provided.
Once this work is complete, the department expects to be able to provide information in response to such questions.
The department is not able to provide the requested data on immigration status. The SLC does not hold immigration status data. Immigration status data is held by the Home Office and is used by the SLC as part of the assessment for loan eligibility. However, as the SLC does not hold immigration status data in their own systems, this breakdown cannot be provided.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the student loan outlay is by immigration status of the student cohort for the last five years for which data is available.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is not able to provide the requested data on settled status in the required timescale.
Settled status is a residency category, which is data held by the Student Loans Company (SLC).
However, changes in the application process over time, including the transition to electronic applications and introduction of new products, systems and processes in line with the legislation, mean that data held for earlier cohorts is held differently across multiple SLC systems.
As a result, it is not currently possible to produce robust settled status data within the required timescales. The department and the SLC are undertaking work to improve the quality and consistency of data provided.
Once this work is complete, the department expects to be able to provide information in response to such questions.
The department is not able to provide the requested data on immigration status. The SLC does not hold immigration status data. Immigration status data is held by the Home Office and is used by the SLC as part of the assessment for loan eligibility. However, as the SLC does not hold immigration status data in their own systems, this breakdown cannot be provided.
Asked by: Hannah Spencer (Green Party - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her Department's policies of the recommendation on the competitiveness of teachers’ pay in The National Foundation for Educational Research report entitled The School Teacher Labour Market in England Annual Report 2026 published on 19 March 2026.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department notes the recent National Foundation for Educational Research report, which highlights some improvement in the competitiveness of teachers’ pay.
The department values all teachers, which is why we have delivered two above inflation awards that, combined, will mean all schoolteachers will have seen an increase in their pay of almost 10% over the last two years.
In making their recommendations on teacher pay in maintained schools each year, the School Teachers’ Review Body carries out rigorous assessments as part of its reports and considers a range of evidence, including key indicators for pay competitiveness.
We are already seeing positive signs that our investment is delivering. The workforce has grown by 2,346 full-time equivalent between 2023/24 and 2024/25 in secondary and special schools, and our teacher pipeline is growing, with just under 32,600 new entrants to initial teacher training in autumn 2025, up 13% on the previous year.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has conducted an equality impact assessment on the freeze to the Plan 2 student loan repayment threshold due to take effect in April 2027.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
It was announced at the Autumn Budget that the repayment and interest thresholds for Plan 2 student loans will be frozen from the 2026/27 financial year until April 2030, when they will increase annually by inflation.
The department will release an equalities impact assessment, including the impact on lifetime repayments, alongside other borrower impacts for the Plan 2 repayment threshold and interest threshold freeze announced at the Autumn Budget.
Asked by: David Reed (Conservative - Exmouth and Exeter East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the interest charged on Plan 2 student loans for meeting the Government’s cost of (a) borrowing to finance those loans and (b) estimated write-offs.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The estimated write offs are reflected in the Resource and Accounting Budget (RAB) charge, the government subsidy anticipated on student loans issued in any particular financial year. The RAB charge is forecast at 32% of total full-time plan 2 loans issued in 2024/25.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the student loan repayment threshold remaining at its current level on (a) graduates in lower-paid or insecure employment, (b) social mobility and (c) students from lower-income backgrounds.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
It was announced at the Autumn Budget that the repayment and interest thresholds for Plan 2 student loans will be frozen from the 2026/27 financial year until April 2030, when they will increase annually by inflation.
The department has produced the attached analysis regarding the impact of freezing the repayment and interest thresholds.
If a borrower is earning above the repayment threshold and their income stays the same, then their repayments will remain the same. If a borrower is not earning above the repayment threshold and their income remains the same, they will continue to not be required to make any repayments.