Asked by: Ayoub Khan (Independent - Birmingham Perry Barr)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support students who have been ordered by Student Loans Company to repay Childcare Grant funding issued in error.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Ayoub Khan (Independent - Birmingham Perry Barr)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support students ordered by Student Loans Company to repay tuition fee and maintenance loans given in error.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Ayoub Khan (Independent - Birmingham Perry Barr)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has been approached by (a) Birmingham City Council, (b) the West Midlands Combined Authority, or (c) any other public body to approve the re-designation of school land for development in Birmingham Perry Barr in the last three years.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department has not received any applications or notifications from Birmingham City Council or any other public body concerning the redesignation of school land for development within the Perry Barr area during the past three years.
Asked by: Ayoub Khan (Independent - Birmingham Perry Barr)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 2 July 2025 to Question 62446 on Schools: Asthma, what steps his Department is taking to increase the (a) purchase of and (b) storage for emergency inhalers in schools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The department does not hold data on emergency inhalers in schools.
Under section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014, maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units must make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions. Schools are responsible for deciding how best to fulfil this duty. They are permitted to buy salbutamol inhalers, without a prescription, for use in emergencies, but there is no requirement to do so.
Asked by: Ayoub Khan (Independent - Birmingham Perry Barr)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of schools (a) had and (b) did not have emergency inhalers installed on their grounds in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The department does not hold data on emergency inhalers in schools.
Under section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014, maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units must make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions. Schools are responsible for deciding how best to fulfil this duty. They are permitted to buy salbutamol inhalers, without a prescription, for use in emergencies, but there is no requirement to do so.
Asked by: Ayoub Khan (Independent - Birmingham Perry Barr)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential benefits of requiring schools to hold emergency asthma inhalers.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
Schools are permitted to buy salbutamol inhalers, without a prescription, for use in emergencies. An emergency salbutamol inhaler should only be used by children who have either been diagnosed with asthma and prescribed an inhaler, or who have been prescribed an inhaler as reliever medication and who have written parental consent for use of the emergency inhaler.
Schools are not required to hold an inhaler. If they choose to keep an emergency inhaler, they should establish a policy or protocol for its use based on published guidance available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/emergency-asthma-inhalers-for-use-in-schools.
Asked by: Ayoub Khan (Independent - Birmingham Perry Barr)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to improve media literacy education in schools by (a) providing additional (i) resources and (ii) funding, (b) delivering teacher training and (c) improving curriculum support.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
I refer the hon. Member for Birmingham Perry Barr to the answer of 1 May 2025 to Question 47185.
Asked by: Ayoub Khan (Independent - Birmingham Perry Barr)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to extend the breakfast clubs initiative to state-funded early childhood education institutions.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The department is committed to delivering on our pledge to provide free breakfast clubs in every state-funded school with primary-aged children, starting with more than 750 early adopter schools from April 2025.
The aim of the breakfast clubs policy includes ensuring children are settled and ready to learn at the start of the school day. This is why we are committed to rolling out breakfast clubs in all state-funded primary schools, helping to build strong foundations in the first years of school, impacting children’s behaviour, concentration, attendance and attainment, alongside supporting parents with costs of childcare.
The department is working to test how this is best implemented and work is already underway with 750 early adopter schools. Early adopters are just the first step in delivering on our steadfast commitment to introducing breakfast clubs in every primary school. Early adopters will not only help us to test and learn how every primary school in the future can deliver these new breakfast clubs, they will also give us important insights into how schools with different age ranges, such as all through schools or those with onsite nurseries, implement the policy.
Asked by: Ayoub Khan (Independent - Birmingham Perry Barr)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has for Family Hubs after the 2025-26 financial year; and whether her Department plans to provide a multi-year pledge to fund the Family Hubs and Start for Life program beyond this period.
Answered by Janet Daby
The government’s Plan for Change sets out a commitment to give every child the best start in life. Progress on this commitment will be measured by assessing whether 75% of five-year-olds are reaching a good level of development in the Early Years Foundation Stage assessment, which looks at children’s development across areas such as language, personal, social and emotional development, and mathematics and literacy, by 2028.
Delivering this will require strengthening and co-ordinating family services to improve support through pregnancy and early childhood. This includes continuing to invest in and build up Family Hubs and Start for Life programmes.
75 local authorities with some of the highest levels of deprivation have received funding and there are now more than 400 Family Hubs open across those local authorities. The department is investing a further £126 million in the 2025/26 financial year to give every child the best start in life and deliver on the Plan for Change. Future funding decisions are subject to the multi-year spending review.
Asked by: Ayoub Khan (Independent - Birmingham Perry Barr)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase the nutritional value of breakfast meals provided by primary schools.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The department is committed to delivering on our pledge to provide free breakfast clubs in every state-funded school with primary-aged children, starting with more than 750 early adopter schools from April 2025.
The School Food Standards statutory guidance, which regulate the food and drink provided at school, already apply to breakfasts. Compliance with the Standards is mandatory for maintained schools, academies and free schools.
Alongside the existing School Food Standards, in January, the department published guidance for the early adopter schools which provides additional helpful guidance on which foods should be served at breakfast clubs.