Written questions by McMurdock.

Pursuant to Answer of 12 November 2025 to Question 87656, what plans she has to issue updated guidance to higher education providers in the context of the Office for Students’ assessment that reliance on international student fee income presents a risk to financial sustainability.

Higher education (HE) providers are responsible for managing their finances. As such, they must continue to adapt to uncertainties and financial risks. However, this government is committed to putting the HE sector on a secure financial footing so that it can face the challenges of the next decade. Our decision to raise tuition fees annually in line with inflation, alongside refocusing the Office for Students (OfS) on monitoring the sector’s financial health, demonstrates this commitment. The government does not currently have any plans to issue guidance to higher education providers in light of the Office for Student’s (OfS) assessment of the HE sector’s reliance on international student fee income. The OfS is responsible for monitoring and reporting on the financial sustainability of the sector, including risks relating to international student recruitment.

What steps she is taking to support higher education providers to (a) diversify their income sources and (b) reduce financial vulnerability arising from international recruitment.

Higher education (HE) providers are responsible for managing their finances. As such, they must continue to adapt to uncertainties and financial risks. However, this government is committed to putting the HE sector on a secure financial footing so that it can face the challenges of the next decade. Our decision to raise tuition fees annually in line with inflation, alongside refocusing the Office for Students (OfS) on monitoring the sector’s financial health, demonstrates this commitment. The government does not currently have any plans to issue guidance to higher education providers in light of the Office for Student’s (OfS) assessment of the HE sector’s reliance on international student fee income. The OfS is responsible for monitoring and reporting on the financial sustainability of the sector, including risks relating to international student recruitment.

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of (a) careers guidance and (b) school-to-work transition programmes in the context of the UK’s above OECD average for youth unemployment.

Careers guidance is key to supporting young people into work and further study. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has reported that in England, over 98% of pupils are offered careers guidance at their school compared to an average of 74% across other OECD countries. Gatsby Benchmark attainment continues to improve and in 2024/25, schools and colleges achieved 6.0 out of 8 Gatsby Benchmarks on average, up from 5.8 in 2023/24. The government is committed to continuing to improve careers guidance and ensuring all young people complete two weeks’ worth of work experience which is shown to reduce the likelihood of a young person becoming ‘not in education, employment, or training’ (NEET). In the Post-16 education and skills white paper, we committed to prevent young people becoming NEET by ensuring that those without a post-16 study plan are automatically allocated a place at a local college or further education provider.

What plans she has to monitor the time taken by schools to respond to formal complaints.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has acknowledged the concerns being raised about parental complaints, including the increasing number of complaints being received by schools and the impact it is having on both parents and carers and school leaders, and has been clear that we need to make the system more robust and respectful with a focus on finding resolutions quickly and in the best interest of children.The department is working closely with the Improving Education Together group to improve the complaints system, including by exploring how we reset the relationship between schools and parents and carers so that issues can be resolved informally, reduce unnecessary duplication, and clarify roles and responsibilities so that complaints that schools cannot resolve are dealt with in a timely manner by the right body.We expect to provide more detail on how we will improve the school’s complaints system in the Schools White Paper.

What discussions she has had with Essex County Council on the impact of the We Rise Business Mentoring Programme on (a) youth employment and (b) skills development.

The department does not hold data on the impact of the We Rise Business Mentoring Programme, as it is part of the ‘Essex Year of Opportunity’, a campaign by Essex County Council. Departmental officials and Essex County Council regularly discuss how to improve opportunities for young people in Essex.

What guidance her Department provides to councils on encouraging the use of kinship care arrangements.

The department’s statutory guidance on the purpose, principles for practice and expected outcomes of children’s social care that should be achieved so children and young people can grow up to achieve and thrive is in the Children’s Social Care National Framework.The second outcome of the national framework sets out the expectation that children’s social care “needs to consider how to unlock family networks and identify kinship carers to be a source of support, whenever children and young people need help, protection, or care”.The support available to help embed the national framework in practice is available in the accompanying advice. Further, the kinship care statutory guidance for local authorities sets out a framework for the provision of support to kinship families, and how family networks can be engaged to support the needs of children throughout the children’s social care system, including those unable to live with their parents.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of financial pressures on universities on their international recruitment practices.

​​The government has been clear that we welcome international students who meet the requirements to study in the UK and positively impact our higher education (HE) sector. However, we will not tolerate abuse of the student visa system in any way and measures set out in the Immigration white paper in May, set out a balanced approach, helping the government achieve our manifesto commitment on reducing net migration and whilst maintaining the UK’s global competitiveness.​The Office for Students (OfS) has identified reliance on international student fee income as a risk to HE providers’ sustainability. It has been clear that providers will need to change their business models to protect their financial health as a response to this risk and others.

What assessment she has made of trends in the level of regional variation in the (a) progress, (b) attendance and (c) exclusion rates of pupils with SEND in schools receiving RISE intervention.

​​Regional Improvements for Standards and Excellence (RISE) teams are a key part of the government‘s work to drive up education standards in schools across England. Attainment, attendance and exclusion rates are all among the criteria we are monitoring at national and regional level as part of assessing the impact of RISE-targeted intervention on the schools, but it is too early in the life of the programme to report on RISE impact. We expect to start publishing that data with appropriate comparisons over time during 2026.

What assessment she has made of the potential implications for her Department's policies of degree subjects associated with persistently (a) low employment and (b) earning outcomes; and what steps is she taking to address this.

​​The Post-16 education and skills white paper, published in October 2025, sets out plans to ensure the higher education system drives economic growth. This includes policies to incentivise delivery of courses that produce the skills needed for the economy and, therefore, employment.​The department is reforming the Strategic Priorities Grant from the 2026/27 academic year to ensure funding for courses aligns with the Industrial Strategy and future skills needs. We have also announced that we will introduce targeted maintenance grants to support students from low-income households studying courses aligned with the Industrial Strategy and our Missions before the end of this Parliament.​The Office for Students (OfS) is the independent regulator for higher education in England. The regulatory system is designed to help ensure all courses lead to positive employment outcomes. The conditions of registration set minimum expectations for the percentage of students in professional employment or further study 15 months after graduating. Our proposals to ensure that large franchised providers are registered with the OfS will also help tackle the poor outcomes some students are getting from franchised courses.​The OfS is currently consulting on proposals to consider a wider range of employment outcomes when awarding quality ratings for student outcomes, including earnings data and data on whether graduates are utilising the skills they learned in higher education in future jobs. ​

What assessment she has made of graduate earning outcomes in the UK relative to other OECD countries.

The department works with the OECD to support their publications on education.The OECD’s ‘Education at a glance 2025’ shows that the earnings of graduate workers relative to secondary-educated workers in the UK is close to the OECD average. In particular, the report shows that the UK has a first degree graduate earnings premium of 37% among working age individuals, compared to 39% for the OECD average. In addition, table A4.5 presents the earnings differences in absolute terms. The publication can be found here: https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/education-at-a-glance-2025_1c0d9c79-en.Variations by field of study are explored further in the following OECD report: https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/publications/reports/2021/01/how-does-earnings-advantage-from-tertiary-education-vary-by-field-of-study_60f20424/8a4b8f7a-en.pdf.

What assessment she has made of the potential implications for her Department's policies of differences in high-skilled employment rates by degree subject.

​​The Post-16 education and skills white paper, published in October 2025, sets out plans to ensure the higher education system drives economic growth. This includes policies to incentivise delivery of courses that produce the skills needed for the economy and, therefore, employment.​The department is reforming the Strategic Priorities Grant from the 2026/27 academic year to ensure funding for courses aligns with the Industrial Strategy and future skills needs. We have also announced that we will introduce targeted maintenance grants to support students from low-income households studying courses aligned with the Industrial Strategy and our Missions before the end of this Parliament.​The Office for Students (OfS) is the independent regulator for higher education in England. The regulatory system is designed to help ensure all courses lead to positive employment outcomes. The conditions of registration set minimum expectations for the percentage of students in professional employment or further study 15 months after graduating. Our proposals to ensure that large franchised providers are registered with the OfS will also help tackle the poor outcomes some students are getting from franchised courses.​The OfS is currently consulting on proposals to consider a wider range of employment outcomes when awarding quality ratings for student outcomes, including earnings data and data on whether graduates are utilising the skills they learned in higher education in future jobs. ​

What plans she has to publish data on graduate career progression to assess the long-term impact of higher education on entry into high-skilled employment.

As set out in the Post-16 education and skills white paper, this government is determined that our world leading higher education (HE) system drives economic growth by creating a highly skilled workforce.The independent regulator of the HE sector, the Office for Students (OfS) defines high-skilled employment as those working in occupations within the Standard Occupation Classification codes 1-3 (managers, directors and senior officials; professional occupations; and associate professional occupations).The OfS publish progression rates for graduates measuring the proportion with positive outcomes including those in high skilled employment and/or further education as part of the student outcomes dashboard. Data for the English HE sector and by provider is available here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/data-and-analysis/student-outcomes-data-dashboard/data-dashboard/. This data is published annually and was last published in August 2025.The Higher Education Statistics Agency also publish annual statistics in the ‘Graduate Outcomes’ publication. This looks at the outcomes of graduates 15 months after their graduation, including high skilled employment, defined as above. This data is published annually and was last published in July 2025 here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/graduates.

What steps she is taking to help ensure that students studying subjects with historically low graduate earning outcomes receive value for money from their degree.

​​The Post-16 education and skills white paper, published in October 2025, sets out plans to ensure the higher education system drives economic growth. This includes policies to incentivise delivery of courses that produce the skills needed for the economy and, therefore, employment.​The department is reforming the Strategic Priorities Grant from the 2026/27 academic year to ensure funding for courses aligns with the Industrial Strategy and future skills needs. We have also announced that we will introduce targeted maintenance grants to support students from low-income households studying courses aligned with the Industrial Strategy and our Missions before the end of this Parliament.​The Office for Students (OfS) is the independent regulator for higher education in England. The regulatory system is designed to help ensure all courses lead to positive employment outcomes. The conditions of registration set minimum expectations for the percentage of students in professional employment or further study 15 months after graduating. Our proposals to ensure that large franchised providers are registered with the OfS will also help tackle the poor outcomes some students are getting from franchised courses.​The OfS is currently consulting on proposals to consider a wider range of employment outcomes when awarding quality ratings for student outcomes, including earnings data and data on whether graduates are utilising the skills they learned in higher education in future jobs. ​

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of the alignment between degree subject provision and priority occupations identified by Skills England.

The Skills England report, ‘Assessment of Priority Skills to 2030’ sets out that in higher education (HE) over half (53%) of employed recent education leavers are in priority occupations (see table below).The HE sector is independent and individual institutions are responsible for deciding which courses to deliver. The government is not involved in these decisions but does support delivery of high-cost courses through the Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG). We are reforming the SPG to ensure alignment of funding with the priority sectors which support the Industrial Strategy and the Plan for Change and future skills needs. In addition, Priority Additional Entitlement under the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) will be available for courses that align with industrial strategy priorities. From January 2027, LLE funding will all also be available for level 4, 5 and 6 modules from full level qualifications in subject groups that address priority skills gaps and align with the government’s industrial strategy.Top 10 first degree (level 6) higher education subjects into priority occupations:SubjectShare of learners entering priority occupationsNursing and midwifery97%Medicine and dentistry96%Medical sciences81%Architecture, building and planning79%Pharmacology, toxicology and pharmacy78%Allied health73%Computing70%Engineering68%Economics65%Physics and astronomy60% Further information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/assessment-of-priority-skills-to-2030/assessment-of-priority-skills-to-2030#education-supply-for-priority-occupations.

Whether the Office for Students (a) collects and (b) publishes data on the (i) continuation, (ii) completion and (iii) attainment rates for international students by (A) provider and (B) ranking.

The Office for Students (OfS) publish information on continuation and completion rates for higher education (HE) providers for non-UK domiciled students studying at English HE providers. The information is available for the English HE sector and by provider here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/data-and-analysis/student-outcomes-data-dashboard/data-dashboard. This data is updated annually and was last published in August 2025.Information on attainment rates for non-UK students in HE is published by the OfS annually and was last updated in October 2025 here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/data-and-analysis/student-characteristics-data/outcomes-data-dashboard/As the independent regulator of HE, the OfS require HE providers to achieve minimum outcomes for their students. 80% of full-time undergraduate students studying a first degree, including international students, are expected to continue into a second year, and 75% are expected to complete their qualification. The OfS awards ratings of Gold, Silver, Bronze or Requires Improvement to providers based upon a range of evidence, including student outcomes. The Teaching Excellence Framework Dashboard’s ratings of providers can be found here: https://tef2023.officeforstudents.org.uk/.There is no official government ranking system.

What recent assessment she has made of the potential contribution of higher education institutions to reducing (a) national and (b) regional skills shortages.

Skills England analysis estimates that two thirds (66%) of the projected additional employment demand in priority occupations to 2030 will require workers with a qualification at level 4 or above. In higher education (HE), half (53%) of employed recent education leavers are working in priority occupations. Overall, HE accounts for over half (51%) of all recent education leavers entering priority occupations from the skills system in England.The government published plans for HE reform as part of the post 16 education and skills white paper on 20 October 2025. This set out a target of two-thirds of young people participating in higher level learning academic, technical or apprenticeships by age 25, and a sub target of at least 10% of young people participating higher technical education or apprenticeships by age 25 by 2040.The white paper sets out a number of policies to deliver this target, including reforming the strategic priorities grant to align with priority sectors and strengthened guidance on HE providers engaging with Local Skills and Improvement Partnerships.

With reference to her Department's statistics entitled Graduate labour market statistics, published on 5 June 2025, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the rate of improvement in high-skilled employment among graduates aged 21-30.

The department publishes the ‘Graduate Labour Market Statistics’, which provides statistics on employment and earnings outcomes for post-graduates, graduates and non-graduates. The publication includes estimates for high-skilled employment for graduates aged 21-30 years. In 2024, 60.1% of young graduates (age 21-30) were in high-skilled employment, a 0.1 percentage point increase on 2023 at 60.0%. This data was published on 5 June 2025, and is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/graduate-labour-markets/2024.Higher education (HE) should be a pathway to opportunity for all students. Students and taxpayers deserve a good return on their significant investment in HE, and our economy needs graduates to go on to highly skilled and well-paid employment. We are supporting the Office for Students to implement a new expanded quality system that will include a specific focus on the needs and benefits of HE to employers.We published our Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper on 20 October 2025, which sets out our reforms to the skills system to support the development of the skilled workforce our economy needs, delivering on our Plan for Change and driving national renewal.

What steps she is taking to ensure that higher education delivers value for money.

The department remains determined that the higher education (HE) system should deliver for our economy, for universities, and for studentsHE should be a pathway to opportunity for all students. Our economy needs graduates to go on to highly skilled and well-paid employment, and both students and the taxpayer deserve a good return on their significant investment in HE.The government will continue to work with the Office for Students (OfS), empowering it to hold HE providers to account for the quality of students’ experiences and the outcomes they achieve. The department will support it to implement a new, more integrated approach to quality assessment, which will expand the existing Teaching Excellence Framework and focus on driving continuous improvement at every provider. Ensuring students from all backgrounds receive value for money is one of the OfS's four key regulatory objectives. In the future, HE providers will only be able to charge the maximum fee cap if they meet a higher quality threshold, as announced in the Post-16 Education and Skills strategy.

Whether she plans to report metrics on the impact of regional improvement for standards and excellence on (a) progress, (b) attendance and (c) exclusion rates for pupils with SEND in mainstream schools.

Regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) teams are a key part of the government‘s work to drive up education standards in schools across England. Eligibility for RISE targeted intervention is identified through Ofsted inspections and as of September 2025 there are 367 schools in the programme. Data on headline outcomes for all pupils in targeted RISE intervention schools, including attainment, absence and suspension and permanent exclusion rates, were published in September 2025. An impact evaluation of the programme, measuring change over time in key success measures for schools in the targeted RISE intervention programme set against a suitable group of comparator schools, will be carried out in due course. This will include further breakdowns by characteristics, such as for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). There are no plans to report routinely on metrics specifically related to pupils with SEND ahead of this.

What estimate she has made of the real-term change in graduate earnings in the last five years.

The department reviews the latest available data and evidence on graduate earning outcomes, including differences between UK-domiciled and EU-domiciled graduates, to inform and shape policy development where appropriate. The Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) Graduate and Postgraduate Outcomes statistics show that in the 2022/23 financial year, EU-domiciled graduates working in the UK earned more than UK graduates on average. Higher median earnings for EU-domiciled graduates have likely been a result of the minimum salary requirements needed to obtain a UK visa.The department is working with the Office for Students (OfS) to explore how high-cost funding can be effectively targeted towards provision which supports future skills needs and the Industrial Strategy. The LEO Graduate and Postgraduate Outcomes statistics show that employment outcomes vary by subject, but in the 2022/23 financial year employment outcomes were generally high across all subjects. Veterinary sciences had the highest proportion of graduates in sustained employment and/or further study (94.2% of graduates), and combined and general studies had the lowest proportion (80.5%).The LEO Graduate and Postgraduate Outcomes statistics provide an estimate of the real-term change in median earnings over time, with the latest available year of data being the 2022/23 financial year. For the latest available data at five years after graduation, the statistics show that real terms earnings decreased between 2018/19 and 2022/23. For first degree graduates, real-term median earnings (in 2016/17 prices) at five years after graduation were £26,300 in 2018/19 and £25,400 in 2022/23. Real-term median earnings were rising slightly but have seen a decline in the latest two years of data.The department reviews the latest available data and evidence on graduate employment outcomes, including the variances in outcomes between graduates and postgraduates at different stages, to inform and shape policy development where appropriate. In the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper, the government announced its plans to work with the OfS to develop options for how we measure and compare progress in higher education, which will consider a range of data on student outcomes.The LEO Graduate and Postgraduate Outcomes statistics reports the proportion of graduates in sustained employment but does not distinguish ‘high-skilled employment’. Graduate Outcome survey data published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency does include statistics specifically for high-skilled employment and shows that 76% of 2022/23 graduates were in high-skilled employment fifteen months after graduation. This data was published in July 2025 and can be found in Table 12 here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/sb272/figure-12.The LEO Graduate and Postgraduate Outcomes statistics can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/leo-graduate-and-postgraduate-outcomes/2022-23.