Josh Newbury

We are fully committed to enabling our athletes to excel on the world stage. Decisions relating to training centres for elite athletes are a matter for the relevant martial arts governing bodies. We welcome sports working together to share expertise and resources where they feel there is mutual benefit for their sports and athletes.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is supporting this Government’s mission to extend opportunities for children and young people.

As part of this, DCMS will support the Department for Education led Curriculum and Assessment Review to develop a broader curriculum so that children and young people have access to creative education such as music, the arts and drama and the enormous range of benefits they bring to a child's development from improved language development to confidence building.

Arts Council England has supported the development of cultural partnerships in Cannock Chase to help grow audiences, opportunities and cultural infrastructure. This has included funding of £10,000 to launch a cultural compact in the borough, led by the local Cultural Education Partnership.

Local authorities are responsible for providing enough school places for children in their area. The department provides capital funding through the Basic Need grant to support local authorities to provide school places, based on their own pupil forecasts and school capacity data. Nearly £1.5 billion of allocations have been confirmed to support local authorities to create school places needed over the current and next two academic years, up to and including the academic year starting in September 2026. Local authorities’ allocations are published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/basic-need-allocations.

Contributions from housing developers are also an important way of helping to meet demand for new school places when housing developments are driving pupil numbers. It is for the Local Planning Authority (LPA) to secure developer contributions through section 106 agreements or the Community Infrastructure Levy, and to decide on the local infrastructure needs that this contribution should support. The department would encourage LPAs to secure significant contributions for new school places and work closely with colleagues planning school places in their area, including county councils when the local authority responsible for education is not the LPA.

Following the last Ofsted inspection, departmental officials have been working with Staffordshire County Council (SCC) to closely monitor progress against the areas for improvement identified by inspectors. The department appointed a special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) Advisor to support and work alongside SCC and the local area partnership.

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with SEND or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life. We are committed to taking a community-wide approach in collaboration with Local Area Partnerships, improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, as well as ensuring special schools cater to those with the most complex needs.

The Government is committed to ensuring that every part of England can rapidly benefit from devolution, moving power out of Westminster back to those who know their areas best. District councils are an important part of local government and should play an active role in devolution arrangements in their area, often as an important delivery partner.