Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Written Statement of 15 December 2025 on Investment in high needs place, HCWS1163, which (a) Members of Parliament and (b) local authorities met departmental officials to discuss the status of one or more of the 28 mainstream free school projects ahead of their cancellation.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department has engaged with trusts, local authorities and other stakeholders in relation to projects in scope of the mainstream review, including reviewing the evidence they have provided. This included all of the local authorities with a project in scope.
MPs with an interest in projects were invited to a ‘drop in’ session during the review and again following the announcement on 15 December 2025. Individual meetings with interested MPs have also taken place.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure schools report safeguarding concerns during family court proceedings.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Keeping children safe is an absolute priority for this government, and schools and colleges play a critical role in this.
They are supported by the statutory guidance, 'Keeping children safe in education' (KCSIE), which all schools and colleges must have regard to when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. The guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education--2.
Local authorities, police, and health services share an equal statutory duty to work together, and schools and colleges must work with local safeguarding partners to protect children.
KCSIE makes clear that all staff have a responsibility to identify and respond to any safeguarding concerns and stresses the importance of effective information sharing at the right time to ensure children receive the support they need. This includes ensuring clear processes and principles are in place for sharing information not only within the school or college and with children’s social care, but with safeguarding partners and other relevant organisations.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve education on (a) sexual consent and (b) relationships.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department published updated relationships, sex and health education statutory guidance in July 2025. It focuses on building healthy relationships skills from the start of primary school. It sets out that secondary schools should cover how to recognise, respect and communicate consent and boundaries in both platonic and romantic relationships.
Pupils should be taught the law about the age of consent and that they have a choice about whether to have sex. Pupils should also be taught about their capacity to give, withhold or remove consent at any time, even if initially given.
This government, in December 2025, has published a new strategy to tackle violence against women and girls. We want to protect young people and drive forward education on healthy relationships and will be investing £11 million to pilot the best interventions in schools over the next three years.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department holds on the proportion of children who experienced cyber bullying in 2025; and what steps her Department is taking with Cabinet colleagues to reduce this.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department monitors the prevalence of bullying among children and young people through the National Behaviour Survey (NBS).
The most recent NBS results, for the 2024/25 academic year, showed that 21% of secondary school aged pupils reported being bullied in the past 12 months. Of those pupils, 29% reported that at least some of the bullying occurred online.
The department is procuring an expert and evidence-led review into best practice on behaviour and preventing and tackling bullying, including cyber-bullying. The learning from this will support leaders to develop safe, supportive school cultures.
Through statutory relationships, sex and health education, pupils are taught about online relationships, the implications of sharing private or personal data (including images) online, harmful content, cyberbullying, what over-reliance on social media looks like and where to get help.
Asked by: Jen Craft (Labour - Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the answer of 2 December 2025 to question 91065, what engagement she has undertaken with BSL signers regarding Artificial Intelligence approaches to British Sign Language.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
We are currently researching the artificial intelligence tools that are available on the market and what they can provide for users. Once this research has concluded, we will engage with British Sign Language signers which will help inform next steps.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Written Statement of 15 December 2025 on Investment in high needs place, HCWS1163, what meetings were held with the 18 local authorities that had successful bids for a (a) special and (b) AP free school ahead of the cancellation of those projects.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Meetings were held with a small number of local authorities with projects across the special and alternative provision free schools pipeline during the process of formulating policy. As set out in the Written Ministerial Statement of 15 December 2025 (HCWS1163), policy decisions have been taken to ensure that capital investment delivers specialist places more quickly and flexibly.
For 18 projects where a trust had not been appointed by July 2024 and so are furthest from opening, the department concluded that local authorities are best placed to create the required places sooner than would be possible through the free school route. Each affected authority will be given an alternative funding package, calculated on a per-place basis, enabling them to expand existing provision or adapt mainstream settings as part of their local special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) strategy and in line with SEND reform.
Authorities can submit representations if they disagree with the decision. The deadline for them to do so is 27 February 2026.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will add Humanism to the Religious Education syllabus on the National Curriculum in England.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Religious education (RE) is not part of the national curriculum but is a mandatory subject for all pupils aged 5 to 18 in state-funded schools in England. Schools should deliver RE in an objective, critical and pluralistic way and already have the flexibility, through their locally agreed syllabi, to include the study of non-religious world views such as humanism.
We welcome the Curriculum and Assessment Review’s recommendation that Vanessa Ogden, a former Review panellist specialising in RE, should lead a sector group, independent from government, to develop a draft RE curriculum. The sector group’s work on RE will reflect the role the subject plays in building understanding between people of different faiths, beliefs and communities, including those with non-religious world views. If the group reaches consensus on a draft curriculum, the government will consult on whether to add it to the national curriculum.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of levels in smartphone usage on children's (a) level of reading comprehension and (b) average time spent reading per week.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department knows that reading for pleasure is hugely important and brings a range of benefits, yet just 1 in 3 children aged 8-18 say they enjoy reading in their free time, and a recent omnibus survey found that 31% of parents of primary-aged children and 40% of parents of secondary-aged children said their child prefers spending time online or playing video games, citing this as a barrier to encouraging reading in their free time.
The department has launched the National Year of Reading 2026, in collaboration with the National Literacy Trust, to address long-term declines in reading enjoyment through engaging new audiences, reshaping public attitudes and building the systems needed to embed lasting, meaningful change.
The National Year of Reading encourages everyone to see how reading, in all its forms, can unlock more of our existing passions and interests, from reading a story in a print book or on an e-reader, to reading a magazine article or an online blog, to listening to an audio book on a phone or tablet. Recognising that, digital technology is not incompatible with the National Year of Reading.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish an estimated timetable for the removal of the English baccalaureate.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
As part of the government response to the Curriculum and Assessment Review's final report, published on 5 November 2024, we announced our intention to remove EBacc headline and additional measures at key stage 4.
This will take effect for the key stage 4 performance measures for the 2025/26 academic year, to be published in autumn 2026.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support the financial sustainability of childminding roles in (a) East Sussex and (b) Lewes constituency.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
It is the department’s ambition that all families have access to high quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life.
From April 2026, local authorities will be required to pass at least 97% of their funding directly to providers, an increase from 96%. We will work with local authorities and others to ensure that, where they want to, childminders and other early years providers are paid monthly for the funded hours they provide, making their income more stable. Childminders, who often care for children of different ages, can use the funding they receive to support costs across all the children they look after. We expect this will also bring increased demand for childminder places, providing new opportunities for growth.
From 1 November 2024, the government introduced new flexibilities to help childminders join and stay in the profession, supporting the government’s commitment to roll out expanded childcare entitlements and give children the best start in life.