Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 15 July 2025 to Question 65451 on the School Support Staff Negotiating Body, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of establishing the body in shadow form ahead of the introduction of secondary legislation.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
We anticipate the School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB) will be operational from April 2026. In advance of this, departmental officials have established a regular working group with recognised trade unions representing school support staff and employer representative organisations to provide a forum for stakeholders to give views on the design of the body. We also engage with wider stakeholders who can share knowledge and expertise on the school support staff sector.
It would not be appropriate to establish a more formal shadow SSSNB before we have confirmed which staff are in scope of the SSSNB. We have consulted on this matter and expect to publish findings in the autumn. There is also a duty for my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education to consult the Trades Union Congress before appointing employee representatives. It is important that we work closely with stakeholders but that we do not pre-empt the findings from these consultations.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions her Department has held with the (a) Welsh and (b) Scottish governments on the potential impact of the establishment of School Support Staff Negotiating Body on (i) recruitment and (ii) retention in border areas.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
Education is a devolved matter, and the application of the School Support Staff Negotiating Body provisions in the Employment Rights Bill is therefore for state-funded schools in England only.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what (a) published and (b) unpublished research her Department has considered as part of its preparation for establishing the School Support Staff Negotiating Body; and what the titles are of each piece of research.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
This government values and recognises the professionalism of the entire school workforce, which is why the School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB) is being established through the Employment Rights Bill.
To inform the establishment and operation of the SSSNB, the department has commissioned new and detailed research into the role and value of school support staff. The research was conducted by Ipsos and findings are expected to be published by around late 2025 and early 2026. The government also included a call for evidence on pay and conditions for school support staff as part of its consultation on setting up the SSSNB, which closed on 18 July, with findings expected to be published in the autumn.
Beyond this, departmental officials regularly review published research and evidence on school support staff, including statistical publications such as the School Workforce Census, survey data, and the Education Endowment Foundation’s publications on teaching assistants.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which children's centres closed in England between May 2010 and July 2024 by (a) name, (b) postcode and (c) date of closure.
Answered by Janet Daby
Data on children’s centres is supplied by local authorities via the department’s Get Information about Schools database portal at: https://www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/.
Based on the information supplied by local authorities, the attached document provides details of the name and postcode and date of closure of Sure Start children’s centres that closed in England between May 2010 and July 2024.
The list of children’s centres closed since May 2010 and July 2024 is based on information supplied by local authorities as of 8 July 2025. These figures may be different to previous answers, and could change again in future, since local authorities may update the database at any time.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department's press release entitled Over half a million more children to get free school meals, published on 4 June 2025, if she will make an estimate of how many additional children will be made eligible for free school meals from September 2026 in (a) the West Midlands, (b) the Birmingham local authority area and (c) the Birmingham Northfield constituency.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
This government is determined to tackle child poverty and spread growth and opportunity to every family in every part of our country. We have now announced the biggest expansion of free school meal eligibility in England in a generation. We will give every child whose family is in receipt of Universal Credit the entitlement to free school meals (FSM) from September 2026. This means that over half a million children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds will become eligible for a free, nutritious lunchtime meal every school day. This will lead to higher attainment, improved behaviour and better outcomes, meaning children get the best possible education and chance to succeed in work and life.
Crucially, this will lift 100,000 children across England out of poverty and put £500 back into parents’ pockets, supporting families with decisive action to improve lives ahead of the Child Poverty Strategy coming later this year.
Department for Work and Pensions data shows that 11,350 children in the Birmingham Northfield constituency will be eligible for FSM from September 2026. Following publication of the updated school census on 5 June, the department will publish further information on the numbers of children currently in receipt of means-tested FSM and the numbers of eligible children, by parliamentary constituency, in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her spokesperson's comments in the Birmingham Mail article entitled The reason staff at a Birmingham school decided a last resort strike, published on 7 March 2025, whether she plans to make an Academy Order for the George Dixon Primary School in Birmingham.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
High and rising standards are at the heart of this government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity so every child can achieve and thrive.
An academy order for George Dixon Primary School in Birmingham was issued in June 2023 and remains in place. Departmental officials continue to work with the local authority on next steps. A request has been made by the school’s governing body to revoke the academy order, and a decision will be shared with them shortly.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 11 April to Question 40395 on Further Education: Special Educational Needs, whether any ringfenced capital grants have been made to the SEND-specialist further education sector in the last ten years; and what information her Department holds on capital expenditure by SEND-specialist further education providers.
Answered by Janet Daby
The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or who require alternative provision sits with local authorities.
The department provides funding to local authorities to support them to meet this duty. Local authorities can spend their funding across the 0 to 25 age range, including in special post-16 institutions or other further education settings. The need for investment across this age range will differ between different local authorities, dependent on local circumstances, and it is therefore for local authorities to determine how best to prioritise available funding to address their local priorities.
The department has published £740 million of local authority high needs capital allocations for the 2025/26 financial year. Although this funding is not ringfenced and local authorities have discretion over how they spend their funding, we do ask local authorities to complete and return a grant assurance data return each year to provide details on the projects they intend to fund using their high needs provision capital allocation funding.
Whilst local authorities are not required to publish these returns, the department does encourage them to consider doing so to aid local transparency.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her timetable is for appointing a new Chair of the School Support Staff Negotiating Body.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The government values and recognises the professionalism of the entire school workforce. School support staff play a vital role in children’s education and are crucial to ensuring we give children the best possible life chances.
The School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB) will mean that employers and employee representatives come together to negotiate terms and conditions and pay for school support staff, to ensure that support staff are properly recognised and rewarded for the work they do.
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education plans to follow the usual public appointments process and appoint a Chair for the SSSNB after primary legislation receives Royal Assent.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to support the SEND-specialist Further Education sector; and what central capital grants have been provided to that sector during the last ten years.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department has now published allocations for £740 million of high needs capital funding for the 2025/26 financial year. Of this funding, Birmingham has been allocated a total of just under £15 million which can be used to deliver new places in mainstream and special schools, as well as other specialist settings including early years, post-16 settings and alternative provision. It can also be used to improve the suitability and accessibility of existing buildings.
This is in addition to over £3 billion of high needs capital funding allocated to local authorities since 2018.
The department has also announced allocations of high needs revenue funding, which will be allocated as part of the dedicated schools grant to local authorities, and which they can use to support specialist further education provision for young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), particularly those with education, health and care plans, as well as children with SEND in the schools sector. High needs funding will total over £12 billion in the 2025/26 financial year.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of children in state-funded schools were educated in special schools in each year from 2010-11.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The department publishes data on the number of children in special schools and the total number of pupils in state-funded schools in the following publication: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england. Data since 2015/16 can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/9e7bff83-c9e9-4503-9355-08dd6ba01329. The same data for years 2010/11 to 2014/15 can be accessed at:: https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.publishing.service.gov.uk%2Fmedia%2F5a80340040f0b62305b89c8b%2FSFR25-2015_TABLES_NATIONAL.xlsx&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK.