Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance she has issued to (a) Health and Social Care Trusts and (b) fostering service providers on the treatment of foster care allowances in the assessment of Universal Credit; and what steps she is taking to ensure that potential foster carers are given full information to make an informed decision on becoming a carer.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Fostering is a devolved issue. Guidance to Health and Social Care Trusts is a matter for the devolved Northern Irish government.
The department funds Fosterline, which provides guidance on Universal Credit to fostering services and to prospective and current foster carers in England.
In England, the government sets the National Minimum Allowance to cover carers’ day‑to‑day caring costs. Fostering income is disregarded when determining eligibility for Universal Credit.
During discussions with a Department for Work & Pensions work coach, foster carer support can be tailored by recording that they are an approved foster carer and looking after children.
English fostering standards make clear that carers should receive clear information about the financial support they will receive before they start looking after a child. The department has also launched a call for evidence which included questions on financial transparency, to improve the understanding and consistency of financial support that is available to foster carers.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools have evacuation chairs for pupils, staff and visitors with mobility impairments.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Strangford to the answer of 5 January 2026 to Question 100857.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure vulnerable children in care are given the best start in life.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
Reforming children’s social care is essential to ensuring vulnerable children have the best start in life. We are shifting the system toward early, preventative support so more families can stay safely together.
Our plans will help children remain with their families wherever possible, increase support for kinship carers and foster families and improve outcomes for children in care and care leavers, including through the rollout of the Staying Close programme. We will also fix the care market to reduce profiteering and put children’s needs first, alongside strengthening multi‑agency approaches to keep children safe.
Backed by £2.4 billion over the next three years, national reforms to Family Help, Multi‑Agency Child Protection and Family Group Decision Making will be delivered through the Families First Partnership programme, with local authorities deciding how best to use these resources to support vulnerable children in care. A further £1.5 billion will improve access to affordable early education, raise early years quality and strengthen family services.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help tackle educational underachievement.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
All children and young people should have every opportunity to succeed, but too many face barriers holding them back, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The government’s Plan for Change sets our intention to give every child the best start in life, setting a milestone of a record proportion of children starting school ready to learn, backed by investment close to £1.5 billion over the next three years, subject to the spending review.
High and rising standards are the key to strengthening outcomes for every child. The department is driving standards in every school through regional improvement for standards and excellence teams, a refreshed high quality curriculum and assessment system, and recruiting an additional 6,500 additional teachers.
The Schools White Paper will build on our existing work to drive school standards and improve outcomes for all children.
This is alongside wider work to improve outcomes for all children, including tackling child poverty and our Post-16 Education and Skills Strategy.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children were entitled to free school meals in each of the last three years.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
The department publishes data on free school meal (FSM) eligibility and the number of eligible pupils taking FSMs on school census day in the annual Schools, Pupils and their Characteristics accredited official statistics, which can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics/2024-25.
The latest figures were published in June 2025, and the next figures will be published in summer 2026.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of further and higher education funding.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department has increased investment in 16-19 education by £400 million in the 2025/26 financial year. From the Spending Review, we will invest nearly £800 million extra in 2026/27, including and fully consolidating the £190 million boost to 2025/26 funding provided in May.
The department is investing in education and skills training for adults through the Adult Skills Fund (ASF), spending £1.4 billion in the 2025/26 academic year. The ASF fully funds or co-funds skills provision for eligible adults aged 19 and above from pre-entry to level 3, to support adults to gain the skills they need for work, an apprenticeship or further learning.
To support long‑term stability in higher education, the department is increasing maximum tuition fees in line with inflation, by 2.71% in 2026/27 and 2.68% in 2027/28, in addition to the 3.1% increase delivered for the current academic year. The government provides £1.31 billion in Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG) funding for the 2025/26 academic year to support teaching, high‑cost subjects and disadvantaged students, and we are working with the Office for Students to reform the SPG to better target priority skills needs and access and participation.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many days of school closure were there in 2025 due to adverse weather conditions.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Decisions about school closures are made by individual settings and responsible bodies based on local risk assessments. Closure should be a last resort, with schools expected to remain open where it is safe. If a school must close unexpectedly, such as due to adverse weather, no attendance register is taken and the session is recorded as ‘not possible’ for statistical purposes.
During temporary closures, schools should consider providing remote education in line with departmental guidance. Pupils receiving remote education are still recorded as absent using the appropriate absence code. Schools should monitor engagement with remote education, although this is not formally recorded in attendance data.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in England and Wales in primary school have a classroom assistant for part of their school day.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
The department does not hold data on whether a child has access to a teaching assistant full time or for part of their school day.
Schools in England are asked to record the headcount and FTE of their teaching assistants. In the November 2024 school workforce census, there were a reported 288,800 teaching assistants (FTE).
Information on the school workforce in England, including the number of teaching assistants in state-funded schools, is published in the ‘School workforce in England’ statistical publication. The publication is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england/2024.
These figures have been available since 5 June 2025.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children are awaiting a statement of educational needs in England and Wales.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
The special educational needs and disability code of practice published in 2014 replaced all statements of special educational needs with education, health and care (EHC) plans. No new statements were issued and all existing statements were converted to EHC plans by 2019.
The department does not hold data for the number of children and young people awaiting EHC plans.
The number of children and young people for whom an EHC needs assessment was requested during 2024 and who are waiting for that assessment to be completed as of January 2025 is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/ce81a1c1-24b4-4157-fc02-08de55ac55be.
The number of EHC needs assessments carried out during 2024, and the number where the outcome of that assessment is ongoing as of January 2025, is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/cee798f6-fb96-459e-ac19-08de532c2243.
The figures are from the 2025 EHC plans publication, which is available at:
These figures have been available since 26th June 2025.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in England and Wales in primary school have a classroom assistant full time.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
The department does not hold data on whether a child has access to a teaching assistant full time or for part of their school day.
Schools in England are asked to record the headcount and (FTE of their teaching assistants. In the November 2024 school workforce census, there were a reported 288,800 teaching assistants (FTE).
Information on the school workforce in England, including the number of teaching assistants in state-funded schools, is published in the ’School workforce in England statistical publication. The publication is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england/2024.
These figures have been available since 5 June 2025.