Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of reducing funding for level 7 apprenticeships on the number of chartered town planners in local government.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Yeovil to the answer of 20 January 2025 to Question 23140.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of reducing funding for level 7 healthcare apprenticeships on skills shortages in the NHS; and what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on that funding.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Yeovil to the answer of 28 March 2025 to Question 39819.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of reducing funding for level 7 healthcare apprenticeships on the number of advanced clinical practitioners in the NHS.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Yeovil to the answer of 28 March 2025 to Question 39819.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of reducing funding for level 7 healthcare apprenticeships on the NHS long-term workforce plan.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Yeovil to the answer of 28 March 2025 to Question 39819.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to improve (a) inclusivity and (b) expertise on dyslexia in mainstream schools in (i) Somerset and (ii) the South West.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - 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 those with dyslexia and other neurodiverse conditions.
We are providing £1 billion more for high needs budgets in 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding to £11.9 billion. This funding will help local authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting children and young people with complex SEND.
Early identification of need and support is critical to improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND, including those with dyslexia. There are already a number of measures to help teachers do this, including the phonics screening check and statutory assessments at the end of key stage 2.
Schools should apply a ‘graduated approach’ to identify a child’s needs, plan appropriate support, implement that support and review it regularly to ensure it continues to meet their identified needs. Through this, schools should develop personalised approaches to supporting the unique needs of individual pupils. Schools should involve pupils and their parents in this process, taking their views into consideration.
The core content framework and early career framework, for trainee and Early Career Teachers (ECTs) respectively, cover the first three years or more at the start of a teacher’s career. They set out the core body of knowledge skills and behaviours that define great teaching, and from September 2025 will be superseded by the combined Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework (ITTECF), which sets out a minimum entitlement to training and must be used by providers of initial teacher training and those delivering training to ECTs to create their curricula. The ITTECF contains significantly more content related to adaptive teaching and supporting pupils with SEND.
Measures have also been introduced to support the effective teaching of reading, including for those at risk of falling behind. This includes the English Hubs programme, the publication of the reading framework and an updated list of high-quality systematic synthetic phonics programmes for schools.
The English Hubs programme is dedicated to improving the teaching of reading, with a focus on supporting children making the slowest progress in reading. As part of the continuous professional development provided by the English Hubs, the Reading Ambition for All programme has been launched to improve outcomes for children who need additional support with reading, including those with SEND.
In the South West there are 6 English Hubs: Cornerstone, Ilsham, Kernow, Mangotsfield, Ramsbury and ‘Unlocking Excellence’. This academic year, they are supporting a total of 130 schools with the Reading Ambition for All programme.
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 adequacy of support for dyslexic students in mainstream education in (a) Somerset and (b) the South West.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - 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 those with dyslexia and other neurodiverse conditions.
We are providing £1 billion more for high needs budgets in 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding to £11.9 billion. This funding will help local authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting children and young people with complex SEND.
Early identification of need and support is critical to improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND, including those with dyslexia. There are already a number of measures to help teachers do this, including the phonics screening check and statutory assessments at the end of key stage 2.
Schools should apply a ‘graduated approach’ to identify a child’s needs, plan appropriate support, implement that support and review it regularly to ensure it continues to meet their identified needs. Through this, schools should develop personalised approaches to supporting the unique needs of individual pupils. Schools should involve pupils and their parents in this process, taking their views into consideration.
The core content framework and early career framework, for trainee and Early Career Teachers (ECTs) respectively, cover the first three years or more at the start of a teacher’s career. They set out the core body of knowledge skills and behaviours that define great teaching, and from September 2025 will be superseded by the combined Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework (ITTECF), which sets out a minimum entitlement to training and must be used by providers of initial teacher training and those delivering training to ECTs to create their curricula. The ITTECF contains significantly more content related to adaptive teaching and supporting pupils with SEND.
Measures have also been introduced to support the effective teaching of reading, including for those at risk of falling behind. This includes the English Hubs programme, the publication of the reading framework and an updated list of high-quality systematic synthetic phonics programmes for schools.
The English Hubs programme is dedicated to improving the teaching of reading, with a focus on supporting children making the slowest progress in reading. As part of the continuous professional development provided by the English Hubs, the Reading Ambition for All programme has been launched to improve outcomes for children who need additional support with reading, including those with SEND.
In the South West there are 6 English Hubs: Cornerstone, Ilsham, Kernow, Mangotsfield, Ramsbury and ‘Unlocking Excellence’. This academic year, they are supporting a total of 130 schools with the Reading Ambition for All programme.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support children diagnosed with dyslexia in Yeovil constituency.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - 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 those with dyslexia and other neurodiverse conditions.
We are providing £1 billion more for high needs budgets in 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding to £11.9 billion. This funding will help local authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting children and young people with complex SEND.
Early identification of need and support is critical to improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND, including those with dyslexia. There are already a number of measures to help teachers do this, including the phonics screening check and statutory assessments at the end of key stage 2.
Schools should apply a ‘graduated approach’ to identify a child’s needs, plan appropriate support, implement that support and review it regularly to ensure it continues to meet their identified needs. Through this, schools should develop personalised approaches to supporting the unique needs of individual pupils. Schools should involve pupils and their parents in this process, taking their views into consideration.
The core content framework and early career framework, for trainee and Early Career Teachers (ECTs) respectively, cover the first three years or more at the start of a teacher’s career. They set out the core body of knowledge skills and behaviours that define great teaching, and from September 2025 will be superseded by the combined Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework (ITTECF), which sets out a minimum entitlement to training and must be used by providers of initial teacher training and those delivering training to ECTs to create their curricula. The ITTECF contains significantly more content related to adaptive teaching and supporting pupils with SEND.
Measures have also been introduced to support the effective teaching of reading, including for those at risk of falling behind. This includes the English Hubs programme, the publication of the reading framework and an updated list of high-quality systematic synthetic phonics programmes for schools.
The English Hubs programme is dedicated to improving the teaching of reading, with a focus on supporting children making the slowest progress in reading. As part of the continuous professional development provided by the English Hubs, the Reading Ambition for All programme has been launched to improve outcomes for children who need additional support with reading, including those with SEND.
In the South West there are 6 English Hubs: Cornerstone, Ilsham, Kernow, Mangotsfield, Ramsbury and ‘Unlocking Excellence’. This academic year, they are supporting a total of 130 schools with the Reading Ambition for All programme.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure early diagnosis of dyslexia in schools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - 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 those with dyslexia and other neurodiverse conditions.
We are providing £1 billion more for high needs budgets in 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding to £11.9 billion. This funding will help local authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting children and young people with complex SEND.
Early identification of need and support is critical to improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND, including those with dyslexia. There are already a number of measures to help teachers do this, including the phonics screening check and statutory assessments at the end of key stage 2.
Schools should apply a ‘graduated approach’ to identify a child’s needs, plan appropriate support, implement that support and review it regularly to ensure it continues to meet their identified needs. Through this, schools should develop personalised approaches to supporting the unique needs of individual pupils. Schools should involve pupils and their parents in this process, taking their views into consideration.
The core content framework and early career framework, for trainee and Early Career Teachers (ECTs) respectively, cover the first three years or more at the start of a teacher’s career. They set out the core body of knowledge skills and behaviours that define great teaching, and from September 2025 will be superseded by the combined Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework (ITTECF), which sets out a minimum entitlement to training and must be used by providers of initial teacher training and those delivering training to ECTs to create their curricula. The ITTECF contains significantly more content related to adaptive teaching and supporting pupils with SEND.
Measures have also been introduced to support the effective teaching of reading, including for those at risk of falling behind. This includes the English Hubs programme, the publication of the reading framework and an updated list of high-quality systematic synthetic phonics programmes for schools.
The English Hubs programme is dedicated to improving the teaching of reading, with a focus on supporting children making the slowest progress in reading. As part of the continuous professional development provided by the English Hubs, the Reading Ambition for All programme has been launched to improve outcomes for children who need additional support with reading, including those with SEND.
In the South West there are 6 English Hubs: Cornerstone, Ilsham, Kernow, Mangotsfield, Ramsbury and ‘Unlocking Excellence’. This academic year, they are supporting a total of 130 schools with the Reading Ambition for All programme.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to improve the (a) mental health and (b) wellbeing of teachers in Somerset.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Yeovil to the answer of 14 February 2025 to Question 29516.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to improve teacher (a) recruitment and (b) retention in Somerset.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
High quality teaching is the most important in-school factor to a child’s educational outcomes. Recruiting and retaining more qualified, expert teachers is therefore critical to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and boost the life chances for every child. This is why the department will recruit 6,500 new expert teachers, get more teachers into shortage subjects, support areas that face recruitment challenges and tackle retention issues. To deliver this pledge we are resetting the relationship with the sector to ensure teaching is once again a valued and attractive profession.
We agreed a 5.5% pay award for teachers this year, 2024/25, and we have increased the funding available for bursaries for trainee teaches to £233 million from 2025/26, to support teacher trainees with tax-free bursaries of up to £29,000 and scholarships of up to £31,000 in some shortage subjects. The department has also expanded its school teacher recruitment campaign, ‘Every Lesson Shapes a Life’, and the further education teacher recruitment campaign ‘Share your Skills’.
A successful recruitment strategy starts with a strong retention strategy, and in addition to recruiting high quality teachers, we want to ensure teachers stay and thrive in this profession. New teachers of mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing in the first five years of their careers will now receive a targeted retention incentive of up to £6,000, after-tax, if working in disadvantaged schools. There are six schools in the Yeovil constituency where teachers are eligible for targeted retention incentives.
The department has also taken steps to improve teachers’ workload and wellbeing, to support retention and help re-establish teaching as an attractive profession. This includes opportunities for greater flexible working, such as allowing planning, preparation and assessment time to be undertaken remotely, and making key resources to support wellbeing, developed with school leaders, available to teachers.
The department is also funding bespoke support provided by flexible working ambassador schools and multi-academy trusts, ensuring schools are capturing the benefits of flexible working, whilst protecting pupils’ face-to-face teacher time.
Malmesbury School of the Athelstan Trust is the flexible working ambassador school providing local, tailored peer support for Yeovil schools.
High quality continuing professional development is also key to ensuring the retention of an effective teaching workforce. Through the revised Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework, new teachers will benefit from at least three years of evidence-based training, across initial teacher training and into their induction. The department has also launched an updated suite of national professional qualifications (NPQs) for teachers and school leaders at all levels, from those who want to develop expertise in high quality teaching practice to those leading multiple schools across trusts. Teaching School Hubs play a significant role in delivering the initial teacher training, the early career framework and NPQs. The Five Counties Teaching School Hubs Alliance is a partnership of Teaching School Hubs supporting teacher training and development across Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Bath and Bristol.