Consultation Hub

We consulted on proposals to strengthen statutory guidance on supporting children and young people with medical conditions and allergies in education settings.  

The consultation sought views on a range of key issues, including clarity of responsibility, the role and use of Individual Healthcare Plans (IHPs), staff training, allergy safety, the reporting of incidents and near misses, and the scope of statutory duties across different types of education provision. 

We have carefully considered all responses. A clear majority of respondents strongly agreed or agreed with the proposals. 

While there is a clear mandate to strengthen statutory guidance on medical conditions and allergy safety, respondents consistently highlighted challenges relating to capacity, funding, workforce capability, training delivery, and clarity of responsibility between education and health systems.  

We will revise the draft statutory guidance to reflect the points raised.  However, we recognise that further work is needed to clarify the respective roles and responsibilities of education settings and of healthcare professionals.  We will take this forward with the Department of Health and Social Care before publishing guidance on supporting children and young people with medical conditions in due course.   

Responsibilities for supporting children and young people with allergies are clearer, and the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 places new statutory duties on schools to put allergy safety policies in place.  We have therefore published statutory guidance on allergy safety, reflecting feedback received through the consultation.

We sought views on the technical design and delivery of the International Student Levy, including which providers and students should be in scope, how the levy should be calculated, and how it should be administered.

The consultation received 91 responses. Respondents raised questions and concerns about how the levy would operate for different types of provision and international students groups, and called for greater clarity on levy calculations and payment arrangements. Respondents also emphasised the importance of minimising administrative burden and highlighted the need for sufficient implementation time and guidance.

In the government’s response, we have clarified how the levy will operate in practice and confirmed key elements of its design, including alignment with existing data collection processes to minimise burden on providers. We will be running two trial delivery calculations, based on student data for 2026/27 and 2027/28, ahead of implementation to support providers' planning. We have published draft measures for the International Student Levy which we intend to include in the Finance Bill 2026. We will confirm any further student exemptions ahead of secondary legislation and will continue to work with the sector as we finalise the detail of the levy.

We asked for feedback on the planned design and implementation of the new pathways for 16 to 19-year-olds announced in the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper, including:

• A third, vocational pathway at level 3: creating V Level qualifications. V Levels will sit alongside A levels and T Levels and will offer a vocational alternative to these academic and technical routes.
• Two new pathways at level 2: simplifying the current offer and providing a clear line of sight to both further study at level 3 and skilled employment through the Further Study pathway and Occupational pathway.

We received over 750 responses on Citizen Space and emails from individuals and organisations spanning a range of stakeholders, including FE and HE providers, awarding organisations and teachers. The responses gave views on the details of the design and implementation of the new pathways, including on the size of the qualifications, the subjects, the content, and the branding.

The responses have informed the government response to the consultation, which was published on 10 March 2026 and is available on GOV.UK. We have also published a transition plan which sets out how we will support providers to move towards the reformed qualification landscape. We will publish an implementation plan by June 2026 which will set out further details.