Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure adequate provision of safeguarding for the ePEP online system.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department’s statutory guidance for Virtual School Heads sets out what electronic Personal Education Plans (ePEPs) must cover and the outcomes they are intended to support. While we do not mandate or endorse specific ePEP platforms, local authorities, as data controllers, are expected to comply with data protection requirements and safeguarding standards when selecting and using such systems. This means they are responsible for selecting secure platforms that comply with UK GDPR and safeguarding requirements to protect sensitive information about children in care.
In addition, the department’s ‘Data Protection in Schools’ guidance helps the education sector and local authorities understand their legal responsibilities when processing sensitive data. This guidance includes information on complying with UK GDPR, secure data storage and appropriate data sharing, all of which are appropriate to safeguarding children’s personal information.
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 assessment she has made of whether pupils’ access to high-quality play opportunities during the school day varies by a) school funding levels, b) geographic location or c) deprivation, and what steps are being taken to address any such disparities.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
No assessment has been made of whether pupils’ access to high-quality play opportunities during the school day varies by school funding levels, geographic location or deprivation.
Schools are expected to organise the school day and school week in the best interests of their pupil cohort, to both provide them with a full-time education suitable to their age, aptitude and ability, and to incorporate time for play and other activities.
The department is working to make sure that all children and young people have access to a variety of enrichment opportunities at school, as an important part of our mission to break down barriers to opportunity. A new Enrichment Framework will be published in the coming months. The framework will support schools in developing their enrichment offer by identifying and reflecting effective practice and will provide advice on how to plan a high quality enrichment offer more intentionally and strategically.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to ensure that any proposed reforms to the SEND system will be subject to (a) parliamentary and (b) public scrutiny prior to the introduction of legislation.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is committed to ensuring parents play a central role in helping shape the future special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system. We have launched a National Conversation on SEND, gathering the views of parents, young people, educators, and experts through a range of online and in-person events as well as inviting online contributions.
Our SEND regional engagement events bring together diverse stakeholder groups for meaningful dialogue. In addition, we have organised online sessions with my hon. Friend, the Minister for School Standards and expert panels to discuss the department’s five principles of reform.
This is not a formal consultation but an expansion of ongoing engagement to ensure parents’ voices are heard. The Schools White Paper, due early next year, will outline our proposed SEND reforms and will be followed by a formal consultation and further engagement.
Asked by: Juliet Campbell (Labour - Broxtowe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to remove the prohibition on student finance for applicants with PhDs wanting to study in Government-prioritised research fields.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Postgraduate Doctoral Loan provides up to £30,301 for courses starting on or after 1 August 2025 and is intended as a contribution to the costs of PhD study.
Students who already have a doctoral degree, or a qualification that’s equivalent or higher, are not eligible for the Postgraduate Doctoral Loan.
There are no plans to change the eligibility criteria of Postgraduate Doctoral Loans.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to her Department's press release entitled 'Government modernises exam records with new app' published on 8 January 2026, what estimate her Department has made of the cost of developing the Education Record app.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
£5.5 million has been spent over the last two years. Prior to this, this was part of a wider project looking at options to improve data sharing with the further education sector, looking at cost and burden. One of the options that came from this research was the Education Record.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidelines the Government provides for schools when they are responding to alleged cases of political bias in the classroom.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
School leaders and staff have a responsibility to ensure that they act in accordance with their duties on political impartiality. When political issues are discussed, schools must offer pupils a balanced presentation of opposing views and should not present materials in a politically biased or one-sided way.
The department has published clear and comprehensive guidance to help those working with and in schools to understand their legal duties on political impartiality and how to meet them, both in teaching about political issues and beyond the classroom. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/political-impartiality-in-schools/political-impartiality-in-schools.
The guidance includes advice on how schools can deal with complaints about political impartiality through appropriate local processes. Where parents and carers remain dissatisfied, they can raise a formal complaint in line with school complaints procedures.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to monitor schools to ensure they are remaining politically neutral.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
School leaders and staff have a responsibility to ensure that they act in accordance with their duties on political impartiality. When political issues are discussed, schools must offer pupils a balanced presentation of opposing views and should not present materials in a politically biased or one-sided way.
The department has published clear and comprehensive guidance to help those working with and in schools to understand their legal duties on political impartiality and how to meet them, both in teaching about political issues and beyond the classroom. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/political-impartiality-in-schools/political-impartiality-in-schools.
The guidance includes advice on how schools can deal with complaints about political impartiality through appropriate local processes. Where parents and carers remain dissatisfied, they can raise a formal complaint in line with school complaints procedures.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure schools adequately respond to accusations of political bias.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
School leaders and staff have a responsibility to ensure that they act in accordance with their duties on political impartiality. When political issues are discussed, schools must offer pupils a balanced presentation of opposing views and should not present materials in a politically biased or one-sided way.
The department has published clear and comprehensive guidance to help those working with and in schools to understand their legal duties on political impartiality and how to meet them, both in teaching about political issues and beyond the classroom. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/political-impartiality-in-schools/political-impartiality-in-schools.
The guidance includes advice on how schools can deal with complaints about political impartiality through appropriate local processes. Where parents and carers remain dissatisfied, they can raise a formal complaint in line with school complaints procedures.
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 23 December 2025 to written question 93136, how much funding has been allocated to the RISE Advisor budget by key expenditure items.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
This government is focused on driving high and rising standards through our Plan for Change, to enable every child to achieve and thrive.
Our targeted regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) programme is ensuring schools who need it most are getting the support they need to improve.
Over 360 schools have already benefited from RISE, supported by 65 advisers, experienced leaders across the schools sector.
£4.8 million has been allocated to the RISE Adviser budget for the 2025/26 financial year. Budgets for future years will be set through business planning.
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 steps she is taking to improve education on pensions and long-term saving.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government is committed to strengthening pupils’ foundational understanding of financial education in mathematics and citizenship following publication of the Curriculum and Assessment Review final report in November 2025. The department will be engaging with sector experts and young people in working out how best to reflect this in the updated curriculum. As part of this work, we will consider appropriate content on pensions and long-term saving.
There will be a public consultation on the updated curriculum in 2026, to seek views on the content before it is finalised.