Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had discussions with (a) OfQual (b) examination boards on the potential impact of moving most GCSEs for most pupils to a digital format.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, covering ages 5 to 18. The Review is evaluating the existing national curriculum and assessment system in England, to ensure they are fit for purpose. The Review panel published an interim report in March 2025 which highlighted that further work is ongoing to consider the issue of onscreen assessment. The interim report is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6821d69eced319d02c9060e3/Curriculum_and_Assessment_Review_interim_report.pdf.
The department and Ofqual are considering the potential risks and benefits of onscreen assessment, including the implications for schools and colleges, students and other stakeholders.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of potential advantages and disadvantages of moving most GCSEs for most pupils to a digital format.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, covering ages 5 to 18. The Review is evaluating the existing national curriculum and assessment system in England, to ensure they are fit for purpose. The Review panel published an interim report in March 2025 which highlighted that further work is ongoing to consider the issue of onscreen assessment. The interim report is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6821d69eced319d02c9060e3/Curriculum_and_Assessment_Review_interim_report.pdf.
The department and Ofqual are considering the potential risks and benefits of onscreen assessment, including the implications for schools and colleges, students and other stakeholders.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will list the key subjects into which her Department is recruiting 6,500 new expert teachers.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
There are 2,346 more full-time equivalent teachers in secondary and special schools in 2024/25 compared to 2023/24 and there are 12% more trainees who have accepted offers to train as secondary teachers, and in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), acceptances are up 25% compared to last year.
The department is driving teacher recruitment and retention across all subjects to deliver our pledge. We recognise that workforce shortages are more acute in some subjects which is why we have invested £233 million in recruitment incentives, including bursaries worth £29,000 tax-free and scholarships worth £31,000 tax-free for trainees in mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing.
In addition, for 2025/26 the department is offering targeted retention incentives worth up to £6,000 after tax for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools or teach technical subjects in further education colleges.
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Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress she has made on recruiting 6,500 new expert teachers in key subjects.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
There are 2,346 more full-time equivalent teachers in secondary and special schools in 2024/25 compared to 2023/24 and there are 12% more trainees who have accepted offers to train as secondary teachers, and in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), acceptances are up 25% compared to last year.
The department is driving teacher recruitment and retention across all subjects to deliver our pledge. We recognise that workforce shortages are more acute in some subjects which is why we have invested £233 million in recruitment incentives, including bursaries worth £29,000 tax-free and scholarships worth £31,000 tax-free for trainees in mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing.
In addition, for 2025/26 the department is offering targeted retention incentives worth up to £6,000 after tax for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools or teach technical subjects in further education colleges.
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Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, on what date her Department first published a projection of the number of (a) Primary and (b) Secondary school places that would be needed in September 2024.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Estimates of the primary places needed to meet predicted demand for places in September 2024 were first published on 24 March 2022.
Estimates of the secondary places needed to meet predicted demand for places in September 2024 were first published on 28 March 2019.
The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places sits with local authorities.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her Department's definition is of expert teachers.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Recruiting and retaining high quality teachers is critical to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and boost the life chances for every child. This is why the government’s Plan for Change has committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers in secondary and special schools, and in our colleges, over the course of this Parliament.
The term ‘expert teacher’ focuses on the qualities and expertise it requires to be a high quality teacher and ensuring that teaching remains a valued profession. Quality teaching is essential to reduce the attainment gap and is the most significant in-school and college determinant of pupil outcomes.
This is why the department has put in place initiatives to ensure teachers are better qualified and better trained. We are introducing legislation to ensure new teachers have or are working towards qualified teacher status, and to help further improve teacher quality from September 2025, we will also introduce the new initial teacher training and early career framework, replacing the current initial teacher training core content framework and the early career framework. We are also reviewing national professional qualification courses to align with the latest evidence and best practice.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 9 June 2025 to Question 54726 on Schools: internet, what steps she is taking to ensure blocks on illegal content are (a) technically enforced and (b) cannot be overridden in all education settings.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Keeping children safe is an absolute priority for this government and schools play a critical role in this.
In England, schools must procure their own technology, including filtering and monitoring systems, and ensure they meet the statutory safeguarding requirements set out in the ‘Keeping children safe in education’ (KCSIE) statutory guidance and in the filtering and monitoring standards, in order to protect students from harmful and/or illegal content. Both are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education--2 and https://www.gov.uk/guidance/meeting-digital-and-technology-standards-in-schools-and-colleges/filtering-and-monitoring-standards-for-schools-and-colleges.
The standards require filtering systems to effectively block harmful and inappropriate content using regularly updated blocklists from the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) and the Counter-Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU). Schools cannot alter or disable these lists. Additionally, filtering providers must be members of the IWF, signed up to CTIRU, and committed to maintaining updates.
KCSIE signposts to resources to help schools make informed decisions to support safeguarding which, amongst others, includes a tool from South West Grid for Learning that allows schools to check whether their filtering provider is aligned with the necessary blocklists. This resource is available here: https://swgfl.org.uk/services/test-filtering/. We also funded the UK Safer Internet Centre to produce a series of webinars, which are available at: https://saferinternet.org.uk/blog/filtering-and-monitoring-webinars-available. We have also recently launched the plan technology for your school service which helps schools understand how to meet the standards. The guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/plan-technology-for-your-school.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the fall in the number of children at independent schools was in line with her Department’s projections.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Pupil numbers remain firmly within expectations and higher than 2021/22. As a percentage of the overall school population, private school pupils have remained the same, at 6.5%. It has been between 6% and 7% for the last two decades.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to fund level 6 apprenticeships for all ages for 2027-28.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Level 6 apprenticeships are a core part of our apprenticeships offer and continue to be funded by government.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Spending Review 2025, CP 1336, published on 11 June 2025, how she plans to allocate the additional spending on (a) training and (b) apprenticeships.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The skills system is central to achieving economic growth and breaking down barriers to opportunity. The government is providing £1.2 billion of additional investment per year by 2028/29. This includes funding to support 1.3 million 16 to 19-year-olds to access high-quality training, supporting 65,000 additional learners per year by 2028/29. It will also deliver £625 million between 2025/26 and 2028/29 to train up to 60,000 skilled construction workers, as announced at Spring Statement 2025.
Further detail on funding within this allocation will be set out in due course.