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Written Question
Free School Meals
Wednesday 22nd November 2023

Asked by: Alan Campbell (Labour - Tynemouth)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of extending the eligibility for free school meals on (a) the economy, (b) public health and (c) educational attainment.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

The provision of Free School Meals (FSM) to pupils from households who are on low income or out of work is important to the government. Over two million pupils are currently eligible for benefits based FSM. Close to 1.3 million additional infants receive free and nutritious meals under the Universal Infant Free School Meals policy.

The department does not have plans to change the current eligibility conditions for FSM, nor any plans to extend universal provision, but will continue to keep eligibility under review to ensure that these meals are supporting those who need them most. The department has set a threshold which enables more pupils to benefit, whilst remaining affordable and deliverable for the schools.

The department continues to work with other government departments to monitor the consequences of the rising cost of living and the impact on families.


Written Question
Free School Meals
Wednesday 22nd November 2023

Asked by: Alan Campbell (Labour - Tynemouth)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of extending universal free school meals across England.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

The provision of Free School Meals (FSM) to pupils from households who are on low income or out of work is important to the government. Over two million pupils are currently eligible for benefits based FSM. Close to 1.3 million additional infants receive free and nutritious meals under the Universal Infant Free School Meals policy.

The department does not have plans to change the current eligibility conditions for FSM, nor any plans to extend universal provision, but will continue to keep eligibility under review to ensure that these meals are supporting those who need them most. The department has set a threshold which enables more pupils to benefit, whilst remaining affordable and deliverable for the schools.

The department continues to work with other government departments to monitor the consequences of the rising cost of living and the impact on families.


Written Question
Universities: Assessments
Wednesday 20th September 2023

Asked by: Alan Campbell (Labour - Tynemouth)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support students who have not received a degree mark due to strike action by university staff; and if she will take steps to compensate those students affected by the time taken to provide a mark.

Answered by Robert Halfon

Unlike some other education sectors where the government has taken part in negotiations with trade unions, universities are autonomous. They are therefore responsible for the pay and pension provision of their staff.

The University and College Union (UCU) announced the end to the marking and assessment boycott on 6 September 2023. While the government plays no formal role in such disputes, the department has been deeply concerned about the impact of the marking and assessment boycott on students. It is unacceptable that students, many of whom have already suffered significant disruption to their studies over recent years, face further disruption and uncertainty. This disruption is particularly damaging to those students who have graduated and looking to enter the jobs market or progress to further study. The department has made clear that whatever the rights and wrongs of the current dispute, action that damages students' prospects is the wrong thing to do.

The majority of students have been unaffected by the industrial action and, in most cases, have received their full results on time, and progressed or graduated as normal. However, the department appreciates that, at some higher education (HE) providers, the impact of the boycott has been more significant.

This government believes students should be at the heart of the HE system. This is why the Office for Students (OfS) has been set up to regulate the HE sector in England, protect student rights and ensure the sector is delivering real value for money. The OfS have also published guidance to students on their rights during industrial action and will continue to monitor this ongoing situation through their normal regulatory mechanisms. Further information can be found here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/.

I held discussions with the Russell Group, Universities UK and the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) to better understand the impact on students and the mitigating actions their members have taken to minimise disruption. I also wrote to the Russell Group and Universities UK, encouraging them to continue to do everything within their powers to protect the interests of students during this phase of industrial action. On 11 August, I wrote to the UCEA and the UCU urging them both to resume negotiations to bring an end to industrial action.

Universities have worked to reduce the impact on students in a variety of ways, including reallocating marking to other staff members and hiring external markers. Moreover, many universities have awarded degrees when they have enough evidence of a student’s prior attainment to do so. Others have assigned provisional grades to students to allow them to progress, and, once all papers have been marked, most institutions will award degree classifications that either remain as provisionally assigned or are uplifted to reflect the student’s achievements.

Students who have complaints about their HE experience should contact their institution in the first instance. Students in England and Wales may also raise a complaint with the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA), which was set up to provide an alternative to the courts and is free of charge to students. Depending on the complaint, the OIA may recommend that compensation be awarded. Whilst compensating students for disruption is the responsibility of HE institutions, the OIA expects institutions to comply with their recommendations. Further information on the OIA is available at: https://www.oiahe.org.uk.


Written Question
Childcare: Fees and Charges
Tuesday 28th March 2023

Asked by: Alan Campbell (Labour - Tynemouth)

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 amending the eligibility rules for 30 hours of free childcare so that children become eligible in the month following their third birthday.

Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero

Eligible working parents of 3 and 4-year-olds are currently eligible for 30 hours of free childcare per week, over 38 weeks a year. In the 2023 Spring Budget, the government announced a number of transformative reforms to childcare. This includes the expansion of the free childcare offer so that eligible working parents in England will be able to access 30 hours of free childcare per week, for 38 weeks, per year from when their child is 9 months old to when they start school.

The department expects to be spending in excess of £8 billion every year on free hours and early education by 2027/28, helping working families with their childcare costs. This announcement represents the single biggest investment in childcare in England.

From April 2024, all eligible working parents of 2-year-olds will become eligible for 15 hours of free childcare, with eligible parents of 9 months to 2-year-olds eligible for 15 hours from September 2024 onwards. The offer will be rolled out in full, with eligible working parents of children aged 9 months to 3 years able to access 30 hours, from September 2025.

To be eligible for this offer, parents will need to earn the equivalent of 16 hours a week at National Minimum or Living Wage, and less than £100,000 adjusted net income per year.

As set out in the regulations underpinning the entitlements, eligibility for the current free early education entitlements, including 30 hours free childcare, begins from 1 September, 1 January or 1 April following the child’s third birthday, or their second birthday if they are eligible for the 15 hours for disadvantaged 2-year-olds. Parents must apply for 30 hours free childcare in the term their child turns 3 if they wish to take up a place from the start of the following term. Further information on the recommended dates at which parents should apply is available at: https://www.gov.uk/30-hours-free-childcare?step-by-step-nav=f517cd57-3c18-4bb9-aa8b-1b907e279bf9.

These termly deadlines ensure that children can receive at least two years of early education and/or reception before they reach compulsory school age, which is the beginning of the term following their fifth birthday. They also allow local authorities and childcare providers to better plan and ensure that sufficient early years places are available for parents each term, as there are clear periods for when children are likely to start a place.

In the meantime, parents can also access other childcare offers such as Tax-Free Childcare and Universal Credit. Tax-Free Childcare can help parents with childcare for children aged from 0-11, and for disabled children until the age of 17. Universal Credit Childcare provides support with childcare costs for children aged 0-16. The government is taking action to support parents in receipt of this with childcare costs upfront when they need it, rather than in arrears.


Written Question
Students: Debts
Tuesday 7th March 2023

Asked by: Alan Campbell (Labour - Tynemouth)

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 a debt forgiveness programme for students who were financially affected by covid.

Answered by Robert Halfon

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the government was clear that universities were expected to maintain academic standards and the quantity of tuition should not drop. All universities were expected to continue to deliver excellent learning, in line with guidance from the Office for Students, to provide students with a full experience.

The tuition fee and student loan system in England is designed to be sustainable, fair to students and taxpayers, while ensuring that those who benefit financially from higher education make a fair contribution towards its cost.

Borrowers are only liable to repay after leaving study when earning over the relevant repayment threshold. The student finance system continues to protect lower earners and borrowers who experience a reduction in their income. Repayments are calculated as a fixed percentage of earnings above the relevant repayment threshold (£27,295 for a post-2012 undergraduate plan and £21,000 for a post graduate loan), and do not change as a result of interest rate charges or the amount borrowed. If a borrower’s income drops, so does the amount they repay. If income is below the relevant repayment threshold, or a borrower is not earning, then they do not have to make repayments at all. Any outstanding debt, including interest accrued, is written off after the loan term ends (or in the case of death or disability), at no detriment to the borrower.

To further protect borrowers, the government, by law, must cap maximum student loan rates to ensure the interest rate charged on the loan is in line with market rates for comparable unsecured personal loans. On 8 February 2023, the Student Loan Company announced that the interest on Plan 2 and Plan 3 student loan repayments will be capped to 6.9% from 1 March 2023. Without this cap, student loan borrowers may have faced interest rates between 9 to 12%.


Written Question
Social Workers: Registration
Thursday 19th January 2023

Asked by: Alan Campbell (Labour - Tynemouth)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to help social workers affected by technical issues re-register to retain their right to practice.

Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero

Social Work England, the regulator for social workers in England, is confident there were no technical issues with their systems during this registration period.

Social workers in England have a period of 91 days to renew their registration and must ensure they fulfil all the registration criteria by the deadline given to complete it. Those social workers who intended to renew but did not between 1 September and 30 November 2022 can apply to restore their registration.


Speech in Commons Chamber - Tue 07 Jun 2022
Children’s Education Recovery and Childcare Costs

Speech Link

View all Alan Campbell (Lab - Tynemouth) contributions to the debate on: Children’s Education Recovery and Childcare Costs

Written Question
Students: Coronavirus
Monday 1st March 2021

Asked by: Alan Campbell (Labour - Tynemouth)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he make a further assessment of the potential merits of reimbursing university students for (a) tuition fees and (b) accommodation throughout the covid-19 lockdowns.

Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology

This has been a very difficult time for students, and the government is working with the sector to make sure all reasonable efforts are being made to enable students to continue their studies. I want to thank all higher education (HE) staff for their tireless work to ensure that young people do not have to put their lives or their academic journeys on hold.

I welcome the huge amount of resource universities have given to ensuring online teaching is of the high quality expected by the government and the Office for Students (OfS). The government’s clear and stated expectation is that universities should maintain the quality and quantity of tuition and seek to ensure that all students, regardless of their background, have the resources to study remotely. This is more important than ever at the moment, with the vast majority of students studying solely online.

Universities are autonomous and responsible for setting their own fees within maximum fee limits set by regulations. The OfS, as regulator of HE providers in England, has made it clear that HE providers must continue to comply with registration conditions relating to quality and academic standards, which set out requirements to ensure that courses are high quality, that students are supported and achieve good outcomes and that standards are protected, regardless of whether a provider is delivering its courses through face-to-face teaching, remote online learning or a combination of both.

We continue to regularly engage the sector in discussion on this issue. I wrote to the OfS on 13 January outlining the government’s expectations of the HE sector following the new national lockdown. Following this, the OfS wrote to provider Accountable Officers, setting out the actions they are taking in connection with providers’ compliance to existing regulatory requirements. We expect providers to ensure that continuing and prospective students receive the clear, accurate and timely information needed to make informed decisions.

Whether or not an individual student is entitled to a refund will depend on the specific contractual arrangements between the provider and student. If students have concerns, there is a process in place. They should first raise their concerns with their university. If their concerns remain unresolved, students at providers in England or Wales can ask the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) for Higher Education to consider their complaint.

The OfS does not get involved in individual student complaints, that is for the relevant HE provider and possibly the OIA. Students can, however, notify the OfS of issues that may be of regulatory interest to it. These are called ‘notifications’. The OfS uses this information as part of its regulatory monitoring activity and keep HE providers under review to ensure that they comply with the ongoing conditions of registration. OfS has produced a guide for students to support them in this process.

With regards to accommodation, universities and private accommodation providers are autonomous and are responsible for setting their own rent agreements. The government plays no direct role in the provision of student residential accommodation.

We recognise that in these exceptional circumstances some students may face financial hardship. The Department for Education has worked with the OfS to clarify that providers are able to use existing funds, worth around £256 million for academic year 2020/21, towards hardship support. We are also making available an additional £50 million of hardship funding this financial year. In total we have made £70 million of additional funding available for student hardship, given the £20 million made available to higher education providers in December 2020. The government urges universities and private accommodation providers to be fair in their decisions about rent charges for this period. We welcome the news that a number of universities and large companies have already offered rent rebates for students that have been asked to stay away from their accommodation.

The OIA website is available via the following link: https://www.oiahe.org.uk/.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published guidance on consumer contracts, cancellation and refunds affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. This sets out the CMA’s view on how the law operates to help consumers understand their rights and help businesses treat their customers fairly. This is available via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cma-to-investigate-concerns-about-cancellation-policies-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic/the-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic-consumer-contracts-cancellation-and-refunds.

The OfS has also published guidance on student consumer protection during the COVID-19 outbreak, which is available via the following link: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/for-students/student-and-consumer-protection-during-coronavirus/.

The OfS has also produced a guide to help students raise concerns, which is available via the following link: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/office-for-students-notifications/.


Written Question
Free School Meals: Coronavirus
Thursday 25th February 2021

Asked by: Alan Campbell (Labour - Tynemouth)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether children entitled to age related free school meals should be receiving them (a) at home or (b) for collection during covid-19 lockdown.

Answered by Vicky Ford

All infant pupils in reception, year 1 and year 2 in England’s state-funded schools, including academies, are entitled to a free school meal (FSM) under the universal infant free school meal (UIFSM) policy introduced in September 2014.

Whilst attendance restrictions are in place for the majority of pupils, schools should provide meal options for all pupils who are in school, including vulnerable children and the children of critical workers. Meals should be available free of charge to all infant pupils and pupils who meet the benefits-related FSM eligibility criteria.

Under normal circumstances, schools do not provide FSM to eligible pupils who are not in school. During the national lockdown, we have provided additional funding for schools to continue supporting pupils eligible for benefits-related FSM (including infant pupils who meet the benefits related criteria) who are at home during term-time.

Schools continue to receive their usual funding for UIFSM and can use this to provide infant pupils with a meal at home, where they are not otherwise eligible for benefits-related FSM.

Schools will fully open to all pupils on 8 March 2021 and from this date pupils will eat lunch at school, unless they are self-isolating.

The government remains committed to ensuring the most disadvantaged children continue to be supported. The government has provided an additional £170 million through the Covid Winter Grant Scheme for local authorities in England to support the hardest-hit families with children and other vulnerable people with the cost of food and essential utilities.


Written Question
Schools: Coronavirus
Tuesday 9th February 2021

Asked by: Alan Campbell (Labour - Tynemouth)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of all children repeating a full academic year as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.

Answered by Nick Gibb

The Government recognises that extended school and college closures have had a huge effect on children and young people’s education, which will take more than a year to make up. On 27 January 2021, the Government announced a further £300 million of new funding for high quality tutoring to help children and young people catch up. The Government will be working in collaboration with the education sector to develop specific initiatives for summer schools and a COVID-19 premium to support catch up, alongside developing a long-term plan to support pupils to catch up over the course of this Parliament. Further detail on this funding and support will be confirmed in due course.