Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help support children in schools to develop their vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and listening skills.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department recognises the importance of speaking and listening skills, which has been very clearly set out by the recent Curriculum and Assessment Review. As part of our English curriculum reform, we will make sure that communication skills inherent in curriculum subjects are more clearly expressed through revised programmes of study. We will revise the English and drama programmes of study to add more clarity and specificity in speaking and listening, as well as ensuring that the reformed English language GCSE focusses on the features and use of language as a form of communication. We will also create a new oracy framework to sit alongside the national curriculum that will support primary teachers to help their pupils become confident, fluent speakers, as well as a new secondary oracy, reading and writing framework, which will enable secondary teachers to connect and embed all three of those vital skills in each of their subjects as part of a whole school strategy.
We are also considering whether and how the sequencing of grammatical content in the curriculum should be changed, to enable pupils to master concepts and use them in context.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an estimate of the number of people facing financial difficulties due to the time taken to issue Teachers' Superannuation Scheme statements for teachers pensions.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Recalculating benefits for retired members is a complex process. The teachers’ pension scheme (TPS) has around 590,000 members affected by transitional protection, 142,000 of which are rectification members. For those members retiring, these cases are relatively straightforward as no benefits are already in payment. For retired members, additional complications around tax, interest rules and system functionality required extensive consultation.
Capita, as the scheme administrator, keeps affected members informed of revised timelines through established channels, including My Pension Online and its website. The latest update is available here: https://www.teacherspensions.co.uk/news/public-news/2025/11/timeline-for-sending-out-remediable-service-statements-rss.aspx.
As responsibility for this work transitions to Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) as the new scheme administrator of the TPS in summer 2026, the department is working with TCS to finalise the timeline for issuing all remediable service statements. Once the timeline is confirmed, it will be communicated to all affected scheme members.
This is a high priority for the department, and officials continue to closely monitor progress and work with Capita to streamline processes and introduce automation where possible. Original pension benefits continue to be paid for retired members, and any pension adjustments arising from members’ choices will be backdated with interest to ensure members are not financially disadvantaged.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of people in receipt of a teachers pension impacted by the length of time taken to issue Teachers' Superannuation Scheme statements.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Recalculating benefits for retired members is a complex process. The teachers’ pension scheme (TPS) has around 590,000 members affected by transitional protection, 142,000 of which are rectification members. For those members retiring, these cases are relatively straightforward as no benefits are already in payment. For retired members, additional complications around tax, interest rules and system functionality required extensive consultation.
Capita, as the scheme administrator, keeps affected members informed of revised timelines through established channels, including My Pension Online and its website. The latest update is available here: https://www.teacherspensions.co.uk/news/public-news/2025/11/timeline-for-sending-out-remediable-service-statements-rss.aspx.
As responsibility for this work transitions to Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) as the new scheme administrator of the TPS in summer 2026, the department is working with TCS to finalise the timeline for issuing all remediable service statements. Once the timeline is confirmed, it will be communicated to all affected scheme members.
This is a high priority for the department, and officials continue to closely monitor progress and work with Capita to streamline processes and introduce automation where possible. Original pension benefits continue to be paid for retired members, and any pension adjustments arising from members’ choices will be backdated with interest to ensure members are not financially disadvantaged.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce the time taken for issuing Teachers' Superannuation Scheme statements affecting teachers pensions.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Recalculating benefits for retired members is a complex process. The teachers’ pension scheme (TPS) has around 590,000 members affected by transitional protection, 142,000 of which are rectification members. For those members retiring, these cases are relatively straightforward as no benefits are already in payment. For retired members, additional complications around tax, interest rules and system functionality required extensive consultation.
Capita, as the scheme administrator, keeps affected members informed of revised timelines through established channels, including My Pension Online and its website. The latest update is available here: https://www.teacherspensions.co.uk/news/public-news/2025/11/timeline-for-sending-out-remediable-service-statements-rss.aspx.
As responsibility for this work transitions to Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) as the new scheme administrator of the TPS in summer 2026, the department is working with TCS to finalise the timeline for issuing all remediable service statements. Once the timeline is confirmed, it will be communicated to all affected scheme members.
This is a high priority for the department, and officials continue to closely monitor progress and work with Capita to streamline processes and introduce automation where possible. Original pension benefits continue to be paid for retired members, and any pension adjustments arising from members’ choices will be backdated with interest to ensure members are not financially disadvantaged.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department provides guidance to local authorities on ensuring that children and young people moving into temporary accommodation are supported to make necessary changes to personal information and continue to access education.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Schools and colleges in England must follow the ‘Keeping children safe in education’ 2025 statutory guidance when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Local authorities have a statutory duty to ensure that all children of compulsory school age in their area are receiving suitable education. To support this duty, every local authority must have a Fair Access Protocol in place to ensure that vulnerable children, including those who are homeless, can be secured a school place as quickly as possible where they fail to secure one through the usual admissions processes.
The government has also tabled an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to introduce a new duty on local housing authorities to notify educational institutions, GP practices and health visiting services when a child is placed in temporary accommodation. Guidance will be provided for local authority housing officers and the public bodies receiving notifications.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average wait time is from initial assessment to an Education, Health, and Care Plan document being produced in East Sussex.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Information on the number and percentage of education, health and care (EHC) plans issued within the statutory 20 week deadline, with and without statutory exceptions to that deadline applying, can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/8a52558d-1cb4-4f5d-7ddd-08dde95299cd.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page one of the First Report of the Public Accounts Committee of Session 2024-25, Support for children and young people with special educational needs, HC 353, what steps her Department is taking to provide adequate funding to meet the level of high special educational needs forecasted in that report.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is providing total high needs funding in England of over £12 billion in the 2025/26 financial year for children and young people with complex special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Of that total high needs funding, East Sussex County Council is being allocated over £94 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant.
We are considering the funding required for future years and how it is to be allocated, following the conclusion of the recent spending review. Our objective is that future funding for SEND supports our plans for reforming the SEND system to boost children’s outcomes, which will be set out in further detail in a White Paper in the autumn.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve recruitment and retention of SEND teachers.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
High quality teaching is the most important in-school factor for improving outcomes for all children, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), which is why the department is committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers across our schools, both mainstream and specialist, and our colleges over the course of this parliament. We are making good progress. The workforce has grown in secondary and special schools. There were 1,435 more secondary school teachers and 911 more special and pupil referral unit teachers in 2024/25 compared to the previous year, in the schools where they are needed the most.
The Teachers’ Standards set clear expectations that teachers must understand the needs of all pupils, including those with SEND, and this is embedded in teacher training. From September 2025, all new teachers will benefit from three years of evidence-based training through the revised initial teacher training and early career framework, which has significantly more content related to supporting pupils with SEND, including content adapted from the new National Professional Qualification for special educational needs coordinators.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help support the recruitment of teachers in (a) Eastbourne constituency and (b) East Sussex.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
High-quality teaching is the in-school factor that has the biggest impact on children’s outcomes. This is why the government’s Plan for Change has committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers in secondary and special schools, and in our colleges over the course of this Parliament.
To support this key pledge, we recently announced a 4% pay award for 2025/26, building on the 5.5% pay award for 2024/25, resulting in a near 10% pay award for teachers since this government came to power. We also announced a teacher training financial incentives package worth nearly £233 million, including bursaries worth up to £29,000 tax-free, and scholarships up to £31,000 tax free. We also announced targeted retention payments worth up to £6000, with 10 schools in the Eastbourne constituency, and 31 schools in East Sussex qualifying for these.
The teaching workforce has grown by 2,346 full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers, between 2023/24 and 2024/25, in secondary and special schools. In Eastbourne constituency there are 30 more secondary and special school teachers, with 457 FTE teachers this year.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to provide guidance to schools on when the roll out free breakfast clubs will take place in Eastbourne.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Free breakfast clubs were made available in up to 750 early adopter schools from April 2025, as part of a test and learn phase in advance of a national rollout. Further details on the national rollout, including guidance for schools, will be available in due course.