Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department issues to academy trusts on executive pay.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The primary responsibility for the financial oversight of academy trusts, including setting executive pay, rests with the trustees themselves. Academy trusts are delivering a high standard of financial management and governance. The latest published data shows that, in the 2022/23 academic year, 97.7% of trusts had a cumulative surplus or a zero balance, with an aggregate surplus of £4.6 billion. In terms of pay trends, the latest published workforce data shows that the mean average salary for headteachers in the sector was:
The data can be read in full here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england/2024.
The department engages with trusts on levels of executive pay where there is insufficient demonstration of value for money, where there is no direct link to improving pupil outcomes, or if the trust is in financial difficulty.
The department sets out its expectations on pay for academies and academy trusts in the academy trust handbook, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/academy-trust-handbook/academy-trust-handbook-2025-effective-from-1-september-2025. Executive pay must be justifiable and should reflect the individual responsibility alongside local retention and recruitment needs.
The handbook requires that:
Academy trusts must be transparent on pay and publish the number of employees whose benefits exceed £100,000 on their websites in £10,000 bandings. Where employees are also trustees, this information must be disclosed in £5,000 bandings.
To further support academy trusts, the department has also published ‘setting executive salaries’ guidance on GOV.UK which outlines the key contextual factors that trusts should be considering when setting or reviewing executive salaries, and can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/setting-executive-salaries-guidance-for-academy-trusts/setting-executive-salaries-guidance-for-academy-trusts.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help support academies with multimillion-pound deficits.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department supports all academy trusts to have the capability to manage their resources effectively by providing high quality advice, tools, support and development to help schools protect against financial difficulty and enable excellent school resource management. Tools and guidance can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/schools-financial-health-and-efficiency.
Where academy trusts are experiencing financial difficulty, the department’s focus will be on prioritising support for the most serious cases, considering the financial, educational and governance aspects of the trust. The department may also commission a School Resource Management Adviser (SRMA) to support the trust. SRMAs are practising sector experts, such as school business professionals that work collaboratively with schools and trusts to provide independent, expert and tailored advice to schools and trusts on how to make best use of their resources to deliver the best possible educational outcomes for their pupils.
Where an academy trust is reporting a cumulative deficit, it may require additional financial support as part of their recovery plan. If approved, financial support will be repayable to the department within an agreed timeframe. Non-repayable funding will only be considered where there is no other reasonable means to protect pupils’ interests.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support schools that have had to (a) reduce subjects, (b) rely on non-specialist teaching staff and (c) remove extracurricular opportunities due to funding shortfalls.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
School funding is increasing by £3.7 billion in the 2025/26 financial year, and a further £4.2 billion by 2028/29, reaching £69.5 billion. This will provide an above real terms per pupil increase on the core schools budget and help transform the special educational needs and disabilities system.
The department is seeing positive signs for recruitment and retention. The secondary and special school workforce has grown by 2,346 full-time equivalent between the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years, where workforce growth is most needed. We are offering bursaries worth up to £29,000 and scholarships worth up to £31,000, tax-free, to encourage more talented people into key subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing.
The department knows reprioritising schools’ budgets and ensuring best value can be challenging, but it is in line with asks to the rest of the public sector. We also know it is a joint responsibility of the government and the entire school system. We will tackle systemic issues that drive costs, establishing a new programme later this year to help schools and groups free up resources to invest in what matters most, teaching, learning, and support for pupils.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of reducing funding for International Baccalaureate qualifications on the range of (a) subjects and (b) educational choices available to state school pupils.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire to the answer of 24 October 2025 to Question 83028.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of reducing funding for International Baccalaureate qualifications on state schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire to the answer of 24 October 2025 to Question 83028.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure state school pupils can access International Baccalaureate programmes.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire to the answer of 24 October 2025 to Question 83028.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department provides (a) training and (b) support to teachers working with children experiencing alienation from a (i) parent and (ii) grandparent.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework sets out the core content that defines great teaching and must be used by all providers of initial and early career teacher training to create their curricula. The framework sets out that trainees and early career teachers should learn how to develop an understanding of each pupil's individual needs by engaging with parents and carers to better understand these individual needs, and building trusting relationships with parents and carers to better understand each pupil's circumstances. Beyond the mandatory framework, decisions relating to teachers’ professional development rests with schools, headteachers, and teachers themselves, as they are in the best position to judge the development and training that teachers in their schools need to support their pupils.
Asked by: Steff Aquarone (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to consult (a) disabled children and their (i) parents and (ii) carers and (b) organisations representing those people before the publication of the Government’s (A) interim and (B) final response to the Law Commission’s report entitled Disabled children’s social care, published on 16 September 2025.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Law Commission’s review of disabled children’s social care law included a full public consultation on their proposals between 8 October 2024 and 31 January 2025, inviting written responses. In addition, both before and during the consultation, they met with around 1,000 stakeholders, including disabled children and young people, parents and carers, at approximately 150 meetings and events.
The department is now considering the 40 recommendations made in the Law Commission’s final report. In line with the protocol agreed between the Lord Chancellor and the Law Commission, we will provide an initial response to these recommendations within six months of publication and a full response within one year. We will have regard to the views outlined in the report and we will engage relevant stakeholders at appropriate points as we consider our response.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions her Department has had with Capita on resolutions for people impacted by (a) delayed or incorrect pension payments under the Teachers’ Pension Scheme and (b) delayed or incorrect pension valuations under the Teachers’ Pensions Scheme.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department monitors Capita very closely to ensure that Teachers’ Pension Scheme members that are impacted by delayed or incorrect valuations and payments are resolved as quickly as possible.
This includes payments relating to the McCloud remedy, which affects members who choose final salary or career average benefits for the remedy period (April 2015–March 2022). This also includes focus on the resolution of any unresolved cash equivalent transfer value (CETV) cases. To improve processing times of delayed CETV payments, the department is funding IT upgrades and continually working with Capita to identify other opportunities, including additional staffing resources, to ensure the Teachers’ Pension Scheme is delivered to the highest possible standard.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason it is her policy to reduce state school funding for the International Baccalaureate from 2026.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department has made significant investments into 16 to 19 education funding. The base rate of funding per student has increased to £5,105 in 2025/26, up over 5% in comparison to last year. But we must make this funding work hard, tilting it towards key priorities. That is why the department has announced that we will focus large programme uplift funding, which is on top of the base funding, on those large programmes which include mathematics, further mathematics and other high value A levels. 16 to 19 funded institutions have the freedom to decide how they use their funding for the provision they offer, including whether they offer the International Baccalaureate. The impact of the scenarios referred to in the questions will depend on choices made by institutions.