Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking with the devolved administrations to facilitate the sharing of best practice and models of reform of special educational needs provision throughout the UK.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
As part of our Plan for Change, we are determined to fix the special educational needs and disabilities system and restore the trust of parents by ensuring schools have the tools to better identify and support children before issues escalate. We’re continuing to engage closely with children, parents and experts as we develop plans to ensure all children get the outcomes and life chances they deserve.
The department engages the devolved governments at ministerial and official level on a range of areas, which allows a sharing of collective knowledge and experience as well as collaborative working on shared interests and challenges to deliver better outcomes for people across the UK.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the additional cost of special educational needs provision in England in each of the next three years.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
To support specialist provision, in December, the department announced at least £3 billion for high needs capital between 2026/27 and 2029/30. This builds on the £740 million invested in 2025/26, which is on track to create around 10,000 new specialist places.
The department will publish its plans for reform to the special educational needs system in the new year.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they will issue guidance to schools, colleges, universities and youth facilities on single-sex changing rooms and facilities, and related issues to comply with the Supreme Court ruling in For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Single-sex spaces are protected in law and will always be protected by this government.
Schools must always protect single-sex spaces with regard to toilets, showers and changing rooms. The School Premises (England) Regulations 2012 and the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014 impose statutory requirements for both maintained and independent schools to provide sex-separated toilets and suitable changing accommodation and showers for pupils (apart from individual toilets in fully enclosed rooms).
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has also submitted the draft updated Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Associations to my right hon. Friend, the Minister for Women and Equalities, which the government is considering prior to next steps.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much funding they have provided to enable students to obtain International Baccalaureate qualifications in each of the past five years, and how much funding they will provide for that purpose in 2026–27.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Funding is not provided specifically to enable students to obtain International Baccalaureate qualifications. The amounts of total programme funding allocated to institutions for 16 to 19 year olds to undertake T Levels and study programmes, which include the International Baccalaureate over the last 5 years can be found in the table below:
Academic Year | Total Programme Funding for 16 – 19 year old students |
2021 to 2022 | £5.9 billion |
2022 to 2023 | £6.5 billion |
2023 to 2024 | £7.0 billion |
2024 to 2025 | £7.6 billion |
2025 to 2026 | £8.6 billion |
Department for Education funded providers offering the International Baccalaureate will continue to receive 16-19 education funding in the 2026/2027 academic year but the allocations have not yet been made and so the total programme funding figure is not yet available.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what cross-departmental discussions have taken place on adopting a joined-up approach to evidence-based parenting support; and on the merits of ensuring that the Best Start in Life Strategy is driven by evidence-based parenting programmes.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Best Start Family Hubs are key to our vision of joined-up services in the community, bringing together professionals from health and education, working with nurseries, childminders, schools, health services, libraries and local voluntary and community groups.
The department has confirmed over £500 million of funding allocated for the delivery of Best Start Family Hubs, parenting programmes and home learning environment support.
Through Best Start Family Hubs, all local authorities will deliver evidence-based interventions for families with 3 to 4 year-olds from April 2026. The department will be sharing a list of evidence-based interventions that have been developed in collaboration with expert partners and informed by sources such as the Foundations Guidebook and Nesta’s call for evidence. The list will favour evidence-based interventions that have undergone the most rigorous evaluation to reflect our ambition to support local authorities in investing in programmes most likely to have the greatest impact.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they are having with the devolved administrations of the UK to share knowledge and experience gained from trials that ban or restrict the use of smartphones in schools.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
The department continues to be interested in the approaches taken in the devolved nations with regards to behaviour in schools. Officials have met with representatives from the devolved administrations to share knowledge and discuss policy development, including around mobile phone use in schools, to inform a broader understanding of the policies across different education systems.
Schools should prohibit the use of mobile phones and other smart technology with similar functionality to mobile phones throughout the school day, including during lessons, the time between lessons, breaktimes and lunchtime, as set out in the ‘Mobile phones in schools’ guidance, published in 2024.
The department expects all schools to take steps in line with this guidance to ensure mobile phones do not disrupt pupils’ learning.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to issue guidance to schools, colleges and universities about the provision of single sex-spaces.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Single-sex spaces are protected in law and will always be protected by this government.
The department is currently reviewing the draft non-statutory guidance for schools and colleges on gender questioning children. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has been clear that children’s wellbeing must be at the heart of this guidance and, as such, the government is looking carefully at the consultation responses, discussing with stakeholders and considering the relevant evidence, including the final report of the Cass Review which was published post-consultation, before setting out next steps.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what further measures will be taken in schools, colleges and universities to combat antisemitism.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
The government has made available £7 million in funding to tackle antisemitism in education settings. £500,000 has been awarded to University Jewish Chaplaincy to support student welfare on campuses and, following a competitive procurement, we have awarded contracts to the Union of Jewish Students (£1 million) and Palace Yard Ltd (£1.32 million) to upskill and train university, college and school staff to recognise and address antisemitism.
In November, we will also launch a £4 million tackling antisemitism in education innovation fund, to test approaches to help young people spot mis- and dis-information and improve their media literacy, and to strengthen interfaith collaboration.
On 7 October 2025, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education wrote to Vice Chancellors, urging them to take immediate action to protect Jewish students following the appalling terrorist attack at Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue. She highlighted the need for enhanced security, community engagement, and staff training to ensure campuses are safe, inclusive, and respectful spaces. She has also made clear that universities should not hesitate to use the full force of their disciplinary processes to deal with acts of harassment and abuse on campus.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their proposed increase in investment in apprenticeships to achieve their aim of ensuring that two-thirds of young people are in higher level education or high-quality apprenticeships.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department published the Post-16 education and skills white paper on 20 October 2025, which sets out our reforms to the skills system to support the development of the skilled workforce our economy needs, delivering on our Plan for Change and driving national renewal.
This includes how we will make progress towards our ambition of two-thirds of young people participating in higher-level study across universities, colleges or apprenticeships. This is supported by a sub-target of at least 10% of young people going into level 4 or 5 study, including apprenticeships, by 2040.
The reforms include further investment in further education, with an additional nearly £800 million extra invested into 16 to19 education for 2026/27 above previous plans.
The government is also slashing red tape to ensure businesses and training providers can focus more time on apprenticeships, such as making apprenticeship assessment simpler and introducing new foundation apprenticeships in key sectors such as construction and social care.
To support students on higher level provision the department is reintroducing maintenance grants for disadvantaged students studying priority courses aligned with the government’s mission and the industrial strategy at levels 4 to 6.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their proposed timescale for achieving the aim of having two-thirds of young people in higher level education or apprenticeships.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department published the Post-16 education and skills white paper on 20 October 2025, which sets out our reforms to the skills system to support the development of the skilled workforce our economy needs, delivering on our Plan for Change and driving national renewal.
This includes how we will make progress towards our ambition of two-thirds of young people participating in higher-level study across universities, colleges or apprenticeships. This is supported by a sub-target of at least 10% of young people going into level 4 or 5 study, including apprenticeships, by 2040.
The reforms include further investment in further education, with an additional nearly £800 million extra invested into 16 to19 education for 2026/27 above previous plans.
The government is also slashing red tape to ensure businesses and training providers can focus more time on apprenticeships, such as making apprenticeship assessment simpler and introducing new foundation apprenticeships in key sectors such as construction and social care.
To support students on higher level provision the department is reintroducing maintenance grants for disadvantaged students studying priority courses aligned with the government’s mission and the industrial strategy at levels 4 to 6.