Every parliamentary written question tabled by James McMurdock this session, with the full answer and department. See how every department answers, or back to the MP page.
Showing 281–300 of 432 · Department for Education
What recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of numbers of international students on the availability of university places for UK students.
I refer the hon. Member for South Basildon and East Thurrock to the answer of 28 February 2025 to Question 31700.
What steps she is taking to ensure that the UK attracts the highest calibre of international students.
The UK remains an incredibly attractive overseas study destination to international students across the globe. We have a world-class higher education sector, with four universities in the top 10 and 17 in the top 100, as well as a wide range of institutions offering high quality education and a fulfilling experience.The Immigration White Paper set out that we will retain the graduate visa but reduce its duration from 2 years to 18 months, whilst maintaining the 3-year duration for PhD students. This will maintain our competitive post-study offer whilst ensuring individuals on this route obtain employment in graduate level roles and contribute to the country’s skills needs more quickly.
What assessment she has made of the potential impact of numbers of international students attending lower-ranking universities on the quality of higher education provision.
The department wants to make sure that all students, regardless of their background, benefit from high quality, world-leading higher education (HE) that leads to excellent outcomes.The Office for Students (OfS) monitors the outcomes achieved by students at HE providers, including international students with minimum expectations set for rates of course continuation and completion. This monitoring will consider the way in which courses meet its expectations for quality for all students who providers choose to recruit.Where the OfS discovers providers failing to meet its expectations for quality, it can impose sanctions, including financial penalties and, in extreme cases, removing providers from its register.
What plans she has to help tackle gender disparities in the (a) identification and (b) provision of Education, Health and Care Plans.
The department is committed to strengthening the education, health and care (EHC) plan system so that children and young people get the support they need to help them achieve and thrive.There are urgent issues to be addressed, and our priority will be to improve outcomes for all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities so that they get the life chances they deserve.We must ensure that needs are identified more effectively and that the right support is put in place, regardless of the gender of the child or young person. We recognise that currently 71% of children and young people with an EHC plan are male and 29% female.The department is actively working with parents and experts to consider how best to resolve the current challenges in the system and will be setting out further steps in the Schools White Paper.
What assessment she has made of the potential impact of reliance on international students on the higher education sector.
This government welcomes international students who meet the requirements to study in the UK and enrich our university campuses, forge lifelong friendships with our domestic students and become global ambassadors for the UK.Higher education (HE) providers in the UK received an estimated £12.1 billion in tuition fee income from international students in the 2023/24 academic year, which supported the provision of places for domestic students and research and development.Our world class HE sector attracts high quality students from across the globe and can offer a fulfilling and enjoyable experience to international students from around the world.The Post-16 education and skills white paper sets out the government’s commitment to building a world-class skills system, one that breaks down the barriers to opportunity, meets the needs of students and employers, drives economic growth, and improves lives across the country.
What assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing an annual cap on the number of student visas issued.
The government is committed to a United Kingdom that is outward looking and welcomes international students, who make a positive contribution to the UK’s higher education sector, our economy and society as a whole. Universities in England received an estimated £12.1 billion annually in tuition fee income from international students in the 2023/24 academic year, which supports provision of places for domestic students and research and development.The department has recently published the Immigration White Paper, which sets out a balanced approach, helping the government achieve our manifesto commitment of reducing net migration while maintaining the UK’s global competitiveness and making a significant contribution to growth by boosting the UK’s skills base. We have also announced a levy on international students’ fees to fund the reintroduction of targeted maintenance grants for disadvantaged students.The department is reviewing the International Education Strategy to ensure that it increases the value of education exports and reflects the priorities of education organisations and businesses.
What estimate she has made of the proportion of schools in (a) Essex and (b) England that have adequate systems for preventing unauthorised access.
Responsibility for the school estate lies with responsible bodies such as local authorities, academy trusts, or charitable trustees.The department’s 'Good estate management for schools' guidance, alongside more detailed 'Site security' guidance, outlines best practice for perimeter security and access control.Capital funding for school buildings will rise to £2.1 billion in 2025/26, increasing to around £2.3 billion by 2029/30. Essex County Council received £9.3 million for its maintained schools, with other responsible bodies also allocated funding. Smaller trusts and colleges may bid into the Condition Improvement Fund.The department’s ‘Protective security and preparedness for education settings’ and ‘School and college security’ guidance supports settings to assess vulnerabilities and ensure safe environments.Ofsted expects compliance with safeguarding but does not inspect site security specifically.
What steps her Department is taking to ensure that all schools have effective (a) fencing, (b) access control systems, (c) CCTV and (d) other perimeter security measures to prevent unauthorised access to school premises in (i) Essex and (ii) nationally.
Responsibility for the school estate lies with responsible bodies such as local authorities, academy trusts, or charitable trustees.The department’s 'Good estate management for schools' guidance, alongside more detailed 'Site security' guidance, outlines best practice for perimeter security and access control.Capital funding for school buildings will rise to £2.1 billion in 2025/26, increasing to around £2.3 billion by 2029/30. Essex County Council received £9.3 million for its maintained schools, with other responsible bodies also allocated funding. Smaller trusts and colleges may bid into the Condition Improvement Fund.The department’s ‘Protective security and preparedness for education settings’ and ‘School and college security’ guidance supports settings to assess vulnerabilities and ensure safe environments.Ofsted expects compliance with safeguarding but does not inspect site security specifically.
What steps her Department is taking to ensure that schools implement her Department's guidance entitled School and college security, updated on 12 July 2024; and what steps she is taking to monitor the implementation of that guidance.
Responsibility for the school estate lies with responsible bodies such as local authorities, academy trusts, or charitable trustees.The department’s 'Good estate management for schools' guidance, alongside more detailed 'Site security' guidance, outlines best practice for perimeter security and access control.Capital funding for school buildings will rise to £2.1 billion in 2025/26, increasing to around £2.3 billion by 2029/30. Essex County Council received £9.3 million for its maintained schools, with other responsible bodies also allocated funding. Smaller trusts and colleges may bid into the Condition Improvement Fund.The department’s ‘Protective security and preparedness for education settings’ and ‘School and college security’ guidance supports settings to assess vulnerabilities and ensure safe environments.Ofsted expects compliance with safeguarding but does not inspect site security specifically.
What steps she is taking to help improve collaboration between (a) schools, (b) local authorities and (c) police forces to ensure that intelligence that could help to prevent security breaches on school grounds is shared.
Responsibility for the school estate lies with responsible bodies such as local authorities, academy trusts, or charitable trustees.The department’s 'Good estate management for schools' guidance, alongside more detailed 'Site security' guidance, outlines best practice for perimeter security and access control.Capital funding for school buildings will rise to £2.1 billion in 2025/26, increasing to around £2.3 billion by 2029/30. Essex County Council received £9.3 million for its maintained schools, with other responsible bodies also allocated funding. Smaller trusts and colleges may bid into the Condition Improvement Fund.The department’s ‘Protective security and preparedness for education settings’ and ‘School and college security’ guidance supports settings to assess vulnerabilities and ensure safe environments.Ofsted expects compliance with safeguarding but does not inspect site security specifically.
Whether she plans to publish an analysis of (a) Higher Education Statistics Agency and (b) Office for National Statistics data on graduate employment to inform higher education (i) curriculum and (ii) skills policy.
The department publishes employment and earnings outcomes of graduates and postgraduates each year, based on data collected by the Higher Education Statistics Authority, His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, and the Department for Work and Pensions. The publication includes breakdowns by subject studied, as well as graduate characteristics, and detailed information about which industries graduates worked in after studying a particular subject and their movements between industries after graduation. The publication can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/leo-graduate-and-postgraduate-outcomes/2022-23#dataBlock-d7be0f33-0ec5-4b78-98ed-ba6f25dfb414-charts. This data has been available since 26 June 2025.The department also publishes graduate labour market statistics. This publication uses data from the Office for National Statistics’ Labour Force Survey to compare employment and earnings outcomes between graduates, postgraduates and non-graduates. The publication can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/graduate-labour-markets/2024. This data has been available since 5 June 2025.The department uses these publications as part of the evidence base to inform higher education and skills policy.
What steps she is taking to support local authorities with SEND provision.
To improve the consistency of outcomes, the department is funding regional improvement and innovation alliances which promote collaboration and mutual learning between local authorities, driving consistent improvements in special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision across regions.Launched in January 2023, the Ofsted/Care Quality Commission area SEND inspection framework will also inspect all local areas by 2027 to drive better outcomes and consistency. All inspection reports include recommendations for improvement, with departmental intervention to prioritise children’s needs where necessary.The department is working with 32 local authorities as part of the SEND and alternative provision Change Programme to test reform proposals to improve inclusive mainstream practice, create a sustainable system and deliver national consistency through local delivery.Regarding financial support, in the 2025/26 financial year, the department is allocating high needs revenue funding of over £12 billion and capital funding of £740 million for places and provision for children and young people with complex SEND in England.
What plans she has to ensure that SEND reforms improve consistency of outcomes across local authorities.
To improve the consistency of outcomes, the department is funding regional improvement and innovation alliances which promote collaboration and mutual learning between local authorities, driving consistent improvements in special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision across regions.Launched in January 2023, the Ofsted/Care Quality Commission area SEND inspection framework will also inspect all local areas by 2027 to drive better outcomes and consistency. All inspection reports include recommendations for improvement, with departmental intervention to prioritise children’s needs where necessary.The department is working with 32 local authorities as part of the SEND and alternative provision Change Programme to test reform proposals to improve inclusive mainstream practice, create a sustainable system and deliver national consistency through local delivery.Regarding financial support, in the 2025/26 financial year, the department is allocating high needs revenue funding of over £12 billion and capital funding of £740 million for places and provision for children and young people with complex SEND in England.
What recent assessment she has made of the potential reasons for the attainment gap between boys and girls at the end of Key Stage 2.
All children and young people should have every opportunity to succeed. However, the department knows that, on average, attainment for boys is lower than girls and we continue to monitor this at all key stages.Although the gap has narrowed slightly from 2024, provisional 2025 key stage 2 data shows girls continue to outperform boys at the expected standard in all subjects, except for mathematics.High and rising standards are key to strengthening outcomes and closing gaps for every child and young person. The department is driving improvements through new regional improvement in standards and excellence teams, the Curriculum and Assessment Review and support to boost primary literacy, including the publication of the Writing Framework and with additional phonics to fluency reading support.Building on this, our upcoming Schools White Paper will set out our vision for a system that drives educational excellence for every child no matter who they are.
What steps she is taking to increase higher education participation among young men.
The Office for Students (OfS), as regulator for higher education (HE), has a statutory duty to have regard to the need to promote equality of opportunity in relation to the whole of the student lifecycle, not just access, but also continuation and success.HE providers registered with the OfS that intend to charge higher level tuition fees must have an access and participation plan (APP) approved by the OfS.APPs articulate key risks to equality of opportunity in HE, how these will be addressed and the student groups that will be supported through them. The OfS advises HE providers to consider intersections of disadvantage, such as those faced by white working-class men, when creating their APPs, based on credible assessment of risk.Supporting disadvantaged and underrepresented students in HE remains a priority. The government has allocated £265 million this financial year in student premium funding to support successful student outcomes.
What steps she is taking to help improve the retention of male students in higher education.
The Office for Students (OfS), as regulator for higher education (HE), has a statutory duty to have regard to the need to promote equality of opportunity in relation to the whole of the student lifecycle, not just access, but also continuation and success.HE providers registered with the OfS that intend to charge higher level tuition fees must have an access and participation plan (APP) approved by the OfS.APPs articulate key risks to equality of opportunity in HE, how these will be addressed and the student groups that will be supported through them. The OfS advises HE providers to consider intersections of disadvantage, such as those faced by white working-class men, when creating their APPs, based on credible assessment of risk.Supporting disadvantaged and underrepresented students in HE remains a priority. The government has allocated £265 million this financial year in student premium funding to support successful student outcomes.
What estimate she has made of male drop-out rates in higher education for the most recent year for which figures are available.
The department does not publish statistics on drop-out rates.Figures on continuation rates, which are the proportion of entrants continuing in their studies one year after entry, are published by the Office for Students. The latest year of data for UK domiciled male entrants studying a full-time first degree, covering those who entered in the 2021/22 academic year, shows that the continuation rate was 84.9%, compared with 89.0% for females.The requested data on continuation rates is available in more detail here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/data-and-analysis/student-characteristics-data/outcomes-data-dashboard/. This data has been available since 3 September 2024.
What recent comparative assessment she has made of trends in the identification of special educational needs and disabilities among (a) boys and (b) girls.
Information on the characteristics of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) are recorded in the school census. Data is not available for independent schools or general hospital schools. As of January 2025, 24.1% of male pupils were identified with SEN, compared to 14.2% of female pupils. 16.8% of male pupils were identified as receiving SEN support, compared to 11.1% of female pupils. 7.4% of male pupils had an education, health and care plan compared to 3.1% of female pupils. Whilst the number of both male and female pupils with SEN has grown since January 2016, the rate of growth has been higher among female pupils compared to male pupils.
What recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of SEND support for children without education, health and care plans.
This government’s ambition is that every child or young person receives the best possible educational experience, one that is academically stretching, where every child or young person feels like they belong, and that sets them up for life and work.As part of our Plan for Change, we are determined to fix the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system and restore parents’ trust by ensuring schools have the tools to better identify and support children before issues escalate.We will build a better system which is grounded in evidence, identifies and supports need at the earliest opportunity, and ensures families can secure support swiftly without a fight. There will always be a legal right to the additional support that children with SEND need.Our new regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) teams will work with mainstream schools to help them become more inclusive places as one of four priority areas for improvement.The newly published RISE Inclusive Mainstream webpage provides schools with programmes and resources to help mainstream schools improve inclusivity and support for those with SEND, and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rise-support-for-inclusive-mainstream-education/rise-support-for-inclusive-mainstream-education.
What steps she is taking to assist local authorities in reducing wait times for children with complex disabilities to access specialist respite services.
Under section 17 of the Children Act 1989, local authorities are required to assess the needs of disabled children. Where the assessment identifies that a child is eligible for support, the local authority must provide suitable services.In addition to this, between 2022 and 2025, the government funded the Short Breaks Innovation Programme, where local authorities were invited to bid for a share of £30 million to fund innovative approaches to short breaks delivery, and to the commissioning of such interventions. Some successful local authorities within the programme focused on reducing wait times. A lesson learned report from the programme is due to be published in autumn 2025.