Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that schools and academy trusts comply with guidance requiring equal treatment of parents with parental responsibility.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Guidance relating to parental responsibility requires all parents to be treated equally, unless a court order limits a parent’s ability to make educational decisions, participate in school life or receive information about their child. The guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dealing-with-issues-relating-to-parental-responsibility/understanding-and-dealing-with-issues-relating-to-parental-responsibility.
The guidance referred to is non-statutory but does set out some of the duties on schools that must be complied with. Failure to comply with a duty should first be referred to the school via its complaint procedure. Once the school’s complaint procedure is completed in full, if the parent is dissatisfied with the school’s handling of their complaint, they can contact the department via the customer complaint portal, which can be accessed at: https://customerhelpportal.education.gov.uk/.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure parents with parental responsibility are consistently included in school communications and decision-making.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Anyone who is a parent, as recognised under education law, can participate in their child’s education and there is a general principle that pupils are to be educated in accordance with the wishes of their parents. Section 9 of the Education Act 1996 can be accessed here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/56/section/9.
Schools commonly communicate with the resident parent, but if a non-resident parent requests to receive communications separately, the school should provide it to that parent direct, after satisfying itself that the individual is the child’s parent. If a parent is unhappy with a school’s actions, they can complain to the school.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps is she taking to help improve pay and conditions in the further education sector.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Further education (FE) colleges, rather than the government, are responsible for setting and negotiating staff pay and terms and conditions within colleges.
In May 2025, the department announced a further £190 million investment for colleges and other 16 to 19 providers in addition to the £400 million of extra funding we already planned to spend on 16 to 19 education in financial year 2025/26.
Across the Spending Review period, we will provide £1.2 billion of additional investment per year in skills by 2028/2029.
This significant investment will ensure there is increased funding to colleges and other 16 to19 providers to enable the recruitment and retention of expert teachers in high value subject areas, and interventions to retain top teaching talent
Targeted recruitment incentives of up to £6,000 (after tax) are available for eligible early career FE teachers working in key science, technology, engineering and mathematics and technical shortage subjects, in disadvantaged schools and colleges (including in Sixth Form Colleges). This payment is separate to teachers’ usual pay.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to determine the number of educational psychologists required to meet demand as part of the Government's forthcoming plans for SEND.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Educational psychologists play a critical role in the support available to children and young people, including those with special educational needs and disabilities. That is why we are already investing more than £21 million to train 400 more educational psychologists over two cohorts, starting their studies in 2024 and 2025. This is in addition to the £10 million currently being invested in the training of more than 200 educational psychologists who began their training in September 2023.
As these trainees complete their studies, they will join the workforce to support local authority educational psychology services, including contributing to statutory assessments. Trainees who have had their training funded by the department are required to remain in local authority employment for a minimum period. For trainees beginning their course in September 2024, this period is three years.
Asked by: Laura Trott (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether a student with settled status, who has lived in the UK for three years, can obtain a student loan.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Eligibility for student finance is determined by several criteria, including residency status, the type of course, its location, the student’s previous study history, and whether they already hold a higher education qualification.
Students residing in England who hold settled status and have been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands (the Channel Islands and Isle of Man) for the three years preceding the first day of the first academic year of their course will be eligible for student finance, subject to meeting all other eligibility criteria. To qualify, this period of residence must not have been wholly or mainly for the purpose of receiving full-time education.
Asked by: Ben Goldsborough (Labour - South Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to Written Parliamentary Questions 98665, 98666 and 98668, what recourse exists for Voluntary Controlled schools to carry out urgent repairs to the school estate when the local authority fails to provide funding.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is investing almost £3 billion per year in capital maintenance by 2034/35 to improve the condition of the school and college estate, rising from £2.4 billion in 2025/26.
As part of this, Norfolk Council received a School Condition Allocation of almost £5.5 million for the 2025/26 financial year to invest across its maintained schools, including voluntary controlled schools in South Norfolk constituency. We expect to set out allocations for the 2026/27 financial year in the spring.
The department expects local authorities to carefully prioritise investment based on evidence of need, so that school buildings remain safe, operational and compliant with relevant regulations. Voluntary controlled schools should speak to their local authority about any issues so that they are considered when prioritising current and future investment.
The department provides additional advice and support to responsible bodies on a case-by-case basis where there are significant and urgent safety issues with buildings that cannot be managed independently.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has for schools to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
All schools are encouraged to mark Holocaust Memorial Day, and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education wrote to schools in 2025 highlighting the importance of commemorating Holocaust Memorial Day. The annual marking of Holocaust Memorial Day is an important moment in the calendar where we remember the six million Jewish men, women and children killed by the Nazis and the millions more murdered under Nazi persecution.
The Holocaust is the only historic event which is compulsory within the current national curriculum for history at key stage 3. The government has made a commitment that the Holocaust will remain a compulsory topic in the reformed national curriculum, which will also be required teaching in academy schools when it is implemented.
The department actively supports schools to provide high quality teaching on the Holocaust through University College London Centre for Holocaust Education’s continuous professional development work, and through the Holocaust Educational Trust’s Lessons from Auschwitz’s programme. In addition, the Supporting Holocaust Survivor Testimony in Teaching programme will support schools in using recorded Holocaust survivor testimony in their teaching.
Asked by: Ben Goldsborough (Labour - South Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, a) whether Voluntary Controlled schools will be eligible for nomination under the school rebuilding programme and b) which responsible body would need to nominate a Voluntary Controlled school for the next round of the school rebuilding programme.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is investing almost £20 billion in the School Rebuilding Programme (SRP) from 2025/26 through to 2034/35, delivering rebuilding projects at over 500 schools across England within the existing programme and expanding the SRP with a further 250 schools to be selected.
The department plans to launch a nomination process early this year to identify schools for the next 250 places. Responsible bodies will be invited to submit schools for assessment at that point. We will publish full details on GOV.UK when the process launches.
Voluntary controlled schools are eligible for consideration under the SRP, alongside other state funded schools and sixth form colleges in England. The responsible body for a voluntary controlled school is the relevant local authority.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to update the guidance entitled Parental responsibility: guide for schools and local authorities, updated on 24 August 2023.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The non-statutory guidance, ‘Understanding and dealing with issues relating to parental responsibility’, is currently being updated to reflect changes that came into effect under the School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024. The updated version will be published later this year.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to the level of funding available through the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund on therapeutic support for (a) adopted children and (b) people in kinship care in Yeovil constituency.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department always assesses the impact of changes on vulnerable children. This included reviewing the equalities impact assessment, which was deposited in the House Libraries in July. The funding available through the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) still enables children in Yeovil to access a significant package of support, tailored to meet their individual needs. The department’s delivery partner is routinely processing ASGSF applications within a few days of receipt, including those relating to children in Yeovil.