Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve the process of applying for an ECHP.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
This government inherited a special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system that has failed to meet the needs of families for far too long.
We want to ensure that, where required, education, health and care (EHC) needs assessments are progressed promptly and, if required, high-quality EHC plans are issued in line with statutory deadlines.
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 to identify the problems and put in place an effective recovery plan. This includes, where needed, providing specialist SEND Advisor support to help identify the barriers to carrying out the EHC plan process in a timely way and put in place practical plans for recovery.
We are working closely with experts, including parents, local authorities, SEND organisations and education settings across the country, as we consider the next steps for SEND reform.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to provide mental health support in schools in Epping Forest constituency.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The government is providing access to specialist mental health professionals in every school by expanding Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs). 53% of schools and colleges in Epping Forest constituency were supported by an MHST in March 2025. Further data for 2024/25 can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transforming-children-and-young-peoples-mental-health-provision. This has been available since 16 May 2025 at national, regional and local authority level and since 10 July 2025 at constituency level. Around six in ten pupils nationally are expected to have access to an MHST by March 2026. Under government plans, all pupils will have access to mental health support in school by 2029/30.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support pupils with SEND in Epping Forest constituency.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
This government’s ambition is that every child or young person receives the best possible educational experience, one that is academically stretching, where every child or young person feels like they belong and that sets them up for life and work.
As part of our Plan for Change, we are determined to fix the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system and restore parents’ trust by ensuring schools have the tools to better identify and support children before issues escalate to crisis point.
We will build a better system which is grounded in evidence, identifies and supports need at the earliest opportunity and ensures families can secure support swiftly without a fight. There will always be a legal right to the additional support that children with SEND need.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that schools are adequately funded to meet the full cost of the 2025-26 teachers’ and support staff pay awards in Essex.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The department is providing schools with £615 million in additional funding in financial year 2025/26 to support them with overall costs, including the costs of the 4% schools teacher pay award and the 3.2% local government pay offer in respect of school support staff. This is on top of the funding increases which the government has already provided to support schools and means that the overall Core Schools Budget will total £65.3 billion in 2025/26, compared to £61.6 billion in 2024/25.
Through the Dedicated Schools Grant, Essex is receiving £1.25 billion for mainstream schools in 2025/26. This represents an increase of 2.3% per pupil compared to 2024/25. These figures do not include growth funding, falling rolls funding or the additional funding for schools announced alongside the teacher pay award this year. Allocations of that additional funding, at local authority level, will be announced in October 2025.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has provided an increase in funding to schools for the 2025-26 teachers’ pay award in Essex.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The department is providing schools with £615 million in additional funding in financial year 2025/26 to support them with overall costs, including the costs of the 4% schools teacher pay award and the 3.2% local government pay offer in respect of school support staff. This is on top of the funding increases which the government has already provided to support schools and means that the overall Core Schools Budget will total £65.3 billion in 2025/26, compared to £61.6 billion in 2024/25.
Through the Dedicated Schools Grant, Essex is receiving £1.25 billion for mainstream schools in 2025/26. This represents an increase of 2.3% per pupil compared to 2024/25. These figures do not include growth funding, falling rolls funding or the additional funding for schools announced alongside the teacher pay award this year. Allocations of that additional funding, at local authority level, will be announced in October 2025.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support mental health provision in schools.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
This government is committed to improving mental health support for all children and young people. This is critical to high and rising standards in schools and breaking down barriers to opportunity, helping pupils to achieve and thrive in education.
That is why the department has committed to providing access to specialist mental health professionals in every school. We will also be putting in place new Young Futures hubs, including access to mental health support workers, and will recruit an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults.
Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) are continuing to roll out in schools and colleges across the country. As of April 2024, MHSTs covered 44% of pupils in schools and learners in further education in England. MHSTs are expected to cover at least 50% of pupils by the end of March 2025.
The department has also provided a resource hub for mental health leads, signposting practical resources and tools to embed effective whole-school approaches. To further help schools identify and embed the most effective targeted support options for their setting, the department also launched a targeted mental wellbeing toolkit. This practical guide and tool covers a range of evidence-based interventions.
On top of this, schools are also able to arrange their own mental health interventions that are best suited to their pupils. The Autumn Budget 2024 confirmed an additional £2.3 billion for the core schools budget for the 2025/26 financial year compared to 2024/25. This means that core schools funding will reach over £63.9 billion in 2025/26.
Schools are also able to spend pupil premium funding on providing mental health support. Schools must use pupil premium in line with the department’s menu of approaches, which can be found on page 13 of the department’s publication ‘Using pupil premium: guidance for school leaders’. The guidance can be found here:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65cf69384239310011b7b91f/Using_Pupil_Premium_-_Guidance_for_School_Leaders.pdf.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to respond to the Review of the RSHE statutory guidance published in 2024.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has been clear that children’s wellbeing must be at the heart of this guidance for schools. As such, the department is looking carefully at responses to the public consultation conducted last year, considering the relevant evidence and discussing with stakeholders before setting out next steps to make sure the guidance draws from the best available evidence.
The results of the consultation and the department’s response will be published in due course.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure the financial resilience of the (a) university and (b) colleges sectors.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department recognises that the financial position of the higher education (HE) sector is under pressure and this government has acted quickly to address this.
The department accepted, in full, the recommendations of the independent review of the Office for Students (OfS) undertaken by Sir David Behan. Sir David has been appointed as interim OfS Chair to oversee the important work of refocusing their role to concentrate on key priorities, including the HE sector’s financial stability. On 2 December, the OfS announced temporary changes to its operations to allow greater focus on financial sustainability. The OfS will work more closely with providers under significant financial pressure in order to protect the interests of students. The department continues to work closely with the OfS to monitor any risks and ensure there are robust plans in place to mitigate them.
Moreover, the government has made the difficult decision to increase tuition fee limits in line with forecast inflation (3.1%). The department also recognises the impact that the cost-of-living crisis has had on students. Maximum loans for living costs for the 2025/26 academic year will also increase by 3.1%. Longer-term funding plans for the HE sector will be set out in due course.
As my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education set out in her oral statement on 4 November, this government will secure the future of HE so that students can benefit from a world-class education for generations to come.
The department also recognises the financial position of the further education (FE) sector is very important. As announced in the Autumn Budget 2024, the government is providing an additional £300 million for FE to ensure young people are developing the skills they need to succeed. We will set out in due course how that is distributed.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will continue her Department’s funding for the Mandarin Excellence Programme.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
This government remains committed to supporting the teaching of modern foreign languages in England’s schools. Languages provide an insight into other cultures and can open the door to travel and employment opportunities. They also broaden pupils’ horizons, helping them flourish in new environments. Having the opportunity to study a modern foreign language should be part of the broad and rich education that every child in this country deserves.
The department will continue to fund the Mandarin Excellence programme for the 2024/25 academic year.
The Spending Review settlements for 2025/26 were confirmed at Budget on 30 October and business planning is underway so that programmes can be given certainty about funding as soon as possible.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to publish a response to her Department's review of RSHE statutory guidance launched by the previous Administration in May 2024.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The public consultation on the Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education statutory guidance was open for eight weeks and received over 14,300 responses.
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has been clear that children’s wellbeing must be at the heart of this guidance for schools. Therefore, the government will look carefully at the consultation responses, discuss with stakeholders and consider the relevant evidence, including the Cass Review which has since been published, before setting out next steps.