Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the quality of the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills' (Ofsted) training materials that suggest children with autism are at increased risk of being susceptible to extremism.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Ofsted are now delivering the renewed education inspection framework, with new training for inspectors, including updates on the Prevent duty, which no longer includes reference to children with autism.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 1 June 2026 to Question 3393 on PE and Sport Premium, what assessment she has made of replacing the Physical Education and sport premium with the new Partnerships Network on schools in Yeovil constituency.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
On 21 May 2026, the government announced a new approach to PE and school sport funding.
We will procure a National Delivery Partner (NDP) to establish the new PE and School Sport Partnership Network. The NDP will conduct an assessment of need in each area and work with local partners and experts to ensure support is tailored to the needs of schools and communities, including in Yeovil.
The new PE and School Sport Partnerships Network will provide more targeted and consistent support to schools, focused on improving the quality of PE and increasing participation for all pupils, especially those who are least active.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help reduce inequalities in Dedicated Schools Grant funding.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The core schools budget is increasing by £1.7 billion in the 2026/27 financial year. This includes funding that will enable us to reform the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system as announced within the Schools White Paper.
The department uses the schools national funding formula (NFF) to distribute core funding for five to 16-year-old pupils) in mainstream state-funded schools in England.
The purpose of the NFF is not to give every school the same level of per pupil funding. It is right that schools with lots of pupils with additional needs, such as those indicated by measures of deprivation, low prior attainment, or English as an additional language, receive extra funding to help them meet the needs of all their pupils.
The government will be reviewing the operation of the schools NFF for the 2027/28 financial year and future years. The department will take the time needed to consider changes to various funding formulae going forward, ensuring that we get any changes right and recognising the importance of establishing a fair funding system that directs funding where it is needed.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of including full time professional educational psychologists working through (a) traded services, (b) multi-academy trusts and (c) private practice in official data on the educational psychologist workforce.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Data on the educational psychologist (EP) workforce is held by several organisations, including the department. The department collects data on the number of EPs centrally employed by local authorities for 28 or more days through the Schools Workforce Census. This data does not include where the service has been outsourced or shared between local authorities. EPs working in traded services may be included, but the department does not collect specific data on this.
Due to data limitations deriving from different sources, the total number of EPs in England is difficult to determine. The department has considered the benefits of broader data collection, but including wider groups in official statistics is challenging due to issues in maintaining data quality, avoiding double counting and applying consistent definitions across employment models.
The department will continue to consider ways of strengthening the EP workforce evidence base, while maintaining robustness and reliability, and regular stakeholder engagement will support this.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help reduce inequalities in access to educational psychologists.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is investing around £1.8 billion over the next three years for local area partnerships, including local authorities and Integrated Care Boards, to develop a new ‘Experts at Hand’ offer, strengthening mainstream education through access to health and specialist education support, including from educational psychologists (EPs).
By setting clear national expectations alongside locally delivered support, the offer will help ensure children and young people can receive timely, high‑quality specialist support regardless of locality, reducing variation and improving equity of access.
The department is also investing £26 million to train at least 200 EPs per year from 2026/2027, followed by additional funding from 2028 to train more EPs than we currently do, subject to the future Spending Review. This is in addition to the £31 million already invested to train EPs since 2023.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure staff working in specialist deaf education settings have access to appropriate professional (a) development and (b) support.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Children and young people with sensory impairments can be taught in both mainstream and special schools. Through our proposed special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reforms, we aim to improve inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, whilst also ensuring special schools are able to cater to those with more complex needs.
Our £200 million investment in special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) training represents an ambitious and comprehensive SEND training offer for staff.
And we are developing Specialist Provision Packages to set out the support children with complex needs, including those with sensory impairment, require. The Specialist Provision Packages will outline the support children should receive including requirements for the methods of supporting children with hearing impairment. We are developing these packages with experts and will test them with families.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to fund services for deaf learners in (a) Yeovil constituency (b) Somerset and (c) England.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department wants every child to have the best start in life, with support available earlier and closer to home when families need it. We will ensure children receive the right support in their early years setting, school or college, supported by investment in training for staff and access to expert professional advice such as specialist teachers and speech and language therapists.
We are investing around £1.8 billion over the next three years for local area partnerships, including local authorities and integrated care boards, to deliver a new Experts at Hand offer. This includes a provisional allocation of £3.6 million in the 2026/27 financial year for Somerset local authority This will strengthen mainstream settings by providing access to health and specialist education expertise.
Experts at Hand is additional to existing statutory provision and does not replace established school-led approaches or specialist services. Deaf children and young people will continue to receive specialist support, alongside benefiting from earlier advice, training and targeted support.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of extending Pupil Premium funding to support 16-19-year-olds from disadvantaged backgrounds in (a) Yeovil constituency, (b) Somerset and (c) England.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The 16 to 19 funding formula includes extra funding for disadvantaged students across England including Yeovil constituency and Somerset. This is made up of two blocks:
Institutions are free to choose the best ways to use this additional funding to attract, retain and support disadvantaged students and those with learning difficulties and disabilities.
English and maths funding is also available to help institutions support students who have not achieved a GCSE grade 4 or above in English and/or maths to continue to study those subjects.
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Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that service children with SEND are included in (a) initial teacher training, (b) continuing professional development, (c) SEND practitioner training and (d) school leadership training.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The ‘Every Child Achieving and Thriving’ White Paper set out proposals for a package of professional development on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), backed by over £200 million of funding.
This includes a new requirement in the SEND Code of Practice that will ensure all mainstream staff receive high‑quality SEND and inclusion training.
The department recently reformed the Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework to include more content on adaptive teaching and, from 2027, all teaching staff can sign up to new courses that enhance their knowledge of adaptive teaching styles to meet a wide range of needs in the classroom.
For teachers who lead or aspire to lead SEND provision in a year group, phase or whole school, particularly those holding the statutory special educational needs coordinator (SENCO) role, we have developed the national professional qualification (NPQs) for SENCOs. We are also reviewing the wider suite of NPQs, with a focus on including best practice for teaching pupils with SEND.
The department is investing around £1.8 billion over the next three years for local area partnerships, including local authorities and integrated care boards, to develop a new ‘Experts at Hand’ offer, strengthening mainstream education through access to health and specialist education support.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of supporting educational settings in Yeovil constituency with the delivery of Romanian language.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Decisions about which languages are taught in schools are made locally. Individual schools are free to decide which languages to offer as part of their curriculum and the government does not prescribe which languages should be taught or how they should be delivered. In making these decisions, schools should consider the needs and interests of the communities they serve.
Commercial and free resources are available to help schools who may wish to teach Romanian.