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 Tuesday, 21 October 2025. It was answered by Josh MacAlister (Labour) on Thursday, 13 November 2025 on behalf of the Department for Education.

International Baccalaureate: Finance

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions her Department has had with the International Baccalaureate Organisation on the withdrawal of state funding support.

Answer: The department has made very 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% on last year. We must make this funding work hard, tilting it towards key priorities. That is why we have announced that we will focus large programme uplift funding (LPU), which is on top of the base funding, on those large programmes which include maths, further maths and other high value A levels. We have informed institutions most affected by the change in LPU funding that we will calculate transitional protection funding for one year. This should enable institutions to support students in completing larger programmes that will no longer attract the LPU. 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