Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to improve access to (a) training and (b) education for careers in (i) horticulture and (ii) the wider environmental sector in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
It is for providers and local areas, such as Surrey Heath, to determine what skills provision to deliver based on learner and employer demand.
A range of provision is available to support people to pursue careers in horticulture and environmental sectors, including:
High quality apprenticeship standards between levels 2 and 7 in roles such as Horticulture or Landscape Operative, Professional Arboriculturist and Charted Landscape Professional.
A range of Skills Bootcamps such as Grounds & Estates Horticulture, Horticulture and Forestry & Arboriculture.
T Levels in Agriculture, Land Management and Production pathways, which include environmental horticulture and landscaping and tree and woodland management and maintenance.
A number of qualifications related to horticulture or the wider environmental sector as part of Free Courses for Jobs, such as a diploma in Work-based Horticulture, advanced technical diploma in Horticulture, diploma in Forestry and Arboriculture, and advanced technical extended diploma in Forestry and Arboriculture.
There are also a number of land-based colleges in the country that specialise in horticulture and environmental provision, including Merrist Wood College in Surrey which delivers 160 courses including T Levels and apprenticeships.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
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 changes to employers’ National Insurance contributions on state-funded schools in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Schools in Surrey local authority are receiving £14.3 million to support them with the increased costs to employer National Insurance contributions (NICs) from April 2025. Schools have autonomy over how they use this funding as their precise spending, including NICs costs, vary based on the staffing decisions each school makes.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of increasing public expenditure on schools in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Across the spending review, core schools funding, including special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) investment, will increase from £65.3 billion in the 2025/26 financial year (including the additional funding announced in May 2025) to £69.5 billion by the 2028/29 financial year. Taken together, this grows per-pupil spending over this spending review period by 2.7% in real terms. Decisions on how that funding will be allocated across mainstream schools and high needs will be taken in due course.
The national funding formula (NFF) allocates funding for schools to local authorities based on school and pupil characteristics. The government will be reviewing the operation of the schools NFF for 2026/27 and future years. The funding impact on individual local authorities will therefore also depend on the outcome of this review. This will be announced later in the year.
Surrey is the local authority responsible for allocating funding in Surrey Heath constituency. Through the dedicated schools grant (DSG), Surrey is receiving £895.8 million for mainstream schools in the 2025/26 financial year. This represents an increase of 2.2% per pupil compared to the 2024/25 financial year, excluding growth and falling rolls funding. On top of that, schools are also receiving additional funding for National Insurance contributions increases, as well as to support with staff pay rises.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of providing redress to people impacted by forced adoptions between 1945 and 1976.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This abhorrent practice should never have taken place, and our deepest sympathies are with all those affected.
We take this issue extremely seriously and are considering what more can be done for those who were impacted by historical forced adoption.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support Designated Safeguarding Leads in schools in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department recognises the incredibly important role designated safeguarding leads (DSLs) play in keeping children and young people safe in schools. We support them to do this through our robust safeguarding framework, ‘Keeping children safe in education’ (KCSIE), the statutory guidance that all schools and colleges, including schools in Surrey Heath constituency, must have regard to when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
KCSIE is clear that every school must have a DSL who should take lead responsibility for safeguarding and child protection. Annex C of the guidance supports DSLs to understand the role and expectations placed on them.
The department regularly reviews KCSIE to see where it needs to be strengthened to ensure it continues to provide the support that DSLs need.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support pastoral teams in schools in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Schools have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of their pupils and are best placed to decide what pastoral support to provide based on the needs of their pupils, making the best use of their funding and taking the best available evidence-based advice. The Autumn Budget 2024 confirmed an additional £2.3 billion for the core schools budget for 2025/26 compared to 2024/25. This means that overall core schools funding will reach over £63.9 billion in 2025/26.
Good pastoral support is important to achieving high and rising standards in schools and breaking down barriers to opportunity, helping pupils to achieve and thrive in education.
Specifically in relation to pupil’s mental health and wellbeing, the government will provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school by 2029/30 by expanding NHS-funded Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs). Expansion will be overseen by Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) and these teams currently cover 26% of pupils and learners in schools and colleges in Surrey Heartlands ICB, compared to 52% coverage nationally.
The government will also recruit an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults, and open new Young Futures hubs with access to mental health support workers.
To support education staff, the department provides guidance and practical resources on promoting and supporting pupils’ mental health and wellbeing in schools. For example, a resources hub and a toolkit to help choose evidence-based early support for pupils. These can be found here: https://mentallyhealthyschools.org.uk/whole-school-or-college-resources/.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions her Department has had with Surrey County Council on providing clear guidance for feeder school arrangements for secondary schools in the Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Admission arrangements are set and applied locally. Provided they are lawful and comply with the school admissions code, it is for the school’s admission authority to decide what admissions criteria to set, and how they are applied. The admission authority for a community or voluntary controlled school is the local authority. For a foundation or voluntary aided school, it is the governing body, and for academy schools including free schools, it is the academy trust.
The code enables admission authorities to give priority to children attending named feeder schools, but are prohibited from naming fee-paying independent schools as feeder schools. The selection of a feeder school or schools as an oversubscription criterion must be transparent and made on reasonable grounds.
Once a school’s admission arrangements have been determined, anyone who believes they are unfair or unlawful may submit an objection to the Schools Adjudicator. Where the Adjudicator finds that a school’s admission arrangements are unlawful, they must revise their admission arrangements to give effect to the Adjudicator’s decision, which is binding and enforceable by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve literacy education in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
High and rising school standards, with excellent foundations in reading, writing and mathematics, are at the heart of the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and give every child the best start in life.
The English Hubs programme supports the teaching of phonics, early language development and reading for pleasure. Surrey Heath’s nearest English Hub is Whiteknights English Hub.
In the 2025/26 financial year, the government has committed £27.7 million to support and drive high and rising standards in reading and writing.
In the 2025/26 academic year, this funding will deliver a range of support for schools, including new training for primary schools which will be delivered through the English Hubs programme. This will help children progress from the early stages of phonics through to reading fluently by the time they leave primary school. There will also be new support and training for secondary schools to support reading at key stage 3.
The department will also publish a writing framework this summer, which will support schools in delivering high quality writing provision across England.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of literacy education in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
High and rising school standards, with excellent foundations in reading, writing and mathematics, are at the heart of the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and give every child the best start in life.
The English Hubs programme supports the teaching of phonics, early language development and reading for pleasure. Surrey Heath’s nearest English Hub is Whiteknights English Hub.
In the 2025/26 financial year, the government has committed £27.7 million to support and drive high and rising standards in reading and writing.
In the 2025/26 academic year, this funding will deliver a range of support for schools, including new training for primary schools which will be delivered through the English Hubs programme. This will help children progress from the early stages of phonics through to reading fluently by the time they leave primary school. There will also be new support and training for secondary schools to support reading at key stage 3.
The department will also publish a writing framework this summer, which will support schools in delivering high quality writing provision across England.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle the use of discriminatory language in schools in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is clear that any incident of discrimination and derogatory language is unacceptable and should be dealt with quickly and effectively by schools. All members of the school community are responsible for creating a positive, safe environment in which threats or abuse are not tolerated and everyone is treated respectfully.
The ‘Behaviour in schools’ guidance outlines that school staff should challenge all inappropriate language and behaviour between pupils, never normalising abusive language or behaviour by disregarding it or treating it as ‘banter’.
The relationships, sex and health education curriculum has a strong focus on equality, respect, the harmful impact of stereotyping, and the importance of valuing difference.