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 effectiveness of safeguarding in settings that offer extracurricular activities for children outside of schools in (a) Yeovil constituency, (b) Somerset and (c) England.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to safeguarding children and protecting them from harm across all extracurricular activities. Local authorities have legal safeguarding duties towards children in their areas and, where concerns arise, we expect them to intervene using the wide range of powers available to them.
The department also works closely with regions, including in Somerset and Yeovil, to support the delivery of these duties. To help ensure all children can receive safe and enriching education and activities, we launched a Call for Evidence seeking to better understand current practice and invite views on possible approaches to further strengthen safeguarding.
The department intends to supplement the Call for Evidence with further engagement, including focus groups with parents and smaller providers, and sector roundtables with safeguarding experts, national governing bodies and other community representatives, before issuing a full response in due course.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to promote the National Year of Reading in (a) early years settings, (b) primary schools, (c) secondary schools, (d) further education and (e) higher education in Southwest England.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The National Year of Reading is a UK-wide campaign to address long term declines in reading enjoyment through engaging new audiences, reshaping public attitudes and building the systems needed to embed lasting, meaningful change, during 2026 and beyond. It includes a major physical and online marketing campaign, as well as exciting events, webinars, resources, and activities in communities, libraries, schools and early years settings throughout the year.
We are raising awareness of the National Year of Reading through a range of methods, such as via departmental communication channels, the National Year of Reading mailing list and social media, communications from the National Literacy Trust and promotion via the English Hubs network.
The Reading Agency are also providing public libraries with resources, toolkits and print and digital materials to activate the National Year of Reading. You can find out more about events in your local area here: https://goallin.org.uk/whats-on/. Schools and early years settings in South West England and across the UK can also access a range of engaging online webinars, resources and activities throughout the year. They can find more information here: https://goallin.org.uk/get-involved/schools/.
This government is also providing £5 million of funding for secondary schools to purchase books to encourage reading for pleasure, as well as committing over £10 million in funding to guarantee a library for every primary school by the end of this parliament.
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 implications for her policies of the lack of statutory authority for (a) schools or (b) local authorities to provide NHS clinical care outside the EHCP framework.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Schools are not responsible for clinical healthcare tasks. Healthcare tasks can be delegated to staff in schools and other education settings where the responsible healthcare professional considers delegation safe and appropriate.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) both include a regulatory standard requiring registrants to delegate only when they are satisfied that the other person is competent to carry out the delegated task safely and require the healthcare practitioner to supervise and support those who are delegated to. These are found in the NMC Code, which is available here: https://www.nmc.org.uk/standards/code/, and the HCPC Standards, available at: https://www.hcpc-uk.org/standards/standards-of-conduct-performance-and-ethics/.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of changes to the level of funding for maintained schools in Yeovil constituency since 2010-11 on educational outcomes.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Somerset local authority allocates funding for schools in Yeovil constituency. The table below sets out the funding Somerset local authority has received through the schools block of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) since 2019/20. Due to changes in the way that funding is allocated, the department cannot provide equivalent figures before then.
Financial Year | Overall funding (£ million) | Average per pupil (£) |
2019/20 | 294 | 4,361 |
2020/21 | 312 | 4,607 |
2021/22 | 339 | 5,008 |
2022/23 | 351 | 5,180 |
2023/24 | 372 | 5,451 |
2024/25 | 391 | 5,753 |
2025/26 | 418 | 6,228 |
2026/27 | 435 | 6,569 |
Somerset has historically experienced below-average educational performance at both primary and secondary levels. However, there have been measurable improvements in GCSE and Key Stage 2 outcomes since 2023. The department continues to work closely with the local authority, multi-academy trusts and other local partners to build on this progress, including through the regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) targeted and universal services.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the department is taking to ensure that the National Year of Reading is accessible for neurodiverse people in (a) Yeovil constituency (b) Somerset and (C) the United Kingdom.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The National Year of Reading is a UK wide campaign designed to tackle the steep decline in reading enjoyment amongst children, young people and adults, and to engage new audiences in reading.
’Go All In’ is a fully inclusive campaign, encouraging people to read about whatever interests them, via any genre and all mediums of reading. Embracing a variety of reading formats, from print to digital to audio, can make reading more accessible, engaging and inclusive for both children and adults, including those with neurodiversity and special educational needs.
The campaign is reaching communities across the UK through schools, libraries, businesses and local partners. Libraries, as free to access community hubs, play a central role in supporting participation and helping people of all ages and from all sectors of society to develop a lasting love of reading.
You can find out more about events in your local area by visiting the website here: https://goallin.org.uk/whats-on/.Schools and early years settings in Somerset and across the UK can also access a range of exciting online webinars, resources and activities throughout the year. They can find more information here: https://goallin.org.uk/get-involved/schools/.
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 with Cabinet colleagues to help promote equality and inclusion as part of the National Year of Reading.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Yeovil, to the answer of 24 February 2026 to Question 112566.
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 the phonics screener for the early identification of dyslexia in primary schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Early identification of need and support is critical to improving outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with dyslexia.
There are several assessments in place to measure progress and help teachers to identify where pupils may require additional support with literacy. These include the phonics screening check, the end of key stage 1 non-statutory assessments and the key stage 2 statutory assessments. The phonics screening check helps teachers to identify pupils who may need extra help and enables schools to benchmark their pupils against national performance. This is not specifically designed to test for dyslexia.
The English Hubs programme is dedicated to improving the teaching of reading, with a focus on supporting children making the slowest progress in reading. Reading Ambition for All is a continuous professional development programme to support the lowest attaining children in reading, with a particular focus on those with SEND. This programme is delivered by 34 English hubs, reaching more than 600 schools, this academic year.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she had made of the potential implications for her policies of the British Dyslexia Association's report entitled Lost in the system: Councils’ blind spot on dyslexia, published on 3 February 2026.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
As reflected in the British Dyslexia Association’s report, the effective early identification and intervention is critical in improving the outcomes of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. In an inclusive education system, settings should be confident in accurately assessing children and young people’s learning and development and meeting any educational needs with evidence-based responses.
There are a number of national assessments already in place to measure progress and help teachers identify where pupils may require additional support with literacy, such as the phonics screening check, and end of key stage 2 assessments. A range of measures have also been introduced that aim to support the effective teaching of reading, including for those with special education needs and disabilities or those at risk of falling behind. This includes the English Hubs programme, the reading and writing frameworks, the Reading Ambition for All programme and the published list of department-validated high-quality phonics programmes for schools.
To further support settings to identify need early, we are strengthening the evidence base of what works to improve early identification in mainstream settings, including through collaboration with UK Research Innovation.
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 local authorities' guidance on how to (a) assess or (b) identify (i) dyslexia or (ii) support literacy difficulties.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
As reflected in the British Dyslexia Association’s report, the effective early identification and intervention is critical in improving the outcomes of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. In an inclusive education system, settings should be confident in accurately assessing children and young people’s learning and development and meeting any educational needs with evidence-based responses.
There are a number of national assessments already in place to measure progress and help teachers identify where pupils may require additional support with literacy, such as the phonics screening check, and end of key stage 2 assessments. A range of measures have also been introduced that aim to support the effective teaching of reading, including for those with special education needs and disabilities or those at risk of falling behind. This includes the English Hubs programme, the reading and writing frameworks, the Reading Ambition for All programme and the published list of department-validated high-quality phonics programmes for schools.
To further support settings to identify need early, we are strengthening the evidence base of what works to improve early identification in mainstream settings, including through collaboration with UK Research Innovation.
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 increase training on Personal, Social, Health and Economic education for teachers in Yeovil constituency.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The revised relationships, sex and health education statutory guidance was published on 15 July 2025.
The department will invest £3 million in a teacher training fund over the next two years to ensure that the new curriculum has the greatest impact and £5 million to pilot healthy relationships training delivered by external providers.
Following the Curriculum and Assessment Review, published on 5 November 2025, we will strengthen financial literacy content and sequencing in citizenship and maths. More details on the conclusions and recommendations from the Curriculum and Assessment Review are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/curriculum-and-assessment-review-final-report.
To ensure all pupils benefit from the refreshed national curriculum, we will ensure that core training throughout a teacher’s career has a strong focus on high-quality adaptive teaching, formative assessment and high expectations for all. This includes initial teacher training and the early career framework.
The government commissioned Oak National Academy to develop resources for schools in line with new curriculum requirements.