Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking with Cabinet colleagues to promote apprenticeships in the vocational skills required to deliver the Government's target of 1.5m homes during this Parliament.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government has an ambitious plan for re-building Britain, delivering 1.5 million homes in England in this Parliament.
We want to support employers, including in construction, to develop the skills they need to thrive. That is why we are widening the apprenticeships offer into a levy-funded growth and skills offer, with apprenticeships at the heart, which will deliver greater flexibility for learners and employers in England. As a first step, this will include shorter duration and foundation apprenticeships in targeted sectors, helping more people learn new high-quality skills at work, fuelling innovation in businesses across the country, and providing high-quality entry pathways for young people.
In addition, around 5,000 more construction apprenticeship places will be made available per year by the 2027/28 financial year thanks to an £140 million industry investment to get Britain building again.
32 new Homebuilding Skills Hubs will deliver fast-track training in critical areas such as bricklaying, groundwork, and site carpentry, to boost housebuilding and drive forward the government’s growth mission.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of smartphone usage in school on recent trends in youth mental health.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government’s ‘Mobile phones in schools’ guidance supports schools on how to develop, implement and maintain a policy that prohibits the use of mobile phones throughout the school day including during lessons, the time between lessons, breaktimes and lunchtime. Headteachers are responsible for implementation of guidance within their schools.
Research suggests excessive screentime can be detrimental to children’s wellbeing. The Online Safety Act aims to protects children from accessing harmful and age-inappropriate content and to ensure that technology companies take more responsibility for the safety of their users, particularly children.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to promote Holocaust education in (a) schools and (b) colleges in Bromsgrove constituency.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The Holocaust is the only historic event which is compulsory within the current national curriculum for history at key stage 3. The government has made a commitment that the Holocaust will remain a compulsory topic in the reformed national curriculum, which will also be required teaching in academy schools when it is implemented.
The government supports the teaching of Holocaust education in schools and colleges, including those in Bromsgrove, by funding teachers’ professional development in this subject through University College London’s Centre for Holocaust Education, and the Holocaust Educational Trust’s Lessons from Auschwitz project, which gives students aged 16 to 18 the opportunity to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau.
In addition, a further £2 million funding for Holocaust remembrance and education was committed at the Autumn Budget 2024. This will be used to support the ambition set by my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister for all students to have the opportunity to hear a recorded survivor testimony. The department is currently exploring how it can support schools to fulfil this ambition.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the number of students that had EHCPs in Bromsgrove constituency on (a) 5 July 2024 and (b) 10 February 2025.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Information on the number of pupils with education, health and care (EHC) plans attending schools in England is published in the statistical release, ‘Special Educational Needs in England, 2024’, which can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england.
The number of pupils with EHC plans can be derived from the underlying school data which is available under the additional supporting files section of the above publication. This shows the number of pupils with an EHC plan attending schools in Bromsgrove constituency was 733 as of January 2024. This is the latest figure available. Figures from the January 2025 school census will be published in summer 2025.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of cooperation between state and independent schools on state schools.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education does not plan to make an assessment of the potential impact of cooperation between state and private schools on state schools.
Many of the schools involved in cross sector partnership working carry out their own impact assessments of the activities they are involved in, though the department does not endorse or assure such assessments.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many state school teachers were employed in Bromsgrove constituency on (a) 5 July 2024 and (b) 6 February 2025.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Information on the school workforce, including the number of teachers in each school, is published in the ‘School workforce in England’ statistical publication which is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
As of November 2023, the latest date for which data is available, there were 943 full-time equivalent teachers employed in the 38 state-funded schools in Bromsgrove constituency.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has plans to increase funding for SEND provision in Bromsgrove constituency.
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.
Following the 2024 Autumn Budget, 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, Worcestershire County Council is being allocated over £97 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG), an increase of £7.5 million on this year’s DSG high needs block, calculated using the high needs national funding formula (NFF). This NFF allocation is an 8.3% increase per head of their 2 to 18-year-old population, on the equivalent 2024/25 NFF allocation.
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 2025/26. 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, as well as the costs of pay increases for other members of staff. Individual local authorities’ allocations for both grants for the 2025/26 financial year will be published in due course.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to fund new schools in Bromsgrove constituency.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Local authorities are responsible for providing enough school places for children in their area. Where the need for a new school has been identified, local authorities must currently seek proposals for a new academy, or free school, under section 6A of the Education and Inspections Act 2006. This is known as the ‘free school presumption’ process.
Changes to the legal framework for opening new schools will be introduced through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. The measures will remove the legal presumption that all new schools are opened as academies, allowing local authorities to welcome proposals for all types of school and to put forward their own proposals where they choose to do so. This will ensure new schools are simply opened by the provider with the best offer for local children and families.
The department provides the Basic Need capital grant to support local authorities to provide mainstream school places, based on their own pupil forecasts and capacity data. We provide High Needs Provision capital allocations to support the provision of new places and improve existing provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities or requiring alternative provision. Local authorities can use this funding to provide places in new schools or through expansions of existing schools.
Financial contributions from housing developers are also an important way of helping to meet demand for new school places when housing developments are driving pupil numbers. It is for the Local Planning Authority (LPA) to secure developer contributions through section 106 agreements or the Community Infrastructure Levy and to decide on the local infrastructure needs that this contribution should support. The department encourages LPAs to secure significant contributions for new school places and work closely with colleagues planning school places in their area, including county councils when the local authority responsible for education is not the LPA.
There are no centrally-delivered free school projects currently planned for the Bromsgrove area.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has plans to increase the grading of students that move to state schools from independent schools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
This is a matter for Ofqual, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation. I have asked its Chief Regulator, Sir Ian Bauckham, to write to the hon. Member for Bromsgrove directly and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
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 a 0% interest rate for student loans for the study of specific courses.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Student loans are subject to interest to ensure that those who can afford to do so contribute to the full cost of their degree, irrespective of the subject studied. The student loan system has significant borrower protections, and the government has not made an assessment of the impact of making interest rates dependent on the course studied.
Interest rates on student loans do not affect monthly repayments made by borrowers. Regular repayments are based on a fixed percentage of earnings above the applicable student loan repayment threshold, not on amount borrowed or the rate of interest. If a borrower’s income drops, so does the amount they repay. If income is below the relevant student loan repayment threshold, or a borrower is not earning, then they do not have to make repayments at all. Any outstanding debt, including interest built up, is written off after the loan term ends, or in case of death or disability, at no detriment to the borrower.
Interest rates are set annually in relation to the Retail Price Index (RPI). The government caps maximum student loan rates when needed to ensure that student loan interest rates do not exceed market rates for comparable unsecured personal loans.
The government is determined that the higher education funding system should deliver for our economy, for universities, and for students. The department is considering the system and will continue to engage with stakeholders on this.