Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to break down the barriers to opportunity in (a) Newcastle-under-Lyme and (b) Staffordshire.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity for children and young people in both Newcastle-under-Lyme and Staffordshire. Our approach is rooted in evidence and targeted investment to ensure every child has the best start in life.
‘Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life’, sets out the immediate steps to deliver on our commitment to have a record proportion of children starting school ready to learn. The strategy is backed by close to £1.5 billion over the next three years to make early education and childcare more accessible and affordable, improve quality in the early years and reception, and expand and strengthen family services. In October this year, Staffordshire received a development grant of £262,449.
In Staffordshire, we have funded eight schools to establish new breakfast clubs from this term, two of which are in Newcastle-under-Lyme, improving readiness to learn. Alongside this, we have supported the opening of eight new or expanded school-based nurseries, increasing access to high-quality early years provision.
We have worked in partnership with local authorities and schools to improve attendance at schools in Staffordshire and Newcastle-under-Lyme, tackling the biggest barrier to children achieving at school. We are working in close partnership with Staffordshire County Council to deliver ambitious targets for raising attainment, particularly for disadvantaged pupils as they begin statutory education so more children achieve a good level of development. Through the regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) programme, we are supporting 12 schools across the county to enable young people to achieve and thrive.
These measures form part of a wider strategy to reduce inequalities and ensure that children in Newcastle-under-Lyme and across Staffordshire can access the opportunities they deserve.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with publishers on the potential impact of free access overseas to UK-government funded educational resources from Oak National Academy on their exports.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is keeping the geo-restriction of Oak National Academy’s (Oak) resources under review. Oak does not promote or market its resources overseas.
The department recently completed a new market impact assessment (MIA) of Oak, which was published in September 2025, and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/oak-national-academy-independent-review-and-market-impact-assessment.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to limit access to resources provided by Oak National Academy and funded by the Government through geo-blocking.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is keeping the geo-restriction of Oak National Academy’s (Oak) resources under review. Oak does not promote or market its resources overseas.
The department recently completed a new market impact assessment (MIA) of Oak, which was published in September 2025, and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/oak-national-academy-independent-review-and-market-impact-assessment.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she had with the Association of Commonwealth Universities on her Departmental priorities since her appointment.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
No meetings have taken place with the Association of Commonwealth Universities.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the gap between the lowest and highest achievers in GCSE science performance.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
High and rising school standards are central to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and the key to strengthening outcomes for all children and young people. The best way of helping schools to support lower attainers and drive standards in GCSE science performance is to ensure high quality science teaching at all levels, by helping schools to recruit and retain good teachers.
For those training to teach in the 2025/26 academic year, there is a bursary worth £29,000 tax-free or a scholarship worth £31,000 tax-free to train to teach high priority subjects, such as chemistry and physics. There is also a £26,000 tax-free bursary for biology.
For the 2025/26 academic year, the department is also offering a targeted retention incentive, worth up to £6,000 after tax, for physics and chemistry teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged areas. This will support recruitment and retention of specialist teachers in these subjects and in the schools and areas that need them most.
The department also funds the Subject Knowledge for Physics Teaching programme, a series of blended learning courses with modules available each term to support non-specialist teachers of key stage 3 and 4 physics to enhance their subject knowledge.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the gap between the lowest and highest achievers in GCSE english performance.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
On 5 February 2025, the government announced a £2 million investment to drive high and rising standards in reading and writing. We know that supporting pupils to build strong foundations in reading and writing will give them the tools to succeed in key stage 4 and beyond. Therefore, from September, building on the success of phonics, teachers will receive additional training to help children progress from the early stages of phonics in reception and year 1 through to reading fluently by the time they leave primary school. This will be delivered through the English Hubs programme.
Building on this, secondary schools will get funded support to foster a strong whole-school reading culture, and in January 2026 they will get access to the Unlocking Reading programme, a continuing professional development package delivered by FFT Education on behalf of the department, aimed at boosting reading through evidence-based strategies.
Ensuring pupils build strong foundations in the early years and key stage 1, and offering further guidance and support on best-practice in the teaching of reading and writing in key stage 2 and 3, will prepare pupils for GCSEs in key stage 4.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support care leavers in Newcastle-under-Lyme constituency.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is committed to ensuring that, regardless of where they live, care leavers have access to stable housing, health services, support to build lifelong loving relationships, and opportunities in education, employment, and training.
All local authorities are required to publish a local offer for care leavers. This outlines both the statutory support they are entitled to and any discretionary services the authority provides. To strengthen this, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will make the Staying Close programme a national offer for eligible care leavers. This will require local authorities to assess whether care leavers need support to find and maintain suitable accommodation, and access services related to health, wellbeing, relationships, education, and employment, and provide that support where their welfare requires it.
The Bill will also enhance the local offer by strengthening requirements around accommodation and promoting joint working between leaving care and housing teams.
Local housing authorities currently owe duties to those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. To better support care leavers, the Bill removes the intentional homelessness test for eligible individuals, ensuring they receive the housing support they need without unnecessary barriers.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of the Government issuing an official apology to people affected by forced adoptions.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This abhorrent practice should never have taken place, and our deepest sympathies are with all those affected.
The government takes this issue extremely seriously and continues to engage with those affected to provide support.
The department continues to follow up on the 2022 Joint Committee on Human Rights report, including improving access to adoption records, enhancing intermediary services and preserving historical records.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she will take to reintroduce citizenship education to schools in (a) Newcastle-under-Lyme, (b) Staffordshire and (c) England.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Citizenship education provides a framework to prepare pupils to be active, informed and responsible citizens. The national curriculum for citizenship is mandatory at key stages 3 and 4 and primary schools can choose to teach it. In secondary citizenship, pupils learn about democracy, politics, parliament and voting, as well as human rights, justice, media literacy, the law, and the need for mutual respect.
The Oak National Academy (Oak) is providing optional, free, adaptable digital curriculum resources. Oak launched its curriculum sequences for secondary citizenship in November 2024, with the full package of curriculum resources expected by autumn 2025.
The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, which seeks to deliver a rich, broad, inclusive and innovative curriculum that equips young people with the knowledge, skills and attributes needed to thrive in life and work. The Review will publish its final report in autumn 2025.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the importance of citizenship education in our schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Citizenship education provides a framework to prepare pupils to be active, informed and responsible citizens. The national curriculum for citizenship is mandatory at key stages 3 and 4 and primary schools can choose to teach it. In secondary citizenship, pupils learn about democracy, politics, parliament and voting, as well as human rights, justice, media literacy, the law, and the need for mutual respect.
The Oak National Academy (Oak) is providing optional, free, adaptable digital curriculum resources. Oak launched its curriculum sequences for secondary citizenship in November 2024, with the full package of curriculum resources expected by autumn 2025.
The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, which seeks to deliver a rich, broad, inclusive and innovative curriculum that equips young people with the knowledge, skills and attributes needed to thrive in life and work. The Review will publish its final report in autumn 2025.