Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce a single unique identifier for children in care.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The single unique identifier for children which the government promised in its manifesto is intended to apply to all children, including those in care, and is part of the solution to improve data sharing to stop children falling through the cracks. The legislation to enable its designation and use is currently before Parliament as part of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of pre-school intervention in ensuring that children start school with adequate literacy, communication and language skills.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The government is committed to improving early literacy and ensuring children have the best start in life. Strong early foundations are essential for school readiness and long-term educational success. That is why we are focused on strengthening the home learning environment and supporting families from pregnancy through the early years, as part of our wider ambition under the Plan for Change. This includes the national target for 75% of children to achieve a Good Level of Development by 2028.
Family Hubs are central to this ambition, providing joined-up support for families across health, education and early years services.
In 2025/26, we are investing £10.7 million in home learning environment services through Family Hubs to help parents create language-rich, nurturing settings that support early communication and confidence.
On 11 June, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer confirmed that the government will continue to invest in and expand the Family Hubs programme as part of the Spending Review 2025. Through our ‘Little Moments Together’ campaign and partnerships with the voluntary sector, we continue to support parents to chat, play and read with their children, simple, everyday actions that make a lasting difference to early literacy and school readiness.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to establish family hubs to ensure adequate literacy skills across the country.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The government is committed to improving early literacy and ensuring children have the best start in life. Strong early foundations are essential for school readiness and long-term educational success. That is why we are focused on strengthening the home learning environment and supporting families from pregnancy through the early years, as part of our wider ambition under the Plan for Change. This includes the national target for 75% of children to achieve a Good Level of Development by 2028.
Family Hubs are central to this ambition, providing joined-up support for families across health, education and early years services.
In 2025/26, we are investing £10.7 million in home learning environment services through Family Hubs to help parents create language-rich, nurturing settings that support early communication and confidence.
On 11 June, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer confirmed that the government will continue to invest in and expand the Family Hubs programme as part of the Spending Review 2025. Through our ‘Little Moments Together’ campaign and partnerships with the voluntary sector, we continue to support parents to chat, play and read with their children, simple, everyday actions that make a lasting difference to early literacy and school readiness.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that mental health support is available in all primary and secondary schools.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
This government is committed to improving mental health support for all children and young people. This is critical to high and rising standards in schools and breaking down barriers to opportunity, helping pupils to achieve and thrive in education.
The government will provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school by expanding Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs), so every child and young person has access to early support to address problems before they escalate. By April 2026, the department estimates that 60% of pupils in schools and learners in further education in England will be covered by an MHST, up from 52% in April 2025.
The government will also recruit 8,500 mental health staff to treat children and adults, and open new Young Futures Hubs with access to mental health support.
To support education staff, the department provides a range of guidance and practical resources on promoting and supporting pupils’ mental health and wellbeing, such as a resource hub for mental health leads and a toolkit to help schools choose evidence-based early support for pupils.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that pupils in rural areas have the same access to musical education as those in urban areas.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
This government believes that music is an important part of the well-rounded and enriching education that every child deserves, including those in rural areas. We will therefore give parents certainty over their children’s education, including music teaching.
Music is already included in the national curriculum for pupils aged 5 to 14 for maintained schools. The government is legislating so that academies will be required to teach the reformed national curriculum, following the outcomes of the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, due to report in the autumn.
To support music education in schools, the government provides £76 million per year grant directly to 43 Music Hubs partnerships across England. Each Music Hub Local Plan has an inclusion strategy that should set out how to respond to barriers based on their geographic area, including location and socio-economic challenges.
On 18 March, the department announced our intention to launch a new National Centre for Arts and Music Education, to help meet the government's ambitions for improved and more equitable arts education, including music. The National Centre will become the national delivery partner for Music Hubs. It will also support schools in the delivery of high quality arts education in schools across England, in both rural and urban areas, including through online training, local partnership and better information for teachers, parents and young people.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to encourage more young people to apply for apprenticeships.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
I refer the noble Lady to the answer of 30 May 2025 to Question 52815.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the level of library provision in primary schools.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
I refer the noble Lady to the answer of 28 January 2025 to Question 25143.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to encourage reading in schools.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
I refer the noble Lady to the answer of 28 January 2025 to Question 25144.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase the number of apprentices who are studying for vocational qualifications.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
An apprenticeship is a job with training. Through a combination of on and off the job training, an apprenticeship will enable an apprentice to be competent in a specific occupation. Not all apprenticeships will include a mandatory qualification, but some will, such as a degree or a professional accreditation.
This government is reforming the apprenticeships offer into a new levy-funded growth and skills offer, which will offer greater flexibility to employers and learners and align with the industrial strategy. It will feature shorter duration apprenticeships and new foundation apprenticeships for young people in targeted, growing sectors. These will help more people learn high-quality skills at work and fuel innovation in businesses across the country. The department will take the time to work closely with employers and providers to design new training that offers young people a route into good, skilled work and meets the needs of the industrial strategy.
The department continues to pay additional funding to employers and training providers to support them to take on young apprentices, apprentices with learning difficulties and disabilities, and care leavers.
The department is continuing outreach work in schools and colleges through the Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge programme and targeting young people through the Skills for Life campaign.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the decrease in apprenticeship completion; and what steps they will take to help equip younger apprentices with the transferable skills to adapt to changing job roles and technological innovation.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
In order to drive up the quality of apprenticeships, the department has raised the bar on the duration of apprenticeships, the time given to learn off the job, and the quality of assessment. All apprenticeships are now driven by employers and achievement rates are increasing year on year.
There were 162,320 achievements in the 2022/23 academic year, which is an increase of 25,100 on 2021/22. This is encouraging; the department wants to further improve the quality of apprenticeships to ensure that as many apprentices as possible stay on their programme, achieve, and have a high-quality experience.
To support this ambition and drive-up quality, the department is investing £7.5 million in a workforce development programme for teachers and trainers of apprentices, increasing the apprenticeship funding rate for English and mathematics by 54%, and has asked Ofsted to inspect all apprenticeship providers by 2025.
The department is also making sure that apprenticeships continue to meet apprentices’ and employers’ needs in a fast-changing world. Last year, the department reviewed over 125 apprenticeships to reflect technological advancements and employer needs, and approved funding uplifts for 80 apprenticeships, with the average increase being 35%.