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.
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
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
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
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
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 - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
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.