Asked by: Natasha Irons (Labour - Croydon East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that schools provide (a) children and (b) young people with information on support available for victims of domestic abuse.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
‘Keeping children safe in education’ (KCSIE), our statutory safeguarding guidance for schools and colleges, is clear that all staff should be aware of and provide support to children and young people who might be victims of domestic abuse. KCSIE provides staff with advice on the signs and impact of domestic abuse, and signposts to support for child victims, including the National Domestic Abuse Helpline, the NSPCC Childline and the Operation Encompass helpline.
Through compulsory relationships education, all primary and secondary pupils learn about positive and respectful relationships, and the concepts and laws around sexual harassment and sexual violence.
The department is currently reviewing the relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) guidance to ensure it enables schools to tackle harmful behaviour, starting in primary. As part of the review, we will consider how content on tackling violence against women and girls, including domestic abuse, can be strengthened. We intend to publish final revised RSHE guidance in 2025.
Asked by: Natasha Irons (Labour - Croydon East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made a comparative assessment of the cost to the public purse of (a) increasing funding for early interventions and (b) conducting late-stage interventions in children’s social care.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government recognises that early intervention improves outcomes and reduces overall public spending.
In the 2023/24 financial year, local authorities’ gross expenditure on children and young people's services was £14.8 billion, a 12% increase in cash terms from 2022/23. £8.1 billion was spent on looked-after children (LAC), an increase of nearly 16% from 2022/23. More than 50% of this increase owed to growth in residential care spending, which increased by 24% and accounted for 39% of LAC spend.
Early intervention has been shown to impact spending on LAC by keeping more families together. An evaluation of the Supporting Families programme highlighted a 32% reduction in the number of LAC over 24 months and estimated that every pound spent on the programme generated £2.28 in benefits.
Building on this evidence, the government has provided over £500 million in the 2025/26 financial year for the Families First Partnership programme, rolling out reforms to Family Help, multi-agency child protection, and family group decision making.
The government’s investment in 2025/26 is a significant step in our ambition to rebalance the children’s social care system towards early intervention, enable local authorities to move towards financial sustainability, and deliver improved outcomes. The government will set out funding plans for future years in phase 2 of the spending review on 11 June 2025.
Asked by: Natasha Irons (Labour - Croydon 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 reductions in early intervention funding on levels of demand for (a) child protection services and (b) care placements.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government recognises that early intervention improves outcomes and reduces overall public spending.
In the 2023/24 financial year, local authorities’ gross expenditure on children and young people's services was £14.8 billion, a 12% increase in cash terms from 2022/23. £8.1 billion was spent on looked-after children (LAC), an increase of nearly 16% from 2022/23. More than 50% of this increase owed to growth in residential care spending, which increased by 24% and accounted for 39% of LAC spend.
Early intervention has been shown to impact spending on LAC by keeping more families together. An evaluation of the Supporting Families programme highlighted a 32% reduction in the number of LAC over 24 months and estimated that every pound spent on the programme generated £2.28 in benefits.
Building on this evidence, the government has provided over £500 million in the 2025/26 financial year for the Families First Partnership programme, rolling out reforms to Family Help, multi-agency child protection, and family group decision making.
The government’s investment in 2025/26 is a significant step in our ambition to rebalance the children’s social care system towards early intervention, enable local authorities to move towards financial sustainability, and deliver improved outcomes. The government will set out funding plans for future years in phase 2 of the spending review on 11 June 2025.
Asked by: Natasha Irons (Labour - Croydon East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to ensure that two-year-olds in Government-funded childcare places receive free school meals in (a) private and (b) school nurseries.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Under current programmes, 2.1 million disadvantaged pupils are registered to receive benefits-based free school meals (FSM). This includes pupils attending a local authority maintained, academy or free school nursery who are entitled to FSM, as long as they are either in full-time education or receive education both before and after lunch, and meet the benefits-based FSM eligibility criteria.
As with all government programmes, we will keep our approach to FSM under continued review.
Asked by: Natasha Irons (Labour - Croydon East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much Croydon council will receive for family hubs in this financial year.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In 2024/25, Croydon Council were allocated £1.619 million for the delivery of Family Hubs and Start for Life programme.
In 2025/26, the department and the Department of Health and Social Care will provide a £126 million boost to give every child the best start in life and deliver on the Plan for Change. Funding will support local authorities to deliver Family Hubs and Start for Life services in areas with high deprivation, including Croydon, which has provisionally been allocated £1.709 million for the 2025/26 financial year. Final figures will be confirmed in due course.
Asked by: Natasha Irons (Labour - Croydon East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure the financial viability of (a) single and (b) two-form entry schools in (i) urban areas and (ii) Croydon East constituency.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department has allocated £242 million in growth and falling rolls funding to local authorities through the 2024/25 dedicated schools grant (DSG). Local authorities’ allocations of growth and falling rolls funding for 2025/26 was confirmed in December 2024 and information for Croydon is published here: https://skillsfunding.service.gov.uk/view-latest-funding/local-authority/statement/306.
Local authorities can use their growth and falling rolls funding allocations to repurpose surplus space to create SEND units, resource bases, or wraparound childcare provision in mainstream schools, activity which the department knows some local authorities already undertake. This is intended to support schools with falling rolls where planning data shows that the surplus places will be needed. Local authorities now have additional flexibility to support schools through such falling rolls funds.
The forthcoming Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill will introduce new duties for mainstream state schools and local authorities to co-operate regarding their respective school admissions functions and for mainstream, special and alternative provision state schools to co-operate with local authorities regarding their place planning functions. The onus will be on schools and local authorities to work together constructively on these issues so that their statutory responsibilities can be fulfilled.
Asked by: Natasha Irons (Labour - Croydon East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what additional SEND funding will be allocated to Croydon.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision (AP) receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.
The department is providing an increase of almost £1 billion for high needs budgets in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding for children and young people with complex SEND to £11.9 billion. Of that total, Croydon Council is being allocated a provisional high needs funding amount of over £97 million through the national funding formula (NFF), which is a 7% increase per head of their 2 to 18-year-old population, on their equivalent 2024/25 financial year NFF allocation. The allocations have been published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-funding-formula-tables-for-schools-and-high-needs-2025-to-2026.
Croydon Council will also be allocated extra funding for pay and pensions costs in special schools and AP. This funding is additional to the allocations through the high needs NFF, and the department will confirm shortly how the funding allocations will be calculated.