Damian Hinds Portrait

Damian Hinds

Conservative - East Hampshire

1,275 (2.5%) majority - 2024 General Election

First elected: 6th May 2010


Shadow Secretary of State for Education
8th Jul 2024 - 4th Nov 2024
Minister of State (Education)
13th Nov 2023 - 5th Jul 2024
School Attendance (Duties of Local Authorities and Proprietors of Schools) Bill
24th Apr 2024 - 1st May 2024
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
27th Oct 2022 - 13th Nov 2023
Offenders (Day of Release from Detention) Bill
1st Feb 2023 - 8th Feb 2023
National Security Bill
29th Jun 2022 - 11th Jul 2022
Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
13th Aug 2021 - 7th Jul 2022
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee
2nd Mar 2020 - 19th Oct 2021
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Sub-committee on Online Harms and Disinformation
10th Mar 2020 - 19th Oct 2021
Culture, Media and Sport Sub-committee on Online Harms and Disinformation
10th Mar 2020 - 19th Oct 2021
Culture, Media and Sport Committee
2nd Mar 2020 - 19th Oct 2021
Secretary of State for Education
8th Jan 2018 - 24th Jul 2019
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
15th Jul 2016 - 8th Jan 2018
Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
8th May 2015 - 15th Jul 2016
Assistant Whip (HM Treasury)
15th Jul 2014 - 30th Mar 2015
Education Committee
12th Jul 2010 - 5th Nov 2012


Division Voting information

During the current Parliament, Damian Hinds has voted in 86 divisions, and 1 time against the majority of their Party.

26 Nov 2024 - Tobacco and Vapes Bill - View Vote Context
Damian Hinds voted Aye - against a party majority and in line with the House
One of 23 Conservative Aye votes vs 35 Conservative No votes
Tally: Ayes - 415 Noes - 47
View All Damian Hinds Division Votes

Debates during the 2024 Parliament

Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.

Sparring Partners
Catherine McKinnell (Labour)
Minister of State (Education)
(40 debate interactions)
Amanda Martin (Labour)
(18 debate interactions)
Lizzi Collinge (Labour)
(14 debate interactions)
View All Sparring Partners
Department Debates
Department for Education
(131 debate contributions)
HM Treasury
(46 debate contributions)
View All Department Debates
View all Damian Hinds's debates

East Hampshire Petitions

e-Petitions are administered by Parliament and allow members of the public to express support for a particular issue.

If an e-petition reaches 10,000 signatures the Government will issue a written response.

If an e-petition reaches 100,000 signatures the petition becomes eligible for a Parliamentary debate (usually Monday 4.30pm in Westminster Hall).

Petition Debates Contributed
3,042,260
c. 29,617 added daily
3,089,807
(Estimated)
20 May 2025
closes in 3 months, 1 week

I would like there to be another General Election.

I believe the current Labour Government have gone back on the promises they laid out in the lead up to the last election.


Latest EDMs signed by Damian Hinds

20th November 2024
Damian Hinds signed this EDM on Wednesday 27th November 2024

Housing

Tabled by: Kemi Badenoch (Conservative - North West Essex)
That an humble Address be presented to His Majesty, praying that the Housing (Right to Buy) (Limits on Discount) (England) Order 2024 (SI, 2024, No. 1073), dated 28 October 2024, a copy of which was laid before this House on 30 October, be annulled.
32 signatures
(Most recent: 16 Dec 2024)
Signatures by party:
Conservative: 32
2nd September 2024
Damian Hinds signed this EDM on Monday 2nd September 2024

Social Security

Tabled by: Rishi Sunak (Conservative - Richmond and Northallerton)
That an humble Address be presented to His Majesty, praying that the Social Fund Winter Fuel Payment Regulations 2024 (S.I., 2024, No. 869), dated 22 August 2024, a copy of which was laid before this House on 22 August 2024, be annulled.
81 signatures
(Most recent: 10 Sep 2024)
Signatures by party:
Conservative: 75
Independent: 3
Democratic Unionist Party: 2
Scottish National Party: 1
View All Damian Hinds's signed Early Day Motions

Commons initiatives

These initiatives were driven by Damian Hinds, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.

MPs who are act as Ministers or Shadow Ministers are generally restricted from performing Commons initiatives other than Urgent Questions.


1 Urgent Question tabled by Damian Hinds

Thursday 10th October 2024

Damian Hinds has not been granted any Adjournment Debates

Damian Hinds has not introduced any legislation before Parliament


Latest 50 Written Questions

(View all written questions)
Written Questions can be tabled by MPs and Lords to request specific information information on the work, policy and activities of a Government Department
3rd Jan 2025
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has changed the recipients by position entitled to pre-release access to reports since June 2024.

The Minister for Cabinet Office has not made any changes to pre-release access to official statistics since 5 July 2024.

Georgia Gould
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
13th Jan 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the impact of the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme on religious minority groups in (a) Hampshire (b) South East England.

Since August 2022, the Listed Places of Grant Scheme has awarded more than £3 million to 416 Non-Christian listed places of worship. This includes Buddhist, Jewish, Islamic, Hindu and other denominations. In the same timeframe the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme has awarded £108,618 to 15 listed places of worship for non-Christian religious minority groups across South East England, and £5,576 to a single listed place of worship for a religious minority group in Hampshire.

Chris Bryant
Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
13th Jan 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the contribution of the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme to the heritage crafts sector.

Churches can have an important part to play in heritage skills and crafts. For example, in summer 2024, Historic England's Heritage Building Skills Summer School took place at St John the Evangelist Church, Lancaster, a Churches Conservation Trust site. The Government funds both Historic England and Churches Conservation Trust, and the summer school is part of the Heritage Building Skills Programme, a five-year training and apprenticeships programme running from 2021-2026.

Chris Bryant
Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
29th Jan 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the distribution is by (a) age and (b) length of service of teachers without qualified teacher status.

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.

Catherine McKinnell
Minister of State (Education)
29th Jan 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what average proportion of full-time equivalent teaching staff teachers without qualified teacher status constitute for the top (a) 3% and (b) 10% of schools employing those teachers.

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.

Catherine McKinnell
Minister of State (Education)
29th Jan 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which subjects are most taught by teachers without qualified teacher status.

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.

Catherine McKinnell
Minister of State (Education)
29th Jan 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of teachers without qualified teacher status were on recruitment programmes (a) supported and (b) procured by her Department in the (i) earliest and (ii) latest year for which data are 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.

Catherine McKinnell
Minister of State (Education)
29th Jan 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of teachers without qualified teacher status were (a) working towards (b) not working towards qualified teacher status in the (i) earliest and (ii) latest year for which data are 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.

Catherine McKinnell
Minister of State (Education)
29th Jan 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what representations she has received on disallowing schools from employing teachers without qualified teacher status.

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.

Catherine McKinnell
Minister of State (Education)
14th Jan 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 14 October 2024 to Question 6019 on Private Education: Teachers, whether any schools have (a) left the Teachers’ Pension Scheme and (b) entered phased withdrawal since 14 October 2024.

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

Catherine McKinnell
Minister of State (Education)
14th Jan 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure the target for an additional 6,500 new expert teachers in key subjects this Parliament will be met.

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.

Catherine McKinnell
Minister of State (Education)
14th Jan 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what percentage change in net recruitment from the last Parliament will be needed to meet the target of an additional 6,500 new expert teachers in key subjects this Parliament.

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.

Catherine McKinnell
Minister of State (Education)
14th Jan 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many new teachers in key subjects she expects to recruit each year.

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.

Catherine McKinnell
Minister of State (Education)
14th Jan 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how Technical Excellence colleges will differ from the Institutes of Technologies programme.

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.

Janet Daby
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
9th Jan 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department provides on schools making second hand uniform available.

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.

Catherine McKinnell
Minister of State (Education)
9th Jan 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of free breakfast provision in secondary schools on levels of school attendance.

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.

Stephen Morgan
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
9th Jan 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what comparative assessment her Department has made of trends in levels of school absence in (a) schools with 40% or more pupils in bands A-F of the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index and (b) other (i) primary and (ii) secondary schools.

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.

Stephen Morgan
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
9th Jan 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of levels of disadvantaged pupils in schools on rates of absence in schools.

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.

Stephen Morgan
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
9th Jan 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason a school tie is not permitted as an additional item of branded uniform in primary schools in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

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.

Catherine McKinnell
Minister of State (Education)
3rd Jan 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to monitor trends in Education Health and Care Plan applications by local authority area.

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.

Catherine McKinnell
Minister of State (Education)
3rd Jan 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department is collecting data on trends in the number of in-year school applications in each local authority area.

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.

Catherine McKinnell
Minister of State (Education)
3rd Jan 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the average fees charged by independent schools for the term starting in (a) January 2024, (b) September 2024 and (c) January 2025.

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.

Stephen Morgan
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
3rd Jan 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department's press release entitled One of the largest mental health trials launches in schools, published on 4 February 2019, what the results of those trials were.

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.

Stephen Morgan
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
12th Dec 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 10 December 2024 to Question 17084 on Schools: Per Capita Costs, if she will provide these figures adjusted for inflation by the (a) retail price index and (b) consumer price index.

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.

Catherine McKinnell
Minister of State (Education)
12th Dec 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 10 December 2024 to Question 17084 on Schools: Per Capita Costs, how much and what proportion of the additional funding will be used for pay increases already awarded to teachers in the 2025-26 financial year.

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.

Catherine McKinnell
Minister of State (Education)
10th Dec 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to ensure that people with learning disabilities are able to access as many work experience opportunities as people without learning disabilities.

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.

Catherine McKinnell
Minister of State (Education)
10th Dec 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that people with learning disabilities can access work experience opportunities.

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.

Catherine McKinnell
Minister of State (Education)
10th Dec 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve further education opportunities for people with Down syndrome.

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.

Catherine McKinnell
Minister of State (Education)
9th Dec 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment has she made of the potential merits of writing by hand in learning to write lessons.

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.

Catherine McKinnell
Minister of State (Education)
9th Dec 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she expects teaching of GCSE Natural History to begin.

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.

Catherine McKinnell
Minister of State (Education)
2nd Dec 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the increase in school funding in the 2025-26 academic year (a) per pupil, (b) in real terms per pupil based on the GDP deflator and (c) in real terms per pupil based on Retail Price Index inflation, excluding the existing teacher pay award.

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.

Catherine McKinnell
Minister of State (Education)
26th Nov 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will adjust the funding formula for early years education to allow for the increase in employer National Insurance contributions.

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

Stephen Morgan
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
25th Nov 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 23 October 2024 to Question 5982 on Breakfast Clubs: Disadvantaged, whether this data was used to assess eligibility for the national schools breakfast programme in the 2024-25 academic year.

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.

Stephen Morgan
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
25th Nov 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of adjusting the eligibility criteria for free school meals so as to maintain the proportion of children who are eligible at the same level as in academic year 2023-24.

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.

Stephen Morgan
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
25th Nov 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of making all children from families that receive Universal Credit eligible for free school meals.

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.

Stephen Morgan
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
22nd Nov 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what representations she has received on the potential merits of transferring standards approval powers for technical and vocational qualifications from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education to herself.

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.

Janet Daby
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
22nd Nov 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what representations she has received on the potential merits of having employers set standards for (a) apprenticeships and (b) T Levels through (i) Trailblazers and (ii) T Level Panels.

Employers are well placed to specify what knowledge, skills and behaviours lead to competence in an occupation, yet they tell the department that the current processes for preparing occupational standards can feel slow, bureaucratic, and time-consuming. This is a barrier to their engagement. We want to focus their input where it has most impact, including through Education Trailblazer Groups and T Level Panels.

Janet Daby
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
21st Nov 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the level of (a) demand and (b) supply for Year 7 places in each Planning Area in Coventry in September 2025.

Information on the latest school place planning estimates are published at year group and planning area level in the annual School Capacity statistics publication, which is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-capacity.

The information requested can be accessed at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-catalogue/data-set/b12c3f30-c22c-4b88-b5b2-2c1848981b4e. The data includes local authority pupil forecasts (demand), estimated future capacity (supply), and an estimated number of additional places needed or surplus places. These estimates reflect the position reported by local authorities as at May 2023 through the School Capacity survey, supplemented with the department’s internal data on central programmes, which will add or remove school places.

Catherine McKinnell
Minister of State (Education)
21st Nov 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the level of (a) demand and (b) supply for Year 7 places in the (i) Salford - South, (ii) Trafford - Sale, (iii) Manchester - South and (iv) Stockport - East & South Planning Areas in September 2025.

Information on the latest school place planning estimates are published at year group and planning area level in the annual School Capacity statistics publication, which is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-capacity.

The information requested can be accessed at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-catalogue/data-set/b12c3f30-c22c-4b88-b5b2-2c1848981b4e. The data includes local authority pupil forecasts (demand), estimated future capacity (supply), and an estimated number of additional places needed or surplus places. These estimates reflect the position reported by local authorities as at May 2023 through the School Capacity survey, supplemented with the department’s internal data on central programmes which will add or remove school places.

Catherine McKinnell
Minister of State (Education)
13th Nov 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact on recruitment and retention of excluding teaching staff at non-academised sixth-form colleges from the recent pay award in financial year 2024-25.

The recent pay award for the 2024/25 financial year was for school teachers only. The government does not set or recommend pay in further education (FE).

This government recognises the vital role that FE teachers and providers play in equipping learners with the opportunities and skills that they need to succeed in their education and will consider workforce sufficiency and what this might mean for FE funding in future years.

The Autumn Budget 2024 set out the government’s commitment to skills, by providing an additional £300 million revenue funding for FE to ensure young people are developing the skills this country needs. The department will set out in due course how this funding will be distributed.

Catherine McKinnell
Minister of State (Education)
13th Nov 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has for the funding rates for free school meals.

Under existing programmes, the department provides free school meals (FSM) to around 2.1 million disadvantaged pupils in schools, just under 1.3 million infants through Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM), and over 90,000 low-income students in further education (FE). More than £1.5 billion is allocated in support of these programmes.

Schools are funded for benefits-related FSM at £490 per eligible pupil per year as a factor value within the national funding formula. Total funding driven by the FSM factor in 2024/25 is £917 million.

UIFSM and FE free meals are funded through a direct grant to schools and colleges. The current per meal rate is £2.53 in the 2024/25 academic year. Final funding rates for UIFSM in 2024/25 will be confirmed in due course.

As with all government programmes the department will keep its approach to FSM, including levels of demand and funding to deliver this, under continued review.

Stephen Morgan
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
13th Nov 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of levels of demand in schools for free school meals.

Under existing programmes, the department provides free school meals (FSM) to around 2.1 million disadvantaged pupils in schools, just under 1.3 million infants through Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM), and over 90,000 low-income students in further education (FE). More than £1.5 billion is allocated in support of these programmes.

Schools are funded for benefits-related FSM at £490 per eligible pupil per year as a factor value within the national funding formula. Total funding driven by the FSM factor in 2024/25 is £917 million.

UIFSM and FE free meals are funded through a direct grant to schools and colleges. The current per meal rate is £2.53 in the 2024/25 academic year. Final funding rates for UIFSM in 2024/25 will be confirmed in due course.

As with all government programmes the department will keep its approach to FSM, including levels of demand and funding to deliver this, under continued review.

Stephen Morgan
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
31st Oct 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 4.11 of the Autumn Budget 2024, how she plans to allocate the funding for free breakfast clubs between (a) mainstream primary schools, (b) mainstream secondary schools, (c) special schools and (d) other settings.

The government confirmed it will triple its investment in breakfast clubs to over £30 million in the 2025/26 financial year to help ensure children are ready to learn at the start of the school day and help drive improvements to behaviour, attendance and attainment. This will also support parents, supporting them to work the jobs and hours they choose.

This funding will support up to 750 early adopters of the new breakfast clubs starting as early as April 2025 to March 2026, as well as enabling continued support for around 2,700 schools currently on the national schools breakfast programme. All state-funded schools in England with primary-aged pupils are eligible to be an early adopter.

Once rolled out nationally, breakfast clubs will be available to every school with primary-aged children.

Stephen Morgan
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
31st Oct 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 4.11 of the Autumn Budget 2024, whether she plans to fund breakfasts in all primary schools.

The government confirmed it will triple its investment in breakfast clubs to over £30 million in the 2025/26 financial year to help ensure children are ready to learn at the start of the school day and help drive improvements to behaviour, attendance and attainment. This will also support parents, supporting them to work the jobs and hours they choose.

This funding will support up to 750 early adopters of the new breakfast clubs starting as early as April 2025 to March 2026, as well as enabling continued support for around 2,700 schools currently on the national schools breakfast programme. All state-funded schools in England with primary-aged pupils are eligible to be an early adopter.

Once rolled out nationally, breakfast clubs will be available to every school with primary-aged children.

Stephen Morgan
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
31st Oct 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to monitor the potential impact of VAT on independent schools on pupil numbers in those schools.

The government predicts that there will be 37,000 fewer pupils in the private education sector in the UK as a result of the VAT on private schools fees policy, which takes effect from January 2025. This represents around 6% of the current private school population. It is anticipated that 35,000 of these pupils will move into UK state schools in the long-term steady state, with the remainder composed of international pupils who do not move into the UK state system, and domestic pupils moving into homeschooling.

This increase in the state sector represents less than 0.5% of total UK state school pupils, of which there are over 9 million. The number expected to move before the end of the 2024/25 academic year is around 3,000. The government’s estimate of the number of pupils leaving private schools is within the Institute for Fiscal Studies’ estimated range of 20,000 to 40,000 and is also significantly lower than some other public estimates.

The government expects many of these moves to take place at natural transition points, such as from primary to secondary school, or at the beginning of exam courses. The impact on the state education system as a whole is therefore expected to be very small. The government expects the associated revenue costs of pupils entering the state sector to steadily increase to a peak of around £0.3 billion after several years.

Differences in local circumstances will mean that the impacts of this policy will vary between parts of the UK. The number of pupils that would have attended private schools seeking state-funded places will vary and this will interact with other local place pressures. Local authorities and schools already have processes in place to support pupils moving between schools, and children move between the private sector and the state-funded sector every year. Local authorities will consider pressures following the removal of the VAT exemption on school fees alongside other pressures as part of the normal place planning cycle. This is business as usual. The department will be monitoring demand and capacity using our normal processes and working with local authorities to meet any pressures.

Although the department does not hold information for private schools, data on the numbers of pupils in private schools is collected through the annual school census. The latest data can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics#dataBlock-53cdc8f7-fc56-4c64-a79d-ccf5047b7616-tables.

Stephen Morgan
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
31st Oct 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to HMRC's policy paper entitled Applying VAT to private school fees, published on 30 October 2024, whether she has had discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the potential range of the number of children leaving independent schools; and what estimate she has made of the maximum likely number.

The government predicts that there will be 37,000 fewer pupils in the private education sector in the UK as a result of the VAT on private schools fees policy, which takes effect from January 2025. This represents around 6% of the current private school population. It is anticipated that 35,000 of these pupils will move into UK state schools in the long-term steady state, with the remainder composed of international pupils who do not move into the UK state system, and domestic pupils moving into homeschooling.

This increase in the state sector represents less than 0.5% of total UK state school pupils, of which there are over 9 million. The number expected to move before the end of the 2024/25 academic year is around 3,000. The government’s estimate of the number of pupils leaving private schools is within the Institute for Fiscal Studies’ estimated range of 20,000 to 40,000 and is also significantly lower than some other public estimates.

The government expects many of these moves to take place at natural transition points, such as from primary to secondary school, or at the beginning of exam courses. The impact on the state education system as a whole is therefore expected to be very small. The government expects the associated revenue costs of pupils entering the state sector to steadily increase to a peak of around £0.3 billion after several years.

Differences in local circumstances will mean that the impacts of this policy will vary between parts of the UK. The number of pupils that would have attended private schools seeking state-funded places will vary and this will interact with other local place pressures. Local authorities and schools already have processes in place to support pupils moving between schools, and children move between the private sector and the state-funded sector every year. Local authorities will consider pressures following the removal of the VAT exemption on school fees alongside other pressures as part of the normal place planning cycle. This is business as usual. The department will be monitoring demand and capacity using our normal processes and working with local authorities to meet any pressures.

Although the department does not hold information for private schools, data on the numbers of pupils in private schools is collected through the annual school census. The latest data can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics#dataBlock-53cdc8f7-fc56-4c64-a79d-ccf5047b7616-tables.

Stephen Morgan
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
31st Oct 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the policy paper entitled Applying VAT to private school fees, published on 30 October 2024, what discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the potential impact of the expected increase in the number of pupils at state schools in each (a) age group and (b) region.

The government predicts that there will be 37,000 fewer pupils in the private education sector in the UK as a result of the VAT on private schools fees policy, which takes effect from January 2025. This represents around 6% of the current private school population. It is anticipated that 35,000 of these pupils will move into UK state schools in the long-term steady state, with the remainder composed of international pupils who do not move into the UK state system, and domestic pupils moving into homeschooling.

This increase in the state sector represents less than 0.5% of total UK state school pupils, of which there are over 9 million. The number expected to move before the end of the 2024/25 academic year is around 3,000. The government’s estimate of the number of pupils leaving private schools is within the Institute for Fiscal Studies’ estimated range of 20,000 to 40,000 and is also significantly lower than some other public estimates.

The government expects many of these moves to take place at natural transition points, such as from primary to secondary school, or at the beginning of exam courses. The impact on the state education system as a whole is therefore expected to be very small. The government expects the associated revenue costs of pupils entering the state sector to steadily increase to a peak of around £0.3 billion after several years.

Differences in local circumstances will mean that the impacts of this policy will vary between parts of the UK. The number of pupils that would have attended private schools seeking state-funded places will vary and this will interact with other local place pressures. Local authorities and schools already have processes in place to support pupils moving between schools, and children move between the private sector and the state-funded sector every year. Local authorities will consider pressures following the removal of the VAT exemption on school fees alongside other pressures as part of the normal place planning cycle. This is business as usual. The department will be monitoring demand and capacity using our normal processes and working with local authorities to meet any pressures.

Although the department does not hold information for private schools, data on the numbers of pupils in private schools is collected through the annual school census. The latest data can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics#dataBlock-53cdc8f7-fc56-4c64-a79d-ccf5047b7616-tables.

Stephen Morgan
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
31st Oct 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the policy paper entitled Applying VAT to private school fees, published on 30 October 2024, if she will make an estimate of potential increases in the number of pupils in secondary state education in each of the next five financial years, broken down by each local authority; and if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of those increases on levels of available state secondary school education places in those local authority areas.

The government predicts that there will be 37,000 fewer pupils in the private education sector in the UK as a result of the VAT on private schools fees policy, which takes effect from January 2025. This represents around 6% of the current private school population. It is anticipated that 35,000 of these pupils will move into UK state schools in the long-term steady state, with the remainder composed of international pupils who do not move into the UK state system, and domestic pupils moving into homeschooling.

This increase in the state sector represents less than 0.5% of total UK state school pupils, of which there are over 9 million. The number expected to move before the end of the 2024/25 academic year is around 3,000. The government’s estimate of the number of pupils leaving private schools is within the Institute for Fiscal Studies’ estimated range of 20,000 to 40,000 and is also significantly lower than some other public estimates.

The government expects many of these moves to take place at natural transition points, such as from primary to secondary school, or at the beginning of exam courses. The impact on the state education system as a whole is therefore expected to be very small. The government expects the associated revenue costs of pupils entering the state sector to steadily increase to a peak of around £0.3 billion after several years.

Differences in local circumstances will mean that the impacts of this policy will vary between parts of the UK. The number of pupils that would have attended private schools seeking state-funded places will vary and this will interact with other local place pressures. Local authorities and schools already have processes in place to support pupils moving between schools, and children move between the private sector and the state-funded sector every year. Local authorities will consider pressures following the removal of the VAT exemption on school fees alongside other pressures as part of the normal place planning cycle. This is business as usual. The department will be monitoring demand and capacity using our normal processes and working with local authorities to meet any pressures.

Although the department does not hold information for private schools, data on the numbers of pupils in private schools is collected through the annual school census. The latest data can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics#dataBlock-53cdc8f7-fc56-4c64-a79d-ccf5047b7616-tables.

Stephen Morgan
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
31st Oct 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 4.10 of the Autumn Budget 2024, published on 30 August 2024, HC 295, how new foundation and shorter apprenticeships are different to the model of traineeships in operation until July 2023.

This government has a driving mission to break down barriers to opportunity and to grow the economy. Too many young people are struggling to access high quality opportunities after leaving school and this government wants to ensure that more young people can undertake apprenticeships.

The department is beginning work to develop new foundation apprenticeships, which will provide high quality entry pathways for young people.

Apprentices are employed, and so as jobs with training, the department’s new foundation apprenticeship offer will start with the needs of employers as well as young people. Foundation apprenticeships will focus on ensuring that training is directed towards skills and staff shortage areas and offer young people a broad training offer with clear, seamless, progression into other apprenticeships.

The department will set out more detail on foundation apprenticeships, including the sectors they will be available in, in due course.

Janet Daby
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)