Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of applying an interest rate of RPI plus 3% to Plan 2 student loans for graduates earning over £50,270 on the disposable income of those graduates.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Plan 2 student loans were designed and implemented by previous governments. Students in England starting degrees under this government have different arrangements.
Plan 2 loans interest rates are applied at the Retail Price Index (RPI) only, then variable up to RPI +3% depending on earnings. Interest rates do not impact monthly repayments made by student loan borrowers, which stay at a constant rate of 9% above an earnings threshold to protect lower earners. If a borrower’s salary remains the same, their monthly repayments will also stay the same. Any outstanding loan and interest is written off at the end of the loan term, and debit is never passed on to family members or descendants.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of additional revenue raised by freezing student loan repayment thresholds.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
At the Autumn Budget 2025, the government announced the repayment threshold for Plan 2 student loans will be frozen at £29,385 for three years from April 2027.
This measure is currently forecast to generate additional revenue of £54 million in the 2027/28 financial year, £93 million in 2028/29, £115 million in 2029/30 and £90 million in 2030/31. This reflects an expected increase in the value of Plan 2 student loan repayments compared to if the threshold had been allowed to increase by inflation.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has modelled the potential impact of Plan 2 interest rates on graduate retention in key public service professions.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not provide analysis for impacts of policies on graduate retention in key public service professions.
Borrowers, including those in public services professions, remain protected as repayments are determined by income, not the amount borrowed. If a borrower’s salary remains the same, their monthly repayments will also stay the same.
Borrowers only start repaying their student loan once earnings exceed the student loan repayment threshold, after which they pay 9% of income above that level. The Plan 2 repayment threshold freeze does not change that or increase borrowers’ student loan balances. At the end of the repayment term any outstanding loan debt, including interest accrued, will be cancelled.
It is important that we have a sustainable student finance system, fair to students and the taxpayer. We will continue to keep the terms of the system under review to ensure this remains the case.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to accept the recommendation of the Curriculum and Assessment Review to develop a programme of work to provide evidence-led guidance on curriculum and pedagogical adaptation.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The Curriculum and Assessment Review looked closely at how to break down the barriers that hold back children and young people, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, those with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND), and those who are otherwise vulnerable.
The department has accepted the recommendation to develop new evidence-led resources to support curriculum adaptation for all children and young people, including those with SEND in the government response published alongside the review. We will work in collaboration with experts and school leaders to create new Curriculum in Practice resources: a flexible suite of adaptive teaching strategies, case studies and real-world examples tailored to different phases of education.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to extend universal free school meals to children in (a) Isle of Wight East constituency and (b) other areas of high child poverty.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The government has a central mission to break down barriers to opportunity for every child, having inherited a trend of rising child poverty. That is why the government is committed to delivering an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty, tackling the root causes and giving every child the best start at life. Additionally, the government is committed to introducing free breakfast clubs in every primary school, to set children up for the day and ensure they are ready to learn, while supporting parents and carers to work.
The department spends around £1.5 billion annually on free lunches for 2.1 million school pupils under benefits-based free school meals, over 90,000 disadvantaged students in further education, and around 1.3 million infants under universal infant free school meals. On the Isle of Wight, 24.7% benefit from free school meals.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help ensure the adequacy of support for kinship care therapists for families on the Isle of Wight.
Answered by Janet Daby
The Autumn Budget 2024 gave an additional £22.6 billion of resource spending for the day-to-day health budget for last year and this year.
It is the responsibility of the Isle of Wight Council and Isle of Wight NHS Trust to ensure there are adequate therapeutic services to meet the needs of local kinship families.
The adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) provides funding for therapies and specialist assessments for eligible kinship children. Local authorities apply for funding on behalf of these children, and source therapists in their area. The funding may cover travel costs for therapists to reach families, as well as necessary single-use materials. The department also offers therapists information designed to support them in their activity as ASGSF providers, including an ASGSF Knowledge Hub and regular updates on the fund.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department takes to calculate compliance costs education-related regulations.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The department assesses education-related regulation compliance costs for businesses and households as per the Better Regulation Framework, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/better-regulation-framework.
This typically involves a proportionate assessment of the costs following the steps outlined in the framework:
These RIAs are scrutinised by the Regulatory Policy Committee (RPC) as required and published alongside legislation when laid before Parliament.
The RPC also publishes opinions of the department’s RIAs, all of which in the past ten years have been Green-rated as fit-for-purpose. These can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/rpc-opinions-for-department-for-education.
Compliance costs of regulations to public sector services such as local authorities, schools and children’s services are estimated in a similar way. This can involve consultation with impacted stakeholders, analysis of expected administration and adaptation costs, evidence from similar regulations and modelling of potential impacts as appropriate.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what (a) financial and (b) other support her Department provides to local authorities to help maintain small rural schools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
I refer the hon. Member for Isle of Wight East to the answer of 28 March 2025 to Question 40354.