Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
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 the changes to attendance and penalty notice regulations that came into effect on 19 August 2024 on school (a) staffing and (b) workload.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The changes to the regulations governing the school attendance register simplify and consolidate what is recorded in the attendance register by schools, reducing their complexity and burden on schools.
The changes to the penalty notice regulations aimed to improve the consistency in how penalty notices are used across the country, ending the previous postcode lottery. 81% of school or academy trust respondents agreed with the idea of a consistent national threshold for considering a penalty notice in the 2022 public consultation, which is available here: https://consult.education.gov.uk/school-attendance-policy-and-strategy-team/school-registers-and-national-thresholds-for-legal/supporting_documents/Consultation%20Document_Pupil%20Registration%20Regulations_Thresholds%20Legal%20Intervention.pdf.
Local authorities require information from schools to process a penalty notice. How this is done is agreed locally and should not place an undue burden on schools.
We will keep the policies under review through regular engagement with schools.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to provide additional funding to schools to help support the administrative workload resulting from the attendance and penalty notice regulations introduced in August 2024.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The changes to the regulations governing the school attendance register simplify and consolidate what is recorded in the attendance register by schools, reducing their complexity and burden on schools.
The changes to the penalty notice regulations aimed to improve the consistency in how penalty notices are used across the country, ending the previous postcode lottery. 81% of school or academy trust respondents agreed with the idea of a consistent national threshold for considering a penalty notice in the 2022 public consultation, which is available here: https://consult.education.gov.uk/school-attendance-policy-and-strategy-team/school-registers-and-national-thresholds-for-legal/supporting_documents/Consultation%20Document_Pupil%20Registration%20Regulations_Thresholds%20Legal%20Intervention.pdf.
Local authorities require information from schools to process a penalty notice. How this is done is agreed locally and should not place an undue burden on schools.
We will keep the policies under review through regular engagement with schools.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support Surrey County Council to deliver more housing for care leavers to improve Education, Employment and Training opportunities.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is committed to improving support for care leavers. Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we are placing a new duty on local authorities to provide ‘Staying Close’ support to care leavers up to age 25 where their welfare requires it and requiring local authorities to publish their arrangements for supporting care leavers’ transition to adulthood. The Bill will also ensure care leavers cannot be found intentionally homeless and will introduce corporate parenting responsibilities for government departments and relevant public bodies so that they better take the needs of care leavers into account. We also fund local authorities to help care leavers stay with their foster families up to age 21, known as ‘Staying Put’.
Support is available for eligible care leavers to access bursaries to engage in education, employment and training, including £2,000 for university and £3,000 for apprenticeships.
Wider housing reforms will also benefit care leavers. On 2 July, we announced a ten-year plan to deliver the largest increase in social and affordable housing in a generation, alongside lasting improvements in safety and quality. Additionally, from 10 July, eligible care leavers under 25 will no longer need to meet a local connection or residency test to access social housing.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support Surrey County Council to improve support for children who go missing or are at risk of exploitation.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Following support from the department and others, Surrey County Council's children's services were judged by Ofsted to be ‘Good’ in March 2025.
Statutory guidance ‘Working together to safeguard children’ (2023), is clear that children at risk of or experiencing harm from outside their home should receive a multi-agency safeguarding response, recognising threats may arise from school, peer groups, online or the wider community.
In 2023, we published a set of multi-agency practice principles to guide local areas in their response to keeping children and young people safe from child exploitation and extra-familial harm. The principles bring together the best available evidence in this area and have been developed through extensive consultation with professionals, children, young people, parents and carers. These principles are available here: https://tce.researchinpractice.org.uk/.
Our Families First Partnership Programme, backed by over £500 million investment per year over the next three years, is rolling out reforms to family help and multi-agency child protection, including where harm is outside the home.
We expect safeguarding partners to work together to reduce the chances of children going missing, to respond effectively when they do and understand why.
We have provided clear guidance about responsibilities for all children who go missing.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support Surrey County Council improve collaborative safety planning.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Following support from the department and others, Surrey County Council's children's services were judged by Ofsted to be ‘Good’ in March 2025.
Statutory guidance ‘Working together to safeguard children’ (2023), is clear that children at risk of or experiencing harm from outside their home should receive a multi-agency safeguarding response, recognising threats may arise from school, peer groups, online or the wider community.
In 2023, we published a set of multi-agency practice principles to guide local areas in their response to keeping children and young people safe from child exploitation and extra-familial harm. The principles bring together the best available evidence in this area and have been developed through extensive consultation with professionals, children, young people, parents and carers. These principles are available here: https://tce.researchinpractice.org.uk/.
Our Families First Partnership Programme, backed by over £500 million investment per year over the next three years, is rolling out reforms to family help and multi-agency child protection, including where harm is outside the home.
We expect safeguarding partners to work together to reduce the chances of children going missing, to respond effectively when they do and understand why.
We have provided clear guidance about responsibilities for all children who go missing.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions her Department has had with Surrey County Council on the findings of its 2024 Parents’ Voices Matter survey that 20% of children with special educational needs do not receive (a) an Education, Health and Care Plan and (b) any form of SEN support.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
In September 2023, Ofsted and Care Quality Commission undertook a local area special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) inspection in Surrey under the new SEND inspection framework. The report, published on 24 November, found inconsistent experiences and outcomes for children and young people with SEND.
The report identified four areas for improvement relating to: the strategic evaluation of interventions; communication with parents and carers; the timeliness and quality of health assessments, needs assessments, education, health and care (EHC) plans and annual reviews; and reviewing the breadth and offer of alternative provision.
To assist the local area in making improvements to its SEND services, including in relation to children accessing appropriate EHC plan and special educational needs support, the department has deployed a SEND advisor to offer advice and challenge. The advisor’s work has included supporting the local authority to review their EHC plan statutory progress and to discuss their action plan for making improvements, analysing EHC plan data and trends, facilitating best practice exchange with other local areas, and providing advice and guidance to enhance the quality of EHC plans.
The department continues to monitor Surrey County Council’s SEND services in line with the department’s improvement and intervention approach, and officials will continue to ensure that the voices and experiences of parents are reflected in discussions with the local area and in the support and guidance we provide.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of school-aged children in Woking who will become newly eligible for free school meals under the planned September 2026 Universal Credit extension.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity and tackling child poverty. The department has now announced that we are extending free school meals to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit from September 2026. This will lift 100,000 children across England out of poverty and put £500 back in families’ pockets, supporting parents in decisive action to improve lives ahead of the Child Poverty Strategy coming later this year.
Providing over half a million children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds with a free, nutritious lunchtime meal every school day will also lead to higher attainment, improved behaviour and better outcomes, meaning children get the best possible education and chance to succeed in work and life.
The department’s published data shows that over 4,000 children in Woking could benefit from expanded free meal support: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/free-school-meals-expansion-impact-on-poverty-levels.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the delay in extending free school meals to all children in households receiving Universal Credit until September 2026 on the percentage of children in Woking receiving free school meals.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity and tackling child poverty. The department has now announced that we are extending free school meals to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit from September 2026. This will lift 100,000 children across England out of poverty and put £500 back in families’ pockets, supporting parents in decisive action to improve lives ahead of the Child Poverty Strategy coming later this year.
Providing over half a million children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds with a free, nutritious lunchtime meal every school day will also lead to higher attainment, improved behaviour and better outcomes, meaning children get the best possible education and chance to succeed in work and life.
The department’s published data shows that over 4,000 children in Woking could benefit from expanded free meal support: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/free-school-meals-expansion-impact-on-poverty-levels.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential implications for her policies of the finding from Surrey County Council’s 2024 Parents’ Voices Matter survey that 20% of children with special educational needs do not receive (a) an Education, Health and Care Plan and (b) any form of SEN support.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.
We will strengthen accountability on mainstream settings to be inclusive, support the mainstream workforce to increase their SEND expertise, and encourage schools to set up resourced provision or special educational needs units to increase capacity in mainstream schools.
The department is working closely with experts on reforms, including appointing a strategic advisor for SEND who is playing a key role in convening and engaging with the sector, including leaders, practitioners, children and families, as we consider the next steps for the future of SEND reform.
This work forms part of the government’s Opportunity Mission, which will break the unfair link between background and opportunity, starting with giving every child, including those with SEND, the best start in life.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will undertake a review of the requirements non-UK nationals face when applying to train to become an educator.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department keep the requirements for applying to train to be a teacher under regular review to ensure that the best candidates wherever they are from can continue to access the appropriate training to become great teachers.
In addition to the requirements that apply to all candidates, those from overseas will need to show that they meet the eligibility requirements to get a visa and demonstrate that their school and university qualifications are equivalent to the required standard of a UK Bachelor’s degree and GSCEs (Grade 4) in mathematics, English and for teaching in primary schools science. They can do this by getting a statement of compatibility from the UK European Network of Information Centres.