Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of school funding settlements in meeting pupil need and demographic growth.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Spending per pupil was at its highest ever level in the 2024/25 financial year, in real terms, and there has been further real terms growth in spending in 2025/26. The school funding settlement announced at the Spending Review more than protects per pupil funding in real terms, with a further £1.7 billion increase in 2026/27.
Every year, the department uses the schools national funding formula to distribute core funding for 5 to 16-year-old pupils, in mainstream state-funded schools in England. This ensures that funding is distributed based on a fair and consistent assessment of need, based first and foremost on pupil numbers.
We recognise the pressures caused by demographic changes in some areas. The lagged funding system helps to give schools more certainty over funding levels. This aids their planning and is particularly important in giving schools with falling rolls time to re-organise their staffing and costs. The department also provides local authorities with growth funding, which they use to support schools whose pupil numbers are rising.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of staff in her Department were promoted (a) in-grade and (b) to a higher grade in the last year broken down by (i) performance marking in the previous year and (ii) grade.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The table below shows the grade breakdown and proportions of promotions to a higher grade (excluding temporary promotions) between November 2025 and October 2025. Please note: The promotion counts shown are based on internal departmental staff who were promoted to a higher grade within the department between November 2024 and October 2025. These figures exclude individuals who joined the department on promotion and those who left on promotion to another department, as this information is not captured in our central HR systems.
Since 2019 the flexible performance management framework has enabled departments to adopt a performance management approach which best suits their organisational and cultural needs. There is no common performance rating across government. The department does not currently operate a performance management system that includes performance markings. However, it is in the process of introducing ratings for its Senior Civil Servants, with ratings for the 2025/26 performance year due to be determined in Spring 2026.
Grade* | Average headcount | Count of those promoted to grade | Proportion of roles filled by internal candidates on promotion (%)** |
EO | 655 | <30 | - |
HEO | 1,488 | 95 | 6 |
SEO | 2,342 | 202 | 9 |
Grade 7 | 2,229 | 129 | 6 |
Grade 6 | 905 | 44 | 5 |
Deputy Director | 206 | <30 | - |
Director | 46 | <30 | - |
Total | 8,026 | 482 | 6 |
Data has been suppressed where there are fewer than 30 employees.
*The grade displayed in the table represents the grade to which staff were promoted.
** The percentage scores in the table represent the number of promotions to each higher grade between November 2024 and October 2025, expressed as a proportion of the average headcount for that higher grade during the same period.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of providing funding for a Best Start centre in York.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The government is committed to giving every child the best start in life. We will fund Best Start Family Hubs (BSFH) in every local authority to ensure all children and families who need support the most can access it. Backed by over £500 million, the rollout will deliver up to 1,000 BSFH nationwide by the end of 2028, reaching an estimated additional 500,000 children.
These Hubs will be key to our vision for joined-up services in the community, bringing together professionals from health and education, and will work with nurseries, childminders, schools, health services, libraries and local voluntary and community groups.
BSFH will be open to all families, but we know they are particularly important for families who are disadvantaged or have additional needs or vulnerabilities. That is why we have set an ambition that 70% of Hubs should be in the 30% most deprived areas nationally. It is for the local authority to decide where a Hub should be located to best meet the needs of the area.
Tackling child poverty is at the heart of this government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and give every child the best start in life. Our landmark Child Poverty Strategy will lift 550,000 children out of poverty by 2030. The department will prioritise funding the continuation of existing Healthy Babies (formerly Start for Life) services that support babies to have the healthiest start in life, including perinatal mental health, parent infant relationships and infant feeding.
In addition, we raised the early years pupil premium by 45% in April 2025 to support improving educational outcomes for disadvantaged children and break the cycle of poverty.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how is she supporting (a) babies growing up in poverty and (b) ensuring that early inequalities are addressed.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The government is committed to giving every child the best start in life. We will fund Best Start Family Hubs (BSFH) in every local authority to ensure all children and families who need support the most can access it. Backed by over £500 million, the rollout will deliver up to 1,000 BSFH nationwide by the end of 2028, reaching an estimated additional 500,000 children.
These Hubs will be key to our vision for joined-up services in the community, bringing together professionals from health and education, and will work with nurseries, childminders, schools, health services, libraries and local voluntary and community groups.
BSFH will be open to all families, but we know they are particularly important for families who are disadvantaged or have additional needs or vulnerabilities. That is why we have set an ambition that 70% of Hubs should be in the 30% most deprived areas nationally. It is for the local authority to decide where a Hub should be located to best meet the needs of the area.
Tackling child poverty is at the heart of this government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and give every child the best start in life. Our landmark Child Poverty Strategy will lift 550,000 children out of poverty by 2030. The department will prioritise funding the continuation of existing Healthy Babies (formerly Start for Life) services that support babies to have the healthiest start in life, including perinatal mental health, parent infant relationships and infant feeding.
In addition, we raised the early years pupil premium by 45% in April 2025 to support improving educational outcomes for disadvantaged children and break the cycle of poverty.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many state-funded schools in England have a knife arch installed, broken down by region.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department does not hold data on how many schools in England have installed a knife arch.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in the Falkland Islands are being home educated.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The UK’s relationship with the Falkland Islands is a modern one based on partnership, shared values, and the right of the Islanders to determine their own future. While the UK retains responsibility for defence, security and international affairs, the Falkland Islands Government is otherwise fully self-governing, including in all matters relating to education. Any questions regarding education in the Falkland Islands should therefore be directed to the Education Directorate of the Falkland Islands Government.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the number of schools in the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency that will require capital adjustments to deliver expanded breakfast provision under the Child Poverty Strategy.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department has so far successfully delivered 5 million meals through 750 early adopter free breakfast clubs and schools have told us about the many benefits these clubs provide including improved attendance, behaviour and attainment.
We have seen our early adopters successfully manage space constrains and we continue to encourage local authorities, responsible bodies, academy trusts, schools and providers to work together to solve problems collaboratively, ensuring the needs of parents and children are met.
Schools have flexibility to decide where to deliver their provision, in accordance with the minimum expectations. They are expected to consider all space available onsite, including classrooms. Alternatively, they can opt to offer the provision offsite at a nearby venue. Schools will receive a £1000 start-up grant to spend on any equipment, materials, training and infrastructure and systems needed to deliver.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when schools will be reimbursed for the increase in National Insurance contributions.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
We have provided schools with over £1.1 billion to support them with the increases to employer National Insurance contributions from April 2025.
We published schools’ allocations in May 2025, and payments were made in September and October 2025.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made progress on the implementation of a Ukraine Language GCSE course.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Decisions about which languages to offer at GCSE in England are taken by four independent awarding organisations, AQA, OCR, Pearson Edexcel and WJEC, rather than by central government. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has written to these organisations to ask them to consider introducing a Ukrainian GCSE based on the existing subject content for modern foreign languages set by the department. We are also considering alternative ways of supporting Ukrainian language learning in the UK.
The British government stands steadfast behind the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian government. The department is proud to support children and families from Ukraine during their transition to a new life in the UK. To do our part to support the Ukrainian people, we are supporting the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science in policy development, and in 2025 we launched a UK-Ukraine Schools Partnership Programme, twinning 100 schools in the UK and Ukraine. Due to the programme’s popularity in its first year, it has been extended to include 30 more schools.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of additional revenue raised by freezing student loan repayment thresholds.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
At the Autumn Budget 2025, the government announced the repayment threshold for Plan 2 student loans will be frozen at £29,385 for three years from April 2027.
This measure is currently forecast to generate additional revenue of £54 million in the 2027/28 financial year, £93 million in 2028/29, £115 million in 2029/30 and £90 million in 2030/31. This reflects an expected increase in the value of Plan 2 student loan repayments compared to if the threshold had been allowed to increase by inflation.