Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of withdrawing funding for level 7 apprenticeships for people aged 22 and over on workforce planning in critical public services.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government has a driving mission to break down barriers to opportunity.
From January 2026 the government will no longer fund level 7 apprenticeships, equivalent to master’s degree level, except for young apprentices under the age of 22. This will enable apprenticeships opportunities to be rebalanced towards young people and create more opportunities for those entering the labour market, who need skills and training to get on in their careers.
This decision was informed by a wide range of evidence, including Skills England’s analysis of official apprenticeship statistics and engagement with a wide range of stakeholders. Skills England’s evidence suggested there was unlikely to be a significant or unavoidable fall in the supply of these skills in the long term, post-defunding.
We are encouraging more employers to invest in upskilling their staff over 22 to level 7 where it delivers a benefit to the business and the individual. It will be for employers to determine the most appropriate training. There are alternative training options available to employers at level 7 including non-apprenticeship routes.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that employers are financially able to support level 7 apprenticeships in the context of the proposed funding changes from January 2026.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government has a driving mission to break down barriers to opportunity.
From January 2026 the government will no longer fund level 7 apprenticeships, equivalent to master’s degree level, except for young apprentices under the age of 22. This will enable apprenticeships opportunities to be rebalanced towards young people and create more opportunities for those entering the labour market, who need skills and training to get on in their careers.
This decision was informed by a wide range of evidence, including Skills England’s analysis of official apprenticeship statistics and engagement with a wide range of stakeholders. Skills England’s evidence suggested there was unlikely to be a significant or unavoidable fall in the supply of these skills in the long term, post-defunding.
We are encouraging more employers to invest in upskilling their staff over 22 to level 7 where it delivers a benefit to the business and the individual. It will be for employers to determine the most appropriate training. There are alternative training options available to employers at level 7 including non-apprenticeship routes.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to introduce a national alternative to the Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge programme.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is committed to ensuring every young person can develop the skills they need to succeed in work and life. We want them to have access to good quality careers advice as part of our mission to break down barriers to opportunity, under our Plan for Change.
Nationally, schools and colleges can access a range of digital and in-person support to help them inform their students about technical routes, such as apprenticeships. This support includes T Levels Ambassador Networks, the Skills for Apprenticeships support page (part of the government’s Skills for Life – ‘It All Starts With Skills’ communications campaign), and The Careers and Enterprise Company’s (CEC) resource directory.
Locally, through careers hubs, data and front-line insights support conversations about what is preventing take-up of technical and vocational pathways at the local level, enabling local partners to devise solutions. The government will continue to invest in high-quality careers education for young people, including boosting skills pathways such as apprenticeships and other technical education routes.
We will continue investing in wider careers infrastructure, including careers hubs, to ensure successful implementation of our careers programme.
Careers hubs, supported by CEC, will continue locally to address barriers relating to apprenticeships and technical education awareness and uptake.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of ending the Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge programme on regional equality of access to apprenticeship (a) information and (b) advice.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Enabling access to apprenticeships and technical education remains a key part of this government’s education policy. The decision not to continue the Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge (ASK) programme was based on:
Schools and colleges seeking support to raise awareness of apprenticeships and technical education can continue to access the following support:
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with representatives of the Council for Disabled Children on the potential impact of SEND reforms on (a) special needs children and (b) EHCP allocation.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department regularly works with a range of stakeholders, including the Council for Disabled Children (CDC), on a number of areas relating to special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) policy. We regularly meet the CDC to discuss the development of SEND reforms and their impact on children and young people with SEND and their families. We have appointed Dame Christine Lenehan, former director of the CDC, as SEND adviser to my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of promoting workplace apprenticeships as an alternative to sixth form or college education.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government has a driving mission to break down barriers to opportunity. Too many young people are struggling to access high quality opportunities, and this government wants to ensure that more young people can undertake apprenticeships.
The department is widening the apprenticeships offer into a growth and skills offer, to deliver greater flexibility and choice for learners and employers, including through new foundation apprenticeships for young people.
Foundation apprenticeships will be a work-based training offer that will provide young people with clear progression pathways into further work-based training and employment. Construction will be one of the key sectors that will benefit from new foundation apprenticeships. This will inspire more young people into the construction industry and give them the tools they need for a sustained and rewarding career. As part of this new offer, employers will be provided with £2,000 for every foundation apprentice they take on and retain in construction.
The department continues to promote apprenticeships to young people through the Skills for Life campaign and the apprenticeship ambassador network (AAN). The AAN, which has around 2,000 volunteers, aims to champion apprenticeships for young people by aligning an ambassador to every state-funded secondary school by March 2026.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on support for (a) parents and (b) schools in understanding the legal routes to raise concerns about people who pose a potential safeguarding risk.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government believes that action must always be taken to protect children from any safeguarding risk. That is why we are taking forward system reforms in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and have published a government progress update to the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. The Keeping Children Safe mission board, chaired by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of Education, will ensure that there continues to be a cross-government focus on safeguarding, including how parents can be best supported.
We have also provided robust statutory safeguarding guidance for all schools on the policies and procedures they must put in place to safeguard and promote the welfare of their pupils. This guidance not only sets out the different types of abuse and harm but also supports all staff to know what signs to look out for, including how they must respond to any concerns about a child and when to make a referral to local safeguarding partners, the police and Prevent services.
Advice for parents is also clear that where there are child protection concerns, these should be reported to local authority children’s social care departments or to the police if a child is at immediate risk of harm.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to introduce mandatory training on (a) ADHD and (b) other neurodevelopmental conditions within initial teacher training and ongoing professional development frameworks; and whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of training gaps on pupil outcomes.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department is committed to improving support for all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with ADHD and other neurodiverse conditions.
From September 2025, the new initial teacher training and early career framework (ITTECF) will set out a minimum entitlement to training for all new teachers. The ITTECF contains significantly more content related to adaptive teaching and SEND which was tested with SEND educational experts to ensure new teachers are equipped to support pupils with a range of additional learning needs.
The department recognises that continuous improvement is essential and has committed to review the ITTECF in 2027 to ensure it continues to provide the best possible support. This review will include a focus on teaching pupils with SEND.
The department also offers the Universal Services programme which helps the school workforce identify and meet the needs of children and young people with SEND, including those with neurodiversity. This includes a range of continuing profession development such as bespoke professional development groups and autism training. Alongside this, the Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS) programme is a national programme, backed by £13 million of investment. PINS deploys specialists from health and education workforces to build teacher and staff capacity to identify and better meet the needs of neurodivergent children in mainstream primary schools.
In November 2024, the department established a neurodivergence task and finish group, which includes a range of experts from clinicians, scientists and academics, as well as education experts and third sector organisations. This group is chaired by Professor Karen Guldberg from the University of Birmingham and aims to work closely with the department to help improve inclusivity and expertise in mainstream settings in a way that works for neurodivergent children and young people.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps her Department has taken to assess the consistency of SEND policy implementation in secondary schools; and what mechanisms exist to hold schools accountable where legal duties towards neurodivergent pupils are not being met.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department’s expectations for high quality, inclusive education are enforced through inspection by Ofsted. Ofsted’s proposed new framework for inspection of education settings will be informed by their public consultation, which closed on 28 April and includes a stronger focus on children with additional needs including neurodiverse children. We will continue to work with Ofsted to consider how their framework can best ensure continuous improvement in outcomes for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision. The framework is scheduled for implementation from autumn 2025.
There are several routes of redress available to parents, or children and young people with SEND, who disagree with a decision made by a school. First, they can complain informally or formally to the school. If they remain unhappy, they can complain to their local authority or multi-academy trust. They can also request to use their local authority’s dispute resolution service or lodge an appeal with the First Tier SEND Tribunal, if they feel that their child has been discriminated against on grounds of their disability.
We continue to ensure that local and regional delivery includes the voice of children and young people, parents/carers and the SEND sector. We are funding 153 local authority Parent Carer Forums, helping families to navigate the SEND system through the Contact national helpline support and advice service, and funding the training and support of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information and Advice Support Service (SENDIASS) staff.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of declining birth rates on (a) the financial sustainability and (b) capacity of nurseries in England; and what steps she is taking to support early years providers impacted by these trends.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
It is the department’s ambition that all families have access to high quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life and delivering on our Plan for Change.
We use the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) population estimates (to 2023) and ONS population projections (2022-based ‘principal’ scenario) to inform our internal national level early years funding forecasts. ONS population estimates suggest that the 0 to 4-year-old population in England decreased by 6% in the five years to 2023, driven by falling birth rates. The ONS principal projections assume that fertility rates decrease slightly in the short-term, remain stable in the medium term and increase slightly in the longer term.
These projections are used to ascertain funding and capacity needs and to support the sector as they prepare to deliver the final phase of expanded childcare entitlements from September 2025. From this year, we plan to provide over £8 billion for the early years entitlements, a more than 30% increase compared to 2024/25. The early years pupil premium rate has increased by over 45% compared to the 2024/25 financial year, equivalent to up to £570 per eligible child per year. We are also providing further supplementary funding of £75 million for the early years expansion grant and £25 million through the forthcoming National Insurance contributions grant for public sector employers in early years.