The increasing 16 to 19 population means extra capacity is needed in some areas. The Post-16 capacity fund has already provided £282 million between 2021 and 2025 for additional capacity and we are investing a further £375 million by 2029/30 to accommodate additional learners. This investment will add capacity, including new classrooms, science laboratories and workshops, so all young people gain the skills they need to progress and get a good job.

There is also an additional £195 million capital investment by 2029/30 to expand construction course provision in further education providers, helping to deliver our commitment to get Britain building.

Of the total funding, £283 million is being devolved to strategic authorities as they are best placed to know the geography and nature of sustained demand. The remaining £287 million will be awarded to expand training places at sites in non-devolved areas through a national competitive bidding round, which closes on 17 April 2026.

Mainstream free school projects were evaluated in line with consistent criteria focusing on assessing the need for places and value for money. This included considering whether projects would provide a distinctive local offer and whether they would risk negatively impacting other local schools or colleges.

As part of one of the largest city regions outside London, Oldham benefits from a large pool of potential learners. Well developed transport links will allow the school to attract learners from across a broad geographical area.

Conditions attached to the school will ensure both Eton and Star work with local schools and colleges to ensure the new school sits coherently within the existing local offer, with a focus on improving GCSE outcomes and progression rates into post-16 provision across the local area, as well as into top universities.

The responsibility for undertaking a Section 10 consultation prior to the school opening sits with the Academy Trust. The Secretary of State will take the findings into account when considering whether to enter into a funding agreement.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has not had discussions with a Chinese counterpart on student numbers in UK higher education (HE). Policy for HE research funding for England is the responsibility of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). UK Research and Innovation, which falls under DSIT's remit, is the biggest public funder of research.

I refer the hon. Member for South Basildon and East Thurrock to the answer of 28 February 2025 to Question 31700.

In the 2023/24 academic year, there were 15,450 undergraduate enrolments across all UK higher education (HE) providers in the subject area ‘Computer games and animation’ (common aggregation hierarchy (CAH) subject code 11-01-06).

In the 2013/14 academic year, there were 4,065 undergraduate enrolments across all UK HE providers in the subject areas ‘Games’ (Joint Academic Coding System (JACS) subject code I6) and ‘Computer generated visual & audio effects’ (JACS subject code I7).

In 2019/20, a new subject classification system, the Higher Education Classification of Subjects and the CAH, was introduced to replace the JACS. Subjects in both systems have been chosen to match as closely as possible, but counts of enrolments may not be directly comparable between the two systems.

This government is fully committed to the future of T Levels. Where a student wishes to study a large qualification and a T Level exists, they should undertake the T Level. Where we identified that qualifications in T Level routes should be retained for longer, we are retaining these until reformed alternatives are available.

For students who do not wish to take A levels or T Levels, there will be other qualifications in the system, including smaller qualifications in T Level areas which can be combined in mixed programmes. Newly reformed qualifications are now available for delivery at levels 2 and 3.

We published an Equalities Impact Assessment alongside the outcome of the Review of Qualifications Reform, which is accessible at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-level-3-qualifications-reform-equality-impact-assessment.

The department expects the impact on student numbers to be mitigated by the phased withdrawal of funding, allowing time for reformed alternatives to bed in.

Education and training is a devolved matter. This means that the Scottish Government set education and training policy in Scotland, including the policy to limit the number of publicly funded undergraduate places available to Scottish-domiciled students. Students from the rest of the UK are not subject to the same recruitment caps as Scottish students.

Higher education providers are independent from government and are responsible for their own admissions decisions. The number of places available for students from the rest of the UK is managed separately by institutions who will set recruitment targets in line with their own institutional strategy.

Education and training is a devolved matter. This means that the Scottish Government set education and training policy in Scotland, including the policy to limit the number of publicly funded undergraduate places available to Scottish-domiciled students. Students from the rest of the UK are not subject to the same recruitment caps as Scottish students.

Higher education providers are independent from government and are responsible for their own admissions decisions. The number of places available for students from the rest of the UK is managed separately by institutions who will set recruitment targets in line with their own institutional strategy.

Education and training is a devolved matter. This means that the Scottish Government set education and training policy in Scotland, including the policy to limit the number of publicly funded undergraduate places available to Scottish-domiciled students. Students from the rest of the UK are not subject to the same recruitment caps as Scottish students.

Higher education providers are independent from government and are responsible for their own admissions decisions. The number of places available for students from the rest of the UK is managed separately by institutions who will set recruitment targets in line with their own institutional strategy.

Education and training is a devolved matter. This means that the Scottish Government set education and training policy in Scotland, including the policy to limit the number of publicly funded undergraduate places available to Scottish-domiciled students. Students from the rest of the UK are not subject to the same recruitment caps as Scottish students.

Higher education providers are independent from government and are responsible for their own admissions decisions. The number of places available for students from the rest of the UK is managed separately by institutions who will set recruitment targets in line with their own institutional strategy.

Education and training is a devolved matter. This means that the Scottish Government set education and training policy in Scotland, including the policy to limit the number of publicly funded undergraduate places available to Scottish-domiciled students. Students from the rest of the UK are not subject to the same recruitment caps as Scottish students.

Higher education providers are independent from government and are responsible for their own admissions decisions. The number of places available for students from the rest of the UK is managed separately by institutions who will set recruitment targets in line with their own institutional strategy.

Education and training is a devolved matter. This means that the Scottish Government set education and training policy in Scotland, including the policy to limit the number of publicly funded undergraduate places available to Scottish-domiciled students. Students from the rest of the UK are not subject to the same recruitment caps as Scottish students.

Higher education providers are independent from government and are responsible for their own admissions decisions. The number of places available for students from the rest of the UK is managed separately by institutions who will set recruitment targets in line with their own institutional strategy.

Statistics on higher education (HE) student enrolments by personal characteristics, including the number of HE student enrolments in the 2023/24 and 2023/24 academic years broken down by religious beliefs, are published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency and can be found here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/sb271/figure-5.

We are determined to rebuild National Health Service dentistry, but it will take time and there are no quick fixes. Strengthening the workforce is key to our ambitions.

To achieve these aims, we will work with partners such as the General Dental Council to explore the creation of new dental schools as necessary in currently under-served parts of the country, as well as with the Office for Students, which has statutory responsibility for allocating Government funded dental school places.

We have also launched a 10-Year Health Plan as part of Government’s five long-term missions, a central part of which will be our workforce. We will publish a refreshed workforce plan to ensure the NHS has the right people, in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the care patients need when they need it.

To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract with the sector, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.

We are committed to training the staff we need, including doctors, to ensure that patients are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it.

We have launched the 10-Year Health Plan which will set out a bold agenda to reform and repair the National Health Service. Ensuring we have the right people, in the right places, with the right skills will be central to this vision. This summer we will publish a refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan to build the transformed health service we will deliver over the next decade.

There are currently no such plans. We have launched a 10-Year Health Plan to reform the National Health Service. The plan will set out a bold agenda to deliver on the three big shifts needed to move healthcare from the hospital to the community, from analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention.

A central part of the 10-Year Health Plan will be our workforce and how we ensure we train and provide the staff, technology, and infrastructure the NHS needs to care for patients across our communities.

This summer we will publish a refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade, to treat patients on time again.

Student accommodation is a busy part of the housing market, and this government recognises the concerns that some students may have about the availability of accommodation. As universities and landlords are private, autonomous bodies, the government has no role in student admissions or the provision of student accommodation, nor a remit to intervene in how it is allocated.

Nevertheless, the department is working with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to promote the importance of a strategic approach to meeting student housing needs to providers and local authorities.

The department expects universities and private landlords to review their accommodation policies to ensure they are affordable, fair, clear and promote the interests of students.

The Government does not currently plan to lift the cap on medical school places. We are committed to training the staff we need, including doctors, to ensure patients are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it.

The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan (LTWP) published by NHS England on 30 June 2023 sets out the aim of doubling the number of medical school places in England to 15,000 a year by 2031/32, and to work towards this expansion by increasing places by a third, to 10,000 a year, by 2028/29.

In October 2023, the Office for Students (OfS) was asked by myself and the Minister for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education to increase the number of home student places for the 2024/25 academic year by 205. This accelerated delivery of the LTWP.

The OfS was asked to engage with the Department for Education and Department of Health and Social Care, as well as NHS England and the General Medical Council, as it made decisions about how to allocate the funding for these places.

This process included consideration of the capacity of medical schools to take additional students in 2024/25. We are in the final stage of allocating 350 additional medical schools places for the 2025/26 academic year. We will set out plans for future years in due course.

The Office for Students (OfS) collects and publishes data on the intakes to dentistry degrees in England and Wales. Initial figures from the OfS suggest that, in the 2023/24 academic year, 805 students began dentistry degrees in England, and 70 students began dentistry degrees in Wales. The Department does not hold further information on the overall number of students studying dentistry at universities in England and Wales in the 2023/24 academic year.