Asked by: Baroness Barran (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 16 December 2025 (HL Deb col 645), whether the 6.5 per cent pay increase over three years that they recommended to the School Teachers’ Review Body will be met through existing budgets or whether cost savings will be required.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We expect that pay awards over the next three years will be covered through a combination of the funding announced at the Spending Review and from schools making a sustained contribution using the support we are making available to maximise value from their budgets.
This is a shared endeavour. We know that the government has a role to play to tackle systemic challenges at a national level, and we have established the Maximising Value for Pupils programme to help schools and groups. The new programme will provide an expanded level of support in the form of benchmark data, toolkits, commercial offers, capability building, case studies, and investment in areas such as technology.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help improve safeguarding practices in nurseries and early years settings.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The safety and wellbeing of children in nurseries and early years settings is our priority and we continually monitor and review safeguarding requirements for early years settings to ensure children are kept as safe as possible. Where evidence shows that changes are needed, we take action to strengthen requirements and provide clearer expectations for providers.
In September 2025, the government introduced changes to the safeguarding requirements within the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework. These changes were informed by evidence and engagement with the early years sector and were designed to strengthen safeguarding practice across settings, including clearer and more robust expectations around safer recruitment, whistleblowing and staff training.
The department is developing free, online safeguarding training in collaboration with the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. The training will support providers to meet statutory requirements and promote a strong and open safeguarding culture across early years settings.
In December, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, announced that she will be appointing an expert panel to inform guidance for the sector on the effective and safe use of digital devices and CCTV in relation to safeguarding. The panel will consider the question of whether CCTV should be mandated and will set out best practice, technical information and clear expectations on CCTV and digital device usage. No decisions have been taken in advance of this work.
The safety of the youngest children is our utmost priority, which is why the EYFS statutory framework includes clear requirements on safe sleep. The framework requires that babies are placed down to sleep safely and in line with the latest government guidance and that sleeping children are frequently checked. To make the existing requirements clearer for all, we plan to add in more detail to the EYFS frameworks. We have worked with safe sleep experts, including the Lullaby Trust, on proposed new wording.
Ofsted inspects early years providers against the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the EYFS statutory framework. Through our Best Start in Life strategy, we are investing in raising the quality, frequency and consistency of inspections, including work to strengthen oversight of larger nursery chains.
The government is also strengthening multi-agency safeguarding arrangements through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. These measures place duties on safeguarding partners to ensure education providers and childcare settings are appropriately involved in local safeguarding arrangements, while not changing any existing duties on providers.
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, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of raising the minimum income threshold for student maintenance loans in line with inflation.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to supporting the aspiration of every person who meets the requirements and wants to attend higher education. We are future proofing our maintenance loan offer by increasing maintenance loans in line with forecast inflation every academic year from 2026/27 onwards, and making all care leavers automatically eligible for the maximum maintenance loan regardless of their income from 2026/27.
We are also introducing new targeted maintenance grants from the 2028/29 academic year, which will provide disadvantaged students with up to £1,000 extra per year, on top of existing maintenance loans, increasing cash in student’s pockets, without increasing their debt.
We need to ensure that student funding system is financially sustainable. Around £20.7 billion of student loans administered by the Student Loans Company were issued in the 2024/25 financial year, of which £9.1 billion of maintenance loans were issued to undergraduate students.
The current system targets the highest levels of support at students with household incomes of £25,000 or less, who need it most.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent progress her Department has made on implementing the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
On 28 April, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, signed commencement regulations, bringing the following provisions into force on 1 August 2025:
We are seeking a suitable legislative vehicle to amend and repeal other elements of the Act in due course, including in relation to the complaints scheme.
In the meantime, the OfS published its regulatory guidance on free speech on 19 June 2025. The OfS Director for Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom continues to work with the sector to offer advice and share best practice, so providers themselves are more effectively protecting free speech and academic freedom.
Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to update guidance on handling complaints in children's social care.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Departmental officials will be meeting with the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman to better understand issues with the complaints process, but at present we are not planning to update the complaints guidance. We will, however, publish updated statutory guidance on advocacy services for children, who are making complaints, this year.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
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 use of smart phones in schools on levels of disruption in classrooms.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Mobile phones have no place in our schools.
Calm, consistent, distraction-free classroom environments benefit all children.
This government is closely monitoring the problem of phones in schools, working closely with the sector.
We will always take the right action to make sure all schools are mobile phone-free environments.
The department’s guidance on mobile phones in schools, published in February 2024, is clear that schools should prohibit the use of devices with smart technology throughout the school day, including during lessons, transitions and breaks.
The department expects all schools to take steps in line with this guidance to ensure mobile phones do not disrupt pupils’ learning.
Asked by: Luke Charters (Labour - York Outer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help improve the affordability of childcare.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
We want all children, regardless of background, to have access to high quality early education and childcare. This allows parents to work and supports children’s development as they grow, getting them ready for school and beyond.
Through our Best Start in Life strategy we will improve access to early years education and childcare.
It is important that government childcare entitlements remain accessible and affordable for families. Earlier this year we updated the existing statutory guidance for local authorities to clarify the section on additional charges and to support transparency and consistency for parents and providers.
Local authorities also have duties under section 7 of the 2006 Act and under the Childcare (Free of Charge for Working Parents) (England) Regulations 2022 to ensure free childcare is available to eligible children in their area (for either 30 or 15 hours per week over 38 weeks per year depending on the entitlement). To do this, local authorities have the key role of managing their local markets to ensure they meet the needs of parents.
In 2025/26 alone, this government plans to spend over £8 billion on early years entitlements, increasing to over £9 billion in 2026/27 and we have increased the early years pupil premium by over 45%. On top of this, we have provided further supplementary funding of £75 million for the Early Years Expansion Grant to help providers meet their local demand. The EYNFFs target funding to local authorities where it is needed most, reflecting the relative needs of the children and costs of delivering provision in that area.
We increased core funding rates for 2025 to 2026. This increase ensured funding for the entitlement’s forecasts of average earnings and inflation and also reflected the National Living Wage announced at the 2024 Autumn Budget.
In addition to childcare entitlements, the Universal Credit childcare offer supports claimants with the costs of childcare, no matter how many hours they work. Claimants may be able to claim up to 85% of eligible childcare costs, for children aged up until the 31 August after their 16th birthday, if they are eligible for Universal Credit and are usually in paid work or starting a job in the next month. Claimants may also be eligible for help with certain costs of childcare if they are on sick leave, or maternity, paternity or adoption leave.
Tax-Free Childcare remains available for working parents of children aged 0-11, or up to 17 for eligible disabled children. This can save parents up to £2,000 per year, or up to £4,000 for eligible children with disabilities and has the same income criteria as 30 hours government-funded childcare.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve lessons about (a) financial responsibility and (b) budgeting in schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government is committed to strengthening pupils’ foundational understanding of financial education in mathematics and citizenship, with digital resources to support teaching, following publication of the Curriculum and Assessment Review final report in November 2025.
The department will be engaging with sector experts and young people in how best to reflect this in the updated curriculum. There will be public consultation on the updated curriculum Programmes of Study in 2026, to seek views on the content before they are finalised.
Oak National Academy, an independent Arm’s Length Body, is providing high quality curriculum materials to support financial literacy.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made about the adequacy of teaching in schools on (a) financial responsibility and (b) budgeting.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government is committed to strengthening pupils’ foundational understanding of financial education in mathematics and citizenship, with digital resources to support teaching, following publication of the Curriculum and Assessment Review final report in November 2025.
The department will be engaging with sector experts and young people in how best to reflect this in the updated curriculum. There will be public consultation on the updated curriculum Programmes of Study in 2026, to seek views on the content before they are finalised.
Oak National Academy, an independent Arm’s Length Body, is providing high quality curriculum materials to support financial literacy.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department holds on the proportion of neurodivergent and disabled teachers currently working in schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Information on the school workforce, including the number of teachers in state-funded schools, is published in the ‘School workforce in England’ statistical publication, available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england/2024.
Schools are asked to record whether staff self‑report a disability. In the November 2024 school workforce census, disability information was either not yet obtained or was refused for around 59% of teachers, the most recent data available. Where disability information was reported, around 3% of teachers were recorded as disabled. However, this may not represent the true proportion due to the level of missing data. This has been available since 5 June 2025.
The department does not collect data centrally on whether school staff are neurodivergent.