Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
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 SEND Hubs on educational outcomes for children with SEND in West Dorset constituency.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is committed to encouraging schools and local authorities to set up resourced provision and special educational needs (SEN) units to increase capacity in mainstream schools and is working with the sector to increase capacity and extend best practice across the system.
The department has announced £3 billion in high needs capital to create 50,000 places for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). This builds on the £740 million high needs capital in 2025/26 to support children and young people with SEND or who require alternative provision, including setting up resourced provision or SEN units in mainstream schools. Dorset received a high needs provision capital allocation of £5,023,392 for 2025/26. Funding for individual SEN units or resourced provision is the responsibility of the relevant local authority, with minimum place funding governed by the high needs operational guidance.
The department is launching national SEN unit/resourced provision peer networks, as part of the regional improvement for standards and excellence universal service offer on inclusive mainstream, to support frontline practitioners so that children benefit from high quality and consistent provision.
The department is also working with the Council for Disabled Children and the National Association for Special Educational Needs to develop guidance to help mainstream settings deliver high quality support for children and young people accessing SEN units, resourced provision, and pupil support units.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how her Department is ensuring that SEND Hubs in West Dorset schools are adequately funded and staffed.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is committed to encouraging schools and local authorities to set up resourced provision and special educational needs (SEN) units to increase capacity in mainstream schools and is working with the sector to increase capacity and extend best practice across the system.
The department has announced £3 billion in high needs capital to create 50,000 places for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). This builds on the £740 million high needs capital in 2025/26 to support children and young people with SEND or who require alternative provision, including setting up resourced provision or SEN units in mainstream schools. Dorset received a high needs provision capital allocation of £5,023,392 for 2025/26. Funding for individual SEN units or resourced provision is the responsibility of the relevant local authority, with minimum place funding governed by the high needs operational guidance.
The department is launching national SEN unit/resourced provision peer networks, as part of the regional improvement for standards and excellence universal service offer on inclusive mainstream, to support frontline practitioners so that children benefit from high quality and consistent provision.
The department is also working with the Council for Disabled Children and the National Association for Special Educational Needs to develop guidance to help mainstream settings deliver high quality support for children and young people accessing SEN units, resourced provision, and pupil support units.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to expand SEND Hubs in schools in West Dorset.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is committed to encouraging schools and local authorities to set up resourced provision and special educational needs (SEN) units to increase capacity in mainstream schools and is working with the sector to increase capacity and extend best practice across the system.
The department has announced £3 billion in high needs capital to create 50,000 places for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). This builds on the £740 million high needs capital in 2025/26 to support children and young people with SEND or who require alternative provision, including setting up resourced provision or SEN units in mainstream schools. Dorset received a high needs provision capital allocation of £5,023,392 for 2025/26. Funding for individual SEN units or resourced provision is the responsibility of the relevant local authority, with minimum place funding governed by the high needs operational guidance.
The department is launching national SEN unit/resourced provision peer networks, as part of the regional improvement for standards and excellence universal service offer on inclusive mainstream, to support frontline practitioners so that children benefit from high quality and consistent provision.
The department is also working with the Council for Disabled Children and the National Association for Special Educational Needs to develop guidance to help mainstream settings deliver high quality support for children and young people accessing SEN units, resourced provision, and pupil support units.
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 the take up of free school meals is for those eligible; and what measures are in place to increase take up.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity and tackling child poverty. The latest school census data shows 2,171,916 pupils claimed benefits-based free school meals (FSM). In total, 25.7% of all pupils claimed benefits-based FSM. This is an increase from the previous academic year, where 24.6% claimed a free meal. A further 1,265,399 pupils received a meal under our universal infant free school meal policy, representing 88.4% of non-FSM eligible infant pupils. This is increase on 87.6% the previous academic year.
Introducing a new eligibility threshold for free school meals of all children from households in receipt of universal credit will make it easier for parents to know whether they are entitled to receive free meals.
To support take-up, we are also updating the Eligibility Checking System, which will make it easier for LAs, schools and parents to check if children are eligible for FSM and can therefore receive a healthy, nutritious meal during the school day. This new entitlement will mean over 500,000 of the most disadvantaged children will begin to access free meals, pulling 100,000 children out of poverty.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of expanding the National Curriculum to embed (a) critical and creative thinking, (b) problem solving, (c) communication and (d) collaboration skills to support the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government response to the Curriculum and Assessment Review sets out our plan to ensure that all pupils develop the knowledge and skills that we know are essential for life, work and innovation.
When refreshing the national curriculum, we will identify where subject-specific disciplinary skills are not clearly described or not emphasised adequately, and then ensure that these are properly reflected in those subjects’ programmes of study. For example, creative thinking in computing, critical thinking in history or problem solving in maths.
Furthermore, we will be extending citizenship to primary schools to introduce important financial literacy to pupils from an earlier age; reforming computing education to equip more young people with the digital skills they need for the future; and creating a new oracy framework to help pupils become confident, fluent speakers, setting them up for leadership roles in the workplace.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking with the devolved administrations to facilitate the sharing of best practice and models of reform of special educational needs provision throughout the UK.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
As part of our Plan for Change, we are determined to fix the special educational needs and disabilities system and restore the trust of parents by ensuring schools have the tools to better identify and support children before issues escalate. We’re continuing to engage closely with children, parents and experts as we develop plans to ensure all children get the outcomes and life chances they deserve.
The department engages the devolved governments at ministerial and official level on a range of areas, which allows a sharing of collective knowledge and experience as well as collaborative working on shared interests and challenges to deliver better outcomes for people across the UK.
Asked by: Lord Hampton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to follow the government of Scotland in providing matched funding for incentivised learning of life skills for young people in care through the Share Foundation’s Stepladder PLUS programme.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We want to ensure that children leaving care have stable homes, access to health services, support to build lifelong loving relationships and are engaged in education, employment and training.
We recognise the importance of financial skills, such as that provided through the Stepladder Plus programme, in achieving this aim. The department currently supports the use of this programme through its contract, for the provision of Junior ISA savings accounts to children in care, with The Share Foundation. We do not have any plans to provide match funding at this time.
Asked by: Peter Swallow (Labour - Bracknell)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support students with dyslexia in the context of the Curriculum and Assessment Review Final Report and the SEND white paper.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government is committed to ensuring that all pupils receive the support they need to achieve and thrive, including those with dyslexia. The Curriculum and Assessment Review emphasised inclusion and high standards for all, recommending evidence-led resources to help teachers adapt curricula for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). We know that effective early identification and intervention is critical to improving the outcomes for children and young people with SEND. We are strengthening the evidence base of what works to improve early identification in mainstream settings. This includes recently published evidence reviews from University College London which highlight the most effective tools, strategies and approaches to identify and support different types of needs
The department also recently announced new government-backed research into SEND identification, which will aim to develop and test effective approaches to help the early identification of children needing tailored educational support.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 2 December 2025 to Question 95257 on Children: Data protection, if she will publish a Data Privacy Impact Assessment on the entire Bill.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
A single Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) cannot be conducted on the entire Bill. DPIAs are intended to evaluate specific data processing activities that may present high risks to individuals’ data protection rights, rather than entire pieces of legislation. The department has ensured that all Bill provisions involving personal data comply with data protection legislation by consulting the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) under Article 36 of UK GDPR.
We continue to engage with the ICO key measures, such as the Consistent Identifier and Children Not in School (CNIS) measures, to identify and mitigate any data protection risks. In line with our commitment to transparency, we will publish summaries of these DPIAs to provide assurance that children’s data will be processed lawfully and securely once the measures become operational.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the answer of 28 November 2025 to question 93149, if she will publish the Programme-level Key Performance Indicators for RISE advisors.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is committed to transparency and accountability. To that end, we will publish the aggregated information on programme-level performance measures and key performance indicators so stakeholders can see how the programme is delivering against its objectives.
Advisers, whether working with targeted schools or through the universal offer, play a vital role in achieving these programme-level outcomes. Their work is aligned to the overarching measures that define success for the programme.
The department does not intend to publish individual adviser objectives. These are part of personal performance management and may constitute personal data, that cannot be disclosed under data protection requirements.