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 students with dyscalculia in further education settings.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
This government’s ambition is to deliver an excellent, inclusive education for every child with a world class curriculum and highly trained, expert teachers. In November 2024, the department established the Neurodivergence Task and Finish Group, who will make recommendations on the best ways to support and meet the needs of neurodivergent children and young people in mainstream education settings. We have also commissioned evidence reviews from University College London, which will highlight 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.
The Maths Hubs programme, which is funded by the department, is a school-led network aimed at improving the teaching of mathematics for all pupils in publicly-funded schools. It covers primary, secondary and special schools and uses a mastery-based teaching approach, which aims to secure understanding of key concepts. This includes training for teachers on techniques such as avoiding cognitive overload by breaking the learning down into small manageable steps, using representations to expose mathematical structure and ensuring that learning is sequenced in a coherent manner so it makes sense to pupils. Boolean Maths Hub works with schools, academies and colleges to support the continuous improvement of mathematics education across the west of England, including Somerset.
The National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics offers a Further Education Mastery Specialist Programme for post-16 GCSE mathematics resit and Functional Skills Maths teachers. This programme, delivered through Maths Hubs, aims to develop teachers' expertise in teaching for mastery approaches and enable them to support others in their institutions.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what consideration the Curriculum and Assessment Review will give to the (a) needs of and (b) challenges faced by students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The Curriculum and Assessment Review, chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE, is actively considering the needs and challenges faced by all pupils in accessing the national curriculum and making sure that they are all able to achieve high and rising standards.
The review is thoroughly examining the key challenges to attainment faced by children and young people in mainstream education, including those with special educational needs and disabilities, such as dyslexia, dyscalculia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
The Review is committed to ensuring all pupils have access to a broad curriculum and achieve positive outcomes.
This government remains committed to enhancing inclusivity within mainstream schools and the review’s final report and recommendations will be published in autumn, at which point the government will respond.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what consideration the Curriculum and Assessment Review will give to the (a) needs of and (b) challenges faced by students with dyslexia.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The Curriculum and Assessment Review, chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE, is actively considering the needs and challenges faced by all pupils in accessing the national curriculum and making sure that they are all able to achieve high and rising standards.
The review is thoroughly examining the key challenges to attainment faced by children and young people in mainstream education, including those with special educational needs and disabilities, such as dyslexia, dyscalculia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
The Review is committed to ensuring all pupils have access to a broad curriculum and achieve positive outcomes.
This government remains committed to enhancing inclusivity within mainstream schools and the review’s final report and recommendations will be published in autumn, at which point the government will respond.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what consideration the Curriculum and Assessment Review will give to the (a) needs of and (b) challenges faced by students with dyscalculia.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The Curriculum and Assessment Review, chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE, is actively considering the needs and challenges faced by all pupils in accessing the national curriculum and making sure that they are all able to achieve high and rising standards.
The review is thoroughly examining the key challenges to attainment faced by children and young people in mainstream education, including those with special educational needs and disabilities, such as dyslexia, dyscalculia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
The Review is committed to ensuring all pupils have access to a broad curriculum and achieve positive outcomes.
This government remains committed to enhancing inclusivity within mainstream schools and the review’s final report and recommendations will be published in autumn, at which point the government will respond.
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 removing public funding for level 7 apprenticeships for people aged 22 and older on people in (a) Yeovil constituency, (b) Somerset and (c) the South West.
Answered by Janet Daby
I refer the hon. Member for Yeovil to the answer of 13 June 2025 to Question 57098.
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 merits of regulating the educational guardianship sector.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
All independent and state boarding schools must have regard to the ‘Keeping children safe in education’ guidance and must meet the national minimum standards for boarding schools. Section 22 of those standards sets out the requirements of schools in relation to educational guardians appointed by a school.
Parents of international child students who make private educational guardianship arrangements for their children should ensure that they apply due diligence to any arrangements.
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 the introduction of more (a) vocational and (b) functional education pathways for students in (i) Somerset and (ii) England.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department continues to reform qualifications so they have clearer routes to higher education or skilled employment and are, where applicable, aligned to occupational standards designed by employers. 140 reformed qualifications at levels 2 and 3 have been approved for next academic year.
There are a wide range of technical and functional pathways in all areas of the country, including Somerset. These include:
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 the introduction of assistive technology in primary schools in (a) Yeovil constituency, (b) Somerset and (c) England.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The government is committed to increasing awareness and use of assistive technology (AT) in primary schools across England, including in the Yeovil constituency and Somerset.
Firstly, the department is investing in high-quality research to identify barriers to and opportunities for AT use in schools, so that we have a strong evidence base for AT and are able to pilot approaches. This is key to giving schools the right support they need. We published the most recent research report for special schools and colleges in May entitled ‘Developing a competency framework for effective assistive technology training’. The report can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/developing-a-competency-framework-for-effective-assistive-technology-training.
From September 2025, teachers will receive training on effective AT use as part of their initial teacher training. Our programme of research can also inform the development of workforce training aimed at equipping teachers with the necessary skills to effectively use AT.
Secondly, the government is working to improve the multi-agency working of all those involved in supporting pupils to get the AT that they require. The department will soon publish research undertaken with local authority special educational needs teams and local authority health teams, AT suppliers, schools and colleges to identify effective practices when working together to meet pupil need.
Finally, the government is investing £20 million this year to ensure schools can access a fibre internet connection, which includes 27 schools across Somerset. Our investment in infrastructure will ensure that schools can fully harness the opportunities of AT.
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 merits of removing spelling, punctuation and grammar marks from non-English (a) secondary and (b) sixth form exams.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The independent Curriculum and Assessment Review is ongoing and is evaluating the existing national curriculum and statutory assessment system in England to ensure they are fit for purpose. The Review wants to ensure an assessment system that captures the strengths of every child and young person and the breadth of curriculum, with the right balance of assessment methods, whilst maintaining the important role of examinations. The Review’s final report and recommendations will be published in the autumn, at which point the government will respond.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will appoint a named policy lead in her Department on dyslexia.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The department is committed to improving support for all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with dyslexia.
The SEND code of practice makes it clear that meeting the needs of a child with special educational needs does not require a diagnostic label, such as dyslexia. Instead, we expect teachers to monitor the progress of all pupils and put support in place where needed. In keeping with this, the department has no current intentions to pursue a condition-specific approach.
However, we recognise that the early identification of need and support is critical to improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND, including those with dyslexia. There are already a number of measures to help teachers do this, including the phonics screening check and statutory assessments at the end of key stage 2.
Measures have also been introduced to support the effective teaching of reading, including for those at risk of falling behind. This includes the English Hubs programme, the publication of the reading framework and an updated list of high quality systematic synthetic phonics programmes for schools.
The English Hubs programme is dedicated to improving the teaching of reading, with a focus on supporting children making the slowest progress in reading. As part of the continuous professional development provided by the English Hubs, the Reading Ambition for All programme has been launched to improve outcomes for children who need additional support with reading, including those with SEND.