Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 29 April 2025 to Question 45907 on Department for Education: Official Hospitality, if she will make an assessment of the value for money of the event.
Answered by Janet Daby
This event was held to enable my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education to outline the new government’s priorities for education and social care to a wide range of partners and stakeholders, building the relationships needed for new Ministers to work closely and effectively with them, so as to support delivery of the government’s Mission to break the link between a child’s background and their future success.
Rather than outsourcing the event, it was delivered in-house by civil servants and used existing departmental suppliers to deliver audio visual services and modest catering options. In line with similar events held under previous governments, it was delivered to the lowest possible cost.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent progress her Department has made on setting up the child protection authority.
Answered by Janet Daby
The government has committed to consulting on a roadmap to establish a Child Protection Authority for England by the end of 2025. The design and delivery of this Authority requires consultation, including with child protection experts and victim groups, to ensure it has the right constitution and powers to make a tangible difference to child protection practice. It is important, and right, that we take the time needed to work through the details before introducing a Child Protection Authority. Following consultation, we will set out the functions of the Child Protection Authority and a clear delivery timetable.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the proportion of school budgets spent on (a) teaching staff, (b) other staff and (c) non-staff costs.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
School funding and costs varies on a school-by-school basis as each school operates in their own unique contexts. Each school has autonomy to allocate their budgets to best meet the needs of their pupils to ensure they have the best opportunities in life.
On 18 March the department published the schools’ costs technical note, which projected, at the time of publication, the proportions of spend in previous years at a national level for the 2023/24 financial year. The data showed that, on average, 52% of schools’ spending was on teaching staff, 29% was on support staff and 20% was on non-staff costs. These percentages do not sum to 100% due to rounding.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the proportion of the cost of the increase in employers National Insurance contributions that will be met by (a) additional support from her Department and (b) schools in (i) Essex and (ii) England.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The government has agreed that public sector employers will receive support in recognition of the increase in their National Insurance contributions (NICs) from April 2025.
Schools have autonomy over their budgets in order to respond to the needs of their pupils. The NICs grant announced on 18 March was designed to distribute funding in a way that is close to how core funding for schools is allocated through the national funding formula, introduced under the last government. A long-standing principle of the funding system is that it is designed to distribute funding according to pupil need and not to match the precise spending of each individual institution, as their spending patterns, including NICs costs, will vary.
The department is providing schools and high needs settings with over £930 million in the 2025/26 financial year to support them with their increased NICs costs. This support is additional to the £2.3 billion increase to core school funding announced at the Autumn Budget 2024. This means that the core schools budget, which includes the core revenue funding for schools and high needs, will total over £64.8 billion in 2025/26.
The amount of public sector support for NICs is based on HM Treasury analysis of the proportion of employer NICs receipts paid by public sector organisations and allocated between departments based on headcount and wage/salary data.
The department has distributed this funding in proportion to the need of the different sectors and phases of education at a national level for England. The department will continue to monitor cost pressures, as it usually does. The department’s most recent assessment, which included consideration of the impact of the change in NICs, was published in the ‘Schools’ Costs’ technical note on 18 March 2025 and can be accessed here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67d974935bad4b1a7f01ed62/Schools_costs_technical_note_2024_to_2026.pdf.
We have published a calculator tool for mainstream schools and academies to estimate their NICs grant funding for the 2025/26 financial year, with allocations being published shortly.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of Chinese influence in UK universities on national security.
Answered by Janet Daby
The first duty of the government is to keep the country safe, and we will always protect our national security and values. We expect the sector to be alert to a range of risks when collaborating with international partners, and to conduct appropriate due diligence to comply with legislation. There are a set of measures that protect against undue foreign interference in our universities, ranging from the Academic Technology Approval Scheme, which vets students and researchers seeking to study in sensitive areas, to the provisions of the Higher Education Freedom of Speech Act 2023, which offer a focused route for concerns to be escalated, including relating to foreign interference in academic freedom and free speech. In England, providers are also required to have adequate and effective management and governance arrangements and must ensure that decisions are taken without direction, coercion or covert influence.
As a matter of longstanding policy, the department is unable to release information regarding assessments on the grounds of national security. The UK welcomes international partnerships and students, including from China, who make a very positive impact on the UK’s higher education sector, our economy and society as a whole.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what funding is available to Ramsden Hall Academy to help secure the school site; and if she will meet the Rt hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay to discuss that funding.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The department supports academy trusts, local authorities and voluntary-aided school bodies, who are responsible for managing the safety and maintenance of their estates, with capital funding, rebuilding programmes and extensive guidance on effective estate management.
We have recently confirmed the details of £2.1 billion of capital funding for the 2025/26 financial year to improve the condition of the school estate, up from £1.8 billion committed for the 2024/25 financial year.
For the 2025/26 financial year, Parallel Learning Trust met the eligibility criteria for the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF), and its schools, including Ramsden Hall Academy, were invited to bid into CIF for capital projects. We expect to confirm outcomes of CIF later in the spring.
Capital funding to improve school buildings beyond 2025/26 will be confirmed following the next phase of the spending review.
I would be happy to meet to discuss capital funding for Ramsden Heath Academy.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the cost to the public purse was of the reception held for trade unions and other stakeholders in her Department on 11 July 2024; what (a) food and (b) alcohol was provided; and who attended.
Answered by Janet Daby
This event was held to enable my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education to outline the new government’s priorities for education and social care to a wide range of delivery partners and stakeholders. This acknowledges the key role played by stakeholders across education, business and civil society in working with government to break the link between a child’s background and their future success.
269 stakeholders were invited to this event representing all areas of the department’s work, including businesses, school staff, charities and education experts.
The event was modest in style and format for an event of this size. Delivered in the department using existing suppliers, the total cost of the event was £7,625. This included event production costs and catering. A standard low-cost catering option was provided, including light refreshments, wine, orange juice and water.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish the minutes of meetings that she has had with each trade union since 5 July 2025.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The department assumes that there is an error in the question, and the right hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay means 5 July 2024. The details of all my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education’s external meetings are routinely published on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, on what date the minutes of her meeting with Katharine Birbalsingh were (a) written and (b) edited.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
All Ministerial meetings related to government business have a private secretary present to take a readout of the conversation.
In line with the Cabinet Office guidance on taking minutes, published under the previous administration, a readout is drafted during the meeting and edited in the following days, before a final note is shared for the record. The meeting with Katharine Birbalsingh followed this approach.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to (a) improve cross-Departmental working and (b) provide funding for multi-agency teams to help support (i) early interventions and (ii) other programmes for young people at risk of homelessness, abuse and exploitation.
Answered by Janet Daby
The government is committed to tackling abuse, exploitation, and homelessness through cross-departmental working. The Department for Education, with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Home Office, and the Department of Health and Social Care have a shared commitment through the opportunity mission to improve outcomes for children. From April, over £500 million will be made available to local authorities for Family Help, multi-agency child protection, and Family Network reforms, doubling investment in preventative services by 2025/26. Additionally, £15 million from the Shared Outcomes Fund will support multi-disciplinary teams providing holistic support to children at risk of violence and exploitation through the Support, Attain, Fulfil, Exceed (SAFE) and Alternative Provision taskforces.
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, introduced on 17 December, aims to improve information sharing across agencies and strengthen the role of education in safeguarding. The Bill mandates the establishment of multi-agency child protection teams in every local area and includes measures for better planning and support for care leavers. Regulations will be amended to ensure care leavers cannot be found intentionally homeless. On 16 January, my right hon. Friend, the Home Secretary also made a statement that before Easter, the government will announce a timetable for implementing recommendations from the final Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse and their standalone report on grooming gangs, with updates to key departmental guidance on child sexual exploitation.