Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the Rt Hon Member for Dorking and Horley will receive a response to his correspondence dated 27 April 2026 on an International Letter of Request for the late Police Constable, Hannah Byrne.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Minister for Security will respond in due course.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will work with the ICO and CCS to review safeguarding risks posed by current ePEP platforms and consider mandatory independent cybersecurity audits and NHS Data Security and Protection Toolkit compliance.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Statutory guidance for Virtual School Heads (VSHs) sets out what Personal Education Plans (PEPs) must cover and the outcomes they should support. The department does not mandate, endorse or have oversight of any specific electronic PEP (ePEP) platforms. Decisions about whether to use an ePEP system, and which system to procure, rest with individual local authorities.

Our ‘Data Protection in Schools’ guidance supports schools and local authorities to understand their legal responsibilities when using third-party software. As data controllers, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that any systems they use to record, store, or share information comply with data protection law and safeguarding standards, including where sensitive information about children in care is processed.

To reinforce this, we have engaged with the National Association of Virtual School Heads to reiterate the importance to their members of working closely with relevant teams across their local authority to ensure robust data security, assurance and compliance when procuring and operating systems that hold children’s data.

We are committed to publishing updated statutory guidance for VSHs prior to the introduction of new duties on VSHs in September 2027. As part of this work, we will restate the above requirements for local authority due diligence on data governance, security and safeguarding when using third party software to support the role of the VSH.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the level of potential harm to looked-after children if weaknesses in ePEP systems lead to data breaches or inadequate safeguarding of their personal information.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Statutory guidance for Virtual School Heads (VSHs) sets out what Personal Education Plans (PEPs) must cover and the outcomes they should support. The department does not mandate, endorse or have oversight of any specific electronic PEP (ePEP) platforms. Decisions about whether to use an ePEP system, and which system to procure, rest with individual local authorities.

Our ‘Data Protection in Schools’ guidance supports schools and local authorities to understand their legal responsibilities when using third-party software. As data controllers, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that any systems they use to record, store, or share information comply with data protection law and safeguarding standards, including where sensitive information about children in care is processed.

To reinforce this, we have engaged with the National Association of Virtual School Heads to reiterate the importance to their members of working closely with relevant teams across their local authority to ensure robust data security, assurance and compliance when procuring and operating systems that hold children’s data.

We are committed to publishing updated statutory guidance for VSHs prior to the introduction of new duties on VSHs in September 2027. As part of this work, we will restate the above requirements for local authority due diligence on data governance, security and safeguarding when using third party software to support the role of the VSH.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that all electronic Personal Education Plan systems used by local authority Virtual Schools meet robust national minimum security and data protection standards, particularly for special category data relating to trauma, health and emotional wellbeing of looked-after children.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Statutory guidance for Virtual School Heads (VSHs) sets out what Personal Education Plans (PEPs) must cover and the outcomes they should support. The department does not mandate, endorse or have oversight of any specific electronic PEP (ePEP) platforms. Decisions about whether to use an ePEP system, and which system to procure, rest with individual local authorities.

Our ‘Data Protection in Schools’ guidance supports schools and local authorities to understand their legal responsibilities when using third-party software. As data controllers, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that any systems they use to record, store, or share information comply with data protection law and safeguarding standards, including where sensitive information about children in care is processed.

To reinforce this, we have engaged with the National Association of Virtual School Heads to reiterate the importance to their members of working closely with relevant teams across their local authority to ensure robust data security, assurance and compliance when procuring and operating systems that hold children’s data.

We are committed to publishing updated statutory guidance for VSHs prior to the introduction of new duties on VSHs in September 2027. As part of this work, we will restate the above requirements for local authority due diligence on data governance, security and safeguarding when using third party software to support the role of the VSH.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department plans to issue requiring Virtual School Heads to conduct appropriate due diligence and Data Protection Impact Assessments on third-party ePEP providers.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Statutory guidance for Virtual School Heads (VSHs) sets out what Personal Education Plans (PEPs) must cover and the outcomes they should support. The department does not mandate, endorse or have oversight of any specific electronic PEP (ePEP) platforms. Decisions about whether to use an ePEP system, and which system to procure, rest with individual local authorities.

Our ‘Data Protection in Schools’ guidance supports schools and local authorities to understand their legal responsibilities when using third-party software. As data controllers, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that any systems they use to record, store, or share information comply with data protection law and safeguarding standards, including where sensitive information about children in care is processed.

To reinforce this, we have engaged with the National Association of Virtual School Heads to reiterate the importance to their members of working closely with relevant teams across their local authority to ensure robust data security, assurance and compliance when procuring and operating systems that hold children’s data.

We are committed to publishing updated statutory guidance for VSHs prior to the introduction of new duties on VSHs in September 2027. As part of this work, we will restate the above requirements for local authority due diligence on data governance, security and safeguarding when using third party software to support the role of the VSH.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Late Entry Officers are employed in (a) each of the Army’s 32 infantry battalions and (b) in Welfare, QM, MTO, RCMO and training officer roles.

Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)

The number of Late Entry Officers employed in Regular Army Infantry Battalions as at 1 January 2026 can be found in the attached table.

The total Number of Late Entry Officers across all Arms/Services employed in Welfare, QM, MTO, RCMO and Training Officer roles as at 1 January 2026 are also attached.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Late Entry Officers were commissioned in the last year, and of those how many were employed in in Welfare, QM, MTO, RCMO and training officer roles.

Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)

There were 263 Late Entry Officers who commissioned from the Army Regular Other Ranks to Army Regular Officers from 1 January 2025 – 31 December 2025.

Of those who commissioned from the Army Other Ranks to All Officers in 2025 how many have been employed in in Welfare, QM, MTO, RCMO and training officer roles up until 1 January 2026 can be fond in the attached table.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will share the (i) June and (ii) September 2026 allocation of Sustainable Farming Incentive funding with the National Farmers' Union.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)

The Government will announce the budget for the 2026 Sustainable Farming Incentive shortly.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when her Department plans to publish and respond to the School Teachers’ Review Body report.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

We recognise the importance of timely information for schools and will respond as soon as possible.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to review place funding for special schools.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

The department has published a schools white paper, Every Child Achieving and Thriving, alongside a consultation on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reform, called Putting Children and Young People First. We have also published a summary of what the SEND reforms mean for specialist provision including special schools, available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/699c0cdebfdab2546272c0cc/Information_Sheet_for_specialist_setting_staff.pdf.

Funding for specialist provision will be reformed to create a fair, transparent system that gives schools stable, predictable funding to deliver high-quality education and integrated support for children with the most complex needs. In taking forward those reforms, we will explore and consult on the development of a cost framework for different packages of specialist provision.

Speech and Language Therapy for Autistic Children

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Dame Meg Hillier (Chair); Dame Harriett Baldwin; Chris Coghlan; Jim

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Dame Meg Hillier (Chair); Dame Harriett Baldwin; Chris Coghlan; Jim

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Dame Meg Hillier (Chair); Dame Harriett Baldwin; Chris Coghlan; Jim