Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help improve levels of mandatory trauma accreditation within professionals working with adopted children.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department has funded Adoption England with £8.8 million in the 2025/26 financial year to help develop national approaches for adoption services. This will help ensure the consistency of high quality adoption services across the country. This includes the development of a new framework of support, ‘Becoming a Family’, for the first 12 to 18 months of placement.
Adoption England’s work also involves increasing awareness of trauma informed practice across its workforce and with key partners including schools. We also recently consulted on new standards for social workers, which include recognising and responding to trauma. We will respond to the consultation shortly, and the new standards will underpin a strengthened early career support training offer for newly qualified social workers.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help improve adoption services.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department has funded Adoption England with £8.8 million in the 2025/26 financial year to help develop national approaches for adoption services. This will help ensure the consistency of high quality adoption services across the country. This includes the development of a new framework of support, ‘Becoming a Family’, for the first 12 to 18 months of placement.
Adoption England’s work also involves increasing awareness of trauma informed practice across its workforce and with key partners including schools. We also recently consulted on new standards for social workers, which include recognising and responding to trauma. We will respond to the consultation shortly, and the new standards will underpin a strengthened early career support training offer for newly qualified social workers.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of he number of UK students who will access the Erasmus scheme in 2027-28, 2028-29 and 2029-30.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The UK and European Commission have reached an agreement in principle for the UK’s association to Erasmus+ in 2027.
The department expects that over 100,000 people could benefit from mobility and partnership opportunities from participation in 2027. Our immediate focus is on realising the benefits of Erasmus+ association in 2027.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to review its policy on the Disabled Students' Allowance.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department keeps all support funded through the Disabled Students’ Allowance under regular review to ensure that it continues to meet the needs of disabled students. Any future changes will be communicated publicly.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps are being taken to ensure schools are up to date with fire safety guidance.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Each school’s responsible body, usually an academy trust or local authority, are responsible for ensuring that their schools comply with Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
This means they must have an up-to-date fire risk assessment, appropriate fire alarms and regular fire drills, to ensure they are as safe as possible and well prepared in the event of a fire.
The department supports schools by providing guidance on estates management and responsibility in the Good Estates Guide for Schools.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 5 January 2026 on Free Schools: Witham, UIN 101355, if she will publish a breakdown of the (a) details and (b) scoring of each school project evaluated; and if she will publish the evidence considered as part of her review into Lodge Farm Primary and Nursery.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is progressing projects that will meet the needs of communities and provide a unique offer for students who would otherwise not have access, without damaging the viability of existing local schools and colleges.
We have written to trusts, local authorities and MPs setting out the position on individual projects as well as offering more detailed feedback.
All projects were evaluated in line with consistent criteria set out in a Written Ministerial Statement in October 2024, including published school capacity data (SCAP24), in line with the department’s longstanding approach to assessing pipeline projects, as well as other data from local authorities, such as plans for future housing developments.
Final decisions on projects where a ‘minded to cancel’ letter was issued will be made once trusts and local authorities have had the opportunity to submit any new evidence. Representations should be made by 30 January 2026.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she will update guidance titled ‘BB101: Ventilation, thermal comfort and indoor air quality 2018’ for the latest available technical standards.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
All new department-delivered schools are designed and constructed to the department’s own school building standards. These standards include ventilation, thermal comfort and air quality and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employers-requirements-part-b-generic-design-brief.
The standards are reviewed regularly and updated when necessary to meet industry best practice and any relevant legislation. An updated set of standards will be published in early 2026.
The department’s publication, ‘Building Bulletin 101: Guidelines on ventilation, thermal comfort and indoor air quality in schools’ (BB101), provides non-statutory guidance, and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/building-bulletin-101-ventilation-for-school-buildings.
The department reviews non-statutory guidance regularly and publishes updates only when necessary.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the number of children in South Cambridgeshire constituency waiting more than 20 weeks for an EHCP assessment.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department does not hold information on the length of time that children and young people wait for an education, health and care (EHC) needs assessment to be carried out.
The department does publish information on the number of EHC plans that are issued within the statutory 20-week timeframe. The number and percentage of plans issued within this timeframe (excluding cases where exceptions apply) for both Cambridgeshire and England are available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/b46a4968-aafd-4bd6-948a-08de4155ee12.
Information at constituency level is not available.
Information on EHC plans maintained by local authorities, including requests for an EHC needs assessment, the number of assessments carried out, the number where a decision is made to assess, and the number of plans issued within 20 weeks, are included in the annual statistical release. The latest January 2025 statistics were published in June 2025 here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans/2025.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the number of children waiting more than 20 weeks for an EHCP assessment.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department does not hold information on the length of time that children and young people wait for an education, health and care (EHC) needs assessment to be carried out.
The department does publish information on the number of EHC plans that are issued within the statutory 20-week timeframe. The number and percentage of plans issued within this timeframe (excluding cases where exceptions apply) for both Cambridgeshire and England are available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/b46a4968-aafd-4bd6-948a-08de4155ee12.
Information at constituency level is not available.
Information on EHC plans maintained by local authorities, including requests for an EHC needs assessment, the number of assessments carried out, the number where a decision is made to assess, and the number of plans issued within 20 weeks, are included in the annual statistical release. The latest January 2025 statistics were published in June 2025 here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans/2025.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of administrative and bureaucratic barriers within local authorities on the timeliness of EHCP assessments.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department understands that some families face challenges with securing education, health and care (EHC) plans in a timely way. We are committed to restoring confidence in the system of support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) so that they all get the opportunities they need to achieve and thrive in their education.
The department publishes annual SEN2 data on EHC plans and assessments, including timeliness. This informs performance monitoring and targeted support. Local authorities performing poorly receive additional oversight and specialist advice.
The department continues to monitor and work closely with local authorities that have issues with EHC plans timeliness. This includes, where needed, providing specialist SEND Adviser support to help identify the barriers to carrying out the EHC plan process in a timely way and to put in place practical plans for recovery.
A new SEND inspection framework launched in January 2023, with all local areas to be inspected by 2027, to improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND.