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Sarah Gibson:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the publication entitled Skills England: Sector evidence on the growth and skills offer, published in June 2025, what steps her Department is taking to ensure vocational pathways are presented to young people on an equal basis to university routes. \p Janet Daby: The publication referred to sets out Skills England‘s findings from its analysis and engagement with sectors on the growth and skills offer, supported by its assessments of skills needs. Skills England and the department will work together to ensure the offer meets the needs of employers across the country.

Widening the apprenticeships offer into a growth and skills offer, including new foundation apprenticeships, will give more young people a foot in the door at the start of their working life.

The department is investing in, and promoting, a wide range of non-academic routes to support young people into employment, including:

There is also strengthened legislation to ensure all secondary pupils have multiple opportunities for meaningful encounters with providers of technical education and apprenticeships.
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Bell Ribeiro-Addy:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 30 May 2025 to Question 50912 on Students: Loans, what steps her Department takes to help ensure that borrowers are adequately informed about (a) how interest accrues on student loans and (b) the potential impact of making minimum repayments. \p Janet Daby: When a borrower takes out a student loan, they are provided with the terms and conditions. These clearly set out the repayment thresholds, when a borrower will start repaying, how their repayments will be calculated, how interest is applied, and when the loan term ends. Details around the protections available for borrowers, including the fact that any outstanding balance will be written off at the end of the loan term, are also included. All student loan borrowers must confirm that they have read and understood the terms and conditions prior to signing the loan agreement.

Access to this information up front ensures that prospective students can weigh up the likely overall costs and likely benefits to them of undertaking higher education, alongside the financial cost of repayment across the length of the loan period.

For those who may still be unclear about the long-term commitment of a student loan, there is a range of guidance on student loans available from the Student Loans Company.

Student loan borrowers may make additional, voluntary repayments at any time, if they wish to reduce their loan balance sooner or repay their loan in full. They will need to consider their personal circumstances and the fact that any outstanding loan balance, including interest accrued, will be written off at the end of the loan term. Voluntary repayments cannot be refunded.
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Dame Harriett Baldwin:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an estimate of the number of skilled workers entering employment as a result of construction skills funding in the Spring Statement 2025. \p Janet Daby: The government is committed to addressing skills shortages in the construction sector and supporting workforce growth. In the Spring Statement 2025, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced a £625 million investment to train 60,000 skilled construction workers by 2029, supporting the delivery of 1.5 million homes and economic growth. This includes £165 million for college construction courses, £100 million for ten new Technical Excellence Colleges, and £32 million via the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) for 40,000 industry placements annually.

From August, new foundation apprenticeships, backed by a £3 billion apprenticeship budget, will launch, with construction among the key sectors. Employers will receive £2,000 for each foundation apprentice, and three new construction standards will be introduced. CITB is also expanding its New Entrant Support Team, while partnerships like the Persimmon Homes Academy are improving retention and progression.

In addition, the department recently announced over £190 million in additional funding for 16 to 19 education in 2025/26, including £160 million for colleges and £30 million for school-based provision. This is in addition to construction-specific skills funding.

To further support teaching capacity, we are expanding initiatives such as Taking Teaching Further, targeted retention payments, and a £20 million Teacher Industry Exchange scheme, promoting collaboration between further education providers and construction employers.
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Neil O'Brien:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding she plans to provide to (a) the National Careers Service, (b) the Education and Training Foundation, (c) WorldSkills UK and (d) the Careers and Enterprise Company in the 2025-26 academic or financial year. \p Janet Daby: As part of our Plan for Change, the government is investing in skills in order to drive economic growth and break down barriers to opportunity. The overall programme resource budget for apprenticeships, further education and higher education in the 2025/26 financial year is £15.8 billion. This includes funding for the National Careers Service, the Education and Training Foundation, WorldSkills UK, and the Careers and Enterprise Company.
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Mike Wood:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether appointments to Skills England will be included in the Public Bodies Order in Council; and whether the chair appointment will be classified as a Significant Appointment. \p Janet Daby: The department will give due consideration on whether to request the inclusion of Skills England in the Public Appointment Order in Council at the point when the Cabinet Office invites departments to nominate bodies for inclusion in the Order. Concurrently, we will assess whether the Chair position falls within the scope of appointments deemed significant under the criteria specified by Cabinet Office at the time of the request.
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Lauren Edwards:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to implement recommendation 1 of the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel national review into safeguarding children with disabilities and complex needs in residential settings, published in October 2022. \p Stephen Morgan: The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel’s recommendations for safeguarding children with disabilities and complex health needs in residential settings were set out in their phase 2 report published in April 2023. Recommendation 1 concerned the provision of specialist non-instructed advocacy services.

The department is determined to improve the provision of advocacy services. We will publish updated statutory guidance on the provision of effective advocacy services under the Children Act 1989 and updated national standards for children’s advocacy services, later this year. The latter will include a new standard on non-instructed advocacy for children with complex needs and learning disabilities and new requirements for advocacy services in the safeguarding of children.

The government set out this information, including its commitment to publishing revised National Standards on Children’s Advocacy, in the report ‘Tackling child sexual abuse: progress update’ which was published on 8 April 2025 and is available on the government’s website.
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Laura Trott:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to publish the national behaviour survey for the 2023-24 academic year. \p Stephen Morgan: The National Behaviour Survey for the 2023/24 academic year is due to be published in the summer.
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Mr Andrew Snowden:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 2 June to Question 54071 on Swimming: Training, what standard of swimming ability the government expects young people to have achieved by the end of Primary School. \p Catherine McKinnell: The programme of study for physical education (PE) makes specific reference to swimming and water safety, stating that “all schools must provide swimming instruction in either key stage 1 or 2” and that pupils should be taught to:

Secondary schools are free to shape their PE curriculum, in line with the national curriculum, to suit all their pupils, but there is no statutory requirement to provide swimming lessons. At secondary, pupils should build on and embed the physical development and skills learned in key stages 1 and 2, and become more competent, confident, and expert in their technique. Swimming and water safety lessons are one way of doing this.

Schools can also use their personal, social, health and economic education programme to equip pupils with a sound understanding of risk and with the knowledge necessary to make safe and informed decisions, which is a vital part of water safety.

The department is currently reviewing the statutory relationships, sex and health education curriculum, including looking at whether additional content on water safety should be added.

The department works closely with sector organisations like Swim England and the Royal Life Saving Society UK, supporting schools to provide swimming and water safety lessons through teacher training and resources. This includes support for pupils with special education needs and disabilities, hosted on Swim England’s online Inclusion Hub.
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Katie Lam:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many asylum seekers aged 25 years and under require special educational needs provision. \p Catherine McKinnell: The department does not hold or collect information regarding how many asylum seekers aged 25 and under require special educational needs provision.
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Victoria Collins:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of removing funding for Level Seven apprenticeships for people aged 22 and above on (a) gender equality and (b) social mobility. \p Janet Daby: This government has a driving mission to break down barriers to opportunity. That is why we are moving funding away from level 7 apprenticeships for learners aged 22 and over, to ensure that funding is prioritised for learners at lower levels, who need the skills and training to progress in their careers.

This decision was informed by a wide range of evidence, including Skills England’s analysis of official apprenticeship statistics and engagement with a wide range of stakeholders. Skills England’s evidence suggested there was unlikely to be a significant or unavoidable fall in the supply of these skills in the long term, post-defunding, and alternative routes are well supplied. A significant proportion of level 7 apprentices are from non-deprived backgrounds and are significantly less likely to be deprived than apprentices at lower levels.

Women are slightly less likely to be represented in the 16 to 21-year-old cohort of level 7 apprenticeships starts than those aged 22 and over. This is likely to be due to the recruitment norms in the standards that have a higher proportion of starts in the 16-21 age group, such as accountancy. The department will monitor trends over time and consider how this gap could be narrowed.
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Callum Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of foundation apprenticeships on addressing sectoral skills shortages in (a) Milton Keynes and (b) Buckinghamshire. \p Janet Daby: This government’s first mission is to kickstart economic growth. We know that we need to support employers to invest in skills training and fuel innovation in businesses across the country.

That is why we are transforming the apprenticeships offer into a new growth and skills offer, to support greater flexibility for employers and learners. Foundation apprenticeships are a key part of this offer. They will support employers in key sectors to meet their current and future skills needs by developing new opportunities to engage with younger employees and build pipelines of talent. This is expected to drive up to 30,000 apprenticeship starts across this Parliament.

The first foundation apprenticeships will be focused on industrial strategy and priority areas including construction, engineering, health and social care, and digital. This will begin in August with the introduction of seven new foundation apprenticeship standards, including three in construction, enabling young people to earn a wage while developing vital skills. We will continue exploring how to make foundation apprenticeships work in other sectors, such as hospitality and retail.

The growth and skills offer is informed by Skills England’s engagement with a wide range of stakeholders, to ensure that levy-funded training meets the needs of employers and learners.
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Bell Ribeiro-Addy:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 30 May 2025 to Question 50912 on Students: Loans, what comparative assessment she has made of the number of borrowers with increasing loan balances in (a) financial year 2024-25 and (b) previous financial years. \p Janet Daby: The number of borrowers whose loan balance has increased between the start and end of the financial year for the most recent four years is:

These figures cover Student Finance England loan borrowers only, whereas the previous number provided to Question 50912 included borrowers from all UK funding bodies.

These numbers include all borrowers whose loan balance has increased, regardless of the number of payments they have made across the financial year, whereas Question 50912 included only borrowers who made at least four payments across the financial year.

These figures cover Plan 2, 5 and 3 undergraduate and postgraduate loan borrowers funded by Student Finance England. For each of the financial years provided, the figure was generated by comparing borrowers’ loan balances between 1 April at the start of the financial year and 31 March at the end of the financial year.

At the end of a borrower’s loan term, any outstanding loan balance, including interest built up, will be written off. This write-off is a government subsidy and a deliberate investment in our people and the economy.
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Victoria Collins:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of preserving full funding for Level Seven apprenticeships for (a) people from disadvantaged backgrounds, (b) career changers and (c) people returning to work after career breaks. \p Janet Daby: This government has a driving mission to break down barriers to opportunity. From January 2026, the government will no longer fund level 7 apprenticeships, equivalent to master’s degree level, except for young apprentices under the age of 22, or those aged 22 to 24 who have an education, health and care plan or have been in local authority care. This will enable apprenticeship opportunities to be rebalanced towards young people and create more opportunities for those entering the labour market, who need skills and training to get on in their careers.

This decision was informed by a wide range of evidence, including Skills England’s analysis of official apprenticeship statistics and engagement with a wide range of stakeholders. Skills England’s analysis found that level 7 apprenticeships have a higher proportion of older learners than other apprenticeships, a higher proportion of learners who already hold higher level qualifications, and a significant proportion are less likely to be deprived than those in apprenticeships at lower levels. It also suggested there was unlikely to be a significant or unavoidable fall in the supply of these skills in the long term, post-defunding.

We are encouraging more employers to invest in upskilling their staff over 22 to level 7 where it delivers a benefit to the business and the individual. It will be for employers to determine the most appropriate training. There are alternative training options available to employers at level 7, including non-apprenticeship routes.
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Adam Dance:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support the introduction of more (a) vocational and (b) functional education pathways for students in (i) Somerset and (ii) England. \p Janet Daby: The department continues to reform qualifications so they have clearer routes to higher education or skilled employment and are, where applicable, aligned to occupational standards designed by employers. 140 reformed qualifications at levels 2 and 3 have been approved for next academic year.

There are a wide range of technical and functional pathways in all areas of the country, including Somerset. These include:
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Bell Ribeiro-Addy:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 30 May 2025 to Question 50912 on Students: Loans, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of persistent student loan debt on levels of social mobility among (a) graduates from disadvantaged backgrounds and (b) other graduates. \p Janet Daby: The system is designed to ensure that those who benefit financially from higher education contribute towards the cost of it. This is why repayments are linked to income and not the loan balance, with monthly repayments increasing with borrower income.

Student loans are not like commercial loans, as they carry significant protections for borrowers. Those earning below the repayment threshold repay nothing, and at the end of the loan term, any outstanding debt is cancelled. This subsidy is a conscious investment in the skills capacity, people and economy of this country.

Furthermore, student loan balances do not appear on borrower credit records.

A full equality impact assessment of how student loan reforms may affect graduates, including detail on changes to average lifetime repayments under Plan 5, was produced and published in February 2022 under the previous government and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-reform-equality-impact-assessment.
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Connor Naismith:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether there is an external right of appeal for people who believe they have been discriminated against when applying for doctorates at universities in the UK. \p Janet Daby: Higher education providers (HEPs) are autonomous from government and are responsible for their own admissions decisions. The department has no legal remit to become involved in disputes between prospective students and their university.

Responsibility for handling applicant complaints and/or appeals, in the first instance, is a matter for the relevant HEP and each university has formal complaints and appeal processes.

If a complainant has exhausted the official process and the matter has not been resolved to their satisfaction, they are free to consider bringing a claim for judicial review or for discrimination under the Equality Act.

Another route available to dissatisfied applicants is through the higher education regulator, the Office for Students (OfS). While the OfS cannot become involved in individual complaints, applicants can notify the OfS if they think that a university has broken its conditions of registration.
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Bell Ribeiro-Addy:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that the student loan system does not entrench socioeconomic disparities for (a) first-generation university students and (b) students from lower-income households. \p Janet Daby: This government is committed to supporting the aspiration of every person who meets the requirements and wants to go to university. The student finance system removes upfront financial barriers so that everyone with the ability and desire to enter higher education (HE) can do so.

All eligible students, regardless of their household income, can apply for up-front fee loans to meet the full costs of their tuition. Unlike commercial loans, student loans carry significant protections for borrowers. Monthly repayments are linked to income, not to the amount borrowed, and individuals are only required to make their contribution to the system when they are earning over the repayment threshold.

The government has announced that maximum loans and grants for living and other costs will increase by 3.1% for the 2025/26 academic year, with the highest levels of support paid to students from the lowest income families. A 3.1% increase is in line with forecast inflation based on the RPIX inflation index.

The department aims to publish our plans for HE reform as part of the Post-16 Education and Skills Strategy White Paper in the summer, and we will work with the sector and the Office for Students to deliver the change that the country needs.
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Lee Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to defend the right to free speech on university campuses. \p Janet Daby: This government is absolutely committed to freedom of speech and academic freedom in universities. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, confirmed to Parliament on 15 January the government’s plans for the future of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023, which will create a more proportionate, balanced and less burdensome approach to protecting academic freedom and freedom of speech.

On 28 April, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State signed commencement regulations, bringing the following provisions into force from 1 August 2025:
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Callum Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support employer engagement with the apprenticeship programme in SMEs in Milton Keynes. \p Janet Daby: I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Buckingham and Bletchley to the answer of 19 March 2025 to Question 37179.
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Ben Goldsborough:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how her Department calculated the funding rate for each (a) child and (b) age group for early years provision. \p Stephen Morgan: The hourly funding rate for the early years entitlements varies to reflect the costs of delivering provision to different ages. The department knows, from listening to the sector and from our own regular research, that the cost of delivery is highest for younger children due to tighter staffing ratios and, consequently, higher staff costs, as staffing makes up the most significant proportion of provider costs.

Each local authority receives an hourly rate for each entitlement, determined by the early years national funding formulae (EYNFF). The EYNFF targets funding to local authorities where it is needed most, reflecting the relative needs of the children and costs of delivering provision in that area. Local authorities are responsible for setting individual provider funding rates in consultation with their providers and schools forum, and fund providers using their own local funding formula.

Further details of how early years entitlements funding is distributed, including a detailed methodology document on the EYNFF and operational guidance, can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-funding-2025-to-2026.
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Jess Asato:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the children who will now receive free school meals will also be eligible for the Holiday Activities and Food Programme. \p Stephen Morgan: This government has taken another step towards delivering our Plan for Change with our announcement that all children in households in receipt of Universal Credit will be eligible for free school meals (FSM) from September 2026. This unprecedented step will put £500 back into families’ pockets and lift 100,000 children across England out of poverty, breaking down barriers to opportunity and tackling the scar of child poverty across our country.

Giving children access to a nutritious meal during the school day also leads to higher attainment, improved behaviour and better outcomes, meaning children get the best possible education and the best chance to succeed in work and life.

The government remains committed to the holiday activities and food (HAF) programme to ensure children can benefit from enriching activities and healthy meals during the school holidays too. Local authorities already have flexibility to use up to 15% of their HAF funding to provide free or subsidised holiday club places for children who are not in receipt of benefits-related FSM, but who the local authority believe could benefit from HAF provision.

We are providing more than £200 million funding for the HAF programme this year. Further to the spending review, once the departmental business planning process has concluded, we will confirm details of HAF funding beyond the current financial year.
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Ben Goldsborough:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to compare best practice in (a) the UK and (b) other countries in the development of its policies on early years provision. \p Stephen Morgan: The department meets with Ministers and officials from across the UK and other nations to discuss developments, approaches and best practice in the provision of early education and childcare. International evidence, such as the OECD’s Education at a Glance publication, is used to identify high performing and innovative early years systems and inform policy development. England is a member of the British-Irish Council, in which we actively engage to collaborate on a wide range of education matters, including early education and childcare across the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
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Ben Goldsborough:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make a comparative assessment of the potential impact of early years education in (a) schools and (b) non-school sites on educational outcomes. \p Stephen Morgan: It is our ambition that all families have access to high-quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life and delivering on our Plan for Change.

The 2024 Department for Education Provider Survey shows that there were 322,000 registered places at school-based nurseries in 2024.

School-based nurseries are one part of this country's childcare and early years market.

Nurseries located on a school site can operate under different delivery models, such as nursery classes run by the school, a private, voluntary and independent (PVI) nursery leasing space on a school’s premises or operating on the school’s behalf, or provision run by a childminder, or group of childminders, leasing space on a school premises.

School-based nurseries are more likely to be led by graduate qualified staff, which is associated with higher quality provision for children. Additionally, the benefits of school-based nursery provision, including transition to school, were highlighted by many teachers working in schools with a nursery in the Kindred Squared school readiness report.
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Bell Ribeiro-Addy:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department has issued to (a) universities and (b) students’ unions on (i) conducting and (ii) the oversight of risk assessments for student-led (A) extracurricular and (B) off-campus activities. \p Janet Daby: Risk assessments are a legal requirement, and it is crucial for higher education (HE) providers and their affiliated student groups to comply with existing legislation and relevant guidance. This includes adhering to the Health and Safety Executive's guidelines for schools and education settings, any National Union of Students guidance and HE provider policies. Ensuring that risk assessments are conducted appropriately is essential to managing risks associated with student-led activities. Each HE provider should establish its own guidance and procedures to ensure compliance with these requirements.
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Sarah Gibson:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve support for SMEs to take on apprentices. \p Janet Daby: I refer the hon. Member for Chippenham to the answer of 19 March 2025 to Question 37179.
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Rachael Maskell:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to recruit foster carers. \p Janet Daby: Currently, there are 10 regional fostering programmes active across England, collaborating with over 60% of all local authorities to recruit and retain foster carers. This government is committed to working in partnership with local authorities to recruit more foster carers.

As part of my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Transformation Fund announced in the Spring Statement, we will provide an additional £25 million over two years (beginning in 2026/27 and 2027/28) for foster care, as part of children’s social care reform. This is on top of the £15 million of fostering investment that was announced in the Autumn Budget 2024, to cover investment taking place in 2025/26. This funding is to start work to ensure every local authority has the offer of access to a hub and to embed the existing regional fostering recruitment and retention hubs.

The hubs will transform the way people who are interested in fostering are supported and rollout the Mockingbird programme, which offers peer-support to foster carers and the children in their care. The department is also funding ‘Fosterlink’, a support service for local authority fostering services.
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Rachael Maskell:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that people with care experience have direct access to mental health services. \p Janet Daby: The Department for Education and the Department of Health and Social Care are updating guidance on promoting the health and wellbeing of looked-after children to ensure children in care and care leavers receive necessary health services and mental health support. This guidance sets expectations for local authorities, health service commissioners, the NHS, and others to promote physical, emotional, and mental health, including early intervention.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools bill aims to improve access to health services by enhancing information sharing between agencies and considering the needs of looked-after children. Measures include improving data sharing with a Single Unique Identifier and introducing new corporate parenting responsibilities for government departments and public bodies, to create a culture of support and break down barriers to good outcomes. Finally, the government will expand Mental Health Support Teams in schools to provide early support for young people.
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Paulette Hamilton:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of current provisions for children with allergies in schools. \p Catherine McKinnell: Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 places a duty on maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions. The accompanying statutory guidance makes clear to schools what is expected of them in taking reasonable steps to fulfil their legal obligations and to meet the individual needs of pupils with medical conditions, including allergies.

We will keep the statutory guidance under review as we take forward our commitment to delivering an inclusive mainstream system.
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Sir Desmond Swayne:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how the statutory responsibilities of schools for children with allergies are (a) monitored and (b) assessed. \p Catherine McKinnell: Governing bodies must ensure that the arrangements they put in place are sufficient to meet their statutory responsibilities and that policies, plans, procedures and systems are properly and effectively implemented. This includes the duty under Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions and the duties under the Equality Act 2010. The effectiveness of a school is assessed through inspection by Ofsted.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-13)

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Edward Morello:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure (a) early and (b) accurate assessments of learning disabilities in children. \p Catherine McKinnell: The department wants to drive a consistent and inclusive approach to supporting children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) through early identification, effective support, high-quality teaching and effective allocation of resources.

The department knows that effective early identification and intervention can reduce the impact that SEND may have on individuals in the long term. The Early Years Foundation Stage two-year old progress check and the Healthy Child Programme development review offer two valuable opportunities to identify additional needs for children aged two to three and put the right support in place for the children who need it.

The department has also introduced additional resources for early years educators to support children with developmental differences and needs, including a free online training module and SEND assessment guidance and resources.

To support settings to identify need early, the department is also strengthening the evidence base of what works to improve early identification in mainstream settings. The department has commissioned evidence reviews from University College London, which will highlight what the best available evidence suggests are the most effective tools, strategies and approaches for teachers and other relevant staff in mainstream settings to identify and support children and young people (age 0 to 25) with different types of needs.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-13)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-13 conversation_177

Andrew Gwynne:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle disparities in (a) financial allowances, (b) access to legal aid and (c) other forms of support available to kinship carers arising from (i) different kinship care arrangements, (ii) the level of social services involvement and (iii) levels of kinship care support between local authorities. \p Janet Daby: The government announced a £40 million package to trial a new kinship allowance, which will begin in autumn 2025. We will evaluate the pilot to build an evidence base on how best to deliver financial support for kinship families.

Through the Children’s Wellbeing and School’s Bill, we are enshrining the first definition of kinship care in law and mandating local authorities to publish their kinship local offer, increasing their accountability for ensuring all kinship families are getting the information they need.

As set out in statutory guidance, local authorities must publish the support and services available to kinship families in a clear, accessible way. This includes the legal support that may be available to kinship carers and potential kinship carers, including the eligibility and extent of that support.

The government also created the National Kinship Care Ambassador role to advocate for kinship families. The appointee, Jahnine Davis, works with local authorities to help them improve their kinship practice and local policies and ensure they are following national guidance.

The department funds the charity ‘Kinship’ to deliver over 140 peer support groups and a training package that all kinship carers across England can access for free.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-13)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-13 conversation_178

Edward Morello:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to allocate new funding to help schools improve support for pupils with learning disabilities. \p Catherine McKinnell: The department recognises the essential role that small, rural schools play in their communities. The national funding formula (NFF) accounts for the particular challenges, including those of providing for pupils with special educational needs (SEN), faced by small schools in rural areas through the lump sum and sparsity factors. The NFF lump sum for the 2025/26 financial year is set at £145,100 and provides a fixed amount of funding that is unrelated to the number of pupils in a school. In addition, eligible small, rural primary schools attract up to £57,400, and eligible secondary or all-through schools attract up to £83,400, in sparsity funding in 2025/26 through the NFF.

Where the cost of additional support for a pupil with SEN exceeds £6,000 per annum, the local authority provides the school with extra funding from its high needs budget. The department is providing £1 billion more for high needs budgets in 2025/26, bringing total high needs funding to over £12 billion, to help local authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting their pupils with complex needs. Of that total, Dorset County Council is being allocated over £60 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG), an increase of £4.1 million on the 2024/25 DSG high needs block, calculated using the high needs NFF.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-13)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-13 conversation_179

Tom Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether funding allocations through the National Funding Formula will allow headteachers to maintain levels of teaching assistant support. \p Catherine McKinnell: The overall core schools budget is increasing by £3.7 billion in the 2025/26 financial year, meaning that it will total £65.3 billion, compared to £61.6 billion in the 2024/25 financial year. This is a 6% overall increase, which against the backdrop of a challenging fiscal picture, demonstrates the government’s commitment to enabling every child to achieve and thrive through delivery of the Opportunity Mission.

This total includes part of the additional funding announced on 22 May to support schools with the cost of staff pay in the 2025/26 financial year, including for the 3.2% local government pay offer in respect of support staff.

Headteachers are ultimately responsible for employment of teaching assistants in their schools, as they are best placed to understand the specific needs of their pupils and make staffing decisions accordingly. To help them to do so, we will support schools to benefit fully from the tools we already offer to benchmark and integrate resourcing and curriculum planning, such as the Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. We will also introduce a new toolkit to support schools to adopt evidence-based deployment model.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-13)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-13 conversation_180

Dr Luke Evans:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with schools on ensuring that financial education for pupils includes (a) the impact of social media on managing money, (b) managing money in the context of accessible credit and (c) different types of (i) credit and (ii) debt. \p Catherine McKinnell: Financial education forms a compulsory part of the national curriculum for mathematics at key stages 1 to 4, and citizenship at key stages 3 and 4. Together these cover personal budgeting, saving for the future, managing credit and debt, and calculating interest. Statutory relationships, sex and health education and computing lessons equip pupils to be discerning in evaluating digital content, including content they see through social media.

The interim report from the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review noted the consistent call from children and young people and their parents for more focus on the applied knowledge regarding financial education. The Review’s final report and recommendations will be published in autumn with the government’s response.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-13)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-13 conversation_181

James Naish:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure cross-border cooperation between local education authorities in the planning and allocation of school places. \p Catherine McKinnell: The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill is introducing new duties for mainstream state schools and local authorities to co-operate regarding school admissions and for state schools to co-operate with local authorities regarding place planning. Where co-operation breaks down or fails, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education will be able to intervene. This measure will help ensure that admissions and place planning decisions account for local communities’ needs.

Local authorities, academy trusts and local partners should work together on place planning. We expect local authorities to share their place planning strategy and data with local partners, which can include neighbouring local authorities.

Local authorities are required to ensure that their scheme to co-ordinate admission arrangements for the normal admissions round considers the admission of pupils in different local authority areas where that is what parents wish. Where possible their scheme of coordination should be compatible with the coordination schemes of neighbouring authorities. Where local authorities receive cross border applications, we expect the authorities to work together to ensure families receive timely decisions on national offer day, at the highest preference school that can offer the child a place.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-13)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-13 conversation_182

Perran Moon:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department plans to take to enable the inspection of multi academy trusts. \p Catherine McKinnell: Inspection of multi-academy trusts is a complex proposal, and it is essential that we get it right to make the system fairer, more transparent and to enable direct intervention where necessary. The department is engaging with the education sector and working with Ofsted to support the development of our proposals.

We remain committed to bringing multi-academy trusts into the inspection system, as set out in the government’s manifesto.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-13)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-13 conversation_183

Mr Andrew Snowden:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support the teaching of local history in schools. \p Catherine McKinnell: The national curriculum provides a broad framework within which schools have the flexibility to develop the content of their own curricula. Local history is a compulsory element of the history curriculum across key stages 1 to 3, enabling schools to explore topics relevant to their communities. Historic England’s Heritage Schools Programme, funded by the Department for Culture Media and Sport, provides continuous professional development support and resources to help schools teach their local history.

The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE. The Review wants to ensure a rich, broad, inclusive and innovative curriculum that readies young people for life and work. The Review Group published an interim report on 18 March, accessible at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/curriculum-and-assessment-review-interim-report.

The Review’s final report with recommendations will be published in the autumn.