Commons Balances Education Reform and Steel Nationalisation Plans
High-Level Summary
The House considered education policy, including student finance, technical education, apprenticeships and reforms to special educational needs and disabilities provision. The Government announced that it would work towards the public acquisition of Speciality Steel UK while keeping its long-term ownership and use under review, and it presented the Robert Hamill inquiry report. The Sovereign Grant Bill was passed, and the House approved temporary changes to select committee participation, acting chairs, privileges and machinery of government arrangements. Members then debated the Government’s revised policy on Israel and Palestine before presenting local petitions and marking the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street.
Detailed Summary
Business before questions and Speaker’s statement
The Vice-Chamberlain reported four Royal Answers agreeing to requests concerning Electoral Commissioners, including the appointment of Alan Mabbutt OBE and Hywel Williams and the reappointment of Chris Ruane and Sheila Ritchie. The answers also agreed to appoint Michael Jary CBE as Chair of the National Audit Office and Richard Lloyd OBE as Chair of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, with the relevant terms and dates set out in the transcript. Lindsay Hoyle expressed condolences to the Prime Minister on the death of his father: “I offer my condolences to the Prime Minister on the death of his father.”
Education questions: student loans
Tessa Munt asked about improving the student loan system and called for uprated repayment thresholds, restored maintenance grants and an independent watchdog. Lucy Powell, the Secretary of State, described the inherited system as “broken and unfair”. She said the issue remained at the top of her priorities and that she hoped to say more soon, while also pointing to clearer guidance for prospective students, capped maximum interest rates and the reintroduction of maintenance grants. Powell did not make a commitment in the transcript to uprate repayment thresholds or establish an independent watchdog, and no timetable for wider reform was stated.
Young people not in education, employment or training
Members discussed attendance, engagement, technical education, apprenticeships and the availability of entry-level jobs in relation to young people not in education, employment or training (NEET). Powell said that the current system was leaving too many young people behind and that she wanted the country to become “a technical education superpower”. Christine Jardine focused on attendance and engagement, while John Grady raised the need to improve maths teaching and support for apprenticeships. Rebecca Smith argued that the decline in entry-level jobs was more significant than school performance alone; Powell responded by citing persistent absence, disadvantage, regional attainment gaps and resit outcomes.
Powell said she was willing to meet Lloyd Hatton to discuss a possible satellite college at Dorset Innovation Park. She also referred to a summit involving school, college and business leaders and said the Government were working on both the skills and employment-supply aspects of the issue.
Curriculum, assessment and apprenticeships
Powell said that proposals based on the curriculum and assessment review would be published for consultation. She said they would aim for broader and more inclusive education, stronger technical and vocational options, greater emphasis on oracy and more stepping-stone qualifications. The Government also expressed an interest in taking part in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Programme for International Student Assessment financial-literacy assessment in 2029 and said financial education would be strengthened in the maths and citizenship curricula.
Paul Waugh said that the Department for Education was supporting apprenticeships through new 14-to-19 technical and vocational pathways, including V-levels from 2027, level 2 pathways and additional T-levels. He said Baroness Smith was considering a single access point for technical education information, with answers expected in due course. Members also raised the alignment of qualifications with employers’ needs, careers guidance and the role of further education colleges.
SEND and neurodivergence: reform, funding and specialist support
Questions covered cross-government accountability for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), education, health and care plans, specialist places, local-authority performance, teacher training, education otherwise than at school (EOTAS), autism profiles and support in mainstream schools. Powell said that “no one Department can do them alone” and described work with the Department of Health and Social Care. Ministers referred to £4 billion for early intervention, £3.7 billion in capital investment for specialist places, £1.8 billion for the Experts at Hand service and £200 million for SEND training and professional development.
Georgia Gould said the Government would bring forward the proposed legislation “as quickly as possible” after considering consultation responses. She also offered to meet Members about local cases, said she would visit Cornwall to discuss recruitment and retention, and identified SEND as a core focus of the 2027 review of teacher training. The transcript did not state a date for the Bill. On EOTAS, Gould said that the Government were considering consultation responses; on neurodivergence, she referred to national inclusion standards, earlier identification of needs and support from specialist services.
Education topical questions
Topical questions covered free school meals and breakfast clubs, school uniform costs, a Barnet school’s policy on hijabs, higher-education finances, music education, school rebuilding, SEND transport, safeguarding, care leavers and youth travel. Powell announced changes to school food, including “giving over half a million more children free school meals”. She said a Barnet school had clarified that hijabs were not compulsory and warned that clothing children needed to wear should not be labelled as optional branded uniform.
Ministers offered meetings or written responses on creative-arts university funding, a school rebuilding application, Worcestershire SEND provision and school sport. Powell acknowledged pressure on higher education and said she was examining it with Cabinet colleagues. She also said that the cost of bus travel, particularly for young people, was a priority for the Prime Minister.
Speciality Steel UK: proposed public acquisition
Jonathan Reynolds announced that the Government would engage with the official receiver’s sale process and develop a proposal for the public acquisition of Speciality Steel UK. He said a preferred private bidder had sought Government support, but that the Government could not support the proposed terms because of concerns about financing, taxpayer protection and long-term stability. The proposed acquisition was presented as a way to preserve strategic control while industrial, regeneration and future ownership options were assessed; Reynolds stressed that it was “not the end of the process, or the end of the conversation about the long-term future of the business and its sites”.
Members questioned staff security, private investment, energy costs, investigations, the future of the four sites and the implications for Wales, Northern Ireland and the West Midlands. Reynolds said that staff funded through the official receiver process were being paid, estimated that the public-acquisition process would take four to six months, and said a public-ownership option could cost about £350 million. He put the official receiver’s ongoing cost at £11 million a month. He said the Government’s preference in principle was for a private-sector future, but that public support could not be provided without adequate protection for taxpayers. The Government would assess specialist steel production, product lines, customers, accreditation and the role of all four sites. A proposal to combine Speciality Steel UK with British Steel was not endorsed; Reynolds said the two businesses were “distinct problems”.
Robert Hamill inquiry report
Chris Bryant presented the Robert Hamill inquiry report, which was published after a 15-year delay following its completion. The inquiry found that Hamill’s death was murder: “Robert Hamill’s death was murder, because those who assaulted him must have at least intended to cause serious injury to him.” It found that the RUC officers in the Land Rover had not facilitated his death or colluded with the attackers, although Sir Edwin Jowitt had dissented from the finding that the officers were not guilty of an omission. The inquiry identified negligent and deliberate failures in the subsequent investigation, including failures to debrief officers and the conduct of former RUC officer Robert Atkinson, whose actions led to his conviction in 2024.
Members asked about the cost and value of the inquiry, the preservation of its evidence, the Director of Public Prosecutions and the implications for future legacy inquiries. Bryant referred to a cost of about £33 million plus later expenditure, said that the Troubles Bill was intended to establish a legacy commission, and noted that the Finucane inquiry was beginning its processes. He said the report would be placed in both Houses’ Libraries and published online. The murder file remains open, and the report states that no one has been convicted of causing Hamill’s death.
Sovereign Grant Bill
The Bill reset the Sovereign Grant at £99.9 million for 2027–28, down from £137.9 million in 2026–27 following the Buckingham Palace reservicing programme. It also set the future calculation percentage at 20.5% of Crown Estate profits and introduced mechanisms concerning reserve levels and exceptional in-year adjustments. The Government said that the grant funded official duties and the maintenance of occupied royal palaces rather than personal purposes, and that the trustees’ calculation began with the household’s requirements.
The official Opposition supported the Bill. Liberal Democrat Members proposed requiring a National Audit Office value-for-money assessment and approval by the House of Commons before any future increase in the percentage. The Government argued that this was unnecessary because a future increase would require an affirmative statutory instrument and because the National Audit Office already audited the grant and could conduct value-for-money examinations. The Bill was reported without amendment and was read a third time and passed.
Select committee procedure, Privileges Committee report and machinery of government changes
The House approved temporary arrangements for select committee members to participate electronically from 30 November 2026 where access to the parliamentary estate was significantly restricted or where health and wellbeing adjustments were required. Members participating electronically will count towards the quorum, subject to Liaison Committee guidance and cyber-security considerations. The House also approved a scheme allowing a select committee chair with a proxy vote to take between one and seven months’ leave, with an acting chair appointed from the committee and normally from the same party.
The House endorsed the Committee of Privileges report on the Charity Commission’s actions. The Committee concluded that the Commission had committed contempt of Parliament by seeking to prevent reports from being laid before the House, and the Commission’s board and chief executive had apologised. The House also approved amendments to Standing Orders and related provisions following machinery-of-government changes, including references to the Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee, the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee and the Science and Technology Committee.
Israel and Palestine
The House debated the Government’s revised policy on Israel and Palestine. Stephen Doughty said that the Government considered Israel’s continued occupation of Palestine unlawful, supported a two-state solution, opposed Hamas having a role in a future settlement and intended to target goods, services, advertising and individuals connected with illegal settlements while protecting legitimate trade with green-line Israel. He stressed that “Our disagreements are with the Government of Israel and their actions, not with Israel, and certainly not with the Israeli people.” He also said that more than 80 arms export licences had been suspended or refused and that relevant export restrictions would remain while the occupation persisted.
Alicia Kearns, Lincoln Jopp and other Members questioned the timing, scope and possible effects of the measures, including on diplomatic and security co-operation, trade and the future lifting of sanctions. Other Members called for wider sanctions, a comprehensive arms embargo, stronger accountability for alleged international-law violations and greater humanitarian support. The Government said that implementation would take six to nine months: “Sanctions are powerful and technical. We must take the time necessary to ensure that the measures are effective and enforceable.” It identified the Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation, HM Revenue and Customs and the National Crime Agency as having enforcement roles.
Members also discussed aid, medical evacuations, UNRWA, prosthetics, mine action, antisemitism, anti-Muslim hatred, Iran, Hezbollah, the Houthis and accountability for the deaths of World Central Kitchen workers. Uma Kumaran said that the Government would continue medical and humanitarian support and that reports of RAF involvement in the World Central Kitchen deaths were “simply not true”. The motion was resolved: “That this House has considered Israel and Palestine.”
Petitions, local issues and select committee elections
Members presented petitions on the safe reopening of Mount Batten Beach and Peninsula after asbestos fibres were found, the proposed application for 1,200 homes on green-belt land between Bearwood and Merley, the proposed expansion of Leicester City Council’s boundaries, and local-government reorganisation in Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire. The petitions sought specialist investigation, safe reopening, protection of green belt, fuller consideration of local views and rejection or reconsideration of the relevant proposals. One petition called for work “towards the safe reopening of Mount Batten Beach and peninsula”.
The Speaker announced the results of select committee elections. Ms Oppong-Asare was elected Chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee with 242 votes; Catherine Atkinson was elected Chair of the Justice Committee with 250 votes; and Olivia Bailey was elected Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee with 213 votes. All three took up their posts immediately.
Battle of Cable Street: 90th anniversary
The Adjournment debate marked the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street, when Jewish residents and their allies opposed a planned British Union of Fascists march through east London. Apsana Begum discussed the event’s significance for anti-fascism, Jewish activism and cross-community solidarity, and asked about protecting the Cable Street mural and supporting community cohesion.
Rushanara Ali and Florence Eshalomi considered the continuing relevance of the anniversary in responding to antisemitism, racism and far-right activity. Eshalomi referred to funding for Jewish community security, policing, community resilience and anti-antisemitism work, including £32.4 million for Jewish community protective security and up to £7 million for work in schools, colleges and universities. She also referred to inter-faith and cohesion programmes and concluded: “antisemitism, far-right extremists and political violence have no place in Britain.” The motion was agreed to and the House adjourned.