Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department is taking steps to monitor activities at Confucius Institutes.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
The department engages regularly with representatives from the higher education (HE) sector to support universities to maximise opportunities of collaboration whilst managing risks.
The department expects the HE sector to be alert to a range of risks when collaborating with international partners and to conduct appropriate due diligence and oversight. Any international arrangements English HE providers who are registered with the Office for Students (OfS) make, including Confucius Institutes, should be within the law and comply with OfS registration conditions. These include a commitment to the public interest governance principles, which include operating openly and in accordance with ensuring academic freedom and freedom of speech.
If students, staff, or the public feel that a provider is not meeting these requirements, they can submit a notification to the OfS. As the regulator for registered English providers, the OfS can intervene and use its regulatory powers, if a breach is identified.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of local government finances on the ability of local authorities to fund additional therapy above the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund's fair access limit.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The adoption and special guardianship support fund provides up to £3,000 per child annually for therapeutic support. The department has assessed that £3,000 can fund an average of 19-20 hours of therapy, on the basis of median hourly rates for contact time, and allowing for additional costs. Decisions to fund additional therapy beyond this fair access limit rest with individual local authorities. Adoptive and kinship families can also receive help from local authority Family Help services. The government is doubling investment in these services to over £500 million in 2025/26.
Asked by: Suella Braverman (Conservative - Fareham and Waterlooville)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support her Department provides to schools that host PGCE students; and what assessment she has made of the contribution of this to teacher recruitment and retention in Hampshire.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
High-quality teaching has the strongest positive impact on pupil outcomes in schools, which is why this government has pledged to recruit an additional 6,500 new expert teachers, including in science subjects, backed by a near 10% pay award since July 2024.
To aid recruitment, the department is providing teacher training financial incentives worth nearly £233 million, including bursaries worth up to £29,000 tax-free, and scholarships up to £31,000 tax-free, in science subjects. We are also providing retention incentives for early career science teachers worth up to £6000, with 39 schools in Hampshire qualifying for these.
Schools that host trainee placements leading to qualified teacher status, including those studying a PGCE, can claim funding to help cover the time staff members spend mentoring, given the importance of peer-to-peer support. In 2024/25, the department welcomed over 23,100 new postgraduate trainee teachers, an increase of 8% compared to 2023/24. In 2024/25, 399 trainees began postgraduate teacher training in Hampshire, compared to 317 in 2023/24.
The department’s interventions are having a positive impact, with the teaching workforce growing by 2,346 full-time equivalent teachers between 2023/24 and 2024/25 in secondary and special schools. In the South East, the number of secondary school teachers increased by 221.
Asked by: Suella Braverman (Conservative - Fareham and Waterlooville)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help reduce the shortage of science teachers in Hampshire; and what support is available for schools relying on supply staff.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
High-quality teaching has the strongest positive impact on pupil outcomes in schools, which is why this government has pledged to recruit an additional 6,500 new expert teachers, including in science subjects, backed by a near 10% pay award since July 2024.
To aid recruitment, the department is providing teacher training financial incentives worth nearly £233 million, including bursaries worth up to £29,000 tax-free, and scholarships up to £31,000 tax-free, in science subjects. We are also providing retention incentives for early career science teachers worth up to £6000, with 39 schools in Hampshire qualifying for these.
Schools that host trainee placements leading to qualified teacher status, including those studying a PGCE, can claim funding to help cover the time staff members spend mentoring, given the importance of peer-to-peer support. In 2024/25, the department welcomed over 23,100 new postgraduate trainee teachers, an increase of 8% compared to 2023/24. In 2024/25, 399 trainees began postgraduate teacher training in Hampshire, compared to 317 in 2023/24.
The department’s interventions are having a positive impact, with the teaching workforce growing by 2,346 full-time equivalent teachers between 2023/24 and 2024/25 in secondary and special schools. In the South East, the number of secondary school teachers increased by 221.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to reduce educational inequalities for secondary school pupils in the West Midlands.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
All children and young people should have every opportunity to succeed, no matter where they are from. However, the government knows educational inequalities exist at every phase of education across the country. This is not acceptable in the West Midlands, or nationally.
Through our Plan for Change, we are tackling these inequalities and have set a milestone of a 75% of 5 year-olds reaching a good level of development in the early years foundation stage profile assessment by 2028. The department will invest close to £1.5 billion over the next three years to raise quality, close gaps, and break down barriers to opportunity for every child.
We are also rolling out free breakfast clubs in every state-funded primary school, expanding free school meals to all children on Universal Credit from September 2026 and have delivered record increases to the early years pupil premium.
This is alongside our work to drive high and rising standards in every school, including new regional improvement in standards and excellence teams, the Curriculum and Assessment Review and our commitment to recruit an additional 6,500 new expert teachers across secondary and special schools and in our colleges.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the number of times that teaching assistants have delivered unsupervised classroom teaching in place of qualified supply staff in (a) academies and (b) other state schools in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department does not hold information regarding the number of times that teaching assistants have delivered unsupervised classroom teaching in place of qualified supply staff.
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Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department provides to schools on promoting road safety awareness among pupils who use (a) hire and (b) electric bikes.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Primary and secondary schools are free to teach about road safety awareness as part of their duty to provide a broad and balanced curriculum, and many do so through their personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE) provision alongside the statutory relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) content. This can also include teaching about general road safety when using bikes in different situations. The statutory RSHE guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education/relationships-and-sex-education-rse-secondary
The updated RSHE guidance, published in July 2025, has a new section on personal safety which includes how to recognise risk and keep safe around roads.
Schools can draw on resources available from many providers including, the THINK! campaign, developed by the Department for Transport. The campaign can be accessed here: https://www.think.gov.uk/.
Schools also use Bikeability, the Department for Transport’s flagship national cycle training programme for pupils in England, which teaches core skills that enable pupils to cycle confidently and safely on roads.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure inclusive school environments for children with different learning styles in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
This government’s ambition is that every child or young person in our country deserves the best possible educational experience, one that is academically stretching, where every child or young person feels like they belong, and that sets them up for life and work. We will build a better system which is grounded in evidence and identifies and supports need at the earliest opportunity.
Our new regional improvements for standards and excellence (RISE) teams will work with mainstream schools to help them become more inclusive places, as one of four priority areas for improvement.
The recently published RISE Inclusive Mainstream webpage provides schools with programmes and resources to help mainstream schools improve inclusivity and support for those with special educational needs and disabilities and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rise-support-for-inclusive-mainstream-education/rise-support-for-inclusive-mainstream-education.
Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing introducing compulsory first aid training for teachers.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The provision of first aid training is a matter for early years, schools and colleges as employers who are best placed to make decisions about the training and development required to meet the needs of their staff and pupils.
The department publishes guidance to support settings to carry out their duties relating to first aid issues both on their premises and off-site.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to tackle misogyny in schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for for Blyth and Ashington to the answer of 19 September 2025 to Question 76624.