Asked by: Darren Paffey (Labour - Southampton Itchen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce the number of early deaths of care leavers.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
I commissioned the Review of Early Care Leaver Deaths because I wanted the whole country to see the tragedies that I read every fortnight. I want to thank Ashley John-Baptiste and Clare Chamberlain for their important work on this review.
Their central finding is the same as my core focus for care reform – too many care experienced people entering adulthood lonely, without a tribe.
That's why I have set out a comprehensive programme to make enduring relationships the obsession of the care system.
As part of this, we have confirmed over £25 million of funding this financial year alone, to continue the rollout of Staying Close.
For a young person that means keeping somewhere settled to live rather than being moved along at 18, and having a network of people around them as they move into adulthood.
Staying Close runs in 47 local areas now and will become a national duty for local areas and run everywhere.
Asked by: Darren Paffey (Labour - Southampton Itchen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department provides to local authorities and multi-academy trusts on verifying teachers’ qualified teacher status and completion of statutory induction; and what steps are recommended where official records conflict with documentary evidence held by a teacher or employer.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department's statutory safeguarding guidance, ’Keeping Children Safe in Education’, requires schools and colleges to carry out appropriate pre-appointment checks, including verifying Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) and statutory induction where relevant. Local authorities and multi-academy trusts can use the department's Check a Teacher's Record service to verify QTS, induction status, prohibitions and other relevant details. The service is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-a-teachers-record.
Where there is a discrepancy with the department's records, employers or teachers should contact: [email protected] for QTS discrepancies, and: [email protected] for induction discrepancies.
Initial teacher training providers, appropriate bodies or local authorities that remain in operation may be able to provide evidence to support an amendment to a teacher's record. For historic cases, the department may undertake archive searches to identify supporting evidence and verify record details.
Asked by: Darren Paffey (Labour - Southampton Itchen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment the Department has made of the potential impact of the recent changes to teacher training funding eligibility on the provision and uptake of language teaching in schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department has now achieved over 70% of our target to recruit 6,500 additional expert teachers by the end of this Parliament. There are 4,654 additional expert teachers in secondary and special schools and colleges.
Recruitment of physics trainee teachers has almost doubled since 2023/24, and modern foreign languages recruitment (MFL) has increased by nearly a third over the same period. Our focus is on maintaining the growth in domestic recruitment and improved retention of existing teachers that we have already seen.
As a result, the department has paused the bursary and scholarship offer for new international entrants in physics and languages. International entrants that held an offer to start an initial teacher training course as of 7 May are unaffected by this change and will therefore receive bursaries and scholarships from this autumn. We will review our offer ahead of the next recruitment cycle.
Asked by: Darren Paffey (Labour - Southampton Itchen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment the Department has made of the potential impact of the recent changes to teacher training funding eligibility on recruitment to Modern Foreign Languages and Physics teacher training courses.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department has now achieved over 70% of our target to recruit 6,500 additional expert teachers by the end of this Parliament. There are 4,654 additional expert teachers in secondary and special schools and colleges.
Recruitment of physics trainee teachers has almost doubled since 2023/24, and modern foreign languages recruitment (MFL) has increased by nearly a third over the same period. Our focus is on maintaining the growth in domestic recruitment and improved retention of existing teachers that we have already seen.
As a result, the department has paused the bursary and scholarship offer for new international entrants in physics and languages. International entrants that held an offer to start an initial teacher training course as of 7 May are unaffected by this change and will therefore receive bursaries and scholarships from this autumn. We will review our offer ahead of the next recruitment cycle.
Asked by: Darren Paffey (Labour - Southampton Itchen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to promote the National Year of Reading 2026 in educational settings.
Answered by Olivia Bailey
This government has committed to strong foundations in reading and writing for all children, to help every child achieve and thrive at school.
We know that reading for pleasure is hugely important and brings a range of benefits, including strong links with attainment, wellbeing, empathy, confidence, and aptitude for learning, with reading holding the key to accessing the rest of the curriculum. However, recent evidence shows that only one in three children report enjoying reading in their free time with just one in five reading daily. This is even lower for certain groups, for example, in 2025, just 25.7% of boys aged 8-18 said they enjoy reading, compared to 39.1% of girls.
The National Year of Reading 2026 is a UK wide campaign to address the decline in reading for pleasure. It includes a major physical and online marketing campaign, as well as exciting events, webinars, resources, and activities in communities, libraries, schools and early years settings throughout the year. It encourages people of all ages to “Go All In” and explore reading as a way to deepen their interests and passions.
As part of the National Year of Reading, we are investing an additional £5 million for secondary schools to purchase books and other reading material to promote reading enjoyment amongst their pupils. This funding will be distributed during 2026, and further details will be communicated to schools in due course.
In addition to this, we have committed over £10 million, via the Dormant Assets Strategy, to ensure every primary school in England has a library by the end of this parliament.
These initiatives demonstrate our commitment to ensuring that every child has access to high-quality reading opportunities, to inspire a love of reading that lasts a lifetime. We also look forward to engaging with the Education Select Committee’s inquiry into Reading for Pleasure and reviewing its findings.
Asked by: Darren Paffey (Labour - Southampton Itchen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of adding veterinary medicine to the list of second-degree courses eligible for tuition fee loans, including the potential impact on (a) access to the veterinary profession and (b) the UK’s veterinary workforce.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
To ensure the student finance system remains sustainable, students who already hold a qualification at an equivalent or higher-level qualification (ELQ) to that of their current course are not normally eligible for tuition fee or maintenance loans. An exception has been made to these rules to encourage access to certain professions, including veterinary medicine. Students undertaking a full-time second degree in veterinary medicine starting before 1 January 2027 will qualify for maintenance support for the duration of their course.
This position will change under the Lifelong Learning Entitlement, which will replace higher education student finance loans from 1 January 2027. An additional loan entitlement will be made available for a limited number of priority subjects, such as medicine. These are courses required to address priority skills needs and that align with the government’s Industrial Strategy.
Asked by: Darren Paffey (Labour - Southampton Itchen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, on water safety education for primary school children.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Departmental officials had discussions with their Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs counterparts in drawing up the new relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) statutory guidance. The department has made water safety and the Water Safety Code part of statutory health education, taught as part of RSHE. It is included within the new topic of ‘personal safety’. The new curriculum comes into force from September 2026. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education.
Swimming and water safety are also compulsory elements of the primary physical education curriculum at key stages 1 and 2.
Asked by: Darren Paffey (Labour - Southampton Itchen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to increase post-18 opportunities for young people.
Answered by Janet Daby
Our new Youth Guarantee will provide tailored support to young people aged 18 to 21 to help them access high-quality education, training and employment opportunities. £45 million has been allocated to test the Youth Guarantee in eight locations.
Asked by: Darren Paffey (Labour - Southampton Itchen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the Multiply Programme on adult numeracy skills; and whether she plans to introduce further funding or alternative provisions to support (a) adults with learning difficulties and (b) other adults improve their maths skills following the programme’s conclusion.
Answered by Janet Daby
The extensive Multiply programme evaluation is ongoing and will conclude in winter 2025.
The final evaluation report will provide valuable lessons to take into future policy development and delivery of the adult skills fund (ASF) and Tailored Learning.
The government remains committed to ensuring opportunity for all as one of its key missions. This includes building a skills system for opportunity and growth, and delivering a stronger skills offer.
The department continues to support participation in mathematics provision through the essential skills entitlements which fully fund adults who do not have essential numeracy skills up to and including level 2. This allows learners to undertake a range of courses fully funded through the ASF, including GCSEs, Functional Skills and other relevant qualifications from entry level to level 2.
Tailored Learning also offers the flexibility within the ASF for non-qualification based provision that is similar to Multiply, including outreach and engagement. Tailored Learning is available to all grant funded providers. The ASF supports adults to improve their numeracy skills, including adults with learning difficulties.
Asked by: Darren Paffey (Labour - Southampton Itchen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that care proceedings are concluded within 26 weeks.
Answered by Janet Daby
Reducing unnecessary delays in family courts is a priority for this government. The Family Justice Board (FJB) meets quarterly to set direction and oversee performance in the family justice system. This includes progress in meeting the 26-week Public Law Outline.
The department is investing £10 million over 2024/25 to implement and test new solutions to address the causes of the longest delays in care proceedings. This work consists of the following three pilots.
The department is working closely with local authorities in five designated family judge ‘trailblazer’ areas to complete deep dive analysis as well as to develop and test targeted solutions to address the biggest local drivers of delays.
The department is piloting an initiative to bring the child’s Cafcass Guardian and Local Authority Social Worker together before the first case management hearing, to reduce delays caused at the earliest stage of proceedings.
Finally, the department is piloting the use of a new service for suspected inflicted injury in children within the NHS, to address delays caused by the lack of independent medical experts engaging in family court work.
These pilots are due to conclude at the end of March 2025, after which the department will receive an independent evaluation, which will help inform future decisions around reducing family court delays.