Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to help support students in full-time higher education with the rising cost of living.
Answered by Andrea Jenkyns
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
The government recognises the additional cost of living pressures that have arisen as a result of global events this year and that have impacted students. Many higher education (HE) providers have hardship funds that students can apply to for assistance.
To support disadvantaged students and those who need additional help, the department confirmed in guidance to the Office for Students (OfS) on funding for the 2022/23 financial year that universities will continue to be able to support students in hardship through their own hardship funds and the student premium, for which up to £261 million is available for academic year 2022/23.
Maximum loans for living costs and grants have been increased this academic year, 2022/23. The government is reviewing options for uprating maximum loans and grants for the 2023/24 academic year. An announcement will follow in due course.
In addition, maximum tuition fees have been capped at £9,250 for the 2022/23 academic year, in respect of standard full-time courses. The department is also freezing maximum tuition fees for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years. By 2024/25, maximum fees will have been frozen for seven years.
As part of the package of support for rising energy bills, the government is also giving a council tax rebate payment of £150 to households that were living in a property in council tax bands A to D as their main home on 1 April 2022. This includes full-time students that do not live in student halls or in property that is not considered a House in Multiple Occupation for council tax purposes.
All households will save money on their energy bills through the Energy Price Guarantee. This is in addition to the £400 energy bills discount for all households. Students who buy their energy from a domestic supplier are eligible for the energy bills discount.
The Energy Prices Bill introduced on 12 October includes the provision to require landlords to pass benefits they receive from energy price support, as appropriate, onto end users. Further details of the requirements under this legislation will be set out in regulations.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support his Department provides to PHD students who require financial assistance with childcare.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The department recognises the value of parents continuing in education and provides a range of support for students in further or higher education to support them with childcare.
Students starting a doctoral degree on or after 1 August 2018 are eligible to receive a postgraduate doctoral loan of up to £27,892 to help with course fees and living costs, including childcare.
In addition to the above childcare support for doctoral students, all parents are eligible for the universal 15 hours of free early education which is available to all 3 and 4-year-olds regardless of family circumstances.
Working parents of 3 and 4-year-olds may also be eligible for an additional 15 hours of free childcare if they earn the equivalent of 16 hours a week at national minimum/living wage and under £100,000 per year. Students who participate in paid work in addition to their studies and meet the income requirements will be eligible for the additional hours.
Parents who meet these income criteria may also be able to receive support from Tax-Free Childcare, which can be worth up to £2,000 per year for children aged 0 to 11, or up to £4,000 per year for disabled children aged 0 to 16.
Further information on the childcare offers available to parents can be found at: https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/.
The department remains committed to improving the cost, choice, and availability of childcare, and we continue to look at ways to make childcare more affordable and to encourage families to use government-funded support they are entitled to.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of safeguarding in early years setting of removing staff to child ratios.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The department has a statutory obligation to consult on any potential changes to the Early Years Statutory Framework (EYFS), including any proposed changes to ratios. The department consulted on moving to the Scottish ratios for two-year-olds, from a ratio of 1:4 (one adult to four children) to 1:5 (one adult to five children), as well as on how greater flexibility can be provided within ratios for childminders. This consultation closed on 16 September, and the department will respond in due course.
Responses from this consultation will help to build the evidence base, including understanding more around the potential effect of safeguarding in the event that government guidelines are changed.
Alongside the consultation, the department ran a survey of early years providers to establish the likely impact of the changes on providers, and this survey will be published in due course.
Our priority continues to be to provide safe, high-quality early years provision for our youngest children.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will introduce specific funding to support schools with installing renewable electricity generation schemes on their estate.
Answered by Jonathan Gullis
The Department continues to work with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to help education settings access the £1.4 billion Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme. From October this year, up to £635 million has been made available through Phase 3B of the scheme for installing low carbon heating and energy efficiency measures in public buildings, with a minimum of 30% going to education settings. This will help to cut emissions and save on energy bills.
Since 2015, the Department has allocated over £13 billion in capital funding to improve the condition of school buildings, which can support improvements to energy efficiency. In addition, the School Rebuilding Programme will transform 500 schools over the next decade, with all new buildings being net zero carbon in operation. They will achieve this, in part by installing electricity generation on their estate. Any new funding will be determined at future fiscal events.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the policy proposal in the SEND Review to make mediation mandatory before allowing families to go to the SEND Tribunal, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of that policy on the mental health of parent carers through placing additional requirements to engage and negotiate with service providers on top of their caring responsibilities.
Answered by Will Quince
This government’s proposals set out in the Special Educational Needs (SEND) and Alternative Provision Green Paper, which is subject to consultation, seek to enable issues to be resolved earlier and improve relationships locally by strengthening mediation, including consulting on making it mandatory.
In the current system, in most cases, families must secure a mediation certificate before registering an appeal with the tribunal, but they do not have to participate in the mediation itself. If the parent or young person does decide to proceed with mediation, then the local authority must ensure that it arranges for mediation between it and the child's parent or young person, within 30 days. Mediation is effective in the majority of cases. In 2021, 74% of mediation cases were settled without the need to progress to tribunal. Mediation is free of charge for families.
Waiting for a SEND tribunal hearing can take significantly longer. The tribunal has a performance measure that 75% of appeals should be brought to hearing and the decision issued within 22 weeks.
Streamlining complaints processes and strengthening earlier dispute resolution will help to maintain and improve relationships between parents/carers and the local authority to enable them to continue working together. However, parents would still be able to go to tribunal if necessary. Coproduction remains a fundamental principle of the SEND system and the department wants to continue to work with parents and carers at every level of reform.
The Green Paper is now out for public consultation on its proposals until 22 July.