Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Goole and Pocklington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made on responding to the recommendations of the First Report of the Committee of Public Accounts of Session 2024-25 on Support for children and young people with special educational needs, HC 353, published on 15 January 2025.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
An update is publicly available through the Treasury Minutes, published in April 2025, and accessible here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67ed087598b3bac1ec299b5a/Treasury_Minutes_v02_PRINT.pdf.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Goole and Pocklington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure reliable access to NHS dental treatment in (a) East Riding of Yorkshire and (b) rural areas.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are aware of the challenges faced in accessing a dentist, particularly in rural areas. The Government plans to tackle the challenges for patients trying to access National Health Service dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to the areas that need them most. To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract with the sector, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.
The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to the integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For East Riding of Yorkshire, this is the Humber and North Yorkshire ICB.
The additional 700,000 appointments will be available across the country, with specific targets for each region. The Humber and North Yorkshire ICB is expected to deliver 27,196 additional urgent care appointments. These targets are more heavily weighted towards those areas where they are needed the most. Further information is available at the following link:
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Goole and Pocklington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase the level of funding available for NHS dental treatments.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including National Health Service dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to the integrated care boards (ICBs) across England.
The NHS in England invests £3 billion into dentistry every year. NHS England is responsible for issuing guidance to ICBs on dental budgets, including ringfences. Dental budgets are ringfenced and NHS England reserves the right to direct unused resources, if contractors are unable to deliver on NHS dental commitments.
NHS England’s Planning Guidance for 2025/26 has now been published and sets out the funding available to ICBs. Planning guidance also confirms that improving access to urgent dental appointments is a key national priority.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Goole and Pocklington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of setting minimum targets for integrated care boards on the proportion of people seen by NHS dental providers over a 24 month period.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning primary care dentistry and receive an annual allocation of funding to secure services to meet the needs of their population.
The Government plans to tackle the challenges for patients trying to access NHS dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to the areas that need them most. To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract with the sector, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Goole and Pocklington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress his Department has made on reform of the NHS dental contract.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract with the sector, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of National Health Service dentists.
There are no perfect payment systems and careful consideration needs to be given to any potential changes to the complex dental system so that we deliver a system better for patients and the profession.
We are continuing to meet the British Dental Association and other representatives of the dental sector to discuss how we can best deliver our shared ambition to improve access for NHS dental patients.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Goole and Pocklington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to her oral contribution of 22 April 2025, Official Report, column 911, what her Department's requisite level of accuracy is for AI transcriptions of court trials.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
It is imperative that court transcripts are of a very high standard, and redacted as may be required, to provide an accurate record of official proceedings and in order to safeguard the interests of the parties, witnesses and victims. The production of Crown Court transcripts is currently a manual process delivered by third-party suppliers. Under the contract, suppliers are required to produce transcripts to 99.5% accuracy. We are targeting a similar level of accuracy in AI transcripts. We are actively exploring opportunities to use technology to reduce the cost of transcripts in future, but a high degree of accuracy will be of paramount importance.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Goole and Pocklington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure the (a) proxy factors and (b) weightings used in the National Funding Formula for high needs funding accurately reflect the demand for high needs educational provision.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
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.
The department is providing an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year. Total high needs funding for children and young people with complex SEND is over £12 billion in 2025/26. Of that total, East Riding of Yorkshire Council is being allocated over £42 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG), an increase of £3.5 million on the 2024/25 DSG high needs block, calculated using the high needs national funding formula (NFF). This NFF allocation is an 9.1% increase per head of their two to 18-year-old population, on their equivalent 2024/25 NFF allocation.
The government has indicated that it will take the time needed to consider changes to the high needs NFF used by the department to allocate funding for children and young people with complex SEND. It is important that there is a fair education funding system that reflects differences in the level of underlying need across the country and directs funding accordingly, to support improved outcomes for these children and young people.
The department’s objective is to ensure local authorities, schools and colleges can deliver high-quality services for children and young people with SEND in a financially sustainable way, and we are considering the funding required to achieve that in future years as part of the current spending review that is due to conclude in June.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Goole and Pocklington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to provide sustainable funding for local authorities for SEND-related spending.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
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.
The department is providing an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year. Total high needs funding for children and young people with complex SEND is over £12 billion in 2025/26. Of that total, East Riding of Yorkshire Council is being allocated over £42 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG), an increase of £3.5 million on the 2024/25 DSG high needs block, calculated using the high needs national funding formula (NFF). This NFF allocation is an 9.1% increase per head of their two to 18-year-old population, on their equivalent 2024/25 NFF allocation.
The government has indicated that it will take the time needed to consider changes to the high needs NFF used by the department to allocate funding for children and young people with complex SEND. It is important that there is a fair education funding system that reflects differences in the level of underlying need across the country and directs funding accordingly, to support improved outcomes for these children and young people.
The department’s objective is to ensure local authorities, schools and colleges can deliver high-quality services for children and young people with SEND in a financially sustainable way, and we are considering the funding required to achieve that in future years as part of the current spending review that is due to conclude in June.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Goole and Pocklington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure estimates of demand for SEND support in each local authority area are accurate.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The school capacity survey (SCAP) collects data on the capacity of state-funded special schools and special educational needs (SEN) units and resourced provision in mainstream schools. The survey also collects local authority forecasts of the number of resident pupils with an education, health and care plan who require a specialist provision place. Data were first collected in 2023, and the latest data for 2023/24 is published here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-capacity/2023-24.
The department provides survey guidance to support local authority forecasting. Whatever forecasting method a local authority chooses, the process should be robust and analytically sound. The guidance is available at the following address: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-capacity-survey-guide-for-local-authorities.
The department recognises the challenges of forecasting demand for specialist provision and expects close collaboration between local authority capital, high needs revenue, and special educational needs and disabilities and alternative provision teams to ensure forecasts are realistic and reflect the local authority’s overarching strategy for delivery of SEN provision.
In the first two years of data collection, the department undertook data validation focused on ensuring completeness, and identifying and helping local authorities with the aim of improving understanding and quality of data. These validations will continue to be enhanced for future SCAP collections.
The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places sits with local authorities.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Goole and Pocklington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to implement recommendation two of the First Report of the Committee of Public Accounts of Session 2024-25 on Support for children and young people with special educational needs, HC 353, published on 15 January 2025.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
An update is publicly available through the Treasury Minutes published in April 2025, and can be accessed here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67ed087598b3bac1ec299b5a/Treasury_Minutes_v02_PRINT.pdf.