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 estimate she has made of the number of SEND pupils placed in mainstream schools due to a lack of available places in specialist settings.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Information on the number of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) by the setting they attend is shown in the following table: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/abcb598c-d065-4db8-960d-08de29f25240. Information is not held on the number of pupils with SEN attending mainstream schools due to a lack of available places in specialist settings.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her Department's policies of trends in the use of qualified supply teachers by academy trusts.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department values the work that supply teachers do and the important contribution they make to the smooth running of schools. The department has not made any assessments relating to academy trusts alone, but we have considered the school sector as a whole.
The department knows that the use of supply teachers, particularly in the secondary phase, has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic and that this is having an impact on school budgets. Details of our work on helping schools to maximise value from their budgets will be announced shortly.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of differences in teacher qualification requirements by multi-academy trusts and local authority-maintained schools on the consistency of educational standards.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Evidence shows that high quality teaching is the most important in-school factor that improves outcomes for children, particularly those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) is the professional qualification for primary and secondary teachers and underpins high quality teaching by ensuring teachers meet the Teachers’ Standards. It is right that we expect teachers to be professionally qualified and the department is taking steps to ensure consistency in educational standards across all state funded primary and secondary schools. Teachers in local authority-maintained schools and special schools are already required to have QTS.
Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we are seeking to extend the requirement to academies, so all pupils, including those with SEND, benefit from well-trained, professionally qualified teachers. This change will ensure that teachers too benefit from the knowledge and training that underpins QTS across both local authority-maintained schools and academies.
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 impact on mainstream schools of the number of SEND pupils placed in these schools due to a lack of available places in specialist settings.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government has been clear that a more inclusive education system is needed to provide children and young people with the opportunities they need to achieve and thrive.
The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places, including for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities, sits with local authorities. To support local authorities with this duty, the department has published allocations for £740 million high needs capital in 2025/26. Of this funding, Thurrock council has been allocated just under £2 million.
This funding is intended to create specialist facilities within mainstream schools that can deliver more intensive support adapted to suit the pupils’ needs. It can also be used to adapt mainstream schools to be more accessible and to create special school places for pupils with the most complex needs. It is ultimately up to local authorities to determine how to best prioritise their high needs capital funding to address local priorities.
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 plans she has to provide additional funding to mainstream schools that are accommodating higher numbers of SEND pupils due to shortages in specialist placements.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government has been clear that a more inclusive education system is needed to provide children and young people with the opportunities they need to achieve and thrive.
The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places, including for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities, sits with local authorities. To support local authorities with this duty, the department has published allocations for £740 million high needs capital in 2025/26. Of this funding, Thurrock council has been allocated just under £2 million.
This funding is intended to create specialist facilities within mainstream schools that can deliver more intensive support adapted to suit the pupils’ needs. It can also be used to adapt mainstream schools to be more accessible and to create special school places for pupils with the most complex needs. It is ultimately up to local authorities to determine how to best prioritise their high needs capital funding to address local priorities.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her department plans to provide Local Authorities with extra funding to support training of social workers and council workers to improve understanding of home education.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department ran a public consultation on the proposed duties and measures for Children Not in School in 2019. The consultation was open to all to contribute, including academic experts in educational pedagogy, and the department responded in 2022. We have continued to engage with home education experts since then as part of development of the measures for inclusion in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and on plans for implementation of these post-Royal Assent.
Funding and training will be provided to support local authorities to fulfil their new duties under the Children Not in School measures.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many teachers were funded and training as citizenship specialists in England in 2024–25, and whether they plan to increase that number.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department is working with the sector to re-establish teaching as an attractive profession across all subjects, including citizenship, and as a first step this government has increased teacher pay by almost 10% over two years.
Our Plan for Change is committed to recruiting 6,500 new teachers across secondary and special schools, and our colleges, over the course of this parliament to ensure sufficient teachers across all subjects. We are making good progress, with the workforce growing by 2,346 full-time equivalent between 2023/24 and 2024/25 in secondary and special schools, where it is needed most.
Whilst we do not hold data on the number of trainees for citizenship, recruitment to citizenship initial teacher training courses is unrestricted, enabling providers to recruit to increased demand. All trainees on a tuition fee-funded course can apply for a tuition fee loan and maintenance loan to support their living costs. Additional funding, such as the childcare grant, is available depending on individual circumstances.
Asked by: Claire Hazelgrove (Labour - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy and availability of therapeutic support for adoptive families; and what assessment she has made of the adequacy and effectiveness of signposting to support services available for adoptive families.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This financial year, the department has invested £50 million into the adoption and special guardianship support fund. We have approved applications for nearly 14,000 children since April for both therapy and specialist assessments. We continue to review the impact of the changes to funding made in April 2025.
The department continues to work closely with stakeholders to ensure clear and effective communication. This commitment is reflected in the fund’s growth, with applications increasing by around 10% annually since its inception and over 55,000 individual children supported to date.
Regional adoption agencies serve as central hubs for advice, connecting families to local services, training opportunities, peer support groups, and providing direct referrals to specialist services.
In addition, we work in collaboration with Adoption England to identify and promote best practice across the sector.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her department consulted academic experts in pedagogy in home education on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department ran a public consultation on the proposed duties and measures for Children Not in School in 2019. The consultation was open to all to contribute, including academic experts in educational pedagogy, and the department responded in 2022. We have continued to engage with home education experts since then as part of development of the measures for inclusion in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and on plans for implementation of these post-Royal Assent.
Funding and training will be provided to support local authorities to fulfil their new duties under the Children Not in School measures.
Asked by: Baroness Barran (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 16 September (HL Deb col 2115), when they will announce the outcome of the review of 44 new free schools whose approval have been paused for over a year.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The review of mainstream free schools is necessary to ensure we provide sufficient high quality school places, whilst offering value for money and ensuring projects will not have a detrimental impact on local schools. An update will be provided as soon as possible.