Asked by: Josh Dean (Labour - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that the new initial teacher training and early career framework includes content related to (a) identifying children’s social and emotional developmental needs and (b) supporting children with their identified social and emotional developmental needs.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The Initial Teacher Training (ITT) and Early Career Framework covers the first three years or more of a teacher’s career. It sets out a minimum entitlement to training for all new teachers and, following a review, now contains significantly more content related to adaptive teaching and supporting pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
This includes content on how teaching and modelling a range of social and emotional skills, including how to recognise and understand feelings, manage emotions, and sustain positive relationships, can support pupils’ social and emotional development.
ITT providers must also ensure that their courses enable trainee teachers to meet the Teachers’ Standards, to be recommended for qualified teacher status. The Teachers’ Standards set clear expectations that teachers must understand the needs of all pupils, which includes those with speech and language challenges.
We are investing over £200 million to improve SEND training for all staff across education settings, and developing national inclusion standards to help teachers identify needs and put evidence-based support in place. From September 2026, all staff will have access to new government-backed training, with further courses from 2027.
Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that Education Otherwise Than At School (EOTAS) is available as part of the continuation of SEND support where a child cannot be educated in school.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department’s consultation, “SEND reform: putting children and young people first”, proposes the introduction of Specialist Provision Packages for all children and young people with complex needs, including those children and young people whose needs are currently met through Education Other Than At School (EOTAS) packages of support.
After a 12-week consultation period, including over 200 engagement events, meetings and roundtables, the department’s consultation has now closed. We are carefully reviewing and taking into account all responses submitted to the consultation and continuing to engage widely on our proposals.
As part of that continued engagement, we intend to publish a consultation on the use of EOTAS provision in the coming weeks. It is crucial that we get support for EOTAS children and young people right, particularly given their often complex needs. This consultation will seek views to ensure we meet those specific needs, and that these children and young people benefit from the inclusive education we want for all.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled Regional funding to train next generation of construction workers, published on 20 May 2026, what estimate she has made of the number of learners in (a) Basildon, (b) Thurrock, and (c) Essex expected to benefit from the funding allocations in each of the next three years.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This funding will increase opportunities for onsite experience for those learners on eligible qualifications, courses at Level 2 and 3, in Sector Subject Area 5.2 (Building and Construction), with 360+ guided learning hours, and excluding apprenticeships, National Vocational Qualifications, T levels and Skills Bootcamps. The learner numbers for the 2024/25 academic year can be found below:
Upper tier local authority | Eligible learners in 2024/25 |
Thurrock | 110 |
Essex, including Basildon | 850 |
Notes
Asked by: Darren Paffey (Labour - Southampton Itchen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment the Department has made of the potential impact of the recent changes to teacher training funding eligibility on the provision and uptake of language teaching in schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department has now achieved over 70% of our target to recruit 6,500 additional expert teachers by the end of this Parliament. There are 4,654 additional expert teachers in secondary and special schools and colleges.
Recruitment of physics trainee teachers has almost doubled since 2023/24, and modern foreign languages recruitment (MFL) has increased by nearly a third over the same period. Our focus is on maintaining the growth in domestic recruitment and improved retention of existing teachers that we have already seen.
As a result, the department has paused the bursary and scholarship offer for new international entrants in physics and languages. International entrants that held an offer to start an initial teacher training course as of 7 May are unaffected by this change and will therefore receive bursaries and scholarships from this autumn. We will review our offer ahead of the next recruitment cycle.
Asked by: Darren Paffey (Labour - Southampton Itchen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment the Department has made of the potential impact of the recent changes to teacher training funding eligibility on recruitment to Modern Foreign Languages and Physics teacher training courses.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department has now achieved over 70% of our target to recruit 6,500 additional expert teachers by the end of this Parliament. There are 4,654 additional expert teachers in secondary and special schools and colleges.
Recruitment of physics trainee teachers has almost doubled since 2023/24, and modern foreign languages recruitment (MFL) has increased by nearly a third over the same period. Our focus is on maintaining the growth in domestic recruitment and improved retention of existing teachers that we have already seen.
As a result, the department has paused the bursary and scholarship offer for new international entrants in physics and languages. International entrants that held an offer to start an initial teacher training course as of 7 May are unaffected by this change and will therefore receive bursaries and scholarships from this autumn. We will review our offer ahead of the next recruitment cycle.
Asked by: Paulette Hamilton (Labour - Birmingham Erdington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department provides on preventing unwanted touching of (a) Black and (b) mixed-heritage children’s Afro-textured hair in (i) early years and (ii) school settings; how this issue is addressed within (A) safeguarding, (B) personal safety, and (C) wellbeing guidance; and what guidance her Department provides on training for staff to ensure (1) culturally competent and (2) safe practice.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Birmingham Erdington to the answer of 10 June 2026 to Question 6581.
Asked by: Claire Hazelgrove (Labour - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support undergraduate and graduate students in Filton and Bradley Stoke constituency with the cost of living.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
To help students from the most disadvantaged backgrounds progress and excel in higher education, we will future proof our loan offer for undergraduate students by increasing loans for living costs in line with forecast inflation every academic year.
This will ensure that students from the lowest income families receive the largest year-on-year increases in support and provide students with long-term financial certainty on the support they will receive while studying.
Maximum loans for living costs for undergraduate students will increase by forecast inflation, 2.71%, for the 2026/27 academic year.
In addition, all eligible care leavers, regardless of age or personal circumstances, who are attending undergraduate courses in 2026/27, will be eligible for the maximum loan for living costs, removing key barriers to accessing education.
Loans to help with course fees and living costs for students starting postgraduate master’s degree and doctoral degree courses in 2026/27 will also increase by 2.71%.
Asked by: Andrew George (Liberal Democrat - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether mechanisms are in place to provide compensation to higher education providers in cases where regulatory penalties imposed by the Office for Students are overturned by the courts.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Office for Students (OfS) is the independent regulator for higher education in England and operates within the legal framework set out in the Higher Education and Research Act 2017. Where the OfS takes regulatory action against a registered higher education (HE) provider, the provider has the right to make representations and to challenge that decision, including through the courts.
Where a court finds that a regulatory decision has been made unlawfully, the decision, including any associated monetary penalty, may be overturned.
There is no automatic mechanism operated by the department or the OfS to provide compensation to HE providers in such circumstances. As with other public law decisions, any matters relating to costs or damages would be determined by the courts.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled Regional funding to train next generation of construction workers, published on 20 May 2026, what discussions she has had with construction employers regarding potential barriers to offering industry placements for learners.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Whilst developing the industry placement policy, the department has engaged closely with construction employers, including the Construction Skills Mission Board, to understand the challenges and barriers they face, ensuring these insights are used to inform and shape effective, practical solutions.
Asked by: Josh Dean (Labour - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to encourage and incentivise mainstream schools to use data-driven assessment tools to identify children’s hidden social, emotional, and mental health needs before they escalate into behavioural issues or necessitate an Education, Health and Care Plan.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is supporting mainstream schools to take a more evidence‑based approach to early identification of need, including social, emotional and mental health needs.
We are developing National Inclusion Standards, backed by up to £15 million, which will provide schools with evidence‑based identification tools and approaches, including a digital library to support consistent, data‑driven assessment. We are also funding UKRI‑led research to improve early identification and needs assessment methods, to be rolled out by 2028.
Schools are being incentivised through the £1.6 billion Inclusive Mainstream Fund, helping them invest in early intervention and targeted support without requiring an education, health and care plan.
The new ‘Experts at Hand’ offer, backed by £1.8 billion of investment over the next three years, will enable greater access to expert advice and support from education and health professionals, including educational psychologists, speech and language therapists and outreach from specialist settings including alternative provision, into mainstream schools, early years settings, and colleges.
We are also introducing digital Individual Support Plans and a duty on schools to identify and meet needs early.