Paul Bolton

This House of Commons briefing provides information on the Erasmus+ programme and discusses the future position of the UK with regard to the scheme post Brexit. On 24 December 2020 the Prime Minister announced that the UK would no longer participate in Erasmus+ and would develop its own replacement programme - the Turing Scheme.

This page summarises the Commons Library publications on energy policy. The overview briefing paper provides background on energy in the UK, the basis for energy policy, and a timeline of significant developments in energy policy.

This House of Commons library briefing paper sets out data on the prevalence of mental health conditions in higher education students in England and outlines the action higher education providers, the government and the Office for Students are taking to help students with mental health issues. It also flags up how students can get support and looks at the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Student loans are the main method of direct government support for higher education students. More than £17 billion is loaned to students each year. The value of outstanding loans at the end of March 20 reached £140 billion. The Government forecasts the value of outstanding loans to be around £560 billion (2019‑20 prices) by the middle of this century. The expansion of loans has raised questions about graduate repayments and ultimately the cost of the system to the taxpayer

This Library briefing note summarises the levels of fuel poverty across the UK, policies to address fuel poverty, and stakeholder comment on the issue.

This Library briefing paper provides a summary of the UK energy market, a breakdown of the components of energy bills, and details of concerns and reforms in the market, including the tariff cap.

This House of Commons briefing paper discusses the university admissions system and the various review of university admissions. The Office for Students launched its review on 27 February 2020. On 22 July 2019 Universities UK launched its own separate review of admissions which was published on 13 November 2020. On the same day Secretary of State for Education Gavin Williamson said that it was his intention to consider post-qualification university admissions and that the government will consult on proposals to “remove the unfairness” in the university admission system. The paper focuses on the use of predicted grades for university admissions, the increase in unconditional offers by universities, contextual admissions and issues around a post qualification admissions system.

This House of Commons briefing paper outlines the current funding system for: healthcare students, medical and dentistry students and paramedics and discusses the impact of the 2017 reforms on entrants to healthcare degrees. It also outlines new funding arrangements for nursing, midwifery, healthcare students and paramedics from September 2020.

A Westminster Hall debate on ‘Funding for further education’ has been scheduled for Wednesday 4 November 2020 from 2.00pm-3:30pm. The debate has been initiated by Gill Furniss MP.

Education spending peaked in around 2010 at 5.5% of GDP or £104 billion (2019-20 prices). It has fallen since then, but how much of this is due to changes to definitions, where does this leave the UK compared to other countries and how does this fall in spending compare to others over the past seven decades?

Higher education underwent fundamental changes to how it was financed in England 2012. There have been ongoing smaller changes since then and prospects for much larger changes following the Review of Post-18 Education and Funding. How has this affected the balance between the broad sources of funding -the taxpayer and graduate and how has the total funding from all sources for universities changed?

This short briefing paper looks at educational trajectories for Black pupils and students in England.