Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason the new Supply Teachers and Temporary Staffing framework makes no provision for ensuring that supply teachers can access the teachers’ pension scheme.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The Teachers’ Pensions Regulations currently provide for supply teachers to participate in the teachers’ pension scheme (TPS) where they are employed by a scheme employer. These are local authorities, academies and further education colleges. This includes supply teachers who are recruited by a supply agency but then employed directly, under a contract of employment, by the scheme employer.
Where supply teachers are self-employed or remain employed by a supply agency and their services are provided under a ‘contract for services’, it is not possible for them to participate in the TPS as there is no organisation to undertake the employer role, including remitting contributions to the scheme.
Supply teachers employed by agencies will continue to have access to alternative workplace pensions.
Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve supply teachers’ access to the teachers’ pension scheme under the new Supply Teachers and Temporary Staffing framework.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The Teachers’ Pensions Regulations currently provide for supply teachers to participate in the teachers’ pension scheme (TPS) where they are employed by a scheme employer. These are local authorities, academies and further education colleges. This includes supply teachers who are recruited by a supply agency but then employed directly, under a contract of employment, by the scheme employer.
Where supply teachers are self-employed or remain employed by a supply agency and their services are provided under a ‘contract for services’, it is not possible for them to participate in the TPS as there is no organisation to undertake the employer role, including remitting contributions to the scheme.
Supply teachers employed by agencies will continue to have access to alternative workplace pensions.
Asked by: Antonia Bance (Labour - Tipton and Wednesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an estimate of the number of multi-academy trusts which are chaired by individuals who are themselves chief executives of multi-academy trusts.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department’s model articles for academy trusts set out that a trustee who is employed by the academy trust shall not be eligible for election as chair or vice chair. The board holds the chief executive to account for the day to day running of the trust. To support transparency, the chair’s details must be recorded on Get Information About Schools (GIAS). As of 16 February 2026, there were no trusts recorded on GIAS showing the same person as chair and chief executive.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department's publications entitled 10-year plan to revitalise schools and colleges for every child, and Education estates strategy: a decade of national renewal, published on 11 February 2026, how many inclusion bases in secondary schools will be added in each year of the 10-year plan; and how much funding is allocated to inclusion bases in each year of the plan.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
In our consultation on special educational needs and disabilities, the department has set out our ambition that, in time, every secondary school will have an inclusion base.
Where new places are needed, this will be supported by the £3.7 billion in high needs capital that we are investing between 2025/26 and 2029/30. This funding is allocated to local authorities, who know their schools and will determine how best to spend funding to meet local need. £740 million of this funding has already been allocated, and allocations for 2026/27 will be published in the spring.
Currently, provision is inconsistent across the country, which is why we are also going to improve data collection on which schools have inclusion bases, so we can make sure that all pupils are given the support they need.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to reduce delays for members of the Teachers Pension who have submitted their remedial service statement.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Recalculating benefits for retired members is a complex process. For those members retiring, these cases are relatively straightforward as no benefits are already in payment. For retired members, additional complications around tax, interest rules and system functionality required extensive consultation.
Capita, as the Teachers’ Pensions Scheme (TPS) administrator, are processing Remediable Service Statement (RSS) choices and aim to complete payments as quickly as possible.
The issuing and payment of members’ RSS choices is a high priority and the department is continually exploring ways to improve payment times with Capita, which includes recruiting additional staff and automating functions wherever possible. Members’ original pension benefits will continue to be paid until their choice has been implemented.
In summer 2026, administration of the TPS will become the responsibility of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). The department is working with TCS to finalise the timeline for issuing all RSSs and any subsequent payments.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to introduce mandatory CPD for all teachers to enable them to (a) identify the common signs of dyslexia and (b) adapt their classroom teaching to support dyslexic children.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is committed to improving support for all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including pupils with dyslexia. In January, we announced the most ambitious SEND training offer ever seen in the English education system. Backed by £200 million, the new offer will cover children with SEND from 0 to 25. More details on the training are available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/200-million-landmark-send-teacher-training-programme.
The English Hubs programme is dedicated to improving the teaching of reading. As part of teachers’ continuous professional development, the ‘Reading Ambition for All’ programme will improve outcomes for children in primary who need additional support.
The SEND code of practice is clear that meeting the needs of a child with SEN does not require a diagnostic label or test. Instead, we expect teachers to monitor the progress of all pupils and put support in place where needed.
To identify need, we are strengthening the evidence base to improve early identification in mainstream settings. Recently published evidence reviews will help drive inclusive practices, highlighting what the best available evidence suggests are the most effective tools, strategies and approaches. The ‘What Works in SEND’ research programme is researching tools that settings can use to identify the needs of neurodivergent children and young people.
From 2024, the national professional qualification for special educational needs co-ordinators (SENCOs) became the mandatory qualification for SENCOs, supporting participants to develop the essential knowledge and skills needed to set the strategic direction of SEND policy in schools and understand the conditions in which pupils with SEND can thrive.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the change to the level of (a) payment and (b) reimbursement of business rates in (i) her Department and the (ii) Education and Skills Funding Agency between financial years (A) 2025-2026 and (B) 2026-2027.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Since April 2022, most schools’ business rates are paid directly by the department to billing authorities. If all billing authorities in the local authority have not agreed to this system, academies make business rates payments and are reimbursed by the department.
For both of these payment mechanisms, we operate on a reactive basis. Therefore, it is not possible to provide funding totals for either the 2025/26 financial year, as the financial year has not concluded, or 2026/27.
For local authority-maintained schools where the local authority does not have agreement from all billing authorities within it, the department allocates funding to local authorities via the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) to cover business rates payments. DSG publications show total funding to local authorities for each financial year:
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish in full the data held by the Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) database.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department does not have plans to publish in full the data held in the Longitudinal Education Outcomes database.
The database contains the sensitive personal information of UK citizens. It would be a breach of the public trust and UK General Data Protection Regulations 2018 legislation to publish it in full.
However, the department routinely publishes a wide range of statistical information drawn from the data. The department also makes the data available for research in the public interest through the Office for National Statistics Secure Research Service. Further information on how to access the data is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-to-access-the-longitudinal-education-outcomes-leo-dataset.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding from the SEND teacher training programme will be allocated to schools and early years settings in Eastleigh constituency; and how many teachers, teaching assistants and support staff in Eastleigh will be supported by that programme.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) teacher training offer comprises an investment of over £200 million over the course of this Parliament. This significant investment, forms a central pillar of the government’s SEND reform plans, helping to secure a fairer system where effective support is available for every child with SEND from early years to the age of 25.
This training offer will be freely available to all leaders, teachers and teaching assistants working in schools, colleges, childminders and nurseries across England, including those in Eastleigh. Training packages will be developed with the needs of different educators and sectors in mind. Some training will be accessible at any time, while other elements may require registering with a provider. More details on how to access the different packages will be published on GOV.UK in due course.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Written Statement of 15 December 2025 on Investment in high needs place, HCWS1163, how much each local authority will receive from the £3 billion investment in SEND school places.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
In December, the department announced at least £3 billion for high needs capital between 2026/27 and 2029/30 to support children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities or who require alternative provision. This funding is intended to create facilities within mainstream schools that can deliver more intensive support adapted to suit the pupils’ needs. It can also be used to adapt mainstream schools to be more accessible and to create special school places for pupils with the most complex needs. We will confirm local authority allocations later this spring.