Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address the problems affecting poorer students in accessing A level computer science, as identified by Teach First on 8 May.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
All children and young people should have every opportunity to succeed, no matter their background. However, the department knows that disadvantaged pupils are more likely to face barriers which hold them back from the opportunities and life chances they deserve.
Whilst it is ultimately for individual schools to decide which courses to offer their students, the best way of supporting schools to offer A level computer science, including those in deprived areas, is to ensure high-quality computing teaching by helping schools to recruit and retain good teachers.
For the 2024/25 and 2025/26 academic years, the department is offering a targeted retention incentive worth up to £6,000 after tax for computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools. This will support the recruitment and retention of specialist computing teachers in the schools and areas that need them most. There are also bursaries worth £29,000 tax-free and scholarships worth £31,000 tax-free, to encourage talented trainees to teach computing.
In the 2024/25 academic year, there were 496 new postgraduate entrants to computing initial teacher training (ITT), a 21% increase on the number of entrants in the 2023/24 academic year (411). The number of postgraduate entrants in 2024/25 was broadly in line with the average across the last ten years.
As of April 2025, we are seeing positive recruitment trends regarding postgraduate ITT recruitment in computing. So far, there have been more candidate submissions (+10%), offers (+42%) and acceptances (+47%) compared to the same point in the previous recruitment cycle.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to publish (1) an updated impact assessment for the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill that includes specific assessment of Clause 22, and (2) an equality impact assessment for the whole of the Children's Wellbeing and School Bill, including Clause 22.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The government is committed to supporting children in care and care leavers through the introduction of corporate parenting responsibilities for government departments and relevant public bodies. The measures will require Secretaries of State and relevant public bodies to be alert to matters which might adversely affect the wellbeing of children in care and care leavers.
The impact of all of the measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill on business, equalities and human rights has been evaluated and is accessible at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childrens-wellbeing-and-schools-bill-impact-assessments.
We will continue to review and update these documents, when the Bill has completed its passage through the House of Lords.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the cost of extending free school meals to all children of families in receipt of Universal Credit; and what assessment they have made of the current real value of the income eligibility limit, set in 2018, of £7,400.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The continued provision of school food has an important role to play in breaking the unfair link between background and opportunity, which is why the department is considering the government’s school food offer as part of our work on child poverty.
The transitional protections policy on free school meals (FSM), put in place in 2018 during the roll out of Universal Credit (UC), ensures that households in receipt of FSM will retain their entitlement during UC migration.
Support for children to access FSM has additionally been considered as part of the Child Poverty Taskforce’s consideration of how to:
As with all government programmes, the department will keep the approach to FSM under continued review.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of children who will lose their entitlement to free school meals following the ending of phase one of the transitional protection for those migrating to Universal Credit.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The continued provision of school food has an important role to play in breaking the unfair link between background and opportunity, which is why the department is considering the government’s school food offer as part of our work on child poverty.
The transitional protections policy on free school meals (FSM), put in place in 2018 during the roll out of Universal Credit (UC), ensures that households in receipt of FSM will retain their entitlement during UC migration.
Support for children to access FSM has additionally been considered as part of the Child Poverty Taskforce’s consideration of how to:
As with all government programmes, the department will keep the approach to FSM under continued review.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many child's rights impact assessments they (1) prepared, and (2) published, in each year from 1 April 2018, broken down by department.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The department does not collect information on the number of Child’s Rights Impact Assessments that have been prepared or published.
The department co-produced, with civil society, a Child’s Rights Impact Assessment template with guidance that has been shared with other departments.
We encourage the completion of assessments to ensure policy and legislation does not adversely affect children’s rights and wellbeing. Departments individually determine the use and publication of any assessment.
The department has conducted Child’s Rights Impact Assessments for all measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, analysing the impact on children of the policies and where particular groups of children and young people more likely to be affected than others. These documents are accessible at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childrens-wellbeing-and-schools-bill-impact-assessments.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 27 January (HL Deb col 9), when they will publish the child's rights impact assessments for the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The Child’s Rights Impact Assessment was published on 17 March 2025. This is attached and can be accessed at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67d7dd3ded6ca9014ba2a28e/Children_s_Wellbeing_and_Schools_Bill_child_s_rights_impact_assessment.pdf.
This assessment examines where children are directly impacted by the policies, and/or where there are particular groups of children and young people more likely to be affected than others.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the number of children who will be lifted out of (1) poverty, and (2) deep poverty, as a result of free school breakfast clubs.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill is a key step towards delivering the government’s opportunity mission to break the link between young people’s background and their future success. It will put in place a package of support to drive high and rising standards throughout our education and care systems so that every child can achieve and thrive.
We are taking action to break the unfair link between background and success by rolling out free breakfast clubs in every primary school which will offer all children, regardless of their background, a settled start to the day, improving their attendance, behaviour and attainment. It will also help with the costs of living and mean many more pupils are fed and ready to learn at the start to the school day. This will be of particular benefit to the most disadvantaged families.
By providing parents with a free half hour breakfast club each morning, the department estimates this will save parents up to £450 a year in paid for before-school childcare. Being able to drop children off at school earlier may also offer parents greater opportunities in terms of the timing, nature, and location of employed roles open to them.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the National Literacy Trust’s findings on the long-term impact of improved literacy, what assessment they have made of the economic and social benefits of investing in primary school libraries.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
School libraries complement public libraries by giving pupils access to a range of books and other kinds of texts, both in and out of school. The national curriculum states that teachers are expected to encourage pupils to develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information. There are a number of strong links between reading for pleasure and attainment. For example, the 2021 progress in reading literacy study report found a 34 point difference in reading performance between pupils in England who ‘very much’ liked reading and pupils who ‘do not’ like reading. Additionally, the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment study found that enjoyment of reading links to pupils’ reading engagement, that reading engagement was strongly positively correlated with reading performance and that reading engagement mediated effects of gender or socio-economic status on performance. There is also a strong evidence base linking reading for pleasure to other positive effects, such as improved text comprehension and grammar, increased general knowledge and character development.
It is for individual schools to decide how best to provide and maintain a library service for their pupils, including whether to employ a qualified librarian. Headteachers have autonomy to decide how best to spend the core schools funding that is allocated to them by the department. The Autumn Budget 2024 announced an additional £2.3 billion for schools for the 2025/26 financial year compared to 2024/25, bringing the total core schools budget to almost £63.9 billion in 2025/26.
Given this autonomy, the department does not collect information on the number of school libraries or school librarians.
The government’s reading framework offers non-statutory guidance for teachers and school leaders, including helpful guidance for schools on how to organise their school library, book corner or book stock to make reading accessible and attractive to readers.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will announce funding for a multi-year extension to the holiday activities and food programme to allow for more strategic planning by local authorities.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The department’s budget for 2025/26 will be confirmed in due course, including the exact funding available for this type of support for children, young people and families during the holidays. The current spending review is for one year, and a multi-year spending review will take place later this year.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support local authorities to provide sufficient school places and support services for migrant children entering the education system.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
All children of compulsory school age in England, including migrant children, must receive a suitable full-time education. Any parent, including parents of migrant children, can, at any time, apply for a place for their child at any school through the relevant admission authority. Where a parent is struggling to secure a school place in-year, they can contact their local authority for support.
Paragraph 3.14 of the Schools Admissions Code requires every local authority to have a Fair Access Protocol in place. This ensures that vulnerable children, including refugees and asylum seekers, and those who are having difficulty securing a school place in-year, are allocated a school place as quickly as possible, minimising the time the child is out of school.
Guidance on school applications for foreign national children is available to schools, local authorities and parents. This guidance can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/schools-admissions-applications-from-overseas-children.
As set out in the Kings Speech, in the Children’s Wellbeing Bill, the department is planning to legislate on requiring all schools to cooperate with the local authority on school admissions and place planning matters, and to ensure admissions decisions account for the needs of communities.
Local authorities also have legal duties to ensure sufficient school places. The department provides capital funding through the Basic Need grant to support local authorities in providing additional school places. We carefully target funding at areas with need, based upon data supplied by local authorities themselves, reflecting their local knowledge of all the drivers of pupil numbers in their areas, such as birth rates, housing developments and inward andoutward migration both from within the UK and overseas.
Nearly £1.5 billion of Basic Need capital allocations have been confirmed to support local authorities to create school places needed over the current and following two academic years, up to and including the academic year starting in September 2026. Local authorities’ allocations are in the attachment and published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/basic-need-allocations.
The department’s Pupil Place Planning Advisor team also engages with councils on a regular basis to review their plans for creating additional places and to consider alternatives where necessary. When local authorities are experiencing difficulties, we support them to find solutions as quickly as possible. Where local authorities are failing in their duty, the government will intervene.