Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 64 of the policy paper entitled SEND Reform: Putting Children and Young People First, published on 23 February 2026, CP1509, when she expects recommendations from the national expert panel on specialist provision packages to be published.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government’s consultation on special educational needs and disabilities reform, ‘Putting Children and Young People First’, sets out the proposal to introduce Specialist Provision Packages, which would provide comprehensive, evidence-based support for children and young people with the most complex needs. This is subject to consultation.
The packages will be developed and reviewed by experts, tested with parents and supported through continued multi-agency working. Legislation to introduce the new packages, and the independent expert panel that will oversee them, will be brought forward at the earliest opportunity, with guidance to follow so settings can plan and prepare ahead of proposed implementation from September 2029.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 63 of the policy paper entitled SEND Reform: Putting Children and Young People First, published on 23 February 2026, CP1509, when she plans to introduce new specialist provision packages.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government’s consultation on special educational needs and disabilities reform, ‘Putting Children and Young People First’, sets out the proposal to introduce Specialist Provision Packages, which would provide comprehensive, evidence-based support for children and young people with the most complex needs. This is subject to consultation.
The packages will be developed and reviewed by experts, tested with parents and supported through continued multi-agency working. Legislation to introduce the new packages, and the independent expert panel that will oversee them, will be brought forward at the earliest opportunity, with guidance to follow so settings can plan and prepare ahead of proposed implementation from September 2029.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department plans to take to ensure that the experiences of children and young people with dyslexia are captured when measuring attainment at the end of secondary school.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is committed to ensuring the exams system is equitable for all students, and that students with disabilities, including dyslexia, can access exams and assessments without disadvantage.
Ofqual, the independent regulator of exams and assessments in England, has a statutory duty to ensure that assessments are a fair representation of a student’s knowledge and requires awarding organisations to put processes in place to ensure that all students can access assessments appropriately.
The Equality Act 2010 also requires awarding organisations to make reasonable adjustments where assessment arrangements could place a student, who is disabled within the meaning of the Act, at a substantial disadvantage in comparison to someone who is not disabled.
These adjustments can include, but are not limited to, extra time to complete assessments or assistance via a reader or a scribe, depending on the individual needs of the student.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department gathers on the educational outcomes of children with dyslexia and other literacy challenges in the Key Stage 1 phonics screening check.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department holds information on pupils’ special educational needs and their attainment by 14 types of primary need. Dyslexia is usually included in the wider category of primary need ‘specific learning difficulty’. In 2025, 33% of pupils with ‘specific learning difficulty’ recorded as their primary need met the expected standard in the phonics screening check in year 1. The English Hubs programme is dedicated to improving the teaching of reading, with a focus on supporting children making the slowest progress. ‘Reading Ambition for All’, developed with input from the British Dyslexia Association, is a continuous professional development programme to support schools help struggling readers, delivered by our 34 English Hubs, reaching more than 600 schools this academic year.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant UIN 82150 what assessment her Department has made of the availability of discretionary transport support for children with special educational needs and disabilities who are not yet of compulsory school age, what guidance is provided to local authorities on exercising this discretion, and what potential impact variations in local authority budgets have on access to such support.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department’s ‘Home-to-school travel’ statutory guidance makes clear that discretionary travel need not be limited to children of compulsory school age. The guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-to-school-travel-and-transport-guidance.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria her Department will use to identify and select areas for participation in the Mission Coastal programme; and whether these criteria will be published as part of the programme’s rollout.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is currently considering our approach to identifying possible areas for Mission Coastal and will announce further details in due course. Our ambition is that both Mission North East and Mission Coastal will transform outcomes in areas where disadvantage is entrenched and drive change nationwide.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will consider including Cornwall within the Mission Coastal programme.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is currently considering our approach to identifying possible areas for Mission Coastal and will announce further details in due course. Our ambition is that both Mission North East and Mission Coastal will transform outcomes in areas where disadvantage is entrenched and drive change nationwide.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of the introduction of a GCSE in the Cornish language; and whether she has held discussions with qualification bodies on the viability and timeline for approving such a qualification.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Decisions about which languages to offer at GCSE in England are taken by four independent awarding organisations: AQA, OCR, Pearson Edexcel and WJEC. These organisations have the freedom to create a Cornish GCSE based on subject content set by the department. This decision would be informed by several factors, including the level of demand from schools, and the proportion of the UK population who speak the language.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help promote the inclusion of disability history in the national curriculum.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government’s ambition is for every child and young person to receive a rich and broad, inclusive and innovative education, and that the curriculum reflects our modern society and diverse communities, including disabled people. We will ensure disability is taught in the curriculum, so that all children and young people have a positive and informed understanding of disability.
The history curriculum provides a broad and flexible framework that allows schools to select which topics to teach across the key stages, and this can include history relating to disabled people. We are in the process of refreshing the history curriculum to support the teaching of the inherent diversity within history. We will consult on the curriculum from early summer, and we will fully implement the new full national curriculum for first teaching from September 2028.
Asked by: Tony Vaughan (Labour - Folkestone and Hythe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how Specialist Resource Provisions fit within new school bases proposed in SEND reforms.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
As part of our reforms, to clarify and simplify terminology, we will collectively describe provision such as special educational needs (SEN) units, resourced provision and pupil support units as inclusion bases, underpinned by two models:
There are many examples of inclusion bases in mainstream settings that offer high quality teaching, bespoke learning environments and flexible access to specialist education or health support, helping children thrive academically, socially, and emotionally. These will continue to play an important role.
As a core component of our £3.7 billion high needs capital settlement we will invest in a transformational expansion of inclusion bases, so they become a core part of every local education offer. They will deliver high quality teaching and support to more children who benefit from provision that bridges the gap between mainstream and specialist.