Asked by: Charlie Maynard (Liberal Democrat - Witney)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to help support parents of students with SEND with having Education, Health and Care Plans in place.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department works closely with a range of charities, who support parents, carers, children and young people with education, health and care (EHC) plans currently in place.
We have extended our current participation and family support contract to guarantee continuity of vital support services for parent carers and children and young people throughout 2026/27. These services include a national helpline which gives independent advice, support and resources to parent carers, and also the training of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Information Advice and Support Services (SENDIASS) staff to ensure they are up to date with legal advice and information, and that they can support families locally. SENDIASS offer independent impartial information, advice and support on the full range of education, health and social care for parents, carers, children and young people with SEND. They also provide advocacy support for individual children, young people, and parents, which includes representation during a tribunal hearing if the parent or young person is unable to do so.
These services are designed to help families understand the impact of changes to the SEND system particularly in relation to EHC plans.
Asked by: Terry Jermy (Labour - South West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to embed practical food, nature, and sustainability education across the national curriculum from EYFS to post-16, including T Levels.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The current national curriculum includes these topics, and there is a food preparation and nutrition GCSE, and science and geography are available at GCSE and A level.
In response to the Curriculum and Assessment Review, the department will enhance the identity of food education by clearly distinguishing cooking and nutrition, which will be renamed food and nutrition, as a distinct subject within design and technology.
The department will also enhance the focus on climate education and sustainability that already exists in subjects such as geography, science, and citizenship. We will also include sustainability within design and technology.
The national curriculum will be taught in academies when it is implemented.
At post-16, the department is continuing to support adults to retrain and reskill in line with the needs of the green economy. We have a range of qualifications for older learners that provide training in green skills including apprenticeships, T levels, Skills Bootcamps and higher technical qualifications.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what mechanisms are in place to ensure that universities share learning from reviews of student deaths by suicide.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Universities are expected to carry out serious incident reviews after a suspected student suicide, following sector‑developed postvention guidance produced by Universities UK, PAPYRUS and Samaritans, which sets clear expectations for reviewing incidents and identifying lessons for improvement.
To support sector‑wide learning, the department last year published the first National Review of Higher Education Student Suicide Deaths, drawing on more than 160 such reviews to provide a shared evidence base and recommendations for improvement across the sector. These recommendations are now being taken forward through the Higher Education Mental Health Implementation Taskforce, which is working with providers to embed consistent practice and strengthen postvention approaches.
The Taskforce is also exploring how to improve data and evidence collection so that learning from future cases can be captured more consistently and used to drive further continuous improvement across the sector.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to ask the Office for Students to introduce a regulatory condition on student mental health and wellbeing.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Office for Students (OfS) is the independent regulator, and any decision to introduce a new regulatory condition would be for the OfS to determine. The Higher Education Mental Health Implementation Taskforce and department are working closely with the OfS as part of our work to improve consistency and raise standards in how providers support student mental health. This includes considering regulatory options alongside other levers such as governance, assurance and strengthened good practice frameworks. We will set out our position following advice from the taskforce, which is helping identify what a clear, strong and proportionate framework should look like.
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 male underrepresentation in the teaching workforce in primary schools on the attainment gap between boys and girls.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
As my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has said, the department wants to see more male teachers teaching, guiding and leading the boys in their classrooms.
Men are underrepresented across the education workforce. This is broadly in line with international trends and has remained stable over time in England
Recruiting and retaining expert teachers is critical to the government’s mission to break down the barriers to opportunity for every child, as high-quality teaching is the in-school factor that has the biggest positive impact on a child’s outcomes.
We ensure men are featured regularly in our recruitment marketing campaign “Every Lesson Shapes a Life”, with men in the focal role in our last two major TV campaigns.
Whilst the department does not have evidence to draw a direct link between gender of teachers and pupil outcomes, we are clear that schools should be an environment where all children feel a genuine sense of belonging.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to provide a response to Question 93556 on Schools: Standards, tabled on 21 November 2025.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I can confirm that a response has been submitted to the hon. Member for South Basildon and East Thurrock to Question 93556.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help support children in schools to develop their vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and listening skills.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department recognises the importance of speaking and listening skills, which has been very clearly set out by the recent Curriculum and Assessment Review. As part of our English curriculum reform, we will make sure that communication skills inherent in curriculum subjects are more clearly expressed through revised programmes of study. We will revise the English and drama programmes of study to add more clarity and specificity in speaking and listening, as well as ensuring that the reformed English language GCSE focusses on the features and use of language as a form of communication. We will also create a new oracy framework to sit alongside the national curriculum that will support primary teachers to help their pupils become confident, fluent speakers, as well as a new secondary oracy, reading and writing framework, which will enable secondary teachers to connect and embed all three of those vital skills in each of their subjects as part of a whole school strategy.
We are also considering whether and how the sequencing of grammatical content in the curriculum should be changed, to enable pupils to master concepts and use them in context.
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 the potential merits of changing the national curriculum to increase awareness of cancer prevention amongst pupils in Yeovil constituency.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
It is important to educate people about causes and symptoms of cancer, and we are supportive of efforts to do this at an early age.
Revised relationships, sex and health education statutory guidance was published on 15 July 2025. Cancer awareness and other specific cancer-related content is included. At secondary school, as part of their studies on health protection and prevention and understanding the healthcare system, pupils will be taught the importance of taking responsibility for their own health, including regular self-examination and screening.
Schools may teach about cancer awareness in other areas of the current national curriculum. The secondary science curriculum ensures pupils are taught about non-communicable diseases, such as cancer, and the impact of lifestyle factors. In design and food technology, schools should highlight the importance of nutrition. We are developing a new national curriculum with teachers, curriculum experts, pupils and parents, which schools will start teaching from September 2028.
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support she is providing to students who want to pursue a creative course for further education but cannot due to not obtaining English and Maths GCSEs despite resits.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Level 2 English and mathematics skills are essential for progression in work and further study, and providers are required to continue teaching English and/or mathematics to students aged 16 to 19 without these skills. Learners aged 16 to 18 at the start of their apprenticeship are required to achieve English and/or maths qualifications as an exit requirement.
The department does not set entry requirements for further education (FE) courses and guidance is clear that decisions to enter students into English and mathematics exams should be based on readiness to improve their grade.
The Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper outlined further support for providers to improve outcomes for all students, on study programmes. We have introduced teaching hours requirements and will also introduce new Level 1 preparation for GCSE qualifications. We are working with the FE Commissioner to share effective practice. Proposed reforms to level 2 and 3 vocational and technical pathways will also be designed to ensure there is sufficient time to continue studying English and mathematics.
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of outstanding Plan 2 student loan debt in the year the first loans become eligible to be written off; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of that debt on Government finances.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The oldest Plan 2 loans will become eligible for cancellation in 2046. For the England-domiciled 2012/13 cohort, the first to receive Plan 2 loans, we forecast a total of £17,036 million in loan balances (including interest) will be cancelled at the end of their 30-year repayment periods.
These cancellations are accounted for at the point of loan outlay. The future cancelled debt is reflected in both the national accounts and the department’s accounts in the year the loan is issued and is then updated annually. It will not result in further losses when the loans reach the end of their 30-year write-off period.
The treatment of student loans in the national accounts is in line the methodology published by the Office for National Statistics and can be found here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/governmentpublicsectorandtaxes/publicsectorfinance/methodologies/studentloansinthepublicsectorfinancesamethodologicalguide.