Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the number of schools that stop offering hot meals to children during heatwaves.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department has not made an assessment of the number of schools that stop offering hot meals during periods of hot weather.
Beyond the School Food Standards, decisions about catering arrangements are a matter for individual schools and their catering providers. The department’s expectation is that schools remain open wherever it is safe to do so, and schools may make operational adjustments in response to local conditions and risk assessments during period of extreme heat. The department’s guidance emphasises the importance of ensuring pupils have access to food, water and appropriate facilities, while taking practical steps to keep children safe and comfortable in hot weather.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to protect the wellbeing of children in schools during heatwaves.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department takes periods of hot weather and heatwaves seriously and has published a climate risk assessment. We continue to support responsible bodies and schools to provide education in a safe environment.
To support them, the department has also published guidance to support education settings during hot weather, available at: https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2026/06/hot-weather-and-heatwaves-guidance-for-schools-and-other-education-settings/. This advice draws on guidance from the UK Health Security Agency. In most cases, schools are the safest place for children during hot weather, as staff can actively monitor pupils, ensure regular hydration, and make adjustments to keep them cool. Children may also not be any cooler at home than in school, as recent analysis by the National Housing Federation and the Chartered Institute of Housing shows that 1.6 million children are currently living in overheated homes.
We are improving infrastructure through the Education Estates Strategy, including a £710 million renewal and retrofit programme to 2029/30. We are also investing almost £3 billion annually by 2034/25 in capital maintenance and almost £20 billion in the School Rebuilding Programme to rebuild over 750 schools with buildings that are future proofed against the risks of climate change.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department holds data on the number of schools with air conditioning installed in each local authority.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department holds information on air-conditioning units identified through the Condition Data Collection 2 (CDC2) programme, which surveyed state-funded schools between 2021 and 2026.
The information collected reflects the position observed at the time of the survey visits. The CDC surveys are visual and non-intrusive, and air-conditioning units are recorded only where they are observed during a survey visit.
The department has published a climate change risk assessment for the education sector and is improving climate resilience across the education estate through programmes, including the £710 million renewal and retrofit programme and the school rebuilding programme, which will deliver climate-resilient buildings at more than 750 schools.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support schools to install air conditioning systems.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department takes periods of hot weather and heatwaves seriously and has published a climate risk assessment which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/impact-of-uk-climate-change-risk-on-the-delivery-of-education/summary-of-findings-in-relation-to-3-climate-risks-overheating-flooding-and-water-scarcity.
We are improving infrastructure and strengthening resilience across the education estate through our Education Estates Strategy. This includes a new £710 million renewal and retrofit programme to improve condition and climate resilience, investment of almost £3 billion per year by 2034/35 in capital maintenance to improve the condition of the school and college estate and investment of almost £20 billion through to 2034/35 in the school rebuilding programme, delivering climate‑resilient buildings at over 750 schools.
The department has recently updated the design standards, covering overheating risk assessments which account for rising temperatures associated with climate change, as well as external shading and cross ventilation. Our improve and renew guidance also outlines measures that could be implemented to mitigate overheating. This guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/improve-and-renew-developing-your-long-term-estates-plan/improve-and-renew-your-long-term-estates-plan.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to meet that the commitment set out in the Post 16 Skills White Paper to maintain 16–18 funding per student in real terms.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the pay gap between Further Education lecturers and school teachers; and whether she is taking steps support FE colleges in recruiting and retaining skilled teachers to deliver technical education.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The statutory requirements for maintained schoolteachers' pay are set nationally subject to recommendations from the School Teachers’ Review Body. In 2023/24, the median FTE salary for teachers in secondary schools was £47,666.
Further education (FE) colleges have statutory autonomy over the pay of their staff. Colleges should have the freedom to meet local technical skills needs within their own local circumstances, and the government does not set college teacher pay. In 2023/24, the median FTE average salary for teachers on permanent or fixed term contracts in FE colleges was £36,316 and £47,133 in sixth form colleges.
FE teachers are central to delivering high-quality technical education. Last year, we announced an additional £190 million broadly equivalent to the pay award in schools for colleges and other 16 to 19 providers to help them address the recruitment and retention of specialist FE teachers. Our targeted retention incentive offer is designed to retain eligible FE teachers in technical subjects with payments of up to £6,000 after tax. In its first year, nearly 6,000 teachers received a payment.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of recent 16–18 funding decisions on the Government’s stated ambition to develop a high‑skill workforce; and whether she plans to review the funding framework to ensure Further Education colleges can deliver the expected level of technical and vocational training.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department has made significant increases to the average funding per student since the 2024/25 academic year, an expected per student increase of 10.5%. We expect that the average per student funding in 2026/27 will stand at £6,874, compared to £6,219 in the 2024/25 academic year.
In the 2026/27 academic year, we are also introducing a high value courses premium (HVCP) for construction. This is additional funding to encourage and support an increase in skilled construction workers. We will continue to fund the demographic increase in 16 to 19-year-olds, providing significant investment to ensure there are valuable and high-quality post-16 places for every student that wants one, supporting our economy and enabling young people to be able to progress and thrive.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has issued guidance to early years educational settings on the use of screens in nurseries.
Answered by Olivia Bailey
The ‘Early years foundation stage’ (EYFS) statutory framework sets the standards and requirements early years providers must meet to ensure children have the best start in life and are kept healthy and safe. Details about the framework are available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68c024cb8c6d992f23edd79c/Early_years_foundation_stage_statutory_framework_-_for_group_and_school-based_providers.pdf.pdf.
The department has published guidance to inform practitioners about online safety and appropriate device usage in early years settings, including an ‘Internet safety’ page on the Help for Early Years Providers platform here: https://help-for-early-years-providers.education.gov.uk/health-and-wellbeing/internet-safety. This includes information on how device use affects development, outlining both benefits and challenges.
Following the publication of new screen time guidance for parents, we will update this page to provide further emphasis on screen time and outline considerations around adult use of technology within settings. We will also incorporate updated guidance into the EYFS frameworks and review Development Matters to include information on screen time and digital literacy.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of local government reorganisation on educational services for children with SEND.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department fully recognises the importance of ensuring that any structural changes to local government protect the safety, wellbeing, and life chances of children and young people. The department is already working closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to put in place resource, structures and processes that support effective reorganisation, including in relation to provision of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services, to ensure that we improve outcomes for children as these changes take place.
The department is reviewing all local government reorganisation (LGR) proposals and will provide feedback to MHCLG, with a particular emphasis on how proposals will ensure the effective delivery of SEND, children’s social care and education services and reforms. The department will also work with individual local authorities throughout the LGR process to ensure local, contextual knowledge is embedded into feedback provided.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the independent report entitled Independent review of children's social care: final report, published on 23 May 2022, how much of the recommended new spending of £2.6 billion has been allocated to date.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is driving the biggest transformation of children’s social care in a generation. Long-term investment is essential to shift the system away from high-cost crisis responses towards earlier support.
In 2025/26, the department more than doubled direct investment in children’s social care prevention services through the Children’s Social Care Prevention Grant. Now we are going even further to reform children’s social care. We are continuing the £523 million available for the Families First Partnership programme in 2025/26 for each year of the Local Government Finance Settlement to 2028/29. We have invested a further £300 million over two years (2026/27 and 2027/28) from the Transformation Fund announced at the Spending Review, and £547 million of new funding announced in the Local Government Funding Policy Statement, meaning £2.4 billion over three years, all ringfenced for prevention and de-escalation. Together this will help to reduce reliance on costly acute services, strengthen earlier intervention and drive forward reforms to children’s social care.
We are also investing £560 million capital funding to refurbish and expand children’s homes and provide more high-quality foster care placements.
Additional funding beyond 2027/28 is subject to the next Spending Review.