Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how funding for the Every Child Can Enrichment programme will be allocated to schools and colleges.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
I am responding as the Minister for Sport, Tourism, Civil Society and Youth with responsibility for DCMS youth enrichment policy, including Every Child Can.
As announced on 14 June, we will align the Every Child Can funding with DfE’s Enrichment Framework. This investment of £132.5m of dormant assets funding will fund opportunities exclusively across five key categories of enrichment: civic engagement; arts and culture; nature, outdoor and adventure; sport and physical activities; and developing wider life and future skills.
The Libraries in Primaries programme - the first announced under Every Child Can - intends to extend provision to approximately 1,675 schools across England. It will prioritise schools with above-average free school meal eligibility, ensuring support reaches those with the greatest need, and schools with high SEND provision or additional needs will receive enhanced funding. The programme is led by the National Literacy Trust and is fully funded, meaning eligible schools receive this support at no cost.
The remaining funding will be directed across the categories above, funding enriching activities which may be delivered on school premises or in the community, in order to reach as many young people as possible. Eligibility criteria are still being considered as we develop the funding programmes and further details on which groups and organisations will be able to apply will be confirmed in due course. Dormant assets funding cannot fund statutory provision and all activities funded should adhere to the additionality principle.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will publish a list of a) independent primary schools and b) independent secondary schools that are owned by Chinese businesses or Chinese nationals.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The information the department holds on the management of independent schools is available via Get Information about Schools: https://www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many independent primary and secondary schools have been taken over by Chinese businesses or Chinese nationals in the past five years.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The information the department holds on the management of independent schools is available via Get Information about Schools: https://www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will publish information on the number of independent (a) primary and (b) secondary schools owned by Chinese (i) businesses and (ii) nationals.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The information the department holds on the management of independent schools is available via Get Information about Schools: https://www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle potential barriers to progression for learners completing Level 6 architecture apprenticeships who are unable to access Level 7 apprenticeship funding due to age eligibility requirements.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
This Government is investing in young people’s futures and reversing the sharp decline in apprenticeship starts amongst young people – which have fallen by 40% over the last decade
Since January 2026, the government no longer funds level 7 apprenticeships, equivalent to master’s degree level, except for young apprentices under the age of 22, and those under 25 who are care leavers or have an Education, Health and Care Plan. This will create more opportunities for those entering the labour market and help apprenticeships opportunities to be rebalanced towards young people.
This decision was informed by a range of evidence, including Skills England’s analysis of official apprenticeship statistics and engagement with a wide range of stakeholders. Skills England’s evidence suggested there was unlikely to be a significant or unavoidable fall in the supply of these skills in the long term, post-defunding. Skills England have published a report on their findings: Skills England: evidence on defunding of level 7 apprenticeships - GOV.UK.
We are encouraging more employers to invest in upskilling their staff over 22 to level 7 where it delivers a benefit to the business and the individual. It will be for employers to determine the most appropriate training. There are alternative training options available to employers at level 7 including non-apprenticeship routes. The department has published guidance on privately funded apprenticeships, which will enable employers to privately fund level 7 apprenticeships for staff aged over 22: Privately funded apprenticeships: rules and guidance - GOV.UK.
Where a student has studied architecture at level 6 via an apprenticeship route, they are unable to access undergraduate support for a level 7 masters’ qualification in architecture. Students may be eligible for a Postgraduate Master’s Loan for a Master’s in Architecture. This is subject to meeting the eligibility criteria for a Postgraduate Master’s Loan.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of allowing learners who complete a Level 6 architecture apprenticeship to access undergraduate student finance to complete their professional training at postgraduate level.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
This Government is investing in young people’s futures and reversing the sharp decline in apprenticeship starts amongst young people – which have fallen by 40% over the last decade
Since January 2026, the government no longer funds level 7 apprenticeships, equivalent to master’s degree level, except for young apprentices under the age of 22, and those under 25 who are care leavers or have an Education, Health and Care Plan. This will create more opportunities for those entering the labour market and help apprenticeships opportunities to be rebalanced towards young people.
This decision was informed by a range of evidence, including Skills England’s analysis of official apprenticeship statistics and engagement with a wide range of stakeholders. Skills England’s evidence suggested there was unlikely to be a significant or unavoidable fall in the supply of these skills in the long term, post-defunding. Skills England have published a report on their findings: Skills England: evidence on defunding of level 7 apprenticeships - GOV.UK.
We are encouraging more employers to invest in upskilling their staff over 22 to level 7 where it delivers a benefit to the business and the individual. It will be for employers to determine the most appropriate training. There are alternative training options available to employers at level 7 including non-apprenticeship routes. The department has published guidance on privately funded apprenticeships, which will enable employers to privately fund level 7 apprenticeships for staff aged over 22: Privately funded apprenticeships: rules and guidance - GOV.UK.
Where a student has studied architecture at level 6 via an apprenticeship route, they are unable to access undergraduate support for a level 7 masters’ qualification in architecture. Students may be eligible for a Postgraduate Master’s Loan for a Master’s in Architecture. This is subject to meeting the eligibility criteria for a Postgraduate Master’s Loan.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what measures is she taking to address absenteeism, particularly relating to white working-class pupils.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Absence is a key barrier to opportunity. For children to achieve and thrive, they need to be in school.
The department’s real-time data tools and attendance toolkits help schools and local authorities to identify the drivers of absence and adopt effective practice to improve attendance. In January, we launched our new regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) Attendance and Behaviour hubs, which can support over 3000 schools, including enhanced support for up to 500 schools.
We recognise that white working-class children have among the highest overall absence rates. The white paper sets out our plans to support this group, including rebuilding early family support, designing a new model for targeting disadvantage funding, and developing insights into the relationships between white working-class children and families with schools, in order to strengthen parental engagement.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the skills mix required to supply the Experts at Hand offer.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department has applied a set of principles when determining which workforce roles are eligible for funding through the Experts at Hand grant, aligning with our reform ambitions and supporting greater inclusion in mainstream settings. These include evidence of a workforce shortage, current utilisation within the statutory system, and the extent to which expertise can address unmet needs in mainstream provision.
Based on these principles, the model brings together key health and specialist education practitioners, including speech and language therapists and support workers or assistants; occupational therapists and support workers or assistants; educational psychologists and trainees; and specialist teachers, both local authority-based and those working in specialist or alternative provision settings.
This multidisciplinary approach reflects the range of needs presented by children and young people, particularly in areas such as communication, sensory processing, and learning.
By building on existing evidence and delivery experience, this model is designed to provide timely, specialist advice while making best use of available workforce capacity. The department will continue to keep this approach under review to ensure it remains responsive to demand and supports greater inclusion in mainstream settings.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the training places required to supply the proposed Experts at Hand offer.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is investing around £1.8 billion over the next three years for local area partnerships, including local authorities and integrated care boards (ICBs), to develop a new ‘Experts at Hand’ offer. This offer is designed to strengthen the capability of mainstream education settings by providing access to support across health and education, including from educational psychologists and trainees, speech and language therapists and support workers or assistants, occupational therapists and support workers or assistants; and specialist teachers, both local authority-based and those based in specialist or alternative provision settings.
To support delivery of the offer, we are investing over £40 million in the specialist workforce, including £26 million to train at least 200 educational psychologists per year from 2026 and 2027, followed by additional funding from 2028 to train more educational psychologists than we currently do, subject to future spending review. This is in addition to the £31 million already invested to train educational psychologists since 2023.
Upon graduating, trainees who have had their training funded by the department are required remain in local authority employment for a minimum period (three years, or two for earlier cohorts, dependent on when their training started). Investment in this vital workforce will therefore help to ensure that the local authority educational psychology workforce is able to support all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.
The remaining £15 million will be invested to establish new speech and language therapist (SaLT) advanced practitioners in every ICB geographical area, to get more SaLTs working in educational settings.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to help tackle workforce shortages among educational psychologists.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is investing around £1.8 billion over the next three years for local area partnerships, including local authorities and integrated care boards (ICBs), to develop a new ‘Experts at Hand’ offer. This offer is designed to strengthen the capability of mainstream education settings by providing access to support across health and education, including from educational psychologists and trainees, speech and language therapists and support workers or assistants, occupational therapists and support workers or assistants; and specialist teachers, both local authority-based and those based in specialist or alternative provision settings.
To support delivery of the offer, we are investing over £40 million in the specialist workforce, including £26 million to train at least 200 educational psychologists per year from 2026 and 2027, followed by additional funding from 2028 to train more educational psychologists than we currently do, subject to future spending review. This is in addition to the £31 million already invested to train educational psychologists since 2023.
Upon graduating, trainees who have had their training funded by the department are required remain in local authority employment for a minimum period (three years, or two for earlier cohorts, dependent on when their training started). Investment in this vital workforce will therefore help to ensure that the local authority educational psychology workforce is able to support all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.
The remaining £15 million will be invested to establish new speech and language therapist (SaLT) advanced practitioners in every ICB geographical area, to get more SaLTs working in educational settings.