Department for Education

The government recognises mathematical sciences as a valuable subject in higher education.

As outlined by my hon. Friend, the Member for Vale of Glamorgan, the 25/26 Guidance Letter from my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, to the Office for Students (OfS) sets out that the department will work with the OfS to review and reform the high-cost subject funding element of the Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG). This ensures that the funding best aligns with the government’s Growth Mission and is targeted effectively towards high-cost provision that supports the Industrial Strategy and future skills needs. We are collaborating closely with the OfS to assess the impact of any changes to SPG funding.

The government remains committed to international mobility. That’s why we have announced the UK has agreed to join the Erasmus+ programme in 2027. The Turing Scheme continues to deliver these opportunities and is confirmed for the 2026/27 academic year.

Guidance on the Turing Scheme for the 2026/27 academic year has been published on GOV.UK, with applications for funding opening at 12:00 on Tuesday 20 January and closing at 16:00 on Monday 16 March.

The aims of the Turing Scheme for the 2026/27 academic year are to enhance transferable skills, widen opportunity and drive value for money.

We are continuing to focus the scheme’s funding on students from disadvantaged and underrepresented backgrounds and those with special educational needs and disabilities.

Further details, including guidance for providers and application information, are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/turing-scheme-international-placements-2026-to-2027.

We are currently researching the artificial intelligence tools that are available on the market and what they can provide for users. Once this research has concluded, we will engage with British Sign Language signers which will help inform next steps.

It is the department’s ambition that all families have access to high quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life.

From April 2026, local authorities will be required to pass at least 97% of their funding directly to providers, an increase from 96%. We will work with local authorities and others to ensure that, where they want to, childminders and other early years providers are paid monthly for the funded hours they provide, making their income more stable. Childminders, who often care for children of different ages, can use the funding they receive to support costs across all the children they look after. We expect this will also bring increased demand for childminder places, providing new opportunities for growth.

From 1 November 2024, the government introduced new flexibilities to help childminders join and stay in the profession, supporting the government’s commitment to roll out expanded childcare entitlements and give children the best start in life.

The department published updated relationships, sex and health education statutory guidance in July 2025. It focuses on building healthy relationships skills from the start of primary school. It sets out that secondary schools should cover how to recognise, respect and communicate consent and boundaries in both platonic and romantic relationships.

Pupils should be taught the law about the age of consent and that they have a choice about whether to have sex. Pupils should also be taught about their capacity to give, withhold or remove consent at any time, even if initially given.

This government, in December 2025, has published a new strategy to tackle violence against women and girls. We want to protect young people and drive forward education on healthy relationships and will be investing £11 million to pilot the best interventions in schools over the next three years.

The department knows that reading for pleasure is hugely important and brings a range of benefits, yet just 1 in 3 children aged 8-18 say they enjoy reading in their free time, and a recent omnibus survey found that 31% of parents of primary-aged children and 40% of parents of secondary-aged children said their child prefers spending time online or playing video games, citing this as a barrier to encouraging reading in their free time.

The department has launched the National Year of Reading 2026, in collaboration with the National Literacy Trust, to address long-term declines in reading enjoyment through engaging new audiences, reshaping public attitudes and building the systems needed to embed lasting, meaningful change.

The National Year of Reading encourages everyone to see how reading, in all its forms, can unlock more of our existing passions and interests, from reading a story in a print book or on an e-reader, to reading a magazine article or an online blog, to listening to an audio book on a phone or tablet. Recognising that, digital technology is not incompatible with the National Year of Reading.

New electric vehicle salary sacrifice schemes in the public sector are currently paused whilst a cross-government review on these schemes is undertaken by HMT. Academy trusts with existing schemes can keep them in place but not expand them by adding new members. The department will inform academy trusts when a decision has been made, and the Academy Trust Handbook will be updated accordingly.

Religious education (RE) is not part of the national curriculum but is a mandatory subject for all pupils aged 5 to 18 in state-funded schools in England. Schools should deliver RE in an objective, critical and pluralistic way and already have the flexibility, through their locally agreed syllabi, to include the study of non-religious world views such as humanism.

We welcome the Curriculum and Assessment Review’s recommendation that Vanessa Ogden, a former Review panellist specialising in RE, should lead a sector group, independent from government, to develop a draft RE curriculum. The sector group’s work on RE will reflect the role the subject plays in building understanding between people of different faiths, beliefs and communities, including those with non-religious world views. If the group reaches consensus on a draft curriculum, the government will consult on whether to add it to the national curriculum.

Meetings were held with a small number of local authorities with projects across the special and alternative provision free schools pipeline during the process of formulating policy. As set out in the Written Ministerial Statement of 15 December 2025 (HCWS1163), policy decisions have been taken to ensure that capital investment delivers specialist places more quickly and flexibly.

For 18 projects where a trust had not been appointed by July 2024 and so are furthest from opening, the department concluded that local authorities are best placed to create the required places sooner than would be possible through the free school route. Each affected authority will be given an alternative funding package, calculated on a per-place basis, enabling them to expand existing provision or adapt mainstream settings as part of their local special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) strategy and in line with SEND reform.

Authorities can submit representations if they disagree with the decision. The deadline for them to do so is 27 February 2026.

As part of the government response to the Curriculum and Assessment Review's final report, published on 5 November 2024, we announced our intention to remove EBacc headline and additional measures at key stage 4.

This will take effect for the key stage 4 performance measures for the 2025/26 academic year, to be published in autumn 2026.

The department is committed to reviewing the shockingly high number of early deaths amongst care-experienced young people. As I stated in the House of Commons, at the beginning of the first ever National Care Leavers Month in November 2025, suicide and early death are, tragically, part of the care experience for too many. To start to solve a problem, we must first confront it.

As we progress this review, we will carefully consider how to improve the support that care leavers receive across a range of aspects of their lives, including mental and physical health, housing, education, employment and training, and relationships.

We are already taking action through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, including placing a new duty on local authorities to provide Staying Close support to care leavers up to the age of 25, to help care leavers find and keep suitable accommodation and to access services relating to health and wellbeing, relationships, education, training and employment.

In addition, we are reviewing guidance on ‘Promoting the health and wellbeing of looked-after children’ and extending it to cover care leavers up to age 25.

In December 2025, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and I announced that, in a boost for mental health support, the government will trial a 3-year pilot to make sure children in care have access to the support they need sooner. This will build on existing work across the country, bringing together social workers and NHS health professionals to work together to provide direct mental health support to children and families when they need it most.

The department is currently assessing what artificial intelligence tools have been developed in this space. Once we have assessed the landscape, we will reach out to relevant stakeholders to discuss whether the tools we have identified can solve those problems.

Keeping children safe is an absolute priority for this government, and schools and colleges play a critical role in this.

They are supported by the statutory guidance, 'Keeping children safe in education' (KCSIE), which all schools and colleges must have regard to when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. The guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education--2.

Local authorities, police, and health services share an equal statutory duty to work together, and schools and colleges must work with local safeguarding partners to protect children.

KCSIE makes clear that all staff have a responsibility to identify and respond to any safeguarding concerns and stresses the importance of effective information sharing at the right time to ensure children receive the support they need. This includes ensuring clear processes and principles are in place for sharing information not only within the school or college and with children’s social care, but with safeguarding partners and other relevant organisations.

The department has engaged with trusts, local authorities and other stakeholders in relation to projects in scope of the mainstream review, including reviewing the evidence they have provided. This included all of the local authorities with a project in scope.

MPs with an interest in projects were invited to a ‘drop in’ session during the review and again following the announcement on 15 December 2025. Individual meetings with interested MPs have also taken place.

The department monitors the prevalence of bullying among children and young people through the National Behaviour Survey (NBS).

The most recent NBS results, for the 2024/25 academic year, showed that 21% of secondary school aged pupils reported being bullied in the past 12 months. Of those pupils, 29% reported that at least some of the bullying occurred online.

The department is procuring an expert and evidence-led review into best practice on behaviour and preventing and tackling bullying, including cyber-bullying. The learning from this will support leaders to develop safe, supportive school cultures.

Through statutory relationships, sex and health education, pupils are taught about online relationships, the implications of sharing private or personal data (including images) online, harmful content, cyberbullying, what over-reliance on social media looks like and where to get help.

Mandatory nutrition and practical cooking education is already included within the national curriculum. Additional elements of nutrition education can also be covered within science and relationships, sex and health education. The national curriculum aims to teach children how to cook and how to apply the principles of healthy eating and nutrition. Schools also have flexibility within the broad framework of the national curriculum to tailor curriculum subjects to meet the needs of their pupils.

In response to the Curriculum and Assessment Review, the department has set out that we will enhance the identity of food education by clearly distinguishing cooking and nutrition, which will be renamed food and nutrition, as a distinct strand within design and technology. We are also legislating through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to require academies to follow the national curriculum, to ensure that pupils in academy schools also benefit from these changes alongside those in maintained schools.

An independent interim evaluation of the Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS) programme was published on 2 December 2025, and is accessible at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/partnerships-for-inclusion-of-neurodiversity-in-schools-pins-interim-evaluation-report.

The second year of PINS delivery is due to conclude on 31 March 2026, with independent evaluation activity continuing until summer 2026. We anticipate publishing a final evaluation report of the PINS programme after this date.

The learning from the PINS interim evaluation is informing policy development around how schools support neurodivergent children. We will set out our plans for reform of the special educational needs and disabilities system in the upcoming Schools White Paper, building on the work we have already done to create a system that is rooted in inclusion, where children receive high quality support early on and can thrive at their local school.

The department is engaging with the higher education sector to shape the design of the International Student Levy to make delivery of the levy as easy as possible for providers. The technical consultation document builds on the details which were set out at the Autumn Budget 2025, initially announced in the Immigration White Paper, and can be found here: https://consult.education.gov.uk/international-student-levy-unit/international-student-levy/supporting_documents/isl-technical-consultationpdf.

As part of this, the government will be consulting a wide range of stakeholders, including those affected by the proposals and representative bodies from across the sector.

The technical consultation is due to close on 18 February 2026.

The department does not hold information on which local authorities in England have implemented auto‑enrolment for free school meals. Local authorities are responsible for managing their own processes for identifying eligible children.

This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity and tackling child poverty. Introducing a new eligibility threshold for free school meals so that all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit will be eligible for free school meals from September 2026 will make it easier for parents to know whether they are entitled to receive free meals. This new entitlement will mean over 500,000 of the most disadvantaged children will begin to access free meals, pulling 100,000 children out of poverty.

We are also rolling out improvements to the Eligibility Checking System, making it easier for local authorities, schools and parents to check if children are eligible for free meals.

Statutory relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) supports children and young people to manage risk and make informed decisions in relation to their mental wellbeing and online behaviour.

The updated RSHE statutory guidance is clear that children and young people should be taught the risks relating to online gaming, video game monetisation, scams, fraud and other financial harms, and that gaming can become addictive.

Curriculum content also includes the risks related to online gambling and gambling-like content within gaming, including the accumulation of debt.

The departments online safety guidance covers how to teach about all aspects of internet safety and includes content on gaming and gambling, and can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teaching-online-safety-in-schools.

As with other aspects of the curriculum, schools have flexibility over how they deliver important topics and use their autonomy and local community knowledge to do this.

The department knows that effective early identification and intervention is critical in improving the outcomes of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

Whilst the department does not have any current plans to introduce screening for all primary school age children for colour blindness, to support settings to identify need early, we are strengthening the evidence base of what works to improve early identification in mainstream settings. Recently published evidence reviews from University College London will help to drive inclusive practices. They highlight what the best available evidence suggests are the most effective tools, strategies and approaches for teachers and other relevant staff in mainstream settings to identify and support children and young people with different types of needs.

We also recently announced new government-backed research into SEN identification, which will be delivered by UK Research Innovation (UKRI) in partnership with the department. This will aim to develop and test trusted and effective approaches to help the early identification of children needing tailored educational support.

The department actively reviews historic provisions to ensure that the Teachers’ Pension Scheme remains fair for all and, if necessary, take steps to rectify where discrimination has been identified. The Preston cases, which were rectified in the 1990s, and the Goodwin cases, which were rectified in 2021, are cases in point.

The department does not have plans to review any specific historic provisions at present.

Changes to the maternity participation rules were provided in legislation in 1994 and 1995 and widely consulted on. The scheme administrator, Teachers’ Pensions, continue to issue guidance to local authorities and employers to ensure compliance and to manage claims effectively.

The department actively reviews historic provisions to ensure that the Teachers’ Pension Scheme remains fair for all and, if necessary, take steps to rectify where discrimination has been identified. The Preston cases, which were rectified in the 1990s, and the Goodwin cases, which were rectified in 2021, are cases in point.

The department does not have plans to review any specific historic provisions at present.

Changes to the maternity participation rules were provided in legislation in 1994 and 1995 and widely consulted on. The scheme administrator, Teachers’ Pensions, continue to issue guidance to local authorities and employers to ensure compliance and to manage claims effectively.

The department actively reviews historic provisions to ensure that the Teachers’ Pension Scheme remains fair for all and, if necessary, take steps to rectify where discrimination has been identified. The Preston cases, which were rectified in the 1990s, and the Goodwin cases, which were rectified in 2021, are cases in point.

The department does not have plans to review any specific historic provisions at present.

Changes to the maternity participation rules were provided in legislation in 1994 and 1995 and widely consulted on. The scheme administrator, Teachers’ Pensions, continue to issue guidance to local authorities and employers to ensure compliance and to manage claims effectively.

The number of free schools that have been opened through the free school presumption process since July 2024 is as follows:

For comparison, the number of presumption free schools that were established in the previous academic year (2023/24) was:

Information on young carers was first collected through the school census in spring 2023. Since then, we have seen year-on-year improvements in the identification of pupils who are young carers. The department continues to work closely with schools and their representatives to refine and strengthen the guidance provided and for the 2026 spring school census, we have introduced changes to data validation processes to support more accurate and complete reporting of this information.

The latest information about the number of pupils identified as a young carer is published in the ‘Schools, Pupils and their Characteristics’ statistical release, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2025.

The department is driving major children’s social care reforms to strengthen and improve early intervention, including in cases of childhood neglect. These reforms are backed by £2.4 billion investment, robust statutory guidance ‘Working together to safeguard children’, and support for teachers, social workers and all safeguarding professionals to spot the signs of abuse and neglect more quickly.

Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we will require local authorities and safeguarding partners to establish multi-agency child protection teams, enhance schools’ role in safeguarding partnership arrangements and introduce provisions that empower my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education to introduce a consistent identifier for children.

In addition, our Best Start Family Hubs will provide welcoming spaces that connect families to health, education, housing and parenting support, helping identify those who need more intensive help from family support and multi-agency child protection.

Our plans to establish a Child Protection Authority in England will also bring further focus to children who are experiencing or likely to experience significant harm, including neglect.

Schools are required under Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 to make arrangements to support pupils with medical conditions, including allergies.

They must have regard to the statutory guidance ‘Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions’, which sets expectations for training and emergency procedures. Governing bodies should ensure that staff receive suitable training to identify and respond to severe allergic reactions, such as anaphylaxis, and that policies and systems are effectively implemented. Ofsted assesses the effectiveness of these arrangements as part of school inspections.

The department maintains oversight of state boarding school policy, which is used to regulate standards in boarding provisions.

The Ministry of Defence oversees the Continuity of Education Allowance for eligible Service Personnel, which provides clearly defined financial support to ensure that the need for frequent mobility does not interfere with a child’s education. This includes supporting parents with the option of using a state boarding school.

The department maintains oversight of state boarding school policy, which is used to regulate standards in boarding provisions.

The Ministry of Defence oversees the Continuity of Education Allowance for eligible Service Personnel, which provides clearly defined financial support to ensure that the need for frequent mobility does not interfere with a child’s education. This includes supporting parents with the option of using a state boarding school.

The department maintains oversight of state boarding school policy, which is used to regulate standards in boarding provisions.

The Ministry of Defence oversees the Continuity of Education Allowance for eligible Service Personnel, which provides clearly defined financial support to ensure that the need for frequent mobility does not interfere with a child’s education. This includes supporting parents with the option of using a state boarding school.

The department has engaged with trusts, local authorities and other stakeholders in relation to individual projects in scope of the review, including reviewing the evidence they have provided. As would be expected from a review of this scale, there have been a significant number of meetings

Schools and colleges have a critical role to play in protecting children and keeping them safe. The department publishes statutory safeguarding guidance Keeping children safe in education (KCSIE) which all schools and colleges must have regard to when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

KCSIE is subject to regular review to ensure it is kept up to date and relevant. We are proposing to make changes to KCSIE 2026 and plan to launch a public consultation very soon.

The department is committed to ensuring parents play a central role in helping shape the future special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system. We have launched a National Conversation on SEND, gathering the views of parents, young people, educators, and experts through a range of online and in-person events as well as inviting online contributions.

Our SEND regional engagement events bring together diverse stakeholder groups for meaningful dialogue. In addition, we have organised online sessions with my hon. Friend, the Minister for School Standards and expert panels to discuss the department’s five principles of reform.

This is not a formal consultation but an expansion of ongoing engagement to ensure parents’ voices are heard. The Schools White Paper, due early next year, will outline our proposed SEND reforms and will be followed by a formal consultation and further engagement.

The department is committed to restoring confidence in the system of support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) so that they all get the opportunities they need to achieve and thrive in their education. There will always be a legal right to additional support for children and young people with SEND. Any statutory framework is for Parliament to decide on, and any legislative changes will be considered if necessary.

Freezing the Plan 2 repayment and interest rate thresholds for English borrowers means the upper threshold, used for calculating the variable portion of Plan 2 interest rates, will be lower than previously projected. This means more borrowers will be charged the highest rate of interest but only where their income increases.

The department does not break down estimates of loan borrower numbers by the rate of interest paid.

This is a matter for His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver. I have asked him to write to my hon. Friend, the Member for Redditch directly and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

The department’s home to school travel policy aims to make sure that no child is prevented from accessing education by a lack of transport. Local authorities are responsible for arranging free home to school travel for eligible children. A child is eligible if they are of compulsory school age, 5 to 16, attend their nearest school and would not be able to walk there because of the distance, their special educational need, disability or mobility problem, or because the nature of the route means it would be unsafe for them to do so. There are extended rights to free travel for children from low-income families.

In addition, the Bus Services Act 2025 puts the power over local bus services back in the hands of local leaders right across England. This will enable them to ensure local bus services meet the needs of local communities, including supporting access to education.

No assessment has been made of whether pupils’ access to high-quality play opportunities during the school day varies by school funding levels, geographic location or deprivation.

Schools are expected to organise the school day and school week in the best interests of their pupil cohort, to both provide them with a full-time education suitable to their age, aptitude and ability, and to incorporate time for play and other activities.

The department is working to make sure that all children and young people have access to a variety of enrichment opportunities at school, as an important part of our mission to break down barriers to opportunity. A new Enrichment Framework will be published in the coming months. The framework will support schools in developing their enrichment offer by identifying and reflecting effective practice and will provide advice on how to plan a high quality enrichment offer more intentionally and strategically.

All schools are expected to actively promote fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance for those of different faiths and beliefs.

Schools are free to include a full range of issues, ideas, and materials in their curriculum.

Following the Curriculum and Assessment Review, the government will make citizenship statutory at key stages 1 and 2. Content at primary and secondary will include media literacy, law and rights, democracy and government, to enable children to be informed and active participants in society. Covering these issues in citizenship will ensure we continue to focus on schools’ role in developing fundamental British values, including mutual tolerance and respect.

Proposals will be consulted on from 2026 and we are working towards a first teaching of the new curriculum from September 2028.

The government has tabled an amendment to the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill to bring in multi-academy trust inspections. Multi-academy trust inspections will raise standards and enable sharing of best trust-level practice, as well as incentivising and supporting improvement efforts across the sector.

The government intends to specify the intervals for routine trust inspections in secondary legislation, after working closely with Ofsted and the sector to determine what an appropriate period of time would be.

The new iteration of the Supply Teachers and Temporary Staffing framework will remove excessive agency mark-ups through a cap on agency fees.

It will not affect pay for supply teachers employed through agencies. This will continue to be set by agencies in the first 12 weeks of an assignment, and supply teachers are free to register with multiple agencies to find the best pay and conditions to meet their own circumstances. The Agency Worker Regulations provides that all workers on assignments exceeding 12 weeks are paid on equal terms as permanent staff after the 12^th week.

The new iteration of the Supply Teachers and Temporary Staffing framework will remove excessive agency mark-ups through a cap on agency fees.

It will not affect pay for supply teachers employed through agencies. This will continue to be set by agencies in the first 12 weeks of an assignment, and supply teachers are free to register with multiple agencies to find the best pay and conditions to meet their own circumstances. The Agency Worker Regulations provides that all workers on assignments exceeding 12 weeks are paid on equal terms as permanent staff after the 12^th week.

The new iteration of the Supply Teachers and Temporary Staffing framework will remove excessive agency mark-ups through a cap on agency fees.

It will not affect pay for supply teachers employed through agencies. This will continue to be set by agencies in the first 12 weeks of an assignment, and supply teachers are free to register with multiple agencies to find the best pay and conditions to meet their own circumstances. The Agency Worker Regulations provides that all workers on assignments exceeding 12 weeks are paid on equal terms as permanent staff after the 12^th week.