Written question asked by Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat) on Friday, 17 October 2025, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 22 October 2025 (named day). It was answered by Georgia Gould (Labour) on Friday, 24 October 2025 on behalf of the Department for Education.

International Baccalaureate: Finance

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of reducing funding for International Baccalaureate qualifications on social mobility for (a) students in state schools seeking (i) international and (ii) medical university places and (b) other students.

Answer: The department has made significant investments into 16 to 19 education funding. The base rate of funding per student has increased to £5,105 in 2025/26, up over 5% in comparison to last year. But we must make this funding work hard, tilting it towards key priorities. That is why the department has announced that we will focus large programme uplift funding, which is on top of the base funding, on those large programmes which include mathematics, further mathematics and other high value A levels. 16 to 19 funded institutions have the freedom to decide how they use their funding for the provision they offer, including whether they offer the International Baccalaureate. The impact of the scenarios referred to in the questions will depend on choices made by institutions.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 83031
Session: 2024-26
Grouped for answer: Yes
Subjects: Finance Social mobility International baccalaureate Maintained schools
Link: View this Written question on www.parliament.uk