Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the write-off of 90 per cent of the High Needs block debts of English councils on the amount of SEND funding to be absorbed into her Department's Resource Departmental Expenditure Limits from 2028-29 .
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The High Needs Stability Grant is concerned with historic spending and will have no impact on pressures in 2028/29. From the 2028/29 financial year, the government has confirmed that special educational needs and disabilities pressure will be absorbed within the overall government departmental expenditure limits budget such that the government would not expect local authorities to need to fund future special educational needs costs from general funds. Budgets from 2028/29 onwards, including the core schools budget, will be confirmed at the 2027 Spending Review.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what projection she has made of the deficit in the High Needs block budgets of English councils between now and the start of FY 2028/9.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department has set out plans for a reformed special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system in the recent Schools White Paper. Our assessment of future SEND spending will be updated following the SEND consultation. From 2028/29, SEND spending will be covered by the overall government Departmental Expenditure Limit budget.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department's publications entitled 10-year plan to revitalise schools and colleges for every child, and Education estates strategy: a decade of national renewal, published on 11 February 2026, how much revenue funding has been allocated for the operation of the additional inclusion bases in secondary schools for each year of the 10 year plan.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
In the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) consultation, the department set out our ambition that, in time, every secondary school will have an inclusion base.
In every year of this parliament, core funding for schools and SEND is expected to increase, subject to future spending reviews. Overall, there will be £7 billion more being spent on SEND provision in 2028/29 compared to 2025/26. We will also consult on a range of specialist provision funding reforms later in 2026, working with the specialist sector, local authorities and others to develop new funding models. More information about SEND reform was set out in the SEND consultation. For example, by 2028, we will have invested up to £15 million to build the evidence base for, and then provide, National Inclusion Standards.
Additionally, new research into SEN identification will be delivered by UK Research Innovation to develop approaches for the early identification, strengths and needs assessment, and support of children and young people with SEN.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the change to the level of (a) payment and (b) reimbursement of business rates in (i) her Department and the (ii) Education and Skills Funding Agency between financial years (A) 2025-2026 and (B) 2026-2027.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Since April 2022, most schools’ business rates are paid directly by the department to billing authorities. If all billing authorities in the local authority have not agreed to this system, academies make business rates payments and are reimbursed by the department.
For both of these payment mechanisms, we operate on a reactive basis. Therefore, it is not possible to provide funding totals for either the 2025/26 financial year, as the financial year has not concluded, or 2026/27.
For local authority-maintained schools where the local authority does not have agreement from all billing authorities within it, the department allocates funding to local authorities via the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) to cover business rates payments. DSG publications show total funding to local authorities for each financial year:
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department's publications entitled 10-year plan to revitalise schools and colleges for every child, and Education estates strategy: a decade of national renewal, published on 11 February 2026, how many inclusion bases in secondary schools will be added in each year of the 10-year plan; and how much funding is allocated to inclusion bases in each year of the plan.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
In our consultation on special educational needs and disabilities, the department has set out our ambition that, in time, every secondary school will have an inclusion base.
Where new places are needed, this will be supported by the £3.7 billion in high needs capital that we are investing between 2025/26 and 2029/30. This funding is allocated to local authorities, who know their schools and will determine how best to spend funding to meet local need. £740 million of this funding has already been allocated, and allocations for 2026/27 will be published in the spring.
Currently, provision is inconsistent across the country, which is why we are also going to improve data collection on which schools have inclusion bases, so we can make sure that all pupils are given the support they need.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to statement in the OBR’s report entitled Economic and fiscal outlook November 2025, page 122, that the Government has announced in the Budget that SEND provision will be fully absorbed into existing RDEL limits from 2028-29, whether this absorption will be in the Department for Education’s budget.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The autumn budget made clear that future special educational needs and disabilities funding implications will be managed within the overall government departmental expenditure limits envelope, such that the government would not expect local authorities to need to fund future special educational needs costs from general funds, once the statutory override ends at the end of 2027/28.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the press release entitled Government modernises exam records with new app, published on 8 January 2026, how the £30m savings figure was estimated; and what the average saving for a state secondary school is estimated to be.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The £30 million saving in the education sector is based on reducing administrative processes in further education and apprenticeships. Extensive user research with colleges identified activities that could be eliminated or streamlined, including photocopying documentation, manually matching emails with applications, and reducing data entry and correction through improved quality. Other efficiencies include removing support time for paperwork, eliminating manual searches for unique learner numbers and reducing checks on prior attainment to simplify enrolment for mathematics and English. These changes will also reduce delays caused by missing documentation and cut follow-up activities linked to incomplete records. Due to the nature of the calculation, the department has not estimated a saving per secondary school.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to Table 4.1 entitled Budget 2025 policy decisions’ in the Budget Red Book, line item 42, National Year of Reading: Fund state-funded secondary schools in England to increase book supplies, whether these funds will be supplemented by funding from Dormant Assets.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As part of the National Year of Reading, state-funded secondary schools in England will receive funding to purchase books to support and encourage reading enjoyment amongst their pupils.
Funding will be distributed by the Department for Education, during the National Year of Reading 2026. This separate from the Dormant Assets Fund which will be used to fund libraries in primary schools and is administered by the Department for Culture Media and Sport.
Details about the allocation of funds will be communicated in the coming months.
This £5 million funding for books will accompany new continuous professional development training for secondary schools. The ‘Unlocking Reading’ programme starts in January 2026 and will equip schools with assessment tools and evidence-based strategies to support pupils with reading.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to Table 4.1 entitled Budget 2025 policy decisions in the Budget Red Book, line item 42, National Year of Reading: Fund state-funded secondary schools in England to increase book supplies, how these funds will be allocated to schools.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As part of the National Year of Reading, state-funded secondary schools in England will receive funding to purchase books to support and encourage reading enjoyment amongst their pupils.
Funding will be distributed by the Department for Education, during the National Year of Reading 2026. This separate from the Dormant Assets Fund which will be used to fund libraries in primary schools and is administered by the Department for Culture Media and Sport.
Details about the allocation of funds will be communicated in the coming months.
This £5 million funding for books will accompany new continuous professional development training for secondary schools. The ‘Unlocking Reading’ programme starts in January 2026 and will equip schools with assessment tools and evidence-based strategies to support pupils with reading.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to Table 4.1 entitled Budget 2025 policy decisions in the Budget Red Book, line item 42, National Year of Reading: Fund state-funded secondary schools in England to increase book supplies, which Department will disburse these funds.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As part of the National Year of Reading, state-funded secondary schools in England will receive funding to purchase books to support and encourage reading enjoyment amongst their pupils.
Funding will be distributed by the Department for Education, during the National Year of Reading 2026. This separate from the Dormant Assets Fund which will be used to fund libraries in primary schools and is administered by the Department for Culture Media and Sport.
Details about the allocation of funds will be communicated in the coming months.
This £5 million funding for books will accompany new continuous professional development training for secondary schools. The ‘Unlocking Reading’ programme starts in January 2026 and will equip schools with assessment tools and evidence-based strategies to support pupils with reading.