Department for Education

Supporting disabled students to access and succeed in higher education is a government priority. Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) provides support to remove disability-related barriers to learning, enabling students to access academic opportunities. DSA-funded support is designed to meet disability-related needs and promote independence in study through appropriate equipment, assistive software and support.

The department’s consultation on assistive software funded through DSA seeks to gather evidence on how best to modernise the support provided, taking into account the significant advances in technology in recent years.

A key purpose of the consultation is to understand the extent to which advances in mainstream functionality can appropriately meet disability-related needs and where specialist software continues to be required. The intention is to ensure provision is appropriately targeted and represents value for money.

The department has not made a final assessment of the adequacy of free-to-access tools as we are seeking evidence of this through the consultation process.

Supporting disabled students to access and succeed in higher education is a government priority. Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) provides support to remove disability-related barriers to learning, enabling students to access academic opportunities. DSA-funded support is designed to meet disability-related needs and promote independence in study through appropriate equipment, assistive software and support.

The department’s consultation on assistive software funded through DSA seeks to gather evidence on how best to modernise the support provided, taking into account the significant advances in technology in recent years.

A key purpose of the consultation is to understand the extent to which advances in mainstream functionality can appropriately meet disability-related needs and where specialist software continues to be required. The intention is to ensure provision is appropriately targeted and represents value for money.

The department has not made a final assessment of the adequacy of free-to-access tools as we are seeking evidence of this through the consultation process.

The Construction Skills Programme, including construction industry placements, is focused on three years of funding and support. There are three elements as detailed below.

For providers in non-devolved areas, we will be refining the formula for allocations each year in light of new learner data and insights from the programme itself. For Mayoral Strategic Authorities (MSAs) with an Integrated Settlement, allocations have been decided for the coming years based on proportions of learner numbers in each area. Finally, for MSAs without an Integrated Settlement, allocations have been nominally decided and will be confirmed each year subject to assessment of achievement against grant targets.

Ministers have not yet made a full assessment of the impact of the new fostering hubs on the number of children able to remain in their local community, attend their existing school, and maintain established relationships.

The hubs are designed to strengthen local fostering capacity, with the aim of increasing the likelihood that children can stay close to home and maintain continuity in their lives. The fostering hubs programme sits alongside the department’s development of regional care cooperatives, which are designed to drive local placement sufficiency for children, enabling children to stay local. Ministers are monitoring the impact as the programme develops, and formal evaluation is planned.

Construction industry placements have been designed in collaboration with the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) to address feedback on the needs of learners looking to enter the sector. The Industry Placement programme is designed to tackle lower levels of progression to the workplace for learners undertaking Level 2 and 3 qualifications with no mandatory placement.

The department is committed to ensuring that construction industry placements translate into sustained employment opportunities. We are working with employers and sector bodies to design placements that reflect real workforce needs, ensuring participants gain in-demand, job-ready skills. We are also embedding high-quality standards for placements, including clear objectives, and meaningful on-site experience.

Furthermore, by linking placements to progression routes, including direct employment, apprenticeships, and further training, we are encouraging employers to use placements as a recruitment pathway. We are also providing wraparound support to participants, such as careers guidance, and pastoral support.

We are working closely with CITB to ensure that placement content and approach, and their Work Bridge programme, complement each other.

Industry placements are a core, mandatory element of T Levels, designed to give students substantial, hands on experience of working in industry so they can develop the technical skills, confidence and readiness they need for future employment.

T Levels are providing excellent opportunities for young people to progress into skilled jobs and careers, and 97.9% of students in receipt of a T Level result completed their industry placement last year.

They also benefit employers, helping them build their future workforce, tackle skills shortages in their business, whilst boosting productivity and bringing new ideas and perspectives.

Our Technical Education Learners Survey for the latest cohort of T Level students that we have data for demonstrates positive outcomes for T Level construction placements. 33% of T Level construction learners from the third cohort who went straight into employment were working for their industry placement employer, more than for T Level learners on other routes.

Of those Construction learners who agreed or were neutral that their course prepared them for the workplace, the Industry Placement was the most frequently mentioned aspect that learners thought best prepared them (66%).

Whilst developing the industry placement policy, the department has engaged closely with construction employers, including the Construction Skills Mission Board, to understand the challenges and barriers they face, ensuring these insights are used to inform and shape effective, practical solutions.

To help students from the most disadvantaged backgrounds progress and excel in higher education, we will future proof our loan offer for undergraduate students by increasing loans for living costs in line with forecast inflation every academic year.

This will ensure that students from the lowest income families receive the largest year-on-year increases in support and provide students with long-term financial certainty on the support they will receive while studying.

Maximum loans for living costs for undergraduate students will increase by forecast inflation, 2.71%, for the 2026/27 academic year.

In addition, all eligible care leavers, regardless of age or personal circumstances, who are attending undergraduate courses in 2026/27, will be eligible for the maximum loan for living costs, removing key barriers to accessing education.

Loans to help with course fees and living costs for students starting postgraduate master’s degree and doctoral degree courses in 2026/27 will also increase by 2.71%.

The Office for Students (OfS) is the independent regulator for higher education in England and operates within the legal framework set out in the Higher Education and Research Act 2017. Where the OfS takes regulatory action against a registered higher education (HE) provider, the provider has the right to make representations and to challenge that decision, including through the courts.

Where a court finds that a regulatory decision has been made unlawfully, the decision, including any associated monetary penalty, may be overturned.

There is no automatic mechanism operated by the department or the OfS to provide compensation to HE providers in such circumstances. As with other public law decisions, any matters relating to costs or damages would be determined by the courts.

This funding will increase opportunities for onsite experience for those learners on eligible qualifications, courses at Level 2 and 3, in Sector Subject Area 5.2 (Building and Construction), with 360+ guided learning hours, and excluding apprenticeships, National Vocational Qualifications, T levels and Skills Bootcamps. The learner numbers for the 2024/25 academic year can be found below:

Notes

1. Source: Departmental analysis of Individualised Learner Record.
2. Our data is based on an upper tier local authority structure. Thurrock and Essex are upper tier local authorities. Basildon is a lower tier local authority and is included within Essex.
3. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10 learners.

I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Birmingham Erdington to the answer of 10 June 2026 to Question 6581.

The department has now achieved over 70% of our target to recruit 6,500 additional expert teachers by the end of this Parliament. There are 4,654 additional expert teachers in secondary and special schools and colleges.

Recruitment of physics trainee teachers has almost doubled since 2023/24, and modern foreign languages recruitment (MFL) has increased by nearly a third over the same period. Our focus is on maintaining the growth in domestic recruitment and improved retention of existing teachers that we have already seen.

As a result, the department has paused the bursary and scholarship offer for new international entrants in physics and languages. International entrants that held an offer to start an initial teacher training course as of 7 May are unaffected by this change and will therefore receive bursaries and scholarships from this autumn. We will review our offer ahead of the next recruitment cycle.

The department has now achieved over 70% of our target to recruit 6,500 additional expert teachers by the end of this Parliament. There are 4,654 additional expert teachers in secondary and special schools and colleges.

Recruitment of physics trainee teachers has almost doubled since 2023/24, and modern foreign languages recruitment (MFL) has increased by nearly a third over the same period. Our focus is on maintaining the growth in domestic recruitment and improved retention of existing teachers that we have already seen.

As a result, the department has paused the bursary and scholarship offer for new international entrants in physics and languages. International entrants that held an offer to start an initial teacher training course as of 7 May are unaffected by this change and will therefore receive bursaries and scholarships from this autumn. We will review our offer ahead of the next recruitment cycle.

The current system for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) is failing too many children and too many families. Improving the life chances of children and young people with SEND is the first priority for these reforms, in turn also improving their employment prospects and mental health. Every child deserves a high-quality, inclusive education, and families should not have to battle the system for this.

The SEND consultation ran for 12 weeks and closed in May. We are carefully considering all responses, and we will continue to engage on our proposals. We will publish a response to the consultation in due course and bring forward legislation at the earliest opportunity as set out in the King’s Speech.

Inclusion bases will have specialisms, providing tailored and expert teaching and support for specific groups of children. We know there are lots of great examples of mainstream schools delivering specialist provision through inclusion bases, enabling children to benefit and remain part of mainstream education and wider school life.

Support bases, commissioned by individual settings and trusts will deliver ‘targeted plus’ support, whilst specialist bases, commissioned by the local authority, will deliver ‘specialist’ support.

We will shortly be publishing guidance to help mainstream settings implement high quality inclusion bases, including the importance of supporting integration.

Ofsted consider published destinations data as part of the inspection methodology when they gather inspection evidence to determine grades. The current data collection would not enable destination outcomes to be tracked in this way. Instead, inspectors will explore the extent to which inclusion bases are used in the best interests of pupils and improving their outcomes, as set out in school inspection operating guide for inspectors.

Inclusion bases will have specialisms, providing tailored and expert teaching and support for specific groups of children. We know there are lots of great examples of mainstream schools delivering specialist provision through inclusion bases, enabling children to benefit and remain part of mainstream education and wider school life.

Support bases, commissioned by individual settings and trusts will deliver ‘targeted plus’ support, whilst specialist bases, commissioned by the local authority, will deliver ‘specialist’ support.

We will shortly be publishing guidance to help mainstream settings implement high quality inclusion bases, including the importance of supporting integration.

Ofsted consider published destinations data as part of the inspection methodology when they gather inspection evidence to determine grades. The current data collection would not enable destination outcomes to be tracked in this way. Instead, inspectors will explore the extent to which inclusion bases are used in the best interests of pupils and improving their outcomes, as set out in school inspection operating guide for inspectors.

The department is supporting mainstream schools to take a more evidence‑based approach to early identification of need, including social, emotional and mental health needs.

We are developing National Inclusion Standards, backed by up to £15 million, which will provide schools with evidence‑based identification tools and approaches, including a digital library to support consistent, data‑driven assessment. We are also funding UKRI‑led research to improve early identification and needs assessment methods, to be rolled out by 2028.

Schools are being incentivised through the £1.6 billion Inclusive Mainstream Fund, helping them invest in early intervention and targeted support without requiring an education, health and care plan.

The new ‘Experts at Hand’ offer, backed by £1.8 billion of investment over the next three years, will enable greater access to expert advice and support from education and health professionals, including educational psychologists, speech and language therapists and outreach from specialist settings including alternative provision, into mainstream schools, early years settings, and colleges.

We are also introducing digital Individual Support Plans and a duty on schools to identify and meet needs early.

Sector engagement indicates that there is strong employer demand for new entrants and willingness across the sector to offer high-quality placement opportunities, supported by the additional regional funding provided through the Construction Skills Programme.

To support sufficient capacity, the department is engaging closely with industry partners, including major contractors, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and representative bodies through the Construction Skills Mission Board, employer panels convened by Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) and provider networks, to understand the challenges and barriers they face and inform the development of effective, practical solutions. This has enabled us to identify issues in real time and adapt policy accordingly. Employers have expressed support for recognition of the issue and the overall approach.

The department is also providing targeted funding and incentives to help employers, particularly SMEs, to host placements and are intended to offset some costs and support supervision.

We are employing a mixed model of funding, devolving to Mayoral Strategic Authorities (MSAs) where available, and partnering directly with further education (FE) providers where they are not. The aim is to deliver full coverage for England, harness local insight and relationships to plan provision in line with local labour market needs and leverage regional influence where MSAs are present to manage this.

Additionally, the department is encouraging flexible and innovative delivery models, such as split placements and block placements, and use of training hubs to maximise the number of opportunities available, as we aware the construction sector has an unusually high proportion of SMEs and are keen to allow flexibility in delivery wherever possible and financial support to maximise participation.

The department will continue to work closely with the FE and construction sectors to ensure sufficient high-quality placements are available to support learners and meet the sector’s workforce needs.

Sector engagement indicates that there is strong employer demand for new entrants and willingness across the sector to offer high-quality placement opportunities, supported by the additional regional funding provided through the Construction Skills Programme.

To support sufficient capacity, the department is engaging closely with industry partners, including major contractors, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and representative bodies through the Construction Skills Mission Board, employer panels convened by Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) and provider networks, to understand the challenges and barriers they face and inform the development of effective, practical solutions. This has enabled us to identify issues in real time and adapt policy accordingly. Employers have expressed support for recognition of the issue and the overall approach.

The department is also providing targeted funding and incentives to help employers, particularly SMEs, to host placements and are intended to offset some costs and support supervision.

We are employing a mixed model of funding, devolving to Mayoral Strategic Authorities (MSAs) where available, and partnering directly with further education (FE) providers where they are not. The aim is to deliver full coverage for England, harness local insight and relationships to plan provision in line with local labour market needs and leverage regional influence where MSAs are present to manage this.

Additionally, the department is encouraging flexible and innovative delivery models, such as split placements and block placements, and use of training hubs to maximise the number of opportunities available, as we aware the construction sector has an unusually high proportion of SMEs and are keen to allow flexibility in delivery wherever possible and financial support to maximise participation.

The department will continue to work closely with the FE and construction sectors to ensure sufficient high-quality placements are available to support learners and meet the sector’s workforce needs.

The Office for Students, the independent regulator of higher education (HE) in England, is responsible for monitoring the sector’s financial sustainability. Its most recent report on the sector’s financial health, published in May 2026, can be found here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/financial-sustainability-of-higher-education-providers-in-england-2026/.

The department greatly values the hard work of staff across the HE sector who continue to deliver for students and universities during a challenging period. We are aware that some providers are making difficult decisions around staffing to safeguard their financial sustainability.

Given universities are independent, the government does not have a role in intervening with specific providers in pay and staffing matters, nor does it collect specific data on redundancies within HE.

However, we encourage providers to work constructively with their staff to develop sustainable models that retain talent and expertise and provide stability for the workforce and the institution.

The Office for Students, the independent regulator of higher education (HE) in England, is responsible for monitoring the sector’s financial sustainability. Its most recent report on the sector’s financial health, published in May 2026, can be found here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/financial-sustainability-of-higher-education-providers-in-england-2026/.

The department greatly values the hard work of staff across the HE sector who continue to deliver for students and universities during a challenging period. We are aware that some providers are making difficult decisions around staffing to safeguard their financial sustainability.

Given universities are independent, the government does not have a role in intervening with specific providers in pay and staffing matters, nor does it collect specific data on redundancies within HE.

However, we encourage providers to work constructively with their staff to develop sustainable models that retain talent and expertise and provide stability for the workforce and the institution.

We are committed to improving the quality of hair and beauty qualifications and have plans in place to reform all qualifications for 16 to 19 learners. Content for any new hair and beauty qualifications, including new Level 2 Occupational Certificates and a new Level 3 T Level, will be set nationally and linked to occupational standards co-designed with employers, ensuring relevance and credibility, and we will consider inclusive education, including afro-textured hair, as part of setting content. By linking qualifications to occupational standards, improving clarity and comparability across pathways, and ensuring all qualifications support meaningful progression, the system will ensure learners are engaged, retained in learning, and equipped to thrive in a modern labour market, including progressing into employment in the hair and beauty industry.

In the department’s consultation ‘Special educational needs and disabilities reform: putting children and young people first’, the term ’complex needs’ is used to describe children and young people who require support at the specialist level which will be set out in Specialist Provision Packages. We are appointing an independent expert panel to develop the full packages in discussion with families and professionals working across education and healthcare.

The department is considering responses to the consultation, including how we best provide support to children with high levels of need and who require significant join-up between education and health services.

As part of this consultation, we have published an outline of the proposed Specialist Provision Packages. These packages will set out the broad support children requiring specialist provision need across education, health and social care.

The department’s reforms are still proposals and not final decisions. We are continuing to listen and carefully reviewing feedback before setting out the government's response and next steps.

Effective early identification and intervention is critical to improving outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

In an inclusive system, settings should be confident in recognising a full range of needs, including where high ability coexists with additional needs in dual or multiple exceptionalities, and in meeting these through evidence‑based approaches.

Many settings already identify needs effectively. We will build on this by strengthening the evidence base and supporting practitioners to recognise complex profiles, including pupils who may be both gifted and require special educational needs support, ensuring strengths are not overlooked and barriers are addressed early.

We are introducing clearer statutory expectations on schools to identify and meet needs as early as possible, monitor progress closely, and put timely support in place.

To underpin this, we are developing National Inclusion Standards through an independent expert panel, providing practical, evidence‑informed tools for identifying and supporting diverse needs.

In addition, we are investing over £200 million to deliver a landmark inclusion training package, including strengthened Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework (ITTECF) content on adaptive teaching and supporting pupils with SEND.

HM Treasury’s Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) provides a comprehensive assessment of the impacts of the removal of the VAT exemption on private schools. The TIIN is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-on-private-school-fees/applying-vat-to-private-school-fees#who-is-likely-to-be-affected.

Placements at special schools are usually made through education, health and care (EHC) plans. The department does not hold figures on whether a mainstream setting named on an EHC plan was the setting preferred by the parents of the child.

The Schools White Paper and SEND consultation document published earlier this year set out our proposed changes to improve help and support for children and young people with SEND across the 0 to 25 years system.

During the 12‑week consultation period, the department delivered an expanded and coordinated engagement programme to ensure we listened to children and young people, families and the sector. This included:

• ​Nine regional events, opened by ministers.
• ​24 children and young people–led sessions, which included young people with a range of special educational needs and disabilities including autism, down syndrome, and cerebral palsy.
• ​Six information webinars for health, education, local authority leaders, social care and parent carers.

Together, these strands ensured broad, balanced and representative engagement while following consultation principles around transparency, accessibility and fairness.

The department is now reviewing consultation responses alongside feedback from the events.

Our reforms are still proposals and not final decisions. We are continuing to listen and carefully reviewing feedback before setting out the government's response and next steps. The lived experience and insights shared by young people, families and professionals will play a central role in shaping the next stage of these reforms.

The national curriculum and GCSEs are being updated for the first time in over a decade, with a public consultation on the draft programmes of study and subject content for the first group of GCSEs opening this September.

The revised curriculum will be published next spring, with support to begin first teaching in September 2028. The first updated GCSEs will be taught from September 2029.

The expertise, insight and experience of the education sector will be vital in shaping these reforms, and we look forward to working together throughout the process.

In 2025, 92.6% of families were offered their first-choice primary school and 98.6% received offers from one of their top three choices. At secondary level, 83.5% of families were offered their first-choice school and 94.9% received offers from one of their top three choices.

Admission authorities for all mainstream state‑funded schools must maintain a waiting list until at least 31 December of the relevant school year. When places become available, they are allocated strictly in accordance with each school’s published oversubscription criteria.

School admission decisions are made on an individual basis by admission authorities. As such, the department does not collect data on how many pupils on waiting lists for oversubscribed schools subsequently receive offers, nor on the average waiting‑list position of those who ultimately gain a place.

In 2025, 92.6% of families were offered their first-choice primary school and 98.6% received offers from one of their top three choices. At secondary level, 83.5% of families were offered their first-choice school and 94.9% received offers from one of their top three choices.

Admission authorities for all mainstream state‑funded schools must maintain a waiting list until at least 31 December of the relevant school year. When places become available, they are allocated strictly in accordance with each school’s published oversubscription criteria.

School admission decisions are made on an individual basis by admission authorities. As such, the department does not collect data on how many pupils on waiting lists for oversubscribed schools subsequently receive offers, nor on the average waiting‑list position of those who ultimately gain a place.

The department is committed to ensuring that all children receive a high-quality and inclusive education, supported by well-trained early years practitioners and teachers.

To achieve qualified teacher status and early years teacher status, trainees must meet relevant standards, including creating safe learning environments. All settings must also have due regard to ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’, which includes guidance on safeguarding, welfare and bullying.

The ‘Early years foundation stage’ framework and the ‘Initial teacher training early career’ framework sets expectations for safeguarding, behaviour, and promoting pupils’ wellbeing. As part of this, providers are required to ensure trainees understand equality, inclusion, and safeguarding.

The department keeps training requirements under review to ensure they remain effective and evidence-based.

We are committed to raising the healthiest generation ever. The School Food Standards are being updated because they are over a decade old and no longer fully reflect the latest scientific advice on children’s diets. In summary, the changes we propose to make are related to increasing fibre, reducing sugar and further restricting foods higher in fat, sugar and salt, in line with the latest nutritional advice set by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition.

As part of ensuring the standards reflect the latest evidence in practice, our proposals have been developed through close consultation with the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities and were also informed by an advisory group and key stakeholders in the food, catering, nutrition, and health sectors. The public consultation now provides a further opportunity to assess the proposals.

This information is not held in the requested format.

The government is committed to harnessing the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) to improve the productivity of the Civil Service and the quality of public services. Ministers, special advisers and officials may only use generative AI tools that have been approved by their department for official use.

Within the department, colleagues are encouraged to use Microsoft Copilot Chat as the approved enterprise chatbot. Claude is also sanctioned for use by a limited number of technical staff. These tools are configured to ensure departmental data is held securely and is not used to train publicly available AI models.

The use of publicly available or consumer versions of generative AI tools, including ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Grok and DeepSeek is not permitted for use with departmental information.

The use of generative AI across government is governed by the Generative AI Framework for HMG and the AI Playbook.

The School Food Standards set the mandatory nutritional framework for food and drink provided in state‑funded schools in England. Since the Standards were introduced in 2014, the dietary recommendations on free sugar, fibre and sweeteners have changed and the proportion of children living with obesity is high.

The department is committed to raising the healthiest generation ever, so we are consulting on proposed updates to the School Food Standards in England to ensure that all food served at school better reflects current nutritional guidance and supports children’s health, wellbeing and learning.

The consultation is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/school-food-standards-updating-the-legislative-framework.

As part of our proposals, we are consulting on removing fruit juice and combination drinks from school meal services. We are also proposing to limit available drinks to water, semi-skimmed or skimmed milk, lactose free milk and certain plant-based drinks, with a restricted range of low or no sugar drinks permitted in secondary schools.

Since July 2024, the department has engaged with thousands of children, young people, parents, families, professionals and local authorities. As part of the National Conversation held between December 2025 and January 2026, the department reached over 8,000 people through online and in-person events.

This engagement continued during the consultation phase through a programme of regional events, and work with children and young people, including activity led by the Council for Disabled Children. During the 12-week consultation period, this programme combined Ministerial oversight, targeted expert input and public participation, ensuring that families, practitioners and young people could engage meaningfully with the proposals. This included a department-led consultation workshop with the National Association of Special Schools on 29 April 2026.

The Chief Executive of the National Association of Special Schools attended a meeting I chaired on 21st April, alongside other special school representatives, to discuss how we can further embed specialist expertise within initial teacher training as part of our plans to improve the SEND system. These discussions are ongoing.

I continue to engage widely with the specialist, schools and FE sectors, as well as parents and young people as we carefully review all responses submitted through our special educational needs and disabilities consultation.

Local authorities are responsible for identifying, assessing and meeting the needs of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and should communicate openly with children, young people and their families.

The SEND Code of Practice sets out that they must consult children, young people, parents and carers when preparing and reviewing their Local Offer. The department supports family involvement through funding Parent Carer Forums, regional participation events and local information, advice and support services.

Where parents disagree with particular decisions, they can use local complaints processes, and, for EHC (education, health and care) related issues, seek early resolution through mediation and appeal to a First-tier Tribunal.

Area SEND inspections provide independent evaluation of local arrangements, and the department, alongside NHS England, provides support and challenge to local area partnerships, including through the use of intervention, which we propose to strengthen, where the quality of local provision is not acceptable.

I refer the hon. Member for Newbury to the answer of 04 June 2026 to Question 4398.

'Renewing Fostering: homes for 10,000 more children’ commits to creating 10,000 more foster placements by April 2029, providing a foster placement for every child who needs one. Using Ofsted trends in new approval and deregistration rates of foster households (converted into placements), we project a continued decline in fostering capacity without intervention. This forecast provides the department's baseline for the target. It is difficult to estimate the true number of foster carers required.

Our demand estimate is based on:

• Children currently entering children’s homes could be placed in foster care.
• Additional capacity needed to reduce the movement of children from current foster places into children’s homes.
• Further places are required to improve placement matching, ensuring children have more than one suitable foster carer.

Combined, these factors indicate 10,000 additional places will be needed by April 2029. This estimate contains uncertainty and does not reflect likely reductions in demand from reforms such as the Families First Partnership.

The department has recently undertaken a consultation on the future of adoption support, including a proposal to devolve funding to local level, inviting evidence on the potential impacts. We are currently reviewing responses and will continue to engage with stakeholders on a range of issues. No decisions have been made at the current time.

The government has committed to a continuation of the Music and Dance Scheme. Providers will be informed of future funding shortly.

Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) allocations by financial year are available at the following:

• 2026/27 financial year: https://skillsfunding.service.gov.uk/view-latest-funding/national-funding-allocations/DSG/2026-to-2027.
• 2025/26 financial year: https://skillsfunding.service.gov.uk/view-latest-funding/national-funding-allocations/DSG/2025-to-2026.
• 2024/25 financial year: https://skillsfunding.service.gov.uk/view-latest-funding/national-funding-allocations/DSG/2024-to-2025.
• 2023/24financial year: https://skillsfunding.service.gov.uk/view-latest-funding/national-funding-allocations/DSG/2023-to-2024.
• 2022/23 financial year: https://skillsfunding.service.gov.uk/view-latest-funding/national-funding-allocations/DSG/2022-to-2023.
• 2021/22financial year: https://skillsfunding.service.gov.uk/view-latest-funding/national-funding-allocations/DSG/2021-to-2022.

The total High Needs Block allocation for each local authority can be found in the ‘Allocations_summary’ sheet, in the column ‘High needs block (£s)’.

The allocations for 2026/27 are subject to further updates later this year.

Examination centres are required to follow the ‘Joint Council for Qualifications’ guidance which sets out requirements on training invigilators, including how to detect and prevent malpractice, such as the misuse of technology.

Our reformed system will focus on earlier, more accurate identification of need, ensuring children and young people receive the right support at the earliest possible point without relying on diagnosis. The National Inclusion Standards will include whole school, universal approaches, as well as tools and approaches to identify and respond to needs through the targeted/targeted plus layers of support. These new Standards will support teachers to notice and identify where children or young people may be experiencing barriers to their learning, and suggest evidence-based approaches to support them.

Experts at Hand will also provide expert advice direct into settings to support staff to identify needs, without the need for bureaucratic hurdles.

The proposal is for Individual Support Plans (ISPs) to provide a record of need and provision for any child or young person receiving targeted, targeted plus or specialist support in school or college developed with children and parents/carers.

We have carefully assessed the impact of all our proposals and this is included in our published SEND reform: equalities impact assessment and SEND reform: child’s rights impact assessment.

Under our proposed reforms, Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) will continue to exist, guaranteeing statutory entitlements to education and health provision, with content agreed in consultation with young people and parents. Children and young people will be eligible for an EHC plan in the reformed system, if they need the support set out in a specialist provision package which will provide comprehensive, evidence-based support.

After a 12 week consultation period including over 200 engagement events, meetings and roundtables, the consultation has now closed and we are carefully considering responses.