Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help improve child protection services in (a) Surrey and (b) Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is working closely with local authorities and their partners to improve multi-agency child protection and safeguarding. Officials meet regularly with Surrey County Council, including to discuss local child protection delivery.
We are providing £2.4 billion over the next three years for the Families First Partnership programme to support local areas to embed reforms across Family Help, multi-agency child protection, and family group decision-making. Effective multi-agency child protection arrangements are vital to prevent children from slipping through the cracks.
These teams will bring multi-agency expertise and a clear focus to identify and respond decisively to all forms of significant harm from inside and outside the home and online.
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will deliver the biggest overhaul of children’s social care in a generation. It puts multi-agency child protection teams on a statutory footing, improves information sharing within and across agencies, and ensures education and childcare settings are part of local safeguarding arrangements.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of staff in her Department in each grade were rated in the top performance category in the last year.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department does not currently operate a performance management system that includes ratings. However, it is in the process of introducing ratings for its Senior Civil Servants, with ratings for the 2025/26 performance year due to be determined in spring 2026.
Asked by: Oliver Ryan (Labour (Co-op) - Burnley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to Clause 4 of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, if she will set out (a) what safeguards will be put in place to protect information shared under this clause against unauthorized access, misuse, or hacking; (b) how she will define the scope of relevant information, (c) which identifier will be used as the consistent identifier, (d) whether she has taken any independent advice on the strength of oversight procedures, and (e) what steps her Department will take to ensure that marginalized or vulnerable children and families are not disproportionately affected by this data-sharing duty.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Information sharing governance is crucial to Clause 4, and existing data protection requirements will apply. As is the case now, misuse of personally identifiable information is guarded against via governance processes that are the responsibility of data controllers and processors, who use systems to store sensitive children's data and follow the relevant security and processes. Consistent identifier piloting will consider what measures are needed for the number to be used securely and effectively.
“Relevant information” will be set out in statutory guidance, which relevant agencies must have regard to
The NHS number is being piloted as the consistent identifier, we will mandate the consistent identifier via regulations only when confident in the benefits, cost, security and governance
The department is working closely with the Information Commissioner’s Office for both the consistent identifier and the information sharing duty to develop our approach.
Impact and equalities assessments will ensure vulnerable families are not disproportionately affected.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This financial year, the department has invested £50 million into the adoption and special guardianship support fund. We have approved applications for nearly 14,000 children since April, for both therapy and specialist assessments. We continue to review the impact of the changes to funding made in April 2025.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help support families to read with children before they start (a) nursery and (b) school in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The government is investing £500 million in the national rollout of Best Start Family Hubs, which will be available in every local authority by 2028. These hubs bring together services for families with children aged 0 to 19, with a particular focus on support in the early years, recognising the Plan for Change’s ambition to give every child the best start in life and improve child outcomes by age 5.
A key priority is strengthening the home learning environment, because what happens at home makes the biggest difference. The services provided by Best Start Family Hubs will help families to build simple, everyday routines to chat, play and read more with their children, such as sharing stories at bedtime and visiting local libraries.
We also work with trusted voluntary and community partners, including the National Literacy Trust, to provide books, resources and activities that make reading fun and accessible. Alongside this, the National Year of Reading will launch in January, offering practical resources to help parents read with their children before nursery and school.
Asked by: David Taylor (Labour - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to shorten the time between a child’s SEND diagnosis and them receiving their Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) in Hertfordshire.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
We know some families face challenges with education, health and care (EHC) plans, and we understand how urgently they need to be addressed. This government’s priority is improving outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), ensuring they receive the opportunities and support to achieve and thrive in their education.
The department has been working closely with Hertfordshire local authority since its local area SEND inspection in July 2023 to address areas for improvement. Data from November 2025 shows Hertfordshire is now above the national average on EHC plan timeliness, with 94% of plans issued within deadlines.
We are continuing to engage closely with children and young people, parents and experts as we develop plans to ensure all children and young people get the outcomes and life chances they deserve. We will share more information on plans for reform in a full Schools White Paper in the new year.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps are being taken to raise awareness in schools of the potential impact of vapes on health.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
The department has included a specific reference to the dangers of vaping in the amended relationships, sex and health education statutory guidance, which was published in July. This includes the facts about legal and illegal harmful substances and associated risks of vaping, the risks of illicit vapes containing drugs, and the facts about vaping, including the harms posed to young people.
To support schools to deliver this content effectively, the department’s existing suite of teacher training modules includes one on drugs, alcohol and tobacco, which makes specific reference to e-cigarettes. In addition, Oak National Academy has developed materials across the updated curriculum.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the answer of 28 November 2025 to question 93149, whether RISE advisors will be dismissed if they do not meet the Programme-level Key Performance Indicators.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
RISE advisers are managed in line with the Civil Service performance management framework. Any issues or concerns, including whether performance objectives are being met, will be addressed through the established Civil Service performance management process.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help increase levels of attainment in schools in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
All children and young people should have every opportunity to succeed.
Through the government’s Plan for Change, the department is giving every child the best start in life and has set a milestone of a record proportion of children starting school ready to learn. This is backed by an investment close to £1.5 billion over the next three years on improving family services and early years education.
Building on this work, the department is driving high and rising standards in every school to strengthen attainment and outcomes for all children.
This includes regional improvement for standards and excellence teams, recruiting an additional 6,500 teachers across secondary and special schools, and colleges, and a refreshed high quality curriculum and assessment system.
Alongside this, we are working to address barriers to learning, including rolling out free breakfast clubs and tackling school absence in all schools, including in Surrey Heath, as well as tackling child poverty through our historic Child Poverty Strategy that will lift 550,000 children out of poverty by 2030.
We know there is further work to do, which is why our upcoming Schools White Paper will set out our vision for a school system that drives educational excellence for every child, no matter their background or circumstances.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve education on (a) sexual consent and (b) relationships in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department published updated relationships, sex and health education statutory guidance in July 2025. It includes a focus on building healthy relationships skills from the start of primary school and sets out that secondary schools should cover the role of consent, including 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, that they have a choice about whether to have sex, and their capacity to give, withhold or remove consent at any time, even if initially given. They should also be taught that that there are a range of strategies for identifying, resisting and understanding pressure in relationships from peers or others, including in relation to sex, and how to avoid putting pressure on others.