Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the new media and digital literacy curriculum is adapted to support children with special educational needs and disabilities to sufficiently learn media and digital literacy skills and knowledge.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Media literacy is currently covered in the citizenship, relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) and computing curricula, while digital literacy is addressed in computing and RSHE.
On 15 July, the government published updated RSHE statutory guidance, introducing new content on artificial intelligence (AI), online safety and pornography, which will become mandatory learning in schools from 1 September 2026. Following publication of the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review’s final report on 5 November 2025, vital applied knowledge and skills in media and digital literacy will be embedded into the revised curriculum from 2028.
The department will engage with sector experts in working out how best to reflect this in the updated curriculum, including to ensure that the curriculum is accessible to pupils with special educational needs and disabilities and adaptable to remain current in a rapidly changing context. There will be a public consultation on the updated curriculum programmes of study to seek views on the content before it is finalised.
To support schools with teaching in the short and longer-term, Oak National Academy, an independent arm’s length body, provides adaptable, optional and free curriculum support for schools, including resources for computing and secondary citizenship, which can be found here: https://www.thenational.academy/.
In addition, the Educate Against Hate website hosts a series of online media literacy resources to support teachers and school leaders to build resilience to extremist narratives online in children and young people. The National Centre for Computing Education also provides teachers with subject knowledge courses and resources to support the teaching of computing topics, including digital literacy and AI.
Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take to support children’s media and digital literacy education in the period before the curriculum is updated in 2028.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Media literacy is currently covered in the citizenship, relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) and computing curricula, while digital literacy is addressed in computing and RSHE.
On 15 July, the government published updated RSHE statutory guidance, introducing new content on artificial intelligence (AI), online safety and pornography, which will become mandatory learning in schools from 1 September 2026. Following publication of the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review’s final report on 5 November 2025, vital applied knowledge and skills in media and digital literacy will be embedded into the revised curriculum from 2028.
The department will engage with sector experts in working out how best to reflect this in the updated curriculum, including to ensure that the curriculum is accessible to pupils with special educational needs and disabilities and adaptable to remain current in a rapidly changing context. There will be a public consultation on the updated curriculum programmes of study to seek views on the content before it is finalised.
To support schools with teaching in the short and longer-term, Oak National Academy, an independent arm’s length body, provides adaptable, optional and free curriculum support for schools, including resources for computing and secondary citizenship, which can be found here: https://www.thenational.academy/.
In addition, the Educate Against Hate website hosts a series of online media literacy resources to support teachers and school leaders to build resilience to extremist narratives online in children and young people. The National Centre for Computing Education also provides teachers with subject knowledge courses and resources to support the teaching of computing topics, including digital literacy and AI.
Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take to ensure that teachers are provided with up-to-date, relevant and engaging resources to feel confident to teach media and digital literacy in the new curriculum.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Media literacy is currently covered in the citizenship, relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) and computing curricula, while digital literacy is addressed in computing and RSHE.
On 15 July, the government published updated RSHE statutory guidance, introducing new content on artificial intelligence (AI), online safety and pornography, which will become mandatory learning in schools from 1 September 2026. Following publication of the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review’s final report on 5 November 2025, vital applied knowledge and skills in media and digital literacy will be embedded into the revised curriculum from 2028.
The department will engage with sector experts in working out how best to reflect this in the updated curriculum, including to ensure that the curriculum is accessible to pupils with special educational needs and disabilities and adaptable to remain current in a rapidly changing context. There will be a public consultation on the updated curriculum programmes of study to seek views on the content before it is finalised.
To support schools with teaching in the short and longer-term, Oak National Academy, an independent arm’s length body, provides adaptable, optional and free curriculum support for schools, including resources for computing and secondary citizenship, which can be found here: https://www.thenational.academy/.
In addition, the Educate Against Hate website hosts a series of online media literacy resources to support teachers and school leaders to build resilience to extremist narratives online in children and young people. The National Centre for Computing Education also provides teachers with subject knowledge courses and resources to support the teaching of computing topics, including digital literacy and AI.
Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how media and digital literacy education in the new curriculum will be kept up-to-date with trends in technologies and emerging threats.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Media literacy is currently covered in the citizenship, relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) and computing curricula, while digital literacy is addressed in computing and RSHE.
On 15 July, the government published updated RSHE statutory guidance, introducing new content on artificial intelligence (AI), online safety and pornography, which will become mandatory learning in schools from 1 September 2026. Following publication of the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review’s final report on 5 November 2025, vital applied knowledge and skills in media and digital literacy will be embedded into the revised curriculum from 2028.
The department will engage with sector experts in working out how best to reflect this in the updated curriculum, including to ensure that the curriculum is accessible to pupils with special educational needs and disabilities and adaptable to remain current in a rapidly changing context. There will be a public consultation on the updated curriculum programmes of study to seek views on the content before it is finalised.
To support schools with teaching in the short and longer-term, Oak National Academy, an independent arm’s length body, provides adaptable, optional and free curriculum support for schools, including resources for computing and secondary citizenship, which can be found here: https://www.thenational.academy/.
In addition, the Educate Against Hate website hosts a series of online media literacy resources to support teachers and school leaders to build resilience to extremist narratives online in children and young people. The National Centre for Computing Education also provides teachers with subject knowledge courses and resources to support the teaching of computing topics, including digital literacy and AI.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that Careers Advisors working in schools receive training in mental health support, to help identify and assist students experiencing mental health challenges.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department recognises the vital role that careers advisors play in supporting young people to thrive in their future career. We do not expect careers advisors to provide clinical mental health care, but we are committed to ensuring they are better equipped to support, identify concerns and signpost students with mental health challenges towards appropriate support.
The department has been working closely with the sector to explore the development of a continuous professional development package to upskill careers advisers working with young people, including support for young people with mental health challenges. We expect the offer to be available from the 2026/27 academic year
Alongside this, the government is committed to providing access to specialist mental health professionals in every school by expanding mental health support teams (MHSTs), so every child and young person has access to early support to address problems before they escalate. By April 2026, we estimate that 60% of pupils in schools and learners in further education in England will be covered by an MHST, up from 52% in April 2025.
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 has been made of total cash reserves held by (a) schools and (b) colleges.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
In the 2023/24 financial year, reserves in the school system totalled more than £6 billion, and the total value of reserves for the further education college sector was over £1.6 billion.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve early intervention for dyslexic learners.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Tewkesbury to the answer of 1 December to Question 85049.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, by what measures the impact and effectiveness of Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence (RISE) teams will be assessed.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Regional improvement for standards excellence (RISE) teams have already paired over 350 schools with RISE advisers and supporting organisations, including some of our strongest trusts with a record of turning around struggling schools, to share expertise and boost standards.
The impact of RISE intervention will rely on both a quantitative evaluation of the impact on pupils, aligned to the government’s Opportunity Mission for all children to achieve and thrive, and an evaluation on the process and delivery of RISE.
An impact evaluation of the programme measuring change over time in key success measures, such as attainment and attendance, for schools receiving targeted RISE intervention set against a suitable group of comparator schools will be carried out in due course.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, from when and how frequently she plans to publish estimations of the impact and effectiveness of RISE teams.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Regional improvement for standards excellence (RISE) teams have already paired over 350 schools with RISE advisers and supporting organisations, including some of our strongest trusts with a record of turning around struggling schools, to share expertise and boost standards.
The department expects to start publishing that data with appropriate comparisons over time during 2026.
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 assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies educational attainment of boys and girls by (a) ethnicity and (b) social class in (i) England, (ii) Greater Manchester and (iii) Oldham.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
All children and young people should have every opportunity to succeed. However, educational inequalities exist across the country and at every phase of education, particularly for white working-class children.
These gaps, whether in Oldham or nationally, are not acceptable.
Through the government’s Plan for Change, we are tackling these inequalities. The department will invest close to £1.5 billion over the next three years on improving family services and early years education to close gaps.
The department is rolling out expanded government-funded childcare entitlements and creating thousands of school-based nurseries to increase the provision of quality childcare. We will fund Best Start Family Hubs in every local authority ensuring children and families needing support most, especially those from low-income backgrounds or with additional vulnerabilities, can access it. This includes building on the great work already done by Oldham’s seven family hubs funded in this financial year.
We are expanding free school meals to all children on Universal Credit from September 2026 and have delivered record increases to early years pupil premium.
This is alongside work to drive high and rising school standards, including regional improvement for standards and excellence attainment conferences with the North-West conference open to schools in Oldham.