Asked by: Baroness O'Loan (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what provision exists to ensure that training is provided to school staff on identifying and responding to severe allergic reactions.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
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.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the national safeguarding guidelines for (a) primary and (b) secondary schools.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
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.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Written Statement of 15 December 2025 on Investment in high needs place, HCWS1163, what meetings her Department held with the mainstream free school projects prior to their cancellation.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
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
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the importance of access to state boarding school facilities for the children of armed forces personnel.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
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.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have made an assessment of the long term sustainability of state boarding education.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
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.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have made an assessment of the impact and effectiveness of state boarding education.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
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.
Asked by: Tony Vaughan (Labour - Folkestone and Hythe)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve early interventions in cases of childhood neglect.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
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.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to publish a timeline for improvements in the identification of young carers in the school census; and whether she plans to take further steps to support accurate reporting of young carers.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
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.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure adequate provision of safeguarding for the ePEP online system.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department’s statutory guidance for Virtual School Heads sets out what electronic Personal Education Plans (ePEPs) must cover and the outcomes they are intended to support. While we do not mandate or endorse specific ePEP platforms, local authorities, as data controllers, are expected to comply with data protection requirements and safeguarding standards when selecting and using such systems. This means they are responsible for selecting secure platforms that comply with UK GDPR and safeguarding requirements to protect sensitive information about children in care.
In addition, the department’s ‘Data Protection in Schools’ guidance helps the education sector and local authorities understand their legal responsibilities when processing sensitive data. This guidance includes information on complying with UK GDPR, secure data storage and appropriate data sharing, all of which are appropriate to safeguarding children’s personal information.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that secondary school pupils have access to appropriate school transport arrangements in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
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.