Department for Education

The government works with employer representative bodies (ERBs) and local partners to strengthen collaboration between businesses and education providers. Through ERB-led Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs), we encourage employers to help shape the local post-16 technical education offer, so training meets labour market needs. Statutory guidance for the development of these plans was published on 18 November.

Business West is leading the development of the local LSIP working with the West of England Combined Authority, local businesses and delivery partners. The plan will be published in Summer 2026. Businesses are supported to partner with colleges and training providers to deliver vocational programmes, apprenticeships, and national initiatives such as Skills Bootcamps and T Levels.

As set out at the UK-EU Summit in May, the UK agreed to work towards association to the Erasmus+ programme on mutually agreed financial terms.

Negotiations are ongoing, and the timelines for any association are subject to ongoing discussion. We are open to associating to Erasmus+ for 2027 in principle, but only if we can reach agreement on financial terms, which should ensure a fair balance as regards the contributions of and benefits to the UK.

The requested data can be found in the below table. Please note that the large programme uplift (LPU) is calculated using attainment data and as such operates on a three-year lag. Therefore, the latest LPU calculation was for 2025/26 academic year allocations based on 2022/23 attainment data. The department has announced that moving forward LPU funding will be focused on large programmes which include maths, further maths and other high value A-levels.

Notes about the data:

1. Includes state-funded students who ended 16-18 study in the reported year (e.g. 2022/23).

2. Includes students who entered for at least four STEM A levels and achieved at least a grade B in each A level, or a grade C in the case of further mathematics.

3. Discounting rules apply (i.e. where students have multiples entries in the same subject, the best result is included).

4. STEM subjects are defined by subject mapping codes as used in the A level and other 16 to 18 results statistical release.

All registered children’s homes, whether privately run or local authority-operated, must notify Ofsted, the regulator for children’s social care, about certain serious incidents that happen to children in their care living with them and what they have done in response. The published data, available from April 2023, includes a category of ‘sexual exploitation’, which shows:

• 01 Apr 2024 – 31 Mar 2025: 42,500 notifications of which 560 (1.3%) related to sexual exploitation.
• 01 Apr 2023 – 31 Mar 2024: 34,481 notifications of which 535 (1.5%) related to sexual exploitation.

This data does not distinguish between private or local authority run homes and does not specify data on criminal exploitation.

Ofsted review the notifications received to ensure homes have acted to protect the child from immediate harm, and the information contained in the notifications informs their risk assessment and inspection scheduling.

Family Help reforms are being delivered nationally through the Families First Partnership programme, offering services to all families, including adoptive and kinship families.

On 20 November, we announced additional investment of £547 million, bringing total programme funding to £2.4 billion over this Spending Review period. This funding demonstrates the government’s commitment to invest in prevention, supporting local authorities and partners to deliver reformed help and protection services that make a real difference to families.

It is for local authorities to determine how best to make use of these resources to support adoptive and kinship families with the help they need.

The department will soon pilot a new Kinship Allowance in some local authorities in England, which will support around 4,500 children. This will test whether paying an allowance to cover certain costs can help increase the number of children taken in by family members and friends.

The statutory override is an accounting measure, designed to keep Dedicated Schools Grant deficits separate from local authorities’ wider financial position. The extension of the override to the end of the 2027/28 financial year does not affect local authorities’ statutory duties to provide support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), nor does it change how much they spend to fulfil those duties. As these duties remain unchanged and, as with the previous government’s decision to extend the statutory override to the end of 2025/26, the extension itself does not result in any additional cost to the public purse.

The government recognises many local authorities are likely to continue to accrue deficits due to their spending on high needs, as we have seen in recent years, as they ensure that there are sufficient resources to secure provision for children and young people with SEND in mainstream or in specialist education. We will set out our plans to support local authorities with historic and accruing deficits through the upcoming Local Government Finance Settlement.

Where an online home learning provider closes, parents and local authorities should work together to identify other suitable provision which is safe and meets the needs of the child. Home learning providers are often private providers and so are responsible for the financial management of their business.

The department’s governance guidance for schools and trusts makes clear that as publicly funded organisations, schools and trusts should foster a culture of transparency and welcome public scrutiny.

When shaping the school or trust’s vision, the governing body or trust board should remain connected and responsive to pupils, staff, parents, carers, and the wider community through meaningful engagement.

To promote transparency in decision-making, the governing body or trust board should actively seek and consider the views of parents and carers. Governing bodies and trust boards are required to have at least two parent governors/trustees.

To ensure transparency, details of governors/trustees are recorded on Get Information About Schools, and governance structures, governor/trustee register of pecuniary of interests and governance meeting attendance are published on the school’s or trust’s website.

As set out in the department’s 2024 guidance ‘Working together to improve school attendance’, every pupil has a right to a full-time education, and high attendance expectations should be set for all pupils.

A school’s attendance policy should account for the specific needs of each pupil and provide these pupils with the necessary support. This includes pupils with specific barriers to attendance, such as those with mental or physical ill health and/or special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

To support pupils with SEND, schools should understand the individual needs of the pupil and family, work in partnership with the pupil and family to put in-school support in place, as well as with the local authority and other agencies where external support is needed, and regularly review and update support to ensure it continues to meet individual needs.

Schools should ensure attendance data is regularly monitored for pupils with long-term illnesses and/or SEND, including alongside the local authority, so that additional support from other partners can be accessed where necessary.

Work is underway to deliver a new curriculum and assessment system, including Programmes of Study for citizenship at key stages 1 and 2. Working closely with the sector, we are working towards a first teaching of the new curriculum from September 2028.

Proposals will be consulted on from 2026 to ensure that we are capturing the important views from those most impacted. This will inform decisions about teacher training to support implementation. We will provide time for familiarisation and high quality digital resources through Oak National Academy (Oak).

Oak draws expertise from the best in the sector and shares it with teachers. Its curriculum partners include high performing school trusts, subject associations, education charities, publishers and universities. All resources are openly licensed and free for anyone to use and adapt.

There are a range of views as to why demand for education, health and care (EHC) plans has increased. This is why the department is continuing an extensive programme of engagement to gather insight and evidence that allows us to shape a proposed reform programme that prioritises early intervention, fairness and effective evidence-based support.

As my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education outlined in her letter to the Chair of the Education Select Committee, we must move towards a system where high quality support is provided as soon as a need is identified, rather than only once an EHC plan is in place. Every school should be resourced and able to meet common and predictable needs, including as they change over time, without parents having to fight for support.

As part of our Plan for Change, we are determined to make changes to the special educational needs and disabilities system, restore the trust of parents by ensuring early years, schools and colleges have the tools to better identify need early, and support children and young people before issues escalate. We will share more information on plans for reform in a full Schools White Paper in the new year.

All children and young people should have every opportunity to succeed.

Through the government’s Plan for Change, the department is giving every child the best start in life and has set a milestone of a record proportion of children starting school ready to learn. This is backed by an investment close to £1.5 billion over the next three years on improving family services and early years education.

Building on this work, the department is driving high and rising standards in every school to strengthen attainment and outcomes for all children.

This includes regional improvement for standards and excellence teams, recruiting an additional 6,500 teachers across secondary and special schools, and colleges, and a refreshed high quality curriculum and assessment system.

Alongside this, we are working to address barriers to learning, including rolling out free breakfast clubs and tackling school absence in all schools, including in Surrey Heath, as well as tackling child poverty through our historic Child Poverty Strategy that will lift 550,000 children out of poverty by 2030.

We know there is further work to do, which is why our upcoming Schools White Paper will set out our vision for a school system that drives educational excellence for every child, no matter their background or circumstances.

The department published updated relationships, sex and health education statutory guidance in July 2025. It includes a focus on building healthy relationships skills from the start of primary school and sets out that secondary schools should cover the role of consent, including how to recognise, respect and communicate consent and boundaries in both platonic and romantic relationships.

Pupils should be taught the law about the age of consent, that they have a choice about whether to have sex, and their capacity to give, withhold or remove consent at any time, even if initially given. They should also be taught that that there are a range of strategies for identifying, resisting and understanding pressure in relationships from peers or others, including in relation to sex, and how to avoid putting pressure on others.

RISE advisers are managed in line with the Civil Service performance management framework. Any issues or concerns, including whether performance objectives are being met, will be addressed through the established Civil Service performance management process.

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

The department has included a specific reference to the dangers of vaping in the amended relationships, sex and health education statutory guidance, which was published in July. This includes the facts about legal and illegal harmful substances and associated risks of vaping, the risks of illicit vapes containing drugs, and the facts about vaping, including the harms posed to young people.

To support schools to deliver this content effectively, the department’s existing suite of teacher training modules includes one on drugs, alcohol and tobacco, which makes specific reference to e-cigarettes. In addition, Oak National Academy has developed materials across the updated curriculum.

We know some families face challenges with education, health and care (EHC) plans, and we understand how urgently they need to be addressed. This government’s priority is improving outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), ensuring they receive the opportunities and support to achieve and thrive in their education.

The department has been working closely with Hertfordshire local authority since its local area SEND inspection in July 2023 to address areas for improvement. Data from November 2025 shows Hertfordshire is now above the national average on EHC plan timeliness, with 94% of plans issued within deadlines.

We are continuing to engage closely with children and young people, parents and experts as we develop plans to ensure all children and young people get the outcomes and life chances they deserve. We will share more information on plans for reform in a full Schools White Paper in the new year.

Following the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review’s final report on 5 November, the department will update the national curriculum to prepare young people for life and work in a changing world. In line with the Review’s recommendations, refreshed programmes of study will include critical thinking skills, in addition to digital and media literacy and artificial intelligence.

To ensure consistency, we are legislating so that academies will be required to teach the refreshed national curriculum alongside maintained schools. Content will be shaped through expert engagement, with a public consultation on draft proposals next year.

Currently, media literacy is taught through citizenship, relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) and computing, whilst digital literacy is addressed in computing and RSHE. To support teachers now, the department-funded National Centre for Computing Education provides free resources and continuing professional development, including materials on messaging in digital media, the credibility of sources and identifying ‘fake’ news and edited images.

The department is working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England to improve access to community health services, including speech and language therapy, for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. This includes extending the Early Language Support for Every Child programme, trialling new ways of working to better identify and support children with speech, language and communication needs in early years settings and primary schools.

In addition to the undergraduate degree route, speech and language therapists can also train via a degree apprenticeship. This route is now in its fourth year of delivery and offers an alternative pathway to the traditional degree route into a successful career as a speech and language therapist, helping to grow the pipeline.

The Teacher Workforce Model (TWM) is used each to year estimate required number of teachers, which the department then uses to calculate the number of trainees needed. This includes those on postgraduate initial teacher training (PGITT), which is the largest source of new trainees. Required PGITT trainee numbers and actual numbers of PGITT trainees are published annually.

The department recognises that moving between key stages can be challenging for some children, including the transition from key stage 1 to key stage 2.

One of the ways the department is looking to understand the experiences of children is through our Educational Outcome Pathways Studies (EOPS). EOPS Primary follows children in primary school from years 1 through 6 and collects data on their experiences, progress at school and wellbeing. It also examines factors at home, at school and in the wider environment that may influence children’s attitudes, behaviours and outcomes. Children in the study are currently in year 3, which is the key stage 2 transition year.

Alongside this, the government has committed to publish a new pupil engagement framework, helping schools to identify and address aspects of the pupil experience in their setting which may be preventing children from attending, achieving and thriving. As it is developed, we will consider the evidence around effective practice that supports pupil transitions alongside other approaches that can support pupil engagement.

Local authorities hold the statutory place planning function, ensuring there are sufficient schools in their area to meet the needs of pupils. It is for local authorities, in collaboration with academy trusts and other local partners, to balance the supply and demand of school places.

The department recognises the pressures caused by demographic changes in some areas. The lagged funding system, where schools are funded on the basis of their pupil numbers in the previous October census, helps to give schools more certainty over funding levels, and is particularly important in giving schools with falling rolls time to re-organise their staffing and costs.

Where falling pupil numbers results in spare space becoming available, primary schools have been able to apply for capital funding to create or expand school-based nurseries. We have just announced at least £3 billion for high needs capital between 2026/27 and 2029/30, on top of the £740 million this year, to create special educational needs units and resourced provision, including where there is spare space, and to improve the accessibility and inclusivity of the school environment.

UK nationals and their children living in the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland, who wish to study in the UK, will be eligible for automatic home fee status and student support for courses starting up to seven years from the end of the transition period.

The seven-year period ensures that eligible UK nationals and their children, whose normal place of residence is in the EEA or Switzerland but wish to undertake higher education in England, will still be able to access home fee status and student financial support immediately on their return to the UK during this time.

From 1 January 2028, UK nationals and their children must normally have been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands (Channel Islands and the Isle of Man) for at least three years immediately before the start of their course to qualify for automatic home fee status and student support.

UK nationals and their children living in the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland, who wish to study in the UK, will be eligible for automatic home fee status and student support for courses starting up to seven years from the end of the transition period.

The seven-year period ensures that eligible UK nationals and their children, whose normal place of residence is in the EEA or Switzerland but wish to undertake higher education in England, will still be able to access home fee status and student financial support immediately on their return to the UK during this time.

From 1 January 2028, UK nationals and their children must normally have been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands (Channel Islands and the Isle of Man) for at least three years immediately before the start of their course to qualify for automatic home fee status and student support.

To qualify for automatic home fee status and higher education student support, students must normally be settled in the UK and have been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands for at least three years before their course begins. However, if a student has spent time overseas due to their own or a specified family member’s temporary employment abroad, this does not interrupt their ordinary residence in the UK, providing flexibility for those who have not made a long-term decision to live outside the UK. Decisions on whether a student meets the criteria for home fee status rest with higher education providers, which are independent and autonomous bodies. Student Finance England makes decisions about eligibility for student finance.

The Post-16 education and skills white paper, published on 20 October, set out our vision for a world-leading skills system which breaks down barriers to opportunity, meets student and employers’ needs; widens access to high-quality education and training; supports innovation, research, and development; and improves people’s lives.

The department has set out our plans to introduce V Levels, which will sit alongside A levels and T Levels, and will become the only pathway for vocational qualifications at level 3 for 16 to 19-year-olds. We will also introduce two clear post-16 pathways at level 2 for further study and for occupations. We have launched a consultation on these measures, which will close on 12 January 2026.

The department is engaging with the Information Commissioner’s Office on the Data Protection Impact Assessment for the Children Not in School registers to ensure that all data protection risks have been identified and mitigated before any processing of data begins.

The department has also held discussions with both Women’s Aid and the NSPCC, and other domestic abuse organisations, such as SafeLives, on the Children Not in School registers. We recognise the importance of protecting survivors of abuse and have worked with these partners to understand the implications of the Children Not in School measures and how concerns about access to data and identification can be resolved. We will continue this engagement ahead of implementation, including to inform our statutory guidance.

We will also commission and deliver training for all local authorities on the Children Not in School requirements and how they interact effectively with home education and alternative education approaches. This will be co-developed and co-delivered by home education representatives, and we will engage with relevant stakeholders, including safeguarding and domestic abuse organisations, as appropriate.

Funding will be provided to support local authorities to fulfil their new duties under the Children Not in School measures.

The department is engaging with the Information Commissioner’s Office on the Data Protection Impact Assessment for the Children Not in School registers to ensure that all data protection risks have been identified and mitigated before any processing of data begins.

The department has also held discussions with both Women’s Aid and the NSPCC, and other domestic abuse organisations, such as SafeLives, on the Children Not in School registers. We recognise the importance of protecting survivors of abuse and have worked with these partners to understand the implications of the Children Not in School measures and how concerns about access to data and identification can be resolved. We will continue this engagement ahead of implementation, including to inform our statutory guidance.

We will also commission and deliver training for all local authorities on the Children Not in School requirements and how they interact effectively with home education and alternative education approaches. This will be co-developed and co-delivered by home education representatives, and we will engage with relevant stakeholders, including safeguarding and domestic abuse organisations, as appropriate.

Funding will be provided to support local authorities to fulfil their new duties under the Children Not in School measures.

The department is engaging with the Information Commissioner’s Office on the Data Protection Impact Assessment for the Children Not in School registers to ensure that all data protection risks have been identified and mitigated before any processing of data begins.

The department has also held discussions with both Women’s Aid and the NSPCC, and other domestic abuse organisations, such as SafeLives, on the Children Not in School registers. We recognise the importance of protecting survivors of abuse and have worked with these partners to understand the implications of the Children Not in School measures and how concerns about access to data and identification can be resolved. We will continue this engagement ahead of implementation, including to inform our statutory guidance.

We will also commission and deliver training for all local authorities on the Children Not in School requirements and how they interact effectively with home education and alternative education approaches. This will be co-developed and co-delivered by home education representatives, and we will engage with relevant stakeholders, including safeguarding and domestic abuse organisations, as appropriate.

Funding will be provided to support local authorities to fulfil their new duties under the Children Not in School measures.

The department is engaging with the Information Commissioner’s Office on the Data Protection Impact Assessment for the Children Not in School registers to ensure that all data protection risks have been identified and mitigated before any processing of data begins.

The department has also held discussions with both Women’s Aid and the NSPCC, and other domestic abuse organisations, such as SafeLives, on the Children Not in School registers. We recognise the importance of protecting survivors of abuse and have worked with these partners to understand the implications of the Children Not in School measures and how concerns about access to data and identification can be resolved. We will continue this engagement ahead of implementation, including to inform our statutory guidance.

We will also commission and deliver training for all local authorities on the Children Not in School requirements and how they interact effectively with home education and alternative education approaches. This will be co-developed and co-delivered by home education representatives, and we will engage with relevant stakeholders, including safeguarding and domestic abuse organisations, as appropriate.

Funding will be provided to support local authorities to fulfil their new duties under the Children Not in School measures.

The department is engaging with the Information Commissioner’s Office on the Data Protection Impact Assessment for the Children Not in School registers to ensure that all data protection risks have been identified and mitigated before any processing of data begins.

The department has also held discussions with both Women’s Aid and the NSPCC, and other domestic abuse organisations, such as SafeLives, on the Children Not in School registers. We recognise the importance of protecting survivors of abuse and have worked with these partners to understand the implications of the Children Not in School measures and how concerns about access to data and identification can be resolved. We will continue this engagement ahead of implementation, including to inform our statutory guidance.

We will also commission and deliver training for all local authorities on the Children Not in School requirements and how they interact effectively with home education and alternative education approaches. This will be co-developed and co-delivered by home education representatives, and we will engage with relevant stakeholders, including safeguarding and domestic abuse organisations, as appropriate.

Funding will be provided to support local authorities to fulfil their new duties under the Children Not in School measures.

Whilst uniforms play a valuable role in creating a sense of common identity among pupils and reducing visible inequalities, too many schools still require high numbers of branded items. This is why we have introduced legislation to limit the number of branded items of uniform and PE kit that schools can require, giving parents more choice in where to purchase uniform and allowing them the flexibility to make the spending decisions that suit their circumstances.

Schools may continue to offer optional branded items, provided these are kept to a minimum and a generic alternative is available.

Parents should have choice over where they shop, so they can control the cost of uniforms. Our data suggest that where parents can buy items from a range of suppliers the average cost of uniform is significantly lower.

Schools, colleges and universities are responsible for their day-to-day running, including their meals service and waste management. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has engaged closely with the department and representative organisations from the education sector to raise awareness of the requirements and provide guidance and resources to support compliance.

Sickness absence data for the Civil Service, including departmental breakdowns, is published annually. The data is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sickness-absence.

The next update will be for the year ending 31 March 2025.

In the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, 13 formal performance warnings were issued to staff.

The requested information is available in the table below:

*Footnote – cases relating to performance are managed separately through the department’s performance management policy and are excluded from the above table

It is our ambition that all families have access to high quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life and delivering on our Plan for Change.

The department has implemented new flexibilities for childminders that will help them to join and stay in the profession, giving them the flexibility to work with more people and spend more time working from non-domestic premises if they prefer.

Childminders can contribute to the delivery of the expanded entitlements and may also benefit from an expected increase in demand for places. While we do not retain constituency level data, the hourly funding rates for Surrey are £12.89, £9.01 and £6.25 for children under two years old, aged two, and aged three to four respectively. We will work with local authorities and others to ensure that childminders and other early years providers are paid monthly for the funded hours they provide, making their income more stable. We will also keep working with Jobcentre Plus to encourage more people to become childminders.

It is our ambition that all families have access to high quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life and delivering on our Plan for Change.

The department has implemented new flexibilities for childminders that will help them to join and stay in the profession, giving them the flexibility to work with more people and spend more time working from non-domestic premises if they prefer.

Childminders can contribute to the delivery of the expanded entitlements and may also benefit from an expected increase in demand for places. While we do not retain constituency level data, the hourly funding rates for Surrey are £12.89, £9.01 and £6.25 for children under two years old, aged two, and aged three to four respectively. We will work with local authorities and others to ensure that childminders and other early years providers are paid monthly for the funded hours they provide, making their income more stable. We will also keep working with Jobcentre Plus to encourage more people to become childminders.

The department trusts headteachers to use their professional judgement, based on the individual circumstances of the case, when issuing a sanction and in the most serious cases exclusion may be necessary.

The department regularly analyses and publishes pupil suspension and permanent exclusion data to address disproportionate impacts and remains committed to providing earlier intervention in mainstream schools, focusing on pupils most at risk of exclusion to ensure every child can achieve and thrive.

Mobile phones have no place in school and school leaders already have the power to ban them.

The department’s guidance on mobile phones in schools, published in February 2024, is clear that schools should prohibit the use of devices with smart technology throughout the school day, including during lessons, transitions and breaks.

We expect all schools to take steps in line with this guidance to ensure mobile phones do not disrupt pupils’ learning. If pupils fail to follow those rules, schools have the power to confiscate devices.

Research from the Children’s Commissioner published in April 2025, with responses from nearly all schools and colleges in England, shows that the overwhelming majority of schools (99.8% of primary schools and 90% of secondary schools) already have policies in place that limit or restrict the use of mobile phones during the school day.

The Budget 2025 confirmed capital Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) plans for 2025/26 to 2029/30; £6.8 billion in 2025/26, £8.3 billion in 2026/27, and £7.7 billion in 2027/28 to 2029/30.

A proportion is allocated to improving condition of the school and college estate by increasing the annual capital maintenance investment in line with inflation, rising to around £2.6 billion in 2029/30. The settlement also commits around £2.4 billion capital funding per annum over the next four years to continue the School Rebuilding Programme of over 500 schools.

We have committed over £560 million to reform the children’s social care system and support the refurbishment and expansion of children’s homes and foster care placements, and around £370 million for school-based nurseries.

Yearly allocation will be determined through the department’s internal processes to balance these commitments with operational needs. This will be presented to parliament and published annually at Mains Estimates. All capital DEL allocations are fully allocated towards departmental capital priorities.

The government is investing £500 million in the national rollout of Best Start Family Hubs, which will be available in every local authority by 2028. These hubs bring together services for families with children aged 0 to 19, with a particular focus on support in the early years, recognising the Plan for Change’s ambition to give every child the best start in life and improve child outcomes by age 5.

A key priority is strengthening the home learning environment, because what happens at home makes the biggest difference. The services provided by Best Start Family Hubs will help families to build simple, everyday routines to chat, play and read more with their children, such as sharing stories at bedtime and visiting local libraries.

We also work with trusted voluntary and community partners, including the National Literacy Trust, to provide books, resources and activities that make reading fun and accessible. Alongside this, the National Year of Reading will launch in January, offering practical resources to help parents read with their children before nursery and school.

Information sharing governance is crucial to Clause 4, and existing data protection requirements will apply. As is the case now, misuse of personally identifiable information is guarded against via governance processes that are the responsibility of data controllers and processors, who use systems to store sensitive children's data and follow the relevant security and processes. Consistent identifier piloting will consider what measures are needed for the number to be used securely and effectively.

“Relevant information” will be set out in statutory guidance, which relevant agencies must have regard to

The NHS number is being piloted as the consistent identifier, we will mandate the consistent identifier via regulations only when confident in the benefits, cost, security and governance

The department is working closely with the Information Commissioner’s Office for both the consistent identifier and the information sharing duty to develop our approach.

Impact and equalities assessments will ensure vulnerable families are not disproportionately affected.

This financial year, the department has invested £50 million into the adoption and special guardianship support fund. We have approved applications for nearly 14,000 children since April, for both therapy and specialist assessments. We continue to review the impact of the changes to funding made in April 2025.

The department is working closely with local authorities and their partners to improve multi-agency child protection and safeguarding. Officials meet regularly with Surrey County Council, including to discuss local child protection delivery.

We are providing £2.4 billion over the next three years for the Families First Partnership programme to support local areas to embed reforms across Family Help, multi-agency child protection, and family group decision-making. Effective multi-agency child protection arrangements are vital to prevent children from slipping through the cracks.

These teams will bring multi-agency expertise and a clear focus to identify and respond decisively to all forms of significant harm from inside and outside the home and online.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will deliver the biggest overhaul of children’s social care in a generation. It puts multi-agency child protection teams on a statutory footing, improves information sharing within and across agencies, and ensures education and childcare settings are part of local safeguarding arrangements.

The department does not currently operate a performance management system that includes ratings. However, it is in the process of introducing ratings for its Senior Civil Servants, with ratings for the 2025/26 performance year due to be determined in spring 2026.