Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure access to musical instruments and instruction for children from vulnerable and marginalised children.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government has committed £76 million per year for the Music Hubs programme, including the 2025/26 academic year. The 43 Music Hubs partnerships across England offer a range of services, including musical instrument tuition, instrument loaning, and whole-class ensemble teaching. To widen access to musical instruments, the government is invested £25 million in capital funding for musical instruments, equipment, and technology across the 2024/25 and 2025/26 academic years. The grant can be used predominantly to purchase instruments and equipment, including where they have been adapted or developed to meet the needs of those with special educational needs or disabilities. In addition, all hubs are required to have a named inclusion lead and a published inclusion strategy. Most music hubs provide remissions or targeted provision aimed at supporting pupils who are from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The independent interim evaluation report into Music Hubs, published in February 2026, reported that 77% of teachers expected increased access to instruments, and 68% an increase in disadvantaged pupil participation under the new model. The report can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/music-hubs-evaluation-interim-report.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure SEN children have access to suitable educational provision.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
We are investing £4 billion in special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reform programmes over the next three years to strengthen inclusive provision. This includes £1.6 billion to help expand readily available support in schools, early years settings, and colleges so that needs are met earlier and more effectively. This is in addition to £1.8 billion to increase access to specialist expertise, and over £200 million to train the education workforce. We will develop National Inclusion Standards that set out evidence-informed tools, strategies and approaches for educators to draw on to identify and support children and young people with additional needs.
We are also investing at least £3.7 billion in high needs capital between 2025/26 and 2029/30 to support local authorities to provide suitable places for children and young people with SEND, or those requiring alternative provision. Gloucestershire County Council was allocated just under £6.9 million and just over £9.4 million in 2025/26 and 2026/27, respectively. This funding can be used to improve SEND provision across the county, including in Tewkesbury, by expanding inclusion bases, improving accessibility in mainstream settings, or creating additional special school places for pupils with the most complex needs.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure teachers are equipped to deal with student mental health challenges.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The government will provide access to NHS-funded mental health support teams (MHSTs) in every school by 2029, with around six in ten pupils expected to have access by April 2026. Data for 2024/25 is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transforming-children-and-young-peoples-mental-health-provision.
MHSTs supplement existing pastoral provision, and schools retain the freedom to determine support based on pupil need, making best use of their funding.
Alongside providing direct support to pupils, MHSTs can also work with the mental health lead in each school to introduce or develop a whole-school approach to mental health.
The department also encourages whole-school approaches to promoting children and young people's mental health and wellbeing, which includes schools equipping teachers with the skills and knowledge to recognise and respond appropriately to pupil’s mental health needs. The department’s guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/promoting-children-and-young-peoples-emotional-health-and-wellbeing.
To support education staff, the department provides a resource hub for mental health leads, and a targeted support guide and hub to help choose evidence-based targeted support for pupils.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to provide additional support to schools to help students with their mental health.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The government will provide access to NHS-funded mental health support teams (MHSTs) in every school by 2029, with around six in ten pupils expected to have access by April 2026. Data for 2024/25 is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transforming-children-and-young-peoples-mental-health-provision.
MHSTs supplement existing pastoral provision, and schools retain the freedom to determine support based on pupil need, making best use of their funding.
Alongside providing direct support to pupils, MHSTs can also work with the mental health lead in each school to introduce or develop a whole-school approach to mental health.
The department also encourages whole-school approaches to promoting children and young people's mental health and wellbeing, which includes schools equipping teachers with the skills and knowledge to recognise and respond appropriately to pupil’s mental health needs. The department’s guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/promoting-children-and-young-peoples-emotional-health-and-wellbeing.
To support education staff, the department provides a resource hub for mental health leads, and a targeted support guide and hub to help choose evidence-based targeted support for pupils.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to streamline the process of safeguarding referrals from schools to local authorities.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we are strengthening the role of education and childcare in multi-agency safeguarding arrangements to better protect children from abuse, neglect, and exploitation.
All schools must also have regard to the ‘Keeping children safe in education’ statutory guidance when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Part one of this guidance sets out what all staff need to know and do if they have any concerns about a child, including the process for making referrals to local authority children’s social care and for statutory assessments.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the rates of teacher retention in further education.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Having sufficient and skilled further education (FE) teachers is key to deliver on the government’s skills missions and help learners achieve good outcomes. The department continues to assess retention in the FE workforce based on available data and sector engagement.
The most recent published figures indicate that for FE teachers starting in 2016, 51% were still in post by 2019. For those starting in 2014, 39% were still in post by 2019. The department also collects workforce data through the annual Further Education Workforce Data Collection.
To improve retention, the department is delivering several programmes, including the targeted retention incentive for teachers in priority shortage subjects, reforms to initial teacher education and a strengthened professional development pathway with additional support for special educational needs and disabilities training.
We will also continue to work closely with the sector, including through the Improving Education Together group, to understand drivers of retention and support meaningful improvement in teacher experience.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to promote teaching as a career path for young people and current teachers.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Since July 2024, this government has taken targeted action to boost teacher supply. This work started with our reset of the relationship with the sector, to re-establish teaching as an attractive profession, making it one that existing teachers want to remain in, former teachers want to return to, and new graduates wish to join. We have published our delivery plan for 6,500 new expert teachers, focusing delivery across three key themes:
We are offering recruitment incentives in the subjects where they are needed most, with significant investment in tax-free teacher training bursaries and scholarships of up to £31,000 for school and college teachers.
We have recognised the importance of teachers with a pay rise for school teachers and leaders of nearly 10% since this government took power.
Our approach is already starting to pay-off, with the secondary and special school workforce growing by 2,346 teachers between 2023/24 and 2024/25.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what consideration her Department has given to paying national non-domestic rates on behalf of early years education settings.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
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 and delivering on our Plan for Change.
The small business rate relief scheme provides up to 100% relief for eligible businesses occupying one property with a rateable value of £12,000 or below and reduces bills up to £15,000. Furthermore, if a nursery is a charity, charitable rate relief provides 80% off rates bills, which can be topped up to 100% by the local authority.
The government funds local authorities to deliver the early years entitlements through the early years national funding formula for the three and four-year-old entitlement and a separate formula for the two-year-old and below entitlement. The hourly funding rate paid to local authorities for these entitlements is designed to recognise the average costs across different provider types and is intended to reflect staff and non-staff costs, including business rates. The national average three and four-year-old hourly funding rate of local authorities is increasing by 4.1%, the two-year-old hourly funding rate is increasing by 3.3%, and the nine months to two-year-old hourly funding rate is increasing by 3.4%.
There are no current plans to extend the centralised payment system to private, voluntary, or independent early years settings or to make these settings exempt.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the rates of teacher retention amongst early years educators.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The turnover rate for all early years educators in private group-based and school-based providers is 16% and 7% respectively. A breakdown by qualification level is unavailable.
To boost recruitment and retention of early years teachers (EYTs) and meet the long-term ambition of having an EYT in every setting, the department will introduce EYT financial incentives worth a maximum of £4,500 per annum to support those working in the most disadvantaged communities. We expect the financial incentives to be available from autumn 2026 and will publish more detail in due course.
We are aiming to more than double the number of funded places on early years initial teacher training courses by 2028 and have introduced a new degree apprenticeship route to help more people become EYTs so that every child, no matter where they live, can benefit from high-quality early education.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of mental health and wellbeing amongst teachers.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Supporting the wellbeing of our expert education workforce is critical to this government’s mission to break down the barriers to opportunity for children and young people.
The department tracks teacher wellbeing through the longitudinal study, the Working Lives of Teachers and Leaders. Wave 4 shows improved wellbeing across all Office for National Statistics (ONS)-validated personal wellbeing measures in 2025. Average life satisfaction, happiness, and feelings of life being worthwhile all increased while average anxiety decreased.
Another means by which we commission research is by including ONS-validated personal wellbeing questions in the School and College Voice Survey to capture seasonal differences. The latest data shows that all wellbeing measures remain broadly in line with the same period last year.
The ‘Every Child Achieving and Thriving’ white paper announced £1 million of additional funding each year to provide up to 2,500 leaders with access to a safe and confidential space to develop new strategies to manage their resilience and capacity.
The Education Staff Wellbeing Charter sets out commitments from the department, Ofsted, schools and colleges to promote staff wellbeing. Over 4,300 schools and colleges have signed up.
We are tackling the wider pressures on teachers and leaders. The Child Poverty Strategy, the introduction of our strategy for ‘Giving every child the best start in life’, reform to children’s social care, and the expansion of access to specialist mental health professionals will enhance teachers’ day-to-day experience and strengthen their ability to deliver.