Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department plans to take to increase the number of apprenticeships in the creative sector.
Answered by Janet Daby
The government is reforming the apprenticeships offer into a growth and skills offer, which will provide greater flexibility to employers and learners across England. This will create routes into skilled jobs in growing industries, such as the creative industries, for people of all ages and backgrounds.
This will include introducing new foundation apprenticeships for young people, as well as shorter-duration apprenticeships in targeted sectors. The department is reducing the minimum duration of an apprenticeship to eight months, so employers have the flexibility to train people up more quickly where that makes sense, for example, because an apprentice has high a level of prior experience, or that sector does not work in 12-month training cycles. Apprentices in Film/TV production will be some of the many who are set to benefit from this approach.
Employers in the creative sector have developed 74 apprenticeships, including the level 3 Creative Industries Production Technician, to help them develop their workforce.
To support employers to access apprenticeships the government pays £1,000 to employers when they take on apprentices aged 16 to 18, and for apprentices aged 19 to 24 who have an education, health and care (EHC) plan or have been in local authority care. Non-levy paying employers can also benefit from the government paying the full training costs for young apprentices aged 16 to 21, and for apprentices aged 22 to 24 who have an EHC plan or have been in local authority care.
The department continues to promote apprenticeships to young people, adults and employers through the ‘Skills for Life’ campaign.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing targeted support to universities at risk of closing their music departments.
Answered by Janet Daby
The government is committed to supporting higher education arts courses. We recognise the vital role these institutions play in nurturing talent and contributing to the UK's cultural and economic landscape.
For the 2024/25 academic year, the department has allocated around £12.9 million to creative and performing arts courses. Additionally, we have allocated £58 million in Strategic Priorities Grant funding to world-leading small and specialist providers, including 12 creative and performing arts institutions. This funding supports the provision of these courses and promotes opportunities for students.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what lessons her Department has learned from international best practice on implementing early dyslexia screening.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The department is committed to improving support for all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with dyslexia and other neurodiverse conditions. As part of this, the department is considering evidence on international best practice in its policymaking on special educational needs (SEN).
The department is providing £1 billion more for high needs budgets in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding to £11.9 billion. This funding will help local authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting children and young people with complex SEND.
Early identification of need and support is critical to improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND, including those with dyslexia. There are already a number of measures to help teachers do this, including the phonics screening check and statutory assessments at the end of key stage 2.
Schools should apply a ‘graduated approach’ to identify a child’s needs, plan appropriate support, implement that support, and review it regularly to ensure it continues to meet their identified needs. Through this, schools should develop personalised approaches to supporting the unique needs of individual pupils. Schools should involve pupils and their parents in this process, taking their views into consideration.
The core content framework and early career framework, for trainee and early career teachers (ECTs) respectively, covers the first three years or more at the start of a teacher’s career. They set out the core body of knowledge skills and behaviours that define great teaching, and from September 2025 will be superseded by the combined Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework (ITTECF), which sets out a minimum entitlement to training and must be used by providers of initial teacher training and those delivering training to ECTs to create their curricula. The ITTECF contains significantly more content related to adaptive teaching and supporting pupils with SEND.
Measures have also been introduced to support the effective teaching of reading, including for those at risk of falling behind. This includes the English Hubs programme, the publication of the reading framework and an updated list of high quality systematic synthetic phonics programmes for schools.
The English Hubs programme is dedicated to improving the teaching of reading, with a focus on supporting children making the slowest progress in reading. As part of the continuous professional development provided by the English Hubs, the Reading Ambition for All programme has been launched to improve outcomes for children who need additional support with reading, including those with SEND.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
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 late dyslexia diagnosis on children's (a) confidence, (b) literacy skills and (c) long-term educational outcomes.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The department is committed to improving support for all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with dyslexia and other neurodiverse conditions. As part of this, the department is considering evidence on international best practice in its policymaking on special educational needs (SEN).
The department is providing £1 billion more for high needs budgets in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding to £11.9 billion. This funding will help local authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting children and young people with complex SEND.
Early identification of need and support is critical to improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND, including those with dyslexia. There are already a number of measures to help teachers do this, including the phonics screening check and statutory assessments at the end of key stage 2.
Schools should apply a ‘graduated approach’ to identify a child’s needs, plan appropriate support, implement that support, and review it regularly to ensure it continues to meet their identified needs. Through this, schools should develop personalised approaches to supporting the unique needs of individual pupils. Schools should involve pupils and their parents in this process, taking their views into consideration.
The core content framework and early career framework, for trainee and early career teachers (ECTs) respectively, covers the first three years or more at the start of a teacher’s career. They set out the core body of knowledge skills and behaviours that define great teaching, and from September 2025 will be superseded by the combined Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework (ITTECF), which sets out a minimum entitlement to training and must be used by providers of initial teacher training and those delivering training to ECTs to create their curricula. The ITTECF contains significantly more content related to adaptive teaching and supporting pupils with SEND.
Measures have also been introduced to support the effective teaching of reading, including for those at risk of falling behind. This includes the English Hubs programme, the publication of the reading framework and an updated list of high quality systematic synthetic phonics programmes for schools.
The English Hubs programme is dedicated to improving the teaching of reading, with a focus on supporting children making the slowest progress in reading. As part of the continuous professional development provided by the English Hubs, the Reading Ambition for All programme has been launched to improve outcomes for children who need additional support with reading, including those with SEND.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to make a decision on the future of the Adoption Support Fund.
Answered by Janet Daby
I refer the hon. Member for Stratford-upon-Avon to the answer of 29 January 2025 to Question 26025.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of recruiting people with experience of raising children into child protection roles.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department recognises the importance of recruiting individuals with a range of skills, knowledge and lived experiences into child protection roles. While formal qualifications and specialist training are essential for safeguarding children effectively, we acknowledge that personal experience of raising children can offer valuable insights into the challenges children and families face.
Through initiatives such as the Step Up to Social Work and Approach Social Work programmes, as well as apprenticeships, undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, the department aims to attract talented individuals from diverse backgrounds and with a range of life experience into the social work profession.
Local authorities and social work employers have flexibility in their recruitment approaches and may consider a candidate’s personal experience as a complement to their professional expertise.
The statutory guidance ‘Working together to safeguard children 2023’ sets out clear multi-agency child protection practice standards and expectations for all practitioners working to help, protect and promote the welfare of children, whatever their personal and professional backgrounds.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that social workers receive adequate training to (a) recognise and (b) investigate cases where children may be at risk of harm.
Answered by Janet Daby
Provision of continuous professional development for employed social workers is a matter for their employer. The regulator for the social work profession, Social Work England, sets the professional standards which all social workers must meet. These include recognising the risk indicators of different forms of abuse and neglect and their impact on people, their families and their support networks. Social workers complete initial education and training courses which are approved by the regulator against the education and training standards. Course providers must update and design their courses as a result of developments in research, legislation, government policy and best practice.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department plans to take to (a) reduce the number of unnecessary Education, Health and Care panels and (b) speed up the production of Education, Health and Care Plans.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
This government is committed to strengthening the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system for all children and young people to ensure they receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.
Parents have struggled to get their children the support they need and deserve, particularly through long and difficult education, health and care (EHC) plan processes.
The department wants to ensure that EHC needs assessments are progressed promptly and plans are issued quickly in order to provide children and young people with the support they need to help them achieve positive outcomes.
The department continues to monitor and work closely with local authorities that have issues with EHC plan timeliness. Where there are concerns about a local authority’s capacity to make the required improvements, we help the local authority to identify the barriers and put in place an effective plan to improve delivery. This includes, where needed, securing specialist SEND adviser support to help identify the barriers to EHC plan process timeliness and put in place practical plans for recovery.
The department is working closely with experts on reform, including a Strategic Advisor for SEND, who will play a key role in convening and engaging with the sector, including leaders, practitioners, children and families as we consider next steps.
The department has also listened to parents, local authority colleagues, and partners across education, health and social care and is considering carefully how to address and improve the experience of the EHC plan process for families and reflecting on what practice could or should be made consistent nationally.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of the successful applicants to secondary teacher training for Religious Education received a Subject Knowledge Enhancement grant in each month since September 2022 .
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The below tables show the number of candidates who received a religious education (RE) subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) grant in each month since October 2022.
The previous government took the decision to cut funding for RE SKEs from April 2024 alongside four other subjects. The department currently offers SKE support in five secondary subjects: chemistry, computing, mathematics, modern languages and physics. The department will continue to explore our options for delivery of SKE training in future academic years to ensure that our funding supports courses in the subjects where these courses are most needed.
SKE courses in RE by month
Oct-22 | Nov-22 | Dec-22 | Jan-23 | Feb-23 | Mar-23 | Apr-23 | May-23 | Jun-23 | Jul-23 | Aug-23 | Sep-23 | Total |
0 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 16 | 18 | 19 | 8 | 0 | 85 |
Initial teacher training (ITT) census data shows there were 269 new entrants to postgraduate ITT courses in RE in the 2023/24 academic year. Therefore, the department estimates 32% of all new postgraduate entrants in RE in the 2023/24 academic year undertook a SKE prior to commencing ITT.
Oct-23 | Nov-23 | Dec-23 | Jan-24 | Feb-24 | Mar-24 | Apr-24 | May-24 | Jun-24 | Jul-24 | Aug-24 | Sep-24 | Total |
1 | 0 | 4 | 11 | 9 | 16 | 35 | 28 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 124 |
ITT census data shows there were 462 new entrants to postgraduate ITT courses in RE in the 2024/25 academic year. We therefore estimate 27% of all new postgraduate entrants in RE in the 2024/25 academic year undertook a SKE prior to commencing ITT.
This government inherited a system with critical shortages of teachers, with numbers not keeping pace with demographic changes. Financial incentives are one of the most effective ways to increase teacher supply, which is why the department has announced an initial teacher training financial incentives package for the 2025/26 recruitment cycle worth £233 million, which is a £37 million increase on the last cycle. This includes the reintroduction of a £10,000 tax free bursary to encourage prospective trainees to teach RE.
The department has also expanded its ‘School Teacher Recruitment’ marketing campaign which inspires and attracts candidates to consider a career in teaching, including RE. It promotes the profession and directs people to the ‘Get Into Teaching’ service, which exists to make teaching a career of choice and supports candidates to apply for teacher training in the most effective and efficient way possible.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to (a) reintroduce a Subject Knowledge Enhancement Grant for Religious Education (RE) and (b) increase recruitment of teachers of RE more broadly.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The below tables show the number of candidates who received a religious education (RE) subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) grant in each month since October 2022.
The previous government took the decision to cut funding for RE SKEs from April 2024 alongside four other subjects. The department currently offers SKE support in five secondary subjects: chemistry, computing, mathematics, modern languages and physics. The department will continue to explore our options for delivery of SKE training in future academic years to ensure that our funding supports courses in the subjects where these courses are most needed.
SKE courses in RE by month
Oct-22 | Nov-22 | Dec-22 | Jan-23 | Feb-23 | Mar-23 | Apr-23 | May-23 | Jun-23 | Jul-23 | Aug-23 | Sep-23 | Total |
0 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 16 | 18 | 19 | 8 | 0 | 85 |
Initial teacher training (ITT) census data shows there were 269 new entrants to postgraduate ITT courses in RE in the 2023/24 academic year. Therefore, the department estimates 32% of all new postgraduate entrants in RE in the 2023/24 academic year undertook a SKE prior to commencing ITT.
Oct-23 | Nov-23 | Dec-23 | Jan-24 | Feb-24 | Mar-24 | Apr-24 | May-24 | Jun-24 | Jul-24 | Aug-24 | Sep-24 | Total |
1 | 0 | 4 | 11 | 9 | 16 | 35 | 28 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 124 |
ITT census data shows there were 462 new entrants to postgraduate ITT courses in RE in the 2024/25 academic year. We therefore estimate 27% of all new postgraduate entrants in RE in the 2024/25 academic year undertook a SKE prior to commencing ITT.
This government inherited a system with critical shortages of teachers, with numbers not keeping pace with demographic changes. Financial incentives are one of the most effective ways to increase teacher supply, which is why the department has announced an initial teacher training financial incentives package for the 2025/26 recruitment cycle worth £233 million, which is a £37 million increase on the last cycle. This includes the reintroduction of a £10,000 tax free bursary to encourage prospective trainees to teach RE.
The department has also expanded its ‘School Teacher Recruitment’ marketing campaign which inspires and attracts candidates to consider a career in teaching, including RE. It promotes the profession and directs people to the ‘Get Into Teaching’ service, which exists to make teaching a career of choice and supports candidates to apply for teacher training in the most effective and efficient way possible.