Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will provide additional Ofsted funding to increase the frequency of (a) inspections and (b) unannounced inspections of early years settings.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Giving young children the best start in life is the foundation of the government’s opportunity mission.
From April, the department is funding Ofsted to inspect all new early years providers within 18 months of opening and moving towards inspecting all providers at least once every four years, compared to the current six-year window. This means standards will be reviewed more regularly and parents will have more up-to-date information to help them choose the right setting for their child.
While Ofsted typically provides notice before an inspection, they can and do conduct inspections without prior notification, particularly when concerns have been raised about a setting. Between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025, there were 1,400 unannounced inspections (16%). We recognise the importance of unannounced inspections and they will continue.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to introduce a mandatory registration of staff working in children's homes.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government set out its position regarding professional registration of the children’s homes workforce in its ’Tackling child sexual abuse: progress update’, published on GOV.UK in April 2025 here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tackling-child-sexual-abuse-progress-update.
The immediate focus is to develop workforce standards and review sector qualifications to ensure staff working in children’s homes are equipped with the knowledge and skills they need to provide the best possible care, and have access to high quality continuing professional development.
This will provide the essential foundation for looking at the risks and benefits of a registration model for care staff, including a wider consultation in the longer term.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 8 January (HL Deb col 1408), when the research that showed that bursaries and scholarships are more important to overseas trainee modern foreign language teachers than the international relocation payment was carried out.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The research was commissioned by the department in 2024 with fieldwork taking place between March and November of the same year. The attached report was published in June 2025 and is also available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/international-teacher-recruitment.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that social care professionals working with adoptive families receive trauma-informed training.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for South East Cornwall to the answer of 13 January 2026 to Question 102909.
Asked by: Gideon Amos (Liberal Democrat - Taunton and Wellington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much revenue has been generated from the application of VAT to private school fees to date and how this revenue has been allocated.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The government has estimated that ending tax breaks for private schools will raise £1.8 billion a year by 2029/30. At the Autumn Budget 2025, the re-costing of the measure showed it will raise around £40 million per year more than originally forecast. This will raise essential revenue to help fund public services, including supporting the 94% of children in state schools.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of early intervention support for families where children display harmful or aggressive behaviour at home in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The national rollout of Family Help, Multi-Agency Child Protection and Family Group Decision Making reforms is being delivered through the Families First Partnership (FFP) programme.
The programme is backed by £2.4 billion in funding over the next three years, which is ringfenced for spend on prevention.
Multi-disciplinary Family Help teams will prioritise supporting the whole family, wrapping support around them and intervening at the earliest opportunity to prevent challenges escalating, including for families where children display harmful or aggressive behaviour at home. Local partnerships should use population needs assessments to identify agencies, services and practitioners needed in their multi‑disciplinary teams.
The FFP programme team in the department will work closely with all local authorities, including Surrey, to monitor progress and provide support. In 2025/26, Surrey local authority received £5.1 million of ringfenced funding for the delivery of FFP, and based on indicative allocations they will receive £10.1 million in 2026/27.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the transition from the Early Years Foundation Stage to Year 1 on children’s wellbeing.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department recognises that moving between key stages can be challenging for some children, and that children’s experience of school can significantly impact their attendance, attainment and wellbeing.
This government is committed to giving every child the best start in life, ensuring they have what they need to achieve and thrive in school. The Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework aims to ensure children have the skills and knowledge needed to thrive and make a successful transition to later schooling.
The government is expanding mental health support teams, so all schools can access specialist mental health professionals, supporting their whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing, and providing early intervention.
The department will also publish a best practice framework to help schools improve pupil experience and engagement. As part of this work, we will consider the evidence around effective transitions strategies that can promote and support children’s wellbeing.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to conduct a review of collective worship in schools in England.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Collective worship remains an important part of school life, supporting pupils to reflect on the concept of belief and the role it plays in our country’s traditions and values.
Schools in England already have flexibility in how they meet this requirement and can deliver collective worship or assemblies in ways that reflect the diverse needs of their pupils and local communities. Students over 16 and parents of younger pupils also retain the right of withdrawal from collective worship.
Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of compensatory funding to further education institutions for the increase in Employer National Insurance contributions on colleges.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
To recognise the increase to employers’ National Insurance contributions, we made approximately £155 million available in 2025/26 to support further education institutions and other mainstream settings that receive annual funding allocations from the department for the provision of post-16 education. This funding was made available via the Post-16 National Insurance contributions grant in September 2025. All decisions related to the 2026/27 financial year are being considered and information will be provided in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have for (1) issuing revised and streamlined guidance to schools about sponsoring visas for overseas teachers of modern foreign languages, and (2) making the process of sponsoring those visas cost-free for schools, colleges and other educational establishments.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department is continuing to look at how best to support schools to navigate the visa sponsorship processes to ensure that high quality international teachers can train and work as teachers in England. We have dedicated, school specific guidance to support schools that would like to employ international teachers. We regularly review this guidance to ensure it provides accurate, up to date and clear information. We have tested the content with schools and continue to engage with the sector for further feedback. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/recruit-teachers-from-overseas.
The costs of sponsoring a visa are charged at the same level across professions. There are no plans to introduce any new sector-based exemptions from these costs, or to provide funding to cover the cost of any processes related to domestic or international teacher recruitment, but there are lower rates for smaller employers.