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 61–80 of 432 · Department for Education
How many and what proportion of pupils placed on waiting lists for oversubscribed schools subsequently received an offer of a place in each of the last five years.
In 2025, 92.6% of families were offered their first-choice primary school and 98.6% received offers from one of their top three choices. At secondary level, 83.5% of families were offered their first-choice school and 94.9% received offers from one of the...
With reference to her Department’s press release entitled Regional funding to train next generation of construction workers, published on 20 May 2026, what steps her Department is taking to encourage small and
Sector engagement indicates that there is strong employer demand for new entrants and willingness across the sector to offer high-quality placement opportunities, supported by the additional regional funding provided through the Construction Skills Progra...
With reference to her Department’s press release entitled Regional funding to train next generation of construction workers, published on 20 May 2026, what assessment she has made of the capacity of the constru
Sector engagement indicates that there is strong employer demand for new entrants and willingness across the sector to offer high-quality placement opportunities, supported by the additional regional funding provided through the Construction Skills Progra...
With reference to her Department’s press release entitled Regional funding to train next generation of construction workers, published on 20 May 2026, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of existi
Industry placements are a core, mandatory element of T Levels, designed to give students substantial, hands on experience of working in industry so they can develop the technical skills, confidence and readiness they need for future employment.T Levels ar...
What data her Department collects on the average waiting-list position of pupils who ultimately receive a school place through the waiting-list process.
In 2025, 92.6% of families were offered their first-choice primary school and 98.6% received offers from one of their top three choices. At secondary level, 83.5% of families were offered their first-choice school and 94.9% received offers from one of the...
With reference to her Department’s press release entitled Regional funding to train next generation of construction workers, published on 20 May 2026, what discussions she has had with construction employers re
Whilst developing the industry placement policy, the department has engaged closely with construction employers, including the Construction Skills Mission Board, to understand the challenges and barriers they face, ensuring these insights are used to info...
With reference to her Department’s press release entitled Regional funding to train next generation of construction workers, published on 20 May 2026, what estimate she has made of the number of learners in (a)
This funding will increase opportunities for onsite experience for those learners on eligible qualifications, courses at Level 2 and 3, in Sector Subject Area 5.2 (Building and Construction), with 360+ guided learning hours, and excluding apprenticeships,...
With reference to her Department’s press release entitled Regional funding to train next generation of construction workers, published on 20 May 2026, whether local authorities and mayoral authorities will have
The department is keen to harness the strengths of a devolved approach, gaining from local insight and opportunities, and the benefits and flexibility of devolved authority. We have worked closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Govern...
What assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Maths Hubs programme in improving GCSE maths attainment in disadvantaged areas.
The Maths Hubs programme aims to raise attainment for all students in England while reducing attainment gaps, including the disadvantage gap. Data for schools with high rates of free school meals (FSM) eligibility shows that approximately 60% of both prim...
With reference to her Department’s press release entitled New powers to protect vital free speech at universities, published on 20 April 2026, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of free speech
On Monday 20 April, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education announced she would make commencement regulations by June to bring into force the Office for Students’ (OfS) free speech complaints scheme for staff, external speakers and non-...
With reference to her Department’s press release entitled New powers to protect vital free speech at universities, published on 20 April 2026, what criteria will be used by the Office for Students to determine
The Office for Students (OfS) published regulatory guidance on higher education providers’ free speech duties in June last year. On 23 April, the OfS published an update on the complaints scheme and conditions of registration, encouraging providers to rev...
With reference to her Department’s press release entitled New powers to protect vital free speech at universities, published on 20 April 2026, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that students, staff
The Office for Students (OfS) will introduce its free speech complaints scheme on 1 September 2026, which will be available for higher education (HE) provider staff, non-student members and visiting speakers. HE students will, as now, be able to complain...
With reference to her Department’s press release entitled New powers to protect vital free speech at universities, published on 20 April 2026, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of external ac
Any attempt by any foreign power to intimidate, harass or harm individuals or communities in the UK or to coerce universities to limit free speech and academic freedoms, will not be tolerated. Foreign interference concerns have been raised in relation to ...
With reference to her Department’s press release entitled New powers to protect vital free speech at universities, published on 20 April 2026, what role the proposed free speech complaints scheme will play in t
The Office for Students’ free speech complaints scheme, open to higher education staff, non-student members and visiting speakers will come into force from 1 September, and will be an important route of redress for those who believe their lawful free spee...
With reference to her Department’s press release entitled New powers to protect vital free speech at universities, published on 20 April 2026, whether she has had discussions with the security services on ident
In February 2026, we hosted an event for university Vice Chancellors on foreign interference alongside my hon. Friend, the Minister of State for Security, MI5 and cyber security services. At the event, we announced a new Academic Interference Reporting Ro...
Whether her Department is providing additional support to schools and colleges in areas where an higher than average proportion of students do not achieve a grade 4 in GCSE (a) English and (b) Maths.
The department has committed £27.7 million this financial year to raise reading standards, including a statutory reading check for pupils in year 8 to help schools provide targeted support. In 2025/26, the English Hubs programme launched a pilot to suppor...
What steps her Department is taking to help ensure that cases of retrospective withdrawal of student finance do not occur in future.
As part of our work to protect public money in higher education (HE), we take swift and proportionate action to identify fraud and error in the student finance system.Where fraud or error has been identified, students may be required to repay the funding ...
How many students will be required to repay (a) maintenance loans and (b) grants following the reclassification of their courses as distance learning.
As of 20 May 2026, the department is aware of 24,689 students that have been affected by the issue of higher education providers incorrectly classifying weekend-only courses on the Student Loans Company’s (SLC) course management system. The number of affe...
How many students were affected by the withdrawal of (a) maintenance loans and (b) grants linked to (i) weekend and (ii) flexible learning courses.
As of 20 May 2026, the department is aware of 24,689 students that have been affected by the issue of higher education providers incorrectly classifying weekend-only courses on the Student Loans Company’s (SLC) course management system. The number of affe...
What steps her Department is taking to help ensure that students are not disadvantaged by errors made in the initial approval of student finance.
As part of our work to protect public money in higher education (HE), we take swift and proportionate action to identify fraud and error in the student finance system.Where fraud or error has been identified, students may be required to repay the funding ...