Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
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 allocating additional funding for (a) dyslexia screening and (b) dyslexia-specific teacher training in Chichester constituency.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Chichester to the answer of 1 August 2025 to Question 61402.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if a refreshed mathematics curriculum designed to ensure that as many learners as possible can achieve positive outcomes will form part of the Curriculum and Assessment Review.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
High and rising standards are at the heart of the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and give every child the best life chances.
A high-quality curriculum and assessment system is key to ensuring that every child receives an excellent education, which includes providing a rich, broad, inclusive and innovative mathematics curriculum.
The Review is specifically considering how to remove existing blocks to progress and ensure good outcomes for children and young people, including those who are from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, and those who have a special educational need or disability.
During its ongoing work, the Review Group are seeking to address the challenges in particular subjects, including the mathematics curriculum, enabling all students to master high-quality content.
The Review’s final report and recommendations will be published in the autumn.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department's rollout of Best Start Family Hubs will include (a) provisions and (b) support services for home-educating families that require SEND support.
Answered by Janet Daby
On 7 July, the government published ‘Giving every child the Best Start in Life’, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/giving-every-child-the-best-start-in-life. This outlines the government’s commitment to deliver a new Best Start Family Service to bring together parenting, healthcare and education support services, as well as creating and funding Best Start Family Hubs in every local authority to give children the best start in life by strengthening and joining up family services. The department will provide over half a billion pounds of investment in the Best Start Family Service over the 2026/29 spending review period.
Best Start Family Hubs will provide both universal and targeted support, with open-access activities and referral routes for families with complex needs. They will bring together professionals from health, education, early years, and community services, prioritising delivery in areas of disadvantage, where families face the greatest barriers to support. Each Best Start Family Hub will have a children and family services professional specifically trained in working to support inclusion for children with additional needs.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department's rollout of Best Start Family Hubs will include (a) provisions and (b) support services for home-educating families.
Answered by Janet Daby
On 7 July, the government published ‘Giving every child the Best Start in Life’, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/giving-every-child-the-best-start-in-life. This outlines the government’s commitment to deliver a new Best Start Family Service to bring together parenting, healthcare and education support services, as well as creating and funding Best Start Family Hubs in every local authority to give children the best start in life by strengthening and joining up family services. The department will provide over half a billion pounds of investment in the Best Start Family Service over the 2026/29 spending review period.
Best Start Family Hubs will provide both universal and targeted support, with open-access activities and referral routes for families with complex needs. They will bring together professionals from health, education, early years, and community services, prioritising delivery in areas of disadvantage, where families face the greatest barriers to support. Each Best Start Family Hub will have a children and family services professional specifically trained in working to support inclusion for children with additional needs.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to ensure improved access to schooling for children with (a) visual and (b) hearing impairments in Chichester constituency.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
All education settings have duties under the Equality Act 2010 towards individual disabled children and young people. Part 6 of the Equality Act outlines that schools must make reasonable adjustments, including the provision of auxiliary aids and services for disabled children, to prevent them being put at a substantial disadvantage.
The government announced £740 million of high needs capital for the 2025/26 financial year to support children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and/or who are in alternative provision. This funding can be used to adapt classrooms to better meet the needs of all children, including the provision of sensory equipment within mainstream schools, alongside continuing to provide and adapt spaces to support pupils with the most complex needs in special schools. Local authorities may additionally wish to consider using this funding to invest in assistive technology interventions as a means of supporting pupils in mainstream schools.
The last local area SEND inspection by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission for West Sussex was in November 2023, which found inconsistent experiences and outcomes for children and young people with SEND. The department’s regional team has put in place systems to track outcomes against the five areas for improvement highlighted by the report, including one area specific to the sufficiency of high quality provision, and the progress made by children and young people with SEND.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to ensure that local authorities that do not reach the 20-week deadline for education, health and care plans have effective improvement plans in place.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The department wants to ensure that, where required, education, health and care (EHC) plan assessments are progressed promptly and, if needed, plans are issued as quickly as possible so that children and young people can access the support they need.
Local authorities have a statutory responsibility to assess whether children and young people have special educational needs that require an EHC plan. Plans must be issued within twenty weeks of the needs assessment commencing so that children and young people can access the support they need.
The department continues to monitor and work closely with local authorities that have issues with EHC plan timeliness. Where there are concerns about a local authority’s capacity to make the required improvements, we help them to identify the barriers to this and put in place an effective recovery plan. This includes, where needed, securing a specialist special educational needs adviser.
In the 2023 calendar year, 50.3% of new EHC plans were issued within twenty weeks. This is a slight increase compared to 2022, when the figure was 49.2%.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact removing Apprenticeship Levy funding for Level 7 apprenticeships on the public sector.
Answered by Janet Daby
I refer the hon. Member for Chichester to the answer of 9 April 2025 to Question 43275.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much and what proportion of the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund budget for the 2024–25 financial had been spent by 31 March 2025.
Answered by Janet Daby
The new criteria for the adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) will enable as many children and families as possible to access the available funding. The department always assesses the impact of changes on vulnerable children. The changes were finalised during Parliamentary recess and the announcement was made during recess to allow the fund to open and minimise further delays to children waiting for therapy. A written statement was laid on Parliament’s first day back after recess.
By 31 March 2025, the ASGSF had spent all its allocated budget.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of the planned changes to the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund on access to therapeutic support for children and families; and whether she considered communicating those changes to hon. Members prior to the parliamentary recess.
Answered by Janet Daby
The new criteria for the adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) will enable as many children and families as possible to access the available funding. The department always assesses the impact of changes on vulnerable children. The changes were finalised during Parliamentary recess and the announcement was made during recess to allow the fund to open and minimise further delays to children waiting for therapy. A written statement was laid on Parliament’s first day back after recess.
By 31 March 2025, the ASGSF had spent all its allocated budget.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to confirm individual budgets for 2025-26 to providers within the Dance and Drama Awards scheme.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department will shortly confirm final budgets for the 2025/26 academic year and is in touch with providers concerning this.