Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the graduate visa scheme on the achievement of the Government's objectives in the International Education Strategy.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
Strengthening the UK's visa offer for international higher education students was an important element of the International Education Strategy (IES) and its objectives, particularly the ambitious target of attracting 600,000 international students. The IES update in 2021 incorporated the graduate route to reflect its importance in achieving the outlined ambitions.
With 679,970 international students in the 2021/22 academic year, the UK has met the IES international student ambition of attracting 600,000 international students per year by 2030 for two years running in both 2020/21 and 2021/22. The department is on track and will continue working towards the IES education export ambition of £35 billion per year by 2030 with £27.9 billion revenue in 2021. Data used to track progress against these two ambitions is published annually.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the review by the Migration Advisory Committee on the Graduate visa route, published on 14 May 2024.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The government is grateful to the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) for their work on this report.
The review’s findings are being considered very closely and government will respond in due course.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the average contribution of international students to the economy in each of the last five years.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The government recognises the significant economic and cultural contribution that international students make to the UK’s higher education sector.
Estimated total UK revenue from international students, through their tuition fees and living expenditure, in each of the last five years for which data is available is listed in the table below:
Calendar year | Total international student exports (£billion) |
2017 | 13.63 |
2018 | 15.61 |
2019 | 17.48 |
2020 | 19.36 |
2021 | 20.65 |
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the average length of time the Student Loans Company takes to refund people who have made an overpayment on their student loan.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The Student Loans Company (SLC) has a Service Level Agreement of 28 days to make a refund to people who have made an over repayment on their student loan. Based on telephone requests from January to March 2024, the SLC averaged 8 days from the point the request was received to the point the refund was paid to the borrower’s bank account.
Student loans repayments for borrowers resident in the UK are made via HMRC through the UK tax system. Employers deduct repayments each pay period for employees with a student loan when their earnings are above the relevant repayment threshold for that pay period.
Over repayments can occur for a number of reasons, for example the time lag between an employer making a PAYE deduction and HMRC receiving and sending that payment to SLC, which can then confirm that a borrower has paid off their student loan balance. HMRC provides the SLC with student loan repayment information as reported by employers on a weekly basis. For this type of over-repayment, the SLC can automatically make a refund of £5,000 where they are able to verify a borrower’s bank account details.
SLC provide borrowers with the option to switch to repayments via direct debit when they are nearing the end of their loan repayments. This prevents overpayments entirely.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with HM Revenue and Customs on the timeframe for refunding student loan overpayment.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The Student Loans Company (SLC) has a Service Level Agreement of 28 days to make a refund to people who have made an over repayment on their student loan. Based on telephone requests from January to March 2024, the SLC averaged 8 days from the point the request was received to the point the refund was paid to the borrower’s bank account.
Student loans repayments for borrowers resident in the UK are made via HMRC through the UK tax system. Employers deduct repayments each pay period for employees with a student loan when their earnings are above the relevant repayment threshold for that pay period.
Over repayments can occur for a number of reasons, for example the time lag between an employer making a PAYE deduction and HMRC receiving and sending that payment to SLC, which can then confirm that a borrower has paid off their student loan balance. HMRC provides the SLC with student loan repayment information as reported by employers on a weekly basis. For this type of over-repayment, the SLC can automatically make a refund of £5,000 where they are able to verify a borrower’s bank account details.
SLC provide borrowers with the option to switch to repayments via direct debit when they are nearing the end of their loan repayments. This prevents overpayments entirely.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of allowing open book examinations for (a) English literature and (b) other subjects.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
This is a matter for the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual). The department has asked its Chief Regulator, Sir Ian Bauckham CBE, to write to the hon. Member for Hull West and Hessle and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has plans to take steps to ensure pupils with vision impairment can access transcriptions of accessible notation in (a) braille and (b) large print.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Under the Children and Families Act 2014, mainstream schools must use their best endeavours to make sure a child or young person who has Special Educational Needs, including visual impairment, gets the special educational provision they need.
All schools have duties under the Equality Act 2010 towards individual disabled children and young people. They must make reasonable adjustments, including the provision of auxiliary aids and services for disabled children, to prevent them being put at a substantial disadvantage.
To teach a class of pupils with sensory impairments, a teacher is required to hold the relevant mandatory qualification in sensory impairment (MQSI). Teachers working in an advisory role to support these pupils should also hold the appropriate qualification. The MQSI provides sensory impairment teachers with the specialist expertise needed to ensure pupils with a visual impairment are supported effectively, including modifying, producing and adapting teaching and learning materials in an appropriate medium, such as braille or enlarged/modified text, to make them accessible and training to others in how this is done.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
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 introducing an appeals process for parents and carers fined for taking their child out of school during term time.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Where a child is registered at a school, regular attendance is vital for their attainment, wellbeing and long-term development. The department is clear that parents should do everything they can to ensure that their child is in school every day. The law entitles every child of compulsory school age to receive an efficient, full-time education, and it is the legal responsibility of every parent to ensure their child receives that education either by attendance at a school or otherwise than at a school.
Where parents choose to register their child at a school, the law places a duty on the parents to ensure their child of compulsory school age attends school regularly. If parents fail to do this, they may be guilty of an offence and be issued a penalty notice or prosecuted. A parent has no right of appeal against a penalty notice. The penalty notice offers the parent the opportunity to avoid any conviction for the offence if it is paid in full and on time. If the penalty is not paid in full and on time, the local authority must decide either to prosecute the parent for the original offence or withdraw the notice.
If the local authority decides to prosecute, the parent and the local authority will have the opportunity to present their case to the court. The court will then make a decision based on the representations made.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
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 including personal financial education as a subject in the National Curriculum.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Financial education already forms a compulsory part of the National Curriculum for mathematics at Key Stages 1 to 4 and citizenship at Key Stages 3 and 4, which together cover important financial topics including personal budgeting, saving for the future, managing credit and debt, and calculating interest. The National Curriculum is compulsory for maintained schools. Academies must teach a broad and balanced curriculum, including mathematics.
My right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister recently announced more funding for secondary mathematics, and that mathematics will be studied by all 16 to 18 year olds as part of the new Advanced British Standard qualification.
As with all aspects of the curriculum, schools have flexibility over how they deliver financial education, so they can develop an integrated approach that is sensitive to the needs and background of their pupils.
There is a wide range of support for financial education. The Money and Pensions Service has published guidance, setting out how schools can improve the financial education they deliver, and signposting to services and resources that can help. The guidance is available at: https://maps.org.uk/en/publications/research/2021/financial-education-guidance-for-primary-and-secondary-schools-in-england.
Talk Money Week, which is running from 6 to 10 November, is focused on this year’s campaign ‘Do One Thing’ to help improve financial wellbeing. The Talk Money Week 2023 Toolkit for Schools includes a dedicated pack of information and resources to help schools promote the financial wellbeing of their pupils and students, during Talk Money Week and beyond. The toolkit is available at: https://maps.org.uk/en/our-work/talk-money-week#Download-the-Toolkit-for-Schools.
The Department’s national network of 40 Maths Hubs also supports schools to improve their mathematics teaching, including financial content in the mathematics curriculum, based on best practice from East Asia.
The Oak National Academy, which became an independent Arm’s Length Body in September 2022, will provide adaptable, optional and free support for schools to reduce teacher workload and enable schools to provide a high quality curriculum. New Oak curriculum materials, including for mathematics, will start to be available from autumn 2023, with full curriculum packages available by summer 2024. Oak’s next phase of procurement of curriculum resources is expected to launch in late 2023 and will include citizenship.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to consult parents as part of the consultation of statutory guidance on relationships education, relationships and sex education and health education.
Answered by Nick Gibb
All parents will have an opportunity to present their views as part of the public consultation on revised guidance due to be launched in the autumn of this year.
In developing revised guidance for consultation, the Department asked a range of stakeholders, including a number of groups representing parents, to share evidence about areas of the guidance they would like to see strengthened.
Parents have also been invited to contribute their views directly in roundtables with Ministers, focusing on key topics such as suicide prevention and teaching materials for relationships, sex and health education.