Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with (a) primary and (b) secondary schools on support for pupils living with ME.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department engages regularly with schools on a range of issues.
Schools should ensure they are aware of any pupils with medical conditions and have policies and processes in place to ensure these can be well managed. Governing bodies must ensure that the arrangements they put in place are sufficient to meet their statutory responsibilities and that policies, plans, procedures and systems are properly and effectively implemented. This includes the duty under Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions and the duties under the Equality Act 2010.
Policies should set out how staff will be supported in carrying out their role to support pupils, including how training needs are assessed and how training is commissioned and provided. Any member of school staff providing support to a pupil with medical needs should have received suitable training.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure teachers receive the necessary training to support pupils with ME/CFS.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department engages regularly with schools on a range of issues.
Schools should ensure they are aware of any pupils with medical conditions and have policies and processes in place to ensure these can be well managed. Governing bodies must ensure that the arrangements they put in place are sufficient to meet their statutory responsibilities and that policies, plans, procedures and systems are properly and effectively implemented. This includes the duty under Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions and the duties under the Equality Act 2010.
Policies should set out how staff will be supported in carrying out their role to support pupils, including how training needs are assessed and how training is commissioned and provided. Any member of school staff providing support to a pupil with medical needs should have received suitable training.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure teachers in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools remain politically neutral when teaching.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Ashfield to the answer of 9 April 2025 to Question 43267.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department holds on the proportion of children choosing the EBacc subjects for GCSEs in (a) Ashfield constituency, (b) Nottinghamshire, (c) the East Midlands and (d) England.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department publishes data on entry into English Baccalaureate subjects in the annual Key stage 4 performance statistics release available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/key-stage-4-performance/2024-25. The latest data has been available since 16 October 2025.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 1 September 2025 to Question 73665 on Pupils: English Language, what proportion of children starting primary school cannot speak English to an acceptable standard.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department does not hold specific data on the proportion of children starting primary school who are unable to speak English to an acceptable standard.
Information on teacher assessments of children’s development at the end of the early years foundation stage (EYFS), specifically the end of the academic year in which a child turns five, is published as part of the annual statistical release, which can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/early-years-foundation-stage-profile-results/2023-24.
The latest data on the percentage of children at expected level for communication and language, including speaking, can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/d481e08f-ef55-4809-f8d6-08de0724494a.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to remove interest rates on student loans.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Student loans are subject to interest to ensure that those who can afford to do so contribute to the full cost of their degree. To consider both students and taxpayers, and ensure the real value of the loans over the repayment term, interest rates are linked to inflation.
Interest rates do not impact monthly repayments made by student loan borrowers. Student loan repayments are based on a borrower’s monthly or weekly income, not the interest rate or the amount borrowed. Regular repayments are based on a fixed percentage of earnings above the applicable student loan repayment threshold.
No repayments are made for earnings below the relevant student loan repayment threshold. For lower earners who will not repay much of their loan, any outstanding debt, including interest built up, is cancelled after the loan term ends or in case of death or disability, at no detriment to the borrower.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether their Department has run any (a) recruitment and (b) internship schemes aimed to increase the number of people from underrepresented groups in the workforce in the last year.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Civil Service is committed to a truly diverse workforce and culture of openness and inclusivity, not as ends in themselves but as means of delivering better outcomes to the citizens we serve. As set out in the Civil Service People Plan 2024 - 2027, we are committed to ensuring we attract, develop and retain talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds to create a modern Civil Service, now and for the future.
Civil Service recruitment must follow the rules set out in legislation within the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act (CRaGA) 2010, which outlines the requirements to ensure that civil servants are recruited on merit, via fair and open competition.
Going Forward into Employment (GFiE) accredits life chance recruitment pathways across government. GFiE pathways recruit people from a wide range of backgrounds into the Civil Service, including people from low socio-economic backgrounds, prison leavers, veterans, carers and care leavers. People recruited by GFiE develop skills, gain experience and build a career, contributing to the Opportunity Mission and to the wider economy. The department ran the annual GFiE accredited Care Leaver Internship Scheme in August 2025.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate of the total cost of (a) translations and (b) interpretation services in (i) primary and (ii) secondary schools in each of the last three years.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The schools national funding formula (NFF) allocates core funding to local areas for mainstream schools. The NFF includes an English as an additional language (EAL) factor. Pupils attract this funding to their school if their first language is not English and if they entered the state education system in England in the past three years. The table below shows the total funding allocated through the EAL factor from the 2021/22 to 2025/26 financial years:
Financial Year | Primary EAL funding | Secondary EAL funding | Total EAL funding | EAL funding as a proportion of total NFF funding |
2021/22 | £311 m | £108 m | £420 m | 1.1% |
2022/23 | £307 m | £105 m | £412 m | 1.1% |
2023/24 | £318 m | £116 m | £434 m | 1.0% |
2024/25 | £343 m | £141 m | £484 m | 1.1% |
2025/26 | £365 m | £173 m | £539 m | 1.1% |
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding has been allocated to local authorities to support (a) primary and (b) secondary school pupils who have English as a second language in each of the last five years.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The schools national funding formula (NFF) allocates core funding to local areas for mainstream schools. The NFF includes an English as an additional language (EAL) factor. Pupils attract this funding to their school if their first language is not English and if they entered the state education system in England in the past three years. The table below shows the total funding allocated through the EAL factor from the 2021/22 to 2025/26 financial years:
Financial Year | Primary EAL funding | Secondary EAL funding | Total EAL funding | EAL funding as a proportion of total NFF funding |
2021/22 | £311 m | £108 m | £420 m | 1.1% |
2022/23 | £307 m | £105 m | £412 m | 1.1% |
2023/24 | £318 m | £116 m | £434 m | 1.0% |
2024/25 | £343 m | £141 m | £484 m | 1.1% |
2025/26 | £365 m | £173 m | £539 m | 1.1% |
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate of the total cost of support provided to pupils with English as an additional language in (a) primary and (b) secondary education in each of the last five years.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The schools national funding formula (NFF) allocates core funding to local areas for mainstream schools. The NFF includes an English as an additional language (EAL) factor. Pupils attract this funding to their school if their first language is not English and if they entered the state education system in England in the past three years. The table below shows the total funding allocated through the EAL factor from the 2021/22 to 2025/26 financial years:
Financial Year | Primary EAL funding | Secondary EAL funding | Total EAL funding | EAL funding as a proportion of total NFF funding |
2021/22 | £311 m | £108 m | £420 m | 1.1% |
2022/23 | £307 m | £105 m | £412 m | 1.1% |
2023/24 | £318 m | £116 m | £434 m | 1.0% |
2024/25 | £343 m | £141 m | £484 m | 1.1% |
2025/26 | £365 m | £173 m | £539 m | 1.1% |