Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of embedding a cross-governmental approach to young people who go missing.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government takes the issue of any child going missing, from home or care, extremely seriously and has provided clear guidance about responsibilities for all children who go missing. When a child is found, they must be offered an independent Return Home Interview and local authorities, police and voluntary services should also work together to understand why the child went missing and what support they may need, including with their mental health, in the future to prevent them from going missing again.
The department has announced a £7 million funding boost to early support hubs across England providing drop-in mental health support for young people aged 11 to 25. Alongside this, we are investing an extra £688 million in mental health services this year and are recruiting 8,500 additional mental health workers across children’s and adult services.
Measures from the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and Crime and Policing Bill, reforms being delivered through the Families First Partnership Programme, supported by £2.4 billion, updates to the Working Together to Safeguard Children statutory guidance, and oversight from the Keeping Children Safe ministerial board will ensure that we better respond when children go missing and intervene earlier to tackle the underlying drivers.
Measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill aim to put an end to misconceptions about legal barriers to sharing information, through introducing an Information Sharing Duty and making provision for a Single Unique Identifier to improve information sharing between agencies.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of support available to schools who wish to decarbonise their buildings but who currently do not have the means to do so.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department recognises that decarbonising the school estate is an important part of meeting the government’s net zero commitments.
The Great British Energy Solar Partnership (GBESP) programme is supporting 250 schools and colleges to decarbonise by investing £100 million on solar panels and other energy efficiency and net zero interventions including LED lighting and electric vehicle chargers.
We are providing support for all schools and colleges to start on their journey towards net zero through our Sustainability Support Programme, which includes an online platform of guidance, tools and resources to help schools plan and deliver climate action available here: https://www.sustainabilitysupportforeducation.org.uk/.
The publicly available Department for Energy Security and Net Zero commissioned schools decarbonisation guidance, along with tools and checklists developed by Energy Systems Catapult can be found here: https://es.catapult.org.uk/tools-and-labs/public-sector-decarbonisation-guidance/developing-your-strategy/schools-resource-hub/. We will be issuing guidance to school settings in spring 2026 to help schools plan future retrofit and adaptation strategies to support decarbonisation and good education outcomes using their estates effectively.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure adequate external scrutiny of the Child Poverty Strategy.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The Child Poverty Taskforce, of which my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education is co-chair, has undertaken an extensive programme of engagement with families, charities, campaigners and leading organisations across the UK to shape and inform the development of an ambitious child poverty strategy.
The Taskforce is also supported by an Analytical Expert Reference Group which brings together independent external expertise from leading universities, think tanks, and organisations to provide advice and scrutiny.
External partners, including devolved governments, local leaders, academia, business and civil society, all have a role to play in tackling child poverty, and the department will set out the importance of these continuing partnerships when the strategy is published in the autumn.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether children with complex needs who are home educated are eligible to receive free school meals.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Free meals are available to registered pupils of state-funded schools meeting the eligibility criteria, either on school premises or at any place where education is provided.
The department also expects local authorities to consider free meal provision for children and young people receiving education otherwise than at school, commonly referred to as EOTAS, in accordance with Section 61 of the Children and Families Act 2014. This is set out in our published guidance.
In addition to this, all schools have duties under the Equality Act 2010 towards individual disabled children and young people. As this relates to school food provision, schools are required to make reasonable adjustment for disabled pupils to ensure they aren’t put at substantial disadvantage. Further information is available in our published guidance.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress phase 2 of the Schools Rebuilding Programme has made on Tiverton High School.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The department will begin working with Tiverton High School this quarter as it enters delivery. We will work closely with the Responsible Body to determine how best to proceed.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the level of funding for state secondary schools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The overall core schools budget is increasing by £3.7 billion in 2025/26, meaning that it will total £65.3 billion, compared to £61.6 billion in 2024/25. This is a 6% overall increase which, against the backdrop of a challenging fiscal picture, demonstrates the government’s commitment to enabling every child to achieve and thrive through delivery of the Opportunity Mission.
Secondary pupils are attracting £7,316 per pupil on average through the dedicated schools grant in 2025/26. The additional funding to support schools and high needs settings with staff pay awards announced on 22 May, as well as funding in respect of the increases to National Insurance contributions, will be paid on top of that.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of implementing a duty of care on universities in relation to extra-curricular activities carried out by affiliated student groups.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department’s position is that a duty of care in higher education (HE) may arise in certain circumstances. Such circumstances would be a matter for the courts to decide, based on the specific facts and context of the case being considered and will be dependent on the courts’ application of accepted common law principles.
The department would expect HE providers and their affiliated student groups to comply with relevant existing legislation and any other guidance. For example, that published by the provider and/or the National Union of Students on matters such as health and safety.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the capacity of (a) children and adolescent mental health services and (b) other services to support adopted and kinship cared children, in the context of the reduction of the Adoption and special guardianship support fund.
Answered by Janet Daby
The government is investing an extra £680 million for mental health services, recruiting 8,500 extra mental health workers. Through our Plan for Change, we will tackle the mental health crisis and give every child a healthy start to life.
The adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) will continue to complement other important services, including the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service and our expanded access to mental health support teams in schools.
This year we will be funding Adoption England to develop multi-disciplinary teams in more Regional Adoption Agencies, jointly with health and education partners, so adoptive families can get holistic joined up support.
All funding after March 2026 is subject to decisions in the next spending review. However, we recognise and value the positive impact of the ASGSF in supporting adoptive and kinship families and its importance to many.
The department was not able to consult organisations before the recent announcement, due to the need to open the fund for applications as soon as possible for the benefit for children. I regularly meet with adoption stakeholders, including recently meeting with the charity Adoption UK and, separately, with the department’s Adopter Reference Group, where we discussed the ASGSF.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
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 restoring the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund in the forthcoming spending review.
Answered by Janet Daby
The government is investing an extra £680 million for mental health services, recruiting 8,500 extra mental health workers. Through our Plan for Change, we will tackle the mental health crisis and give every child a healthy start to life.
The adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) will continue to complement other important services, including the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service and our expanded access to mental health support teams in schools.
This year we will be funding Adoption England to develop multi-disciplinary teams in more Regional Adoption Agencies, jointly with health and education partners, so adoptive families can get holistic joined up support.
All funding after March 2026 is subject to decisions in the next spending review. However, we recognise and value the positive impact of the ASGSF in supporting adoptive and kinship families and its importance to many.
The department was not able to consult organisations before the recent announcement, due to the need to open the fund for applications as soon as possible for the benefit for children. I regularly meet with adoption stakeholders, including recently meeting with the charity Adoption UK and, separately, with the department’s Adopter Reference Group, where we discussed the ASGSF.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with which organisations her Department held discussions on changes to the level of funding provided through the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund.
Answered by Janet Daby
The government is investing an extra £680 million for mental health services, recruiting 8,500 extra mental health workers. Through our Plan for Change, we will tackle the mental health crisis and give every child a healthy start to life.
The adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) will continue to complement other important services, including the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service and our expanded access to mental health support teams in schools.
This year we will be funding Adoption England to develop multi-disciplinary teams in more Regional Adoption Agencies, jointly with health and education partners, so adoptive families can get holistic joined up support.
All funding after March 2026 is subject to decisions in the next spending review. However, we recognise and value the positive impact of the ASGSF in supporting adoptive and kinship families and its importance to many.
The department was not able to consult organisations before the recent announcement, due to the need to open the fund for applications as soon as possible for the benefit for children. I regularly meet with adoption stakeholders, including recently meeting with the charity Adoption UK and, separately, with the department’s Adopter Reference Group, where we discussed the ASGSF.