Asked by: Laura Trott (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the £3.5 billion funding announced in the White Paper entitled Every child achieving and thriving, published 23 February 2026, is additional funding beyond that announced at the Spending Review.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the right hon. Member for Sevenoaks to the answer of 7 April 2026 to Question HL14880 and HL14881.
Asked by: Laura Trott (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the £4bn announced in her Department's policy paper entitled Every child achieving and thriving, published on 23 February 2026, is from her Department’s existing spending envelope.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the right hon. Member for Sevenoaks to the answer of 7 April 2026 to Question HL14880 and HL14881.
Asked by: Laura Trott (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her department is taking to ensure pupils, particularly those with imminent exams, can continue to attend schools safely in the context of the meningitis outbreak.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Children and young people, including those identified as contacts of cases, can and should continue to attend school or college as normal, including sitting exams and qualifications, unless directly advised otherwise by the local health protection team.
Meningococcal disease does not spread easily, and outbreaks of the size seen in Kent are rare. Transmission of meningococcal disease requires close and prolonged contact to spread, including living in the same household, and intimate contact such as kissing or sharing vapes.
A targeted programme of preventative antibiotics and meningitis B vaccination has been introduced to provide longer-term protection for students and young people in the area. Vaccination has been offered to all those who have received preventative antibiotics, and to year 11, 12 and 13 students in schools and colleges in Kent where confirmed or probable cases have been identified. Widening the vaccine offer is a precautionary measure to ensure longer-term protection whilst helping to minimise disruption to school attendance at a critical time in the academic year.
Asked by: Laura Trott (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether school children who have been in a classroom, dining hall, shared areas with someone who now has confirmed meningitis are being offered a)antibiotics b)vaccinations.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Children and young people, including those identified as contacts of cases, can and should continue to attend school or college as normal, including sitting exams and qualifications, unless directly advised otherwise by the local health protection team.
Meningococcal disease does not spread easily, and outbreaks of the size seen in Kent are rare. Transmission of meningococcal disease requires close and prolonged contact to spread, including living in the same household, and intimate contact such as kissing or sharing vapes.
A targeted programme of preventative antibiotics and meningitis B vaccination has been introduced to provide longer-term protection for students and young people in the area. Vaccination has been offered to all those who have received preventative antibiotics, and to year 11, 12 and 13 students in schools and colleges in Kent where confirmed or probable cases have been identified. Widening the vaccine offer is a precautionary measure to ensure longer-term protection whilst helping to minimise disruption to school attendance at a critical time in the academic year.
Asked by: Laura Trott (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 13 February 2026 to Question 108298, when she estimates to complete their work on producing robust repayment figures broken down by British citizen status.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department and the Student Loans Company (SLC) have strengthened the quality and consistency of the data in this area and now hold reliable information on borrowers’ citizenship status, nationality and residency category.
However, eligibility for student finance is complex, not dependent on nationality and not determined solely by immigration status. We will continue to work with SLC and look at any further data improvements that may provide additional insights.
Asked by: Laura Trott (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to Answer of 14 January 2026 to Question 104334, how many students with settled status obtained a student loan in 2024-25; and how much was spent on repaying these loans in the same time period.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is not able to provide the requested data on settled status in the required timescale.
Settled status is a residency category, which is data held by the Student Loans Company (SLC).
However, changes in the application process over time, including the transition to electronic applications and introduction of new products, systems and processes in line with the legislation, mean that data held for earlier cohorts is held differently across multiple SLC systems.
As a result, it is not currently possible to produce robust settled status data within the required timescales. The department and the SLC are undertaking work to improve the quality and consistency of data provided.
Once this work is complete, the department expects to be able to provide information in response to such questions.
Asked by: Laura Trott (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether RSL levels will continue once V-Levels are introduced in September 2027.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department has recently closed the consultation on Post-16 Level 3 and Below Pathways. We are carefully considering transition arrangements to reach the new qualifications landscape set out in the Post-16 Skills White Paper, and will set out plans in due course.
Asked by: Laura Trott (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether a student with settled status, who has lived in the UK for three years, can obtain a student loan.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Eligibility for student finance is determined by several criteria, including residency status, the type of course, its location, the student’s previous study history, and whether they already hold a higher education qualification.
Students residing in England who hold settled status and have been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands (the Channel Islands and Isle of Man) for the three years preceding the first day of the first academic year of their course will be eligible for student finance, subject to meeting all other eligibility criteria. To qualify, this period of residence must not have been wholly or mainly for the purpose of receiving full-time education.
Asked by: Laura Trott (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that funding being provided for secondary schools on the National School Breakfast Programme in the 2026/2027 academic year is used as effectively as possible.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
From September 2026, participating national school breakfast programme schools with secondary-aged pupils will continue to be supported to an equivalent value of what they currently receive on the national school breakfast programme. Further details and guidance for eligible schools will be published in the spring term.
Asked by: Laura Trott (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the funding that mainstream primary schools with SEN Units receive to fund their free breakfast club.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department selected schools, including those with special educational needs units, for the early adopter (EA) scheme to ensure that there is a range of participating schools operating within different contexts and from diverse starting points.
The EA ‘test and learn’ phase has been crucial to informing the national rollout of free breakfast clubs. Through consultation with EAs, we have heard from the sector about what schools and trusts need to do to ensure free breakfast clubs effectively support children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). EA funding was designed to take account of the numbers of children with additional needs in different schools. However, we heard from EAs that the way funding was allocated did not always align with the number of children attending a club who may need additional support and was therefore not working as effectively as possible for some EA schools. In line with our ‘test and learn’ approach, we have therefore changed the funding rate and allocations for mainstream schools on the programme for national rollout so that the funding better enables all schools to meet the needs of children who attend, including children with SEND. These changes simplify the funding rate and mean schools will receive more money, at a rate of £25 per day, plus £1 per child per day. Schools have the autonomy to spend this funding according to how it best fits their needs.