Asked by: Noah Law (Labour - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her planned timetable is for the roll out of free breakfast clubs to all state‑funded schools with primary‑aged children; and what support her Department plans to provide schools to facilitate implementation of that programme.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is committed to delivering on its pledge to provide a free breakfast club in every state funded school with primary-aged children. This will ensure every child, regardless of circumstance, has a supportive start to the school day.
From the start of summer term 2025, the department has funded 750 schools to deliver a free breakfast club to early adopters.
We are currently working through the outcomes of the latest spending review and the departmental business planning processes. Further details will follow in due course.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce the educational instability that children in care face.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is committed to ensuring that looked-after children are supported to succeed in education and achieve positive outcomes. We recognise the critical importance of continuity and stability throughout a looked-after child’s life.
Under the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review guidance and regulations, the child’s social worker should do everything possible to minimise disruption to their education. School changes should be minimised, and any transitions well-planned and supported. Where a change to a child’s educational arrangements is unavoidable, their personal education plan should set out arrangements to minimise disruption to education, especially during exam periods and other critical periods in their education.
The government is introducing measures, including through the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, to rebalance the market, improve regulation and commissioning of placements. The department is also investing £2 billion over this parliament to give more children a safe, loving home, including expanding the children’s home estate, delivering more foster care placements and helping keep families together by providing targeted support before problems escalate.
These measures will provide greater placement availability, stability and ensure that, where it is in a child's best interests, they are placed closer to home.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what his Department's planned timetable is for the replacement of defective temporary buildings at Highcliffe School to be completed; and what guidance her Department has issued on the removal from use of life-expired temporary buildings.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
School buildings are integral to high and rising standards and need to be fit for the future. That is why the government is committed to improving the condition of the school estate, and the School Rebuilding Programme (SRP) continues as part of that.
The department wrote to Patrick Earnshaw and Yvonne Dunning at HISP Multi-Academy Trust in July 2023 to inform them that Highcliffe School has been placed in group 2 of the SRP. Projects have been prioritised according to the condition of their buildings and other relevant criteria. We anticipate that Highcliffe School will commence with planning and feasibility work between January 2026 and March 2027, depending on the readiness of the school to enter the programme. SRP projects typically take between two and five years to deliver.
Specific start dates will be communicated to the school and responsible body at least a month in advance of project start and, where possible, the department will bring projects forward if we are able to do so. The scope of the works will be discussed with the school and responsible body once the project enters delivery.
Responsible bodies continue to have a responsibility for the safety and maintenance of the buildings in their care, including temporary buildings. The school will need to continue to maintain and keep buildings safe until the school enters delivery. This includes compliance with statutory duties to ensure the health and safety of building occupants.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
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 promoting a culture of reading for pleasure in the home learning environment on the development of children in (a) the early years and (b) school-age children.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is committed to giving every child the best start in life by strengthening early intervention, supporting families to engage in play and communication, and enhancing the home learning environment. Our Plan for Change includes a national target for 75% of children to achieve a Good Level of Development by 2028 and increase school readiness.
There is strong evidence that the first 1,001 days, from conception to age two, are critical for a child’s cognitive, emotional and physical development. Through the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme, we are supporting families with joined-up services across health, education and early years. This includes support for infant feeding, perinatal mental health, parenting, early language development and the home learning environment.
As announced in last month’s Spending Review, the government will continue to invest in and expand the Family Hubs programme, ensuring more families across the country can access high quality, integrated support to give their children the best start in life.
In 2025/26, we are investing £10.7 million in home learning environment services through Family Hubs to help parents create language-rich, nurturing settings. Our Little Moments Together campaign provides free, accessible resources that encourage parents to chat, play and read with their children.
For school-age children, we continue to promote parental engagement in reading and learning at home, recognising the importance of sustained support throughout a child’s educational journey.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what policies her Department has on early intervention in early years education (a) during a child’s first 1001 days and (b) for children aged up to five.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is committed to giving every child the best start in life by strengthening early intervention, supporting families to engage in play and communication, and enhancing the home learning environment. Our Plan for Change includes a national target for 75% of children to achieve a Good Level of Development by 2028 and increase school readiness.
There is strong evidence that the first 1,001 days, from conception to age two, are critical for a child’s cognitive, emotional and physical development. Through the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme, we are supporting families with joined-up services across health, education and early years. This includes support for infant feeding, perinatal mental health, parenting, early language development and the home learning environment.
As announced in last month’s Spending Review, the government will continue to invest in and expand the Family Hubs programme, ensuring more families across the country can access high quality, integrated support to give their children the best start in life.
In 2025/26, we are investing £10.7 million in home learning environment services through Family Hubs to help parents create language-rich, nurturing settings. Our Little Moments Together campaign provides free, accessible resources that encourage parents to chat, play and read with their children.
For school-age children, we continue to promote parental engagement in reading and learning at home, recognising the importance of sustained support throughout a child’s educational journey.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
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 learning through play in early years on children's development.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is committed to giving every child the best start in life by strengthening early intervention, supporting families to engage in play and communication, and enhancing the home learning environment. Our Plan for Change includes a national target for 75% of children to achieve a Good Level of Development by 2028 and increase school readiness.
There is strong evidence that the first 1,001 days, from conception to age two, are critical for a child’s cognitive, emotional and physical development. Through the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme, we are supporting families with joined-up services across health, education and early years. This includes support for infant feeding, perinatal mental health, parenting, early language development and the home learning environment.
As announced in last month’s Spending Review, the government will continue to invest in and expand the Family Hubs programme, ensuring more families across the country can access high quality, integrated support to give their children the best start in life.
In 2025/26, we are investing £10.7 million in home learning environment services through Family Hubs to help parents create language-rich, nurturing settings. Our Little Moments Together campaign provides free, accessible resources that encourage parents to chat, play and read with their children.
For school-age children, we continue to promote parental engagement in reading and learning at home, recognising the importance of sustained support throughout a child’s educational journey.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to improve home learning environments to support literacy in (a) the early years and (b) school age children.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is committed to giving every child the best start in life by strengthening early intervention, supporting families to engage in play and communication, and enhancing the home learning environment. Our Plan for Change includes a national target for 75% of children to achieve a Good Level of Development by 2028 and increase school readiness.
There is strong evidence that the first 1,001 days, from conception to age two, are critical for a child’s cognitive, emotional and physical development. Through the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme, we are supporting families with joined-up services across health, education and early years. This includes support for infant feeding, perinatal mental health, parenting, early language development and the home learning environment.
As announced in last month’s Spending Review, the government will continue to invest in and expand the Family Hubs programme, ensuring more families across the country can access high quality, integrated support to give their children the best start in life.
In 2025/26, we are investing £10.7 million in home learning environment services through Family Hubs to help parents create language-rich, nurturing settings. Our Little Moments Together campaign provides free, accessible resources that encourage parents to chat, play and read with their children.
For school-age children, we continue to promote parental engagement in reading and learning at home, recognising the importance of sustained support throughout a child’s educational journey.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of early interventions in the early years sector.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is committed to giving every child the best start in life by strengthening early intervention, supporting families to engage in play and communication, and enhancing the home learning environment. Our Plan for Change includes a national target for 75% of children to achieve a Good Level of Development by 2028 and increase school readiness.
There is strong evidence that the first 1,001 days, from conception to age two, are critical for a child’s cognitive, emotional and physical development. Through the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme, we are supporting families with joined-up services across health, education and early years. This includes support for infant feeding, perinatal mental health, parenting, early language development and the home learning environment.
As announced in last month’s Spending Review, the government will continue to invest in and expand the Family Hubs programme, ensuring more families across the country can access high quality, integrated support to give their children the best start in life.
In 2025/26, we are investing £10.7 million in home learning environment services through Family Hubs to help parents create language-rich, nurturing settings. Our Little Moments Together campaign provides free, accessible resources that encourage parents to chat, play and read with their children.
For school-age children, we continue to promote parental engagement in reading and learning at home, recognising the importance of sustained support throughout a child’s educational journey.
Asked by: Natalie Fleet (Labour - Bolsover)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which schools in Bolsover constituency will receive funding from the school rebuilding programme.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government has given a long-term commitment for funding through to 2034-35 to improve the condition of schools and colleges across England. We are investing almost £3 billion per year by 2034-35 in capital maintenance and renewal to improve the condition of the school and college estate, rising from £2.4 billion in 2025-26.
This is in addition to investment of almost £20 billion in the School Rebuilding Programme through to 2034-35, delivering rebuilding projects at over 500 schools across England within the existing Programme and expanding the School Rebuilding Programme, with a further 250 schools to be selected within the next two years.
The department invited responsible bodies to nominate schools to be considered for the School Rebuilding Programme in early 2022. There are currently no schools in the constituency of Bolsover in the programme. We will set out further details about the selection process for the additional 250 schools to be selected for the School Rebuilding Programme later this year.
For financial year 2025/26, Derbyshire County Council has been allocated a School Condition Allocation of £10,268,315 to invest across its maintained schools, including those in Bolsover constituency. Academy trusts and voluntary aided school bodies also have access to capital funding to improve the condition of their buildings. More details can be found on GOV.UK, including capital allocations and the outcomes of the Condition Improvement Fund, in which Model Village Primary School and Whaley Thorns Primary School in Bolsover constituency were successful.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her Department's definition is of expert teachers.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Recruiting and retaining high quality teachers is critical to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and boost the life chances for every child. This is why the government’s Plan for Change has committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers in secondary and special schools, and in our colleges, over the course of this Parliament.
The term ‘expert teacher’ focuses on the qualities and expertise it requires to be a high quality teacher and ensuring that teaching remains a valued profession. Quality teaching is essential to reduce the attainment gap and is the most significant in-school and college determinant of pupil outcomes.
This is why the department has put in place initiatives to ensure teachers are better qualified and better trained. We are introducing legislation to ensure new teachers have or are working towards qualified teacher status, and to help further improve teacher quality from September 2025, we will also introduce the new initial teacher training and early career framework, replacing the current initial teacher training core content framework and the early career framework. We are also reviewing national professional qualification courses to align with the latest evidence and best practice.