Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure schools have sufficient funding to retain experienced teachers alongside recruiting new staff.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
This government recognises the importance of retaining experienced teachers. We have demonstrated our commitment to supporting schools by increasing school funding by £3.7 billion in the 2025/26 financial year, meaning the core school budget will total £65.3 billion compared to £61.6 billion in 2024/25.
In the 2025 spending review, the department has announced that funding for schools will further increase by £4.2 billion per year by 2028/29, compared to 2025/26. This additional funding will provide an above real terms per pupil increase in the core schools budget.
The increase for 2025/26 includes additional funding to support schools with overall costs, including the costs of the 4% schools teacher pay award and the local government services pay award in respect of support staff in 2025/26.
This follows government agreeing a 5.5% pay award for academic year 2024/25. Taken together, this means teachers and leaders will see an increase in their pay of almost 10% over two years.
For 2024/25 and 2025/26, the department is also offering retention payments 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.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to introduce targeted retention incentives for experienced teachers in addition to those offered to early-career teachers.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Supporting our expert teachers is critical to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and boost the life chances for every child, as the within-school factor that makes the biggest difference to a young person’s educational outcomes is high-quality teaching. Combined with the previous year’s 5.5% award, this year’s above-inflation pay award will mean schoolteachers have seen an increase in their pay of almost 10% over two years.
The financial incentives the department offers are targeted where there is most need to recruit and retain teachers. School workforce data shows that teachers are most likely to leave within the first five years of their career. Targeted Retention Incentives are currently offered to mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools as it is vital that we retain new teachers in these priority subjects and in the schools that need them most.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Education and Skills Funding Agency monitors academy trust compliance with health and safety standards for school playgrounds.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
It is the responsibility of those who manage our schools (local authorities, diocesan bodies and academy trusts) to ensure their premises operate in accordance with relevant standards and legislation. The department provides guidance on how health and safety standards should be met for their premises, including the publication titled ‘Advice on standards for school premises’, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/standards-for-school-premises. The department does not monitor compliance.
The recently published ‘School estate management standards’, gathers in one place links to key policies, processes and guidance to support schools to manage their estates effectively and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-estate-management-standards. It signposts users to expert advice and good practice, including more extensive guidance and tools from the department’s ‘Good estate management for schools’ manual, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/good-estate-management-for-schools, and the Health and Safety Executive here: https://www.hse.gov.uk/education/index.htm.
To note, the Education and Skills Funding Agency became part of the Department for Education in April 2025.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to (a) improve the (i) timeliness and (ii) depth of educational psychology assessments and (b) end the use of short virtual consultations for children with complex needs.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Educational psychologists play a critical role in the support available to children and young people, including providing statutory input into education, health and care assessments. We know that current workforce shortages can be a barrier to timely input, which is why we are investing over £21 million to train 400 more educational psychologists from September 2024. This is in addition to the £10 million currently being invested in the training of over 200 educational psychologists who began their training in September 2023.
The special educational needs and disabilities code of practice does not stipulate the methodology that any of the professionals involved in assessments should use. We regard this as a matter for the respective professional bodies.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of making written feedback from schools consulted during Education, Health and Care Plan placement decisions legally binding on local authorities.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
When preparing a new education, health and care (EHC) plan, or amending the setting named on an existing plan, a local authority must consult with any school or other setting it may name in the plan. The special educational needs and disability (SEND) code of practice: 0 to 25 years is statutory guidance that sets out how this should be done, and it stresses that a local authority must consider the comments of a setting very carefully before deciding whether to name it in an EHC plan. This consultation process allows the setting to voice any concerns, for example in relation to its capacity or ability to meet the needs of the child or young person. Advice from the setting will also contribute to the local authority’s development of the plan to ensure that it meets the child or young person’s needs, the outcomes they want to achieve and the aspirations they are aiming for. Informed by the response to its consultation, the local authority then decides which setting to name, following the statutory procedure for doing so. The local authority is the body best placed to gather the necessary advice and information and then weigh up all the relevant considerations in finalising an EHC plan.
This government shares the widespread view that improvements to the SEND system are badly needed and as part of our Plan for Change we are committed to ensuring all children and young people have the support they need to develop skills for the future. Details of our intended approach to SEND reform will be set out for consultation in a Schools White Paper in the autumn.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department issues to local authorities on verifying the (a) staffing, (b) space and (c) specialist-expertise capacity of schools before naming them in education, health and care plans.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
When preparing a new education, health and care (EHC) plan, or amending the setting named on an existing plan, a local authority must consult with any school or other setting it may name in the plan. The special educational needs and disability (SEND) code of practice: 0 to 25 years is statutory guidance that sets out how this should be done, and it stresses that a local authority must consider the comments of a setting very carefully before deciding whether to name it in an EHC plan. This consultation process allows the setting to voice any concerns, for example in relation to its capacity or ability to meet the needs of the child or young person. Advice from the setting will also contribute to the local authority’s development of the plan to ensure that it meets the child or young person’s needs, the outcomes they want to achieve and the aspirations they are aiming for. Informed by the response to its consultation, the local authority then decides which setting to name, following the statutory procedure for doing so. The local authority is the body best placed to gather the necessary advice and information and then weigh up all the relevant considerations in finalising an EHC plan.
This government shares the widespread view that improvements to the SEND system are badly needed and as part of our Plan for Change we are committed to ensuring all children and young people have the support they need to develop skills for the future. Details of our intended approach to SEND reform will be set out for consultation in a Schools White Paper in the autumn.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what comparative estimate she has made of the number of specialist-school places (a) in Rushcliffe constituency and (b) nationally; and what plans she has to increase capacity of those places.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or who require alternative provision sits with local authorities.
The requested data on state-funded special schools can be found in the annual School Capacity statistics publication here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-capacity/2023-24. This has been available since March 2025.
School level capacity data can be combined with information on constituency from ‘Get Information About Schools’ (GIAS), which can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-capacity/2023-24. For ease, data on the special school in Rushcliffe parliamentary constituency can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/1da3dffd-c9cd-4d3c-a168-08dde2cf2374.
Nationally, local authorities reported that there were 153,000 special school places in England as of 1 May 2024.
The department has now published allocations for £740 million in High Needs Provision Capital Allocations (HNPCA) for the 2025/26 financial year. The funding can be used to adapt schools to be more accessible for children with SEND, to create specialist facilities within mainstream schools that can deliver more intensive support adapted to suit the pupils’ needs and to create special school places for pupils with the most complex needs.
Nottinghamshire County Council has been allocated just below £14 million for the 2025/26 financial year. It is up to local authorities to make decisions about the places they create and to prioritise their funding to meet local needs.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to align (a) inspection, (b) funding and (c) placement-decision systems to reflect constraints faced by mainstream schools supporting pupils with complex needs.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The department is providing an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year, following the Autumn Budget 2024. This brings total high needs funding for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to over £12 billion. Of that total high needs funding, Nottinghamshire County Council is being allocated over £130 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG).
In addition to the DSG, local authorities also receive a separate core schools budget grant (CSBG) in the 2025/26 financial year, for local authorities to pass on to specialist settings in their area to support with the costs of teacher and support staff pay awards, and national insurance contributions costs.
Local authorities allocate their high needs funding to support specialist settings, and also mainstream schools with pupils identified as having more complex SEND where the additional support costs for those mainstream pupils are more than £6,000 per annum. The provision that is funded can include adaptations to the curriculum and learning environment, and targeted teaching support where necessary.
The department also allocates annual capital funding to support local authorities to meet their statutory duty to provide sufficient school places for children with SEND or who require alternative provision.
The department has published allocations for £740 million in High Needs Provision Capital Allocations (HNPCA) for the 2025/26 financial year. Of this, Nottinghamshire have been allocated £14 million. The funding can be used to adapt schools to be more accessible for children with SEND, to create specialist facilities within mainstream schools that can deliver more intensive support adapted to suit the pupils’ needs and to create special school places for pupils with the most complex needs.
The department is considering the funding required for future years and how it is to be allocated, following the conclusion of the recent spending review. Our objective is that future funding for SEND supports our plans for reforming the SEND system, which will be set out in further detail in a White Paper in the autumn.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will provide dedicated (a) capital and (b) revenue funding for (i) withdrawal spaces, (ii) bespoke curricula and (iii) other in-school alternative provision when recommended by specialist professionals.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The department is providing an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year, following the Autumn Budget 2024. This brings total high needs funding for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to over £12 billion. Of that total high needs funding, Nottinghamshire County Council is being allocated over £130 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG).
In addition to the DSG, local authorities also receive a separate core schools budget grant (CSBG) in the 2025/26 financial year, for local authorities to pass on to specialist settings in their area to support with the costs of teacher and support staff pay awards, and national insurance contributions costs.
Local authorities allocate their high needs funding to support specialist settings, and also mainstream schools with pupils identified as having more complex SEND where the additional support costs for those mainstream pupils are more than £6,000 per annum. The provision that is funded can include adaptations to the curriculum and learning environment, and targeted teaching support where necessary.
The department also allocates annual capital funding to support local authorities to meet their statutory duty to provide sufficient school places for children with SEND or who require alternative provision.
The department has published allocations for £740 million in High Needs Provision Capital Allocations (HNPCA) for the 2025/26 financial year. Of this, Nottinghamshire have been allocated £14 million. The funding can be used to adapt schools to be more accessible for children with SEND, to create specialist facilities within mainstream schools that can deliver more intensive support adapted to suit the pupils’ needs and to create special school places for pupils with the most complex needs.
The department is considering the funding required for future years and how it is to be allocated, following the conclusion of the recent spending review. Our objective is that future funding for SEND supports our plans for reforming the SEND system, which will be set out in further detail in a White Paper in the autumn.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will require local authorities to (a) recognise and (b) fund (i) safe spaces, (ii) full-time one-to-one support and (iii) other adaptations as core SEND provision.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The department is providing an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year, following the Autumn Budget 2024. This brings total high needs funding for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to over £12 billion. Of that total high needs funding, Nottinghamshire County Council is being allocated over £130 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG).
In addition to the DSG, local authorities also receive a separate core schools budget grant (CSBG) in the 2025/26 financial year, for local authorities to pass on to specialist settings in their area to support with the costs of teacher and support staff pay awards, and national insurance contributions costs.
Local authorities allocate their high needs funding to support specialist settings, and also mainstream schools with pupils identified as having more complex SEND where the additional support costs for those mainstream pupils are more than £6,000 per annum. The provision that is funded can include adaptations to the curriculum and learning environment, and targeted teaching support where necessary.
The department also allocates annual capital funding to support local authorities to meet their statutory duty to provide sufficient school places for children with SEND or who require alternative provision.
The department has published allocations for £740 million in High Needs Provision Capital Allocations (HNPCA) for the 2025/26 financial year. Of this, Nottinghamshire have been allocated £14 million. The funding can be used to adapt schools to be more accessible for children with SEND, to create specialist facilities within mainstream schools that can deliver more intensive support adapted to suit the pupils’ needs and to create special school places for pupils with the most complex needs.
The department is considering the funding required for future years and how it is to be allocated, following the conclusion of the recent spending review. Our objective is that future funding for SEND supports our plans for reforming the SEND system, which will be set out in further detail in a White Paper in the autumn.