Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding and capacity in mainstream schools for children and young people with SEND; and what steps her Department is taking to ensure that mainstream schools have the resources required to deliver high-quality SEND provision.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Mainstream school funding is increasing by 2.6% per pupil in the 2026/27 financial year compared to 2025/26. On top of this increase, mainstream schools will be receiving an additional £522 million to support them with overall costs, including the costs of staff pay awards.
Furthermore, to reverse the trend of late intervention and escalation in special educational needs and disabilities, the department is providing an additional £4 billion over this year and the next two years. This includes:
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Office for Students has had discussions with the University of Nottingham on its compliance with conditions E1 and E2 of its conditions of registration following the approval by the University's Council, on 6 May 2026, of the Future Nottingham 2 draft business case.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Office for Students (OfS) is an independent regulator and is responsible for determining how and when to use its regulatory powers, including when and how to engage with registered providers on compliance with conditions of registration.
The department does not therefore hold information on whether the OfS has held discussions with the University of Nottingham regarding its compliance with conditions E1 and E2 following the approval of the Future Nottingham 2 draft business case.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of making education on antisemitism mandatory in schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
There is no place for antisemitism in our society.
The department supports teachers through our Educate Against Hate website, which provides teachers with a range of free, quality-assured resources, including on building resilience to antisemitism, teaching about tolerance and rejecting discrimination.
The department has committed £7 million to fund projects and programmes to improve confidence and resilience in tackling antisemitism in education. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has also asked Sir David Bell to undertake an independent review into antisemitism in schools and colleges, which will be published this autumn.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of increases in deaths of unaccompanied asylum-seeking young people, in the context of the findings of the report 'Deaths of unaccompanied asylum-seeking young people in the care of,or supported by, local authorities' by Da'aro Youth Project.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is determined to address the shockingly high number of early deaths among care experienced young people, including unaccompanied asylum- seeking children and care leavers, who can be some of the most vulnerable people in our society due to their experiences.
The department welcomes the report of the Da’aro Youth Project and will carefully consider its findings as we implement measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, supporting children in care and care leavers and deliver wider reforms to children’s social care.
Last month, we launched a review into care leaver deaths, and deaths of young people who were unaccompanied asylum seeking children are being considered as part of this. Insights from the review will be shared later this year and will inform how we improve the support provided to care experienced young people across all aspects of their lives, including those who were unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to a) support High Level Need funding and b) support local authorities to meet statutory SEND duties.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
High needs funding for children and young people with complex needs is continuing at an increased level of over £12 billion in the 2026/27 financial year, following an increase of 11% in 2025/26. Of that total, Nottingham City Council is being allocated over £70 million.
The Schools white paper set out additional funding for both schools and local authorities to drive forward reform of the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system, with £4 billion over the next three years, including an inclusive mainstream fund of £1.6 million and £1.8 million for Experts at Hand to provide specialist support to mainstream settings. This will reverse the trend of late intervention and escalation in needs.
It remains important that every local authority meets its statutory SEND duties while ensuring robust controls as they, other local partners and the department work together to reform the SEND system. We will support authorities in this work through their Local SEND Reform Plans.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of generative AI on academic standards in higher education.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Universities are independent, autonomous bodies responsible for designing and implementing their own artificial Intelligence (AI) policies. They are already responding to the opportunities and challenges AI presents.
The Office for Students (OfS) set out its approach to the use of AI in higher education (HE) in June 2025. The approach can be found here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/news-blog-and-events/blog/embracing-innovation-in-higher-education-our-approach-to-artificial-intelligence/.
Providers are responsible for detecting and preventing academic misconduct, including misuse of AI, in line with the OfS’ regulatory framework. Providers that fall below these standards could be subject to regulatory action.
The government is committed to ensuring that AI is not used to undermine high academic standards in HE. As set out in the Post-16 education and skills white paper, the department will support the OfS to assess the impact of artificial intelligence, including how students are using it in assessments, to ensure the integrity of HE assessments and qualifications is not compromised.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing mandatory nutrition and practical cooking education in all schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Mandatory nutrition and practical cooking education is already included within the national curriculum. Additional elements of nutrition education can also be covered within science and relationships, sex and health education. The national curriculum aims to teach children how to cook and how to apply the principles of healthy eating and nutrition. Schools also have flexibility within the broad framework of the national curriculum to tailor curriculum subjects to meet the needs of their pupils.
In response to the Curriculum and Assessment Review, the department has set out that we will enhance the identity of food education by clearly distinguishing cooking and nutrition, which will be renamed food and nutrition, as a distinct strand within design and technology. We are also legislating through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to require academies to follow the national curriculum, to ensure that pupils in academy schools also benefit from these changes alongside those in maintained schools.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she plans to put in place measures to safeguard the (a) mental health and wellbeing and (b) ability to enrol in multi-year course programmes of children who be subject to temporary refugee status reviews every 30 months.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department will work with the Home Office as they carefully consider the appropriate pathways and wider provision for asylum-seeking families with children. We will continue to focus on ensuring vulnerable children are protected and their welfare safeguarded.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the proposed asylum policy changes on the continuity of education for children in families facing relocation or deportation.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department will work with the Home Office as they carefully consider the appropriate pathways and wider provision for asylum-seeking families with children. We will continue to focus on ensuring vulnerable children are protected and their welfare safeguarded.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of providing ringfenced funding for school counselling services.
Answered by Olivia Bailey
School-based counselling services can play an important role in supporting pupil mental wellbeing, and many schools already provide access to counselling support.
However, counselling is not suitable for all needs, and many pupils benefit from other in-school support, including from trained pastoral staff, NHS-funded mental health support teams, school nurses, educational psychologists and other professionals. It is important that schools retain the freedom to decide what pastoral support to offer pupils based on their specific needs, making the best use of their funding. School funding increased by £3.7 billion in 2025/26, taking total core school funding to £65.3 billion.
The government has also committed to provide access to mental health support teams (MHSTs) in every school. By April 2026, we estimate that 60% of pupils in schools and learners in further education in England will be covered by an MHST, up from 52% in April 2025.