Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department provides to schools on obtaining parental consent before children participate in classroom sessions involving external speakers discussing their personal experiences of (a) irregular and (b) illegal migration.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Under sections 406 and 407 of the Equality Act 1996, schools must not promote partisan political views and should ensure that pupils are provided with a balanced treatment of political issues.
To support this, the department has published comprehensive guidance to support schools to meet their duties on political impartiality. This is accessible at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/political-impartiality-in-schools/political-impartiality-in-schools.
The guidance states that all schools should thoroughly assess external agencies before agreeing to work with them, ensuring that the external agencies used, including materials and communication with pupils, are appropriate and adhere to schools’ legal duties on political impartiality.
The guidance also sets out that most issues can be resolved locally through their existing processes for engaging with parents, carers and the wider school community, and that schools should treat concerns seriously.
Additionally, all schools and colleges must have regard to the ‘Keeping children safe in education’ statutory guidance when carrying out their duties, to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
The department has not had any contact with Quality First Education Trust or Wandsworth Council on these issues.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has issued guidance to schools on ensuring that classroom discussions involving people who have entered the UK illegally do not (a) compromise safeguarding standards and (b) expose pupils to political messaging.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Under sections 406 and 407 of the Equality Act 1996, schools must not promote partisan political views and should ensure that pupils are provided with a balanced treatment of political issues.
To support this, the department has published comprehensive guidance to support schools to meet their duties on political impartiality. This is accessible at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/political-impartiality-in-schools/political-impartiality-in-schools.
The guidance states that all schools should thoroughly assess external agencies before agreeing to work with them, ensuring that the external agencies used, including materials and communication with pupils, are appropriate and adhere to schools’ legal duties on political impartiality.
The guidance also sets out that most issues can be resolved locally through their existing processes for engaging with parents, carers and the wider school community, and that schools should treat concerns seriously.
Additionally, all schools and colleges must have regard to the ‘Keeping children safe in education’ statutory guidance when carrying out their duties, to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
The department has not had any contact with Quality First Education Trust or Wandsworth Council on these issues.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions her Department has had with the Quality First Education Trust regarding (a) classroom sessions and (b) external speaker events addressing (i) migration and (ii) asylum issues in the 2024/25 academic year.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Under sections 406 and 407 of the Equality Act 1996, schools must not promote partisan political views and should ensure that pupils are provided with a balanced treatment of political issues.
To support this, the department has published comprehensive guidance to support schools to meet their duties on political impartiality. This is accessible at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/political-impartiality-in-schools/political-impartiality-in-schools.
The guidance states that all schools should thoroughly assess external agencies before agreeing to work with them, ensuring that the external agencies used, including materials and communication with pupils, are appropriate and adhere to schools’ legal duties on political impartiality.
The guidance also sets out that most issues can be resolved locally through their existing processes for engaging with parents, carers and the wider school community, and that schools should treat concerns seriously.
Additionally, all schools and colleges must have regard to the ‘Keeping children safe in education’ statutory guidance when carrying out their duties, to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
The department has not had any contact with Quality First Education Trust or Wandsworth Council on these issues.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what oversight her Department exercises over academy trusts that invite external speakers to address pupils on politically sensitive issues.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Under sections 406 and 407 of the Equality Act 1996, schools must not promote partisan political views and should ensure that pupils are provided with a balanced treatment of political issues.
To support this, the department has published comprehensive guidance to support schools to meet their duties on political impartiality. This is accessible at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/political-impartiality-in-schools/political-impartiality-in-schools.
The guidance states that all schools should thoroughly assess external agencies before agreeing to work with them, ensuring that the external agencies used, including materials and communication with pupils, are appropriate and adhere to schools’ legal duties on political impartiality.
The guidance also sets out that most issues can be resolved locally through their existing processes for engaging with parents, carers and the wider school community, and that schools should treat concerns seriously.
Additionally, all schools and colleges must have regard to the ‘Keeping children safe in education’ statutory guidance when carrying out their duties, to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
The department has not had any contact with Quality First Education Trust or Wandsworth Council on these issues.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the value was of student loans that were written off in the last year; and what this was as a proportion of all outstanding student loans, by nationality.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The requested information can be found in the Student Loans Company’s Student loans in England publication, updated in July each year. The publication, ‘Student loans in England: 2024 to 2025’ can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/student-loans-in-england-2024-to-2025.
The amount that has been cancelled or written off during the 2024/25 financial year, the total amount outstanding at the start of the financial year including interest and loans not yet due for repayment (after adjustments), and the proportion that write offs or cancellations make out of the starting balance can be found at: https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.publishing.service.gov.uk%2Fmedia%2F684c16b8da3d1b49e6797046%2Fslcsp012025.xlsx&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK.
These statistics are not broken down by borrower nationality. This information is not readily available and cannot be obtained within the timeframe given to respond. Figures for the 2025/26 financial year will be available in the July 2026 publication.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the number of (a) teachers and (b) classroom assistants (i) whose first language is not English and (ii) who have not undertaken a recognised English proficiency test.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The requested information on the first language of teachers and classroom assistants is not collected centrally.
Information on the qualifications held by teachers is available in the 'School workforce in England' accredited official statistics publication. This can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england/2024.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has provided funding to the Centre for Hate Studies at the University of Leicester.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department has not provided funding to the Centre for Hate Studies at the University of Leicester.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many employees in her Department earn (a) £100,000 and (b) £166,000 or more per year.
Answered by Janet Daby
The information requested is available in our published transparency data, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/disclosure-of-scs-posts-and-salary-information.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of departmental procurement contracts were awarded to British companies in the last financial year.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department’s procurement and contract management system only collects information related to company head office addresses rather than the ‘nationality’ of a company.
Details of central government contracts above £12,000 for procurements commenced before 24 February 2025 are published on Contracts Finder, which can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder.
Contracts procured under the Procurement Act 2023 above £12,000 including VAT are published on the Central Digital Platform Find a Tender service. This includes a note of the winning supplier. The service can be found here: https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Search.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to amend the guidance entitled School food standards practical guide, published on 13 February 2025, to encourage schools to buy British produce.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The department is acting quickly with experts across the sector to revise the school food standards, so every school is supported with the latest nutrition guidance. We are currently engaging with stakeholders on the school food standards to help us understand the challenges around school food.
Schools are responsible for their school meals service and how and where they choose to buy their produce. Schools can voluntarily follow the government's buying standards.
Additionally, the National Procurement Policy Statement, published in February 2025, underscores the government's commitment to increasing the procurement of food that meets higher environmental standards and upholding ethical sourcing practises across public sector contracts, which we believe our high quality British producers are well-placed to meet.
Alongside this, the government’s wider food strategy will create a healthier, fairer, and more resilient food system, boosting our food security, improving our health, ensuring economic growth, and delivering environmental sustainability.
As with all aspects of the school food standards review, the department will review our guidance and consider our approaches to procurement of UK-grown produce.