theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Lisa Smart:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of increasing funding for educational support for children with a cancer diagnosis on costs to the public purse. \p Catherine McKinnell: If a child is too unwell to attend school, local authorities have a duty under section 19 of the Children's Act 1996 to provide suitable and (normally) full-time education for children of compulsory school age who, because of exclusion, illness or other reasons, would not receive suitable education.

Ofsted holds local authorities to account for the sufficiency and commissioning of alternative provision as part of their area special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) inspections.

Where full-time education is not possible due to a child’s health needs, local authorities must arrange part-time education on whatever basis they consider to be in the child's best interests.

Full and part-time education should still aim to be equivalent to the education the child would receive in their mainstream school. Any part-time education should be reviewed regularly, with the aim of eventually increasing the number of hours up to full-time as soon as the child’s health allows.

The law places a duty on parents to ensure that their child of compulsory school age who is registered at school attends regularly. However, section 444 of the Education Act 1996 sets out exemptions to this duty. This includes where the child cannot attend due to illness. Parents cannot be penalised if their child is ill and unable to attend to school.

There is nothing in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill that has a direct impact on children being absent from school due to illness. The full suite of impact assessments of the measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill can be found on GOV.UK here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childrens-wellbeing-and-schools-bill-impact-assessments.

Educational provision for children who cannot receive their education in school for health reasons, including those in hospital, is funded from local authorities’ high needs budgets.

Following the Autumn Budget 2024, the department is providing an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding to over £12 billion.
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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to enforce statutory guidance on the cost of school uniforms. \p Catherine McKinnell: The guidance on the cost of school uniforms is statutory and schools must have regard to it when designing and implementing their uniform policies. We expect all schools to now be compliant.

If parents are concerned about the cost of their child’s school uniform, they should raise this with the school, including through the school’s published complaints process where necessary.

If a parent is unhappy with the outcome of their complaint, they can raise this with the department. We will consider whether the uniform policy meets the requirements of the guidance.
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Manuela Perteghella:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 31 March 2025 to Question 40830 on Dyslexia: Screening, whether her Department has considered international (a) evidence and (b) best practice in the support of pupils with specific learning difficulties. \p Catherine McKinnell: The department is committed to improving support for all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, including those with specific learning difficulties. As part of this, the department is considering both international evidence and best practice in its policymaking on special educational needs, with a focus on strengthening the evidence base on what works to identify and support needs in mainstream settings, including for specific learning difficulties.

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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Manuela Perteghella:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 31 March 2025 to Question 40830 on Dyslexia: Screening, how she plans to use the £1 billion provided for high needs budgets in the 2025-26 financial year. \p Catherine McKinnell: This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.

We are providing a £1 billion increase to high needs funding to help meet the increase in costs local authorities will face this year, as they in turn provide support to schools and colleges, and ultimately to children and young people with SEND. Schools decide how to spend their budgets to meet their legal duties and other responsibilities, including support for their pupils with SEND, including those with dyslexia.

High needs funding in England will total over £12 billion in the 2025/26 financial year. Of that total, Warwickshire County Council is being allocated over £104 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG), an increase of £6.9 million on their 2024/25 DSG high needs block, calculated using the high needs national funding formula.
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Manuela Perteghella:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 31 March 2025 to Question 40830 on Dyslexia: Screening, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of Key Stage 2 statutory assessments for recognising persistent reading difficulties. \p Catherine McKinnell: End of key stage 2 tests and assessments enable teachers and parents to identify the areas in which individual pupils might require additional support so that they can succeed in secondary school. The tests also inform parents of their child’s achievements in relation to the expectations outlined in the national curriculum.

While the key stage 2 English reading test is not a diagnostic tool for dyslexia, it may highlight a pupil’s difficulty with reading when compared against the age-related expectations in the national curriculum. Secondary schools can use this information to provide any relevant support for the pupil as they transition into year 7.

The Curriculum and Assessment Review published its interim report on 18 March 2025. The Review panel have been clear that assessments in key stage 1 and 2 are an important part of assessing children's progress throughout primary school, and that the system of primary assessment is generally working well. The report can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/curriculum-and-assessment-review-interim-report.
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Shaun Davies:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information other Department holds on the number of (a) primary, (b) secondary and (c) SEND school places there were in (i) Telford constituency and (ii) Telford and Wrekin Council in each of the last ten years. \p Catherine McKinnell: Data on state-funded school places is published at national, local authority and school level in the annual School Capacity statistics publication. Data is available for academic years 2009/10 to 2023/24. Data on special educational needs provision was collected as part of the School Capacity Survey for the first time in 2023 and is available for the 2022/23 and 2023/24 academic years.

School capacity data are not published at constituency level. However, data is published at school level that can be combined with information from ‘Get Information About Schools’ (GIAS) to identify parliamentary constituency. The data can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-catalogue/data-set/bf165de6-3b9a-4014-83b5-232454343797.

The number of primary and secondary mainstream state-funded school places in Telford and Wrekin local authority at 1 May of each year between 2014 and 2024, can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/a6913939-ccb4-4dbe-7d54-08dd7ece5be0.

The number of state-funded special schools and special school places in Telford and Wrekin local authority at 1 May of each year between 2023 and 2024, can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/4cc1f815-cec7-41af-d97b-08dd800922cb.

The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places sits with local authorities.
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Jenny Riddell-Carpenter:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much additional funding for special educational needs and disabilities has been allocated to Suffolk County Council since July 2024. \p Catherine McKinnell: This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.

In July 2024, the government announced that an additional core schools budget grant (CSBG) would be allocated to local authorities to help special and alternative provision (AP) schools with the costs of the 2024 teacher and support staff pay increases. Suffolk County Council was allocated a 2024/25 financial year CSBG amount of over £1.5 million.

Following the Autumn Budget 2024, the department is providing an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year. This brings total high needs funding for children and young people with complex SEND to over £12 billion. Of that total, Suffolk County Council is being allocated over £124 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG), an increase of £10.3 million on the 2024/25 DSG high needs block, calculated using the high needs national funding formula (NFF). This NFF allocation is an 9% increase per head of their 2 to 18-year-old population, on their equivalent 2024/25 NFF allocation.

In addition to the DSG, local authorities will also receive a separate CSBG in the 2025/26 financial year. This CSBG continues the 2024/25 CSBG and other separate grants payable in 2024/25, which were to help special and AP schools with the costs of teachers’ pay and pension increases and other staff pay increases, and now includes additional funding to help those schools with the increase in employers’ National Insurance contributions. The department plans to publish individual local authorities’ allocations of this funding for 2025/26 in May 2025.

Decisions on funding for SEND for the years beyond 2025/26 will be taken following the forthcoming spending review.
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Daniel Francis:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will invest in data infrastructure to better understand where and when disabled children need support. \p Catherine McKinnell: The department collects and publishes information on disabled children, including through the school census, the SEN2 survey and in the children in need census. These returns provide multiple insights on disabled children and young people such as need and provision type, information recorded as part of the education, health and care (EHC) processes, children receiving support for their disability as a child in need and spending on services for disabled children.

Local authorities have clear statutory duties to provide support for disabled children including Section 17(1) of the Children Act 1989 which places a general duty on local authorities to provide services to safeguard and promote the welfare of children within their area who are in need (which includes disabled children). The provision relating to the child or young person's specific needs can be recorded in an EHC and/or a family help plan which covers non-statutory targeted early help support and services provided to a child in need where requirements are set out in the department’s 2023 ‘Working together to safeguard children’ guidance.

This national and local data infrastructure enables government and local authorities to plan and deliver more effective services and support for disabled children and young people

The department keeps the content of all our data collections under review, including those which collect information on special educational needs and disabilities, whilst ensuring that the data we collect is necessary, feasible and minimises the data collection burden placed on the sector.
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Shaun Davies:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many teaching staff there are in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools by gender in each region. \p Catherine McKinnell: Information on the school workforce, including the number of teachers and teaching assistants broken down by school phase, gender and region, is published in the ‘School workforce in England’ statistical publication available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.

As of November 2023, the latest date for which data is available, there was a headcount of 478,085 teachers and 335,693 teaching assistants employed in state-funded nursery, primary and secondary schools. A breakdown by school phase, gender and region is available for teachers at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/689fc171-b2a5-40de-d968-08dd800922cb, and for teaching assistants at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/658213e6-bcab-45db-7d3c-08dd7ece5be0.
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Victoria Collins:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether increases to employer National Insurance contributions will impact transportation services for children with SEND. \p Catherine McKinnell: I refer the hon. Member for Harpenden and Berkhamsted to the answer of 29 January 2025 to Question 26397.
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Richard Foord:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps to extend (a) bursaries and (b) other forms of financial support to trainee primary school teachers. \p Catherine McKinnell: The bursaries the department offers are designed to incentivise more applications to initial teacher training (ITT) courses. We review bursaries each year before deciding the offer for trainees starting ITT the following academic year. In doing this, we take account of several factors including historic recruitment, forecast economic conditions, and teacher supply need in each subject.

Although recruitment of primary trainee teachers has been slightly below the postgraduate ITT target in recent years, there has been a consistent trend of higher ITT recruitment against target in primary compared to secondary over the last ten years. This is why bursaries are currently focussed on secondary subjects where teacher recruitment is more challenging and the need for new teachers is greater.

Primary trainee teachers on tuition fee-funded ITT routes can apply for a tuition fee loan and maintenance loan to support their living costs. Additional student finance is also available depending on individual circumstances, such as the Childcare Grant. Alternatively, prospective primary teachers can apply for salaried ITT routes, such as the postgraduate teaching apprenticeship.
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Alex Ballinger:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to improve the education of children and young people on risks associated with online gambling. \p Catherine McKinnell: Children and young people are taught about the importance of online safety and the risks associated with it as part of the statutory relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) curriculum.

The statutory RSHE guidance sets out that that young people should be taught about the risks related to online gambling, including the accumulation of debt, how advertising and information is targeted at them and how to be a discerning consumer of information online. These subjects support young people to develop their ability to self-regulate, as well as providing strategies for doing so. Young people are also taught how to seek help and support if they have concerns.

The department is currently reviewing the statutory RSHE curriculum for primary and secondary pupils and is analysing consultation responses, talking to stakeholders and considering relevant evidence before setting out next steps, including whether any additional content is needed on the risks associated with online gambling.
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Anna Sabine:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her Department's home-to-school travel policy of the Children's Walking and Cycling Index, published by Sustrans on 26 February 2025. \p Catherine McKinnell: Local authorities already have a duty to promote the use of sustainable travel on journeys to and from places of education in their area. This includes children who are not eligible for free school travel provided by the local authority. Local authorities must publish a ‘sustainable modes of travel’ strategy which sets out their vision for improving the infrastructure for sustainable travel and promoting sustainable travel to places of education. It should aim to provide health benefits for children and their families through active journeys and environmental improvements through reduced congestion and improved air quality. Further information is available in the department's statutory guidance for local authorities, which can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-to-school-travel-and-transport-guidance.

Active Travel England is the government’s executive agency responsible for promoting walking, wheeling and cycling as the preferred choice of travel in England. They support local authorities with grant funding for the development and construction of walking, wheeling and cycling facilities and are responsible for a number of schemes which promote active travel to school. Further information can be found at: https://www.activetravelengland.gov.uk/.
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Neil O'Brien:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of students (a) joined and (b) left each state school mid-year in each of the last three years. \p Catherine McKinnell: The information requested is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Information on the number of pupils in England as at January is published annually in the ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ accredited official statistics publication, which can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics/2023-24.

These statistics do not include pupil movements within the school year.
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Gregory Stafford:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of supporting local authorities to fund (a) education, health and care plans and (b) specialist school placements for children with additional needs. \p Catherine McKinnell: This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.

To achieve that ambition, we expect mainstream schools to welcome pupils from across the whole community, including pupils who may need additional support. We are working with Ofsted to ensure that schools are held accountable for their approach to inclusion, so that all children are given the high-quality support they need to achieve and thrive. This government has created an Expert Advisory Group for Inclusion, led by Tom Rees, that consists of experts across the SEND sector to advise on how to drive inclusive education practice and improve mainstream education outcomes and experiences for children and young people with SEND, whether or not they have an education, health and care (EHC) plan.

The department is providing an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year, following the Autumn Budget 2024. This brings total high needs funding for children and young people with complex SEND to over £12 billion. This funding makes a significant contribution to the costs of mainstream school pupils with EHC plans and funds the placement of pupils in special schools.
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Wera Hobhouse:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of (a) outdoor learning and (b) horticultural education on the development of (i) children and (ii) young people. \p Catherine McKinnell: The department has not undertaken a specific assessment on the potential impact of outdoor learning and horticultural education on the development of children and young people.

However, access to green space has been shown to have positive impacts on the physical, mental and emotional wellbeing of young people. The department is currently working closely with the University of Oxford on research intended to assess the evidence of the impact of nature-based programmes delivered through schools for mental health and wellbeing in children and young people.

Schools have the freedom to teach about horticulture in the curriculum. For example, in science, pupils are taught the topics of plants and living things and their habitats, giving them the opportunity to find out about plants and the environments in which they flourish.
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Gregory Stafford:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to (a) monitor and (b) improve alternative provision arrangements for children with SEND during the process of waiting for a tribunal. \p Catherine McKinnell: Alternative provision (AP) schools contribute to a more inclusive whole-school system by working with mainstream schools to identify children’s special educational needs at the earliest stage. They can help devise interventions and provide additional support, enabling children to remain in a mainstream classroom or successfully transition into specialist provision.

In future, the department’s focus will be on providing early intervention and support to mainstream schools to equip all their children with the skills and confidence needed to thrive in education and reduce the need for AP placements. This early intervention will help children and young people, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) awaiting their Tribunal hearing, to get back on track quickly and have the skills to achieve and thrive.

If a local authority has issued an education, health and care plan naming a school or college, the plan carries statutory force until it is reviewed and amended, including when a plan is being appealed at the First Tier SEND Tribunal. This means the local authority must secure the specific special educational provision set out in the plan and that the setting must admit the child or young person, including those in AP, even whilst an appeal is ongoing.

The department monitors and holds local authorities to account for delivery of their SEND services through joint inspections by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission. These inspections place greater emphasis on the outcomes being achieved by children and young people and are the primary tool to maintain a focus on high standards in the SEND system across all partners.
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Dr Caroline Johnson:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department plans to provide to schools on ensuring that biological girls have access to female-only (a) spaces, (b) sports and (c) facilities. \p Catherine McKinnell: Single-sex spaces based on biological sex are protected in law and will always be protected by this government.

The department is currently reviewing the draft non-statutory guidance for schools and colleges on gender questioning children, in addition to reviewing the statutory guidance on relationships, sex and health education. The guidance on gender questioning children will reflect the legal protection for single-sex spaces and facilities in schools, as well as the Equality Act protection for single-sex sport in schools to ensure fairness and safety.​

​My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has been clear that children’s wellbeing must be at the heart of this guidance and, as such, the government is looking carefully at the consultation responses, discussing with stakeholders and considering the relevant evidence, including the final report of the Cass Review which was published post-consultation, before setting out next steps.
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Neil Duncan-Jordan:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether reducing the cost of school will be considered as part of the Child Poverty Strategy. \p Catherine McKinnell: Tackling child poverty is at the heart of the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and improve the life chances for every child. For too many children, living in poverty robs them of the opportunity to learn and to prosper.

The Child Poverty Taskforce, which is co-chaired by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education and my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, will harness all available levers to drive forward action across government to reduce child poverty. The Taskforce is progressing urgent work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy as soon as possible.

The Taskforce is listening to experts and campaigners and engaging with families, charities, campaigners and leading organisations across the UK to shape and inform these plans. To date, the department has had over 200 engagements with stakeholders, including through over 50 events across the UK. This has included the Cabinet Office’s Child Poverty Unit, supporting the Taskforce, meeting with Parentkind on a number of occasions, including as part of the panel at the launch event for their report, in Parliament, on 25 February.

The Taskforce recognises that the costs of attending school can cause financial pressures for low-income families and it is one of the essential costs that are being considered in the Child Poverty Strategy.

The department is already taking steps to reduce the cost of the school day through action on the high cost of branded school uniforms and commitment to roll out free breakfast clubs for primary school-aged children from the start of this summer term.
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James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of local authorities operating at a deficit on secondary schools. \p Catherine McKinnell: School funding is increasing by £3.2 billion in 2025/26, compared to 2024/25, taking total core school budgets to over £64.8 billion this year.

The department offers various resources and guidance to help both maintained schools and academies to manage their finances more effectively. This includes best practice for budgeting and financial planning, support and mentoring for school business professionals and hands on support through school resource management advisers (SRMAs). SRMAs are practising sector experts who provide independent, expert and tailored advice on how schools can make best use of their revenue and capital resources.

Local authorities are responsible for overseeing the finances of maintained schools, the large majority of which are managing a surplus. The department’s guidance on schemes for financing schools states that local authorities have to licence any deficit in a maintained school and that there should be a plan to bring the school’s finances back into balance within three years.
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Shivani Raja:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that children with additional needs and without an Education, Health and Care Plan receive adequate SEN support in schools; and whether she plans to increase (a) funding and (b) access to specialist support to improve inclusive mainstream education. \p Catherine McKinnell: This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.

Under the Children and Families Act 2014, mainstream schools must use their best endeavours to make sure a child or young person who has special educational needs (SEN), receives the support they need. The SEND code of practice is clear that meeting the needs of a child with SEN does not require a diagnostic label or test. Instead, we expect teachers to monitor the progress of all pupils and put support in place where needed.

We are committed to improving expertise and inclusivity in mainstream schools.

This includes building a robust and credible evidence base on what works to drive inclusive education. To support this, an Expert Advisory Group for inclusion has been established, led by Tom Rees, that consists of experts across the SEND sector.

Following the 2024 Autumn Budget, the department is providing an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year. This brings total high needs funding for children and young people with complex SEND, including those in mainstream schools, to over £12 billion. Of that total, Leicester City Council is being allocated over £88 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG), an increase of £6.6 million on the 2024/25 DSG high needs block, calculated using the high needs national funding formula.
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Calum Miller:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department is developing plans to require universities to develop institution-wide human rights policies and procedures. \p Janet Daby: The UK is a leading advocate for human rights around the world, and we remain committed to the promotion of universal human rights. Universities attract international engagement from across the world, and this global reach plays an important part in promoting British values, such as the rule of law and respect for human rights.

Higher education (HE) providers are autonomous bodies, independent from government, and therefore responsible for their own policies and procedures.

However, English HE providers must uphold applicable public interest governance principles, including on free speech, and we expect the sector to be alert to regulatory risks when collaborating with international partners, conducting appropriate due diligence to comply with all legislation, including the Human Rights Act 1998. The Office for Students (OfS) have introduced a further registration condition on harassment and sexual misconduct, which will come into force on 1 August 2025. This condition is important in ensuring HE students are free from harassment and sexual misconduct that would otherwise adversely affect their ability to benefit from their studies.

As the independent regulator, it is the role of the OfS to monitor and assess registered providers’ compliance with all its conditions of registration.
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Dr Scott Arthur:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of higher education (a) funding and (b) governance. \p Janet Daby: Education is a devolved matter and as such issues relating to higher education (HE) in the devolved nations is a matter for the relevant government.

The HE sector needs a secure financial footing to face the challenges of the next decade, and to ensure that all students can be confident they will receive the world-class HE experience they deserve. This is why, after seven years of frozen fee caps under the previous government, the department has taken the difficult decision to increase maximum tuition fee limits for the 2025/26 academic year by 3.1%, in line with the forecast rate of inflation.

In return for the increased investment we are asking students to make, we expect the sector to deliver the very best outcomes, both for those students and for the country. We will publish our plan for HE reform in summer 2025, and work with the sector and the Office for Students (OfS), the regulator of HE in England, to deliver the change that the country needs.

The government also provides funding through the Strategic Priorities Grant on an annual basis to support teaching and students in HE, including expensive-to-deliver subjects such as science and engineering, students at risk of discontinuing their studies, and world-leading specialist providers.

Further, in December, the OfS announced temporary changes to its operations to allow greater focus on financial sustainability. Ultimately, HE providers are independent from government and as such must continue to make the necessary and appropriate financial decisions to ensure their long-term sustainability.

We are clear that HE providers need to ensure their governance arrangements are robust and facilitate prudent financial planning, and are fit for purpose more widely, including upholding academic freedom and freedom of speech and ensuring good quality of provision. The OfS has recently consulted on proposals to strengthen the conditions related to management and governance for providers that wish to join its register.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-29)

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Jayne Kirkham:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support rural and regional universities to access funding. \p Janet Daby: Providers in rural and regional locations are important in supporting their local economies and driving the growth of skills in those areas.

Providers registered with the Office for Students (OfS) and in the ‘Approved (fee cap)’ category of registration, including those located in rural and regional areas, are allocated targeted grant funding through the Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG). The government provides this funding on an annual basis to support teaching and students in higher education, including expensive-to-deliver subjects, such as science and engineering and for students at risk of discontinuing their studies. Of the £1.4 billion recurrent funding distributed by the OfS for the 2024/25 academic year, more than two-thirds is being directed to support the provision of high-cost courses.

Falmouth University, which makes an important local and regional contribution, is in receipt of SPG funding for the 2024/25 academic year.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-29)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-29 conversation_583

Mr Will Forster:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking with local authorities to ensure that homeless children receive additional (a) educational and (b) pastoral support in schools. \p Janet Daby: Too often, opportunity for children and young people is defined by their background. Children whose families are experiencing homelessness face barriers to education and this is not acceptable. The Opportunity Mission will break the link between young people’s background and their future success.

As part of this mission, work is progressing urgently to publish the Child Poverty Strategy. The Strategy will tackle overall child poverty, including a focus on those children in deepest poverty lacking essentials.

Alongside this, homeless children are included in the Fair Access Protocol, a mandatory mechanism developed by local authorities in partnership with all schools in their area. This aims to ensure vulnerable children, and those having difficulty in securing a school place in-year, are allocated a school place as quickly as possible.

From April 2025, the department started to roll out Family Help reforms to children’s social care. These reforms prioritise supporting the whole family. Lead practitioners will undertake assessments of all the needs of the family, including families experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, homelessness. Practitioners will intervene at the earliest opportunity to prevent challenges escalating.

This financial year, over £500 million is available to local authorities to roll out the Families First Partnership programme which includes Family Help.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-29)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-29 conversation_584

Alex Ballinger:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve (a) recruitment and (b) retention in local government children's services. \p Janet Daby: Local government children’s services provide vital support and protection to society’s most vulnerable children. The department is grateful for the work that children’s social care workforces do every day.

In November, we published ‘Keeping children safe, helping families thrive’ setting out our strategic vision to children’s social care reform. The department is confident these reforms will result in a more effective system that more people will want to work and stay in.

The department is directly supporting the recruitment and retention of child and family social workers, including training around 850 new social workers annually through our fast-track programmes and has also provided funding to support up to 461 new social work apprenticeship places. We are working with local authorities to improve working conditions through our ‘Support for social workers’ platform and are reviewing the National Workload Action Group’s report on reducing unnecessary workload.

On 20 March, we also launched a public consultation on new post-qualifying standards for child and family social workers and a new social work induction programme to strengthen early career support and improve retention.

On 30 September 2024, there were 34,300 full-time equivalent child and family social workers in post, which is the highest number since data collection began. This reflects the combined efforts of local authorities, and departmental investment, to improve recruitment and retention in children’s services.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-29)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-29 conversation_585

Blake Stephenson:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 2.72 on page 29 of the Spring Statement 2025, whether the funding will deliver 10 colleges per region or 10 colleges in total. \p Janet Daby: At the Spring Statement, this government committed £100 million to establish 10 new Technical Excellence Colleges specialising in construction across every region in England and to further build capacity to boost the provision of skills in construction. This means there will be ten construction Technical Excellence Colleges in total.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-29)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-29 conversation_586

Dr Al Pinkerton:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to invest in higher education facilities in Surrey Heath constituency. \p Janet Daby: Higher education (HE) providers are autonomous and decide where to locate and establish their facilities, providing tangible benefits to their local areas and constituencies.

Providers registered with the Office for Students (OfS) and in the Approved (fee cap) category of registration are allocated targeted grant funding through the Strategic Priorities Grant. The government provides this funding on an annual basis to support teaching and students in HE, including expensive-to-deliver subjects, such as science and engineering, and for students at risk of discontinuing their studies. Of the £1.4 billion recurrent funding distributed by the OfS for the 2024/25 academic year, more than two-thirds is being directed to support the provision of high-cost courses.

Providers in Surrey are in receipt of this funding, including the University of Surrey and Royal Holloway, University of London.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-29)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-29 conversation_587

James Naish:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the merits of extending the home fee status for UK citizens living in (a) the EEA and (b) Switzerland beyond 1 January 2028. \p Janet Daby: British citizens and their family members living in the EEA or Switzerland at the end of the transition period (31 December 2020) who meet the relevant residency requirements, will generally be eligible for home fee status, tuition fee and maintenance support from Student Finance England for courses starting before 1 January 2028.

In the absence of this additional seven year period, in order to be eligible for home fee status and student support, British citizens and their family members would need to be ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands for three years prior to the start of their course, in line with the general requirement for all British citizens. There are no plans to extend this seven year period further.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-29)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-29 conversation_588

Alicia Kearns:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce Chinese state influence in UK universities. \p Janet Daby: The UK welcomes international partnerships, including with China, which make a positive impact on the UK’s higher education (HE) sector, our economy and society as a whole. However, we will always protect our national security interests, human rights and values.

Any international arrangements made by registered HE providers in England must be within the law and comply with the registration conditions set by the Office for Students, including a commitment to their public interest governance principles. There are a set of further measures that protect against undue foreign interference in our universities. These range from the Academic Technology Approval Scheme, which vets students and researchers seeking to study in sensitive areas, to the provisions in the Higher Education Freedom of Speech Act 2023, which will offer a focussed route for concerns, including relating to foreign interference in academic freedom and free speech, to be escalated.

To support universities to maximise the opportunities of international collaboration whilst managing the risks, the government offers practical advice through the National Protective Security Authority, the National Cyber Security Centre and the Research Collaboration and Advice Team. The department works alongside these partners and engages directly with the sector to increase their understanding of the risks and their ability to respond to them.

This government will take a consistent, long-term and strategic approach to managing the UK’s relations with China, rooted in UK and global interests. We will co-operate where we can, compete where we need to and challenge where we must. The department is contributing towards the government’s audit of the UK’s relationship with China as a bilateral and global actor, to improve our ability to understand and respond to the challenges and opportunities China poses.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-29)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-29 conversation_589

Mr Will Forster:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to extend the eligibility of the Apprenticeship Levy to include (a) pre-employment and (b) employability schemes. \p Janet Daby: The government’s new levy-funded growth and skills offer will introduce greater flexibility to employers and learners in England, creating routes into good, skilled jobs in growing industries, aligned with the government’s industrial strategy. This will include introducing new foundation apprenticeships for young people, as well as shorter-duration apprenticeships.

Foundation apprenticeships will be a work-based training offer that will provide young people with clear progression pathways into further work-based training and employment. Construction will be one of the key sectors that will benefit from new foundation apprenticeships, which will be launching in August 2025.

Further development of the growth and skills offer will be informed by the work of Skills England who will work closely with employers and other key partners to identify priority skills gaps. This will help to ensure that the levy-funded growth and skills offer delivers value for money, meets the needs of business and helps kick-start economic growth.