Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the contract for the National school breakfast club programme prohibits the use of ultra-processed cereals and breads; and if she will set out the nutritional and processing specification of that contract.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The National School Breakfast Programme (NSBP) is an inherited scheme from the previous government and the contract will end in July 2026. The contract with the supplier Family Action stipulates that all food available for schools to purchase must meet the School Food Standards, which already restrict foods high in fat, salt and sugar, as well as low-quality reformed or reconstituted foods. To ensure quality and nutrition in meals for the future, we are revising the School Food Standards and are engaging with experts across the sector.
This government is committed to delivering a free breakfast club in every state-funded school with primary-aged pupils in England. All NSBP schools with primary-aged pupils will have the opportunity to transition onto the free breakfast clubs programme from September 2026. NSBP secondary schools will be provided with continued support at an equivalent value to what they receive on the NSBP for the 2026/7 academic year. Further details for secondary schools will follow shortly.
Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
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 introducing a maximum five per cent threshold for ultra-processed foods (Nova Group 4) in the updated School Food Standards.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition has considered the impact of processed foods on health in 2023 and 2025, and recommends that on balance, most people are likely to benefit from reducing their consumption of processed foods high in energy, saturated fat, salt and free sugars and low in fibre.
The School Food Standards already restrict foods high in fat, salt and sugar, as well as low-quality reformed or reconstituted foods, but to ensure quality and nutrition in meals for the future, we are revising the School Food Standards. We are engaging experts across the sector, such as nutritionists, and are developing our plans to consult on the changes.
Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what mechanisms she is putting in place to ensure that proposed agency fee caps under the new Supply Teachers and Temporary Staffing framework are effectively monitored and enforced.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The responsibility for monitoring adherence to the agency fee caps, and all requirements of the framework agreement, sits with Crown Commercial Service (CCS). As part of the framework terms and conditions, agencies must provide data reporting, with potential consequences of non-compliance resulting in removal from the framework agreement.
To support CCS, the department will review spend across the sector, comparing it with the management information reported by suppliers to CCS through the framework.
Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason the new Supply Teachers and Temporary Staffing framework makes no provision for ensuring that supply teachers can access the teachers’ pension scheme.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The Teachers’ Pensions Regulations currently provide for supply teachers to participate in the teachers’ pension scheme (TPS) where they are employed by a scheme employer. These are local authorities, academies and further education colleges. This includes supply teachers who are recruited by a supply agency but then employed directly, under a contract of employment, by the scheme employer.
Where supply teachers are self-employed or remain employed by a supply agency and their services are provided under a ‘contract for services’, it is not possible for them to participate in the TPS as there is no organisation to undertake the employer role, including remitting contributions to the scheme.
Supply teachers employed by agencies will continue to have access to alternative workplace pensions.
Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve supply teachers’ access to the teachers’ pension scheme under the new Supply Teachers and Temporary Staffing framework.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The Teachers’ Pensions Regulations currently provide for supply teachers to participate in the teachers’ pension scheme (TPS) where they are employed by a scheme employer. These are local authorities, academies and further education colleges. This includes supply teachers who are recruited by a supply agency but then employed directly, under a contract of employment, by the scheme employer.
Where supply teachers are self-employed or remain employed by a supply agency and their services are provided under a ‘contract for services’, it is not possible for them to participate in the TPS as there is no organisation to undertake the employer role, including remitting contributions to the scheme.
Supply teachers employed by agencies will continue to have access to alternative workplace pensions.
Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking ensure education on gambling harm is provided by organisations independent of the gambling industry; and whether targeted interventions are planned to educate children on gambling harms.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The updated Relationships and sex education (RSE) and health education (RSHE) guidance is clear that children and young people should be taught about the risks associated with gambling, including the accumulation of debt. This guidance can be read in full here:
Content is taught at both primary and secondary education and in reviewing the guidance, the department worked with ‘Gambling With Lives’ as part of the stakeholder engagement process.
Schools have flexibility over how they teach issues and the materials they use, however the guidance is clear that schools should check that external resources are accurate and unbiased.
As part of the statutory gambling levy prevention programme, the Gambling Harms Prevention Grant Fund was launched this month. This may include education programmes and interventions for children and young people, and competing organisations will be required to sign up to demonstrate their commitment to moving towards a new public health approach, independent of industry funding.
Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department provides to schools on gambling-like features in video games, including loot boxes and in-game spending, as part of online safety education.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Statutory relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) supports children and young people to manage risk and make informed decisions in relation to their mental wellbeing and online behaviour.
The updated RSHE statutory guidance is clear that children and young people should be taught the risks relating to online gaming, video game monetisation, scams, fraud and other financial harms, and that gaming can become addictive.
Curriculum content also includes the risks related to online gambling and gambling-like content within gaming, including the accumulation of debt.
The departments online safety guidance covers how to teach about all aspects of internet safety and includes content on gaming and gambling, and can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teaching-online-safety-in-schools.
As with other aspects of the curriculum, schools have flexibility over how they deliver important topics and use their autonomy and local community knowledge to do this.
Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the impact on supply teacher recruitment and retention of not requiring agencies operating under the Supply Teachers and Temporary Staffing framework to pay in accordance with the national teacher pay scale.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The new iteration of the Supply Teachers and Temporary Staffing framework will remove excessive agency mark-ups through a cap on agency fees.
It will not affect pay for supply teachers employed through agencies. This will continue to be set by agencies in the first 12 weeks of an assignment, and supply teachers are free to register with multiple agencies to find the best pay and conditions to meet their own circumstances. The Agency Worker Regulations provides that all workers on assignments exceeding 12 weeks are paid on equal terms as permanent staff after the 12th week.
Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to mitigate variations in pay and employment conditions arising from individual school negotiations with agencies under the Supply Teachers and Temporary Staffing framework.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The new iteration of the Supply Teachers and Temporary Staffing framework will remove excessive agency mark-ups through a cap on agency fees.
It will not affect pay for supply teachers employed through agencies. This will continue to be set by agencies in the first 12 weeks of an assignment, and supply teachers are free to register with multiple agencies to find the best pay and conditions to meet their own circumstances. The Agency Worker Regulations provides that all workers on assignments exceeding 12 weeks are paid on equal terms as permanent staff after the 12th week.
Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she made an assessment of the potential merits of amending the Supply Teachers and Temporary Staffing framework to require supply teachers to be paid in line with the national teacher pay scale.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The new iteration of the Supply Teachers and Temporary Staffing framework will remove excessive agency mark-ups through a cap on agency fees.
It will not affect pay for supply teachers employed through agencies. This will continue to be set by agencies in the first 12 weeks of an assignment, and supply teachers are free to register with multiple agencies to find the best pay and conditions to meet their own circumstances. The Agency Worker Regulations provides that all workers on assignments exceeding 12 weeks are paid on equal terms as permanent staff after the 12th week.