Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of (a) trends in the level and (b) the potential impact of school meal debt on families in Yeovil constituency.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
To help break down barriers to opportunity and tackle child poverty, the government will be extending free school meals (FSM) to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit from September 2026. This will lift 100,000 children across England out of poverty and put £500 back in families’ pockets, supporting parents in decisive action to improve lives ahead of the Child Poverty Strategy. Department for Work and Pensions data shows that 5,450 children in Yeovil will be eligible to receive FSM when provision is extended from September 2026.
This autumn, the Child Poverty Strategy will deliver measures to tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty. The Taskforce is considering all available levers to reduce child poverty and recognises the importance of financial resilience for low-income families. Increasing financial resilience is one of the four key themes for the strategy, and in February the Taskforce met with external experts to discuss this topic specifically.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the decision not to fully fund the (a) 4 per cent teacher pay award for September 2025 or (b) 3.2 per cent pay award for school support staff on schools' budgets in Yeovil constituency.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
School funding is increasing by £3.7 billion in financial year 2025/26. In May, the department announced that it is providing schools with £615 million in additional funding to support them with overall costs, including the costs of the 4% schools teacher pay award and the 3.2% local government services pay award in respect of support staff in financial year 2025/26.
Somerset local authority (which allocates funding for schools in Yeovil constituency) is receiving £418.4 million for mainstream schools in financial year 2025/26 through the Dedicated Schools Grant, an increase of 2.4% per pupil compared to financial year 2024/25. On top of that, all schools will receive additional funding through the Schools Budget Support Grant, to support them with overall costs, including the costs of teacher and support staff pay awards.
Schools will be expected to find approximately the first 1 percentage point of pay awards through improved productivity and smarter spending to make every pound count. This is in line with asks to the rest of the public sector to drive better value from existing budgets to help rebuild public services. Schools are not alone in making these decisions, and the department is supporting them through a suite of existing and new productivity initiatives. Our Energy for Schools service, for example, enabled the 400 schools who participated to save on average 36% compared to their previous contracts.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support schools to better identify pupils' range of additional needs outside of the classroom.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive the right support to succeed in their education.
Schools, further education colleges, sixth form colleges, and 16 to 19 academies are required to identify and address the special educational needs (SEN) of the pupils they support and, in the case of mainstream settings, to use their ‘best endeavours’ to make sure that a child or young person who has SEN gets the support they need.
All schools should apply the ‘graduated approach’ that is outlined in the ‘SEND code of practice: 0 to 25 years’, which means identifying a child’s needs, planning appropriate support, implementing and reviewing the support regularly to ensure it continues to meet the identified needs. Through this, schools should develop personalised approaches to supporting the unique needs of individual pupils. The code of practice can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25.
To support settings to identify need early, we are strengthening the evidence base of what works to improve early identification in mainstream settings. For example, evidence reviews from University College London have recently been published. These will help to drive inclusive practices as they highlight what the best available evidence suggests are the most effective tools, strategies and approaches for teachers and other relevant staff in mainstream settings to identify and support children and young people with different types of needs.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she plans to take to help protect the data of home educated children, in the context of provisions in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill contains provisions requiring local authorities to maintain registers of children who are not in school. These registers are intended to aid local authorities in identifying children who are missing education and support them.
The department is aware of the importance of protecting personal data. Existing laws, including the Data Protection Act and UK-GDPR, will apply to all data that is processed as part of the duty to maintain registers. These laws put in place robust restrictions on data collection, storage and sharing as well as respecting the rights of the individuals to access, rectification and erasure. However, there are circumstances where data sharing is essential, particularly when it concerns a child’s safety or wellbeing. The Bill provides a restricted list of individuals and agencies with whom data may be shared, solely for the purposes of safeguarding a child’s education or welfare. Any breach of these protections by a local authority could be subject to penalties or regulatory action by the Information Commissioner.
We will outline in statutory guidance how local authorities must balance the need to share data for safeguarding and educational support purposes with individuals’ right to privacy.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the need to collect data on special (a) the number of special school places and (b) the waiting lists for such places in (i) Yeovil constituency, (ii) Somerset and (iii) England.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
For the first time in 2023, the School Capacity Survey (SCAP) asked local authorities to provide data on the capacity of special schools and the capacity of special educational needs units and resourced provision in mainstream schools.
The department now have a second year’s worth of data which tells us approximately how many places local authorities think were available on 1 May 2024. This is only approximate at the moment as it is the second year of data collection, and the data are still being developed in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.
The survey also asked local authorities to submit forecasts for the number of pupils with education, health and care plans resident in their local authority who are expected to need a place in specialist provision.
Specialist capacity and forecast data for all local authorities can be accessed on GOV.UK here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-capacity/2023-24.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to encourage the (a) provision and (b) use of (i) accessible and (ii) free CPR training resources in schools in Yeovil constituency.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
All state funded schools, including those in Yeovil, are required to teach first aid as part of the statutory health education curriculum in relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) education. This includes how to deal with common injuries, call the emergency services and administer CPR and understand the purpose of defibrillators.
Schools have the autonomy to decide how they teach CPR and which resources to use, often choosing to use expert organisations to deliver additional content. The department does not monitor this as schools decide what to adopt in their local areas, choosing lesson plans and materials that are relevant to them.
Ofsted are responsible for inspecting schools’ RSHE provision as part of their personal development judgement.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of CPR training in schools in (a) Yeovil constituency (b) Somerset.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
All state funded schools, including those in Yeovil, are required to teach first aid as part of the statutory health education curriculum in relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) education. This includes how to deal with common injuries, call the emergency services and administer CPR and understand the purpose of defibrillators.
Schools have the autonomy to decide how they teach CPR and which resources to use, often choosing to use expert organisations to deliver additional content. The department does not monitor this as schools decide what to adopt in their local areas, choosing lesson plans and materials that are relevant to them.
Ofsted are responsible for inspecting schools’ RSHE provision as part of their personal development judgement.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support (a) schools and (b) Somerset Council to encourage the recruitment and retention of Special Educational Needs Coordinators.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, as well as ensuring special and alternative provision schools cater to those with the most complex needs.
The funding announced at the last Spending Review means a significant investment in the support available for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) pupils within mainstream schools. This will support the government’s plan to deliver an excellent, inclusive education for every child, with a world class curriculum and highly trained, expert teachers.
The special educational needs coordinator (SENCO) must be a qualified teacher, or the head teacher, working at the school. On 1 September 2024, the government introduced a new mandatory leadership level National Professional Qualification (NPQ) for SENCOs. The NPQ ensures SENCOs receive high quality, evidence-based training and equips them with the knowledge and skills to work with other leaders to create an inclusive environment where everyone feels welcome, safe and that they belong. Since going live, over 10,500 members of the school workforce have started their SENCO NPQ journey.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help schools in (a) Yeovil constituency and (b) Somerset Council maintain external specialist (i) educational psychologists and (ii) therapists.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Educational psychologists play a critical role in the support available to children and young people, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). That is why we are already investing over £21 million to train 400 more educational psychologists over two cohorts, starting their studies in 2024 and 2025. This is in addition to the £10 million currently being invested in the training of over 200 educational psychologists who began their training in September 2023.
As these trainees complete their studies, they will join the workforce to support local authority educational psychology services, including contributing to statutory assessments.
The department is also working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England to improve access to community health services, including speech and language therapy, for children and young people with SEND.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she plans to take to ensure that a child's legal right to special educational needs support will be included in the upcoming whitepaper.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.
We will build a system which is grounded in evidence, identifies and supports need at the earliest opportunity, and ensures families can secure support swiftly without a fight. There will always be a legal right to additional support for children and young people with SEND.
We are continuing to engage closely with children, parents and experts as we develop plans to ensure all children and young people get the outcomes and life chances they deserve.