Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department plans to provide to schools on ensuring that biological girls have access to female-only (a) spaces, (b) sports and (c) facilities.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Single-sex spaces based on biological sex are protected in law and will always be protected by this government.
The department is currently reviewing the draft non-statutory guidance for schools and colleges on gender questioning children, in addition to reviewing the statutory guidance on relationships, sex and health education. The guidance on gender questioning children will reflect the legal protection for single-sex spaces and facilities in schools, as well as the Equality Act protection for single-sex sport in schools to ensure fairness and safety.
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has been clear that children’s wellbeing must be at the heart of this guidance and, as such, the government is looking carefully at the consultation responses, discussing with stakeholders and considering the relevant evidence, including the final report of the Cass Review which was published post-consultation, before setting out next steps.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 31 March 2025 to Question 41472 on Childcare: Fees and Charges whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the £100k cut off for free childcare provision on (a) overall workforce productivity, (b) willingness of impacted employees to take on additional hours and responsibilities and (c) willingness of impacted NHS clinical staff to take on additional hours of work and responsibilities.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham to the answer of 31 March 2025 to Question 41472.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of schools whose grant offered to cover the rise in employers National Insurance contributions is not enough meet the actual cost incurred.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The government has agreed that public sector employers will receive support in recognition of the increase in their National Insurance contributions (NICs) from April 2025. The department is providing schools and high needs settings with over £930 million in the 2025/26 financial year to support them with their increased NICs costs. This support is additional to the £2.3 billion increase to core school funding announced at the Autumn Budget 2024. This means that the core schools budget, which includes the core revenue funding for schools and high needs, will total over £64.8 billion in the 2025/26 financial year. The amount of public sector support is based on HM Treasury analysis of the proportion of employer NICs receipts paid by public sector organisations, and allocated between departments based on headcount and wage/salary data.
The NICs grant will allocate funding to schools according to their pupil numbers, and the numbers of pupils with additional needs, along with a lump sum component for every school regardless of pupil numbers. The department’s funding system is not designed so that every school receives funding that fully matches their precise spending as that, including the NICs costs, varies between institutions because of the decisions that each school takes on its staffing.
The department has distributed this funding in proportion to the needs of the different sectors and phases of education. The department will continue to monitor cost pressures, as it usually does.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of whether the additional funding provided to schools for the increased cost of employer National insurance contributions is adequate to meet those costs.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The government has agreed that public sector employers will receive support in recognition of the increase in their National Insurance contributions (NICs) from April 2025. The department is providing schools and high needs settings with over £930 million in the 2025/26 financial year to support them with their increased NICs costs. This support is additional to the £2.3 billion increase to core school funding announced at the Autumn Budget 2024. This means that the core schools budget, which includes the core revenue funding for schools and high needs, will total over £64.8 billion in the 2025/26 financial year. The amount of public sector support is based on HM Treasury analysis of the proportion of employer NICs receipts paid by public sector organisations, and allocated between departments based on headcount and wage/salary data.
The NICs grant will allocate funding to schools according to their pupil numbers, and the numbers of pupils with additional needs, along with a lump sum component for every school regardless of pupil numbers. The department’s funding system is not designed so that every school receives funding that fully matches their precise spending as that, including the NICs costs, varies between institutions because of the decisions that each school takes on its staffing.
The department has distributed this funding in proportion to the needs of the different sectors and phases of education. The department will continue to monitor cost pressures, as it usually does.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the impact of the £100k cut off for free childcare provision on (a) overall workforce productivity, (b) willingness of impacted employees to take on additional hours and responsibilities and (c) willingness of impacted NHS clinical staff to take on additional hours of work and responsibilities.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
All families are eligible for universal 15 hours of free childcare for three and four year-olds, including those who earn over £100,000.
The £100,000 level was chosen to correspond with income tax thresholds and to be easily understandable for parents. Only a very small proportion of parents, 3.8% of parents of three and four year-olds in 2023/24, earn over the £100,000 threshold.
The government needs to use public funds in a way that provides value for money and considers it reasonable to target this funding at those individuals earning under £100,000 adjusted net income.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of items of correspondence from Parliamentarians received by (a) her Department, (b) herself and (c) her ministerial team have not received a substantive response in each month since August 2024.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The total number of cases received by the department since August 2024 that are due for reply but have yet to receive a substantive response is 31.
The breakdown is as follows:
Parliamentary cases that have not yet had a substantive reply | ||||||
Month Received | Secretary of State for Education | Ministerial Team | Department | |||
| Volume | % | Volume | % | Volume | % |
August 2024 | 0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0.0% |
September 2024 | 0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0.0% |
October 2024 | 1 | 2.0% | 0 | 0.0% | 1 | 0.2% |
November 2024 | 1 | 1.8% | 3 | 0.5% | 4 | 0.7% |
December 2024 | 3 | 6.7% | 12 | 2.2% | 15 | 2.5% |
January 2025 | 1 | 4.8% | 10 | 5.6% | 11 | 5.6% |
Total | 6 | 2.0% | 25 | 0.9% | 31 | 1.0% |
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to the minimum wage announced in the Autumn Budget 2024 on the cost of childcare.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Autumn Budget 2024 confirmed £1.8 billion in the 2025/26 financial year to support the expansion of the early years entitlement offer for eligible working parents from 15 hours to 30 hours from September 2025. This £1.8 billion will mean the budget for childcare entitlements next year will be over £8 billion, reflecting the additional money needed for the 30 hour expansion, and ensuring funding for the entitlements reflects the national living wage.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the impact of the increases to employers national insurance contributions on the cost to parents of pre-school childcare.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham to the answer of 11 November 2024 to Question 12804.