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 ensure that place funding for special school pupils is increased in line with (a) inflation and (b) special educational requirements.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Special schools receive £10,000 per place, alongside high needs top-up funding, which is paid directly by local authorities to the schools in which their placements are made. It is the top-up funding which is intended to reflect the cost of special educational provision in excess of the place funding, and the department’s guidance to local authorities is that top-up funding levels should be kept under review to reflect changes in costs, such as those incurred through overall levels of inflation and changes in provision.
High needs funding for children and young people with complex needs will be £1 billion higher this financial year than last year. This £1 billion increase, and the additional funding for special schools to help with staff-related costs, will bring total high needs funding to well over £12 billion in 2025/26.
Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her planned timeline is for publishing the planned White Paper on Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Hornchurch and Upminster to the answer of 2 June 2025 to Question 53641.
Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with relevant stakeholders on reform of the parental complaints process to include mandatory mediation.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
It is important that parents and carers have the right to raise complaints with schools and feel they are able to do this and have their concerns heard and addressed by schools. Schools are required to have a complaints policy in place and to act in compliance with this where complaints are raised.
There are routes of escalation for complaints where parents and carers believe complaints have not been handled compliantly, or a school has not adhered to education law. Mediation is an option schools can offer where they deem it appropriate and necessary to support bringing a resolution to complaints.
The department is working and engaging with the sector and parents to understand how the system can be made clearer and simpler, reduce duplication, improve the relationship between schools and families and how this may reduce the number of complaints whilst upholding and maintaining parent and carers rights.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of the increase in National Insurance contributions on organisations that deliver services for SEND children.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Most children with special educational needs and disabilities receive their education in mainstream schools. With the increase in employers’ National Insurance contributions from April 2025, the department is providing additional funding of over £930 million in the 2025/26 financial year to support mainstream schools and special schools.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of implementing a duty of care on universities in relation to extra-curricular activities carried out by affiliated student groups.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department’s position is that a duty of care in higher education (HE) may arise in certain circumstances. Such circumstances would be a matter for the courts to decide, based on the specific facts and context of the case being considered and will be dependent on the courts’ application of accepted common law principles.
The department would expect HE providers and their affiliated student groups to comply with relevant existing legislation and any other guidance. For example, that published by the provider and/or the National Union of Students on matters such as health and safety.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Reform UK - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of challenges in finding work placements for T-level courses.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
High quality industry placements are an important part of what makes T Levels a success. Overall completion rates on industry placements remain high, with 97.5% of students finishing their T Level last summer successfully completing their placement. However, the department recognises that schools and colleges face challenges securing high quality placements for their students in some sectors and regions.
To address this, we have updated our delivery approaches to allow for greater flexibility in how placements can be delivered, including increasing the number of placement hours that can be completed remotely. We also continue to work closely with stakeholders to increase awareness and engagement on T Levels amongst employers of all types. We recently confirmed additional support for T Levels which includes a targeted Employer Support Fund for the 2025/26 financial year, and the extension of the department’s T Level provider and employer support packages for a further year.
Asked by: Matt Bishop (Labour - Forest of Dean)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to monitor the administration of CPR training in schools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
All state-funded schools in England are required to teach their pupils first aid training, which includes basic first aid and dealing with common injuries, within their statutory health education provision. In addition, pupils in secondary schools are taught further first aid, for example, how to administer CPR and the purpose of defibrillators.
The department does not monitor the administration of CPR training in schools. When undertaking their first aid needs assessments, schools should consider the needs of their staff, pupils and other non-employees such as visitors, and put in place appropriate provision, including in relation to training, as recommended by the Health and Safety Executive and the department’s first-aid guidance for schools
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with representatives of the Council for Disabled Children on the potential impact of SEND reforms on (a) special needs children and (b) EHCP allocation.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department regularly works with a range of stakeholders, including the Council for Disabled Children (CDC), on a number of areas relating to special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) policy. We regularly meet the CDC to discuss the development of SEND reforms and their impact on children and young people with SEND and their families. We have appointed Dame Christine Lenehan, former director of the CDC, as SEND adviser to my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the national flood risk assessment data, published on 25 March 2025, whether her Department plans to improve the flood defences of schools in flood zones (a) two and (b) three.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department’s Schools Water Strategy team works with delivery partners such as the Environment Agency, water companies and lead local flood authorities to deliver flood prevention measures in schools through a number of workstreams.
The Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) in schools project collaborates with industry experts to jointly fund SuDS’ installation in schools at risk of surface water, reducing their flood risk.
The Environment Agency Partnership contributes funding to enable large-scale community flood schemes to be delivered.
The Property Flood Resilience assesses and implements property flood resilience and recovery measures across the school estate, targeting schools in high-risk areas and schools that have suffered repeated disruption.
Awareness and Education signposts or provides schools with appropriate information and tools to manage their water-related climate risks, as well as educational materials to support this and necessary behavioural changes.
The department has invested in measures to reduce risk to flooding at 573 schools to the end of 2024/25 through the Schools Water Strategy and will continue to invest in flood prevention in schools at risk of flooding in line with the published Sustainability and Climate Change strategy.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps with education unions to investigate links between viewing online violent social media content on personal mobile devices and physical attacks on teaching staff in schools.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
All pupils and staff should feel safe and protected at school, and nobody should face violence or abuse. The department will always support our hard working teachers to ensure they can work in safe and calm classrooms. All school employers have a duty to take reasonable steps to protect the health, safety and welfare of their employees.
Schools should prohibit the use of mobile phones and other smart technology with similar functionality throughout the school day, including during lessons, the time between lessons, breaktimes and lunchtime, as set out in the 2024 ‘Mobile phones in schools’ guidance. The department expects all schools to take steps in line with this guidance to ensure mobile phones do not disrupt pupils’ learning.
From July this year, the child safety duties under the Online Safety Act will be in force, requiring online services to protect children from content that is harmful to them, including violent and abusive content. The government recognises concerns about the impact of social media on children, which is why the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology commissioned a feasibility study, led by the University of Cambridge, to investigate methods and data to understand the links between children’s smartphone use, social media and their wellbeing.