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.
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 maths performance.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
High and rising standards across education, from early years to adulthood, are the key to unlocking stronger outcomes and a better future for children and young people. Our new regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) teams are now working closely with schools, including Maths Hubs to sharing best practice and put in place targeted plans to drive-up performance in schools needing extra support.
The department funded, school-led network of Maths Hubs across both primary and secondary schools, focusses on reducing attainment gaps by providing school-to-school support with mathematics subject knowledge and pedagogy training for teachers. In addition, the department funds the Maths Champions programme working with early years settings to boost young children’s basic number skills, and the Advanced Mathematics Support Programme supporting disadvantaged students with an aptitude for mathematics to go on to further study.
The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, covering ages 5 to 18, chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE. The Review is closely examining the key challenges to attainment for young people and the barriers which hold children back from the opportunities and life chances they deserve, to help us ensure high standards for all. The Review’s interim report, published in March, recognised the need for the curriculum to respond to social and technological change, including to consider what opportunities might be offered around the rise of artificial intelligence and trends in digital information demand.
Please note that in the context of international standings in PISA tests, this response extends only to England as education is a devolved matter.
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 adequacy of the current maths curriculum in the context of increasing demand for data skills.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
High and rising standards across education, from early years to adulthood, are the key to unlocking stronger outcomes and a better future for children and young people. Our new regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) teams are now working closely with schools, including Maths Hubs to sharing best practice and put in place targeted plans to drive-up performance in schools needing extra support.
The department funded, school-led network of Maths Hubs across both primary and secondary schools, focusses on reducing attainment gaps by providing school-to-school support with mathematics subject knowledge and pedagogy training for teachers. In addition, the department funds the Maths Champions programme working with early years settings to boost young children’s basic number skills, and the Advanced Mathematics Support Programme supporting disadvantaged students with an aptitude for mathematics to go on to further study.
The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, covering ages 5 to 18, chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE. The Review is closely examining the key challenges to attainment for young people and the barriers which hold children back from the opportunities and life chances they deserve, to help us ensure high standards for all. The Review’s interim report, published in March, recognised the need for the curriculum to respond to social and technological change, including to consider what opportunities might be offered around the rise of artificial intelligence and trends in digital information demand.
Please note that in the context of international standings in PISA tests, this response extends only to England as education is a devolved matter.
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 improve the UK’s PISA mathematics performance.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
High and rising standards across education, from early years to adulthood, are the key to unlocking stronger outcomes and a better future for children and young people. Our new regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) teams are now working closely with schools, including Maths Hubs to sharing best practice and put in place targeted plans to drive-up performance in schools needing extra support.
The department funded, school-led network of Maths Hubs across both primary and secondary schools, focusses on reducing attainment gaps by providing school-to-school support with mathematics subject knowledge and pedagogy training for teachers. In addition, the department funds the Maths Champions programme working with early years settings to boost young children’s basic number skills, and the Advanced Mathematics Support Programme supporting disadvantaged students with an aptitude for mathematics to go on to further study.
The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, covering ages 5 to 18, chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE. The Review is closely examining the key challenges to attainment for young people and the barriers which hold children back from the opportunities and life chances they deserve, to help us ensure high standards for all. The Review’s interim report, published in March, recognised the need for the curriculum to respond to social and technological change, including to consider what opportunities might be offered around the rise of artificial intelligence and trends in digital information demand.
Please note that in the context of international standings in PISA tests, this response extends only to England as education is a devolved matter.
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 implications for her policies of the article by The University of Manchester entitled Making headlines: Young people’s social media use and navigating media narratives, published on 9 June 2025.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The department notes the article published by the University of Manchester, and officials have recently discussed its content with the authors. Media literacy skills are embedded across the curriculum, including citizenship, computing, English and relationships, sex and health education, which together develop critical thinking, research skills, an understanding of the media in shaping opinion and how to be a discerning consumer of information online, including through social media.
The independent Curriculum and Assessment Review’s interim report noted the rise of artificial intelligence and trends in digital information and that it is necessary that the curriculum keep pace with these changes, including a renewed focus on digital and media literacy and critical thinking skills. The Review’s final report and recommendations will be published in autumn with the government’s response.