Question follow-through · 120536
Private Education: Pupils
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many pupils left independent schools in 2024 compared with 2025, and how this compares with the estimated figure of 3,000 pupils.
About this written question
A written question asks a government minister for information in writing. Parliament publishes the question and any answer.
- Answering body
- Department for Education
- Tabled
- 12 Mar 2026
- Target answer date
- 18 Mar 2026
- Answer
- 18 Mar 2026 · 6 calendar days after tabling
Elapsed calendar days describe the record timeline, not whether Parliament considers an answer on time.
More questions by this MP on Education and skills
- Private Education: VAT · 16 Mar 2026
- Special Educational Needs: Finance · 16 Mar 2026
- Teachers: Materinty Pay · 16 Mar 2026
- Teachers: Maternity Pay · 16 Mar 2026
- Special Educational Needs · 17 Mar 2026
Shared topic keywords suggest a connection; they do not establish a follow-up.
Recorded timeline
12 Mar 2026
Question tabled
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many pupils left independent schools in 2024 compared with 2025, and how this compares with the estimated figure of 3,000 pupils.
18 Mar 2026
Target answer date
Date supplied by the official written-questions record.
18 Mar 2026
Answer published
There were 129 private school closures between 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2025. In 2024, there were 58 closures and in 2025 there were 71 closures.The government does not collect pupil-level data from private schools.
Official data retrieved 28 Sept 2026.
Later records
Possible follow-up questions
Strong links require the same MP, department and exact heading. Other same-department questions are shown as unreviewed candidates, not as confirmed follow-ups. No debate link is asserted unless a stable source relationship exists.
Private Education: VAT
16 Mar 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number and proportion of pupils that would need to move from the independent to the state sector for VAT revenue from school fees to fall below the additional cost of educating
Special Educational Needs: Finance
16 Mar 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the potential impact of trends in the growth of EHCPs on costs to the public purse.
Teachers: Materinty Pay
16 Mar 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of maternity pay reforms on teacher retention.
Teachers: Maternity Pay
16 Mar 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the cost to the public purse of her proposed maternity pay reforms; and how she plans to fund this additional cost.
Special Educational Needs
17 Mar 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance the Department plans to issue to help ensure that Individual Support Plans (ISPs) are portable across phases and settings, including post-16 and further education.
Schools: Special Educational Needs
17 Mar 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how compliance with ISP duties will be enforced at school and local-system level, and which body will hold ultimate enforcement responsibility.
Special Educational Needs: Staff
17 Mar 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many additional educational psychologists, speech and language therapists and occupational therapists will be required annually to deliver the Experts at Hand programme.
Special Educational Needs: Finance
17 Mar 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of the £4 billion SEND investment package is allocated to universal SEND training for the 0–25 workforce, and what training standard will apply.
Special Educational Needs
18 Mar 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how the proposed fast-track route for early intervention will be defined, including eligibility thresholds, time limits and approved evidence-based programmes.
Special Educational Needs
18 Mar 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will publish modelling underpinning its projection that EHCP growth will slow by 2029–30 and then fall.
Special Educational Needs: Unpaid Work
18 Mar 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much has been spent on Supported Internships; and what the projected cost of the 12-month extension is.
Special Educational Needs
18 Mar 2026 · To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether safeguards will be introduced to help ensure that Individual Support Plans (ISPs) do not become resource-led documents due to limited specialist provision.