Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
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 requiring academy trusts to publish full budgets.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
All academy trusts must publish an annual report and accounts, which are audited by a registered statutory auditor. As part of their annual reports and accounts, academy trusts must also publish details of their objectives, achievements and future plans, including what they have done to promote value for money in support of these projects.
In addition, financial information on individual schools, including a breakdown of their income and expenditure, is available on GOV.UK through the Schools Financial Benchmarking and Insight Tool, at: https://financial-benchmarking-and-insights-tool.education.gov.uk/.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
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 cap on the proportion of academy trust budgets that can be spent on senior leadership salaries.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department sets out its expectations on pay for academies and academy trusts in the Academy Trust Handbook (ATH), which is published on GOV.UK, and available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66a3909aab418ab055592dda/Academy_trust_handbook_2024_FINAL.pdf.
The ATH requires that:
In addition, the department’s ‘Setting executive salaries’ guidance outlines the key contextual factors that trusts should be considering when setting or reviewing executive salaries. This guidance is published on GOV.UK and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/setting-executive-salaries-guidance-for-academy-trusts/setting-executive-salaries-guidance-for-academy-trusts.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the number of nurseries that have withdrawn from the childcare funding scheme citing cost pressures on early years provision.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
It is our ambition that all families have access to high-quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life. This is key to the government’s Plan for Change, which starts with reaching the milestone of a record number of children being ready for school. That also means ensuring the sector is financially sustainable and confident as it continues to deliver entitlements and high-quality early years provision going forward.
Local authorities are required by legislation to provide sufficient childcare places for children in their local area who require childcare. This includes children with special educational needs and disabilities and children in rural areas. Local authorities are also required to report annually to councillors on how they are meeting their duty to secure sufficient childcare and to make this report available and accessible to parents.
The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing. Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, we discuss what action they are taking to address those issues and, where needed, support the local authority with any specific requirements through our childcare sufficiency support contract. At present, no local authorities are reporting they are unable to meet their sufficiency duty.
In the 2025/26 financial year alone, this government plans to spend over £8 billion on early years entitlements. The department has also announced the largest ever uplift to the early years pupil premium, increasing the rate by over 45% compared to the 2024/25 financial year, raising it to the equivalent to up to £570 per eligible child per year.
On top of this, the department is providing further supplementary funding of £75 million for the early years expansion grant to support the sector in providing the additional places and workforce needed by September 2025.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the funding provided to early years providers for meeting the cost of a nursery place.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
It is our ambition that all families have access to high-quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life. This is key to the government’s Plan for Change, which starts with reaching the milestone of a record number of children being ready for school. That also means ensuring the sector is financially sustainable and confident as it continues to deliver entitlements and high-quality early years provision going forward.
That is why, despite tough decisions to get public finances back on track, the government is continuing to prioritise and invest, supporting early education and childcare providers with the costs they face. In the 2025/26 financial year alone, the department plans to spend over £8 billion on early years entitlements. We have also announced the largest ever uplift to the early years pupil premium, increasing the rate by over 45% compared to 2024/25 financial year, equivalent to up to £570 per eligible child per year.
In addition, the department is providing £75 million for the early years expansion grant to support the sector as it prepares to deliver the final phase of expanded childcare entitlements from September 2025, recognising the significant level of expansion needed and the effort and planning this will require. We are also providing £25 million of funding to support public sector employers with increased National Insurance contributions through the early years National Insurance Contributions grant.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support nurseries with the cost of providing the expanded funded childcare hours.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
It is our ambition that all families have access to high-quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life. This is key to the government’s Plan for Change, which starts with reaching the milestone of a record number of children being ready for school. That also means ensuring the sector is financially sustainable and confident as it continues to deliver entitlements and high-quality early years provision going forward.
That is why, despite tough decisions to get public finances back on track, the government is continuing to prioritise and invest, supporting early education and childcare providers with the costs they face. In the 2025/26 financial year alone, the department plans to spend over £8 billion on early years entitlements. We have also announced the largest ever uplift to the early years pupil premium, increasing the rate by over 45% compared to 2024/25 financial year, equivalent to up to £570 per eligible child per year.
In addition, the department is providing £75 million for the early years expansion grant to support the sector as it prepares to deliver the final phase of expanded childcare entitlements from September 2025, recognising the significant level of expansion needed and the effort and planning this will require. We are also providing £25 million of funding to support public sector employers with increased National Insurance contributions through the early years National Insurance Contributions grant.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase the flexibility of the apprenticeship levy for small businesses.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is reforming the Apprenticeship Levy into a new Growth and Skills Levy that will deliver greater flexibility for learners and employers of all sizes to develop the skills they need to thrive.
As a first step, the department is introducing new foundation apprenticeships for young people, as well as shorter duration apprenticeships. The minimum duration of an apprenticeship will be reduced to eight months from August 2025, down from the current minimum of 12 months. This change means apprentices will be able to achieve occupational competence more quickly, where appropriate, such as, where apprentices have significant prior learning. Employers of all sizes will be able to benefit from these flexibilities.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what percentage of primary and secondary schools are delivering two hours of PE a week.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The government has pledged to protect physical education (PE) time and wants schools to offer a minimum of two hours of PE per week to their pupils. This government is committed to supporting schools to ensure this ambition is met, including through the PE and sports premium in primary schools.
In December 2023 the department asked primary and secondary school leaders how many minutes of compulsory PE teaching were timetabled for pupils in the autumn term in the 2023/2024 academic year. The findings are published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-and-college-voice-omnibus-surveys-for-2023-to-2024/school-and-college-voice-december-2023.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
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 the High Needs National Funding Formula on Cornwall County Council’s SEND funding for 2025/26.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.
The structure of the high needs national funding formula (NFF) is largely unchanged in the 2025/26 financial year as the government needs time to consider what changes are necessary, both to make sure that we establish a fair education funding system that directs funding to where it is needed and to support any SEND reforms.
Following the Autumn Budget 2024, the department is providing an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding for children and young people with complex SEND to £11.9 billion. Of that total, Cornwall County Council is being allocated over £86 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG), an increase of £7.1 million on this year’s DSG high needs block, calculated using the high needs national funding formula (NFF). This NFF allocation is an 8.7% increase per head of their 2 to 18 year-old population, on their equivalent 2024/25 NFF allocation. We have also announced £740 million high needs capital funding for the 2025/26 financial year. We will confirm plans to allocate this funding to local authorities later in the spring.
In addition to the DSG, local authorities will also receive a separate core schools budget grant (CSBG), and funding in respect of the increase in employers’ National Insurance contributions, in the 2025/26 financial year. This CSBG continues the separate grants payable this year, which are to help special schools and alternative provision with the costs of teachers’ pay and pension increases and other staff pay increases. Individual local authorities’ allocations of this funding for 2025/26 will be published in due course.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase the accessibility of (a) PE and (b) sport provision for children in schools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The government is dedicated to increasing children's accessibility to physical education (PE) and sport provision, by protecting PE time and supporting grassroots clubs to expand access to sports for all girls and boys. Through the department’s independent, expert-led Curriculum and Assessment Review, we will seek to deliver a curriculum which is rich, broad and inclusive, ensuring all children and young people have the best start in life and have equal opportunities to participate in high-quality PE, sports and physical activities.
Information on future funding will be shared in due course.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to ensure a long-term funding agreement for PE and school sport.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The government is dedicated to increasing children's accessibility to physical education (PE) and sport provision, by protecting PE time and supporting grassroots clubs to expand access to sports for all girls and boys. Through the department’s independent, expert-led Curriculum and Assessment Review, we will seek to deliver a curriculum which is rich, broad and inclusive, ensuring all children and young people have the best start in life and have equal opportunities to participate in high-quality PE, sports and physical activities.
Information on future funding will be shared in due course.