Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential implications for its policies of the report by the Education Committee on Support for childcare and the early years, published on 26 July 2023.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department recognises the valuable work of the Education Committee through its report on support for childcare and early years. We have considered the report’s findings and recommendations carefully and have since expanded access to childcare. We are further expanding childcare entitlements so that from September 2025, eligible working parents can access 30 hours of early education and childcare a week from the term after their child turns nine months.
The government’s Plan for Change set out the department’s commitment to give children the best start in life, breaking the link between background and opportunity. This month, we published our landmark strategy, ‘Giving every child the best start in life’, putting children’s first years at the heart of work to improve life chances. This is a fundamental step change in how government drives up quality in early education, ensuring places are available in every community, and restores crumbling family services for the next generation, as the government places £1.5 billion of cash behind the reforms.
Insights from the report, committee members and wider experts, alongside engagement with parents and the early years and families sectors, have been invaluable in informing the contents of our Best Start in Life strategy.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department made of the adequacy of services provided to the NHS by AJM healthcare.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the provision and commissioning of local wheelchair services. It is therefore the responsibility of ICBs to review and assess the quality of the provision of their commissioned National Health Service wheelchair services.
As such, we do not currently have any plans to assess the adequacy of the provision of NHS wheelchair services provided by AJM Healthcare. NHS England is taking steps to support ICBs to commission effective, efficient, and personalised wheelchair services. This includes publishing a Wheelchair Quality Framework on 9 April 2025 which sets out quality standards and statutory requirements for ICBs, such as offering personal wheelchair budgets. The framework is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/wheelchair-quality-framework/
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many universities have had debt restructuring packages facilitated by the Office for Students involving (a) the Department for Education, (b) external consultants and (c) commercial lenders since 2018.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Office for Students (OfS) has not facilitated debt restructuring packages of any university since 2018.
Universities are independent from government and as such are responsible for managing their finances. This includes negotiations with commercial lenders.
While the OfS has statutory duties in relation to the financial sustainability of the higher education (HE) sector, the government has a clear interest in understanding the sector’s level of risk. As such, the department continues to work closely with the OfS in order to better understand the sector’s changing financial landscape.
This government is committed to supporting the sector in moving towards a more stable financial footing. That is why we have made the difficult decision to increase tuition fee limits by 3.1%, in line with inflation, from the 2025/26 academic year.
Moreover, we have appointed Professor Edward Peck as OfS Chair, where he will play a key role in strengthening the OfS’s commitment to financial sustainability while also expanding opportunities in HE.
We aim to publish our plans for HE reform soon as part of the Post-16 Skills White Paper, and work with the sector and the OfS to deliver the change that the country needs.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what role her Department has in facilitating agreements between financially distressed universities and their commercial lenders.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Office for Students (OfS) has not facilitated debt restructuring packages of any university since 2018.
Universities are independent from government and as such are responsible for managing their finances. This includes negotiations with commercial lenders.
While the OfS has statutory duties in relation to the financial sustainability of the higher education (HE) sector, the government has a clear interest in understanding the sector’s level of risk. As such, the department continues to work closely with the OfS in order to better understand the sector’s changing financial landscape.
This government is committed to supporting the sector in moving towards a more stable financial footing. That is why we have made the difficult decision to increase tuition fee limits by 3.1%, in line with inflation, from the 2025/26 academic year.
Moreover, we have appointed Professor Edward Peck as OfS Chair, where he will play a key role in strengthening the OfS’s commitment to financial sustainability while also expanding opportunities in HE.
We aim to publish our plans for HE reform soon as part of the Post-16 Skills White Paper, and work with the sector and the OfS to deliver the change that the country needs.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment his Department has made of the increase in the level of (a) misinformation and (b) disinformation from (i) non-state actors on social media platforms (ii) all sources during elections.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DSIT takes the threat of mis- and disinformation from all actors extremely seriously. The 2024 General Election and 2025 Local Elections ran smoothly and securely, with no serious information incidents affecting their integrity. DSIT, as part of the Defending Democracy Taskforce, worked with partners across government and social media platforms to minimise information risks during the election.
Since then, the Online Safety Act’s illegal content duties came into force in March 2025, requiring platforms to address and remove illegal content, including content that incites violence, intends to harm, intimidate, or deceive voters into changing their vote, or constitutes foreign interference.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support Skills England will provide to improve further education provision in (a) Mid Cambridgeshire and (b) other places where this is limited.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Skills England will support the delivery of government policy, driving forward the Plan for Change and industrial strategy by identifying skills gaps in the economy and using this insight to improve provision so that people and businesses can access the right training.
Skills England’s first report, published September 2024, sets out the key skills challenges that limit economic growth and opportunity and an initial assessment of skills needs in the economy – and moving forward, Skills England will work in partnership with stakeholders, including employers and further education and higher education providers, to co-create the right training products to boost growth and opportunity.
Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs), overseen by Skills England, are specifically designed to drive local economic growth by better aligning provision of post-16 technical education and training with local labour market needs.
The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough LSIP is helping to identify and respond to gaps in provision and support learners to gain the skills they need to get good jobs, including in key local sectors, such as Green Construction, Green Engineering and Manufacturing, and Digital. By identifying opportunities for local innovation and growth, LSIPs are helping to ensure every part of the country can succeed in its own unique way.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve access to (a) high-quality technical education and (b) work-placed training in Cambridgeshire.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As announced in the Spending Review, the department is making over £1 billion of additional investment per year in skills by 2028/29.
This will support and grow the wide range of technical routes and work-based training available for people of all ages, across the country, including in Cambridgeshire. This investment includes:
The department has also strengthened legislation to ensure all secondary pupils have multiple opportunities for meaningful encounters with providers of technical education and apprenticeships.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps Skills England will take to encourage (a) SMEs and (b) other employers to offer more apprenticeships for people under 25.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Skills England will support young people to develop the skills they need.
The rate of young people’s apprenticeship starts has fallen by almost 40% since 2015/16. We want to rebalance the programme back towards young people.
This government, supported by Skills England, is focused on establishing a coherent skills system with more flexible training options that support employers to fill skills gaps whilst driving growth and spreading opportunity.
Supported by Skills England, we are introducing foundation apprenticeships to get young people into work-based training and employment, as well as delivering shorter duration apprenticeships to provide flexibility for employers and learners.
Employers are not required to pay anything towards employees’ National Insurance for all apprentices aged up to age 25 when the employee’s wage is below £50,270 a year.
We recognise the need to protect the smallest employers which is why we have more than doubled the Employment Allowance to £10,500, meaning more than half of businesses with National Insurance contributions liabilities either gain or see no change next year.
We also provide £1,000 to both employers and training providers when they take on apprentices aged under 19.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria the Office for Students uses to determine emergency financial support for universities; and if she will publish those criteria.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government has not provided emergency funding to any university since 4 July 2024.
Universities are independent from government and as such must continue to make the necessary financial decisions to ensure their long-term sustainability. If a university was at risk of failure, the department would work with the Office for Students (OfS) to ensure that students are protected, recognising the significant impact university closure would have on their future.
The OfS dedicates significant resources to ensuring the sector's financial sustainability but does not provide emergency financial support to universities. It assesses financial sustainability on a case-by-case basis and does not disclose the identity of institutions deemed to be at material risk, as this is considered highly commercially sensitive. The OfS’ most recent report on the sector’s financial condition can be found here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/financial-sustainability-of-higher-education-providers-in-england-2025/.
While the sector is autonomous, we are committed to creating a secure future for our world-leading universities.
The department has appointed Professor Edward Peck as OfS Chair, where he will play a key role in strengthening the commitment of the OfS to monitoring the financial health of the sector. Additionally, we made the difficult decision to uplift tuition fee limits by 3.1% (in line with inflation) from the 2025/26 academic year. The department will publish its plans for higher education reform as part of the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper this summer.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many universities are classified by the Office for Students as being at material risk of financial failure.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government has not provided emergency funding to any university since 4 July 2024.
Universities are independent from government and as such must continue to make the necessary financial decisions to ensure their long-term sustainability. If a university was at risk of failure, the department would work with the Office for Students (OfS) to ensure that students are protected, recognising the significant impact university closure would have on their future.
The OfS dedicates significant resources to ensuring the sector's financial sustainability but does not provide emergency financial support to universities. It assesses financial sustainability on a case-by-case basis and does not disclose the identity of institutions deemed to be at material risk, as this is considered highly commercially sensitive. The OfS’ most recent report on the sector’s financial condition can be found here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/financial-sustainability-of-higher-education-providers-in-england-2025/.
While the sector is autonomous, we are committed to creating a secure future for our world-leading universities.
The department has appointed Professor Edward Peck as OfS Chair, where he will play a key role in strengthening the commitment of the OfS to monitoring the financial health of the sector. Additionally, we made the difficult decision to uplift tuition fee limits by 3.1% (in line with inflation) from the 2025/26 academic year. The department will publish its plans for higher education reform as part of the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper this summer.