Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to include young carers within the daily attendance recording.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department wants to ensure that young carers have the best life chances by supporting them to access and thrive in education. We recognise that absence from school can be a symptom and indicator of wider needs within a family, and that the early identification of attendance issues is crucial.
Young carers are now included in the school census, providing annual data to establish long-term trends and help schools develop identification and support strategies. The department continues to monitor the quality of data on young carers collected via school registers, informing consideration on whether to include young carers in the daily data collection in the future.
The statutory ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance, in place since 19 August 2024, specifically references young carers and promotes a ‘support first’ approach. The department has also provided local authorities with access to code level breakdowns of attendance data at pupil level, enabling local authorities to cross-reference real-time data sources to monitor the attendance of pupils identified as young carers.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made on the potential impact of extending the Armed Forces Covenant Duty across her Departmental responsibilities.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Horsham to the answer of 8 September 2025 to Question 73095.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she will take to ensure young people are supported in choosing from the range of (a) technical and (b) vocational options available to them after the end of the Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge contract in summer 2025.
Answered by Janet Daby
Enabling access to apprenticeships and technical education remains a key part of this government’s education policy. There is a range of support available to schools, colleges, parents, careers and young people to support careers education and the promotion of apprenticeship and technical education options.
Young people, parents and carers, as well as schools and colleges seeking support to raise awareness of apprenticeships and technical education can continue to access:
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to cover costs to schools for Sports and PE funding between July 2025 and October 2025.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The physical education (PE) and sport premium helps all eligible primary schools to make additional and sustainable improvements to the PE, sport and physical activity they provide. Schools can decide how to use it, in line with the conditions of the grant. It does not fund specific provision.
The government has provided £320 million of funding for the primary PE and sport premium in this academic year and has recently committed to continuing this level of funding for the 2025/26 academic year. As in previous years, the funding will be provided in two payments, in the autumn and spring terms.