Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of children who have an unmet SEND need in England.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The requested information is not held by the department.
The department publishes information on the number and proportion of pupils with special educational needs as at January each year. The latest information available indicates that 19.5% of pupils have special educational needs (SEN) support or an education, health and care (EHC) plan. This publication, from January 2025, is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england/2024-25.
It may also be useful to note that the Education Policy Institute has conducted research on a longitudinal dataset that gathers information on SEN support and EHC plan status for pupils who started school in 2008 and reached Year 11 in 2019. This research indicates that 37% of these pupils were recorded as having SEN support or an EHC plan at some point during this period. Their report is available at: https://epi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/SEND-Final-Report-version-FINAL-04.02.2024-2.pdf.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how the expansion of school-based nurseries will contribute to increasing access to funded childcare, particularly in areas with limited provision.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
High quality early years is central to our mission to break down the barriers to opportunity, give every child the best possible start in life and is essential to our Plan for Change. This government is boosting availability and access through the school-based nurseries programme, supporting school led provision and private, voluntary and independent (PVI) providers and childminders operating from school sites.
Phase 1 is already delivering results, with £37 million successfully awarded to 300 primary phase schools creating up to 6,000 new childcare places. Schools reported that over 5,000 of these places were available from September 2025, helping thousands of families across the country.
The programme secured almost £370 million for future phases. Phase 2, which closed on 11 December, has an increased focus on supporting families from disadvantaged areas which have less access to childcare, and will deliver at least 300 new or expanded nurseries through a £45 million fund. Successful schools will be announced in due course.
Phase 3 is due to launch in early 2026, focussing on local authorities’ long-term strategic needs for their local communities.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department holds on the impact of long-term stays in temporary accommodation on (a) children’s physical and mental health and (b) children’s educational outcomes; and what steps they are taking to mitigate any negative effects identified.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Child Poverty Strategy sets out a range of measures to support families in need of temporary accommodation.
The government will end the unlawful placement of families in bed and breakfasts beyond the six-week limit and work with the NHS to end the practice of discharging mothers with newborn babies into bed and breakfasts or other unsuitable housing.
The government will provide £950 million through the fourth and largest round of the Local Authority Housing Fund from April 2026 to deliver up to 5,000 high quality homes for better temporary accommodation by 2030.
A new legal duty will also be introduced for councils to notify schools, health visitors, and GPs when a child is placed in temporary accommodation, so no child is left without support.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government will also introduce a clinical code on children in temporary accommodation to improve data collection, with the aim of preventing further deaths caused by gaps in health care provision.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to introduce a funded programme of national CPD to build teacher confidence in delivering Citizenship education.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department recognises the importance of providing schools with the tools they need to deliver high quality teaching.
Oak Academy draws expertise from the best in the sector and shares it with teachers. Its curriculum partners include high performing school trusts, subject associations, education charities, publishers and universities. All resources are openly licensed and free for anyone to use and adapt.
The Educate Against Hate website has a range of resources to support education staff, governors and parents in protecting children from radicalisation and building their resilience to extremism.
National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) are part of a wider evidence-based national continuing professional development offer available to teachers throughout their career. This begins with initial teacher training through to the implementation of an early career framework-based induction for early career teachers and NPQs for more experienced education professionals.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of replacing the statutory requirement for daily Christian collective worship in schools without a religious character in England with non-confessional assemblies in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling in JR87 2025 UKSC 40.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The legislative framework for providing collective worship in England is different to that in Northern Ireland. However, the department is considering the implications of the Supreme Court judgement carefully. Schools in England already have flexibility to hold assemblies without a religious focus.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to withdraw, revise, or replace Circular 1/94 Religious Education and Collective Worship, in the context of the Supreme Court’s ruling in JR87 2025 UKSC 40.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The legislative framework for providing collective worship in England is different to that in Northern Ireland. However, the department is considering the implications of the Supreme Court judgement carefully. Schools in England already have flexibility to hold assemblies without a religious focus.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many full time equivalent staff in her Department have been employed for the purpose of making social media content in each of the past three years.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Due to the difficulty of disaggregating the number of staff who are employed to produce social media content from staff who are employed to work on broader digital communications, it is not possible to report exact figures in response to this question.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what oversight exists to ensure that local authorities engage constructively with parents who raise concerns on (a) fair process and (b) statutory obligations.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Local authorities must engage constructively with parents when concerns arise about fair process or statutory duties. Oversight is provided through several mechanisms. First, parents can use the statutory three-stage complaints procedure for children’s services, which includes independent review. If they remain dissatisfied, they may escalate to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, which investigates maladministration and recommends remedies to ensure fairness and compliance.
Ofsted inspections also assess how effectively authorities involve parents and meet legal obligations.
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 monitor the time taken by schools to respond to formal complaints.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has acknowledged the concerns being raised about parental complaints, including the increasing number of complaints being received by schools and the impact it is having on both parents and carers and school leaders, and has been clear that we need to make the system more robust and respectful with a focus on finding resolutions quickly and in the best interest of children.
The department is working closely with the Improving Education Together group to improve the complaints system, including by exploring how we reset the relationship between schools and parents and carers so that issues can be resolved informally, reduce unnecessary duplication, and clarify roles and responsibilities so that complaints that schools cannot resolve are dealt with in a timely manner by the right body.
We expect to provide more detail on how we will improve the school’s complaints system in the Schools White Paper.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many Technical Excellence Colleges are planned to be in Lincolnshire.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As part of its mission to break down barriers to opportunity, this government is transforming further education colleges into specialist technical excellence colleges (TECs), working with a wide range of skills partners to provide young people and adults with better opportunities and the highly trained workforce that local economies need.
We have already launched ten new construction TECs, backed by £120 million, and are now expanding the TEC programme to a further four high growth sectors in defence, clean energy, advanced manufacturing, and digital and technologies.
Applications for all four sectors are now live and will close on 16 February 2026.
Exact locations are yet to be determined, and colleges will be appointed through a fair and transparent application process. Successful TECs will be appointed from April 2026.