Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has considered opening new specialist SEND schools, in the context of trends in the number of education, health and care plans.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
We recognise the vital role that special schools play catering to children and young people with the most complex needs.
The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or who require alternative provision sits with local authorities. The department provides local authorities with capital funding to support them to meet this duty and has published allocations for £740 million in High Needs Provision Capital Allocations for the 2025/26 financial year.
This funding can be used to improve access to schooling for children and young people with a variety of SEND. It is intended to adapt schools to be more accessible, to create specialist facilities within mainstream schools that can deliver more intensive support adapted to suit the pupils’ needs and to create special school places for pupils with the most complex needs.
We also want more children and young people to receive the support they need to achieve and thrive in their local mainstream school, reducing the need for pupils to travel a long way to access a specialist placement. Many mainstream settings are already committed to delivering specialist provision locally, including through Resourced Provision and special educational needs units.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps is she taking to improve the use of technology to support inclusion for children with SEND in schools in Bournemouth.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Assistive technology has the potential to improve early intervention and enable more children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to achieve and thrive in a mainstream setting, by supporting both confidence and independence.
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has announced £740 million for high needs capital in 2025/26 to support children and young people with SEND or who require alternative provision. Local authorities can use this to create new places, but also to adapt classrooms to be more accessible for children with SEND, including through investment in assistive technology interventions to support pupils in mainstream settings. Of this £740 million, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council has been allocated over £4 million in 2025/26.
We will continue to build our evidence base on the potential for assistive technology to improve inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, including testing a pilot of assistive technology lending libraries through the SEND and alternative provision Change Programme. This will allow up to 4,000 mainstream schools in participating local authorities to borrow and trial technology on a temporary basis, to identify the right products to support their pupils.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had recent discussions with NHS Employers on planned changes to funding for Level 7 apprenticeships.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government has a driving mission to break down barriers to opportunity.
From January 2026, the government will no longer fund level 7 apprenticeships, equivalent to master’s degree level, except for young apprentices under the age of 22. This will enable apprenticeship opportunities to be rebalanced towards young people, whose rate of apprenticeship starts has fallen by almost 40% over the last decade.
This decision was informed by a wide range of evidence, including Skills England’s analysis of official apprenticeship statistics and engagement with relevant stakeholders, including NHS employers.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of changes to funding for Level 7 apprenticeships on costs to the public purse in each of the next five years.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government has a driving mission to break down barriers to opportunity.
From January 2026, we will no longer fund level 7 apprenticeships, equivalent to master’s degree level, except for young apprentices under the age of 22. This will enable government funding to be rebalanced towards young people and training at lower levels.
Apprenticeship spend is dependent on employers choosing to offer apprenticeships and learners choosing to take them.
The department does not publish information on projected apprenticeship spend.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce waiting times for the completion of Education and Health Care Plans.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department wants to ensure that, where required, education, health and care (EHC) plan assessments are progressed promptly and, if needed, plans are issued as quickly as possible so that children and young people can access the support they need.
Local authorities have a statutory responsibility to assess whether children and young people have special educational needs that require an EHC plan. Plans must be issued within twenty weeks of the needs assessment commencing so that children and young people can access the support they need.
The department continues to monitor and work closely with local authorities that have issues with EHC plan timeliness. Where there are concerns about a local authority’s capacity to make the required improvements, we help them to identify the barriers to this and put in place an effective recovery plan. This includes, where needed, securing a specialist special educational needs and disabilities adviser.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate of the number of people working for state schools who possess a Level 7 apprenticeship qualification.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The requested information is not collected centrally.
Asked by: Alex Easton (Independent - North Down)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of requiring schools to (a) implement (i) individual healthcare plans for pupils at risk of anaphylaxis and (ii) other allergy policies and (b) provide regular staff training on allergy management.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Governing bodies must ensure that the arrangements they put in place are sufficient to meet their statutory responsibilities and that policies, plans, procedures and systems are properly and effectively implemented. This includes the duty under Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions and the duties under the Equality Act 2010.
Statutory guidance, ‘Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions’, recommends the use of individual healthcare plans as good practice. They can help schools support pupils with medical conditions, providing clarity about what needs to be done, when and by whom. The school, healthcare professionals and parents should agree, based on evidence, when a healthcare plan would be appropriate. ‘Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions’ can be found at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5ce6a72e40f0b620a103bd53/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions.pdf.
Jul. 11 2025
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