Damian Hinds

The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) analyse and report on referral numbers within their Annual Report and Accounts published on GOV.UK. Referrals to TRA have increased from 1038 in 2022/23 to 1684 in 2023/24, and that increase has been driven by a rise in the number of referrals made by members of the public since the launch of the online referral system in March 2023.

The department’s new regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) teams will provide both mandatory targeted intervention to schools that Ofsted identifies as needing to improve, and a universal service for all schools, which will act as a catalyst for collaboration and improvement across all schools.

RISE teams will now begin engaging with the first schools eligible for the targeted, bespoke service, with more schools to begin in April.

The department’s first 20 RISE advisers are now in post. They will work alongside the department to help support schools break down the barriers to opportunity and end the link between background and success. A full list of these advisers has been published on GOV.UK.

Expert RISE advisers will work with the department’s Regions Group. Some Regions Group staff will work full-time delivering RISE work, others will deliver some RISE work alongside other roles. Workforce allocations for the 2025/26 fiscal and academic years have not yet been set.

In addition to the RISE advisers in post, the department launched a recruitment campaign for a full cohort of advisers to start in the spring and summer term. We will be informing candidates of the outcome of this campaign shortly.

The department’s new regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) teams will provide both mandatory targeted intervention to schools that Ofsted identifies as needing to improve, and a universal service for all schools, which will act as a catalyst for collaboration and improvement across all schools.

RISE teams will now begin engaging with the first schools eligible for the targeted, bespoke service, with more schools to begin in April.

The department’s first 20 RISE advisers are now in post. They will work alongside the department to help support schools break down the barriers to opportunity and end the link between background and success. A full list of these advisers has been published on GOV.UK.

Expert RISE advisers will work with the department’s Regions Group. Some Regions Group staff will work full-time delivering RISE work, others will deliver some RISE work alongside other roles. Workforce allocations for the 2025/26 fiscal and academic years have not yet been set.

In addition to the RISE advisers in post, the department launched a recruitment campaign for a full cohort of advisers to start in the spring and summer term. We will be informing candidates of the outcome of this campaign shortly.

The department’s new regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) teams will provide both mandatory targeted intervention to schools that Ofsted identifies as needing to improve, and a universal service for all schools, which will act as a catalyst for collaboration and improvement across all schools.

RISE teams will now begin engaging with the first schools eligible for the targeted, bespoke service, with more schools to begin in April.

The department’s first 20 RISE advisers are now in post. They will work alongside the department to help support schools break down the barriers to opportunity and end the link between background and success. A full list of these advisers has been published on GOV.UK.

Expert RISE advisers will work with the department’s Regions Group. Some Regions Group staff will work full-time delivering RISE work, others will deliver some RISE work alongside other roles. Workforce allocations for the 2025/26 fiscal and academic years have not yet been set.

In addition to the RISE advisers in post, the department launched a recruitment campaign for a full cohort of advisers to start in the spring and summer term. We will be informing candidates of the outcome of this campaign shortly.

The department’s new regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) teams will provide both mandatory targeted intervention to schools that Ofsted identifies as needing to improve, and a universal service for all schools, which will act as a catalyst for collaboration and improvement across all schools.

RISE teams will now begin engaging with the first schools eligible for the targeted, bespoke service, with more schools to begin in April.

The department’s first 20 RISE advisers are now in post. They will work alongside the department to help support schools break down the barriers to opportunity and end the link between background and success. A full list of these advisers has been published on GOV.UK.

Expert RISE advisers will work with the department’s Regions Group. Some Regions Group staff will work full-time delivering RISE work, others will deliver some RISE work alongside other roles. Workforce allocations for the 2025/26 fiscal and academic years have not yet been set.

In addition to the RISE advisers in post, the department launched a recruitment campaign for a full cohort of advisers to start in the spring and summer term. We will be informing candidates of the outcome of this campaign shortly.

Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellent (RISE) team advisers have an exceptional track record of school improvement and executive leadership. This includes individuals who are, or have recently been, headteachers, senior local authority officers or trust leaders. They have a much broader role in acting as the catalyst for driving a self-improving system, and designing bespoke, targeted interventions to under-performing schools, compared to National Leaders of Education (NLEs). Unlike NLEs, RISE advisors will not directly deliver these interventions but will draw on a range of high-quality organisations from curriculum hubs to high-performing trusts, to do so in line with evidence on driving improvements in school standards and outcomes.

The department’s targeted, mandatory RISE intervention is backed initially by over £20 million of funding for school improvement, far more than was available under the optional Trust and School Improvement (TSI) offer of a basic £6,000 worth of support per school compared to RISE’s of up to £100,000. In addition, the previous government had not planned to continue the TSI offer for schools which were newly eligible from September 2024, a decision this government has reversed.

The average number of full-time equivalent (FTE) staff in the department’s Regions Group was 790 in the 2023/24 financial year and 825 in the 2023/24 academic year.

On 1 October 2024, 172 FTE staff along with their functions transferred into Regions Group, in advance of the planned closure of the Education and Skills Funding Agency in March 2025.

Currently, the expected number of staff in Regions Group on 1 April 2025 is 996.9 FTE.

Workforce allocations for 2025/26 have not yet been set.

Information on the school workforce 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. The next publication in this series, regarding the 2024/25 academic year, will be released in June 2025.

Schools where qualified teacher status (QTS) is a legal requirement are referred to as maintained schools. In some schools in England, QTS is not a legal requirement. Within the English state school sector, academy schools and free schools can employ teachers without QTS.

Data showing the full time equivalent (FTE) of teachers with and without QTS, from 2010/11 to 2023/24, which is the earliest and latest year for which data is available, can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/b524fbd3-401e-45e4-18af-08dd3ba4043a. Both the FTE of teachers and the proportion of FTE teachers, with and without QTS, is available in the attached table, which shows data from 2010/11 to 2023/24, the earliest and latest year for which data is available.

Data showing the FTE of teachers on a QTS route, and not on a QTS route, from 2010/11 to 2022/23, the earliest and latest year for which data is available, can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/9405c2fd-8b88-4150-18c1-08dd3ba4043a. Both the FTE of teachers and the proportion of FTE teachers, on and off a QTS route, is available in the attached table, showing data from 2010/11 to 2022/23, the earliest and latest year for which data is available.

The requested information on how many and what proportion of teachers without QTS were on recruitment programmes supported and procured by the department is not available.

The requested information on which subjects are most taught by teachers without QTS is not available.

In the top 3% of schools employing teachers without QTS, the average proportion of teachers without QTS within their school is 12.5%. The average proportion in the top 10% of schools is 8.5%.

The age group distribution of teachers without QTS can be seen in the attached table. The requested information on distribution by the length of service for teachers without QTS is not available.

Information on the school workforce 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. The next publication in this series, regarding the 2024/25 academic year, will be released in June 2025.

Schools where qualified teacher status (QTS) is a legal requirement are referred to as maintained schools. In some schools in England, QTS is not a legal requirement. Within the English state school sector, academy schools and free schools can employ teachers without QTS.

Data showing the full time equivalent (FTE) of teachers with and without QTS, from 2010/11 to 2023/24, which is the earliest and latest year for which data is available, can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/b524fbd3-401e-45e4-18af-08dd3ba4043a. Both the FTE of teachers and the proportion of FTE teachers, with and without QTS, is available in the attached table, which shows data from 2010/11 to 2023/24, the earliest and latest year for which data is available.

Data showing the FTE of teachers on a QTS route, and not on a QTS route, from 2010/11 to 2022/23, the earliest and latest year for which data is available, can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/9405c2fd-8b88-4150-18c1-08dd3ba4043a. Both the FTE of teachers and the proportion of FTE teachers, on and off a QTS route, is available in the attached table, showing data from 2010/11 to 2022/23, the earliest and latest year for which data is available.

The requested information on how many and what proportion of teachers without QTS were on recruitment programmes supported and procured by the department is not available.

The requested information on which subjects are most taught by teachers without QTS is not available.

In the top 3% of schools employing teachers without QTS, the average proportion of teachers without QTS within their school is 12.5%. The average proportion in the top 10% of schools is 8.5%.

The age group distribution of teachers without QTS can be seen in the attached table. The requested information on distribution by the length of service for teachers without QTS is not available.

Information on the school workforce 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. The next publication in this series, regarding the 2024/25 academic year, will be released in June 2025.

Schools where qualified teacher status (QTS) is a legal requirement are referred to as maintained schools. In some schools in England, QTS is not a legal requirement. Within the English state school sector, academy schools and free schools can employ teachers without QTS.

Data showing the full time equivalent (FTE) of teachers with and without QTS, from 2010/11 to 2023/24, which is the earliest and latest year for which data is available, can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/b524fbd3-401e-45e4-18af-08dd3ba4043a. Both the FTE of teachers and the proportion of FTE teachers, with and without QTS, is available in the attached table, which shows data from 2010/11 to 2023/24, the earliest and latest year for which data is available.

Data showing the FTE of teachers on a QTS route, and not on a QTS route, from 2010/11 to 2022/23, the earliest and latest year for which data is available, can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/9405c2fd-8b88-4150-18c1-08dd3ba4043a. Both the FTE of teachers and the proportion of FTE teachers, on and off a QTS route, is available in the attached table, showing data from 2010/11 to 2022/23, the earliest and latest year for which data is available.

The requested information on how many and what proportion of teachers without QTS were on recruitment programmes supported and procured by the department is not available.

The requested information on which subjects are most taught by teachers without QTS is not available.

In the top 3% of schools employing teachers without QTS, the average proportion of teachers without QTS within their school is 12.5%. The average proportion in the top 10% of schools is 8.5%.

The age group distribution of teachers without QTS can be seen in the attached table. The requested information on distribution by the length of service for teachers without QTS is not available.

Information on the school workforce 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. The next publication in this series, regarding the 2024/25 academic year, will be released in June 2025.

Schools where qualified teacher status (QTS) is a legal requirement are referred to as maintained schools. In some schools in England, QTS is not a legal requirement. Within the English state school sector, academy schools and free schools can employ teachers without QTS.

Data showing the full time equivalent (FTE) of teachers with and without QTS, from 2010/11 to 2023/24, which is the earliest and latest year for which data is available, can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/b524fbd3-401e-45e4-18af-08dd3ba4043a. Both the FTE of teachers and the proportion of FTE teachers, with and without QTS, is available in the attached table, which shows data from 2010/11 to 2023/24, the earliest and latest year for which data is available.

Data showing the FTE of teachers on a QTS route, and not on a QTS route, from 2010/11 to 2022/23, the earliest and latest year for which data is available, can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/9405c2fd-8b88-4150-18c1-08dd3ba4043a. Both the FTE of teachers and the proportion of FTE teachers, on and off a QTS route, is available in the attached table, showing data from 2010/11 to 2022/23, the earliest and latest year for which data is available.

The requested information on how many and what proportion of teachers without QTS were on recruitment programmes supported and procured by the department is not available.

The requested information on which subjects are most taught by teachers without QTS is not available.

In the top 3% of schools employing teachers without QTS, the average proportion of teachers without QTS within their school is 12.5%. The average proportion in the top 10% of schools is 8.5%.

The age group distribution of teachers without QTS can be seen in the attached table. The requested information on distribution by the length of service for teachers without QTS is not available.

Information on the school workforce 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. The next publication in this series, regarding the 2024/25 academic year, will be released in June 2025.

Schools where qualified teacher status (QTS) is a legal requirement are referred to as maintained schools. In some schools in England, QTS is not a legal requirement. Within the English state school sector, academy schools and free schools can employ teachers without QTS.

Data showing the full time equivalent (FTE) of teachers with and without QTS, from 2010/11 to 2023/24, which is the earliest and latest year for which data is available, can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/b524fbd3-401e-45e4-18af-08dd3ba4043a. Both the FTE of teachers and the proportion of FTE teachers, with and without QTS, is available in the attached table, which shows data from 2010/11 to 2023/24, the earliest and latest year for which data is available.

Data showing the FTE of teachers on a QTS route, and not on a QTS route, from 2010/11 to 2022/23, the earliest and latest year for which data is available, can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/9405c2fd-8b88-4150-18c1-08dd3ba4043a. Both the FTE of teachers and the proportion of FTE teachers, on and off a QTS route, is available in the attached table, showing data from 2010/11 to 2022/23, the earliest and latest year for which data is available.

The requested information on how many and what proportion of teachers without QTS were on recruitment programmes supported and procured by the department is not available.

The requested information on which subjects are most taught by teachers without QTS is not available.

In the top 3% of schools employing teachers without QTS, the average proportion of teachers without QTS within their school is 12.5%. The average proportion in the top 10% of schools is 8.5%.

The age group distribution of teachers without QTS can be seen in the attached table. The requested information on distribution by the length of service for teachers without QTS is not available.

Information on the school workforce 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. The next publication in this series, regarding the 2024/25 academic year, will be released in June 2025.

Schools where qualified teacher status (QTS) is a legal requirement are referred to as maintained schools. In some schools in England, QTS is not a legal requirement. Within the English state school sector, academy schools and free schools can employ teachers without QTS.

Data showing the full time equivalent (FTE) of teachers with and without QTS, from 2010/11 to 2023/24, which is the earliest and latest year for which data is available, can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/b524fbd3-401e-45e4-18af-08dd3ba4043a. Both the FTE of teachers and the proportion of FTE teachers, with and without QTS, is available in the attached table, which shows data from 2010/11 to 2023/24, the earliest and latest year for which data is available.

Data showing the FTE of teachers on a QTS route, and not on a QTS route, from 2010/11 to 2022/23, the earliest and latest year for which data is available, can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/9405c2fd-8b88-4150-18c1-08dd3ba4043a. Both the FTE of teachers and the proportion of FTE teachers, on and off a QTS route, is available in the attached table, showing data from 2010/11 to 2022/23, the earliest and latest year for which data is available.

The requested information on how many and what proportion of teachers without QTS were on recruitment programmes supported and procured by the department is not available.

The requested information on which subjects are most taught by teachers without QTS is not available.

In the top 3% of schools employing teachers without QTS, the average proportion of teachers without QTS within their school is 12.5%. The average proportion in the top 10% of schools is 8.5%.

The age group distribution of teachers without QTS can be seen in the attached table. The requested information on distribution by the length of service for teachers without QTS is not available.

The department has heard from schools, leaders and teachers regarding the measure in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to require new teachers to have or be working towards qualified teacher status (QTS). This measure will reaffirm the professional status of teaching and emphasise the importance of high-quality teaching in outcomes for children.

The requirement for QTS builds on the reforms made by the previous government, who ensured that the essential knowledge associated with high-quality teaching is incorporated into all primary and secondary initial teacher training and the statutory early career induction. We want to ensure that new teachers benefit from the very best evidence-based training followed by an induction, whichever type of school they work in.

There are existing exemptions to the requirement for QTS set out in regulations, which allow schools to employ unqualified teachers in particular circumstances. The government will retain these exemptions for all schools.

Between 14 October 2024 and 15 January 2025, nine schools left the Teachers’ Pension Scheme outright and eighteen have entered a phased withdrawal.

High quality teaching is the in-school factor that makes the biggest difference to a child’s outcomes and is thus essential to delivering the government’s mission to break down the barriers to opportunity for every child.

​​There are now 468,693 full-time equivalent teachers in state-funded schools in England, but this has not kept pace with pupil numbers, with teacher vacancies increasing more than five-fold since 2010. This is why the government is committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers across our schools, both mainstream and specialist, and our colleges over the course of this Parliament.

Our plans include getting more teachers into shortage subjects, supporting areas that face the greatest recruitment challenges and tackling retention issues. The department will continue to work alongside the sector as we seek to re-establish teaching as an attractive profession, one that existing teachers wants to remain in, former teachers want to return to, and new graduates wish to join.

The department has made good early progress towards this key pledge by ensuring teaching is once again an attractive and respected profession, key to which is ensuring teachers receive the pay they deserve. We have accepted in full the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendation of a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools for 2024/25. Alongside teacher pay, we have made £233 million available from the 2025/26 recruitment cycle to support teacher trainees with tax-free bursaries of up to £29,000 and scholarships of up to £31,000 in shortage subjects. The department has also expanded its school teacher recruitment campaign, ‘Every Lesson Shapes a Life’, and the further education teacher recruitment campaign, ‘Share your Skills’.

​A successful recruitment strategy starts with a strong retention strategy, and new teachers of mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing in the first five years of their careers will now receive a targeted retention incentive of up to £6,000, after-tax, if working in disadvantaged schools.

The department is also working closely with teachers and school leaders to improve the experience of teaching. This includes introducing a new school report card in place of Ofsted’s single headline grades, to provide a clearer picture of schools’ strengths and weaknesses for parents and more proportionate accountability for staff. It also includes enabling flexible working, such as allowing planning, preparation and assessment time to be taken from home, and making key resources to support wellbeing, developed with school leaders, available to teachers.

The department is also funding bespoke support provided by flexible working ambassador schools and multi-academy trusts, to ensure schools are able to capture the benefits of flexible working whilst protecting pupils’ face-to-face teacher time.

High quality continuous professional development is also key to ensuring we have and retain an effective teaching workforce. ​The department has established Teaching School Hubs across the country, which provide approved high quality professional development to teachers at all stages of their careers. These Hubs play a significant role in delivering initial teacher training, the Early Career Framework, National Professional Qualifications and Appropriate Body services.

High quality teaching is the in-school factor that makes the biggest difference to a child’s outcomes and is thus essential to delivering the government’s mission to break down the barriers to opportunity for every child.

​​There are now 468,693 full-time equivalent teachers in state-funded schools in England, but this has not kept pace with pupil numbers, with teacher vacancies increasing more than five-fold since 2010. This is why the government is committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers across our schools, both mainstream and specialist, and our colleges over the course of this Parliament.

Our plans include getting more teachers into shortage subjects, supporting areas that face the greatest recruitment challenges and tackling retention issues. The department will continue to work alongside the sector as we seek to re-establish teaching as an attractive profession, one that existing teachers wants to remain in, former teachers want to return to, and new graduates wish to join.

The department has made good early progress towards this key pledge by ensuring teaching is once again an attractive and respected profession, key to which is ensuring teachers receive the pay they deserve. We have accepted in full the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendation of a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools for 2024/25. Alongside teacher pay, we have made £233 million available from the 2025/26 recruitment cycle to support teacher trainees with tax-free bursaries of up to £29,000 and scholarships of up to £31,000 in shortage subjects. The department has also expanded its school teacher recruitment campaign, ‘Every Lesson Shapes a Life’, and the further education teacher recruitment campaign, ‘Share your Skills’.

​A successful recruitment strategy starts with a strong retention strategy, and new teachers of mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing in the first five years of their careers will now receive a targeted retention incentive of up to £6,000, after-tax, if working in disadvantaged schools.

The department is also working closely with teachers and school leaders to improve the experience of teaching. This includes introducing a new school report card in place of Ofsted’s single headline grades, to provide a clearer picture of schools’ strengths and weaknesses for parents and more proportionate accountability for staff. It also includes enabling flexible working, such as allowing planning, preparation and assessment time to be taken from home, and making key resources to support wellbeing, developed with school leaders, available to teachers.

The department is also funding bespoke support provided by flexible working ambassador schools and multi-academy trusts, to ensure schools are able to capture the benefits of flexible working whilst protecting pupils’ face-to-face teacher time.

High quality continuous professional development is also key to ensuring we have and retain an effective teaching workforce. ​The department has established Teaching School Hubs across the country, which provide approved high quality professional development to teachers at all stages of their careers. These Hubs play a significant role in delivering initial teacher training, the Early Career Framework, National Professional Qualifications and Appropriate Body services.

High quality teaching is the in-school factor that makes the biggest difference to a child’s outcomes and is thus essential to delivering the government’s mission to break down the barriers to opportunity for every child.

​​There are now 468,693 full-time equivalent teachers in state-funded schools in England, but this has not kept pace with pupil numbers, with teacher vacancies increasing more than five-fold since 2010. This is why the government is committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers across our schools, both mainstream and specialist, and our colleges over the course of this Parliament.

Our plans include getting more teachers into shortage subjects, supporting areas that face the greatest recruitment challenges and tackling retention issues. The department will continue to work alongside the sector as we seek to re-establish teaching as an attractive profession, one that existing teachers wants to remain in, former teachers want to return to, and new graduates wish to join.

The department has made good early progress towards this key pledge by ensuring teaching is once again an attractive and respected profession, key to which is ensuring teachers receive the pay they deserve. We have accepted in full the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendation of a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools for 2024/25. Alongside teacher pay, we have made £233 million available from the 2025/26 recruitment cycle to support teacher trainees with tax-free bursaries of up to £29,000 and scholarships of up to £31,000 in shortage subjects. The department has also expanded its school teacher recruitment campaign, ‘Every Lesson Shapes a Life’, and the further education teacher recruitment campaign, ‘Share your Skills’.

​A successful recruitment strategy starts with a strong retention strategy, and new teachers of mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing in the first five years of their careers will now receive a targeted retention incentive of up to £6,000, after-tax, if working in disadvantaged schools.

The department is also working closely with teachers and school leaders to improve the experience of teaching. This includes introducing a new school report card in place of Ofsted’s single headline grades, to provide a clearer picture of schools’ strengths and weaknesses for parents and more proportionate accountability for staff. It also includes enabling flexible working, such as allowing planning, preparation and assessment time to be taken from home, and making key resources to support wellbeing, developed with school leaders, available to teachers.

The department is also funding bespoke support provided by flexible working ambassador schools and multi-academy trusts, to ensure schools are able to capture the benefits of flexible working whilst protecting pupils’ face-to-face teacher time.

High quality continuous professional development is also key to ensuring we have and retain an effective teaching workforce. ​The department has established Teaching School Hubs across the country, which provide approved high quality professional development to teachers at all stages of their careers. These Hubs play a significant role in delivering initial teacher training, the Early Career Framework, National Professional Qualifications and Appropriate Body services.

Technical Excellence Colleges will support a focus on higher technical skills and link to local growth plans. These colleges will work with businesses, trade unions and local government to provide young people and adults with better job opportunities and the highly trained workforce that local economies need.

The department will be setting out further details on Technical Excellence Colleges in due course.

The government’s statutory guidance requires schools to ensure that arrangements are in place for parents to acquire second-hand school uniforms, for example through periodic second-hand uniform sales or swap shops, and to make these arrangements clear on their website. This guidance is available here: www.gov.uk/government/publications/cost-of-school-uniforms.

Too many families tell us that the cost of providing school uniform remains a financial burden. That is why we are introducing legislation to limit the number of expensive branded items of uniform and PE kit that schools can require.

Breakfast clubs remove barriers to opportunity, supporting pupils’ attendance and attainment, enabling them to thrive academically and socially and helping families with the cost of childcare around the school day.

Compared to studies of programmes targeted at primary-aged pupils, there are comparatively few high-quality experimental studies on the impact of breakfast clubs on secondary-aged pupils. Typically, primary school breakfast clubs have higher take-up than secondaries and more studies report their positive effects on attainment and attendance, such as the Magic Breakfast evaluation which reported that attendance improved for children at breakfast club schools, equivalent to 26 fewer half-days of absence per year for a class of 30.

The government is committed to offering a free breakfast club in every state-funded school with primary-aged pupils in England. With limited resources, the evidence we do have shows it is right for the government to focus this provision on primary-aged pupils where there is greatest evidence of gains to children’s learning and development.

The department collects detailed pupil-level data on attendance, which is disaggregated by a number of characteristics, including measures of disadvantage such as the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI) and free school meal (FSM) eligibility. This data is regularly analysed.

The overall absence rate for FSM eligible pupils in 2022/23 was 11%, which is higher than the 6% absence rate for non-FSM eligible pupils. Similarly, the persistent absence rate and severe absence rates in 2022/23 were 36.1% and 3.9% respectively for FSM-eligible pupils, compared with 15% and 1% for non-FSM eligible pupils.

When overall absence rates are broken down by decile of the IDACI index, the data shows that the most deprived areas, 0-10% on the IDACI index, have the highest levels of absence at 8.3%, while the least deprived areas, 90-100% on the IDACI index, have the lowest levels of absence at 6.3%. A similar pattern holds true for persistent absence, with 25.9% in the most deprived areas, compared to 16.1% in the least deprived areas.

These patterns differ according to phase of school, with secondary schools in the most disadvantaged areas having significantly higher overall absence (10.2%), than primary schools in the most disadvantaged areas (7.0%).

The underlying drivers of school absence are many and varied. Amongst them are several linked to deprivation, including the increasing cost of living, child poverty, poor access to transport, resources and limited access to wider support services. Research has also shown that parental attitudes, child mental health and school belonging are strongly correlated with attendance.

This government is determined to tackle the generational challenge of school absence as it is a fundamental barrier to learning and life chances. Central to the department’s approach are stronger expectations of local authorities and schools, as set out in the ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance, which was made statutory on 19 August 2024. The guidance promotes a 'support-first' approach and sets out clear expectations on how schools, trusts, local authorities and wider services should work together and with families to address attendance barriers and provide the right support.

Every state school in England should now be sharing their daily attendance register data with the department, local authorities and trusts. These bodies can access this data through a secure, interactive dashboard which is maintained by the department, allowing them to identify patterns and target attendance interventions more effectively.

The department collects detailed pupil-level data on attendance, which is disaggregated by a number of characteristics, including measures of disadvantage such as the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI) and free school meal (FSM) eligibility. This data is regularly analysed.

The overall absence rate for FSM eligible pupils in 2022/23 was 11%, which is higher than the 6% absence rate for non-FSM eligible pupils. Similarly, the persistent absence rate and severe absence rates in 2022/23 were 36.1% and 3.9% respectively for FSM-eligible pupils, compared with 15% and 1% for non-FSM eligible pupils.

When overall absence rates are broken down by decile of the IDACI index, the data shows that the most deprived areas, 0-10% on the IDACI index, have the highest levels of absence at 8.3%, while the least deprived areas, 90-100% on the IDACI index, have the lowest levels of absence at 6.3%. A similar pattern holds true for persistent absence, with 25.9% in the most deprived areas, compared to 16.1% in the least deprived areas.

These patterns differ according to phase of school, with secondary schools in the most disadvantaged areas having significantly higher overall absence (10.2%), than primary schools in the most disadvantaged areas (7.0%).

The underlying drivers of school absence are many and varied. Amongst them are several linked to deprivation, including the increasing cost of living, child poverty, poor access to transport, resources and limited access to wider support services. Research has also shown that parental attitudes, child mental health and school belonging are strongly correlated with attendance.

This government is determined to tackle the generational challenge of school absence as it is a fundamental barrier to learning and life chances. Central to the department’s approach are stronger expectations of local authorities and schools, as set out in the ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance, which was made statutory on 19 August 2024. The guidance promotes a 'support-first' approach and sets out clear expectations on how schools, trusts, local authorities and wider services should work together and with families to address attendance barriers and provide the right support.

Every state school in England should now be sharing their daily attendance register data with the department, local authorities and trusts. These bodies can access this data through a secure, interactive dashboard which is maintained by the department, allowing them to identify patterns and target attendance interventions more effectively.

School uniforms play a valuable role in creating a sense of common identity among pupils and reducing visible inequalities, but too many schools require high numbers of branded uniform items, with parents reporting uniforms are their most significant cost of school concern. This government has therefore introduced legislation to limit the number of branded items of uniform and PE kit that schools can require, to bring down costs for parents and remove barriers from children accessing sport and other school activities. This will give parents more choice in where to purchase uniform and allow them greater flexibility to make the spending decisions that suit their circumstances.

The vast majority of primary schools do not currently require pupils to purchase a branded tie and, as most primary schools already have a lower number of compulsory branded items, this government does not want that number to increase. Primary schools will remain free to require a branded tie, however it will count towards their three branded item limit.

In comparison, most secondary and middle schools already require branded ties, with 82% of secondary schools requiring a tie. Allowing secondary and middle schools an additional branded tie balances reducing costs for parents with providing those schools with necessary extra flexibility in setting their uniform policies. For example, it allows a secondary school to retain a branded tie and blazer whilst still being able to brand other items across PE kit and daywear, according to their circumstances.

Information on applications for education, health and care (EHC) plans is collected from local authorities via the annual SEN2 data collection each January. SEN2 is a statutory return. It includes information on requests for assessment for an EHC plan made to each local authority and the outcome of that request, the assessments for an EHC plan made by each local authority and the outcome of that assessment, as well as information on the EHC plans maintained by the authority.

The information collected also contains characteristics of the individual, such as sex, ethnicity and age.

This information is subsequently published for each local authority in the ‘Education, health and care plans’ statistical release, which can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans. This publication includes the number of requests for assessment for an EHC plan and the number of assessments for an EHC plan as returned by each local authority.

In addition to the SEN2 data, the department also monitors trends using more timely operational data directly from local authorities.

The department does not collect data on the number of in-year school admission applications received in each local authority area.

Admission authorities must notify their local authority of all in-year applications they receive and their outcomes.

Local authorities are not required to co-ordinate the in-year admissions process for schools in their area for which they are not the admission authority, although some local authorities choose to do so. In areas where the local authority does not co-ordinate in-year admissions, schools which are their own admission authority manage their own in-year admissions processes and parents must submit their applications directly to the admission authorities of the schools they wish to apply.

The school level annual school census collects information each January from all registered independent schools in England. This collection includes information from each school on the lowest and highest fees charged for day and boarding pupils, before the application of any bursaries or other forms of fee reduction.

Using the average of the reported lowest and highest fees charged for each school from the latest information available, from the January 2024 collection, shows that across independent schools that charge fees:

• The mean annual day fee charged was £27,642

• The median annual day fee was £15,371

• The mean annual boarding fee was £52,399

• The median annual boarding fee was £32,310.

Data from the 2025 January collection will be available late June 2025.

In September 2017, the department commissioned a series of trials in schools across England testing five different approaches to supporting and promoting young people’s mental health and wellbeing. The aim of these trials was to improve the evidence available to schools in choosing how they support their pupils’ mental health and wellbeing.

As part of these trials, children received mindfulness exercises, relaxation techniques and breathing exercises to help them regulate their emotions, alongside lessons on mental health and wellbeing led by teachers and mental health experts.

The randomised control trials have now concluded. The government will publish the findings in the coming months.

The GDP deflator is the standard measure of inflation for public spending and is an appropriate measure for school costs. Therefore, the department does not produce estimates for the real terms increases in spending per pupil using the Consumer Price Index or the Retail Price Index.

In the new year, the department will publish the School Cost Technical Note, which will provide an overall assessment for the balance between schools funding and costs in the 2024/25 and 2025/26 financial years.

In the 2024/25 financial year, the government announced almost £1.1 billion through the Core Schools Budget Grant (CSBG) to support schools with overall costs. This matches what the department had calculated is needed to fully fund, at a national level, the teacher and support staff pay awards in the 2024/25 financial year, after accounting for the available headroom in schools’ existing budgets.

In the 2025/26 financial year, schools are receiving further funding to cover the remaining costs of the 2024 teachers’ pay award. Funding for this will be sourced from within the £2.3 billion of additional schools funding announced at the Autumn Budget 2024.

For mainstream schools, the 2024/25 financial year CSBG has been incorporated into the schools national funding formula (NFF) in the 2025/26 financial year, ensuring that it forms an ongoing part of schools’ core budgets. The NFF is increasing schools’ funding by 2.23% per pupil on average in the 2025/26 financial year, compared to the 2024/25 financial year. This includes a 1.28% increase to ensure that the 2024 pay awards continue to be fully funded at national level in the 2025/26 financial year

For special schools and alternative provision (AP), £90 million of the overall £1 billion increase in high needs funding allows the special and AP schools element of the 2024/25 CSBG to rise to a full-year equivalent of £235 million, which is being incorporated with the other teachers’ pay and pensions grants into a single CSBG for special and AP schools in the 2025/26 financial year.

Local authorities are receiving £11 million in the 2024/25 financial year to cover centrally-employed teachers costs through the CSBG. In 2025/26, this will rise to £18 million and will be delivered through the Central School Services Block.

The department is committed to ensuring that young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) have equitable access to work experience opportunities.

Data published by the Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC) provides evidence of an increase in positive outcomes for young people with SEND. SEND settings are outperforming mainstream institutions against Gatsby Benchmark 6, ‘experiences of workplaces’, with 77% of special schools reporting that the majority of learners had experience of workplaces by the end of year 11, increasing to 88% in year 12 or 13. By comparison, in mainstream schools 76% of students had an experience of a workplace by the end of year 11, rising to 84% in year 12 or year 13.

Our work experience guarantee will ensure that all pupils are provided with two weeks' worth of work experience over the course of their secondary education by the end of this Parliament. These opportunities must be inclusive and accessible for all young people with learning disabilities in schools across England.

Through our delivery partner, CEC, we are piloting the delivery of this guarantee. This includes testing a ringfenced ‘disadvantage premium’ to assist schools with the costs of work experience for disabled pupils, such as transportation and assisted travel, and the development of a virtual work experience platform to improve the accessibility of opportunities. Piloting work began in October 2024 with end of pilot reporting in August 2025.

The department is committed to ensuring that young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) have equitable access to work experience opportunities.

Data published by the Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC) provides evidence of an increase in positive outcomes for young people with SEND. SEND settings are outperforming mainstream institutions against Gatsby Benchmark 6, ‘experiences of workplaces’, with 77% of special schools reporting that the majority of learners had experience of workplaces by the end of year 11, increasing to 88% in year 12 or 13. By comparison, in mainstream schools 76% of students had an experience of a workplace by the end of year 11, rising to 84% in year 12 or year 13.

Our work experience guarantee will ensure that all pupils are provided with two weeks' worth of work experience over the course of their secondary education by the end of this Parliament. These opportunities must be inclusive and accessible for all young people with learning disabilities in schools across England.

Through our delivery partner, CEC, we are piloting the delivery of this guarantee. This includes testing a ringfenced ‘disadvantage premium’ to assist schools with the costs of work experience for disabled pupils, such as transportation and assisted travel, and the development of a virtual work experience platform to improve the accessibility of opportunities. Piloting work began in October 2024 with end of pilot reporting in August 2025.

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.

Further education (FE) colleges must use their best endeavours to secure the special educational provision called for by the student's special educational needs (SEN). In addition, colleges also have duties and obligations under the Equality Act 2010 to ensure that they are acting inclusively and not discriminating against disabled students. As with other FE providers, they are obliged to make reasonable adjustments to prevent disabled students being placed at a substantial disadvantage.

Furthermore, under the SEND code of practice there should be a named person with oversight of SEND provision in every college. They co-ordinate, support and contribute to the strategic and operational management of the college. Curriculum and support staff in a college should know who to go to if they need help in identifying a student's SEN, are concerned about their progress or need more advice.

In addition, the government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, covering ages 5 to 18, chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE. The Review will focus on ensuring excellent foundations in reading, writing and mathematics as part of a curriculum which is rich and broad, inclusive and innovative.

The review will look closely at the key challenges to attainment for young people, and the barriers which hold children back from the opportunities and life chances they deserve – in particular those who are socioeconomically disadvantaged, or with SEND.

The department supports the development of strong writing skills at each stage of children’s education and development.

In the early years foundation stage (EYFS), it is important for children to develop their fine motor skills in order to write and allow children to communicate effectively. The level of development children should be expected to have reached by the end of the EYFS is defined by the early learning goals (ELGs). As per the ‘fine motor skills’ ELG , for a child to reach the expected level of development at the end of the EYFS, they must be able to ‘hold a pencil effectively in preparation for fluent writing - using the tripod grip in almost all cases‘. The writing ELG states that children at the expected level of development will ‘write recognisable letters, most of which are correctly formed’ and ‘write simple phrases and sentences that can be read by others’.

As part of the current national curriculum, pupils must learn how to form letters correctly and confidently, choose the writing implement that is best suited for a task and receive frequent, discrete and direct teaching. No one particular handwriting style is recommended and schools are free to decide themselves how they teach handwriting. Eventually, pupils are expected to write fluently, legibly and quickly. During key stage 2, joined handwriting should be the norm, with pupils using the diagonal and horizontal strokes that are needed to join letters and understanding which letters, when adjacent to one another, are best left not joined.

High and rising school standards are at the heart of this government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and give every child the best life chances. The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review which will seek to deliver, amongst other things, an excellent foundation in core subjects of reading, writing and mathematics. The review group will publish an interim report early in 2025 setting out their interim findings and confirming the key areas for further work. The final review with recommendations will be published in autumn 2025. In the meantime, the department is continuing to consider any further steps that should be taken to best support the teaching of writing in schools.

All young people should have access to a broad and balanced curriculum with a range of qualification routes and choices. The government is considering the next steps for a natural history GCSE.

The government has also established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE, an expert in education policy. The review, which covers ages 5 to 18, will ensure that the curriculum appropriately balances ambition, excellence, relevance, flexibility and inclusivity for all children and young people. The review group will publish an interim report early in 2025 setting out their initial findings and confirming the key areas for further work. The final report with recommendations will be published in autumn 2025.

At the Autumn Budget 2024, the government announced an additional £2.3 billion for mainstream schools and young people with high needs for the 2025/26 financial year, compared to the 2024/25 financial year. This means that overall core school funding will total almost £63.9 billion in the 2025/26 financial year.

This provides a cash increase per pupil of 3.9% and an increase in real terms per pupil of 1.5%, as measured by the GDP deflator. The GDP deflator is the standard measure of inflation for public spending and is appropriate for considering school costs. The department does not produce estimates using the Retail Prices Index.

I refer the right hon. Member for East Hampshire to the answer of 8 November 2024 to question 12070.

School-level data on the proportion of pupils living in bands A-F on the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index was used to assess the eligibility for new schools joining the National Schools Breakfast Programme in the 2024/25 academic year.

The new government has a central mission to break down barriers to opportunity for every child.

The government has inherited a trend of rising child poverty and widening attainment gaps for children eligible for free school meals (FSM) and their peers. Child poverty has increased by 700,000 since 2010, with over four million children now growing up in a low-income family. The government is committed to delivering an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty, by tackling the root causes and giving every child the best start at life. To support this, a new Ministerial taskforce has been set up to develop a Child Poverty Strategy, which will be published in spring 2025. The taskforce will consider a range of policies in assessing what will have the greatest impact in driving down rates of child poverty. As with all policies, the government keeps the approach to FSM under review.

The new government has a central mission to break down barriers to opportunity for every child.

The government has inherited a trend of rising child poverty and widening attainment gaps for children eligible for free school meals (FSM) and their peers. Child poverty has increased by 700,000 since 2010, with over four million children now growing up in a low-income family. The government is committed to delivering an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty, by tackling the root causes and giving every child the best start at life. To support this, a new Ministerial taskforce has been set up to develop a Child Poverty Strategy, which will be published in spring 2025. The taskforce will consider a range of policies in assessing what will have the greatest impact in driving down rates of child poverty. As with all policies, the government keeps the approach to FSM under review.

A consistent theme of the feedback the department receives from employers is the need for a system for developing training to become more responsive to their current and future skills needs. The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (Transfer of Functions etc.) Bill will help enable the government to deliver a more responsive skills system which is better able to quickly and efficiently meet businesses’ skills needs.