Written questions by Ribeiro-Addy.

What information she holds on the number of student loan borrowers whose repayment balances have increased despite making regular payments.

A borrower is deemed to have made regular repayments if they have made at least four repayments, of any amount, in the 2024/25 financial year. This may include borrowers who stopped their regular repayments or ceased being liable to repay part-way through the 2024/25 financial year.The total number of borrowers whose loan balance has increased despite making regular repayments in the 2024/25 financial year is 2,145,434. This figure covers Plan 2, 5 and 3 borrowers. It has been generated by comparing borrowers’ loan balances on 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025.At the end of a borrower’s loan term, any outstanding loan balance, including interest built up, will be written off. This write-off is the government’s subsidy and is a deliberate investment in our people and the economy.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of changes to early years funding on social enterprise nurseries following the changes to National Insurance Contributions.

It is our ambition that all families have access to high quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life. This is key to the government’s Plan for Change, which starts with reaching the milestone of a record number of children being ready for school. That also means ensuring the sector is financially sustainable and confident as it continues to deliver entitlements and high quality early years provision going forward.That is why, despite tough decisions to get public finances back on track, the government is continuing to prioritise and invest in supporting early education and childcare providers, including social enterprise nurseries, with the costs they face.In the 2025/26 financial year alone, the department plans to spend over £8 billion on early years entitlements. We have also announced the largest ever uplift to the early years pupil premium, increasing the rate by over 45% compared to the 2024/25 financial year, equivalent to up to £570 per eligible child per year.On top of this, the department is providing a further £75 million through the early years expansion grant to support the sector as it prepares to deliver the final phase of expanded childcare entitlements from September 2025, recognising the significant level of expansion needed and the effort and planning this will require.Early years childcare providers, including social enterprise nurseries, may also benefit from the Employment Allowance. The Allowance is being increased to protect businesses and provides them with relief of up to £10,500 per annum on their employer Class 1 National Insurance contributions liabilities from 6 April. Early years childcare providers are entitled to claim the Allowance if they are private businesses or charities, and the department expects the vast majority will be eligible to do so.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill on the number of child sexual assault cases brought forward.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, introduced in Parliament on 17 December, will protect children at risk of abuse, stopping vulnerable children falling through cracks in services.To keep children safe, the department plans to improve the sharing of information across and within agencies by enabling the use of a Single Unique Identifier. To better protect children from harm, we also plan to strengthen the delivery of a local decisive multi-agency child protection model through integrated multi-agency child protection teams, put a new duty on safeguarding partners to ensure education is sufficiently involved in multi-agency safeguarding arrangements, and ensure parents have consent from local authorities to home educate children where there are safeguarding concerns.Beyond the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, it is paramount the department acts to protect children from all forms of sexual abuse and exploitation. To that end, on 16 January, my right hon. Friend, the Home Secretary made clear that, before Easter, the government will lay out a clear timetable for taking forward the 20 recommendations from the final Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse report.

What guidance her Department has issued to local authorities on actions they can take in cases where parents have opted educate their children at home due to (a) dissatisfaction with their school, (b) bullying, (c) school suggestion, (d) difficulties in accessing suitable school places, (e) risk of school exclusion, (f) concerns about the child's mental health and (g) inadequate SEND provision.

This government’s mission is to break down barriers to opportunity by driving high and rising standards across the whole education and care system to give every family certainty that they will be able to send their child to a good local school. The department is working across government to deliver commitments related to this, such as on expanding Mental Health Support Teams and improving special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision.The department recognises that some parents are currently reporting that they are moving their children into home education due to dissatisfaction with their school, SEND provision, concerns about the child’s mental health, and other concerns. To ensure that local authorities can identify all children not in school in their areas, which includes those who are not receiving a suitable education or otherwise need support, we have introduced a package of Children Not in School measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. These measures include a requirement for all local authorities in England to keep compulsory registers of Children Not in School, improvements to the School Attendance Order process, and a requirement for parents of children on child protection plans, who are the subject of child protection enquiries, or who are at special schools to seek permission from the local authority before they can be removed from the school roll to be home educated. We will publish statutory guidance to help local authorities carry out these new duties. The department’s ‘Elective home education’ guidance for local authorities and parents includes advice for local authorities on the reasons why families may home educate. It emphasises that local authorities should consider individual circumstances when engaging with families and considering what support they may require. Since 2022, the department has collected aggregate data from local authorities on home educating children in their area, which is now published annually. Whilst local authorities are now required to provide this information to the department, parents are under no obligation to provide information to the local authority, including the reason for home education.The proposed compulsory Children Not in School registers will support local authorities to fulfil their existing education and safeguarding duties towards children. As part of these measures, parents and certain providers of out-of-school education will be required to provide specific information to local authority registers. These registers will be required to include such information as the reasons for home education, to the extent that this information is reasonably obtainable. However, only certain information will be required to be provided by the parent (such as name, address, date of birth, etc.), which does not include reasons for home education.

If she will take steps to require local authorities to identify the reasons for which parents opt for elective home education who fall under the category of (a) other, (b) unknown and (c) no reason given.

This government’s mission is to break down barriers to opportunity by driving high and rising standards across the whole education and care system to give every family certainty that they will be able to send their child to a good local school. The department is working across government to deliver commitments related to this, such as on expanding Mental Health Support Teams and improving special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision.The department recognises that some parents are currently reporting that they are moving their children into home education due to dissatisfaction with their school, SEND provision, concerns about the child’s mental health, and other concerns. To ensure that local authorities can identify all children not in school in their areas, which includes those who are not receiving a suitable education or otherwise need support, we have introduced a package of Children Not in School measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. These measures include a requirement for all local authorities in England to keep compulsory registers of Children Not in School, improvements to the School Attendance Order process, and a requirement for parents of children on child protection plans, who are the subject of child protection enquiries, or who are at special schools to seek permission from the local authority before they can be removed from the school roll to be home educated. We will publish statutory guidance to help local authorities carry out these new duties. The department’s ‘Elective home education’ guidance for local authorities and parents includes advice for local authorities on the reasons why families may home educate. It emphasises that local authorities should consider individual circumstances when engaging with families and considering what support they may require. Since 2022, the department has collected aggregate data from local authorities on home educating children in their area, which is now published annually. Whilst local authorities are now required to provide this information to the department, parents are under no obligation to provide information to the local authority, including the reason for home education.The proposed compulsory Children Not in School registers will support local authorities to fulfil their existing education and safeguarding duties towards children. As part of these measures, parents and certain providers of out-of-school education will be required to provide specific information to local authority registers. These registers will be required to include such information as the reasons for home education, to the extent that this information is reasonably obtainable. However, only certain information will be required to be provided by the parent (such as name, address, date of birth, etc.), which does not include reasons for home education.

What information her Department holds on the number of people fined following the issuance of a School Attendance Order in the 2023-24 academic year, broken down by (a) race and (b) gender.

The department collects aggregate data on penalty notices from local authorities in England through the annual parental responsibility measures attendance census. Information is not collected on measures previously used before issue of a penalty notice, nor the characteristics of the children concerned.The available data is published in the following statistical release: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/parental-responsibility-measures.The department also collects aggregate data on school attendance orders issued from local authorities in England through the collection on elective home education and children missing education. No information is collected on characteristics of the children concerned.The available data is published in the following statistical release: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/elective-home-education.

How many fines for school absence were issued to the parents of neurodiverse children who missed school for a reason relating to their condition in the last 12 months; and if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of those trends.

The information requested is not held by this department. The department collects aggregate data on penalty notices issued for unauthorised absence from local authorities in England, through the annual parental responsibility measures attendance census. No information is collected on characteristics of the children concerned. The available data is published here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/parental-responsibility-measures.On improving school attendance, this government is acting decisively to tackle absence via a new approach rooted in responsibility, partnership and belonging. This includes supporting schools and recognising they have important responsibilities by creating a welcoming, engaging and inclusive environment for children, but that it is also a parent’s legal responsibility to send their children to school every day that they can.We know that some pupils face additional barriers to attending school regularly. Our ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance particularly emphasises the importance of support for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities and mental ill health who often need more individual consideration due to the wider barriers they face.The new national framework for fixed penalty notices, which has been in place since the start of this academic year, strengthens protections for parents of those with additional needs by, for absence cases other than holiday, introducing an expectation that attendance support will have been provided before a penalty notice can be used. The vast majority of penalty notices for unauthorised absence (89%) are issued for term time holidays.

Whether it is her policy to continue the provision of free period products to pupils during the school holidays.

The Period Products Scheme recently opened for the 2024/25 academic year, with schools and colleges able to order free period products for their pupils and students. Beyond this, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has launched a multi-year Spending Review which will set government spending plans for a minimum of three years of the five-year forecast period. This will set spending policy in line with the government’s wider fiscal strategy and change the way public services are delivered by embedding a mission-led approach. The Spending Review will conclude in spring 2025.

What steps she plans to take to monitor the effectiveness of her Department's work to support the mental health of children in poverty in (a) schools and (b) other educational settings.

This government is committed to improving mental health support for all children and young people. This is critical to breaking down barriers to opportunity and learning. The right support should be available to every young person that needs it, which is why the department will provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school. The government will also be putting in place new Young Futures hubs, including access to mental health support workers, and will recruit an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults. To improve children’s mental health, this government is committed to tackling child poverty and alleviating the impact of poverty on families. Child poverty has gone up by 700,000 since 2010, with over four million children now growing up in a low-income family. For too many children, living in poverty robs them of the opportunity to learn and to prosper. The government’s Child Poverty Taskforce have already started the urgent work to publish its Child Poverty Strategy in spring 2025. The taskforce will drive forward short- and long-term actions across government to reduce child poverty. Further details on the taskforce can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/child-poverty-taskforce-kicks-off-urgent-work-to-publish-strategy-in-spring. Alongside these efforts to tackle the root causes of child poverty, the department also makes use of key national data sets to look at children and young living in economic disadvantage. For example, the department collects its own data set on children and young people’s wellbeing via the Parent, pupil and learner voice panel survey and provides representative data multiple times a year, including splits by subgroups such as for pupils eligible for free school meals. The department has previously also used data from sources such as the Programme for International Student Assessment, the Mental Health of Children and Young People in England survey, and the Health Behaviours of School Aged Children study to understand trends in children’s mental health and wellbeing over time and difference for different groups. The department will continue to use these and to explore new ways to measure the impact of its commitments to lift children out of poverty.