Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment has she made of the adequacy of financial support available to university students.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government needs to ensure that the student funding system is financially sustainable, and funding arrangements are reviewed each year.
We are increasing loans for living costs each year in line with forecast inflation with students from the lowest income families receiving the largest year-on-year cash increases in support. Maximum loans for living costs will increase by 2.71% for the 2026/27 academic year.
We are also reintroducing maintenance grants of up to £1,000 per year for full-time students from low-income households studying courses aligned with the government’s missions and Industrial Strategy from the 2028/29 academic year.
The department will also provide extra support for care leavers, some of the most vulnerable in our society, who will automatically become eligible to receive the maximum rates of loans for living costs from the 2026/27 academic year.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has been made of the adequacy of national guidance for schools regarding (a) incidents and (b) reports of knife possession on school grounds.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
It is essential that schools are equipped to act decisively to safeguard all pupils and staff. The department regularly keeps guidance under review and we are actively considering how we can further support schools to understand the expectations set out in policy guidance around both violence prevention, and response to violence.
Schools must have regard to statutory guidance, including ‘Keeping children safe in education’, ‘Working together to safeguard children’, and guidance on ‘Searching, screening and confiscation’.
The department has taken steps to strengthen practice in schools by working with the Youth Endowment Fund to highlight evidence based approaches to preventing violence. This includes a national webinar series, aimed at school leaders and safeguarding leads, which shares best practice, evidence based approaches and practical guidance on preventing serious violence and supporting vulnerable pupils. This work supports the government’s ambition to halve knife crime over the next decade, starting with effective early prevention‑based approaches to preventing violence.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what consideration her Department has given to including milk in government-funded breakfast clubs without reducing funding for existing milk provision schemes.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department funds schools taking part in the free breakfast clubs programme to buy breakfast foods and drinks, as well as to cover staffing and delivery costs.
Schools are required to provide a breakfast adhering to the school food standards, which could include a glass of lower fat milk. However, it is up to schools to decide what they serve in line with the standards. Where schools provide milk, they can also choose whether to participate in the national school milk subsidy scheme which can be used to reduce the cost of the milk
Additionally, the Nursery Milk Scheme is operated and funded by the Department of Health and Social Care and provides free milk to children under five at participating schools and childcare settings.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps her Department has taken alongside local authorities to help tackle persistent absence in schools in Slough constituency.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Tackling absence is at the heart of the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity.
Thanks to the efforts of schools, absence is moving in the right direction, with children attending over 5.31 million more days this year compared to last. However, around one in five pupils are still missing 10% or more of school, which is why the department is continuing to drive further improvement.
Steps taken to improve attendance includes developing real-time data tools that allows schools to compare attendance against similar schools and enable earlier intervention as well as investing in targeted support, including £15 million to set up the attendance mentors programme supporting 10,800 pupils.
The department has also started to establish new Attendance and Behaviour Hubs, where up to 90 hubs led by schools with excellent attendance and behaviour practice will support more than 4,500 schools to improve.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve awareness of milk entitlement schemes among schools.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Milk is an excellent food for children’s growth and development. To help schools understand the milk entitlement schemes available to them, departmental advice is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/standards-for-school-food-in-england/school-food-in-england. This includes links to the guidance on the school milk subsidy scheme and the nursery milk scheme.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions she has had with local authorities on the (a) services and (b) level of financial support provided to kinship carers.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Local authorities have powers to provide a range of services, including financial support, to help children and families. They are best placed to decide what support is needed and any payments should follow their assessment models. The government does not set a minimum or maximum allowance for kinship carers, but statutory guidance makes clear that children and young people should receive the support they need to safeguard and promote their welfare.
We recognise the financial pressures on local authorities and are committed to improving support for kinship families. To that end, we will soon launch a Kinship Allowance Pilot in selected local authorities in England to help eligible kinship carers with the costs of raising a child.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many officials were investigated under their Department's disciplinary processes in each of the last five years.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The number of employees who were subject to an investigation as part of the department’s disciplinary process is shown in table below.
Year (calendar) | Number of cases |
2025* | 18 |
2024 | 37 |
2023 | 34 |
2022 | 34 |
2021 | 30 |
*1 January - 30 September 2025
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support schools to provide practical science activities as part of their curriculum.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government recognises the vital role of practical science activities in schools in fostering scientific understanding and engagement.
The national curriculum already provides opportunities for schools to deliver practical science lessons, including a requirement for pupils to undertake a minimum of eight practical activities for each science at GCSE level. Schools also have flexibility within the broad framework of the national curriculum to tailor their science curriculum to meet the needs of their pupils.
Support is available through Oak National Academy, an independent arm’s length body providing adaptable, optional, and free curriculum support for schools. Oak has new science resources covering key stages 1-4 that include practical science activities.
The government has commissioned Professor Becky Francis to undertake a review of the curriculum and assessment system in England, which will include looking at the science curriculum. The final report is due to be published this autumn, along with the government’s response.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of training provided to school staff on assisting children who have epilepsy.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Governing bodies must ensure that the arrangements they put in place are sufficient to meet their statutory responsibilities and that policies, plans, procedures and systems are properly and effectively implemented. This includes the duty under Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions, as well as the duties under the Equality Act 2010. The effectiveness of a school is assessed through inspection by Ofsted.
The department has committed to reviewing the ‘Supporting pupils with medical conditions at school’ guidance and intends to issue a consultation on an updated version. The current guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to answer Question (a) 74612 and (b) 74613, tabled on 3 September 2025.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The responses to Written Parliamentary Questions 74612 and 74613 were published on 22 October 2025.