Written questions by Savage.

What steps her Department is taking to reduce students’ reliance on paid employment alongside their studies; and how it intends to ensure that students living in rural or employment-scarce areas have equal access to financial security, opportunity, and an acceptable quality of life while in higher education.

To help higher education students with cost-of-living pressures, we are future-proofing maintenance loans by increasing them in-line with forecast inflation every year and reintroducing targeted means-tested maintenance grants of up to £1,000 per year from 2028/29. This year, we increased maximum maintenance loans by 3.1%, to £10,544 for students living away from home studying outside London, £13,762 for students living away from home studying in London, and £8,877 for students living at home.Kathryn Mitchell, Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of the University of Derby, will bring together sector experts and chair the Higher Education Access and Participation Task and Finish Group. Its remit includes developing options to address regional disparities in access for those from disadvantaged backgrounds. We are also working with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to encourage universities to work with their local authorities on strategic approaches to meeting student housing needs.

Whether her Department plans to review how regional cost-of-living disparities are taken into account when calculating student maintenance support, particularly for lower-income students studying in rural university towns with limited housing supply.

To help higher education students with cost-of-living pressures, we are future-proofing maintenance loans by increasing them in-line with forecast inflation every year and reintroducing targeted means-tested maintenance grants of up to £1,000 per year from 2028/29. This year, we increased maximum maintenance loans by 3.1%, to £10,544 for students living away from home studying outside London, £13,762 for students living away from home studying in London, and £8,877 for students living at home.Kathryn Mitchell, Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of the University of Derby, will bring together sector experts and chair the Higher Education Access and Participation Task and Finish Group. Its remit includes developing options to address regional disparities in access for those from disadvantaged backgrounds. We are also working with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to encourage universities to work with their local authorities on strategic approaches to meeting student housing needs.

How much her Department spent on SEND tribunal appeals in the last 12 months.

The department paid His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service £13.471 million in 2024/25 to cover the operational costs of the SEND Tribunal, including administration, estates and salaries, for special educational needs appeals for children and young people aged 5 to 16.

If she will make it her policy for schools to (a) appoint a designated young carers lead and (b) implement a (i) flagging and (ii) registration scheme for young carers.

The statutory guidance 'Keeping Children Safe in Education' states that all school staff should be alert to the potential need for early help for young carers and requires designated safeguarding leads to be trained to understand and respond to their needs, ensuring young carers are supported to thrive in school.We have no plans to introduce a registration scheme for young carers. Local authorities have a statutory duty to identify young carers who may need support and undertake a needs assessment where support may be needed, or upon request.To further improve visibility and support, young carers were added to the school census as a distinct group in 2022/23. This has increased their visibility in the school system, providing valuable demographic data and insights into their educational outcomes.Further, Ofsted’s new education inspection framework references young carers when assessing the impact of a school’s work on attendance, behaviour, personal development and wellbeing of disadvantaged pupils.

What information her Department holds on the number and proportion of pre-schools that rely on fundraising to cover (a) operational and (b) staffing costs in the South West.

The early years funding rates for the 2025/26 financial year for Gloucestershire are £5.71 for the 3 and 4 year-old entitlement, £7.94 for the 2 year-old entitlements, and £10.75 for children under 2s. This is slightly below national average due to relative differences in local costs of delivery and the proportion of children with additional needs which are reflected in the Early Years National Funding Formula (EY NFF) used to set local authority rates.Regarding levels of additional needs, the EY NFF uses data on free school meals and the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (for the 2s and under formula only), disability living allowance and English as an additional language. The formulae also include an area cost adjustment to reflect variations in local staff and premises costs.The department does not hold data on the proportion of settings using fundraising to support their income.

How funding rates for early years education in Gloucestershire compare with the rest of England; and what criteria these funding rates are based on.

The early years funding rates for the 2025/26 financial year for Gloucestershire are £5.71 for the 3 and 4 year-old entitlement, £7.94 for the 2 year-old entitlements, and £10.75 for children under 2s. This is slightly below national average due to relative differences in local costs of delivery and the proportion of children with additional needs which are reflected in the Early Years National Funding Formula (EY NFF) used to set local authority rates.Regarding levels of additional needs, the EY NFF uses data on free school meals and the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (for the 2s and under formula only), disability living allowance and English as an additional language. The formulae also include an area cost adjustment to reflect variations in local staff and premises costs.The department does not hold data on the proportion of settings using fundraising to support their income.

What information her Department holds on the number of pre-schools that have closed due to financial difficulties in the South West in the last five years.

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 and delivering on our Plan for Change. I can appreciate how devastating the closure of a nursery can be and the resulting impact this can have on families and the wider community. While the department does not hold the requested data, we can however confirm that childcare places in the South West region experienced a 5% increase in registered nursery places at group-based providers between 2023 and 2024.The key measure of sufficiency is whether the supply of available places is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents and children. We have regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing. Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, we discuss what action the local authority is taking and, where needed, support with any specific requirements through our childcare sufficiency support contract. Childcare Works additionally provide one-to-one targeted support for local authorities who need it, alongside a wider package of support for all local authorities to support them to deliver the childcare expansion programme.

What steps her Department is taking to ensure that school staff receive training on how to support pupils with epilepsy.

Governing bodies must ensure that the arrangements they put in place are sufficient to meet their statutory responsibilities and that policies, plans, procedures and systems are properly and effectively implemented. This includes the duty under Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions and the duties under the Equality Act 2010. The effectiveness of a school is assessed through inspection by Ofsted.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of levels of changes in real-terms funding since 2010 on schools.

School funding is increasing by £3.7 billion in the 2025/26 financial year, meaning that core school budgets will total £65.3 billion, compared with £61.6 billion in 2024/25. This is set to rise by a further £4.2 billion by the 2028/29 financial year. This settlement more than protects per-pupil funding in real terms and supports our mission to help all children and young people achieve and thrive.The department’s schools funding statistics show what changes in school funding since 2010 have meant for per-pupil funding in real terms. The statistics can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-funding-statistics/2024-25. Based on the GDP deflator, real-terms funding per pupil fell in the mid-2010s but has since risen and is now above the 2010/11 financial year levels. School funding per pupil in the 2025/26 financial year is 8.7% higher than 2010/11 in real terms.

What recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of levels of funding for supporting pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.

The department has allocated high needs funding of over £12 billion specifically for children and young people with complex special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in the current 2025/26 financial year. The funding announced at the 2025 Spending Review, which provided an increase of £4.2 billion for schools over the next three years, will enable a significant investment in the support available for pupils with SEND within mainstream schools, facilitating reform of the SEND system to make those schools more inclusive. We are continuing to engage closely with children, parents and experts as we develop plans to ensure all children get the outcomes and life chances they deserve.

What steps her Department is taking to help reduce the number of schools awaiting essential building repairs.

Ensuring schools and colleges have the resources and buildings they need is a key part of the department’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and give every young person the best start in life.This government has given a long-term commitment through to the 2034/35 financial year to improve the condition of our schools and colleges across England. The department is investing almost £3 billion per year by the 2034/35 financial year in capital maintenance and renewal to improve the condition of the school and college estate, rising from £2.4 billion in 2025/26.The department is also investing almost £20 billion in the School Rebuilding Programme through to the 2034/35 financial year, delivering rebuilding projects at over 500 schools across England within the existing programme and expanding rebuilding, with a further 250 schools to be selected within the next two years.

What steps her Department is taking to help ensure that Palestinian students in Gaza who are eligible to apply for visas and scholarships for UK courses beginning before December 2025 are able to access university places, in the context of many UK institutions having already closed their applications for the 2025 academic year.

The government outlined plans for how it is supporting students travelling to the United Kingdom from Gaza in a policy statement published on 15 September 2025 available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/support-for-students-travelling-to-the-uk-from-gaza/scholarships-for-students-from-gaza.To be eligible to come to the UK under this approach, students must submit a student visa application, which will need to be sponsored by their university, and pay associated fees.Students must:Be aged 18 or over.Meet the requirements of the Immigration Rules.Have an offer for a course starting no later than 31 December 2025.Be supported by a fully funded and verified scholarship that covers both course fees and living costs.The government remains committed to doing everything we can to assist eligible students to leave Gaza, specifically those who hold full scholarships to UK universities with course start dates no later than 31 December 2025.The government is making every effort to support this process. However, a student’s journey from Gaza to the UK cannot be guaranteed, and timelines remain subject to external factors, outside the government’s control.The government is working with the devolved governments and universities to identify eligible students, and to ensure students receive the support they need for the duration of their studies.

If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of improving food, farming, and sustainability education on public health.

As part of the last reform of the national curriculum, an equalities impact assessment was carried out to evaluate whether the proposed changes would impact positively or negatively on groups with protected characteristics. This equalities impact assessment is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/211061/Equalities_impact_assessment_-_FINAL_v3.pdf.Additionally, Public Health England provided a framework that guides teachers in applying best practice for food education in secondary schools. It is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a80d9c440f0b62305b8d7ff/Foodteaching_Secondaryguidelines_FINAL.pdf.The curriculum and assessment system in England is currently under review by an independent panel of experts. The Curriculum and Assessment Review is now carrying out further investigation into specific policy and subject issues, working closely with the sector and building on the body of evidence gathered so far. No decisions about individual subjects have yet been made. Any subject-specific findings and recommendations that come out of the Review will be included in the final report which will be published in autumn.

If she will work with the Secretary of State for Education to embed food, farming and sustainability education in the national curriculum.

I refer the hon. Member for South Cotswolds to the response of 8 September 2025 to Question 72659.

Whether she has conducted impact assessments of food, farming, and sustainability education policy in the context of her Department's duties under the Equality Act 2010.

As part of the last reform of the national curriculum, an equalities impact assessment was carried out to evaluate whether the proposed changes would impact positively or negatively on groups with protected characteristics. This equalities impact assessment is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/211061/Equalities_impact_assessment_-_FINAL_v3.pdf.Additionally, Public Health England provided a framework that guides teachers in applying best practice for food education in secondary schools. It is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a80d9c440f0b62305b8d7ff/Foodteaching_Secondaryguidelines_FINAL.pdf.The curriculum and assessment system in England is currently under review by an independent panel of experts. The Curriculum and Assessment Review is now carrying out further investigation into specific policy and subject issues, working closely with the sector and building on the body of evidence gathered so far. No decisions about individual subjects have yet been made. Any subject-specific findings and recommendations that come out of the Review will be included in the final report which will be published in autumn.

Whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of amending statutory guidance on home to school transport so that local authorities are required to consider providing free or subsidised transport from more than one parental address in cases of formally agreed 50/50 shared custody.

The Education Act 1996 requires local authorities to arrange free home-to-school travel for eligible children of compulsory school age, 5 to 16. The department publishes statutory guidance to help them fulfil this duty. Neither the guidance, nor the law, expects local authorities to provide an eligible child with free travel to and from more than one address. It would not be reasonable for them to do this in every case.The guidance does however stipulate that local authorities should make clear in their school travel policies how they will determine a child’s home address for the purposes of assessing their eligibility for travel, including in circumstances where their parents do not live together and the child spends part of the week with each parent.There are no plans to change this, but local authorities do have a discretionary power to arrange travel for other children and may use this to arrange travel to and from more than one address if they choose to do so.

What steps her Department is taking to (a) improve the early identification of young carers in further education settings and (b) increase (i) awareness and (ii) understanding of young carers by (A) college staff and (B) tutors.

Young carers were added to the school census as a specific group for the first time in 2022/23. The department expects the recording of census data to improve over time as the collection becomes better established but are looking at the ways the data is entered to see if we can make technical changes that will support more accurate reporting without overly burdening schools.In its inspections of local authority children’s services, Ofsted evaluates whether professionals identify children and young people in need of help and protection. Ofsted recently consulted on a new education inspection framework, with their full response due in September. The proposals include a specific evaluation of inclusion, ensuring that schools get it right for all disadvantaged and vulnerable children, including young carers.Statutory guidance ‘Keeping children safe in education’ sets out that all school and college staff should be alert to the potential need for early help for children who are young carers and requires designated safeguarding leads to undergo training to provide them with the knowledge and skills to carry out their role. This includes having a good understanding of, and alertness to, the needs of young carers.

What steps her Department is taking to (a) improve the early identification of young carers by schools and (b) ensure that all education staff receive training to (i) recognise and (ii) support young carers at the earliest opportunity.

Young carers were added to the school census as a specific group for the first time in 2022/23. The department expects the recording of census data to improve over time as the collection becomes better established but are looking at the ways the data is entered to see if we can make technical changes that will support more accurate reporting without overly burdening schools.In its inspections of local authority children’s services, Ofsted evaluates whether professionals identify children and young people in need of help and protection. Ofsted recently consulted on a new education inspection framework, with their full response due in September. The proposals include a specific evaluation of inclusion, ensuring that schools get it right for all disadvantaged and vulnerable children, including young carers.Statutory guidance ‘Keeping children safe in education’ sets out that all school and college staff should be alert to the potential need for early help for children who are young carers and requires designated safeguarding leads to undergo training to provide them with the knowledge and skills to carry out their role. This includes having a good understanding of, and alertness to, the needs of young carers.

What steps her Department is taking to hold schools to account for (a) failing to report the presence of young carers and (b) submitting (i) incomplete and (ii) inaccurate data on young carers in the school census; and with reference to the Carers Trust press notice entitled School census shows young carers still not being recorded by vast majority of schools, published on 5 June 2025, what assessment she has made of the finding that nearly 70 percent of schools reported having no children attending who were young carers.

Young carers were added to the school census as a specific group for the first time in 2022/23. The department expects the recording of census data to improve over time as the collection becomes better established but are looking at the ways the data is entered to see if we can make technical changes that will support more accurate reporting without overly burdening schools.In its inspections of local authority children’s services, Ofsted evaluates whether professionals identify children and young people in need of help and protection. Ofsted recently consulted on a new education inspection framework, with their full response due in September. The proposals include a specific evaluation of inclusion, ensuring that schools get it right for all disadvantaged and vulnerable children, including young carers.Statutory guidance ‘Keeping children safe in education’ sets out that all school and college staff should be alert to the potential need for early help for children who are young carers and requires designated safeguarding leads to undergo training to provide them with the knowledge and skills to carry out their role. This includes having a good understanding of, and alertness to, the needs of young carers.

Whether the updated school food standards will include measures to increase the intake of UK-grown (a) fruit, (b) vegetables and (c) pulses in school meals.

The department is engaging with stakeholders on revising the School Food Standards, to ensure they support our work to create the healthiest generation of children in history. The current Standards state one or more portions of vegetables as an accompaniment and one or more portions of fruit must be provided every day and at least three different fruits and three different vegetables each week. Schools are responsible for their school meals service and how and where they choose to buy their produce. Schools can voluntarily follow the government 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 department’s Food Strategy will deliver clear long-term outcomes that create a healthier, fairer, and more resilient food system, boosting food security, improving health, ensuring economic growth, and delivering environmental sustainability.As with all aspects of the School Food Standards review, the department will consider our approaches to procurement of UK-grown produce.