Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what mechanisms are in place to monitor local authorities’ compliance with statutory duties relating to high needs element 3 funding; and whether her Department plans to strengthen oversight to ensure that all eligible students receive appropriate support in a timely manner.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Where a child or young person with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) has an education, health and care (EHC) plan, the local authority must secure the special educational provision specified in the plan. The allocation of top-up funding to the school or college often helps secure that provision.
Our national guidance on allocation of high needs top-up funding (sometimes called element 3) is set out in section 7 of the 2026 to 2027 high needs funding operational guide here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/high-needs-funding-arrangements-2026-to-2027/high-needs-funding-2026-to-2027-operational-guide#highneedstopfunding. This includes guidance that local authorities should collaborate with neighbouring local authorities when reviewing and developing their top-up funding bands, with a view to bringing more consistency to the levels of top-up funding for schools and colleges used routinely for placements by more than one local authority. The guidance also refers to conditions of grant that require local authorities to make timely payments of top-up funding.
In February, we launched our SEND reform consultation to build on existing good practice and improve inclusivity and support in schools and colleges. These include reforms to the allocation of funding and to accountability, which will create a simpler, fairer and more collaborative system focused on outcomes, replacing bureaucracy with clarity and trust.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the consistency of local authorities’ approaches to allocating high needs element three funding to further education colleges; and whether her Department plans to introduce national guidance.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Where a child or young person with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) has an education, health and care (EHC) plan, the local authority must secure the special educational provision specified in the plan. The allocation of top-up funding to the school or college often helps secure that provision.
Our national guidance on allocation of high needs top-up funding (sometimes called element 3) is set out in section 7 of the 2026 to 2027 high needs funding operational guide here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/high-needs-funding-arrangements-2026-to-2027/high-needs-funding-2026-to-2027-operational-guide#highneedstopfunding. This includes guidance that local authorities should collaborate with neighbouring local authorities when reviewing and developing their top-up funding bands, with a view to bringing more consistency to the levels of top-up funding for schools and colleges used routinely for placements by more than one local authority. The guidance also refers to conditions of grant that require local authorities to make timely payments of top-up funding.
In February, we launched our SEND reform consultation to build on existing good practice and improve inclusivity and support in schools and colleges. These include reforms to the allocation of funding and to accountability, which will create a simpler, fairer and more collaborative system focused on outcomes, replacing bureaucracy with clarity and trust.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of children receiving SEND transport support where the responsible adult has access to a vehicle through the Motability Scheme.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The Education Act 1996 requires local authorities to arrange free home-to-school travel for eligible children. A child’s eligibility is not affected by any further benefits or allowances they or their parents may receive.
The department does not collect or hold information about the number of children receiving home to school travel from their local authority where the responsible adult has access to a vehicle through the Motability Scheme.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to a) improve the nutritional quality of school meals and b) increase the use of British produced food and ingredients in schools.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department aims to revise the School Food Standards and is engaging with stakeholders, including academics and nutrition professionals, to ensure they support our work to create the healthiest generation of children in history.
Schools are responsible for their school meals service and how and where they choose to buy their produce. We encourage schools to voluntarily follow the Government Buying Standards for food and catering, which includes lots of advice around sustainable sourcing. Additionally, we are working with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to support schools to buy more of the fresh, high-quality ingredients produced in the UK when sourcing their meals as part of the government’s Food Strategy.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what measures are being taken to ensure student safety on university campuses in (a) Leicester, (b) the East Midlands, and (c) the UK.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
I stand with Members across this House in expressing my sorrow at the killing of Khaleed Oladipo near De Montfort University on 4 February 2026, and I pay tribute to the members of the public and emergency services who fought to save him.
Student safety is of utmost importance. As autonomous institutions, universities are responsible for setting their own policies and security arrangements to ensure the safety of students and staff on campus, maintaining robust welfare and risk‑management procedures to protect their students, even though they do not operate under a statutory safeguarding duty.
In the wake of Mr Oladipo’s death, De Montford University continues to work proactively with staff and students to offer support and reassurance. Enhanced police patrols remain in place. Universities also provide a range of practical support to help keep students safe and supported while on campus.
In August 2025, the Office for Students strengthened its regulatory oversight through a new registration condition for all English universities that sets out clear requirements for preventing and responding to harassment of all kinds on campus.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of SEND transport contracts on local authority spending; and whether she plans to introduce annual cost caps.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
We know challenges in the SEND system are creating pressures on home-to-school travel. We will reform the SEND system to enable more children to thrive in local mainstream settings. This will mean fewer children need to travel long distances to access education, reducing the burden on local authorities. The reforms will be set out in the Schools White Paper.
Local councils decide how to arrange travel for eligible children. They use a mix of in-house services, public transport passes and contracts with private operators. Contracts are a matter for the council and operator. We encourage councils to have robust arrangements. Many are reviewing and improving their procurement practices.
We are supporting councils through a new home-to-school travel data collection to support benchmarking, publishing guidance to support joined-up decision-making, and creating a bespoke home-to-school travel funding formula within the local government finance settlement. We have no current plans to introduce a price cap.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to expand or reform teacher training programmes to help improve access to the teaching profession.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
This government is committed to putting education back at the forefront of national life. The aim is to deliver better life chances for all, through a system which works for all.
In September 2025 we introduced the early career teacher entitlement (ECTE). The ECTE revised and improved the delivery of what we formerly referred to as the early career framework programme, maintaining the grounding in evidence, to ensure the highest standards of professional development for new teachers.
The department recognises that continuous improvement is essential in order to transform the training and support for all new teachers, and we have committed to a full review of the delivery of the ECTE, including the content of the initial teacher training and early career framework in 2027 to ensure it continues to provide the best possible support for ECTs based on the most up to date evidence. This review will focus on increasing support for mentors, as well as for teaching pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help increase the number of teachers in England.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The latest school workforce census reported that the workforce has grown by 2,346 FTE between 2023/24 and 2024/25 in secondary and special schools. This year has one of the lowest leaver rates since 2010, with 1,700 fewer teachers leaving the state-funded sector and more teachers returning to state schools than at any point in the last ten years. The latest data showed 17,274 teachers returned to the classroom.
This government agreed a 5.5% pay award for 2024/25 and a 4% pay award for 2025/26, meaning teachers and leaders will see an increase in their pay of almost 10% over two years. In 2024/25, we also confirmed targeted retention incentives worth up to £6,000 after tax for teachers in the first five years of teaching in maths, physics, chemistry and computing in the most disadvantaged schools.
The government manages Teaching Vacancies, a website where schools can list their teaching, leadership and support vacancies. The service helps schools save money by removing advertising costs for their recruitment activities.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has considered requiring state-funded schools with defibrillators to make those devices publicly accessible where it is safe and practicable to do so.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department’s defibrillator programme provided over 20,000 defibrillators to state-funded schools in England, ensuring that all schools have access to a device.
Schools are best placed to make decisions on community access based on their individual circumstances. The primary concern should be locating defibrillators where they will best meet the needs of the school, and community access will not be suitable in all circumstances.
The department’s defibrillator guidance advises schools on the factors they should consider when deciding whether to allow community access. More information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/automated-external-defibrillators-aeds-in-schools.
The department encourages all schools to register their defibrillators on the national defibrillator network, The Circuit. This ensures that local ambulance services know where defibrillators are kept, meaning they can be called upon in an emergency to help save a life. More information, including how to register, can be found here: https://www.thecircuit.uk/.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of levels of unemployment and underemployment among qualified teachers; and what steps she is taking to help improve increase retention and re-entry levels.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
In the government’s Plan for Change, the department committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 expert teachers across secondary and special schools, and our colleges, over the course of this Parliament.
Delivery is already underway: retaining more skilled teachers is key to delivering our pledge and our ‘Improve workload and wellbeing for school staff’ service, developed alongside school leaders, provides a range of resources for schools to review and reduce workload, and improve staff wellbeing. We are also providing targeted retention incentives worth up to £6,000 after tax for early career teachers in key subjects. These incentives are available alongside trainee bursaries worth up to £31,000 tax-free to improve recruitment, and a pay rise of nearly 10% over two years.
We are already seeing improvement. The workforce has grown by 2,346 Full Time Equivalent between 2023/24 and 2024/25 in secondary and special schools. This year has one of the lowest leaver rates since 2010, with 1,700 fewer teachers leaving the state-funded sector, and more teachers are returning to state schools than at any point in the last ten years. The latest data showed 17,274 teachers returned to the classroom.