Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the resources available to schools to ensure safeguarding incidents involving peer-on-peer abuse are addressed in schools in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Safeguarding children in schools is an absolute priority for this government, and all schools, including those in Surrey Heath, have a critical role to play in protecting children and keeping them safe. We support them to do this via the statutory guidance ‘Keeping children Safe In Education’ (KCSIE), to which all schools and colleges must have regard when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children
The guidance provides a strong safeguarding framework and is clear on the actions a school or college should take if there are any concerns about a child or young person’s wellbeing and/or safety. This includes child-on-child sexual violence and harassment
In particular, Part 5 of this guidance provides robust guidance on managing reports of child-on-child sexual violence and sexual harassment and provides advice on a whole-school approach to preventing abuse.
In addition, all schools are required by law to have a behaviour policy which outlines effective strategies that will encourage good behaviour. It is for school leaders to develop and implement a policy that works for their own schools and school community. The department publishes guidance to support school leaders and staff to help manage behaviour, including ‘Behaviour in Schools’, ‘Suspension and Permanent Exclusion’, ‘Searching, Screening and Confiscation’, and ‘Mobile Phones in School’.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that adoptive families caring for multiple children from the same birth family receive (a) tailored and (b) sustained support in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As part of the criteria for the adoption and special guardianship support fund, all children must have an assessment of their individual needs completed within three months of the application submission. This ensures that any support commissioned by the local authority or Regional Adoption Agency is tailored to their circumstances.
Where families adopt multiple children from the same birth family, each child is assessed separately, and each child has their own Fair Access Limit.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to ensure (a) trauma informed and (b) neurodiversity awareness practices across children’s social care services in Surrey.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is working with local authorities, including Surrey, to transform children’s social care. We have confirmed the rollout of Family Help, multi-agency child protection and family group decision making reforms through the Families First Partnership programme, backed by £2.4 billion over the spending review period.
The Families First Partnership programme guide sets out the expected practice changes. We are transforming the whole system of help, support and protection, to ensure that every family can access the right help and support when they need it. For some families this may involve understanding the impact of trauma or supporting those who are neurodiverse.
The programme guide expects areas to develop a shared practice framework across agencies that covers the end-to-end system of help, support and protection, in line with the national framework outcomes and the requirements of the ‘Working together to safeguard children’ guidance.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how the Department plans to monitor the potential impact of changes to independent school fees on (a) schools and (b) services in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department does not monitor impact on changes to private school fees. This is a matter for individual schools.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of college provision for construction courses in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
We have established 10 Construction Technical Excellence Colleges (CTECs), one for each region of the country and one cross-regional CTEC. These CTECs will work with all construction providers and other key stakeholders across their region to deliver on the objectives of the CTEC programme, which includes boosting construction skills provision in direct response to local and national employer needs.
North Kent College is the CTEC for the south-east and will be working across the region to deliver on the objectives of the programme.
We recognise that many colleges have waiting lists for construction courses, so the department is investing £195 million capital funding announced as part of the construction skills package to expand construction skills capacity in the areas across the country, both in CTECs and their partner colleges. More detail on how areas such as Surrey Heath can access this funding will be set out in the new year.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much of the announced SEND funding will be allocated to Surrey County Council.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
In December, the department announced at least £3 billion for high needs capital between 2026/27 and 2029/30 to support children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities or who require alternative provision. We will confirm local authority allocations for this funding in the spring.
This builds on the £740 million invested in 2025/26. which is on track to create around 10,000 new specialist places, of which Surrey Council was allocated just over £16 million for 2025/26.
This funding is intended to create facilities within mainstream schools that can deliver more intensive support adapted to suit the pupils’ needs. It can also be used to adapt mainstream schools to be more accessible and create special school places for pupils with the most complex needs.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department provides to local authorities on reviewing care plans where new diagnoses of (a) special educational needs, (b) disabilities or (c) neurodevelopmental conditions are identified after a child has entered foster care.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department has published a comprehensive suite of guidance to ensure that children in care have their needs identified and supported, as part of a dynamic and continuous cycle of care planning. This includes:
As part of this, each child must have a care plan, bringing together information from assessment across the dimensions of their developmental needs, incorporating a health plan and a personal education plan. Reviews must occur within 20 days of entering care, again within three months, and at least every six months thereafter, and can be brought forward if circumstances change significantly, including to account for significant health, medical events, or diagnoses.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions her Department has had with local authorities regarding the number of special educational needs and disabilities school places required to meet the needs of children in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places, including for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), sits with local authorities. To support local authorities with this duty, in December, the department announced at least £3 billion for high needs capital between 2026/27 and 2029/30, to support children and young people with SEND or who require alternative provision. This builds on the £740 million invested in 2025/26, which is on track to create around 10,000 new specialist places. Of this year’s funding, Surrey has been allocated £16.1 million.
This funding is intended to create specialist facilities within mainstream schools that can deliver more intensive support adapted to suit the pupils’ needs. It can also be used to adapt mainstream schools to be more accessible and to create special school places for pupils with the most complex needs.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to make education more inclusive of disabled children in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
We want to drive a consistent and inclusive approach to supporting all children and young people in every part of the country to achieve and thrive in education, through early identification of need, access to the right support at the right time, high quality adaptive teaching and effective allocation of resources.
On 12 December, the government announced a £3 billion investment to deliver around 50,000 specialist places for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The funding will be distributed to local authorities for them to spend on new places in mainstream settings (including SEN units), on adaptations to mainstream settings to make them more inclusive, or on special schools where required. This investment will help to make education inclusive by design, so every child, in every corner of the country can have their needs met where they live.
We will bring forward our full vision for an inclusive education system in the Schools White Paper in the new year.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase the number of vocational qualifications for post-16 learners in (a) Surrey and (b) Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Post-16 education and skills white paper, published on 20 October, set out our vision for a world-leading skills system which breaks down barriers to opportunity, meets student and employers’ needs; widens access to high-quality education and training; supports innovation, research, and development; and improves people’s lives.
The department has set out our plans to introduce V Levels, which will sit alongside A levels and T Levels, and will become the only pathway for vocational qualifications at level 3 for 16 to 19-year-olds. We will also introduce two clear post-16 pathways at level 2 for further study and for occupations. We have launched a consultation on these measures, which will close on 12 January 2026.