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 increase awareness among parents of safe sleeping practices for babies.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Advice on safe sleeping is provided to parents through health visitors, midwives and early years professionals at key points during pregnancy and a child’s early months, in line with nationally recognised guidance. Best Start Family Hubs act as a front door to this support, bringing together health, early years and family services so parents can easily access trusted, in-person advice on infant care, including safe sleeping.
Alongside this, the Best Start in Life website, which launched on 1 September 2025, brings together information and support from across government in one place, making it easier for parents to find clear, reliable guidance on topics such as safe sleeping when they need it.
The department is continuing to invest in Best Start Family Hubs, strengthening their role as a universal access point for families and ensuring parents can benefit from both high-quality local support and joined-up digital services. These hubs are part of a wider Best Start in Life strategy, backed by over £900 million over the next three years, to expand family services, bring support together in one place, and make it easier for parents to get the help they need. Hundreds of Best Start Family Hubs are now open across England, with more on the way as we work towards having hubs in every local authority by 2028.
We are also updating the wording in the Early Years Foundation stage statutory framework to make the safe sleep requirements clearer. This new wording will come into force in September 2026, subject to parliamentary procedure. I have sent a letter to early years providers via Ofsted outlining these changes. Additionally, we have published a safer sleep article on the ‘Help for early years providers’ platform to help early years settings understand how to ensure babies and children are kept safe whilst sleeping.
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 improve standards in schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The ‘Every Child Achieving and Thriving’ White Paper sets a clear path to ensuring every child can achieve and thrive, from tackling the scourge of child poverty to securing the highest school standards for all young people.
When children born under this government finish secondary school, it is our ambition that all children achieve higher standards and the disadvantage gap will be halved. We will take children’s education experience from narrow to broad. This includes a renewed curriculum, setting children up to thrive in the modern world. Our reformed curriculum will deliver high standards for all, delivering strong foundations in oracy, reading, writing and maths, and offering a triple science entitlement for all pupils. This is alongside improving transitions and providing an enrichment entitlement for every child.
We will ensure children who for too long have been sidelined are included, raising standards and providing stretch and challenge for all no matter their starting point, targeting deprivation funding to boost outcomes for the most disadvantaged children and launching two place-focused missions to provide a blueprint for national change. Our ambitious special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reforms will ensure children and young people with SEND get the support they need. The government consultation on SEND is ongoing until 18 May 2026.
We will move children and communities from withdrawn to engaging with education. We will introduce a new pupil engagement framework, support schools to improve behaviour, attendance and parental engagement, and give parents a clearer view of their child’s education.
To deliver this change, we will strengthen the foundations of our education system. We will invest in high quality staff, promote school collaboration, drive standards through new Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence teams and realise opportunities from data, artificial intelligence and technology.
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 the adequacy of support guidelines in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools for children with autism.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
To ensure teachers can support children before needs escalate, the department will develop National Inclusion Standards that set out evidence-informed tools, strategies and approaches for educators across the 0 to 25 system, to use in identifying and supporting children and young people with additional needs.
Access to support should not be dependent on a child or young person having a diagnosis. Educators will be able to draw on the National Inclusion Standards to put in place evidence-based support as needs are identified, including for autistic children and young people.
From this year, schools will be held to account on the use of their inclusion funding in the form of an Inclusion Strategy. This will ensure schools are taking steps through evidence-based activities and approaches to embed inclusive practice. Ofsted will be able to draw on the strategy to assess how effectively leaders are planning for, implementing and delivering inclusive practice.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment the Government has made of the connection between speech, language and communication needs for children and their long-term employment prospects in (a) Ashfield constituency and (b) nationally.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
We set out our plans to reform the system of support for children with special educational needs in the Schools White Paper and special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) consultation document and will continue to invest in the Nuffield Early Language Intervention and an extension of the Early Language Support for Every Child programme. This includes £1.8 billion for the new Experts at Hand offer, £15 million to establish new speech and language therapy advanced practitioners, and £200 million to train staff in mainstream settings to better support pupils with SEND, including speech, language and communication needs (SLCN).
Nationally, in 2024/25, 72.5% of those with no primary special educational need achieved grades 4 or above in English and maths GCSEs, compared to 28.6% of those with SLCN as a primary need. In Nottinghamshire these figures were 73.7% and 34.3% respectively. This data is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/key-stage-4-performance/2024-25.
Nationally, for 2022/23 academic year study leavers, 68.0% of those who had completed 16 to 18 study with SLCN as a primary need were in sustained education, apprenticeships or employment in the following academic year, compared to 80.7% of those with no identified need. The data is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/16-18-destination-measures/2023-24.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment the Government has made of the connection between speech, language and communication needs and educational attainment in (a) Ashfield constituency and (b) nationally.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
We set out our plans to reform the system of support for children with special educational needs in the Schools White Paper and special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) consultation document and will continue to invest in the Nuffield Early Language Intervention and an extension of the Early Language Support for Every Child programme. This includes £1.8 billion for the new Experts at Hand offer, £15 million to establish new speech and language therapy advanced practitioners, and £200 million to train staff in mainstream settings to better support pupils with SEND, including speech, language and communication needs (SLCN).
Nationally, in 2024/25, 72.5% of those with no primary special educational need achieved grades 4 or above in English and maths GCSEs, compared to 28.6% of those with SLCN as a primary need. In Nottinghamshire these figures were 73.7% and 34.3% respectively. This data is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/key-stage-4-performance/2024-25.
Nationally, for 2022/23 academic year study leavers, 68.0% of those who had completed 16 to 18 study with SLCN as a primary need were in sustained education, apprenticeships or employment in the following academic year, compared to 80.7% of those with no identified need. The data is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/16-18-destination-measures/2023-24.
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 help ensure free speech is maintained on university campuses.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is absolutely committed to freedom of speech and academic freedom. We commenced provisions from the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 on 1 August 2025 that strengthen provider duties on free speech, including a requirement to put in place free speech codes of practice, and require the Office for Students (OfS) to promote free speech, while banning non-disclosure agreements on complaints about bullying, harassment and sexual misconduct.
The OfS has also issued extensive guidance to higher education (HE) providers on commencement of their duties. The OfS’ Director for Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom continues to work with the HE sector to offer advice and share best practice, so HE providers themselves are more effectively protecting free speech and academic freedom.
The department is seeking a suitable legislative vehicle to amend and repeal elements of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has had recent correspondence with universities on the enforcement of freedom of speech guidelines.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department has not had recent correspondence with universities on the enforcement of the free speech duties. This answer does not cover any correspondence which the Office for Students may have had with universities on enforcement of freedom of speech.
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 help support mature students in universities.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As autonomous institutions, higher education (HE) providers are responsible for setting their own timetabling and student support arrangements and in doing so, must take the needs of all students including mature learners, into account.
In January 2027 the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) will launch and transform the HE student finance system. The LLE will give adults, up to the age of 60, access to a flexible, four year loan entitlement to use over their working lives to study full courses and individual modules. The LLE will broaden access at levels 4 to 6 for a range of learners, including those returning to education later in life or studying whilst working.
We are also reintroducing targeted, means-tested maintenance grants, providing disadvantaged students with up to £1,000 extra per year on top of existing loans for living costs from academic year 2028/29.
Together, these reforms modernise the student finance system and ensure that mature students can access the support they need to participate and succeed in HE.
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 help support students to challenge issues of free speech on university campuses.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Higher education (HE) must be a space for robust discussion, intellectual rigour and exposure to new ideas. These expectations on our universities are long standing and not negotiable.
There are already routes of redress for students where they believe that a HE provider has breached its duties under the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023. As we have previously set out, students can already make complaints relating to free speech to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator, whose service is free at the point of use.
The Office for Students (OfS) already regulates providers in relation to free speech and academic freedom through their existing conditions of registration. The OfS has also issued extensive guidance to HE providers on commencement of their duties, which supports students navigating these issues.
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 help improve GCSE pass rates among pupils eligible for free school meals in the Ashfield constituency.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The ‘Every Child Achieving and Thriving’ White Paper sets out our plans to build a system that supports every child to achieve and thrive.
It sets a clear path to raising standards and broadens children’s education. This includes a refreshed curriculum, improved transitions and an enrichment entitlement for every child.
To help improve GCSE outcomes for disadvantaged pupils, we are driving standards through new RISE teams, a refreshed high-quality curriculum and assessment system, recruiting 6,500 additional teachers and piloting a new place‑based Headteacher Retention Incentive to attract and support headteachers in the areas that need them most.
Additionally, in the 2026/27 financial year, £3.2 billion of pupil premium funding will support improved outcomes for disadvantaged pupils, and the National Funding Formula will allocate £5.6 billion according to deprivation. We are also developing a new model to better target disadvantage funding at the most entrenched need.
When this generation finishes secondary school, our ambition is for all pupils to reach at least a grade 5 across their GCSEs and for the disadvantage gap to be halved, with 30,000 more disadvantaged pupils passing English and maths GCSEs.