Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure school closures due to extreme weather do not affect educational outcomes.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
It is for individual settings and responsible bodies to decide on closures based on their own risk assessment. Closures should be a last resort, and the priority is to keep settings open where safe. The department’s guidance for schools includes information on remote education when pupils cannot attend. Remote learning should only be used when attendance is impossible but learning can continue.
The department’s emergency planning guidance outlines how schools should provide remote education, and can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/emergency-planning-and-response-for-education-childcare-and-childrens-social-care-settings/emergency-planning-and-response-for-education-childcare-and-childrens-social-care-settings#exam-and-assessment-disruption. The department has also issued non-statutory guidance on providing remote education guidance for schools which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/providing-remote-education-guidance-for-schools/providing-remote-education-guidance-for-schools. Guidance for parents on remote education is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/providing-remote-education-information-to-parents-template.
Schools can make use of free resources provided by Oak National Academy, which includes comprehensive, curriculum-aligned lesson materials across all key stages and subjects. These can be accessed online and adapted by teachers. More information is available at: https://www.thenational.academy.
All schools and colleges must have contingency plans to ensure exams and assessments proceed during disruption. Detailed guidance on managing exam or assessment disruption can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/exam-system-contingency-plan-england-wales-and-northern-ireland/what-schools-and-colleges-should-do-if-exams-or-other-assessments-are-seriously-disrupted.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of delaying publishing provisional funding allocations will have any impact on schools’ and local authorities’ budget planning for 2026-27.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department published the financial year 2026/27 schools and central school services national funding formula (NFF) on 19 November. High needs allocations will follow shortly.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department provides to local authorities on support for schools in cases of (a) snow and (b) other extreme weather.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
It is for individual settings and responsible bodies to decide on closures based on their own risk assessment. Closures should be a last resort, and the priority is to keep settings open where it is safe to do so.
The department’s emergency planning guidance outlines how schools should provide remote education when schools are closed due to snow and other forms of extreme weather, such as extreme heat, flooding and storms. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/emergency-planning-and-response-for-education-childcare-and-childrens-social-care-settings/emergency-planning-and-response-for-education-childcare-and-childrens-social-care-settings#exam-and-assessment-disruption.
We have also issued non-statutory guidance on providing remote education guidance for schools, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/providing-remote-education-guidance-for-schools/providing-remote-education-guidance-for-schools. Both sets of guidance are available online for local authorities to use.
All schools and colleges must also have contingency plans to ensure exams and assessments proceed during disruption. Detailed guidance on managing exam or assessment disruption can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/exam-system-contingency-plan-england-wales-and-northern-ireland/what-schools-and-colleges-should-do-if-exams-or-other-assessments-are-seriously-disrupted.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of covering the cost of (a) insurance and (b) DBS checks for employers taking on volunteer workers.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Keeping children safe could not be more important to this government, and schools and colleges as employers, play a critical role in this.
We support them to do this through our robust safeguarding framework, ‘Keeping children safe in education’, which is the statutory guidance that all schools and colleges must have regard to when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
This includes robust safer recruitment procedures which are vital to deterring and preventing individuals who are unsuitable to work with children from securing employment or volunteering opportunities in schools and colleges.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of exam support for students with dyslexia.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Fylde to the answer of 21 November 2025 to Question 90919.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the reforms announced in her Department's press release entitled Schools to cut bills with Great British Energy solar panels, published on 17 November 2025, how much of the £100 million funding has been spent, and how much remains unallocated to date.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department has used a delivery model which sees schools supported throughout the scheme, so whilst schools will be required to bear any maintenance costs for solar photovoltaics installed on their roofs, this is expected to be affordable from savings generated.
Solar installs are already producing significant savings for schools with estimates suggesting that on average, a typical school could save up to £25,000 per year if they have solar panels with complementary technologies installed.
The programme is on track with new installations at additional schools and colleges each month. Some contracts are still in procurement and, owing to the commercial sensitivity of this, it would not be appropriate to disclose evolving spend to date at this stage.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the reforms announced in her Department's press release entitled Schools to cut bills with Great British Energy solar panels, published on 17 November 2025, will schools be required to bear any maintenance costs for the solar panels.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department has used a delivery model which sees schools supported throughout the scheme, so whilst schools will be required to bear any maintenance costs for solar photovoltaics installed on their roofs, this is expected to be affordable from savings generated.
Solar installs are already producing significant savings for schools with estimates suggesting that on average, a typical school could save up to £25,000 per year if they have solar panels with complementary technologies installed.
The programme is on track with new installations at additional schools and colleges each month. Some contracts are still in procurement and, owing to the commercial sensitivity of this, it would not be appropriate to disclose evolving spend to date at this stage.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
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 no-fault evictions on school stability, attendance and attainment for affected children.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department understands that insecure housing can affect a pupil’s engagement with education. Our statutory attendance guidance sets out how partners should work together to understand barriers to attendance, which includes housing support where relevant. Where a pupil is temporarily accommodated in a different local authority, the guidance is also clear that both local authorities should work together to ensure continuity of education. The statutory attendance guidance is available in full at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance.
The Renters’ Rights Act delivers our manifesto commitment to transform the experience of private renting, including by ending Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions from 1 May 2026. It will give renters much greater security and stability so that they can stay in their homes for longer, build lives in their communities and avoid the risk of homelessness.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of trends in the number of young people aged 16 to 24 who are not in education, employment or training in (a) the North West and (b) Fylde constituency.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department publishes official statistics on those not in education, employment or training (NEET) for England from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) for young people aged 16 to 24 here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/neet-statistics-annual-brief/2024.
Since 2021, the number of 16 to 24 year-olds estimated to be NEET in the North West has been increasing with the latest estimate at end 2024 being 121,400. The lowest number in the series was in 2021, estimated to be 74,200. The data can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/cc3fd0f9-292c-47fa-d20e-08de2129b4fd.
In recent years, the Office for National Statistics has faced challenges around the falling number of responses to the LFS, which has led to increased sampling variability. This is particularly notable at regional level and caution is advised when interpreting short-term changes. All estimates should be viewed alongside associated confidence intervals.
These estimates are not available at lower-level geographies due to limitations with sample sizes. Therefore, NEET estimates in Fylde constituency are not available.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of local careers advice and guidance services in preventing young people from becoming not in employment, education or training in Lancashire.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department funds a network of careers hubs across England to drive up standards of careers provision for young people. Lancashire Careers Hub works with 162 secondary schools and colleges to connect careers provision to regional skills needs, aligned with the Lancashire Skills and Employment Strategic Framework.
Through the Boosting Skills Pathway Fund, the careers hub works with local small and medium enterprises to break down barriers and connect young people to diverse pathways including T Levels.
In the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper, the department committed to prevent young people becoming not in education, employment or training through more effective use of data by local partners and by ensuring that those without a post-16 study plan are automatically allocated a place at a local college or further education provider.