Asked by: Dan Tomlinson (Labour - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to promote the inclusion of disabled students in schools; and if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of including in the national curriculum teaching about the life experiences of disabled people.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
This government is committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools to break down barriers to education, alongside ensuring that special schools can support children with the most complex needs.
The department will strengthen accountability on mainstream settings to be inclusive, including through Ofsted, support the mainstream workforce to increase their special educational needs and disabilities expertise, and encourage schools to set up resourced provision or special educational needs units to increase capacity in mainstream schools. This is being supported by an additional £740 million for high needs capital in 2025/26. Local authorities can use their high needs capital funding to deliver new places in mainstream and special schools, as well as other specialist settings. It can also be used to improve the suitability and accessibility of existing buildings. High needs funding will also increase by almost £1 billion in 2025/26, compared to 2024/25.
The department has created an Expert Advisory Group for Inclusion, led by Tom Rees, to advise myself and my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education on how to drive inclusive education practice.
Within a broad framework, set out in subject-specific programmes of study, schools currently have flexibility to organise the content and delivery of the curriculum to meet the needs of their pupils.
The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, covering ages 5 to 18, chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE. The Review will ensure that the curriculum appropriately balances ambition, excellence, relevance, flexibility and inclusivity for all our children and young people.
Asked by: Dan Tomlinson (Labour - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that (a) boys and (b) young men receive education in school on preventing violence against women and girls in schools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The government has pledged to halve violence against women and girls in the next decade. Education has a crucial role to play in tackling harmful behaviour, helping children and young people to develop empathy, boundaries and respect for difference.
Through compulsory relationships education, all pupils, including boys and young men, learn how to form positive and respectful relationships and develop an understanding the concepts and laws around sexual harassment and sexual violence.
The department is currently reviewing the relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) curriculum, including engaging with key stakeholders to look at how this can fully complement our wider actions to tackle violence against women and girls.
Separately, the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review will consider how RSHE fits into the wider curriculum.
Asked by: Dan Tomlinson (Labour - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure all children with epilepsy receive an individual healthcare plan.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Statutory guidance on ‘Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions’ recommends the use of individual healthcare plans as good practice. This guidance can be accessed here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5ce6a72e40f0b620a103bd53/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions.pdf. Individual healthcare plans can help schools support pupils with medical conditions, providing clarity about what needs to be done, when and by whom. The school, healthcare professionals and parents should agree, based on evidence, when a healthcare plan would be appropriate.
The department will keep the statutory guidance under review as we take forward the commitment to delivering an inclusive mainstream system.
Asked by: Dan Tomlinson (Labour - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her policies on higher education reform will include employment rights protections for (a) permanent and (b) non-permanent lecturers.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government wants to work in partnership with the higher education (HE) sector to deliver the change that the country needs. The department has outlined its five strategic priorities for the sector and will set out its plan for HE reform by summer 2025, to ensure the system delivers against these priorities.
HE providers are independent from government, and as such government does not have a role in workforce matters, including in staff contracts or pay and provision at specific providers.
However, the department does recognise the financial environment of the HE sector is increasingly challenging, for both HE providers and for staff. We are aware that some providers are making difficult decisions around staffing in order to safeguard their financial sustainability.
The department will continue to work on building strong relationships with sector bodies and unions to better understand the issues facing the sector and its workforce. Departmental officials are working closely with the sector to find practical ways forward to address the challenges faced, and with officials at the Department for Business and Trade on the provisions of the Employment Rights Bill.
This government is committed to creating a secure future for our world-leading universities so they can deliver for workers, students, taxpayers and the economy.
On employment rights protections more generally, the government’s plan to Make Work Pay sets out an ambitious agenda to ensure employment rights are fit for a modern economy, empower working people and contribute to economic growth. Once implemented, it will represent the biggest upgrade of workers’ rights in a generation.
Asked by: Dan Tomlinson (Labour - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will create alternative qualification pathways for students with Education, Health and Care Plans to support their access to further education.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The government is committed to ensuring that all young people, including those with education, health and care plans, can access a range of high quality qualifications and programmes which support them to develop the skills they need to thrive at work and throughout life. This is at the heart of the government’s missions to break down the barriers to opportunity and to boost economic growth.
The Curriculum and Assessment Review will ensure meaningful, rigorous and high value pathways for all, with access to qualifications and training that will provide the skills they need to seize opportunity. 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 children and young people who are socioeconomically disadvantaged or with special educational needs or disabilities.