Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the publication MHCLG: spending over £25,000, January 2026, published on 25 February 2026, if she will set out the purpose and specific activity relating to the transaction CFO & Corporate Coram(Thomas Coram Foundation), Ref: 5105609031, Research, for £37,075.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what additional funding has been allocated to local authorities to support pupils with special educational needs in the last three years.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps they are taking to increase the amount of UK made steel used in procurement contracts overseen by their Department.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department strongly supports the UK’s Industrial Strategy, fostering a resilient economy that supports British businesses and creates good jobs in communities across the country. UK-produced steel has a significant role to play in construction and education projects. Our procurements are undertaken in accordance with Procurement Policy Note 022 “Procuring Steel in Government contracts”.
From this financial year, contractors on the department’s construction frameworks will be required to report whether they have consulted the UK Steel’s Steel Catalogue. Contractors will need to confirm whether they are using UK steel and if not, explain why not.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of early years funding rates for two and three year olds for meeting staffing costs, including required non contact time for preparation, setup, and safeguarding obligations.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
In 2026/27, the department expects to provide over £9.5 billion for the early years entitlements, including an increase of 15% in Early Years Pupil Premium, more than doubling annual public investment in the early years sector compared to 2023/24. Staff costs make up the most significant proportion of provider costs. Therefore, due to tighter staffing ratios, the cost of delivery is highest for younger children, which is reflected in the differing hourly funding rates.
To calculate rate uplifts, the department uses an analytical model which considers data from the Early Years Census and the survey of childcare and early years providers, various government forecasts such as average earnings growth and the consumer price index, and the national living wage to determine cost pressures for the early years Sector.
All early years providers are legally required to keep children safe and promote their welfare, and all practitioners must undergo safe training as set out on the Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework. To further support settings with safeguarding training requirements, the department is developing a free online safeguarding training package for early years settings which will be available later this spring.
We will consult on changes to how early years funding is distributed later this year.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department collects data from local authorities on the reasons why Section 19 of the Education Act 1996 is applied.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department collects data from local authorities on placement reasons for pupils educated under Section 19 of the Education Act 1996 for those in local authority funded placements.
This information is published annually in the ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ accredited official statistics: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics/2024-25.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, in light of plans to invest £41 million in school expansion, what consideration has been given to directing comparable investment into the early years sector.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
High quality early years is central to our mission to break down the barriers to opportunity, give every child the best possible start in life, and is essential to our Plan for Change. As the government builds a stronger economy with sustainable public finances, the department is continuing to invest in early years. This financial year alone we expect to provide over £9.5 billion for the early years entitlements. This more than doubles annual public investment in the early years sector compared to 2023/24, as we have successfully rolled-out the expansion of government-funded childcare for working parents.
On top of this, we are boosting availability and access through a £400 million capital investment in the school-based nurseries programme, supporting school-led provision and private, voluntary and independent (PVI) providers and childminders operating from school sites.
The department has already made a real impact, providing £82 million of capital funding to over 600 primary and maintained nursery schools across phases 1 and 2. Phase 3 is backed by up to £325 million of additional funding and invites local authorities to develop multi-year funding proposals that outline plans for new, or expanded, school-based nurseries in their area.
PVIs and childminders can partner with schools and local authorities in phase 3 to help deliver flexible nursery provision from school or Best Start Family Hub sites, building on the 52 funded partnerships from phases 1 and 2.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of statutory requirements on numbers of early years staff being present at least 30 minutes before and after funded sessions; and what funding is available to cover those additional hours and work materials.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
In 2026/27 the department expects to provide over £9.5 billion for the early years entitlements, including an increase of 15% in Early Years Pupil Premium, more than doubling annual public investment in the early years sector compared to 2023/24. To calculate rate uplifts, we use an analytical model which considers data from the Early Years Census and the survey of childcare and early years providers, various government forecasts such as AEG and CPI, and the national living wage to determine cost pressures for the Early Years Sector. We have regular contact with each local authority in England about childcare delivery issues they may be facing.
The hourly funding rate for entitlement hours is intended to cover the core costs of providing 15 or 30 hours of childcare to parents. This includes costs associated with staffing such as salaries as well as non-staff costs such as rent, business rates and utilities costs associated with delivering the government funded hours.
The department will consult on changes to how early years funding is distributed later this year.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help prevent the funding model for early years settings resulting in operating losses for those settings.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
In 2026/27 the department expects to provide over £9.5 billion for the early years entitlements, including an increase of 15% in Early Years Pupil Premium, more than doubling annual public investment in the early years sector compared to 2023/24. To calculate rate uplifts, we use an analytical model which considers data from the Early Years Census and the survey of childcare and early years providers, various government forecasts such as AEG and CPI, and the national living wage to determine cost pressures for the Early Years Sector. We have regular contact with each local authority in England about childcare delivery issues they may be facing.
The hourly funding rate for entitlement hours is intended to cover the core costs of providing 15 or 30 hours of childcare to parents. This includes costs associated with staffing such as salaries as well as non-staff costs such as rent, business rates and utilities costs associated with delivering the government funded hours.
The department will consult on changes to how early years funding is distributed later this year.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will provide a list of training programmes used by civil servants in her department since 2020.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department offers a wide range of training and development opportunities to our employees across a broad curriculum. The majority of this training is delivered through the cross‑government Civil Service Learning platform, which can be accessed at Skills for Government here: https://prospectus.governmentcampus.co.uk/find-out-more/skills-for-government/.
Core learning areas accessed by the department include:
• Planning and delivery
• Leadership
• Communication
• Working with Parliament and government
• Grant management
• Problem solving
• Line management
• Developing behaviours
• Information, data and analysis
• Change management and agility
• Budget management
• Contract management
• Stakeholder and customer engagement
• IT software skills
• Artificial intelligence.
In addition, directorates and professional functions across the department commission or access bespoke training where required to meet specialist, technical or role‑specific needs.
Asked by: Dan Aldridge (Labour - Weston-super-Mare)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has any guidance around restrictions being placed by nurseries on hours during which government funded childcare hours can be accessed, such as limiting provision to specific times of the day.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The ‘Early Education and Childcare’ statutory guidance states that local authorities should encourage providers to offer flexible packages of free hours, which will enable children to access regular, high-quality provision, while maximising flexibility for parents and ensuring a degree of stability for providers.
Local authorities should enable parents to take up their child’s free place in patterns of hours that stretch their child’s entitlement by taking fewer hours a week over more weeks of the year, where there is provider capacity and parental demand.
Additionally, local authorities should ensure that parents and providers are aware that there is no requirement that free places must be taken on, or delivered on, particular days of the week or at particular times of the day.