Asked by: Claire Hazelgrove (Labour - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support disadvantaged students from the Filton and Bradley Stoke constituency in accessing, participating in, and succeeding at university.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
We support the aspiration of every person who meets the requirements and wants to go to university, regardless of their background or where they live.
All English higher education (HE) providers that intend to charge higher level tuition fees must have an access and participation plan approved by the Office for Students which articulates how it will improve equality of opportunity for underrepresented groups, supporting them to both access and succeed in HE.
We are introducing targeted, means-tested maintenance grants of up to £1,000 per year from the 2028/29 academic year, providing vital extra support for students from low-income households without increasing their debt, and are future-proofing maintenance loans by committing to increase them in line with forecast inflation every year.
As a further measure, we have convened an access and participation task and finish group to consider how to tackle regional disparities and the systemic barriers across the journey into HE for disadvantaged students. A final report will be published in January 2027.
Asked by: Claire Hazelgrove (Labour - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support pupils in learning to swim 25 metres.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Swimming is a vital life skill. Every child should have the opportunity to learn to swim before leaving primary school. Schools must provide core swimming lessons within the PE national curriculum in key stage 1 or key stage 2, teaching pupils to swim competently, confidently and proficiently over at least 25 metres.
Schools receive core funding for curriculum activities, including PE, which can be used for swimming lessons and transport.
The department has also confirmed £1 billion funding for PE and school sport over three years, building on £67 billion of core funding this year, ensuring schools have the resources they need to deliver for pupils.
Increasing access and improving attainment in swimming and water safety will be key priorities for the new PE and School Sport Partnerships network. The network will support access to swimming by bringing together schools, local clubs, and national governing bodies of sport, helping to identify and address barriers to participation so that funding and support are targeted where they are needed most. Furthermore, the network will support attainment by developing high quality support more consistently to schools, including swimming and water safety training, access to specialist coaching, links to local swimming clubs and greater access to competitions and national programmes.
Asked by: Claire Hazelgrove (Labour - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of current funding rules on schools’ ability to deliver swimming lessons, in the context of restrictions on using the PE and Sport Premium for transport to swimming facilities and the growing number of children who do not know how to swim.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Swimming is a vital life skill. Every child should have the opportunity to learn to swim before leaving primary school. Schools must provide core swimming lessons within the PE national curriculum in key stage 1 or key stage 2, teaching pupils to swim competently, confidently and proficiently over at least 25 metres.
Schools receive core funding for curriculum activities, including PE, which can be used for swimming lessons and transport.
The department has also confirmed £1 billion funding for PE and school sport over three years, building on £67 billion of core funding this year, ensuring schools have the resources they need to deliver for pupils.
Increasing access and improving attainment in swimming and water safety will be key priorities for the new PE and School Sport Partnerships network. The network will support access to swimming by bringing together schools, local clubs, and national governing bodies of sport, helping to identify and address barriers to participation so that funding and support are targeted where they are needed most. Furthermore, the network will support attainment by developing high quality support more consistently to schools, including swimming and water safety training, access to specialist coaching, links to local swimming clubs and greater access to competitions and national programmes.
Asked by: Claire Hazelgrove (Labour - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, What assessment she has made of the impact of the classification of students on weekend-only courses as distance learners on their eligibility for student loans.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department understands the anxiety caused by students affected by the misclassification of weekend-only courses by providers, which has resulted in students receiving maintenance support they are not entitled to. We have been clear that providers should put in place appropriate hardship support so that students receive the help they need during this period. To provide clarity for students, we have instructed the Student Loans Company to recover loan payments through the student loan system in line with existing loan terms, and to pause any action on recovery of targeted grant funding until at least September while we review the position.
Asked by: Claire Hazelgrove (Labour - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support undergraduate and graduate students in Filton and Bradley Stoke constituency with the cost of living.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
To help students from the most disadvantaged backgrounds progress and excel in higher education, we will future proof our loan offer for undergraduate students by increasing loans for living costs in line with forecast inflation every academic year.
This will ensure that students from the lowest income families receive the largest year-on-year increases in support and provide students with long-term financial certainty on the support they will receive while studying.
Maximum loans for living costs for undergraduate students will increase by forecast inflation, 2.71%, for the 2026/27 academic year.
In addition, all eligible care leavers, regardless of age or personal circumstances, who are attending undergraduate courses in 2026/27, will be eligible for the maximum loan for living costs, removing key barriers to accessing education.
Loans to help with course fees and living costs for students starting postgraduate master’s degree and doctoral degree courses in 2026/27 will also increase by 2.71%.
Asked by: Claire Hazelgrove (Labour - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, What steps she is taking to support schools in helping prevent knife crime among young people.
Answered by Olivia Bailey
Last month, the department published its plan to half knife crime, working across government to achieve a sustained reduction. The department’s focus is on strengthening schools’ ability to prevent violence, reducing children’s vulnerabilities, and improving collaboration between schools and local partners.
Alongside this, we launched the Safety In and Around Schools Partnership, which will support around 250 schools in areas most affected by knife crime, strengthening safety, improving awareness of risks, and increasing access to local support services. Updated guidance on pupil premium funding also enables this to be used for violence reduction initiatives, making it easier for school leaders to invest in preventative approaches.
Asked by: Claire Hazelgrove (Labour - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, What steps she is taking to enable more young people to access extracurricular and youth activities outside school hours.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government’s response to the Curriculum and Assessment Review’s report, and the Schools White Paper, committed to set out a core enrichment offer through our upcoming Enrichment Framework that every school and college, in every community, should aim to provide. This includes access to civic engagement, arts and culture, nature, outdoor and adventure, sport and physical activities and developing wider life skills, and can include delivery within the school day, or beyond it, for example, at after-school clubs or weekend activities.
Last year, the government published ‘Youth Matters: Your National Youth Strategy’, a 10 year plan to ensure every young person across the country has somewhere to go, someone who cares for them and a community they feel part of. It is backed by over £500 million of funding over the next 3 years from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport for outside of school activities, support when and where young people need it, more safe spaces to connect with peers and trusted adults, and better local youth offers. It also includes a clear ambition to halve the participation gap in enriching activities between disadvantaged young people and their peers by 2035.
Asked by: Claire Hazelgrove (Labour - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy and availability of therapeutic support for adoptive families; and what assessment she has made of the adequacy and effectiveness of signposting to support services available for adoptive families.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This financial year, the department has invested £50 million into the adoption and special guardianship support fund. We have approved applications for nearly 14,000 children since April for both therapy and specialist assessments. We continue to review the impact of the changes to funding made in April 2025.
The department continues to work closely with stakeholders to ensure clear and effective communication. This commitment is reflected in the fund’s growth, with applications increasing by around 10% annually since its inception and over 55,000 individual children supported to date.
Regional adoption agencies serve as central hubs for advice, connecting families to local services, training opportunities, peer support groups, and providing direct referrals to specialist services.
In addition, we work in collaboration with Adoption England to identify and promote best practice across the sector.
Asked by: Claire Hazelgrove (Labour - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the availability of childcare for children under the age of two.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The government’s Plan for Change sets out a commitment to give children the best start in life, breaking the link between background and opportunity.
In the 2025/26 financial year alone, we plan to provide over £8 billion for the early years entitlements. This is a more than 30% increase compared to 2024/25, as we roll out the expansion of the entitlements, so eligible working parents of children aged from nine months can access 30 hours of funded childcare.
Since September 2024, eligible parents have been able to access 15 hours of government-funded childcare (over 38 weeks a year) from the term after their child turns 9 months. This will double to 30 hours from September 2025.
The department continues to monitor the sufficiency of childcare places. The key measure of sufficiency is whether the supply of available places is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents and children.
Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, we discuss what action the local authority is taking to address those issues and, where needed, support the local authority with any specific requirements through our childcare sufficiency support contract.
Asked by: Claire Hazelgrove (Labour - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure adequate levels of financial education in schools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Financial education currently forms a compulsory part of the National Curriculum for mathematics (at key stages 1 to 4) and citizenship (at key stages 3 and 4). The primary mathematics curriculum includes arithmetic knowledge that supports pupils’ ability to manage budgets and money, including, for example, calculations with money and percentages. In secondary mathematics, pupils are taught topics such as how to calculate compound interest, which is relevant for personal finance. In citizenship, pupils are taught the function and uses of money, how to budget and manage credit and debt, as well as concepts like insurance, savings and pensions.
High and rising school standards are at the heart of the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and give every child the best start in life. The government‘s ambition is for a broad, rich and cutting-edge curriculum that equips children and young people with the essential knowledge and skills required to thrive as citizens, in work and throughout life. This is why the government announced a Curriculum and Assessment Review on 19 July 2024, chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE.
The Curriculum and Assessment Review group has launched a call for evidence. The review group has set out a number of key questions and themes where it would particularly welcome evidence and input from the sector and stakeholders to help direct the focus of the review and engagement with the sector over the autumn term.
The views of young people, parents, teachers, lecturers, leaders and other education staff and experts are pivotal to the recommendations, so that the panel can draw on the wealth of expertise and experience across the sector. Anyone can access and respond to the call for evidence.