Department for Education

The PE and Sport Premium was £320 million per academic year in 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26 across England. Hampshire allocations were approximately £8 million in each year across eligible schools.

The department is investing over £1 billion for PE and school sport over three years, including £530 million for a new PE and School Sport Partnerships Network.

Our new approach combines both a universal offer to all primary and secondary schools, which includes school requested intervention, plus targeted direct support for those schools and pupils who will benefit from it the most. This includes coaching, swimming provision and support to open facilities, as well as stronger links to extra‑curricular sport and local clubs. We will also provide targeted funding for schools to test and share effective practice, alongside more accessible programmes from National Governing Bodies and clearer pathways into community sport. Provision will be informed by baseline and ongoing needs assessments led by a national delivery partner.

The PE and Sport Premium was £320 million per academic year in 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26 across England. Hampshire allocations were approximately £8 million in each year across eligible schools.

The department is investing over £1 billion for PE and school sport over three years, including £530 million for a new PE and School Sport Partnerships Network.

Our new approach combines both a universal offer to all primary and secondary schools, which includes school requested intervention, plus targeted direct support for those schools and pupils who will benefit from it the most. This includes coaching, swimming provision and support to open facilities, as well as stronger links to extra‑curricular sport and local clubs. We will also provide targeted funding for schools to test and share effective practice, alongside more accessible programmes from National Governing Bodies and clearer pathways into community sport. Provision will be informed by baseline and ongoing needs assessments led by a national delivery partner.

The department’s accountability system must promote high standards and good progress for all.

We have recently consulted on an improved version of Progress 8 that maintains a strong academic core alongside breadth and choice for every child. As part of this consultation, we sought views on a possible new progress measure to recognise the progress of children who start secondary school significantly behind their peers.

This measure would sit alongside existing measures such as Progress 8 and is intended to provide additional insight into the progress of this subset of pupils, who are more likely to have special educational needs and disabilities. This measure would also sit alongside other information designed to support inclusion.

This government recognises the importance of specialist safety equipment in meeting the needs of children and young people, including in mainstream settings. We are investing at least £3.7 billion in high needs capital funding between 2025/2026 and 2029/2030, to support local authorities to provide suitable places for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. This includes investment in the physical environment, such as purchasing specialist safety equipment to support children and young people with autism and severe learning disabilities.

Our new, dedicated inclusive education estates guidance supports the sector in improving the inclusivity and accessibility of the estate in schools, colleges, and nurseries. It recognises that well-chosen furniture and equipment can assist children and young people to regulate, focus and safely participate in learning. The guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inclusive-education-estates.

We are investing £26 million to train at least 200 educational psychologists per year from 2026 and 2027, with further investment to train more over the following three years, subject to future spending reviews. This is in addition to the £31 million already invested since 2023.

The training is open to anyone that meets the candidate specifications, including teachers. These candidate specifications, as well as application cycle dates and available support, are outlined on the Association of Educational Psychologists website at: https://www.aep.org.uk/EPFT.

The department funds the full three-year tuition fees and a first-year bursary payment, which is currently £16,266 (£16,715 in London). In years two and three, trainees are based on placements across England, with placement providers funding a bursary or salary for these years. After graduation, educational psychologists will be required to work within a local authority in England for a minimum period. This is three years for trainees who started from 2024.

I refer the hon. Member for Coventry South to the answer of 21 August 2026 to Question 11573.

I refer the hon. Member for Coventry South to the answer of 21 August 2026 to Question 11571.

I refer the hon. Member for Coventry South to the answer of 21 August 2026 to Question 11571.

The department supports schools to make informed decisions through published digital and technology standards, guidance on data protection, cyber security, filtering and monitoring, and advice on buying technology and services. These set clear expectations for safe, secure and effective use of technology in schools and colleges.

The department will shortly consult on a certification scheme for education technology products, including generative AI and filtering and monitoring products, to give schools clearer assurance about safety when considering products for use in classrooms. The certification scheme will build on existing digital and technology standards for schools, including the generative AI product safety standards, creating a robust model that can adapt as technology evolves.

To support schools further, the department is also investing £24 million in testbeds to evaluate the impact of education technology on outcomes, helping build the evidence base on what works for schools.

Schools and academy trusts are responsible for decisions on their own technology procurement and expenditure, within their delegated budgets and in line with relevant procurement rules.

In 2024/25, the department estimates that schools spent over £800 million on EdTech, including learning resources, admin software, laptops, desktops and tablets, which is equivalent to 1.2% of the entire school budget.

The majority of GCSE and A level assessments are exams, taken under close staff supervision, with no access to the internet or AI tools.

Existing rules already prohibit candidates from bringing unauthorised electronic devices, including mobile phones, smart watches and smart glasses, into exam rooms. The Joint Council for Qualifications guidance highlights the regulations that apply in relation to AI use in assessments, and provides guidance to help teachers and assessors in centres. The guidance is available on the website of the Joint Council for Qualifications.

Ofqual, as the independent qualifications regulator, is working with awarding organisations to strengthen arrangements for identifying and preventing technology-enabled malpractice. Ofqual’s policy paper on the use of AI is available at GOV.UK

The department welcomes the findings of the report from the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) and recognises the highlighted areas where some educational technology providers may need to improve their compliance with data protection requirements. The department is working with the ICO to address some of the highlighted areas.

As schools are data controllers in their own right, they are responsible for deciding which EdTech tools to procure to support their functions. To help schools make informed data protection decisions when procuring EdTech tools, the department produced guidance to support schools in making decisions on procuring EdTech, available at GOV.UK. This guidance is intended to help schools understand their data protection responsibilities and consider appropriate measures when selecting suppliers while safeguarding the personal data of pupils, parents and carers.

The department continues to engage with the ICO to promote good practice across the education sector.

Schools, academy trusts and local authorities are responsible for complying with data protection law when adopting educational technology products.

Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018, they must complete a data protection impact assessment where the processing of personal data is likely to result in a high risk to individuals’ rights and freedoms.

This can include, for example, large-scale processing of children’s data, profiling, biometric data or other high-risk uses.

The department published guidance for schools on data protection and procuring educational technology, which encourages schools to consider data protection from the outset and consult their data protection officer when introducing new tools. This guidance is available on GOV.UK.

The department recognises that effective early identification and intervention are critical to improving outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with dyslexia.

We want all education settings to be confident in identifying needs accurately and providing evidence-based support as early as possible. To support this, we are strengthening the evidence base on effective approaches. In partnership with the department, we have commissioned research, led by UK Research and Innovation, to develop approaches to early identification, assessment and support.

Through the SEND reform consultation, we proposed the introduction of National Inclusion Standards to set out evidence-informed tools, strategies and approaches for identifying and supporting needs, and the introduction of a new training package for all staff to upskill them on identifying and responding to needs. We also proposed a duty on schools to produce an Inclusion Strategy, setting out the support they would provide across Universal, Targeted and Targeted Plus provision. We are currently considering consultation responses to inform decisions on these proposals and any future requirements.

Schools in England are free to select and deploy educational technology based on their individual needs, circumstances and educational context. The department has set digital and technology standards for schools and colleges, including standards for laptops, desktops and tablets for educational use. The standards do not specify a device ratio to meet, but helps schools and colleges to get the right devices that will support their overall digital and technology strategy.

The department last published data on entries for A levels in music and in music technology for the 2024/25 academic year.

The A level entries in these subjects for state-funded students by local authority area and nationally are set out in the spreadsheet. These statistics are available publicly via the ‘Explore education statistics’ service on GOV.UK.

The department publishes figures on the number of education, health and care (EHC) plans. This is available on GOV.UK and the table below.

EHC plans were introduced in 2014, with all statements of special educational need either converted to EHC plans, or ceasing, by the 2018/19 academic year.

As of 26 July 2026, the outstanding balance of tuition fee loans for further and higher education was £169.5 billion. The total outstanding balance of student loan debt, that includes tuition fee and maintenance loans, across all student loan products was £307.5 billion.

The latter figure includes Advanced Learner Loans, undergraduate tuition fee loans, and undergraduate and postgraduate maintenance loans administered by Student Finance England to England domiciled students, including loans taken out by those still in study.

As of 26 July 2026, the outstanding balance of tuition fee loans for further and higher education was £169.5 billion. The total outstanding balance of student loan debt, that includes tuition fee and maintenance loans, across all student loan products was £307.5 billion.

The latter figure includes Advanced Learner Loans, undergraduate tuition fee loans, and undergraduate and postgraduate maintenance loans administered by Student Finance England to England domiciled students, including loans taken out by those still in study.

The government recognises the importance of creative and performing arts courses delivered by higher education (HE) institutions. However, funding decisions for the Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG) must prioritise subjects with the highest delivery costs.

Decisions on SPG funding were taken in the context of a highly challenging fiscal environment. For the 2025/26 academic year, funding through the SPG for creative and performing arts courses was around £130 per full-time equivalent student, or just over 1% of total funding provided by government when tuition fees are considered. Arts courses will also benefit from increases in tuition fee limits in line with inflation.

The government’s support for HE arts provision is reflected by our continued investment in the 20 specialist providers identified by the Office for Students as world leading, which will receive £57 million via the SPG in the 2026/27 academic year. Of this group, 12 providers solely focus on the creative and performing arts.

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I refer the hon. Member for Ashfield to the answer of 14 August 2026 to Question 14416.

The department engages regularly with school leadership organisations on the changes to PE and school sport funding and have responded to schools' concerns about managing the transition by increasing the transitional PE premium payment to £150 million, giving time for the School Sport Partnerships Network to work with schools to mobilise during the spring term and bring in new support from April.

The government announced in May that the PE and sport premium will be ending and will be replaced by the new School Sport Partnerships Network.

The department recognises the importance of supporting schools through this transition and has engaged sector representatives on supporting schools through the change as effectively as possible.

As usual, the government will be supporting schools further with the publication of guidance and conditions of grant for the start of the new academic year. Primary schools will be provided with a one-off payment of PE and sport premium to cover the transition to the new system and individual funding allocations will be confirmed this autumn.

The department engages regularly with school leadership organisations on the changes to PE and school sport funding and have responded to schools' concerns about managing the transition by increasing the transitional PE premium payment to £150 million, giving time for the School Sport Partnerships Network to work with schools to mobilise during the spring term and bring in new support from April.

The government announced in May that the PE and sport premium will be ending and will be replaced by the new School Sport Partnerships Network.

The department recognises the importance of supporting schools through this transition and has engaged sector representatives on supporting schools through the change as effectively as possible.

As usual, the government will be supporting schools further with the publication of guidance and conditions of grant for the start of the new academic year. Primary schools will be provided with a one-off payment of PE and sport premium to cover the transition to the new system and individual funding allocations will be confirmed this autumn.

On the 21 May, my right Hon. Friend, the former Secretary of State for Education, wrote to all head teachers to inform them of the transition to the PE and Sports Partnerships.

We engage regularly with school leadership organisations on the changes to PE and School Sport funding and have responded to schools’ concerns about managing the transition by increasing the transitional PE Premium payment to £150 million, giving time for the Partnerships Network to work with schools to mobilise during the spring term and bring in new support from April.

The department will continue to engage closely with schools through this transition, supporting further with the publication of guidance and conditions of grant for the start of the new academic year, and providing schools with advance notification of the funding formula.

The department conducted sessions with major sector stakeholders including specialist sport providers in the summer 2025, and we have engaged with Sport England and National Governing Bodies of Sport to support policy development. We have also held market engagement events to help develop the scope, and scale of delivery expected from the National Delivery Partner (NDP).

We expect the NDP to draw on local insight to shape priorities and delivery, and we recognise the importance of school sport providers who hold strong local knowledge and trusted relationships with schools and families. They form an important part of this model.

It is not possible to provide an exact cost for preparing Ministers to respond to Westminster Hall Debates. There will be differences in the costs of Civil Service, Special Adviser and Ministerial time depending on the policy matter and length of the debate. Debates can also be cross-cutting and require resources from multiple departments or engage departmental bodies.

The department takes the findings of the Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review (LCSPR) very seriously. Our role is to ensure schools meet their statutory duties and respond appropriately to independent reviews and enquiries. Schools must safeguard and promote the welfare of every child.

The Mossbourne Federation has committed to taking forward the LCSPR’s recommendations and has set up an Implementation Committee to oversee changes. The London Regional Director is meeting Mossbourne trustees regularly to review progress.

Headteachers have my full support in ensuring schools are safe. Schools are advised by the department that decisions on uniform need to consider their individual circumstances, taking into account both religious freedom and pupil safety.

It should be possible for most religious requirements to be met within a uniform policy and many schools have arrangements in place to allow the wearing of kirpans alongside sensible safeguards, for example limiting their size and requiring them to be sheathed and further enclosed in a securely fastened cushioned pouch.

The department’s advice for schools on developing school uniform policies is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-uniform/school-uniforms. The government keeps all its guidance under regular review.

The Ministers of the department held 28 MP surgeries in the period July 2024 to January 2025, and 229 MP surgeries since January 2025.

The department’s guidance does not prescribe how school attendance rewards and incentives are applied. Decisions about their operation are generally matters for individual schools, reflecting their circumstances and the needs of their pupils.

Where schools choose to link attendance to access to particular activities, we would expect them to do so carefully, proportionately and without discrimination. They should consider reward systems that are inclusive and appropriate for all pupils including those with disabilities or long-term health conditions.

I refer the hon. Member for Chichester to the answer of 23 June 2026 to Question 9524.

I refer the hon. Member for Chichester to the answer of 23 June 2026 to Question 9524.

School closures can be influenced by a range of factors, not just the VAT policy. While VAT may have compounded pressure, school closures cannot be attributed to VAT alone. Factors such as school performance, financial viability and demographic shifts also play a role. In the 2025/26 academic year, more private schools opened than closed. The department monitors the private school sector via the ‘Get Information about Schools’ (GIAS) system, which shows that between 1 September 2025 and 31 July 2026, 108 private schools opened and 51 closed.

The department recognises that the decision to close a school is difficult and sensitive and expects alternatives to closure to be explored before a decision is made. Where closure is considered the right option, the department expects proposers to minimise disruption to pupils’ education during the closure process and to support a smooth transition to alternative educational provision.

The evidence does not suggest a simple causal link between school closures and educational outcomes. However, we know that falling pupil numbers can create pressures on school finances, staffing and curriculum delivery, which may lead to closure being considered along with other options. The department is considering the impact of demographic change on educational outcomes, including for disadvantaged pupils, in line with recommendations made by the National Audit Office.

Proposers and local authorities should work together to ensure there are alternative places available for pupils, suitable transport arrangements and support for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities as part of closure plans. Where the proposer is an academy trust, the department scrutinises these plans before agreeing to closure.

We have appointed an independent panel of experts, led by education and health co-chairs, to advise on what approaches, strategies, and tools should be included in the National Inclusion Standards and Specialist Provision Packages.

The Standards will set out the provision that ordinarily should be in every setting across the 0 to 25 system. This is in addition to the evidence-based tools, strategies and approaches for educators to support children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.

Specialist Provision Packages describe the support available for children and young people with the most complex needs. These measures are designed to create a consistent, high-quality offer, wherever they live, thereby ending the post code lottery of support.

We will develop a national cost framework for these packages, and we expect to engage with stakeholders and consult on any new funding arrangements in due course.

The government is taking decisive action to better support disadvantaged students, make things fairer for graduates, and create a more flexible, responsive post-16 education system through the introduction of the Lifelong Learning Entitlement in January 2027.

Since 2024, we have raised the Plan 2 repayment threshold twice, protected borrowers from the risk of inflation shocks by capping interest rates on Plan 2 and Plan 3 loans at 6% for the 2026/27 academic year, and future-proofed maintenance loans by committing to increase them every year in-line with forecast inflation. Further, we are making care leavers automatically eligible for the maximum rate of maintenance loan, and we will be reintroducing targeted, means-tested maintenance grants in the2028/29 academic year, funded by a levy on providers for international students.

We will continue to look for ways to make the system fairer for students, graduates and taxpayers in a financially sustainable way.

The government is taking decisive action to better support disadvantaged students, make things fairer for graduates, and create a more flexible, responsive post-16 education system through the introduction of the Lifelong Learning Entitlement in January 2027.

Since 2024, we have raised the Plan 2 repayment threshold twice, protected borrowers from the risk of inflation shocks by capping interest rates on Plan 2 and Plan 3 loans at 6% for the 2026/27 academic year, and future-proofed maintenance loans by committing to increase them every year in-line with forecast inflation. Further, we are making care leavers automatically eligible for the maximum rate of maintenance loan, and we will be reintroducing targeted, means-tested maintenance grants in the2028/29 academic year, funded by a levy on providers for international students.

We will continue to look for ways to make the system fairer for students, graduates and taxpayers in a financially sustainable way.

We have now achieved 4,654 of the 6,500 additional teachers pledge, equivalent to 71.6% of the target, compared with the 2023/24 baseline. This includes 3,008 more teachers in secondary and special schools in 2025/26 and 1,646 more teachers in the statutory further education sector and school-based providers in 2024/25.

Information on student outcomes in higher education (HE), including broken down by those studying at franchised providers, is published by the Office for Students (OfS). The OfS also publishes National Student Survey results.

The government has identified concerns about parts of the franchised HE sector, including recruitment practices, quality and the protection of public money. In response, we have introduced a requirement for larger franchise providers to register with the OfS as a condition of access to student finance. Registered providers must meet the OfS's conditions of registration, including requirements relating to quality, student outcomes and the interests of students as consumers.

The government has not made a specific assessment of the impact of inducements on prospective students, including those who might otherwise lack the interest or ability to complete HE. However, HE providers must comply with consumer protection law and have regard to Competition and Markets Authority guidance, and OfS works with relevant regulators where concerns arise.

Some regional bodies, including Mayoral Strategic Authorities, are already working to support local authorities across their regions, as those local authorities deliver their statutory duties relating to special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

The department will continue to work with regional authorities to consider how they could further support our reforms to the SEND system to improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND. There will be further announcements on devolution in due course.

The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) is responsible for collecting and publishing data on the UK higher education (HE) sector. HESA do not publish data on the highest qualification on entry to HE of international students. Caution is advised when interpreting entry qualifications for international students, as qualifications obtained overseas may not align with the categories defined by HESA. Providers are responsible for determining an appropriate qualification level for qualifications earned overseas.

Analysis of the HESA Student data by the department shows that 1,635 non-UK domiciled entrants to UK HE (undergraduate and postgraduate) in 2024/25 had no formal qualifications.

Home-to-school travel is an integral part of the school system. It provides a valuable service on which many families rely. The department is grateful to the many transport operators for the crucial role they play in ensuring that children receive the education they need to help them thrive.

Officials engage regularly with local authorities to understand the challenges they face and to monitor impact, but have not seen any significant impact of the National Insurance contribution (NIC) changes on home-to-school travel for children with special educational needs and disabilities. Local authorities are responsible for arranging home-to-school travel and deliver this through a range of in-house services and external providers.

Businesses can claim employer reliefs on NICs, where eligible. These reliefs are estimated to have been worth around £2.5 billion in the 2025/26 financial year.

Over 40% of employers (around 900,000) will not pay employer NICs in 2030/31, as their total employer NICs bill will continue to fall below the Employment Allowance, which was more than doubled to £10,500 in April 2025.

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Children aged 5 to 16 are eligible for free travel if they attend their nearest suitable school and cannot walk there because of the distance, their special educational needs, disability or mobility problem, or route safety. Statutory walking distances are set at 2 miles for children under 8 and 3 miles for those aged 8 and over.

There are extended rights to free travel for children currently eligible for free school meals, to support low-income families to exercise school choice. More detail can be found in the statutory guidance: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6a10649929bb11891b1cf096/Travel_to_school_for_children_of_compulsory_school_age.pdf.

For these pupils, 11 to 16 year-olds may receive free travel to one of their three nearest schools between 2 to 6 miles from home, or to a school 2 to 15 miles away chosen on grounds of religion or belief; and the statutory walking distance is set at 2 miles for those aged 8 and over but under 11.

Local authorities have been informed of their Best Start Family Hub allocation and the department will publish the 2026/27 revenue and capital allocations for all 153 local authorities in due course.

Details of allocations for Family Hubs from 2022/23 are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/family-hubs-and-start-for-life-section-31-grant-determination-letters.