Asked by: Josh Dean (Labour - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that the new initial teacher training and early career framework includes content related to (a) identifying children’s social and emotional developmental needs and (b) supporting children with their identified social and emotional developmental needs.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The Initial Teacher Training (ITT) and Early Career Framework covers the first three years or more of a teacher’s career. It sets out a minimum entitlement to training for all new teachers and, following a review, now contains significantly more content related to adaptive teaching and supporting pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
This includes content on how teaching and modelling a range of social and emotional skills, including how to recognise and understand feelings, manage emotions, and sustain positive relationships, can support pupils’ social and emotional development.
ITT providers must also ensure that their courses enable trainee teachers to meet the Teachers’ Standards, to be recommended for qualified teacher status. The Teachers’ Standards set clear expectations that teachers must understand the needs of all pupils, which includes those with speech and language challenges.
We are investing over £200 million to improve SEND training for all staff across education settings, and developing national inclusion standards to help teachers identify needs and put evidence-based support in place. From September 2026, all staff will have access to new government-backed training, with further courses from 2027.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to maintain the rights of children on Education Otherwise Than At School packages.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department’s consultation, “SEND reform: putting children and young people first”, proposes the introduction of Specialist Provision Packages for all children and young people with complex needs, including those children and young people whose needs are currently met through Education Other Than At School (EOTAS) packages of support.
After a 12-week consultation period, including over 200 engagement events, meetings and roundtables, the department’s consultation has now closed. We are carefully reviewing and taking into account all responses submitted to the consultation and continuing to engage widely on our proposals.
As part of that continued engagement, we intend to publish a consultation on the use of EOTAS provision in the coming weeks. It is crucial that we get support for EOTAS children and young people right, particularly given their often complex needs. This consultation will seek views to ensure we meet those specific needs, and that these children and young people benefit from the inclusive education we want for all.
Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that Education Otherwise Than At School (EOTAS) is available as part of the continuation of SEND support where a child cannot be educated in school.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department’s consultation, “SEND reform: putting children and young people first”, proposes the introduction of Specialist Provision Packages for all children and young people with complex needs, including those children and young people whose needs are currently met through Education Other Than At School (EOTAS) packages of support.
After a 12-week consultation period, including over 200 engagement events, meetings and roundtables, the department’s consultation has now closed. We are carefully reviewing and taking into account all responses submitted to the consultation and continuing to engage widely on our proposals.
As part of that continued engagement, we intend to publish a consultation on the use of EOTAS provision in the coming weeks. It is crucial that we get support for EOTAS children and young people right, particularly given their often complex needs. This consultation will seek views to ensure we meet those specific needs, and that these children and young people benefit from the inclusive education we want for all.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department's proposed SEND reforms will support children who receive education otherwise than at school packages.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department’s consultation, “SEND reform: putting children and young people first”, proposes the introduction of Specialist Provision Packages for all children and young people with complex needs, including those children and young people whose needs are currently met through Education Other Than At School (EOTAS) packages of support.
After a 12-week consultation period, including over 200 engagement events, meetings and roundtables, the department’s consultation has now closed. We are carefully reviewing and taking into account all responses submitted to the consultation and continuing to engage widely on our proposals.
As part of that continued engagement, we intend to publish a consultation on the use of EOTAS provision in the coming weeks. It is crucial that we get support for EOTAS children and young people right, particularly given their often complex needs. This consultation will seek views to ensure we meet those specific needs, and that these children and young people benefit from the inclusive education we want for all.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department's White Paper entitled Every child achieving and thriving, published on 23 February 2026, what consideration was given to education otherwise than in school or at school (EOTIS/EOTAS) provision when developing the White Paper; and what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the proposed changes in the White Paper on children currently accessing EOTIS/EOTAS.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department’s consultation, “SEND reform: putting children and young people first”, proposes the introduction of Specialist Provision Packages for all children and young people with complex needs, including those children and young people whose needs are currently met through Education Other Than At School (EOTAS) packages of support.
After a 12-week consultation period, including over 200 engagement events, meetings and roundtables, the department’s consultation has now closed. We are carefully reviewing and taking into account all responses submitted to the consultation and continuing to engage widely on our proposals.
As part of that continued engagement, we intend to publish a consultation on the use of EOTAS provision in the coming weeks. It is crucial that we get support for EOTAS children and young people right, particularly given their often complex needs. This consultation will seek views to ensure we meet those specific needs, and that these children and young people benefit from the inclusive education we want for all.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the specialist provision packages in the SEND Reform: Putting Children and Young People First consultation on children with complex needs reliant on statutory Education Other Than in School provision.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department’s consultation, “SEND reform: putting children and young people first”, proposes the introduction of Specialist Provision Packages for all children and young people with complex needs, including those children and young people whose needs are currently met through Education Other Than At School (EOTAS) packages of support.
After a 12-week consultation period, including over 200 engagement events, meetings and roundtables, the department’s consultation has now closed. We are carefully reviewing and taking into account all responses submitted to the consultation and continuing to engage widely on our proposals.
As part of that continued engagement, we intend to publish a consultation on the use of EOTAS provision in the coming weeks. It is crucial that we get support for EOTAS children and young people right, particularly given their often complex needs. This consultation will seek views to ensure we meet those specific needs, and that these children and young people benefit from the inclusive education we want for all.
Asked by: David Williams (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the SEND system on (a) family wellbeing, (b) employment and (c) mental health.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
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.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled Regional funding to train next generation of construction workers, published on 20 May 2026, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of existing T Level construction placements in supporting recruitment into the construction workforce.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
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%).
Asked by: Claire Hazelgrove (Labour - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support undergraduate and graduate students in Filton and Bradley Stoke constituency with the cost of living.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
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%.
Asked by: Andrew George (Liberal Democrat - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether mechanisms are in place to provide compensation to higher education providers in cases where regulatory penalties imposed by the Office for Students are overturned by the courts.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
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.