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Written Question
Pupils: Mobile Phones
Thursday 29th February 2024

Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to ban school pupils from using phones on the way to and from school.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

The department has published new guidance on the use of mobile phones in schools. This sets out that all schools should develop and implement a policy that creates a mobile phone free environment by prohibiting the use of mobile phones and other smart technology with similar functionality to mobile phones throughout the school day.

Each school is responsible for deciding how they apply this new guidance and how to accommodate the needs of their pupils. It is for school leaders to develop and implement a tailored policy on the use of mobile phones and other similar devices.

If a decision is made to prohibit mobile phones from the school premises entirely, schools should consider the impact on children travelling to and from school where not having a mobile phone poses a risk or the perception of a risk. Schools are encouraged to consult with parents to develop such a policy, considering ways to mitigate specific concerns and build support for this approach.


Written Question
Students: Loans
Wednesday 31st January 2024

Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average annual net effect of student loan interest payments on the public purse was in each of the last five years.

Answered by Robert Halfon

Student loan repayments are not broken down by interest versus loan portions, meaning that “student loan interest repayments” are not directly measured.

The interest rate charged on a student loan does not affect the amount a borrower repays on a student loan in a given month because the repayment is a proportion of income over a threshold. Unlike mortgages, a higher interest rate on a loan does not lead to higher repayments. As such, in terms of cashflow, total repayment levels in the last 5 years are not greatly affected by increased interest rates.

Statistics on income contingent repayments and interest added to student loans, at a national level, are published by the Student Loans Company here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/student-loans-in-england-2022-to-2023.


Written Question
Teachers: Training
Friday 12th January 2024

Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps to ensure that teachers receive continuing professional development training in supporting young people with their mental health.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

It is important to recognise that teachers are not mental health professionals and should not be expected to provide specialist mental health support. However, schools and colleges play a vital role in promoting mental wellbeing, by providing calm, safe and supportive learning environments and helping pupils who need it to access early, targeted support. The department offers a range of training and resources to help teachers do so effectively.

The department is offering all state schools and colleges a grant to train a senior mental health lead by 2025, enabling them to introduce effective whole school approaches to mental health and wellbeing. Over 14,400 settings have claimed a grant so far, including more than 7 in 10 state-funded secondary schools, and the department has recently made second grants available for settings who have lost their trained lead. The department’s quality assured training course provides the practical knowledge and skills to implement a whole school or college approach to promoting mental wellbeing. The course also helps senior mental health leads to facilitate the development of school staff, to ensure that all staff can recognise and understand the process to respond to mental health concerns.

The department has recently launched two new resources to help trained mental health leads and wider school and college staff to promote and support pupil mental health, both hosted on the Mentally Healthy Schools site. The resource hub signposts practical resources and tools to embed whole-school or college approaches and the targeted mental wellbeing toolkit gives practical advice and tools to help schools and colleges identify the most effective targeted support options for their setting. The resource hub is available at: https://mentallyhealthyschools.org.uk/whole-school-or-college-resources/. The target mental wellbeing toolkit is available at: https://mentallyhealthyschools.org.uk/targeted-support/.

To further support teachers and leaders wanting to expand their knowledge and skills, the department has accredited a range of national professional qualifications (NPQs). These qualifications are designed to provide training and support for teachers and school leaders at all levels and deliver improved outcomes for young people. Teachers and leaders who undertake an NPQ in leading teaching, leading behaviour and culture, or leadership will learn the essential knowledge and skills needed to create a calm, safe and supportive school culture, promoting wellbeing for all pupils and staff.


Written Question
Higher Education
Friday 1st December 2023

Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with refence to her Department's press release entitled Crackdown on rip-off university degrees, published on 17 July 2023, on which degree courses she plans to increase controls.

Answered by Robert Halfon

The department wants to ensure that all students, regardless of their background, benefit from high quality, world-leading higher education (HE) that leads to excellent outcomes.

The Office for Students (OfS) has responsibility for monitoring quality and standards and acting where there is a breach of its conditions of registration. The OfS registration condition B3 sets minimum requirements for student outcomes, including course continuation, completion and progression onto graduate employment or further study.

Where courses perform below these thresholds, the providers could face investigation, enabling the OfS to understand the reasons for their performance. If a HE provider is found to be in breach of regulatory requirements, the OfS has the power to intervene and impose sanctions.

To date, the OfS has undertaken 18 investigations in relation to student outcomes (B3) performance. The OfS will publish the outcomes of those investigations in due course and will make decisions about whether regulatory action is appropriate. The department expects the OfS to take decisive action where there has been a clear breach of B3, including, where appropriate, through the use of recruitment limits. Recruitment limits will prevent the growth of courses that do not meet minimum expectations for student outcomes, where there is no justifiable explanation for them failing to do so.

Other sanctions available to the OfS include issuing a specific ongoing condition of registration requiring an improvement in performance, financial penalties and ultimately the suspension or removal of the HE provider from the register (and with it, access to student finance).



Written Question
Higher Education
Thursday 26th October 2023

Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with refence to her Department's press release entitled Crackdown on rip-off university degrees, published on 17 July 2023, on which degree courses she plans to increase controls.

Answered by Robert Halfon

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.


Written Question
Students: Loans
Monday 23rd October 2023

Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of how many and what proportion of graduates in each plan will repay their (a) undergraduate and (b) post graduate loans.

Answered by Robert Halfon

Information on the proportion of graduates in each plan that will repay their (a) undergraduate and (b) post graduate loans, can be found in the ‘Student loan forecasts for England’ annual statistics publication here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/92168d82-7f22-4d01-d6a4-08dbca2fee12.

The system for setting interest rates on student loans is set out in the Education (Student Loans) (Repayment) Regulations 2009, as amended. Interest rates are applied in relation to the Retail Price Index (RPI). The RPI is determined by the RPI figure for the March prior to the applicable period for new interest rates. In addition, 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. From 1 September 2023 to 30 November 2023, the maximum interest rate has been set at 7.3% for Plan 2 and Plan 5 undergraduate student loans, and postgraduate student loans, to take into account recent increases in the prevailing market rate. From the 2023/24 academic year, student loan borrowers starting new courses will benefit from interest rates of RPI only. This change ensures that, under the new Plan 5 loan terms, new borrowers will not repay more than they originally borrowed, when adjusted for inflation.

Student loans have very different terms and conditions to commercial loans set with reference to the Bank of England base rate. Unlike commercial unsecured personal loans, student loans are available to all eligible students regardless of their background or financial history. The loans carry significant protections for borrowers. Monthly repayments are based on earnings above the relevant threshold, not on interest rate or 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 case of death or disability) at no detriment to the borrower. The government is not aware of any commercial loans that offer such protections.

The student finance and funding system must provide value for money for all of society at a time of rising costs. It is important that we have a sustainable student finance system, that is fair to students and fair to taxpayers. The department will continue to keep the terms of the student finance system under review to ensure that they keep delivering value for money for both students and taxpayers.


Written Question
Students: Loans
Monday 23rd October 2023

Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason the interest rate on student loans is set higher than the Bank of England base rate.

Answered by Robert Halfon

Information on the proportion of graduates in each plan that will repay their (a) undergraduate and (b) post graduate loans, can be found in the ‘Student loan forecasts for England’ annual statistics publication here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/92168d82-7f22-4d01-d6a4-08dbca2fee12.

The system for setting interest rates on student loans is set out in the Education (Student Loans) (Repayment) Regulations 2009, as amended. Interest rates are applied in relation to the Retail Price Index (RPI). The RPI is determined by the RPI figure for the March prior to the applicable period for new interest rates. In addition, 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. From 1 September 2023 to 30 November 2023, the maximum interest rate has been set at 7.3% for Plan 2 and Plan 5 undergraduate student loans, and postgraduate student loans, to take into account recent increases in the prevailing market rate. From the 2023/24 academic year, student loan borrowers starting new courses will benefit from interest rates of RPI only. This change ensures that, under the new Plan 5 loan terms, new borrowers will not repay more than they originally borrowed, when adjusted for inflation.

Student loans have very different terms and conditions to commercial loans set with reference to the Bank of England base rate. Unlike commercial unsecured personal loans, student loans are available to all eligible students regardless of their background or financial history. The loans carry significant protections for borrowers. Monthly repayments are based on earnings above the relevant threshold, not on interest rate or 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 case of death or disability) at no detriment to the borrower. The government is not aware of any commercial loans that offer such protections.

The student finance and funding system must provide value for money for all of society at a time of rising costs. It is important that we have a sustainable student finance system, that is fair to students and fair to taxpayers. The department will continue to keep the terms of the student finance system under review to ensure that they keep delivering value for money for both students and taxpayers.


Written Question
Schools: Buildings
Monday 16th October 2023

Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the potential merits of capital funding for the removal of asbestos from the school estate in addition to the capital funding already allocated to the school rebuilding programme.

Answered by Nick Gibb

It is the responsibility of those who run schools - academy trusts, Local Authorities and voluntary aided school bodies - to manage the safety and maintenance of their schools and to alert the Department if there is a serious concern with a building. It has always been the case that where the Department is made aware of a building that may pose an immediate risk, immediate action is taken.

The Department will spend whatever it takes to keep children safe. Ministers and officials have regular discussions with colleagues from HM Treasury on a range of issues.

The Department is investing in improving the condition of the school estate, with over £15 billion allocated since 2015, including £1.8 billion committed for 2023/24. This funding allocation is informed by consistent data on the condition of the estate. On top of this, the Department will transform 500 schools through its School Rebuilding Programme, prioritising buildings in the poorest condition and those with evidence of potential safety issues.

The Department takes the issue of asbestos in schools seriously, and is committed to supporting schools, Local Authorities and academy trusts to fulfil their duty to manage asbestos safely. The Department follows expert advice from the Health and Safety Executive; as long as asbestos containing materials are in good condition, well protected either by their position or physical protection, and are unlikely to be worked on, it is usually safer to manage them in place. Condition funding allocated to the sector can be used to remove asbestos when required. The Department provides additional support on a case by case basis, where there are serious issues with buildings that cannot be managed by responsible bodies independently.

The Department will always put the safety and wellbeing of children and staff in education settings at the heart of its policy decisions.



Written Question
Schools: Buildings
Monday 18th September 2023

Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on capital funding to support the removal of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete from school buildings; and how much and what proportion of that capital funding (a) has been allocated under the school rebuilding programme and (b) comprises additional funding.

Answered by Nick Gibb

Nothing is more important than the safety of children and staff. It has always been the case that where we are made aware of a building that may pose an immediate risk, the Department takes immediate action.

It is the responsibility of those who run schools – academy trusts, Local Authorities, and voluntary-aided school bodies – who work with their schools on a day-to-day basis, to manage the safety and maintenance of their schools and to alert us if there is a concern with a building.

The Department has acted decisively and proactively to tackle this issue. This Government has taken more proactive action on RAAC than any other in the UK. The Department issued comprehensive guidance in 2018, and subsequent years, to all responsible bodies highlighting the potential risks associated with RAAC and supporting them to identify this within their buildings, as well as to take appropriate steps in meeting their obligations to keep buildings safe. The most recent guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-estates-guidance.

There are over 22,000 schools and colleges in England, and the vast majority are unaffected. A significant proportion of the estate was built outside the period where RAAC was used, with around one third of the estate built since 2001, therefore, the Department has focused efforts on buildings built in the post-war decades.

The Department issued a questionnaire in March 2022, asking responsible bodies to inform the Department of any suspected RAAC identified in their estates. Responsible bodies have submitted questionnaires for over 98% of schools with blocks built in the target era, of which there are 14,900. We are pressing all remaining schools to get checks completed, to determine which schools require surveys.

The Department is contacting responsible bodies to help them respond to this request and to advise on what needs to be done, so that they can establish whether they believe they have RAAC. This work will continue until we have a response for all target era schools.

Schools and colleges where RAAC is suspected are being fast tracked for surveying, which is used to confirm whether RAAC is actually present. All schools and colleges that have already told us they suspect they might have RAAC will be surveyed within a matter of weeks, in many cases in a matter of days.

All schools where RAAC is confirmed are provided with a dedicated caseworker to support them and help implement a mitigation plan and minimise the disruption to children’s learning.

Across Government, Departments have been asked to report on the current picture of suspected and confirmed RAAC in their estates as soon as possible. This will be updated on a regular basis as new buildings are identified and surveying and remediation are carried out. The Department for Education published lists of education settings confirmed as having RAAC on Wednesday 6 September, and committed to providing further updates.

Schools will contact parents where RAAC is identified and inform them of any impacts on their child. The vast majority of schools are unaffected. Any parents that are unsure if their child’s school is affected should contact their school directly.

While some short term disruption is inevitable, all available measures will be taken to minimise disruption to pupil learning and ensure that pupils continue to receive face-to-face teaching. Where there is any disturbance to face-to-face education, schools will prioritise attendance for vulnerable children and young people and children of key workers. The guidance published by the Department in August also includes guidance on provision for pupils with SEND and sets out expectations that schools continue to provide free school meals to eligible pupils.

The Department will fund emergency mitigation work needed to make buildings safe, including installing alternative classroom space where necessary. Where schools and colleges need additional help with revenue costs, like transport to locations or temporarily renting a local hall or office, the department will provide that support for all reasonable requests. The Department will also fund longer term refurbishment projects, or rebuilding projects where these are needed, to rectify the RAAC issue in the long term.

All previously confirmed Schol Rebuilding Programme projects announced in 2021 and 2022 will continue to go ahead. A full list of confirmed projects can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme-schools-in-the-programme.

Further information on RAAC in education settings is available on the Education Hub: https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2023/09/06/new-guidance-on-raac-in-education-settings/.


Written Question
Schools: Buildings
Monday 18th September 2023

Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the National Audit Office’s report entitled Condition of school buildings, published on 28 June 2023, what plans her Department has to tackle the safety issues of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in school buildings; and by what date.

Answered by Nick Gibb

Nothing is more important than the safety of children and staff. It has always been the case that where we are made aware of a building that may pose an immediate risk, the Department takes immediate action.

It is the responsibility of those who run schools – academy trusts, Local Authorities, and voluntary-aided school bodies – who work with their schools on a day-to-day basis, to manage the safety and maintenance of their schools and to alert us if there is a concern with a building.

The Department has acted decisively and proactively to tackle this issue. This Government has taken more proactive action on RAAC than any other in the UK. The Department issued comprehensive guidance in 2018, and subsequent years, to all responsible bodies highlighting the potential risks associated with RAAC and supporting them to identify this within their buildings, as well as to take appropriate steps in meeting their obligations to keep buildings safe. The most recent guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-estates-guidance.

There are over 22,000 schools and colleges in England, and the vast majority are unaffected. A significant proportion of the estate was built outside the period where RAAC was used, with around one third of the estate built since 2001, therefore, the Department has focused efforts on buildings built in the post-war decades.

The Department issued a questionnaire in March 2022, asking responsible bodies to inform the Department of any suspected RAAC identified in their estates. Responsible bodies have submitted questionnaires for over 98% of schools with blocks built in the target era, of which there are 14,900. We are pressing all remaining schools to get checks completed, to determine which schools require surveys.

The Department is contacting responsible bodies to help them respond to this request and to advise on what needs to be done, so that they can establish whether they believe they have RAAC. This work will continue until we have a response for all target era schools.

Schools and colleges where RAAC is suspected are being fast tracked for surveying, which is used to confirm whether RAAC is actually present. All schools and colleges that have already told us they suspect they might have RAAC will be surveyed within a matter of weeks, in many cases in a matter of days.

All schools where RAAC is confirmed are provided with a dedicated caseworker to support them and help implement a mitigation plan and minimise the disruption to children’s learning.

Across Government, Departments have been asked to report on the current picture of suspected and confirmed RAAC in their estates as soon as possible. This will be updated on a regular basis as new buildings are identified and surveying and remediation are carried out. The Department for Education published lists of education settings confirmed as having RAAC on Wednesday 6 September, and committed to providing further updates.

Schools will contact parents where RAAC is identified and inform them of any impacts on their child. The vast majority of schools are unaffected. Any parents that are unsure if their child’s school is affected should contact their school directly.

While some short term disruption is inevitable, all available measures will be taken to minimise disruption to pupil learning and ensure that pupils continue to receive face-to-face teaching. Where there is any disturbance to face-to-face education, schools will prioritise attendance for vulnerable children and young people and children of key workers. The guidance published by the Department in August also includes guidance on provision for pupils with SEND and sets out expectations that schools continue to provide free school meals to eligible pupils.

The Department will fund emergency mitigation work needed to make buildings safe, including installing alternative classroom space where necessary. Where schools and colleges need additional help with revenue costs, like transport to locations or temporarily renting a local hall or office, the department will provide that support for all reasonable requests. The Department will also fund longer term refurbishment projects, or rebuilding projects where these are needed, to rectify the RAAC issue in the long term.

All previously confirmed Schol Rebuilding Programme projects announced in 2021 and 2022 will continue to go ahead. A full list of confirmed projects can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme-schools-in-the-programme.

Further information on RAAC in education settings is available on the Education Hub: https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2023/09/06/new-guidance-on-raac-in-education-settings/.