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 - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
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, 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 - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
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 - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department will shortly confirm final budgets for the 2025/26 academic year and is in touch with providers concerning this.
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 adjust the means testing methodology for the Music and Dance Scheme to reflect the cost of VAT on fees.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
For the 2024/25 academic year, the department adjusted the Music and Dance Scheme bursary contribution for families with a relevant income below £45,000 to account for the VAT introduction from January 2025. This methodology will be reviewed for future years and details will be set out in due course.
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 (a) make support for the Music and Dance Scheme permanent and (b) uplift the threshold for that support to £55,000.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
For the 2024/25 academic year, the department adjusted the Music and Dance Scheme bursary contribution for families with a relevant income below £45,000 to account for the VAT introduction from January 2025. This methodology will be reviewed for future years and details will be set out in due course.
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 have discussions with stakeholders to create a proportional route for registration for (a) smaller providers (b) specialist providers, including (i) all such providers and (ii) those that offer Trinity College London’s Level 5 and 6 Professional Performing Arts diplomas, with the Office for Students to access the Lifelong Learning Entitlement.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Chichester to the answer of 28 March 2025 to Question 36314.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made with the Office for Students on implementing the third category of registration for (a) smaller and (b) specialist providers of (i) Trinity College London level five and six Professional Performing Arts Diplomas and (ii) other qualifications in the context of accessing the Lifelong Learning Entitlement.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is fully committed to delivering the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) as set out in the Autumn Budget 2024. From the LLE’s launch in January 2027, the Office for Students (OfS) will regulate all providers offering LLE-funded provision.
The OfS has made clear that they expect to restart work on registrations, degree awarding powers and university titles in August 2025, although the changes will remain under review until then. The department understands the OfS will keep providers updated throughout this period about their plans, including confirming application arrangements from August onwards. As the independent regulator, it is for the OfS to process registrations in the manner they deem most appropriate.
The government will continue to engage closely with the OfS and providers to support timely transition arrangements for the launch of the LLE. The government, together with the OfS, will provide further information on the regulation of providers under the LLE in spring 2025.
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 undertake a review of the maintained nursery school supplementary funding formula.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Additional supplementary funding is provided to local authorities for maintained nursery schools (MNS) in their areas. In the 2025/26 financial year, the initial budget for MNS supplementary funding is £92.6 million, subject to final budget update. The national average hourly rate for MNS supplementary funding in financial year 2025/26 is £5.90, the minimum supplementary funding rate is £5.27 and the cap on the hourly rate is £10.
Changes to the MNS supplementary funding formula were made in the 2023/24 financial year including an additional £10 million investment and an introduction of a minimum hourly funding rate to distribute funding evenly across all local authorities with MNS. At present, there are no plans to review the formula beyond this.
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 safeguarding leads in schools being violence against women and girls accredited.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Children’s wellbeing and safety, including reducing violence against women and girls, is a key priority for this government. A robust safeguarding framework is in place that schools and colleges must have regard to in the form of keeping children safe in education (KCSIE).
This guidance is clear that every school must have a designated safeguarding lead (DSL) who should take lead responsibility for safeguarding and child protection. Annex C of the guidance sets out the role and expectations placed on DSLs.
The department does not prescribe the training and accreditation that DSLs should receive. However, DSLs are required to undergo the training needed to provide them with the knowledge and skills required to carry out their role effectively within their school and community context. This includes how to identify, understand and respond to the specific needs that increase the vulnerability of children, as well as the many specific harms that put children at risk, which includes violence against women and girls.
Education can be a significant protective factor for children who are vulnerable, either as victims and/or perpetrators of violence against women and girls. KCSIE requires schools to implement whole-school behaviour policies to reduce incidents of violence, put pastoral support in place to support both victims and perpetrators of violence, and to ensure that all school staff understand their role within their local multi-agency safeguarding arrangements in escalating concerns about children to local authority services.
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 (a) schools and (b) education providers statutory safeguarding partners.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The involvement of education and childcare agencies is fundamental at all levels of safeguarding arrangements. The department knows that teachers and educators are often the first to spot warning signs of abuse and neglect and are the largest referrer of cases into children’s social care, after the police.
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which the government introduced into the House of Commons in December of last year, will place a duty on safeguarding partners to automatically include education and childcare settings in their safeguarding arrangements. The duty on safeguarding partners will ensure education is consistently involved in multi-agency safeguarding arrangements across England. It will include include all education and childcare agencies, at both operational and strategic levels of their safeguarding arrangements, so they have a clear role in safeguarding locally.
These measures include all education settings, covering early years and childcare settings through to schools, colleges and alternative provision, so that opportunities to keep children safe are not missed.
This legislation enables the voice of education to influence the decisions of safeguarding partners and recognises the key role that education plays in keeping children safe.