Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that children from non-privileged backgrounds have access to music and dance schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Funding of approximately £36.5 million is committed for the 2025/26 academic year for the Music and Dance Scheme, which provides income assessed bursaries to enable exceptionally talented children, regardless of their personal and financial circumstances, to attend specialist music and dance institutions.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate of the average reduction in Adoption and Special Guardianship Support funding for kinship carers who can no longer access match-funding in exceptional cases in Gosport constituency.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department always assesses the impact of changes on vulnerable children across the country. This includes reviewing the Equalities Impact Assessment, which will be deposited in the House Libraries in due course.
The funding available through the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) will still enable children in Gosport, as throughout our country, to access a significant package of support, tailored to meet their individual needs. In 2024/25, there was only one match-funding application to the ASGSF from Hampshire local authority. Where needed, local authorities can use their own funding to increase the amount of therapy.
This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity. The ASGSF is an important part of this, but other sources of support are available to adopted and kinship children. This year, we are making £500 million available to local authorities to roll out Family Help and Child Protection nationally to transform services and transition towards earlier intervention. We are also recruiting an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults, and opening new Young Futures Hubs with access to mental health support workers.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
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 reduction in Adoption and Special Guardianship Support funding on (a) the policy mission entitled Break Down Barriers to Opportunity and (b) children's start in life.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department always assesses the impact of changes on vulnerable children across the country. This includes reviewing the Equalities Impact Assessment, which will be deposited in the House Libraries in due course.
The funding available through the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) will still enable children in Gosport, as throughout our country, to access a significant package of support, tailored to meet their individual needs. In 2024/25, there was only one match-funding application to the ASGSF from Hampshire local authority. Where needed, local authorities can use their own funding to increase the amount of therapy.
This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity. The ASGSF is an important part of this, but other sources of support are available to adopted and kinship children. This year, we are making £500 million available to local authorities to roll out Family Help and Child Protection nationally to transform services and transition towards earlier intervention. We are also recruiting an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults, and opening new Young Futures Hubs with access to mental health support workers.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the potential impact of a reduction in Adoption and Special Guardianship Support funding on the mental health outcomes of children in adoptive and kinship placements in Gosport.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department always assesses the impact of changes on vulnerable children across the country. This includes reviewing the Equalities Impact Assessment, which will be deposited in the House Libraries in due course.
The funding available through the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) will still enable children in Gosport, as throughout our country, to access a significant package of support, tailored to meet their individual needs. In 2024/25, there was only one match-funding application to the ASGSF from Hampshire local authority. Where needed, local authorities can use their own funding to increase the amount of therapy.
This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity. The ASGSF is an important part of this, but other sources of support are available to adopted and kinship children. This year, we are making £500 million available to local authorities to roll out Family Help and Child Protection nationally to transform services and transition towards earlier intervention. We are also recruiting an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults, and opening new Young Futures Hubs with access to mental health support workers.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the potential impact of a reduction in Adoption and Special Guardianship Support funding on the number of kinship children able to access therapeutic support services in Gosport.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department always assesses the impact of changes on vulnerable children across the country. This includes reviewing the Equalities Impact Assessment, which will be deposited in the House Libraries in due course.
The funding available through the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) will still enable children in Gosport, as throughout our country, to access a significant package of support, tailored to meet their individual needs. In 2024/25, there was only one match-funding application to the ASGSF from Hampshire local authority. Where needed, local authorities can use their own funding to increase the amount of therapy.
This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity. The ASGSF is an important part of this, but other sources of support are available to adopted and kinship children. This year, we are making £500 million available to local authorities to roll out Family Help and Child Protection nationally to transform services and transition towards earlier intervention. We are also recruiting an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults, and opening new Young Futures Hubs with access to mental health support workers.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the (a) duties and (b) responsibilities of the delivery lead for the National Centre for Arts and Music Education will be; and what assets they will (i) manage and (ii) own.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
On 18 March, the department announced our intention to launch a new National Centre for Arts and Music Education.
The National Centre will support the delivery of high-quality arts education in schools, including through online training, local partnership and better information for teachers, parents and young people.
By widening access to a high-quality arts education, the National Centre will aid schools and others in teaching a rich and broad arts education to all children. It will also support a globally respected creative economy by opening up career paths to a new generation of musicians, artists, film-makers and creatives.
Our plan is to launch the National Centre in September 2026, with a delivery lead appointed through an open procurement. Further details, including funding, will be released in due course.
The new National Centre will also take over the management of the existing Music Hubs programme.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how young people will be able to use the National Centre for Arts and Music Education.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
On 18 March, the department announced our intention to launch a new National Centre for Arts and Music Education.
The National Centre will support the delivery of high-quality arts education in schools, including through online training, local partnership and better information for teachers, parents and young people.
By widening access to a high-quality arts education, the National Centre will aid schools and others in teaching a rich and broad arts education to all children. It will also support a globally respected creative economy by opening up career paths to a new generation of musicians, artists, film-makers and creatives.
Our plan is to launch the National Centre in September 2026, with a delivery lead appointed through an open procurement. Further details, including funding, will be released in due course.
The new National Centre will also take over the management of the existing Music Hubs programme.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what funding she has allocated to the National Centre for Arts and Music Education.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
On 18 March, the department announced our intention to launch a new National Centre for Arts and Music Education.
The National Centre will support the delivery of high-quality arts education in schools, including through online training, local partnership and better information for teachers, parents and young people.
By widening access to a high-quality arts education, the National Centre will aid schools and others in teaching a rich and broad arts education to all children. It will also support a globally respected creative economy by opening up career paths to a new generation of musicians, artists, film-makers and creatives.
Our plan is to launch the National Centre in September 2026, with a delivery lead appointed through an open procurement. Further details, including funding, will be released in due course.
The new National Centre will also take over the management of the existing Music Hubs programme.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of the number of apprenticeships delivered by the hair and beauty sector.
Answered by Janet Daby
The number of ‘hair and beauty’ related apprenticeship starts in England is published in the Apprenticeship accredited official statistics publication, which can be accessed at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/66bd1260-5cd4-4769-1f8e-08dd8e2f6934. These were last published in March 2025. They include full year figures from 2019/20 to 2023/24, and year to date figures for 2024/25 (August 2024 to January 2025).
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the provisions of the updated initial teacher training and early career framework which relate to pupils with SEND have been (a) co-produced, (b) designed, (c) developed, (d) evaluated and (e) delivered with (i) autistic people and (ii) people with a learning disability.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
During 2023, the department reviewed the initial teacher training core content framework (CCF) and the early career framework (ECF) to ensure they remained based on the most up-to-date evidence. This review paid particular attention to the needs of trainees and early career teachers (ECTs) when supporting pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
As part of the review process, the department analysed evaluation data and feedback, which included discussions with lead providers, senior school leaders, induction tutors, and mentors and ECTs. The department also worked closely and met regularly with groups of influential educational stakeholders. These were representative groups who acted in an advisory capacity and included SEND educational specialists.
As a result of this review, the updated initial teacher training and early career framework (ITTECF), which will underpin training for trainee and ECTs from September 2025, contains significantly more content related to adaptive teaching and supporting pupils with SEND and the department has enhanced the requirement on lead providers of ECT training to develop SEND training materials.
As the updated ITTECF will not be implemented until September 2025, the department has not yet evaluated its impact, however we recognise that continuous improvement is essential in order to transform the training and support for all new teachers, and to review the experiences and needs of ECT as well as trainees. This is why we are committing to a full review of the programme in 2027 to ensure it continues to provide the best possible support for ECTs. We know that it is crucial that ECTs feel supported teaching pupils with SEND and will review our approach to SEND and the support we provide ECTs in teaching pupils with SEND. We will work with stakeholders to ensure that we continue to provide the best possible support for pupils with SEND.