Asked by: Lord Bishop of Sheffield (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 16 September 2025 (UIN HL10060), what plans they have to amend the International Education Strategy; and what the anticipated timeline for the publication of a revised strategy is.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government’s International Education Strategy (IES) was launched on 20 January 2026.
The strategy backs UK providers at all levels to expand overseas, strengthening global partnerships and giving millions more students access to a world-class UK education on their doorstep, all whilst boosting growth at home. It sets a clear ambition to grow the value of education exports to £40 billion a year by 2030.
We want to increase the UK’s international standing through education and make the UK the global partner of choice at every stage of learning. The IES is now co-owned between the Department for Education, the Department for Business and Trade and the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Sheffield (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consultations are underway with North Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust and local community members regarding the possible closure of Goole and District Hospital.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The planning and commissioning of local healthcare services is a matter for local integrated care boards (ICBs). The Humber and North Yorkshire NHS ICB has no plans to close the Goole and District Hospital. The ICB is committed to developing sustainable services for the future that meet the healthcare needs of people living in and around Goole.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Sheffield (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the availability and accessibility of high-quality healthcare services at Goole and District Hospital.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The planning and commissioning of local healthcare services is a matter for local integrated care boards (ICBs). The Humber and North Yorkshire NHS ICB has no plans to close the Goole and District Hospital. The ICB is committed to developing sustainable services for the future that meet the healthcare needs of people living in and around Goole.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Sheffield (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 16 September 2025 (UIN HL10064), which higher education providers have been or will be consulted about the introduction of a levy on income from international students.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department is engaging with the higher education sector to shape the design of the International Student Levy to make delivery of the levy as easy as possible for providers. The technical consultation document builds on the details which were set out at the Autumn Budget 2025, initially announced in the Immigration White Paper, and can be found here: https://consult.education.gov.uk/international-student-levy-unit/international-student-levy/supporting_documents/isl-technical-consultationpdf.
As part of this, the government will be consulting a wide range of stakeholders, including those affected by the proposals and representative bodies from across the sector.
The technical consultation is due to close on 18 February 2026.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Sheffield (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the safety, security, and resilience of national and regional transport infrastructure, with particular reference to South Yorkshire.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport works closely with transport operators to assess the risks to transport infrastructure arising from, for example, severe weather, security threats or accidents. These risk assessments are used by national and local government and the transport industry to inform planning at all levels. This includes the South Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum.
Following the publication of the UK Government’s Resilience Action Plan in July 2025, the Department for Transport is working with cross-government and transport sector stakeholders to identify transport-specific opportunities and interventions to address gaps identified in capabilities.
South Yorkshire will also receive £570 million in City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS) funding by March 2027. Following this, the region will benefit from a £1.5 billion share of the £15.6 billion Transport for City Regions (TCR) settlement. This will fund a number of active travel improvement schemes—including segregated cycleways, improved footpaths, and highways upgrades—that will improve safety for both active travel and road users. The Magna Tinsley scheme, for example, incorporates safety by design. It has already delivered a new toucan crossing at the Sheffield Road/Raby Street junction to provide a safe crossing point from Tinsley Village across Sheffield Road. Further improvements are planned, including segregated cycleways and improved footways.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Sheffield (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the geographical distribution of overseas universities which have partnerships with UK universities.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The UK is home to globally recognised universities that operate in nearly every corner of the world, often in partnership with overseas institutions. These partnerships strengthen global ties, facilitate research partnerships and enable transnational education provision to reach over 200 countries and territories, allowing 621,065 students to study overseas for UK higher education qualifications in 2023/24.
The UK’s International Education Champion, Professor Sir Steve Smith, has led multiple missions and delegations to promote educational partnerships in a range of countries. The department is currently reviewing the UK’s international education strategy to ensure that it continues to reflect the priorities of the education sector, including UK universities, and global partners across the world.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Sheffield (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which the origins and contents of the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights are taught in primary and secondary schools in England.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Citizenship education provides a framework to prepare pupils to be active, informed and responsible citizens. The national curriculum for citizenship is mandatory at key stages 3 and 4 and primary schools can choose to teach it.
Citizenship covers human rights and international law, and the need for mutual respect. Pupils should also be taught about international governance and the United Kingdom’s relations with the rest of Europe, the Commonwealth, the United Nations and the wider world. This could include teaching about the origins and contents of the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights.
The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, which seeks to deliver a rich, broad, inclusive and innovative curriculum that equips young people with the knowledge, skills and attributes needed to thrive in life and work. The Review will publish its final report in autumn 2025.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Sheffield (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of current and future investment in diagnostic facilities and equipment at Goole and District Hospital.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to transforming diagnostic services and will support the National Health Service to increase diagnostic capacity, including in Lincolnshire and East Riding of Yorkshire, to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment in new capacity, including upgrading diagnostic facilities and equipment.
The Goole and District Hospital is currently providing key diagnostic services to patients across East Riding. The hospital currently offers imaging services, such as x-ray, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), ultrasound, as well as phlebotomy services.
NHS England work closely with each integrated care board (ICB), including the Humber and North Yorkshire ICB, to assess diagnostic capacity and prioritise investments. The ICB has invested £29.46 million of capital from the community diagnostic centre (CDC) programme to deliver seven CDCs, including the Selby Memorial CDC at the nearby Selby Memorial Hospital. This CDC offers a wide range of diagnostic tests, including x-ray, MRI, CT, electrocardiogram, non-obstetric ultrasound, Holter, and lung function tests, closer to home, and with a greater choice on where and how they are undertaken.
The 2025 Spending Review confirmed over £6 billion of additional capital investment over five years across new diagnostic, elective, and urgent care capacity. Further details and allocations, including where any new diagnostics and equipment will be located, will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Sheffield (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of generative artificial intelligence on the further education sector.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) will support with the delivery of the government’s Plan for Change.
The government has published the AI Opportunities Action Plan, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ai-opportunities-action-plan/ai-opportunities-action-plan. This considered barriers to AI take-up across the economy and made 50 recommendations. The further education sector will enable the delivery of short new courses in areas such as AI, digital, and engineering. These will be funded through the Growth and Skills Levy to support Industrial Strategy sectors from April 2026.
In August 2025, the department published a policy paper setting out the opportunities and challenges for the use of generative AI in the education sector. This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/generative-artificial-intelligence-in-education/generative-artificial-intelligence-ai-in-education?pStoreID=Http.
We are working with the education sector, educational technology industry experts, and academics to build the evidence base and support the education sector to use AI safely, responsibly, and effectively. This includes publishing free support, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/using-ai-in-education-settings-support-materials.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Sheffield (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consultations they are holding with the higher education and further education sectors regarding the implications of the policy reforms introduced in the White Paper Restoring control over the immigration system, published on 12 May.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The immigration White Paper sets out a series of measures that will achieve a reduction in net migration, while maintaining the UK’s globally competitive offer to international students and making a significant contribution to growth by boosting our skills base.
This includes the commitment to explore the introduction of a levy on higher education (HE) provider income from international students, with proceeds to be reinvested in the domestic HE and skills system. We will set out more details around the levy in the Autumn Budget.
We are committed to engaging with the sector on the design of the international student levy and want to understand specific concerns providers have as early as possible.