Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help ensure that veterans have access to childcare options.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
It is the department’s ambition that all families, including those from Armed Forces and Veteran communities, 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.
In April 2026, over 200 new Best Start Family Hubs in areas not previously funded are now open to families, backed by over £900 million of investment. These hubs act as welcoming, one-stop shops rooted in local communities, supporting families from pregnancy through to early childhood with everything from infant feeding support and parenting advice to help with the cost of living and early identification of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Support will also extend beyond dedicated hubs into up to 2,000 community venues, known as Best Start Network Sites, by 2028, ensuring families can access help.
The department's guidance for Best Start Family Hubs sets out minimum expectations for supporting Armed Forces and Veteran families. Hub staff are expected to be aware of the unique challenges these families can face, including the cumulative impact of mobility, separation, deployment, life after service and bereavement, and to signpost families to relevant support services including the Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) Education Advisory Team and the dedicated Armed Forces Families Federations.
Best Start Family Hub staff are also expected to be familiar with the joint non-statutory guidance 'Service Pupils in Schools' (April 2025) and the MOD Local Authority Partnership (MODLAP) principles for supporting Service children with SEND through school transitions. The guidance also encourages the establishment of a dedicated military champion in every hub, linked to existing Armed Forces Covenant commitments.
Veteran families who are based in England can apply for government funded childcare through the Childcare Service or through their local authorities. Families may also be eligible for support if they receive Universal Credit.
Current service families may be eligible for 30 hours (over 38 weeks of the year) funded childcare support, which is available to eligible working parents from the term after their child turns nine months old until they start school. Parents must earn at least the equivalent of 16 hours a week at the national minimum wage and under £100,000 adjusted net income per year to be eligible. In a two-parent household, both parents must meet the eligibility criteria.
All three- and four-year-olds are eligible for 15 hours free early education per week (over 38 weeks of the year), regardless of family circumstances. This is available the term after the child’s third birthday. Tax-Free Childcare and Universal Credit Childcare are also available to families to help with childcare costs.
The department wants to ensure that parents are aware of and are accessing all the government funded childcare support they are eligible for. The department is raising awareness of the government funded childcare support available via the Best Start in Life Parent Hub website to stimulate increased take up by eligible families, because we know this could make a significant financial difference to families. The website can be accessed here: https://www.beststartinlife.gov.uk/.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled Interest rate cap introduced to protect Plan 2 borrowers, published on 7 April 2026, what assessment she has made of the impact of the cap on incentives for graduates to pursue higher education.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government has taken decisive action to cap the maximum interest rates on Plan 2 and Plan 3 (postgraduate) student loans at 6%, instead of the Retail Prices Index (RPI) plus 3%, for the 2026/27 academic year. This short term protective measure removes the risk of a temporary increase in inflation causing loan balances to compound at an unsustainable rate.
The interest rate cap follows changes we have already made to the student finance system to improve it and make it fairer for students, graduates and taxpayers. This includes increasing the repayment threshold for Plan 2 loans to £28,470 in April 2025, its first increase since 2021, and increasing it again on 6 April this year, to £29,385. The department is also reintroducing targeted, means-tested maintenance grants from the 2028/29 academic year, providing students from low income households with up to £1,000 extra support that will not need to be repaid.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to support joined up working in the development of skills in the environmental health sector.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper set out reforms to the skills system to ensure skills provision is aligned to the needs of the Industrial Strategy and support people to train in sectors which support growth and meet priority skills needs. The department is working across government to achieve these aims.
Several universities deliver Environmental Health provision spanning BScs, MScs, and degree apprenticeships. All courses are professionally regulated by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health and support people to access careers in this occupation.
The Environmental Health Practitioner apprenticeship allows individuals to develop the knowledge and skills needed to work in areas such as environmental protection, food safety, housing standards and public health.
Skills England works with employers to ensure that apprenticeship content is relevant and up to date. It will soon be updating the Environmental Health Practitioner assessment plan in line with new Apprenticeship Assessment Principles to ensure that the assessment is proportionate, timely and efficient while retaining rigour and validity.
These reforms and polices are applicable in England. Skills policy in Scotland is devolved and is a matter for the Scottish Government.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support the development of skills in the environmental health sector.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper set out reforms to the skills system to ensure skills provision is aligned to the needs of the Industrial Strategy and support people to train in sectors which support growth and meet priority skills needs. The department is working across government to achieve these aims.
Several universities deliver Environmental Health provision spanning BScs, MScs, and degree apprenticeships. All courses are professionally regulated by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health and support people to access careers in this occupation.
The Environmental Health Practitioner apprenticeship allows individuals to develop the knowledge and skills needed to work in areas such as environmental protection, food safety, housing standards and public health.
Skills England works with employers to ensure that apprenticeship content is relevant and up to date. It will soon be updating the Environmental Health Practitioner assessment plan in line with new Apprenticeship Assessment Principles to ensure that the assessment is proportionate, timely and efficient while retaining rigour and validity.
These reforms and polices are applicable in England. Skills policy in Scotland is devolved and is a matter for the Scottish Government.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish the full list of members of her Department’s SEND Development Group, the criteria for membership of this group and the dates on which the group has met.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) Development Group was launched as part of the period of co-creation, which was announced in December 2025. The group is an informal engagement group led by myself, as Minister for Schools, to bring together a wider group of SEND stakeholders.
The group’s objectives are:
The group is attended by myself and our expert advisors Dame Christine Lenehan and Tom Rees. External attendees include representatives from the Council for Disabled Children (CDC), the Disabled Children’s Partnership (DCP), the National Network of Parents Carers Forums (NNPCF), the National Association for Special Educational Needs (NASEN), The Difference, Dingley’s Promise, The Athelstan Trust, Let Us Learn Too, The Global Black Maternal Health Institute, Aylsham Learning Federation, and the SEND Sanctuary. The group has recently been expanded to include the following.
SEND representative stakeholders:
Local authorities:
Alternative Provision:
Early Years:
Post-16:
Individual voices from teacher workforce:
Parent and carer groups:
Departmental advisors such as Christine Lenehan and Andrew O'Neil are also invited to this group, as are representatives from the Independent Panel.
Alongside the Development Group, I have set up the Complex Needs Group to expand stakeholder conversations in the department. This group consists of the following.
Parent voices:
Departmental SEN advisers:
National disability charities:
Teacher workforce:
Local authorities:
Health:
Academic:
Departmental advisors such as Tom Rees, Christine Lenehan and Andrew O’Neil are invited to this group.
The members of these groups all have independent positions outside of their contributions to the group and engage separately outside.
Both of these groups will meet monthly during the consultation period.
The National Conversation on SEND reached over 8,000 people to help shape the future of support for children and young people. The dates of the meetings are available in the published quarterly returns on Ministerial meetings: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dfe-ministers-quarterly-returns.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish the terms of reference of the Department’s SEND Development Group.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) Development Group was launched as part of the period of co-creation, which was announced in December 2025. The group is an informal engagement group led by myself, as Minister for Schools, to bring together a wider group of SEND stakeholders.
The group’s objectives are:
The group is attended by myself and our expert advisors Dame Christine Lenehan and Tom Rees. External attendees include representatives from the Council for Disabled Children (CDC), the Disabled Children’s Partnership (DCP), the National Network of Parents Carers Forums (NNPCF), the National Association for Special Educational Needs (NASEN), The Difference, Dingley’s Promise, The Athelstan Trust, Let Us Learn Too, The Global Black Maternal Health Institute, Aylsham Learning Federation, and the SEND Sanctuary. The group has recently been expanded to include the following.
SEND representative stakeholders:
Local authorities:
Alternative Provision:
Early Years:
Post-16:
Individual voices from teacher workforce:
Parent and carer groups:
Departmental advisors such as Christine Lenehan and Andrew O'Neil are also invited to this group, as are representatives from the Independent Panel.
Alongside the Development Group, I have set up the Complex Needs Group to expand stakeholder conversations in the department. This group consists of the following.
Parent voices:
Departmental SEN advisers:
National disability charities:
Teacher workforce:
Local authorities:
Health:
Academic:
Departmental advisors such as Tom Rees, Christine Lenehan and Andrew O’Neil are invited to this group.
The members of these groups all have independent positions outside of their contributions to the group and engage separately outside.
Both of these groups will meet monthly during the consultation period.
The National Conversation on SEND reached over 8,000 people to help shape the future of support for children and young people. The dates of the meetings are available in the published quarterly returns on Ministerial meetings: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dfe-ministers-quarterly-returns.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when will the Children's Commissioner publish her report on the Army Foundation College in Harrogate.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This is a matter for the Children’s Commissioner. Given her independence, my hon. Friend, the Member for South Shields will need to contact her directly.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that the enrichment entitlement is received by young people in Leeds Central and Headingley constituency.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government is committed to ensuring all young people across England can access a variety of enrichment opportunities at school and college as part of our mission to break down barriers to opportunity.
To support delivery of the enrichment entitlement set out in the government’s response to the Curriculum and Assessment Review, and the 'Every Child Achieving and Thriving’ schools White Paper, we are developing a new Enrichment Framework for publication this academic year. Developed with the department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), and experts across education, youth, sports and the arts, the framework will set out benchmarks to help schools and colleges plan high-quality enrichment more intentionally and strategically and will include case studies and signposting to tools and resources.
We recognise schools and colleges cannot do this on their own and are putting in place support for wider provision including Music Hubs, and the £22.5 million programme developed with DCMS to support the enrichment offer of up to 400 schools in disadvantaged communities.
Asked by: Suella Braverman (Reform UK - Fareham and Waterlooville)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of trends in the pay gap between further education teachers and school teachers, and the potential impact of this gap on the level of recruitment and retention in technical subjects.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The statutory requirements for maintained schoolteachers' pay are set nationally subject to recommendations from the School Teachers’ Review Body. In 2023/24, the median full-time equivalent (FTE) salary for teachers in secondary schools was £47,666.
Further education (FE) colleges have statutory autonomy over the pay of their staff. There is value in colleges having the freedom to meet local technical skills needs within their own local circumstances, and the government does not set college teacher pay. In 2023/24, the median FTE average salary for teachers on permanent or fixed term contracts in FE colleges was £36,316 and £47,133 in sixth form colleges.
FE teachers are central to delivering high-quality technical education. Last year, we announced an additional £190 million broadly equivalent to the pay award in schools for colleges and other 16-19 providers to help them address the recruitment and retention of specialist FE teachers. Our targeted retention incentive offer is designed to retain eligible FE teachers in technical subjects with payments of up to £6,000 after tax. In its first year, nearly 6,000 teachers received a payment.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of geographic inequalities in access to a range of V and T Levels.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
There are 21 T Levels available across England, delivered by over 320 providers. Further subjects are being introduced from 2028, and the first rollout of V Levels will be in 2027. We have published a transition document for providers to move to the new system- supporting access to the full suite of reformed qualifications across the country. This document can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/post-16-level-3-and-below-pathways/outcome/transition-plan-to-the-reformed-16-to-19-qualifications-landscape.
We recognise the challenges of T Level delivery in some areas, particularly around accessing industry placements in rural locations. We provide a contracted offer to support employers to engage with and offer placements and a ‘Connect’ service to help providers and employers to connect locally. We are also making further changes to support students in rural locations where travelling to placements can be more difficult, including greater provision for remote placements.
In addition, the 1,200-member-strong T Level Ambassador Network published regional plans in February 2026, using evidence to better target engagement activity across the North, Midlands and South.