Written questions by Slade.

What assessment she has made of the impact of the current funding model for higher education on (a) students and (b) University staff.

The government is committed to creating a secure future for our world-leading higher education (HE) sector and has already taken a number of actions to help move the sector towards a more stable financial footing, including the difficult decision to increase maximum tuition fee limits for the 2025/26 academic year by 3.1%, in line with the forecast rate of inflation.We have published an Equality Impact Assessment of the impact of changes to fee limits and student support for the 2025/26 academic year on undergraduate students with protected characteristics and disadvantaged students.The department recognises that some HE providers are making difficult decisions around staffing in order to safeguard their financial sustainability. Ultimately the sector is independent from government and as such must continue to make the necessary and appropriate financial decisions to ensure their long-term sustainability.However, we expect providers to work with staff, to help identify how best to operate efficiently. All efficiency measures taken by the sector should provide a better long-term future for students, staff and the country.

If she will centralise the payment of national non-domestic rates for (a) private, (b) voluntary and (c) independent early years settings.

It is the government’s 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.The small business rate relief scheme provides up to 100% relief for eligible businesses occupying one property with a rateable value of £12,000 or below, and reduced bills up to £15,000. Further, if a nursery is a charity, charitable rate relief provides 80% off rates bills, which can be topped up to 100% by the local authority.The government funds local authorities to deliver the early years entitlements through the early years national funding formula for the 3 and 4-year-old entitlement and a separate formula for the 2-year-old and below entitlement. The hourly funding rate paid to local authorities for these entitlements is designed to recognise the average costs across different provider types and is intended to reflect staff and non-staff costs, including business rates. In 2025/26 alone, the department plans to provide over £8 billion for the early years entitlements, an additional £2 billion (over 30% increase) compared to 2024/25, as we roll out the expansion of the entitlements.There are no current plans to extend the centralised payment system to private, voluntary or independent early years settings or to make these settings exempt. However, all processes are kept under review.

If she will make non-domestic early years settings exempt from business rates.

It is the government’s 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.The small business rate relief scheme provides up to 100% relief for eligible businesses occupying one property with a rateable value of £12,000 or below, and reduced bills up to £15,000. Further, if a nursery is a charity, charitable rate relief provides 80% off rates bills, which can be topped up to 100% by the local authority.The government funds local authorities to deliver the early years entitlements through the early years national funding formula for the 3 and 4-year-old entitlement and a separate formula for the 2-year-old and below entitlement. The hourly funding rate paid to local authorities for these entitlements is designed to recognise the average costs across different provider types and is intended to reflect staff and non-staff costs, including business rates. In 2025/26 alone, the department plans to provide over £8 billion for the early years entitlements, an additional £2 billion (over 30% increase) compared to 2024/25, as we roll out the expansion of the entitlements.There are no current plans to extend the centralised payment system to private, voluntary or independent early years settings or to make these settings exempt. However, all processes are kept under review.

Whether she has taken steps with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government to make an assessment of the potential impact of (a) rateable values and (b) small business rates relief on (i) nurseries and (ii) pre-schools.

It is the government’s 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.The small business rate relief scheme provides up to 100% relief for eligible businesses occupying one property with a rateable value of £12,000 or below, and reduced bills up to £15,000. Further, if a nursery is a charity, charitable rate relief provides 80% off rates bills, which can be topped up to 100% by the local authority.The government funds local authorities to deliver the early years entitlements through the early years national funding formula for the 3 and 4-year-old entitlement and a separate formula for the 2-year-old and below entitlement. The hourly funding rate paid to local authorities for these entitlements is designed to recognise the average costs across different provider types and is intended to reflect staff and non-staff costs, including business rates. In 2025/26 alone, the department plans to provide over £8 billion for the early years entitlements, an additional £2 billion (over 30% increase) compared to 2024/25, as we roll out the expansion of the entitlements.There are no current plans to extend the centralised payment system to private, voluntary or independent early years settings or to make these settings exempt. However, all processes are kept under review.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to nurseries pricing structures on families who usually use fewer than 30 funded hours of nursery provision and are being asked to increase these hours to ensure nurseries can keep operating.

The department is committed to rolling out the expanded childcare entitlements, working hand in hand with the early years sector.In 2026/27, the government is expecting to spend over £9 billion on early years entitlements, supporting more parents to balance family life and work.The department updated existing statutory guidance for local authorities, which emphasises transparency at the heart of how the entitlement should be passed on to parents.Providers should set out how many government-funded hours parents are receiving, to ensure parents understand their usage of the entitlements.Providers remain able to charge parents for any additional, private paid hours according to their usual terms and conditions, provided taking up private paid hours is not a condition of accessing the entitlements place.

Whether she plans to reduce space requirements for children under two years of age in early years education settings.

We are currently considering the feedback to the department’s consultation on the use of ‘free flow’ outdoor space for children aged two years and above in early years settings.

Whether the Office for Students will be required to provide a third category for registration; and whether this will take into account the specialised environments of small specialist providers.

I refer the hon. Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole to the answer of 18 March 2025 to Question 36617.

How much funding her Department plans to provide for (a) dance, (b) drama, (c) music and (d) musical theatre higher education courses in each of the next three years.

The department is determined that the higher education (HE) funding system should deliver for our economy, for universities and for students. The HE sector needs a secure financial footing, which is why, after seven years of frozen fee caps under the previous government, we took last year the difficult decision to increase maximum tuition fee limits for the 2025/26 academic year by 3.1%, in line with the forecast rate of inflation.In return for the increased investment we are asking students to make we expect the sector to deliver the very best outcomes, both for those students and for the country.Additionally, the government provides annual funding to the HE sector through the Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG), which supports teaching of expensive-to-deliver subjects, access and participation and world-leading specialist providers.My right hon. Friend, The Secretary of State for Education will shortly issue guidance to the Office for Students, setting out SPG funding for the 2025/26 academic year and her priorities for it. Funding for subsequent years will be agreed following the government’s spending review.

What estimate she has made of the savings to her Department from the withdrawal of funding for non-specialist assistive software through the Disabled Students' Allowance.

Funding under the Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) is in general not available for goods and services that may be needed by the general student population, whether disabled or not. The department has withdrawn funding for non-specialist software as this falls outside the scope of the DSA. We will monitor the savings from the implementation of this policy.This policy change relates to non-specialist spelling and grammar software only. The decision to remove non-specialist spelling and grammar software from DSA funding was made on the grounds that there are now free to access versions available with the required functionality to meet students’ disability-related support needs, and it is therefore not an effective use of public money to continue to fund this type of software through the DSA.

Which groups were consulted on the withdrawal of funding for non-specialist assistive software through the Disabled Students' Allowance.

The department engaged with individual disability experts with relevant experience to gather feedback on the proposals. These experts were consulted in a personal capacity, and the department is therefore not able to provide their personal information.This policy change relates to non-specialist spelling and grammar software only. The decision to remove non-specialist spelling and grammar software from Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA) funding was made on the grounds that there are now free to access versions available with the required functionality to meet students’ disability-related support needs, and it is therefore not an effective use of public money to continue to fund this type of software through DSA.

Whether she plans to increase funding rates for early years provision of three and four year olds.

As usual, the hourly funding rates will vary between local authorities reflecting the different communities that local authorities serve. However, for the 2025/26 financial year, the national average three and four year-old hourly funding rate of local authorities is increasing by 4.1%. On top of this, eligible children can also attract additional funding through the early years pupil premium.Early education gives all children, especially disadvantaged children, the best start in life. That is why the department is delivering the largest ever uplift to the early years pupil premium, increasing the rate by over 45% from 68p per hour in 2024/25 to £1 per hour in 2025/26, equivalent to up to £570 per eligible child per year.Future spending decisions beyond 2025/26 will be announced following the next spending review.

What recent assessment she has made of trends in the level of areas without childcare providers in England; and what estimate her Department has made of the number of early years providers that have closed since September 2024.

The government is committed to ensuring children have the best start in life, and has set a target of a record number of children starting school ready to learn as part of the government’s Plan for Change.Local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. They are required to report annually to elected council members on how they are meeting this duty, and to make this report available to parents. The department regularly discusses sufficiency with each local authority in England, and where there are challenges, the necessary actions to take and provision of support via our childcare sufficiency support contract is explored. We do not currently have any reports of sufficiency issues in any local authority.The latest available figures on early years providers show that, between 31 August and 31 December 2024, 1,275 providers joined Ofsted’s Early Years Register and 1,581 providers left the Register. In the same period, the number of registered places grew slightly from 1,275,264 to 1,277,932.His Majesty's Treasury has been working on a fundamental review of business rates in the UK. The latest update indicates that the final report of this review will be published in autumn 2025. This review aims to reduce the overall burden on businesses, improve the current business rates system and consider more fundamental changes in the medium-to-long term. Childcare providers are being considered as part of this, and the review acknowledges the unique challenges faced by nurseries and other childcare providers.

Whether she plans to review the upper threshold for small business rates relief for early years providers.

The government is committed to ensuring children have the best start in life, and has set a target of a record number of children starting school ready to learn as part of the government’s Plan for Change.Local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. They are required to report annually to elected council members on how they are meeting this duty, and to make this report available to parents. The department regularly discusses sufficiency with each local authority in England, and where there are challenges, the necessary actions to take and provision of support via our childcare sufficiency support contract is explored. We do not currently have any reports of sufficiency issues in any local authority.The latest available figures on early years providers show that, between 31 August and 31 December 2024, 1,275 providers joined Ofsted’s Early Years Register and 1,581 providers left the Register. In the same period, the number of registered places grew slightly from 1,275,264 to 1,277,932.His Majesty's Treasury has been working on a fundamental review of business rates in the UK. The latest update indicates that the final report of this review will be published in autumn 2025. This review aims to reduce the overall burden on businesses, improve the current business rates system and consider more fundamental changes in the medium-to-long term. Childcare providers are being considered as part of this, and the review acknowledges the unique challenges faced by nurseries and other childcare providers.

What recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the (a) changes to employer National Insurance contributions, (b) increase in the National Minimum Wage, (c) removal of the ability to charge for (i) consumables and (ii) compulsory extras and (d) requirement to extend funded hours of childcare provision to younger children as a standard rate on early years providers.

This government believes giving children the best start in life is the foundation of the mission to break down barriers to opportunity. We have set a milestone of a record proportion of children starting school ready to learn in the classroom. We will measure our progress through 75% of children reaching a good level of development in the early years foundation stage profile assessment by 2028. This assessment takes place at the end of reception.In the 2025/26 financial year alone, this government plans to spend over £8 billion on early years entitlements, which is a £2 billion increase on the previous year. The department is providing an additional £75 million expansion grant to support the sector in providing the additional places and staff needed ahead of the September 2025 expansion to 30 hours of childcare and early education from when a child is nine months old. The grant is focused on the 2 year-old and under-2s cohort to target the extra costs involved in delivering the entitlements to younger children.The department will also deliver the largest ever uplift to the early years pupil premium, increasing the rate by over 45% compared to the 2024/25 financial year, which is equivalent to up to £570 per eligible child per year. On top of this, we are providing £25 million through the National Insurance contributions grant for public sector employers in early years.In determining funding rates for 2025/26, the department will be reflecting forecasts of average earnings and inflation next year, including the National Living Wage. In line with a recent High Court judgment, any charges providers seek to levy must not be mandatory or a condition of accessing a funded place.Providers must offer reasonable alternatives to parents that enable them to access the entitlements for free if they wish, however we know that many parents prefer to purchase consumables from their provider and will continue to be able to do so.The department is grateful for the fantastic work the sector is doing to deliver the expanded entitlements and prepare for the final phase from September 2025. We are engaging closely with the sector through provider roadshows and engagement with representative bodies and will continue to listen to any concerns around costs and ensure the sector is financially sustainable going forward.

Whether she plans to take steps to identify alternative sources of funding for the university sector.

The higher education (HE) sector needs a secure financial footing to face the challenges of the next decade and ensure that all students can be confident they will receive the world-class HE experience they deserve.The government is also determined to work with the sector to transition to sustainable research funding models, including by increasing research grant cost recovery, as announced by UK Research and Innovation last week. However, universities will also need to take their own steps to ensure they are working as efficiently as possible and, where necessary, make difficult choices.Ultimately, HE providers are independent from government and as such must continue to make the necessary and appropriate financial decisions to ensure their long-term sustainability.The department has set out five priorities for reform of the HE system, which relate to access and outcomes for disadvantaged students, economic growth, the civic role of HE providers, teaching standards and efficiency, transparency and reform.The department will publish our plan for HE reform this summer, and work with the sector and the Office for Students to ensure the system delivers these priorities.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential benefits of creating an agency for supply teachers to standardise pay and conditions.

Supply teachers perform a valuable role and the department is grateful for their important contribution to schools across the country.Schools and local authorities are currently responsible for the recruitment of their supply teachers and are best placed to make decisions on their approach to recruitment.A supply teacher’s pay and working conditions will depend on who employs the supply teacher.Supply teachers employed directly by a state maintained school or local authority must be paid in accordance with the statutory arrangements for teachers laid down in the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document.If a supply teacher is employed by a private agency or non-maintained school, the employer can set the rate of pay and conditions of employment.The department does not have plans at this time to assess the potential benefits of creating an agency for supply teachers to standardise pay and conditions. Instead, we are focused on our central mission to break down barriers to opportunity and boost life chances for every child by recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers across our schools, both mainstream and specialist, and our colleges over the course of this parliament.The department is already making progress towards this key pledge, including by accepting a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools, announcing a £233 million Initial Teacher Training financial incentives package for the 2025/26 recruitment cycle, and confirming targeted retention incentives for shortage subjects worth up to £6,000 after tax. We will continue to work alongside the sector as we seek to re-establish teaching as an attractive profession that existing teachers want to remain in, former teachers want to return to, and new graduates wish to join.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of changing the funding for built environment Level 7 apprentices on the Government's commitment to build 1.5 million homes.

The government is committed to 1.5 million homes being built across this Parliament while spreading opportunities and economic growth supported by a strong skills system.The department is working closely with industry and across Whitehall on this ambition, including with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the Department for Business and Trade and the Department for Work and Pensions to understand skill needs and how to address them.The department has made early progress on expanding the skills offer with the announcement of Construction and Industry Training Board and National Housebuilding Council funding worth £140 million, to deliver up to 32 Homebuilding Skills Hubs and to make 5,000 more construction apprenticeships available, making use of existing flexibilities in our apprenticeships system to help businesses get the skilled workers they need more quickly.There are 96 high quality apprenticeship standards in the construction and the built environment sector approved for delivery across levels 2 to 6 to support employers and apprentices to develop the skills they need, with three apprenticeship standards in the sector approved for delivery at level 7.This government had a dire fiscal inheritance with a £22 billion blackhole in the nation’s finances. We are taking difficult decisions to fix the foundations of our economy and prioritise government spending where it can be most impactful, including in order to generate opportunities for young people that enable them to make a start in good, fulfilling careers. The department will therefore be asking more employers to step forward and fund a significant number of level 7 apprenticeships themselves outside of the levy-funded growth and skills offer.The department is taking advice from Skills England, who have been engaging with employers and sector-representative organisations, including in construction, and expects to make a final decision on affected apprenticeships shortly. Learners who have started these apprenticeships will be funded through to completion and employers will continue to be able to offer these apprenticeships where they choose to do so.

Whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of including grief education in the relationships and sex education curriculum.

The statutory relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) guidance, which sets out the specific topics pupils should be taught, makes clear that teachers should be aware of common adverse childhood experiences and understand when and how these may be affecting their pupils. This will help teachers to tailor their lessons accordingly, taking decisions on appropriate resources and support to enable them to teach the curriculum effectively. Teachers are free to draw on the support and expertise of subject associations and other providers of curriculum support. The RSHE statutory guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education.The RSHE statutory guidance is currently under review. The department is looking carefully at responses to the public consultation conducted last year, considering the relevant evidence and discussing with stakeholders before setting out next steps to make sure the guidance draws from the best available evidence. As part of this process, the department will explore whether additional content is required, including on grief education and bereavement.

Whether she plans to introduce wraparound childcare in all schools by September 2026.

This government will build a modern childcare system that supports families from the end of parental leave, right through to the end of primary school.Childcare needs do not stop when children start school. To support parents the government will deliver free, universal breakfast clubs in every primary school in England. Free breakfast clubs will be available in up to 750 early adopter schools from April 2025 as part of a ‘test and learn’ phase in advance of a national roll out.The government is additionally delivering the national wraparound childcare programme which has provided local authorities with more than £160 million to deliver the expansion of new before and after school places for primary school-aged children. The government’s ambition is that, by 2026, all parents and carers of primary school-aged children who need it will be able to access term-time childcare in their local area from 8am to 6pm.The programme is designed to support local authorities to deliver their statutory duty to ensure there are sufficient wraparound childcare places and remove the additional challenges faced in local areas with shortages. Where local wraparound provision is not available, parents can request that the school their child attends considers establishing wraparound or holiday childcare through the long-standing ‘right to request’ process.