Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce child bed poverty and it's potential impact on education.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The government’s Child Poverty Strategy, ‘Our Children, Our Future: Tackling Child Poverty’, was published on 5 December 2025. It sets out the steps this government will take to reduce child poverty in the short term, as well as putting in place the building blocks we need to create long-term change. The measures set out in the strategy will lift 550,000 children out of poverty, the largest expected reduction in child poverty over any parliamentary session since comparable records began.
The government is investing in the future of our children and putting money into families' pockets, enabling them to afford the essentials that are necessary to give children what they need to learn and grow by introducing key measures such as removing the two-child limit in Universal Credit.
Furthermore, government is helping families who need support to access essential household items through the Crisis and Resilience Fund, a £1 billion fund to ensure families have a safety net when they need it, and Pride in Place Programme, which will deliver up to £5 billion in funding to 244 in-need neighbourhoods across the country. This will give communities the option to invest in measures that support families with the cost of living, which could include establishing new community shops with access to discounted food and school uniforms or directly supporting families with essential household items, such as beds and white goods.
Asked by: Jack Rankin (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much their department spent on X and xAI since July 2024.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
During the period 1 July 2024 to 19 January 2026, the department and its executive agencies spent £27,118.12 on sector comms and awareness with X and its predecessor platform/brand Twitter.
xAI acquired X on 28 March 2025. £4,834.80 was spent before the acquisition by xAI. £22,283.32 was spent after the acquisition by xAI.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her expected timetable is for publication of the call for evidence on safeguarding children out of school settings.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government launched the call for evidence on 29 May 2025 to better understand current practice in the out-of-school settings sector and invite views on possible approaches to further strengthen safeguarding standards.
This closed on 21 September 2025 and the department is currently analysing responses, with support from independent external analysts, given the significance of this issue.
The department also intends to carry out further engagement, including focus groups with parents and small providers, and sector roundtables with safeguarding experts and sector representatives, before issuing a full response.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will ensure disadvantaged children from Yeovil constituency will be able to access the Safe Artificial Intelligence tutoring tools that will be available by the end of 2027.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department will work with educators, experts and developers to co-create and trial artificial intelligence (AI) tutoring tools. These tools will be aligned to the curriculum and safe by design, ensuring they support pupils’ learning. Educators from across the country will have opportunities to contribute to this co‑creation and testing to ensure tools meet classroom needs.
Our ambition is that pupils, including those who would not usually be able to access private tuition, can benefit from high quality, individualised support. Evidence from these trials will help schools to make informed choices and ensure solutions are effective, inclusive and grounded in national teaching practice.
Alongside this, we are developing new sovereign education benchmarks, to ensure AI tools used in schools reflect national expectations for pedagogy and safety. Further details on the programme will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will include educators from Yeovil constituency in the co-creation of Artificial Intelligence tutoring tools.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department will work with educators, experts and developers to co-create and trial artificial intelligence (AI) tutoring tools. These tools will be aligned to the curriculum and safe by design, ensuring they support pupils’ learning. Educators from across the country will have opportunities to contribute to this co‑creation and testing to ensure tools meet classroom needs.
Our ambition is that pupils, including those who would not usually be able to access private tuition, can benefit from high quality, individualised support. Evidence from these trials will help schools to make informed choices and ensure solutions are effective, inclusive and grounded in national teaching practice.
Alongside this, we are developing new sovereign education benchmarks, to ensure AI tools used in schools reflect national expectations for pedagogy and safety. Further details on the programme will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of designating Portage services as a targeted early years and SEND support offer across all local authorities; what steps she is taking to address regional variation in access to Portage provision; and what consideration she has given to providing (a) sustainable and predictable funding, (b) national training standards and (c) further research and evaluation to support the consistent delivery of evidence-based early intervention services.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Help for families of children with additional needs is central to the Best Start in Life Strategy, which spotlights high-quality, inclusive and joined-up services.
The department is considering delivery expectations for how Best Start Family Hubs (BSFHs) can deliver special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) support, alongside flexibility to meet community needs.
From April, BSFHs will receive funding to recruit a dedicated SEND practitioner for every hub to support parents, identify emerging needs sooner and coordinate services. Evaluation of BSFHs will build the evidence base to inform future reform.
We will fund partnerships between early years settings and schools to test and implement different approaches to improving transitions to reception, including for children with SEND. These will allow staff to spend time to share expertise, help parents and children build relationships with schools and help teachers spot issues early.
Plans for reform will be in the upcoming Schools White Paper.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Commissioner for Public Appointment annual report 2024-25, published in December 2025, Appendix: direct appointments, what the business case was for appointing a non-executive director for three years; and whether she has had correspondence with the Commissioner.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The departmental board provides important strategic oversight and challenge. We had an existing non-executive director vacancy and made this appointment to bring in highly valuable delivery expertise. The direct appointment process was followed in full in line with the guidance, including consultation via correspondence with the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps schools are expected to take to help ensure that pupils and families experiencing (a) furniture or (b) appliance poverty are directed to sources of support.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The government’s Child Poverty Strategy, ‘Our Children, Our Future: Tackling Child Poverty’, was published on 5 December 2025. It sets out the steps this government will take to reduce child poverty in the short term, as well as putting in place the building blocks we need to create long-term change. The measures set out in the strategy will lift 550,000 children out of poverty, the largest expected reduction in child poverty over any parliamentary session since comparable records began.
The government is investing in the future of our children and putting money into families' pockets, enabling them to afford the essentials that are necessary to give children what they need to learn and grow by introducing key measures such as removing the two-child limit in Universal Credit.
Furthermore, government is helping families who need support to access essential household items through the Crisis and Resilience Fund, a £1 billion fund to ensure families have a safety net when they need it, and Pride in Place Programme, which will deliver up to £5 billion in funding to 244 in-need neighbourhoods across the country. This will give communities the option to invest in measures that support families with the cost of living, which could include establishing new community shops with access to discounted food and school uniforms or directly supporting families with essential household items, such as beds and white goods.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of a reduction in the number of experienced childminders on the availability of early years and out-of-school childcare places in the context of the expansion of funded childcare hours.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
This department is taking a range of measures to support the financial sustainability of childminding businesses and other early years providers. From April 2026, local authorities will be required to pass at least 97% of their funding directly to providers (an increase from 96%). We are also working with local authorities and others to ensure that childminders and other early years providers can be paid monthly for the funded hours they provide, making their income more stable. Furthermore, from 1 November 2024, the government introduced new flexibilities to help childminders join and stay in the profession, supporting the government’s commitment to roll out expanded childcare entitlements and give children the best start in life.
In addition, the expansion of the early years entitlements could benefit childminders in different ways. For example, the national average three and four year-old hourly funding rate of local authorities is increasing by 4.1%, the two year-old hourly funding rate is increasing by 3.3%, and the nine months to two year-old hourly funding rate is increasing by 3.4%. Childminders may also benefit from an expected increase in demand for places.
Asked by: Alex Burghart (Conservative - Brentwood and Ongar)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the answer of 23 January 2026 to Question 105701 on Turing: Finance, whether the Turing scheme will continue in 2027-28; and what her target is for the number of outbound UK students using the Turing scheme in 2026-27.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Guidance on the Turing Scheme for the 2026/27 academic year has been published on GOV.UK, with applications for funding now open and closing at 16:00 on Monday 16 March. Looking ahead, we remain committed to international mobility. That’s why the UK has agreed association with Erasmus+ on better financial terms for the UK. Decisions on the Turing Scheme for future years will be shared in due course.
The Turing Scheme is a demand led, competitive programme, so providers can shape applications to the needs of their students. The department does not set targets for the number of Turing Scheme placements in each year as this is highly dependent on the numbers of students that individual providers intend to send, where they intend to go and how long they intend to go for. Instead, we allocate funding in a way that prioritises the participation of students from disadvantaged backgrounds and those with special educational needs and disabilities.