Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much of the £740 million investment to support inclusive classrooms has been allocated to schools in Warrington South constituency; and what criteria were used to determine allocations for (a) adaptations, (b) specialist units and (c) additional special school places.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or who require alternative provision sits with local authorities.
The department provides local authorities with capital funding to support them to meet this duty and has published allocations for £740 million in high needs provision capital allocations for the 2025/26 financial year.
Of this £740 million, Warrington Borough Council has been allocated £3 million.
This funding can be used to adapt schools to be more accessible, to create specialist facilities within mainstream schools that can deliver more intensive support adapted to suit pupils’ needs and to create special school places for pupils with the most complex needs.
It is up to the council to determine how they prioritise this funding to address local need in the most appropriate way.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether any schools in Warrington South constituency are receiving support through the new attendance and behaviour hubs; and how her Department is monitoring the impact of this programme on pupil (a) attendance and (b) behaviour outcomes.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department recently announced our Attendance and Behaviour Hubs programme and will be announcing the appointment of lead Hubs and further information about available support in the coming months. Schools in need of support will then be matched with lead hubs.
Each new Attendance and Behaviour Hub will work closely with their respective regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) team to help identify and deliver the appropriate support for schools with attendance and behaviour challenges. In addition, lead Hubs will also deliver termly regional events, including open days and training sessions, collectively reaching up to 4,500 schools per year.
The programme will be independently evaluated throughout its lifespan utilising process, impact and economic evaluation methodologies.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress the Neurodivergence Task and Finish Group has made on developing recommendations to improve inclusivity for neurodivergent children in mainstream schools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The Neurodivergence Task and Finish Group, chaired by Professor Karen Guldberg from Birmingham University, is providing an expert view and making recommendations on how to best meet the needs of neurodivergent children and young people within mainstream education settings.
The group brings together experts including clinicians, scientists and academics, education professionals, and charities representing specific types of neurodivergence.
The department has been clear that in developing their advice, we expect the group to draw on a wide range of inputs, including other sector experts and stakeholders, to ensure appropriate coverage of other types of neurodivergence. The group have also been listening to the voices of neurodivergent children and young people, their parents, and others who care for them.
The group is finalising its recommendations.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps her Department has taken to help ensure that children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities continue to have reliable access to home-to-school transport.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department’s home-to-school travel policy aims to make sure no child is prevented from accessing education by a lack of transport. Local authorities must arrange free home-to-school travel for eligible children. This includes children of compulsory school age who attend their nearest school and would not be able to walk there because of their special educational needs (SEN), disability or mobility problem.
We know that challenges in the wider SEN system are creating pressure on home-to-school travel. We have committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools so fewer children need to travel long distances to a school that can meet their needs. The Spending Review announcement on 11 June confirmed significant new funding to support special educational needs and disabilities reform and a White Paper with further details on plans will be published in the autumn. This will reduce the pressure on home-to-school travel over time leaving it better able to meet the needs of those that continue to need it.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the national adoption strategy in improving outcomes for children in care; and what steps she is taking to (a) reduce waiting times and (b) ensure consistency in adoption services across England.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is always working to improve adoption services, and particularly the work of Adoption England, which we fund to improve local adoption services. The department collects quarterly statistics on the main adoption indicators of performance and Ofsted inspects local authority performance through their inspection programme.
Adoption England published a three-year strategy in 2024 that the government supports. It sets out a wide range of work to develop services across the country, in partnership with those with lived experience. This includes the introduction of national standards, improving the recruitment of adopters and timely matching of children and family support. The strategy can be accessed here: https://adoptionengland.co.uk/sites/default/files/2024-04/Adoption%20England%20Strategy.pdf.
For 2025/26, the department has provided £8.8 million for Adoption England and I recently set out my priorities for this funding in a letter to Sarah Johal, Adoption England’s National Strategic leader. The letter can be accessed here: https://adoptionengland.co.uk/sites/default/files/2025-04/FINAL%20JD%20LETTER%20TO%20SARAH%20JOHAL%20-%20030425.pdf. Departmental officials and I regularly meet with Sarah to discuss progress on improvements to adoption services.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the branded school uniform cap on families from less affluent backgrounds.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
For too many families, the cost of school uniform remains a financial burden. This is why the department has introduced legislation to limit the number of branded items of uniform and PE kit that schools can require, to bring down costs for parents and remove barriers from children accessing sport and other school activities. This will give parents more choice in where to purchase uniform and allow them greater flexibility to make the spending decisions that suit their circumstances.
Departmental research has found the average expenditure on uniform reduced as the range of outlets from which parents could purchase items increased. Average spend was significantly lower where all items could be purchased from anywhere (£227.29), than where all had to be purchased from a designated shop or from a school (£283.90).
For some items, the survey found that parents buying from a designated shop or from school had paid twice that of parents able to buy from anywhere. The data also show that 8% of parents had, at some point in the past, been discouraged from applying to enter their child into a particular school due to the cost of uniform, rising to 26% among parents who had experienced financial hardship as a result of purchasing school uniform items. This research is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cost-of-school-uniforms-survey-2023.
Whilst savings to families from less affluent backgrounds will vary depending on schools' current practices, we estimate that requiring fewer branded items from designated suppliers could save some parents over £50 per child during the back-to-school shop from September 2026.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has plans to update the statutory guidance on children that (a) run away and (b) go missing from home or care.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government takes the issue of missing children extremely seriously. The existing statutory guidance, ‘Children who run away or go missing from home of care’, outlines what local authorities and their partners must do to prevent and protect missing children.
For example, it mandates that local authorities must offer an independent return home interview to all children who go missing from home or care.
The department is updating its guidance on Child Sexual Exploitation, including how this affects children who go missing. We are investing over £500 million in the national rollout of the families first partnership programme which will implement family help and multi-agency child protection to ensure children have the right support at the right time, including those who go missing.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the number of repeat missing incidents amongst children.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government takes the issue of missing children extremely seriously. The existing statutory guidance, ‘Children who run away or go missing from home of care’, outlines what local authorities and their partners must do to prevent and protect missing children.
For example, it mandates that local authorities must offer an independent return home interview to all children who go missing from home or care.
The department is updating its guidance on Child Sexual Exploitation, including how this affects children who go missing. We are investing over £500 million in the national rollout of the families first partnership programme which will implement family help and multi-agency child protection to ensure children have the right support at the right time, including those who go missing.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made on establishing Attendance Hubs; what datasets her Department is collecting to measure the success of that programme; and if she will publish the data collected in relation to that programme to date.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The attendance hubs are established and led by schools with strong practice and intended to give senior leaders in schools a forum to discuss and share effective attendance practice. To date 31 hubs have been established and these have offered support to around 2,000 schools.
Last year, the department shared some of the effective practice from the hubs through our ‘Attendance toolkit for schools’, which can be found here: https://attendancetoolkit.blob.core.windows.net/toolkit-doc/Attendance%20toolkit%20for%20schools.pdf?utm_campaign=Daily%20Briefing%20Emails&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8b6UxxFW90snpeTz6dwjH6sUkBsMfMBDwkOxVCp7I9g1uY5-VXiWWsDjvKIk2YbdGp8qvIfotuo4qIG3GrzkbCWEFw_A&_hsmi=99095029&utm_content=99095029&utm_source=hs_email.
Feedback from the schools who have engaged with an attendance hub has suggested that they have found participation useful. We are using the feedback to evaluate the work of hubs further as it develops.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help increase the retention of female teachers in male-dominated subjects in schools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The government has a central mission to break down barriers to opportunity and boost life chances for every child. High-quality teaching is the factor that makes the biggest difference to a child’s education, with teachers helping to shape the lives of young people. Yet this government has inherited a context of poor recruitment and worsening teacher retention resulting in shortages of qualified teachers across the country. This is why the government has set out the ambition to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers across our schools, both mainstream and specialist, and our colleges over the course of this parliament.
The department is focused on retention alongside recruitment to ensure teachers, no matter their gender or background, stay and thrive in the profession. As of 14 October, eligible early career teachers in priority science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and technical subjects can claim targeted retention incentive payments worth up to £6,000 after tax, with payments made available to college teachers in key STEM and technical subjects for the first time.
Ensuring people from all backgrounds can thrive as teachers is also a question of social justice, a priority for the government, ensuring that all individuals have equal economic and social opportunities. It is important that the teaching profession reflects the communities it serves and that children see themselves reflected in the role models around them.
Improving the experience of the profession for all teachers, for example through the department’s programmes on flexible working, wellbeing and workload, can also remove barriers to a successful career for many groups of teachers. Groups who may benefit in particular include those with caring responsibility, those with disabilities or teachers within particular age groups who require more flexibility in their working lives. For example, teachers can undertake their planning, preparation and assessment time remotely.
The department is also delivering a programme focused on embedding flexible working in schools and multi-academy trusts (MATs). This includes the delivery of supportive webinars and peer support provided by flexible working ambassador schools and MATs.
We have also made available a range of resources to help address teacher workload and wellbeing, including the ‘Improve workload and wellbeing for school staff’ service, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/improve-workload-and-wellbeing-for-school-staff, and the ‘Education staff wellbeing charter’, available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/education-staff-wellbeing-charter.